Disabling graphical effects in Devil May Cry 3

[Velpa]

Hi, I've read the rules and the sticky threads and I think this belongs here, but if not, please let me know and I'll move it/edit it accordingly.

So I am playing Devil May Cry 3 (not the Special Edition, region USA) and it runs at constant 60FPS most of the time, except in very specific locations. I searched in the forums and I found a post here: https://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-Devil-Ma...-locations. However the last update was in 2011 (12 years ago) and apparently at least back then the only real solution was to update the graphics card to a more potent one, since these specific locations were too hard on the GPU. But since time has passed, I was wondering if there might be other solutions.

Specifically, these are the places where I noticed significant slowdown:

Pause menu, pretty heavy, it goes to around 20FPS, I'd imagine it's because of the "particles" effect, but I don't pause much so this isn't really that important.
Mission 3, before Cerberus fight, it probably slows down because of computing view distances as discussed in the post linked above.
Mission 6, Warrior trial, no idea why it slowdowns here, but it goes more or less to 30FPS (50% speed) as in Mission 3 before Cerberus fight.
Mission 7, during Vergil fight, I'd guess the massive rain is causing the slowdown, here again it slows down more or less to 30FPS.

And, the most important of all and the one I'd like to improve the most, Mission 9, during Nevan fight. This is the heaviest slowdown I experimented so far, lowering the FPS to around 20FPS and even less and making the fight pretty much unplayable. This one I don't understand why it slows down that much. It slows down not when the fight begins, but before that, as soon as I enter the room. So it is the room that is causing the massive slowdown somehow. Something that really called my attention is that the slowdown is persistent through the cutscene (I'd expect cutscenes to go their own way and not have anything to do with the drawing of the room itself). And apparently, the drawing is always being done in the background, since it continues even when I open the Items menu for example (in other areas of the game where the frame rate is at a constant 60FPS, the Items menu remains at 60FPS).

I am more than certain that the issue is my GPU since I don't use a graphics card, rather, I use the GPU that comes with my CPU, which is an AMD Radeon R7 Graphics. I'd still like to know if there's any solution other than getting a graphics card though. My full specs:

CPU: AMD A10-9700 RADEON R7, 10 COMPUTE CORES 4C+6G 3.50 GHz
GPU:  AMD Radeon R7 Graphics
RAM: 8GB
OS: Windows 10

And the PCSX2 version I am using is 1.6. Also, I am running the game using the Native (PS2) resolution.

So, in short, I'd like to know if there's any way to disable graphical effects so the FPS can remain at 60FPS, or at least, for the Nevan fight, get to 30-35FPS. I don't mind the graphics, for me, the game can run in black and white and I wouldn't mind, I just want the game to run as fluently as possible. If I have to apply a patch to disable rain, particles effects, or anything else that could be causing the slowdowns then I don't mind.

And if there's no way to disable graphical effects, do you know if there's any older PCSX2 version that might work better for this game and these specific locations?

[MrWizard]

Software rendering in sticky places/scenes (press F9)
Try latest dev build

[jesalvein]

Won't help a lot since CPU is weak too, unfortunately
Back to your PS2 console until you can afford better I guess

[envisaged0ne]

The AMD A10-9700 RADEON R7 has a single thread rating of 1608. That is to weak to run most games on the emulator. They recommend a STR of around 2100 for basic games, and even higher for the more demanding 3D games. So, as jesalvein said, not really anything you can do short of upgrading your computer, or just playing on the PS2 console for now

[Velpa]

My CPU is very good for PS2 games. I tried many games and they run fine, it is only some like Devil May Cry 3 that slow down and only in very specific locations, and also only in modern versions of PCSX2. Speaking of which, I just solved the problem. The game runs fine in every location with PCSX2 1.0.

[jesalvein]

My CPU is very good for PS2 games.

with an STR around 1600, no. it's fine for lightweight games
but since you know better, i guess you don't need help anyways

[ffviistrife]

Hi, I've read the rules and the sticky threads and I think this belongs here, but if not, please let me know and I'll move it/edit it accordingly.

So I am playing Devil May Cry 3 (not the Special Edition, region USA) and it runs at constant 60FPS most of the time, except in very specific locations. I searched in the forums and I found a post here: https://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-Devil-Ma...-locations. However the last update was in 2011 (12 years ago) and apparently at least back then the only real solution was to update the graphics card to a more potent one, since these specific locations were too hard on the GPU. But since time has passed, I was wondering if there might be other solutions.

