[Pleroma]

I'm not sure if this goes here, but here it goes

I downloaded ePSXe 1.7.0 about a month ago. I opened it, and ignored the configuration wizard(in retrospect not the brightest thing I could have done). I then got down to the business of playing my games. This worked perfectly without a graphics plug in(save for a glitch in ff9 relating to Cleyra, but I gather that's normal). Then, one day, I was futzing around (Again, not wise), and clicked on the Config-> Video menu, looking for a way to turn it to a windowed mode. I didn't find a way, so I went to play my game. Suddenly, ePSXe realized it didn't have a video plugin, and demanded I get one. I got Pete Open GL, Pete D3D, and Pete Dx6 D3D. None of them work as well as my previous, no plugin version worked, and they all are exhibiting a strange glitch where the background won't be drawn in my games, so when I start, say, Abe's Oddysee, it will draw Abe's Sprite (At Much Much lower quality, he looks like a wrung sponge now, whereas previously he looked like he actually ought to), and any moving part of the background, but the remainder will be back. And if I move, abe's sprite moves, and the place he was standing will be filled in with black. Also, the whole emulator is running significantly slower.
Oh, and Cleyra is still broken, but I didn't think that would be fixed.
I am running an unmodified Inspiron E1505 laptop, so my graphics card is integrated into the motherboard. It's name is, so far as I can tell, Mobile Intel 945GM Express Chipset family

I haven't a clue where to even begin, but I would hugely appreciate any help from anyone.

EDIT; I am running XP, and I have 1GB of ram. ePSXe worked perfectly before I touched it...

 

[jonc2006]

when epsxe says it cant detect the plugins (or BIOS) it is usually because the "start in" field of the shortcut to executable is not written out correctly, it will instead look on the desktop for them and obviously will not have much success. either launch directly from the emulator's executable or modify the "start in" field (right click your shortcut and select "properties") yourself so it is looking in the correct directory for it.

if you can post a few screenshots of this graphical glitch you are getting it would help a bit, some basic info on your CPU would be useful too. and on a side note here i recommend you only use the D3d or software plugins as intel chipsets do not have decent OGL support.

 

[Pleroma]

But the thing was, I didn't have a video plugin at all to begin with. I think it was running off of pixie farts and dreams, a oddly superior way to run your games, if you can get them to work.

As for screenshots, I have this:

For clarification, I loaded my save state in Abe's oddysee, walked to the left, loaded the same save state (which dropped me on the left again, leaving my doppel where it was). I then thought that was so awesome I did it a few more times, just to demonstrate.
Now, what is this strange talk I hear of software plugins?

EDIT: CPU Information is as follows Intel Core 2 CPU, T5500 @ 1.66GHz (from My Computer-> Properties)
EDIT2: The picture was taken using Pete's DX6 D3D. just plain D3D does produce better grahpics, though the glitch is still present, and they still aren't as good as pixie farts and dreams (though the closest I've gotten.)
EDIT3: Tried out FF9, and the overworld looks about right (Although I still can't go into Cleyra, I walk into it, watch the bit where Freya says "Let's go" and the screen goes black ;-; ). But then the battle screen is fraught with problems. It doesn't do the weird transition it used to (The 'swoosh' with the weird technocolorism), and the numbers don't interact well with the moving camera, producing after images much like Abe did in the above picture. None of it is game breaking, but it didn't happen before, which confuses me.

 

[Pleroma]

Much as I hate to be a bother, it's been a week, and my ePSXe is still not in working condition.
Apparently ePSXe does not run on goats blood...

 

[Princess Garnet]

I've never had any freezing at certain points in Final Fantasy IX, but, and not to point any accusations here, when there's a "my game freezes at point A" reported by countless people, it's because the image of the game is corrupt at that point, and obviously, if everyone's freezes at that same exact point, everyone must be using the same image, which was obviously corrupt at that point. The only way everyone had the same image would be if they all got it from the same source, meaning it's been downloaded. I think the freeze at Cleyra point falls under that, but if it's a troublesome exception spot, someone let me know. I never had a single issue with the game using my own ripped from disc image. Piracy isn't allowed here, so I'm not accusing you, or asking. How you get your games is your business. I'm just saying, that's likely the answer to your freezing.

