[the_importer]

Hey there,

A couple of months ago, I bought a Dell Mini9 Netbook for portable access to the web and my files. Little did I know that this thing had to horse power for emulation.

Although the wasn't any room for emulators and ROMs on the 8GB SSD, managed to put everything I needed on a 16GB SD card that only cost me $30 . After that, it was only a question of going from 1 to 2 gigs of RAM and I was all set.

I can play: FC, MD, SFC, GB, GBA, GG, N64, CPS-1, CPS-2, CPS-3 and NEO-GEO perfectly. Only problem lies with PSX emulation when using ePSXe, then simple game run, but 3D RPGs like Chrono Cross and FFIV seem to slow down when using the attack menus.

These are the GPU settings I tried at first, but I fiddled around with them and putting aside the frame options, nothing seemed to make a difference:

Plugin: Pete's D3D Driver 1.1.75
Author: Pete Bernert
GFX card:

Resolution/Color:
- 800x600 Fullscreen - [16 Bit]

Textures:
- R8G8A8A8
- Filtering: 5
- Hi-Res textures: 0
- VRam size: 0 MBytes

Framerate:
- FPS limit: on
- Frame skipping: off
- FPS limit: Auto

Compatibility:
- Offscreen drawing: 3
- Framebuffer texture: 1
- Framebuffer access: 0
- Alpha multipass: on
- Mask bit: off
- Advanced blending: hardware

Misc:
- Scanlines: off [0]
- Unfiltered FB: off
- Dithering: off
- Screen smoothing: off
- Full vram: off
- Game fixes: on [00000001]


Here are the specs for my Netbook:

Intel AtomTM Processor 1.6GHz, 512KB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB
2GB of DDR2
Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 950
8GB SSD
16GB SDHC
WinXP Pro SP3


Can anyone help?

 

[Princess Garnet]

Try a filtering level of 0, 2, or 4, and set the amount of RAM allocated to your onboard GPU (the DirectX diagnostic tool ["dxdiag" without the quotes in the "run" prompt] will tell you this). See what that gives you.

Alternatively, use software rendering (via P.E.Op.S. plug-in).

I'd additionally recommend a resolution no higher than 640x480, but that's my preference (as it's already about double the resolution of most Playstation games). It may help considering the onboard GPU anyway. You can also up the color bit to 32-bit. Most games are only 16-bit in game, but the MDECs are 32-bit and look like garbage in 16-bit color.

 

[the_importer]

Try a filtering level of 0, 2, or 4, and set the amount of RAM allocated to your onboard GPU (the DirectX diagnostic tool ["dxdiag" without the quotes in the "run" prompt] will tell you this). See what that gives you.

Alternatively, use software rendering (via P.E.Op.S. plug-in).

I'd additionally recommend a resolution no higher than 640x480, but that's my preference (as it's already about double the resolution of most Playstation games). It may help considering the onboard GPU anyway. You can also up the color bit to 32-bit. Most games are only 16-bit in game, but the MDECs are 32-bit and look like garbage in 16-bit color.

Software plugins do work without any problems minus the fact that they look ugly on an LCD monitor

As for the other settings, ya, I already played with them, the results are the same.

 

[Princess Garnet]

It has nothing to do with it being an LCD. The software plug-ins render things exactly as it's supposed to look. It renders things as the Playstation would, with no hardware rendering or enhancements. The reason it looks worse is because it's A) at a higher resolution than it's native one (which is often 320x240 or 320x224) and B) you're using a sharp PC monitor which doesn't blur and hide the aliasing, lack of filtering, dithering, etc. that these games had that an old CRT interlaced television would hide. You could say these games were designed that way. In their time, those televisions were standard, so games were made with things in mind that aliasing would be hid by the blurring, lack of filtering wouldn't be so noticeable, dithering would be hidden by the blurring, and so on. Play it on a higher resolution progressive scan PC monitor, which can be CRT or LCD, and suddenly things look alot worse.

Anyway, if the other plug-ins slow down, you may have no choice but to use a software plug-in.

 

[the_importer]

It has nothing to do with it being an LCD. The software plug-ins render things exactly as it's supposed to look. It renders things as the Playstation would, with no hardware rendering or enhancements. The reason it looks worse is because it's A) at a higher resolution than it's native one (which is often 320x240 or 320x224) and B) you're using a sharp PC monitor which doesn't blur and hide the aliasing, lack of filtering, dithering, etc. that these games had that an old CRT interlaced television would hide. You could say these games were designed that way. In their time, those televisions were standard, so games were made with things in mind that aliasing would be hid by the blurring, lack of filtering wouldn't be so noticeable, dithering would be hidden by the blurring, and so on. Play it on a higher resolution progressive scan PC monitor, which can be CRT or LCD, and suddenly things look alot worse.

Anyway, if the other plug-ins slow down, you may have no choice but to use a software plug-in.

