SSX 3 Random Speed Drops
#1
Hey All,

New to the forum.  I skimmed through some of the pinned forums but couldn't find what I was looking for.  The Graphics section focused on graphical bugs and glitches rather than speed improvements so I didn't look there.

I've recently rekindled my love of SSX 3 and finally got it running on PCSX2.  On some courses, the game runs just fine.  However, on certain courses with excess lighting and track features, I've noticed that the game tends to slow down quite substantially (~50% speed).  Worst of all, it's inconsistent, causing the game to speed up and slow down randomly, sometimes multiple times within the same string of tricks, which can really throw off my timing, causing otherwise avoidable fails.  The sound is distorted to match the game's slower speed as well and it can really kill the mood of SSX 3's up beat soundtrack.

I would honestly prefer frame rate drops or graphical quality hits over speed fluctuations in a game like this.  My question is, how can I configure PCSX2 to sacrifice some other game aspect (graphics quality, frame rate drops) to avoid speed drops?

I'm using the latest stable version of PCSX2 (1.6.0) and the graphical plugin I've set is GSdx 20200506140834 (MSVC 19.25 SSE4.1/AVX) 1.2.0 [GSdx32-SSE4].

As for my PC specs, my CPU's a bit old but meets recommended requirements (by a hair).  GPU should be up to snuff.  Never posted on a forum like this so let me know if I'm missing anything important.  Here's the specs I've collected thus far.


CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K CPU
RAM: 2x8gb DDR3
GPU: GTX 1080 16GB
OS: Windows 10 Pro x64 
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#2
Use the recommended speed hacks, activate MTVU and use OpenGL since you have an Nvidia gpu.

Give it another go and see how it runs. I never tried SSX 3 on my old 3570k but I did play SSX Tricky and it ran just fine on that cpu.
-PC Specs-
AMD Ryzen 3600
16gb DDR4 Corsair 3200mhz
MSI Armor Radeon RX580 8gb 
Windows 10 Pro x64 
-Laptop Specs-
i7 6700HQ @ 2.9Ghz
8gb DDR3 
GTX 960m 4GB
Windows 10 Pro x64
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#3
(07-05-2020, 07:25 PM)Zangetsu21 Wrote: Use the recommended speed hacks, activate MTVU and use OpenGL since you have an Nvidia gpu.

Give it another go and see how it runs. I never tried SSX 3 on my old 3570k but I did play SSX Tricky and it ran just fine on that cpu.
So I've got MTVU on already.  I've also got "OpenGL (Hardware)" set in the Gsd plugin settings.  I'm using presets for speed hacks (3 - Balanced) which has the following checked:

* Enable INTC Spin Detection
* Enable Wait Loop Detection
* mVU Flag Hack
* MTVU (Multi-Threaded microVU1)

EE Cyclerate and EE Cycle Skipping are both 0.  

With all of the above settings, I'm still getting those random speed drops.  Maybe I'm just at what my CPU can handle?
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#4
Yeah I think it's the cpu, on my old one I had issues in certain games when a lot of stuff suddenly popped into view, especially with something like Gran Turismo, solo races were fine, but as soon as other cars were visible the frames tanked. On night time tracks with reflections, it was unplayable. You could try overclocking if you're comfortable with that and have the cooling for it but most of the time it doesn't make enough of a difference to be worth while.

I don't have SSX3 to test so I'm not sure if it's some other issue but I believe it's the cpu Sad
-PC Specs-
AMD Ryzen 3600
16gb DDR4 Corsair 3200mhz
MSI Armor Radeon RX580 8gb 
Windows 10 Pro x64 
-Laptop Specs-
i7 6700HQ @ 2.9Ghz
8gb DDR3 
GTX 960m 4GB
Windows 10 Pro x64
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#5
(07-06-2020, 08:34 AM)Zangetsu21 Wrote: Yeah I think it's the cpu, on my old one I had issues in certain games when a lot of stuff suddenly popped into view, especially with something like Gran Turismo, solo races were fine, but as soon as other cars were visible the frames tanked. On night time tracks with reflections, it was unplayable. You could try overclocking if you're comfortable with that and have the cooling for it but most of the time it doesn't make enough of a difference to be worth while.

I don't have SSX3 to test so I'm not sure if it's some other issue but I believe it's the cpu Sad
My case is pretty open and well ventilated but I'd still be hesitant to overclock an almost decade-old CPU.  Anywho, thanks for the advice.  I think I'll just have to deal with it for now.  If anyone else has any tips, let me know.  I was just kind of surprised because most of my other games on PCSX2 seem to run perfectly.  It just seems like a lot of the cool lighting effects in SSX3 tends to make the game stutter and choke, which is honestly disappointing, given that SSX3 was one of my favorite games to play as a kid!  At least the backwoods levels all work fine.
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#6
I have this game, I don't really play it though. I will give it a try when I am chanced our CPU are quite similar
Specs:
CPU: Intel Core I5 4670 3.4GHz
RAM: 6GB
GPU: Radeon HD 7770 2GB
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#7
(07-12-2020, 09:21 AM)cantona Wrote: I have this game, I don't really play it though. I will give it a try when I am chanced our CPU are quite similar
Yeah, please do let me know.  I don't know if it helps at all, but even the opening video stutters and slows down.  You should be able to notice the problem without even playing the game.
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#8
I used to play this a lot on my old A8-3850 which was drastically slower than your CPU, and never got these kinds of drops. Seems like it's something bizarre either with your rig or just an anomaly from more recent iterations of the emu (I was playing on PCSX2 ver 1.2.1 which predates current builds by literal years haha) it's not a particularly CPU heavy game so your chip should run it fine.

I don't have a functioning system but will be assembling my new one soon, perhaps I'll give it a go then (cpu is i5-4590 which is a generation newer than yours with a hefty IPC bump, so if it runs fine for me with a GTX 970 then it should run fine for you too, in theory at least)
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#9
I can run this game at 4K 60 FPS (6x or even 8x internal resolution scaling) with no particular gameplay-disrupting issues on my Ryzen 5 3600 + GTX 1660 Super rig. I have to use a D3D (HW) + Adaptive V-Sync settings, though, in order to avoid a periodical framerate stuttering, which is affecting all the games I've tested so far. There is this slowdown issue in the initial section of the Metro City race, that doesn't seem to be related to the emulation per se. I also experienced a moment of disrupted sound/graphical emulation with some errors showing in the log screen once but that was really only once per 8 hours of gameplay or so and the restart solved the issue completely. Default settings + MTVU/shader boosts enabled.

The game looks better than the slightly enhanced version on my Xbox one S and plays as good as I remember. I played it on my PS2, Xbox 360 and Xbox One S, and I play it again on my PC. This game will never get old, such a great classic it is!
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