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I rather suspected that (hence why I had all options default to as low as possible or off.)

Still, it seems that aside from a few problem areas (minor ones at that so far), Persona 3 FES is playable to completion on my computer.

Out of curiosity, are there any known builds of PCSX2 in which the Persona games were known to run very well?

And, as a related question, since looking up the history of this emulator hasn't turned up what I needed, has the average general need for high power hardware overall increased, or have improvements to the PCSX2 code over time made more games run requiring less power?

Note I ask on average, since I'm sure that there is no perfectly accurate answer to that question.

As I stated much earlier in this thread, a version of GSDx handles those enemies very well without nearly as much slowdown... but I forget the exact built. It was somewhere between revision 900 and 1400... I think the last "good build" for the game was in the 1200's, but I definitely know I had a 900 one that worked for sure... sadly I don't have the time to go about building 50 or so revisions and getting to a part of the game to test it.

(09-04-2011, 08:04 PM)Koji Wrote: [ -> ]As I stated much earlier in this thread, a version of GSDx handles those enemies very well without nearly as much slowdown... but I forget the exact built. It was somewhere between revision 900 and 1400... I think the last "good build" for the game was in the 1200's, but I definitely know I had a 900 one that worked for sure... sadly I don't have the time to go about building 50 or so revisions and getting to a part of the game to test it.

Assuming there was a single change that "broke" it, and the change was never reverted, you could do a binary search.

Hence my saying I'd have to test 50 or so builds versus the 500 of testing each one

I don't have the time to do so myself right now... I don't even have a current save of P3 or P4 since I haven't played them in many months and savestates would be worthless for testing between revisions.

Anyone is willing to test themselves if they'd like, somewhere in those revisions is when it stopped working.

Thankfully, I made a memory card save before some of the areas most known for slowdown, so if anyone can give me a rough range of builds to test, I'd be willing to do the work of checking which ones work the best.

(09-05-2011, 12:44 AM)Koji Wrote: [ -> ]Hence my saying I'd have to test 50 or so builds versus the 500 of testing each one

9 builds, not 50

I went back to the official 0.9.7 version, and I found something odd.

The Persona 3 FES final boss fight (I have Async on in my SPU, which is why I didn't notice at first) in 0.9.8 can dip to the 50-54 FPS range when the boss uses the "Night Queen" attack (55-58 FPS with the Wait Loop Detection speedhack on), but in 0.9.7, the same scenario can result in the FPS dropping only to 55 at worst, and the same speedhack can keep the speed about normal throughout, so something seems worse in 0.9.8.

Normally, the whole fight can stay around normal speed for the entire duration in either version of PCSX2.

I also noticed that after loading saves (in any scenario), the FPS staggers badly in 0.9.8 and much less so in 0.9.7 until it normalizes, which happens faster in 0.9.7 than in 0.9.8.

Any other builds I should try?

(09-05-2011, 05:09 AM)Rpgingmaster Wrote: [ -> ]I went back to the official 0.9.7 version, and I found something odd.

The Persona 3 FES final boss fight (I have Async on in my SPU, which is why I didn't notice at first) in 0.9.8 can dip to the 50-54 FPS range when the boss uses the "Night Queen" attack (55-58 FPS with the Wait Loop Detection speedhack on), but in 0.9.7, the same scenario can result in the FPS dropping only to 55 at worst, and the same speedhack can keep the speed about normal throughout, so something seems worse in 0.9.8.

Normally, the whole fight can stay around normal speed for the entire duration in either version of PCSX2.

I also noticed that after loading saves (in any scenario), the FPS staggers badly in 0.9.8 and much less so in 0.9.7 until it normalizes, which happens faster in 0.9.7 than in 0.9.8.

Any other builds I should try?

maybe the last build; http://buildbot.orphis.net/pcsx2/

Just tried the r4910 build, and BOTH the SuperVu and MicroVU kinda suck, with emphasis on the former.

Ironically, the microVu works great when fighting the final boss (with the all the MicroVU speedhacks on, maintaining a solid or better 60 FPS), but when tested in Monad (where most of the enemies who slow down the game can be found), fighting four Vehement Mothers sucked regardless.

I used both VU engines, tried all possible permutations of speedhacks, and neither VU engine got above 40.

All of this was done on native resolution (I cannot handle how grainy the character portraits get at high res, they look hideous), and while for the first time I could say MicroVu was better in walking around areas and the final boss (with the appropriate speedhacks on), SuperVU turned into crap.

Also, the Amorous Snake enemies (in groups of three) never gave me trouble, and now they have slowdown as well.

In short, the latest build both fixed and broke things, and by comparison, 0.9.8 runs the best so far for this game (though 0.9.7 may run even better, but I have not tested it in all areas).

P.S. - I used the MTVU hack on a dual core, with no ill effects aside from anything covered above.

Okay... doing a little digging back on my youtube account (lots of old Persona 3/4 vids I did in HD) I'm fairly certain the exact build for GSDx that worked last was 1398... Then again, 1398 may have just been the last version not to have ghosting on certain other games. I honestly can't remember which (may even be both).

Natt: An exaggeration is an exaggeration... Still taking the time to setup my computer (installing VS2008 and all associated SDKs), compiling all of the different builds, testing them, and playing the game up to a point for me to test each one would still add up to several hours.

(edit) Anyone at a spot to check the shiny bosses, give this build a try just to see if there is major slow down in it... It'll at least help me track it down. http://guliverkli.sourceforge.net/GSdxv1-14.zip

(edit 2) Gabest used to have a site where he uploaded his own latest GSDx builds, which he stopped updating... was hoping someone still had a link to it if it still exists since it had all the GSDx revisions in that time frame.