Help - Horrible Processor trying to play Star Ocean 3

[Kevin15632]

Hi I've been trying to play Star Ocean: Till the end of time for a few days now.

PC Specs:
Intel Pentium 4 Dual-Core 2.8 GHz Processor
4 Gigabytes of DD2 ram
ATI Radeon HD 6770 video card
Piece of crap motherboard


My question, is that I was able to play Final Fantasy 10 a couple years ago with this same computer, except I was rocking a Nvidia 8600 GT back then.
Only to find out that I can't run Star Ocean 3. FF10 ran pretty well, but I'm sure FF10 had extra support put towards it since it's a popular game.

My settings in PCSX2, are pretty brutal...
Here's the settings (In text format!)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
-EE/IOP Recompiler / ChopZero - None
-VUs microVU Recompiler / ChopZero - None
-GS Turbo is not enabled. (even with it, frames don't increase much)
-Speed Hacks
EE Cyclerate 3
VU Cycle Stealing 3
[X] Enable INTC Spin Detection
[X] Enable Wait Loop Detection
[X] mVU Flag Hack
-Game Fixes Of course have "VU Add Hack" for Tri-Ace games.

I'm currently using GSdx 5133 (MSVC 16.00, SSE2) 0.1.16
Yeah I know, SSE2 blah!!

GSdx Settings:
Direct3D9 (Hardware)
No interlacing
Native resolution
[X] Texture Filtering
[X] Logarithmic Z
[X] Alpha correction (FBA)

------------------------------------------------------------------

I realize that my computer's processor is far below par. But I'm still curious why FF10 was able to run so well. I didn't have a single issue with that game.
Oh and overclocking my CPU won't work. My motherboard doesn't allow me to adjust the clock. (Only way I know how is through the bios - Which I don't have that option)

I'm running SO3 through ISO format, and progressive scan. Could it be my audio?
[SPU2-X r5112 2.0.0]
Interpolation= 1 - Linear
Module: 1 - XAudio 2
TimeStretch

EDIT:
I forgot to mention, I've tried 0.9.7, 0.9.8, and a 0.9.8 (r5128)
All seem to break in some way or another.
The older versions tend to have a better time with geometry, while lacking frames.
While the newer version lacks geometry, while having (slightly) Better frames.
I'm only 30 minutes into the game (by the games time) and it took me 2 hours... :/
Being a really long game, I don't want to have this bad of speed. It could take me forever (literally)

I've looked everywhere for ideas; Other forum posts, youtube videos, configuration screen shots. Practically anything.
If you have ANY information to try and help me get this to run faster. Just lemme know.
I'm willing to try anything at the moment ;D

[Rezard]

I realize that my computer's processor is far below par. But I'm still curious why FF10 was able to run so well. I didn't have a single issue with that game.

Yes-- It is the reason the game is so slow.
Actually, it's more the fault of such complex emulation,
but the point is there are much faster processors out there.

It doesn't take the fastest to run this game well, either.
A modern Core i clocked at about 2.8Ghz would even perform that much better than yours.

FFX is one of the easiest games to emulate well with PCSX2, aside from something like a 2D game.
It has also been well addressed for compatibility, largley due to popularity.
It is also probably fair to assume that Star Ocean did a few more "unique tricks" with the real PS2's hardware, as it came along much later in the PS2's lifetime. Those "unique tricks" are the biggest obstacle in emulating various PS2 games. You can basically blame them for most major compaibility issues still existing with PCSX2.

EDIT: I just realized you are still using Direct3D9.
Your GPU is capable of 10 (or 11, actually), and it can improve compatibility and/or performance.
.... Are you still using Windows XP...?

[Kevin15632]

Thanks for the response Rezard.

I would gladly upgrade to 64-bit Windows, which would allow me to upgrade higher than Direct X 9.0c

Unfortunately, I get nothing but errors when installing a 64-bit system. Even though all my parts are compatible with 64bit.
(I would LOVE to upgrade to DX11)

Well, what I'm going to do at the very moment, is fix another computer I have. It's a MUCH better computer.
Phenom processor, 6-core 3.6ghz.

Again, more issues arise.
I believe the beast of a motherboard in this computer is fried. Well best of luck to me. Gonna see if I can get it to work!
If it works? 64-bit here I come!

[Rezard]

You don't need a 64-bit OS for DX10 or 11,
just a newer Windows.

Vista with proper updates would do,
but avoiding Vista and going straight to Windows 7 is highly recommended.