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[tsukiiori]

Hi again 'verybody !

Thanks for your answers and for sharing your experience about WO3Se on PCSXBOX ^^

Maybe I have to give some more details about what I observed...

@Timerever :
I use ISO and CUE/BIN formats for WO3Se and tested the different images with Daemon Tools and ePSXe.
The iso images encapsuled the audio tracks, so I could play musics without problems.
The ISO image I used on PCSXBOX can play music too (without solving the glitch...), but you're right, it's easier to work with BIN format (I had to try several different settings before obtaining ISO images able to contain audio tracks...)

I search on the web to find other CUE files, on order to compare with the CUE I created.
The other users who sent me their own CUE obtained the very same CUE file, whereas they're using different softwares.
This is why I think this is not a problem about audio tracks info.
The issue is probably PCSXBOX lacking of compatibility with this game T___T

About PCSXBOX getting faster, I had speed problems until v13 got avaliable.
PCSXBOX v13 improve a lot the ingame speed.
But as the music problem were still quite important, I didn't tried to change the settings to gain more speed.
The musics played really better with v15 (or v16, I dont remember, sorry... ^^)
So, I went deeper into the settings for graphics and speed... And got aware that WO3SE is now far more faster...

I have on original WO3 disk and played it on my PSTwo system.
As WO3SE is just WO3 with more "bonuses" (the game engine wasn't changed...), I think ingame speed is the same in WO3 than in WO3SE.
If this is true, I can tell that WO3SE is running faster on PCSXBOX than on a real PSX system...
And it's really more lovely, thank to the graphics filters (well... Don't use a far too "CPU/RAM greedy" filter, or else, the speed won't be so high...)


@Thraxen :
You're right ^^
Musics are so slaughtered that it's truly a pure sadistic experience to play WO3SE without disabling CDDA...
In a way disabling CDDA allow us to save at least the FX sounds...
But a WipeOut game without music is like a JetSetRadio/SOTN/ResidentEvil/ThunderForce with no sound T__T
Music is an important part in the gaming experience...

But, hey..Wait !!  There is a solution to get perfect musics !!  O_o
Just put the WO3SE disk in another audio CD player while playing the game on PCSXBOX !!   (IMG:style_emoticons/default/jester.gif)
...Until PCSXBOX is able to play the musics without the glitches... ^^

@El Noel :
I also tested PCSXBOX with WO3.
And the results are the same as WO3SE : full speed but music problems...
To play WO3, BIOS mode is needed.
And remember to disable frame limite.
I experienced the same problem (game refusing to bypass the loading screen) with WO3 and WO3SE (and other games) while using bad ISO format...
This is why, as Timerever suggested, it's easier to use BIN format.
Try again with a CUE/BIN generated by CDRWin (Alcohol is also not bad...) for example, and it should work...

To play WO2097, I used the same method and settings : BIN format of a PAL version, BIOS MODE and disabling the frame limit.
I have on original WO2097 disk and compared the game running on PSTwo and PCSXBOX...
Just like WO3/WO3SE, WO2097 runs faster (and is more beautiful...) on PCSXBOX (IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy.gif)

@Darkstalker :
Your analysis seems to perfecly confirm what I observed...
I mean this is EXACTLY the SAME problem you can obtain while changing the settings for the sound buffer size, in different ePSXe sound plugins.
Excellent info Darkstalker ^^ Thanks a lot ^^
By the way, is there a way to change the sound buffer size in PCSXBOX ?
Oooooh PCSXBOX-guys, pliiiiiiiiiiiiz...  Is it possible to include this new setting in a next PCSXBOX version ??    (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)



Little by little, answers (solutions ?) are appearing...  o_O
Thanks again everybody...

C U soon...

[Potman]

turn off frame limiter...
isnt that supposed to speed a game up faster than normal?
isnt it possible to fix the frame limiter to increase the speed abit higher to match the original speed (not the same speed as when the frame limiter's off, cuz it's too fast) ?

[Timerever]

I keep wearing from random people that turning off Frame Limiter makes the game run faster but that's not how it should be, Frame Limiter should only take effect when the number of rendered frames are over 60 per second. Anyone care to explain why everybody says it's faster without FL?

[Potman]

try testing some games with fl off, it does seem to go faster, for example in vagrant story with fl off the main character runs too fast, also the cutscenes' too smoothy fast.
same thing to chrono cross, and others.

[Thraxen]

QUOTE(Timerever @ Sep 26 2006, 02:58 AM)

Nope that's not what he said, he says:

The menu music isn't Redbook if I remember correctly, so his problem is either a bad rip without audio tracks info or pcsxbox lack of compatibility with this game.

No, it's probably redbook audio.  Twisted Metal 2 is the same way.  The music skips during gameplay.  I assume this is due to the emulator being overtaxed trying to run the game and it can't read the audio track from the image file smoothly.  Then if you enable the Disable CDDA option the background music goes away.