Specifically, these are the places where I noticed significant slowdown:

Pause menu, pretty heavy, it goes to around 20FPS, I'd imagine it's because of the "particles" effect, but I don't pause much so this isn't really that important.
Mission 3, before Cerberus fight, it probably slows down because of computing view distances as discussed in the post linked above.
Mission 6, Warrior trial, no idea why it slowdowns here, but it goes more or less to 30FPS (50% speed) as in Mission 3 before Cerberus fight.
Mission 7, during Vergil fight, I'd guess the massive rain is causing the slowdown, here again it slows down more or less to 30FPS.

And, the most important of all and the one I'd like to improve the most, Mission 9, during Nevan fight. This is the heaviest slowdown I experimented so far, lowering the FPS to around 20FPS and even less and making the fight pretty much unplayable. This one I don't understand why it slows down that much. It slows down not when the fight begins, but before that, as soon as I enter the room. So it is the room that is causing the massive slowdown somehow. Something that really called my attention is that the slowdown is persistent through the cutscene (I'd expect cutscenes to go their own way and not have anything to do with the drawing of the room itself). And apparently, the drawing is always being done in the background, since it continues even when I open the Items menu for example (in other areas of the game where the frame rate is at a constant 60FPS, the Items menu remains at 60FPS).

I am more than certain that the issue is my GPU since I don't use a graphics card, rather, I use the GPU that comes with my CPU, which is an AMD Radeon R7 Graphics. I'd still like to know if there's any solution other than getting a graphics card though. My full specs:

CPU: AMD A10-9700 RADEON R7, 10 COMPUTE CORES 4C+6G 3.50 GHz
GPU:  AMD Radeon R7 Graphics
RAM: 8GB
OS: Windows 10

And the PCSX2 version I am using is 1.6. Also, I am running the game using the Native (PS2) resolution.

So, in short, I'd like to know if there's any way to disable graphical effects so the FPS can remain at 60FPS, or at least, for the Nevan fight, get to 30-35FPS. I don't mind the graphics, for me, the game can run in black and white and I wouldn't mind, I just want the game to run as fluently as possible. If I have to apply a patch to disable rain, particles effects, or anything else that could be causing the slowdowns then I don't mind.

And if there's no way to disable graphical effects, do you know if there's any older PCSX2 version that might work better for this game and these specific locations?

yeah that PC is very weak, hacking the game to get it to run better isn’t really gonna help it much (doesn’t help that dmc3 is a pretty demanding game). Also the slowdowns aren’t caused by computing nonsense, it’s because your cpu and gpu are very weak. Running an older version i’m 95% sure would do nothing or even make it worse. probably best if you just upgrade your entire pc tbh. a modern day 12th gen i3 will run you under $100 and cheap ddr4 and a b660 board + a used 1660 super with all the other parts will only be a little over $500 and will wipe the floor with your current pc and will most certainly run pcsx2 flawlessly out of the box.

[Velpa]

yeah that PC is very weak, hacking the game to get it to run better isn’t really gonna help it much (doesn’t help that dmc3 is a pretty demanding game). Also the slowdowns aren’t caused by computing nonsense, it’s because your cpu and gpu are very weak. Running an older version i’m 95% sure would do nothing or even make it worse. probably best if you just upgrade your entire pc tbh. a modern day 12th gen i3 will run you under $100 and cheap ddr4 and a b660 board + a used 1660 super with all the other parts will only be a little over $500 and will wipe the floor with your current pc and will most certainly run pcsx2 flawlessly out of the box.

Not true, I am playing with PCSX2 1.0 on constant 60FPS in all locations. And by the way, just in case and to avoid any misunderstandings, I don't plan to come out as aggressive, I am just bothered that you are all saying my CPU is very weak when it's not, again, I have played many PS2 games so far and I can play without any problems. I am also bothered since I never asked for suggestions on upgrades or reviews on my specs, I just asked for a way to disable graphical effects as stated in the title or for recommendations on older versions as stated at the end of my post. And I am not looking for any more answers (except if they are specifically about hacking the game/disabling graphical effects, as that was the point of this post), since I already solved my problem. If I could block/archive the thread, I would.

[jesalvein]

true. no need to go further.
FYI, 1.0 is old and some effects weren't emulated back then. Requirements have increased since pcsx2 is now more accurate.
YOu can use it, though. but we won't support it