Configuration on an I3 laptop

[limbo87]

Starting off I must thank everyone involved in this project, I have been a follower of the emulation scene since back when we had to struggle with uploading PS1 ISOs to Yahoo groups one 10MB part at a time...

Now before you all groan about yet another performance thread, laptops aren't as well supported and I'm just looking for any small settings I may have missed. My goal game Dark Chronicle already is playable but if I can iron out the slowdowns then all the better.

Laptop specs:
2nd Gen Intel Core I3-2310M
Intel HD Graphics 3000
4GB DDR3 RAM
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
for more detail see cpu-z and gpu-z screenshots

I am currently using PCSX2 0.9.9.4918 (svn) with the following grahpical, sound and emulation settings:
GSDX 4915 (MSVC 16.00,AVX) 0.1.16 [GSdx32-AVX-r4915]
-Direct3D 10 (hardware)
-no interlacing
-D3D Internal resolution = native
-Texture filtering partially selected (box)

SPU2-X r4872 2.0.0.0 [SPU2-X-r4872]
-Interpolation: 1 - Linear
-Module: 1 - XAudio 2
-Synch Mode: TimeStretch
-Audio Expansion Mode: Stereo

EE/IOP and VUs
-keeping to configuration guide settings (Recompiler, Chop / Zero and Normal Clamping)
-Framelimiter: 100% base, 50% slo-mo, 200% turbo
-Frameskipping disabled (gave me black or rapid flickering)

GS Window
-Aspect Ratio: Standard 640x480, 100.0 zoom

Speedhacks enabled
-INTC Spin Detection
-Wait Loop Detection
-mVU Flag Hack
-MTVU

Oh yes and both bios and iso are US region

Sorry for the long read, didn't want to miss anything out, game runs at respectable 30fps+ though some textures do stutter and inventory items often have the wrong icon

Thank you for your time and for the emulator

[Shadow Lady]

What do the EE/GS% numbers in game window say when you get slowdowns?

[limbo87]

What do the EE/GS% numbers in game window say when you get slowdowns?

EE sits around mid 60s and GS jumps around the 90% mark

[Image: pcsx2sample.png]

[Livy]

So it is your CPU that is weak for that game. I'm afraid nothing can help. Btw you're using 16:9 ratio for a 4:3 game. The character and mobs look fat .

[refraction]

hmm, guess you could try ticking the allow 8-bit textures box or changing the renderer to software with 2-3 threads, or try directx 9 and see if that's any better.

Other than that, not sure what to suggest

[recoder]

From your screenshots , your GPU is 0 Mhz, 0 MB, and only 12 shaders .... It might be a cause for slowdown.

Well, can you try disabling the mtvu hack as your cpu is dual core, and use sse4 not avx. AVX works better in software mode.
change the round mode to nearest and clamp to none.
Change the EE Cyclerate to 2, and VU Cycly stealing to 1.
Frameskip don't cause any problem in my computer. I set it to 1 , 2. It works fine.

Hope it should work faster.

[refraction]

From your screenshots , your GPU is 0 Mhz, 0 MB, and only 12 shaders ....

Well, disable the mtvu hack as your cpu is dual core, and use sse4 not avx.
change the round mode to nearest and clamp to none.

Frameskip don't cause any problem in my computer. I set it to 1 , 2. It works fine.

the avx version is only likely to be better than sse4, so thats a waste of time. also the mtvu hack can provide performance increases on dual cores too... however it might be counter productive here (due to the gs thread)

[Bositman]

Try installing these new drivers: http://www.guru3d.com/news/intel-hd-grap...-download/

[Livy]

Why downloading an Intel driver from www.guru3d.com instead of from www.intel.com?

According to my exp, driver update does not increase performance. I've been using Intel, Nvidia, ATI, VIA, and SiS video cards. None of them increases performance after a driver update.

[Bositman]

Because that's the link I had handy? Although the changelog thinks otherwise:

This driver release was designed to increase 3D gaming performance on mobile platforms across a variety of titles.