QUOTE(Timerever @ Sep 26 2006, 05:32 PM)

I keep wearing from random people that turning off Frame Limiter makes the game run faster but that's not how it should be, Frame Limiter should only take effect when the number of rendered frames are over 60 per second. Anyone care to explain why everybody says it's faster without FL?

I used to think it couldn't hurt the game speed either so I always left it on.  But then just last week I was testing out Battle Arena Toshinden and the game was running too slow... slower than the real game played on a PSX.  But after I turned that option off it started running faster.  Sometimes it runs faster than the real game, but that's better than too slow unless it's ridiculously fast.

This post has been edited by Thraxen: Sep 27 2006, 01:26 AM

[madmab]

Believe it or not turning frame limiter off will make a game run faster, but not necessarily faster than 60fps... BUT having it off can mess up in game video playback.  Hence my "request" to either let us map a key to the framelimiter (ON/OFF) and/or add it to the menu options when the right analog stick is clicked.

Funny you should all mention the sound buffer.  I was thinking the very same thing myself that maybe adjusting  or being able to adjust the sound buffer might help in games where the audio skips alot.

[georaldc]

Try removing the frame limit in chrono cross and you'll notice that the intro (which normally runs very slow) runs much better, though as potman said, some parts of the game (like the world map and FMVs) run way faster than normal.

[El Noel]

QUOTE(madmab @ Sep 27 2006, 03:37 AM)

Believe it or not turning frame limiter off will make a game run faster, but not necessarily faster than 60fps... BUT having it off can mess up in game video playback.  Hence my "request" to either let us map a key to the framelimiter (ON/OFF) and/or add it to the menu options when the right analog stick is clicked.

The FMV scenes in Wing Commander IV ran far too choppy until I disabled frame limit. Problem is, the game runs faster now! Not so fast as to make the game unplayable but it's certainly a bit harder. It's also much smoother too, which is why a "select how much to limit the frames" option would be very welcome if there are any future releases of PCSXbox in the works.

[Timerever]

Yep it's true, turning Frame Limit off does speed up the emulation, yet it's just around 5 FPS maily on game menu's. It doesn't really help me at all, I need solid 60 FPS emulation since I'm not playing slow RPG's like Final Fantasy. I am, or should I rather say I want, to play fast moving shmups like Einhänder or Thunder Force and these games need ever single frame they can get.

[Thraxen]

QUOTE(Timerever @ Sep 27 2006, 07:31 AM)

Yep it's true, turning Frame Limit off does speed up the emulation, yet it's just around 5 FPS maily on game menu's. It doesn't really help me at all, I need solid 60 FPS emulation since I'm not playing slow RPG's like Final Fantasy. I am, or should I rather say I want, to play fast moving shmups like Einhänder or Thunder Force and these games need ever single frame they can get.

You just need to get yourself a real PSX.  Both of those games are playable on PCSXBox, but you clearly want perfection... which is simply hard to come by on an emulator, especially PCSXBox.

[Timerever]

QUOTE(Thraxen @ Sep 28 2006, 05:26 AM)

You just need to get yourself a real PSX.  Both of those games are playable on PCSXBox, but you clearly want perfection... which is simply hard to come by on an emulator, especially PCSXBox.

I didn't say I want perfection, I want speed, I sometimes play these games on ePSXe + NextGL plugin and while somethings are obviously messed (but not that much) I'm still happy with it because I get 60FPS all the times.
But this is getting repetitive, Xport knows that pcsxbox is slow and he will, if possible, make it faster.

[rodney12]

hi i just installed v18 and i`m trying to get ff8 to work.  the format is .CDZ i thought it was suppose to be a bin and cue. i tried renaming the cd files to .BIN and it just freezes on the loading screen. is there a way to convert that to the right format or am i doing something wrong. thank you

[Koitsu]

i only skimmed over these 5 pages, but i'm pretty sure no one asked this question. possibly because the answer's staring me right in my face..

when i edit a skin, where is the option to save my changes? it used to be easy to save to the settings.ini, but i can't find where that option is anymore.

btw, to the post above mine, CDZ images are compressed BIN files. i believe you have to find something to uncompress your game back to BIN and then it should play. at least as well as it normally plays, yeah?

This post has been edited by Koitsu: Sep 29 2006, 09:07 AM

[El Noel]

QUOTE(Timerever @ Sep 27 2006, 01:31 PM)

Yep it's true, turning Frame Limit off does speed up the emulation, yet it's just around 5 FPS maily on game menu's. It doesn't really help me at all, I need solid 60 FPS emulation since I'm not playing slow RPG's like Final Fantasy. I am, or should I rather say I want, to play fast moving shmups like Einhänder or Thunder Force and these games need ever single frame they can get.

Just disable XA sound processing for both... okay so you have to play without music but they'll run far smoother. Or just buy a Saturn.

[Timerever]

QUOTE(El Noel @ Sep 29 2006, 04:56 PM)

Just disable XA sound processing for both... okay so you have to play without music but they'll run far smoother. Or just buy a Saturn.

I did turn off all sound processing but it didn't help.