Gradius V and PCSX2 0.9.8 slowdowns...

[ClarkKent]

I was playing Gradius V on my AMD64 X2 4200+ with 2 GB RAM and ATI Radeon HD2400 on the old PCSX2r1888 for some time without any problems.

Now I updated to the new PCSX2 0.9.8 and I see slowdowns at points in the game where no slowdowns were before. E.g. after starting the game in level 1 when the first wave with the spaceships having powerups in them appear there is a massive slowdown, down to 2 or 3 frames per second. Right after this wave speed gets normal with 60 frames per second. There is no intensive graphics at this point, some more complex graphics with more enemies come later but with no slowdowns.

I set all settings to regular settings, graphics plugin is configured to native resolution and 640x480.

What can be done?

[recoder]

Try speedhacks, and frameskip.

[ClarkKent]

Try speedhacks, and frameskip.

Speedhacks are active but I do not know what do set exactely (but I tried several setting, none helped).

Frameskipping was not active with the version r1888 and it run without slowdowns - so why using them in the new version?

At the point described EE drops down to 18 or 20 or so, but right after that point it rises to about 90 again. These slowdown did not appear with r1888.

Does anybody also experience slowdowns in this game?

[Bositman]

Reduce the internal resolution/scaling in GSdx
Edit: It still happens with native ticked? What do the EE and GS percentages at the title bar of GSdx show when you get the slowdowns?

[ClarkKent]

I use "native" (640x480) as internal resolution/scaling in GSdx.

While playing fps: 60, EE: about 50-70%, GS:18-25
But as soon as the wave appears with the orange ship in the middle having the powerup (about 15 seconds after starting level 1): fps: max. 23, EE: about 6-12%, GS:1-4
Right after this single wave of ships passed, framerate gets normal again and game plays fluid without any slowdowns.

As already told this was not the case with version r1888. But I noticed that it has something to do with the GSdx plugin (I use GSdx 4894 (MSVC 16.00, SSE2) 0.1.16 [GSdx32-SSE2]). I have an older version (GSdx 1873...) with which I do not have these slowdowns at the point described - but unfortunately this older plugin is slower with PCSX2 0.9.8 (but runs fluid in r1888). ZeroGS 0.97.1 also does not have this slowdown on that point in game but unfortunately it is also too slow to play with it. So there must be something not totally ok with GSdx. When using a lower resolution (instead of using "native") like 512x512 there are still slowdowns at the point in the game described but the slowdowns as not as massive, but the slowdown is still ONLY on the point described. With the old version of PCSX2 r1888 and GSdx 1873 there were never such slowdowns at the point in the game described. It's also interesting that the scrolling background while playing Gradius V is always more fluid in PCSX2 r1888 with GSdx 1873 then with the latest version of PCSX2 - games simply run more fluid with the old version of PCSX2.

I suspect the new full screen mode to have something to do with slowdowns and lower framerates as it is not really a separate mode anymore but only a large window (nullDC uses a similar technique with which I have also troubles). A real full screen mode would be better, same as in older PCSX2 versions. I'm a CRT user as I'm using PCSX2 on a real arcade cabinet and I read that this new method of displaying full screen is bad for such a constellation.

Do you think the programmers could have a look at this strange behavior? And it would be nice to have a real full screen mode again (at least additionally to the new mode).

[miseru99]

Unfortunately GSdx is like wine - the older the better, at least if it goes for speed, most trully serious fixes for GSdx were generating slowdowns. If you can run in some ancient beta at full speed and it isn't completely glitched, just do it and be happy.

[ClarkKent]

The more I'm playing around with the latest version of PCSX2 the more I'm reaching the conclusion that all speed problems are comming from the new full screen mode which is not a real full screen mode but a big window without borders. It can also not switch resolution by itself - it always uses the resolution set for Desktop - a real full screen mode would switch to the desired resolution. I think the "window full screen mode" only costs a lot of speed on older systems that are not state-of-the-art.

If possible I request the return of a real full screen mode! I think speed problems should be solved then.

[refraction]

If possible I request the return of a real full screen mode! I think speed problems should be solved then.

I have a picture to say it all for me

[Squall Leonhart]

thats not what he means Ref, but no, it wouldn't improve performance at all.

The compositor is handling fullscreen switching + vsync, which is faster in many aspects.

sounds more like the GFX memory's bandwidth is taking a hit during the wave sequence.

The Radeon HD 2400 series was based on the codenamed RV610 GPU. It had 180 million transistors on a 65 nm fabrication process. The Radeon HD 2400 series used a 64-bit-wide memory bus.

HD 2400 XT
Shaders: 40
Core: 700 MHz
VRAM: 800 MHz
Interface: 64-bit
Bandwidth: 12800MB/s

HD 2400 Pro
Shaders: 40
Core: 525 MHz
VRAM: 400 MHz
Interface: 64-bit
Bandwidth: 6400MB/s

You're gunna be needing atleast 30GB/s for native resolution RTE's.

Your graphics card is weaker than a Geforce TI 4800 when it comes to memory bandwidth.

[ClarkKent]

OK, then explain why Gradius V is absolutely fluid in PCSX2 r1888!? Even background scrolling in Gradius V is absolutely fluid in r1888 but is jerking heavily in the latest version. I'm using "native resolution" only! If this is really hardware dependent why is the older version of PCSX2 fast enough and the latest version not?

Does the RV630 with 512 MB VRAM meet the expectations (would be an alternative for my arcade cabinet pc)?

Edit: I'm only playing simpler, not very demanding games in PCSX2 like DoDonPachi, Ibara, Psyvariar, R-Type Final, Gradius III+IV+V, Thunder Force IV, etc. Mainly arcade like shooters as I'm using PCSX2 in a real arcade cab.