Okay, that long bit out of the way, here's what I can offer.

I guess, if you're using save states, you could try loading from the last game save. Save states can be picky.

As for the ePSXe itself configuration, it's impossible for it to run without a video configuration. It was likely using default configurations all along.

When I first downloaded ePSXe a long, long time ago, it couldn't find the plug-ins either. It's an odd bug a few people seem to get. I fixed it by deleting everything, downloading ePSXe again, as well as the plug-ins I needed. Try that. Make sure you back up your "memcards" and "sstates" directories to ensure your saved stuff doesn't get deleted, and also the "snaps" directory if you want to preserve screen captures.

Secondly, the video abnormalities are a result of a misconfigured video plug-in. There is no staple configuration, but this is the closest "catch all" to start with, so try this configuration for the video once/if you get the plug-in issue resolved. You likely have an onboard GPU in that laptop, so it's using the OpenGL (1) plug-in (v1.76 of the plug-in), but this should work. If your laptop has some mobile GeForce or Radeon, specify and I'll list a better configuration.

Plugin: Pete's OpenGL Driver 1.1.76
Author: Pete Bernert
Card vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
GFX card: GeForce 8800 GT/PCI/SSE2

Resolution/Color:
- 640x448 Window mode (320x224 is Final Fantasy IX's native resolution, so 640x448 is twice that, and if that's too small for you, try 960x672, but the higher you go over 320x224, the more pixelated the 2D will look)
[32 Bit]- Keep psx aspect ratio: on (optionally)

Textures:
- R8G8B8A8
- Filtering: 0 (or optionally 4 if you want, which most use, and some like 6, but 2 only works good in conjunction with both screen smoothing and stretched hi-resolution texture, while the odd numbered ones aren't worth using for any 2D games)
- Hi-Res textures: 0
- VRam size: 0 MBytes

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

Compatibility:
- Offscreen drawing: 3
- Framebuffer texture: 2
- Framebuffer access: 4
- Alpha multipass: on
- Mask bit: on
- Advanced blending: on

Misc:
- Scanlines: off
- Line mode: off
- Unfiltered FB: off
- 15 bit FB: off
- Dithering: off
- Screen smoothing: off
- Screen cushion: off
- Game fixes: on [00000200] (The Final Fantasy IX fix)

Note that this was specified for Final Fantasy IX, but besides the fix and resolution, it should work for many games. Actually, many Playstation games use a resolution of 320x240, 320x224, or the doubles of both, so even that kind of fits for most games.

 

[Pleroma]

Curiouser and curiouserer. It seems to be working now, at least for Abe's Oddysee. The magic and fairy dust is back! As for FF9, the graphics are back to previous standards, but it's still glitching. I got the image from my disc at home, so it isn't that...I guess I'll just give them a good polish and try to copy the image again.
Thanks for all your help!

 

[Princess Garnet]

What exactly is glitching? Are you just referring to getting past that part, or the video itself?

 

[Pleroma]

What exactly is glitching? Are you just referring to getting past that part, or the video itself?

The video usually starts...and then peters out. The screen goes black, and then I hear wind. But before we try any other fixes, I'm going to try the hard copy and see if it has the same trouble.

 

[Princess Garnet]

So you're just referring to the freeze at Cleyra then?

I was asking to make sure that was the only issue left, and to see if the other video problems you were mentioning were fixed or still happening.

 

[Pleroma]

So you're just referring to the freeze at Cleyra then?

I was asking to make sure that was the only issue left, and to see if the other video problems you were mentioning were fixed or still happening.

Yes, my only problem is the freeze. All of the video problems have been fixed. Thank you for helping me out.

 

[jonc2006]

are you loading from a memory card save or are you using save states?

 

[Pleroma]

are you loading from a memory card save or are you using save states?

I've tried both, with the same results

 

[jonc2006]

try playing off the disc to get through this part or if you are already doing that, make an image and attempt to get through it that way. if all that fails, try out another emulator or version of epsxe.

 

[Pleroma]

try playing off the disc to get through this part or if you are already doing that, make an image and attempt to get through it that way. if all that fails, try out another emulator or version of epsxe.

I'll report my findings