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Full Version: Kingdom Hearts 2: Final Mix, Just a bit too slow.
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So I've seen plenty of people running kingdom hearts 2 at full speed on youtube, and thinking I have a relatively current gen PC, I went ahead and bought it online, now, With a few speed hacks, I've gotten the FMV's to run at full speed, but when I play, it's always at roughly 50fps, no matter how many speed hacks I enable, and even slower when I fight SEIFER for the first time. It's pretty unbearable, so I was hoping, you guys might be able to show me the best way to setup my system to run this game. Here are my system stats:

Full stats:
http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/6199/statsdh.jpg

Quick Stats:
I have a Pent D dual core at 3.4
2 gigs of ram
Nvidia Geforce 9600 GS0 (I have a 8800 GT I could swap out if you think it'd work better, but the 9600 has a hdmi port I use for alot of things)
Windows XP





Here's the settings I've gotten the game to run best at:

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/5486/settings.jpg
I am running the official 0.9.6 build off of the download section of the website.

I don't care how bad the game looks, to a point, I just want it to run fluidly.


I AM running the game from an ISO, however, this is because I felt that creating an ISO from the disks would be easier on my computer then trying to read from the CD all the time. I DO own this game.
Your Pentium D is not limited by GPU, it's limited by CPU. In emulation terms that means "not much you can do."

Emulators aren't like PC games. We can't 'scale back' the game's built in logic handlers and geometry processors to fit your CPU. These games were programmed to run on a Playstation 2 and thy don't come with built in options for running at higher framerates with lower detail settings -- and we can't magically inject that kind of functionality into them. -_-

A Pentium D 3.4ghz is not an entirely crappy CPU, but it does have a very weak SSE/MMX unit compared to newer Core2 and Athlon/Phenom chips -- something PCSX2 relies on heavily in order to emulate the 128bit hardware of the PS2. So there's not much you can do to squeeze more in-game fps out of it. For games like KH2 to run smoothly, you'll need to upgrade. Sorry.
(10-03-2009, 11:47 PM)Air Wrote: [ -> ]Your Pentium D is not limited by GPU, it's limited by CPU. In emulation terms that means "not much you can do."

Emulators aren't like PC games. We can't 'scale back' the game's built in logic handlers and geometry processors to fit your CPU. These games were programmed to run on a Playstation 2 and thy don't come with built in options for running at higher framerates with lower detail settings -- and we can't magically inject that kind of functionality into them. Smile

A Pentium D 3.4ghz is not an entirely crappy CPU, but it does have a very weak SSE/MMX unit compared to newer Core2 and Athlon/Phenom chips -- something PCSX2 relies on heavily in order to emulate the 128bit hardware of the PS2. So there's not much you can do to squeeze more in-game fps out of it.
Is there a CPU of the same pin type (meaning, compatible with my current mother board) that I could buy to improve my ability to emulate?

And I understand that the game is made to function at a standard and lacks graphical settings, I was just hoping that different plugins or something of the like could help me, for instance, switching from the ZeroGS to the plugin I use now yielded better looking graphics and better runtime.

I also appreciate your response and taking the time to explain my problem to me.
Maybe, but I doubt it. Pentium D's are Socket 775, which is the same socket used by almost all Core2 Duo and Core2 Quad series CPUs. The bad news is that fitting the CPU into the slot is only half the challenge. Newer CPUs typically demand more complicated voltage regulators that older motherboards often lack.

You should be able to gleen your potential CPU upgrade options from here: http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/

The trouble is that you have a high end Pentium D now, and upgrading to a low end Core2Duo isn't going to help you out much. Assuming your mainboard can support a low end 2.2ghz C2D (I doubt it could go much better), I don't think you're going to see much of a speedup.

Also, the 8800gt would almost certainly be better for PCSX2. PCSX2 like raw pixel throughput, and the 8800gt has something like twice the raw pixel pushing power compared to the 9600gs. But if my hunch is right, and you're CPU limited, that won't help much anyway.
(10-04-2009, 12:10 AM)Air Wrote: [ -> ]Maybe, but I doubt it. Pentium D's are Socket 775, which is the same socket used by almost all Core2 Duo and Core2 Quad series CPUs. The bad news is that fitting the CPU into the slot is only half the challenge. Newer CPUs typically demand more complicated voltage regulators that older motherboards often lack.

You should be able to gleen your potential CPU upgrade options from here: http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/

The trouble is that you have a high end Pentium D now, and upgrading to a low end Core2Duo isn't going to help you out much. Assuming your mainboard can support a low end 2.2ghz C2D (I doubt it could go much better), I don't think you're going to see much of a speedup.

Also, the 8800gt would almost certainly be better for PCSX2. PCSX2 like raw pixel throughput, and the 8800gt has something like twice the raw pixel pushing power compared to the 9600gs. But if my hunch is right, and you're CPU limited, that won't help much anyway.

I see, well thanks for your help, and I'll try swapping out the video cards just for the hell of it, I'll also see what I can't do about my CPU. Thanks again.
Try the latest public beta build (r1888) and GSdx 1479. Since the 9600 GSO is just a rebranded 8800GS, the 8800GT may be slightly more powerful, but won't be too noticeable unless you are using high resolutions.

That CPU is pretty old, and pales in comparison to the Core 2 Duo CPUs, but you might be able to get better speeds with the latest beta.
(10-04-2009, 12:18 AM)boogerthe2nd Wrote: [ -> ]Try the latest public beta build (r1888) and GSdx 1479. Since the 9600 GSO is just a rebranded 8800GS, the 8800GT may be slightly more powerful, but won't be too noticeable unless you are using high resolutions.

That CPU is pretty old, and pales in comparison to the Core 2 Duo CPUs, but you might be able to get better speeds with the latest beta.

Thanks, I'll give that a try as well.