Intentionally lowering frame rates to slow down gameplay
#1
There are some PS2 games that were designed to play very fast. Some sports games especially really benefit from running at a lower custom frame rate / refresh rate. One example is any of the PES / Winning Eleven PS2 games. I always felt that those games simply ran too fast, and I get a more realistic experience to slow the gameplay down through PCSX2.

So instead of running at the normal 59.94 FPS, I set the NTSC FPS to run at the Pal setting of 50.00. Setting it to 50.00 allows me to use the Slow Motion setting in-game so it stays on whole numbers. (you know 48.00, 46.00, 44.00 etc)

Like for PES / Winning Eleven I feel like when I run those games at a custom frame rate like 44.00 FPS it feels like the game is running the way it should have been designed at. At that slower speed, the passing feels more realistic, the buildup is more like watching a real football match, etc. It's one of the things I love about PCSX2, the ability to fix game speeds in games that just run too fast and don't have any 'game speed' options in the game.

Some games I have even hacked game speeds by finding game speed codes via cheat engine, but when those are too hard to find, I am really happy with how you can adjust it in PCSX2_vm.ini and then through the slow motion setting for further fine tuning. Some games run better (on lowered frame rates) than others, but I was just wondering if anyone else does this?

I observed that a lot of games, mainly sports games simply were simply designed to run too fast. And when you lower the frame rate down from 59.94 to something like 44.00 or 48.00, it's just amazing how much better they play. It's really a testament to how well designed PCSX2 when games can run so well on those custom frame rates. It's a way to great way to fix games that run too fast at the default (59.94) frame rate.

I was also wondering if running custom frame rates on a whole number (like 44.00, 46.00, etc) is better than running at a random value like 45.37 or something. I've been mostly trying to stay on whole, even numbers when fine turning the overall frame rate. I know certain games don't start unless the FPS is set to something standard, and by standard I mean even-numbered whole numbers (54.00, 48.00, etc)

Like I said, most games don't need the manual lowering of FPS through PCSX2. It's just for some games, like PES / Winning Eleven on PCSX2. Try running one of those games at 44.00 or something and I think you'll agree the game plays much better than at 59.94.

Note: I set my SPU Sync Mode Setting to "Async Mix" and I got a hunch that that setting is good for running games at lower custom frame rates. Even when running at 44.00 FPS or 48.00 FPS the sound isn't choppy at all.
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#2
No offense or anything, but what is your point here?? Smile this is more like posting your findings, which is fine, but I don't see any use for this? Smile
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#3
(10-16-2014, 12:18 PM)StriFe79 Wrote: No offense or anything, but what is your point here?? Smile this is more like posting your findings, which is fine, but I don't see any use for this? Smile

well the point is two fold. First I wanted to know if anyone did this, and also wanted to know if it's better to run at even-numbered whole number custom frame rates. Some games don't run otherwise. (will run at 54.00, but not at 53.00 or 55.00)
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#4
I start to understand what you mean, I was asking what your purpose was with this, hence I asked Smile No flame or whatever intended ofcourse Smile Personally I play some NTSC games, even if I'm from The Netherlands (PAL50) but personally I prefer NTSC60 Smile
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#5
(10-16-2014, 12:31 PM)StriFe79 Wrote: I start to understand what you mean, I was asking what your purpose was with this, hence I asked Smile No flame or whatever intended ofcourse Smile Personally I play some NTSC games, even if I'm from The Netherlands (PAL50) but personally I prefer NTSC60 Smile

I'm happy to explain, because for me this was a huge breakthrough. Many NTSC / PAL games run fine at 59.94 / 50.00. But there are certain games (mainly sports games for fighting game) that are just designed to be fast. And it's fun to slow them down. If you ever try PES or Winning Eleven games on PCSX2 play it once at the regular frame rate, then drop it down and play it again. (for PAL maybe try running it at 40.00 or 38.00 instead of 50.00) If you get choppy audio, then try Async Mix. Certain games become more more tactical by lowering the frame rate.