I know all of that, it's just that I said it in one phrase instead of one paragraph

 

[Princess Garnet]

No, what you said was very different from what I said.

You specifically said an LCD makes the software plug-in look bad, which is false.

I specifically went on to say why a software plug-in can look bad, and a situation where an LCD can "look bad" (when it's run outside it's native resolution). There's no relation between the two at all.

 

[the_importer]

No, what you said was very different from what I said.

You specifically said an LCD makes the software plug-in look bad, which is false.

I specifically went on to say why a software plug-in can look bad, and a situation where an LCD can "look bad" (when it's run outside it's native resolution). There's no relation between the two at all.

Any old school video games on an LCD (or Plasma) TV look like crap, I know that for a fact because I have a media PC plugged on my Samsung LCD's VGA port and I do play some old 8 and 16bits games now and then. Without turning on filtering, you can clearly see the pixels that that weren't obvious back on the old CRTs.

See, now you made me write a paragraph just because you thought I didn't know something, I expect those 5 minutes of my life back

 

[Princess Garnet]

Oh dear, I made you write three sentences...

Ungh, yes, it is true that current displays makes older games look bad, but there's two problems now.

1. It has nothing to do with your initial claim of the display being an LCD as being a problem. High resolution CRT displays (such as any PC monitor from the last fifteen years) also do this as well. All that matters is that it's a higher resolution display than the game is made for. It has to do with the resolution, not the display technology!

2. As we already made clear with the above, the issue is showing low resolution games on a high resolution display, so why do you say the software plug-in is part of the problem? Why not use it?

Let's start at square one. I'm trying to help you, not argue with you, but you're sitting there saying stuff that isn't true. It's not my fault you'd rather take offense to my corrections than listen and learn.

Use the software plug-in and be done with it. Your PC is too weak to use anything better apparently. It only looks bad because that's how the games looked back then. Any issue of it looking bad because it's low resolution compared to the high resolution display is not exclusive to the software plug-in, so that's not a reason to not use it, so just use it and enjoy your games rather than arguing with me needlessly.

 

[the_importer]

Oh dear, I made you write three sentences...

Ungh, yes, it is true that current displays makes older games look bad, but there's two problems now.

1. It has nothing to do with your initial claim of the display being an LCD as being a problem. High resolution CRT displays (such as any PC monitor from the last fifteen years) also do this as well. All that matters is that it's a higher resolution display than the game is made for. It has to do with the resolution, not the display technology!

I disagree, I had only CRT Monitors up until 2 years ago. Even if I preferred using filtering back then, it didn't look as bad as it does on LCDs. It looks soooo bad on LCDs that it makes me wonder why Nintendo didn't include filtering for VC games.

2. As we already made clear with the above, the issue is showing low resolution games on a high resolution display, so why do you say the software plug-in is part of the problem? Why not use it?

Let's start at square one. I'm trying to help you, not argue with you, but you're sitting there saying stuff that isn't true. It's not my fault you'd rather take offense to my corrections than listen and learn.

:lol: See these icons? We use these when we're trying to be funny or sarcastic. You need to visits other forums, you clearly don't get the Internet if you think anyone would take offense by something like this

Use the software plug-in and be done with it. Your PC is too weak to use anything better apparently. It only looks bad because that's how the games looked back then. Any issue of it looking bad because it's low resolution compared to the high resolution display is not exclusive to the software plug-in, so that's not a reason to not use it, so just use it and enjoy your games rather than arguing with me needlessly.

Well here's the kicker:

YouTube - FFVII on Acer Aspire One

This guy can play it at full speed on a ****ty Acer Netbook (minus the menu for some reason). Also, unless my memory is tricking me, the N64 was > to the PSX (minus the sound part), so I don't see why my Netbook can play Zelda OOT perfectly and not Final Fantasy VII.

 

[Princess Garnet]

I disagree, I had only CRT Monitors up until 2 years ago. Even if I preferred using filtering back then, it didn't look as bad as it does on LCDs. It looks soooo bad on LCDs that it makes me wonder why Nintendo didn't include filtering for VC games.

I'm done repeating it to you. All I'm going to say is that you're wrong. The cause isn't the LCD technology itself, and it surely isn't the LCD technology in tandem with a software plug-in.

If you search the forums, you'll find it's been explained time and again why these older games look pixelated, blurry, and/or otherwise, well, "crap" as you put it. You'll find that it has nothing to do with the LCD display technology.

:lol: See these icons? We use these when we're trying to be funny or sarcastic. You need to visits other forums, you clearly don't get the Internet if you think anyone would take offense by something like this

I'm not new to the internet. I've had plenty of forum experience (on two or three in particular) between ~2003 and now. Perhaps it was you who failed to recognize my own sarcasm in the opening statement in my last post.

My other statement had nothing to do with not understanding your tone or sarcasm, and even if I didn't, the simple truth is, I never did intend to argue with you, and I was trying to get your support thread back on topic and help you rather than argue, but of course, if you'd rather argue with me about something you're wrong on, forgive me for trying to help you and stick to the topic at hand.

