[Glide]

I've tried both Chankast and NullDC, but it's just not working out. The games I run are sloooooooooooowwwwww. The sound and the game are in synch and all, but it doesn't really help when the game is running so slowly.

I don't really understand why this is either...my graphics card is an NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 and I've heard of people playing Dreamcast games on their computer with graphics cards of a far lower caliber. I also installed DirectX 9.0c, a move that gave me an improvement...but not by that much.

I think that my computer is also fine. Windows XP Version 2002, Service Pack 3, Pentium 4 CPU 2.80 GHz, 512 MB RAM.

Right...so am I missing something? Is there some crucial piece of software that I don't have or is there some kind of trick to using NullDC that I'm not aware of? Or is it something else entirely? :???:

Help is much appreciated.

 

[PsyMan]

Performance greatly depends on the plugins you use. Try nullPVR and use the lowest available resolution, a low Z-Buffer mode and disable modifier volumes.
Note that some games are too intensive and need something like a dual core CPU to run at full speed. What games did you try and they ran slow?

 

[Glide]

What's a Z-Buffer and how do I make changes to it? >.>

As for the games...well, let's just focus on Shenmue II. That's the game that I have a HUGE interest in playing, so much so that the other games don't really matter until Shenmue II runs. Is that a game that requires a dual core CPU? D:

 

[Squall-Leonhart]

All emulator users should take the time to explore the applications various menu's

...or just not use emulators.

 

[PsyMan]

What's a Z-Buffer and how do I make changes to it? >.>

As for the games...well, let's just focus on Shenmue II. That's the game that I have a HUGE interest in playing, so much so that the other games don't really matter until Shenmue II runs. Is that a game that requires a dual core CPU? D:

Take some time to read the nullDC manual, then do as I said, try changing AICA plugin to see if it increases speed and optionally post the results as well as some screen-shots.

 

[Glide]

Er...when I download nullDC, the manual is included somewhere in the folder's files, right? Where is it? I thought it would be in the "data" folder, but it's not...

And before I go off trying to tweak the emulator's settings, is it possible at all to play Shenmue II on my computer? Because if it's not, well, there's not really much of a point to all of this. :/

 

[PsyMan]

I can't know how each game performs on each PC and your system is quite outdated too. Your FX 5200 is also a slow budget card but if you use nullPVR as the PowerVR plugin with a low resolution and some features disabled/decreased it should take some load from the CPU. Switching AICA plugin can increase speed too.

I told you to read the manual in order to learn where the various options are located and such. It's named ReadME.txt and is placed in the nullDC folder.

Your system might be able to reach full speed or might not. Feel free to try.

 

[Devil Master]

is it possible at all to play Shenmue II on my computer?

NullDC emulates Shenmue 2 correctly. However, it may run slow on your computer because your video card is extremely low-end.

 

[Brenry]

dual core processors are dirt cheap. dual core 2.2's are around $70 and that overclocks to 3ghz and can emulate gamecube and ps2 games just fine. i think the only thing a p4 and onboard video card would be good for is playing world of warcraft and web surfing.

 

[Devil Master]

Performance greatly depends on the plugins you use. Try nullPVR and use the lowest available resolution, a low Z-Buffer mode and disable modifier volumes.
Note that some games are too intensive and need something like a dual core CPU to run at full speed. What games did you try and they ran slow?

I just realized I don't know what some of the options do. For example:
1) what are modifier volumes? If disabling them accelerates the emulator, how much does graphic accuracy suffer from it?
2) Does underclocking the FPU affect the speed at all?
3) Is there any difference in speed between the various aspect ratio options (stretch, borders, extra geometry) if the emulator is run in a 4:3 resolution?
4) And what is CP pass?

 

[PsyMan]

1) Technique used for shadows mostly. Off = No shadows on some games but increases speed.
2) Yes. It might increase speed on old systems but it has speed related side-effects on some games if enabled.
3) It might have on slow GPUs and high resolutions, it shouldn't make a difference though. Not sure how raz handles that.
4) Optimization. It can break some games though.

 

[Otaku Ichise]

Use NullDC 1.0.0 BETA 1.6

Simple as that, it wont make diference in some videocards like Nvidea 6600 and all types below, specialy VGA lmao other than lower performance.

Hope i have helped a litle.