Optimizing .hack GU

[Simperheve]

Greetings!

I downloaded PCSX2 a few weeks back in order to play the .hack G.U games, since they never came out in my region. So i imported the games and made them into ISOs, and then proceeded to play VOL1.

I've managed to make it through VOL1, but with some slowdown at certain points(like when there is a lot of enemies and players on the screen, or in the arena. The final battle of VOL1 slowed down really bad). Fortunately, most of my problems were fixed with the wonder that is frame skipping!

However, since my transition to VOL2, the frame skip isn't working as well as i'd hoped. I had to turn it up to 2 to draw, 3 to skip, and now it looks really choppy. I had managed to get it to run at most points on 2 to draw, 2 to skip with little problem, but then it slows down often during battles and some parts of the field.

Are there any settings that paricularly help with the GU series? Once i get home, i'll post up my computer's specs and my current setup. ('tis an I5 2.33GHZ with 8GB RAM, intel HD graphics if that helps at all. I'll get the full rundown once i get home)

[WarWeeny]

intel hd gpu ruins your experience, try to play at native settings and thats basically it.
you could try some reccomended speedhacks (mtvu in particular) and set EE cycle rate to 1 or 2 and vu to 1 (not further and try the EE cycle stealing first before enabling the vu cycle stealing)

the best fix is to get a newer comp and well... you could be better off importing a ps2 from the region the game is from

[Simperheve]

I was thinking of doing that, or to buy a ps2 and use swap magic to play my imports. Am quite tempted to do it. Think it would be a better solution than trying to get the emulator working?

[nachash]

Can't you upgrade your pc instead?

[WarWeeny]

Can't you upgrade your pc instead?

he is probably on a laptop because i5 usually dont go for 2.33 ghz on desktop cpu's so that would be a no no

@ op

have you tried the settings i gave you to try out?
if that did not yeald the fps increase then there is little i/we can do to increase the speed.

[Simperheve]

Just tried them, had to set my graphics to software mode 'cause when i set them to direct3d10, all the text becomes disjointed. Was this a clever idea? Or would it work better in hardware mode?

[WarWeeny]

Just tried them, had to set my graphics to software mode 'cause when i set them to direct3d10, all the text becomes disjointed. Was this a clever idea? Or would it work better in hardware mode?

hardware mode has some graphical bugs but most of em arent that game breaking (or you are really picky about it)

software mode renders the games only on cpu power so it results in less bugs but it comes often with a big slowdown in games because most cpu's people have are not that strong so hardware mode is highly advised.

but did your speed increase with the settings i provided?

[Simperheve]

Yep, i can run the game on 2 to draw, 2 to skip now. The only problem is the hud sometims disappears for a fraction of a second, but i can put up with that

[JobeStroud]

I am currently playing through these right now. On vol 3 myself. You will get some graphic glitches in HW mode such as shadows appearing as just lines darting out of the character. Honestly for me they are not noticeable until cut scenes. There is 1 mission in vol 2 where shadows play a important part. If and when you get there just look at the foot of the creature. Seems shadows on monsters bend in on them selves so the shadow is displayed on the feet. Also lines in the movies. These are not game breaking to me. In your case. It would be cheaper to just buy a PS2 and do it from there instead of spending 3 times as much to play it on PC. Although you can get my system for like 300 bucks now and it can run everything at a healthy rate.

Here is a link.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/...u=B69-0592

[VIRGIN KLM]

Also you could try to find in the memmory where is the game speed value located and play with it and disable frameskipping. You could get rid of the bugs of frameskipping with a slightly better visual result, maybe even at higher than native resolutions.