Well here's the kicker:

YouTube - FFVII on Acer Aspire One

This guy can play it at full speed on a ****ty Acer Netbook (minus the menu for some reason). Also, unless my memory is tricking me, the N64 was > to the PSX (minus the sound part), so I don't see why my Netbook can play Zelda OOT perfectly and not Final Fantasy VII.

I offered you a suggestion to have the plug-in setup in a basic way that my old Pentium III and GeForce4 MX440 could run, so if yours can't run it that way, then I don't know. You're not the first with a laptop and/or netbook with an onboard Intel solution claiming the hardware plug-ins run slow. I do know my old onboard Intel 865 desktop chipset (that is, Intel Extreme Graphics 2), which is far inferior to yours, ran Pete's OpenGL(1) plug-in fine with Final Fantasy IX, so why the Direct3D one slows down for you isn't something I can answer. Try asking that person what configuration they used, perhaps. I'm not sure what it is, but I can tell you this. There's either a lack of hardware, or a plug-in and/or configuration issue. It is always one or the other. The emulator itself plays that game fine. Offhand, I also notice your plug-in is outdated. 1.1.76, not 1.1.75, is the curent version, not that I think that this will fix your problem, but it's a start.

 

[jonc2006]

guys either take this LCD thing up via PM or just drop it.

 

[maurocds]

yes you can

i have eeepc 1000ha, cpu is fine but gpu intel gma 950 sucks a lot, a lot

using d3d, 1024*60, 32bit, all basic stuff runs fine

 

[the_importer]

yes you can

i have eeepc 1000ha, cpu is fine but gpu intel gma 950 sucks a lot, a lot

using d3d, 1024*60, 32bit, all basic stuff runs fine

Weird, besides that RAM and disk space, we have the same computer specs, so what the hell?

Can you list you full ePSXe config?

EDIT: Does FFVII run at full speed?

 

[Princess Garnet]

What does your configuration look like? You did allocate the amount of VRAM available manually, and not leave it on "0 (Autodetect)", right? That's known not to work in instances for cards other than GeForces (although many other cards, like Radeons and some onboard GPUs, will work with it, it's recommended to set it unless you have a GeForce, and even then it doesn't hurt to set it), and it's known to cause the "slowdown during battle" problem you described.

Oh, and it appears my last post was wrong about 1.1.76 being the latest version. It appears I had an outdated one too. I've seen someone with a 1.1.77 plug-in.

Try updating the plug-in, make sure the RAM is set, and if you have to, use filtering of 0, 2, or 4 since they're all pretty light. Filtering of 5 and 6 could probably be heavy for some older (really older) GPUs or some onboard GPUs. That should work.

 

[the_importer]

What does your configuration look like? You did allocate the amount of VRAM available manually, and not leave it on "0 (Autodetect)", right? That's known not to work in instances for cards other than GeForces (although many other cards, like Radeons and some onboard GPUs, will work with it, it's recommended to set it unless you have a GeForce, and even then it doesn't hurt to set it), and it's known to cause the "slowdown during battle" problem you described.

Oh, and it appears my last post was wrong about 1.1.76 being the latest version. It appears I had an outdated one too. I've seen someone with a 1.1.77 plug-in.

Try updating the plug-in, make sure the RAM is set, and if you have to, use filtering of 0, 2, or 4 since they're all pretty light. Filtering of 5 and 6 could probably be heavy for some older (really older) GPUs or some onboard GPUs. That should work.

I tried the VRAM the last time you pointed it, didn't make any difference. I also put everything at the lowest settings including a resolution of 320X240 and it still runs slowly. I also have tried the latest version of the plugin since I first posted, still nothing.

Guess Pete's D3D plugin simply doesn't like my Mini9

 

[KrossX]

For Intel IGPs, Pete's DX6 is usually suggested.
Also, make sure you have your IGP drivers updated.

Try with lower texture modes, no filterings, and no alpha blending (or just not hardware).

 

[Kaizen]

Can anyone run ePSXe properly on Netbook or Nettop?

Yes, my msi wind (1.6ghz HT atom with intel gma950) runs epsxe perfectly.
Not with the software graphics plugin though so use a hardware one.

 

[the_importer]

For Intel IGPs, Pete's DX6 is usually suggested.
Also, make sure you have your IGP drivers updated.

Try with lower texture modes, no filterings, and no alpha blending (or just not hardware).

Just tried DX6, no difference and my IGP drivers are up to date.

Yes, my msi wind (1.6ghz HT atom with intel gma950) runs epsxe perfectly.
Not with the software graphics plugin though so use a hardware one.

Have you tried 3D RPGs like FFVII?

 

[Kaizen]

Have you tried 3D RPGs like FFVII?

Yes

 

[the_importer]

Yes

Can you list your plugins and plugin settings?