I think the effectiveness of this depends on the game. Doing it might break some games, but depending on how the game was made, which graphical system it used, how it was designed, certain games really play well at lower frame rates (like PES / WE as an example) and its very cool, especially when you can't find a game speed option or code.
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#6
i did that. but only lowering 10%. if more than that. sound sync is bad. that also help little bit speed on heavy games.
edit: i use that as my default setting.
Im sorry i often misstype because im using cellphone...Y( '',)Y
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#7
(10-16-2014, 12:41 PM)billyash Wrote: i did that. but only lowering 10%. if more than that. sound sync is bad. that also help little bit speed on heavy games.
edit: i use that as my default setting.

It really depends on which game you are running. If you are running a PAL game, it will be different. I go from 59.94 (the default NTSC) to about 44.00 for some games, while only down to 48.00 for others. If you drop it too low, you'll get choppy graphics and / or choppy sound. But there's definitely a good amount of adjusting that before it becomes choppy and that custom frame rate literally can fix or improve certain games that were made to be too fast. Maybe one day I'll make a list of which games benefit from a custom frame rate / refresh rate.

The fact that PCSX2 can run at these lower frame rates so well is outstanding. Most games don't need this adjustment, but there are some games where this adjustment makes the gameplay significantly better.
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#8
You shoudn't mess with the base frame rate (those TV standards) and instead use the Turbo Feature to achieve the same results.

You can set the turbo to any value you want, for instance change it from 200% (=2x ) to 120% gives an FPS increase of 20% activated by the TAB key. On the other hand you can set the slow motion to some value bellow 100%, for instance 80% reduces the FPS by 20% and is activated any time hitting Shift + TAB keys.

To play the games at the correct speed just remove the turbo functions...
Imagination is where we are truly real
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#9
(10-16-2014, 02:12 PM)nosisab Ken Keleh Wrote: You shoudn't mess with the base frame rate (those TV standards) and instead use the Turbo Feature to achieve the same results.

You can set the turbo to any value you want, for instance change it from 200% (=2x ) to 120% gives an FPS increase of 20% activated by the TAB key. On the other hand you can set the slow motion to some value bellow 100%, for instance 80% reduces the FPS by 20% and is activated any time hitting Shift + TAB keys.

To play the games at the correct speed just remove the turbo functions...

That's actually what I do and what I'm asking about.

Those in-game settings though are on a 0-100 (%) scale, so if you're running a PAL game setting that to 80% will run it at 40.00. This is not an issue for PAL games since the default is 50.00. But for an NTSC game, the standard frame rate is 59.94. So that doesn't divide evenly on that % scale. That's why I changed the frame rate to 50.00 for some NTSC games that I want to slow down, then use those in-game settings (Shift-Tab) from 50.00.

I'm doing this because it seems important to keep it on a whole number. But in doing so for NTSC games automatically changes to a custom refresh rate. This seems to be working well, but if it's important to use whole number custom frame rates, like 48.00, 50.00, 54.00, etc rather than you know 48.23, 51.34, etc which you'll get if you don't change that default 59.94 value.
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#10
(10-16-2014, 02:34 PM)planetps2 Wrote: That's actually what I do and what I'm asking about.

Those in-game settings though are on a 0-100 (%) scale, so if you're running a PAL game setting that to 80% will run it at 40.00. This is not an issue for PAL games since the default is 50.00. But for an NTSC game, the standard frame rate is 59.94. So that doesn't divide evenly on that % scale. That's why I changed the frame rate to 50.00 for some NTSC games that I want to slow down, then use those in-game settings (Shift-Tab) from 50.00.

I'm doing this because it seems important to keep it on a whole number. But in doing so for NTSC games automatically changes to a custom refresh rate. This seems to be working well, but if it's important to use whole number custom frame rates, like 48.00, 50.00, 54.00, etc rather than you know 48.23, 51.34, etc which you'll get if you don't change that default 59.94 value.
You could treat the NTSC refresh rate as 60 without problems since it is seen as FPS by the emulator (although makes no difference for the emulation at all).

For the records, that 59.94 Hz is a standard and is expected to be so precise as possible. you may have the option in your video card to chose between it or flat 60Hz and possibly chose 60Hz for your PC. Just that that outrageous number is what NTSC uses.

The point being the base frame rate is the reference the emulator uses for synchronizing and timings and should not be changed lightly. changing the turbo still leaves the correct reference for the emulator's usage.
Imagination is where we are truly real
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