Gpsp (dynarec) Beta Testing

[zodttd]

Two things I forgot to do in v9004b:
The debug FPS counter pauses slightly on each display. I'm fixing this now.

*** IF USING v9004b the best audio buffer setting is 2048 ! ***
*** BE SURE TO EXIT AND START BACK UP GPSP2X AFTER SETTING ***

Sam: Set the audio buffer to 2048 and let me know if it helps. If not, I'll look into it. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[gaterooze]

Just wow.

At 240mhz (with RAM timings), unscaled/unfiltered, auto-frameskip 2, Kirby and the Amazing Mirror never dips below 50FPS, usually staying at ~53. The sound is a bit scratchy and loses sync sometimes, but a massive improvement and quite decent.

My best results seem to be audio buffer @ 1024, although anything from 512 to 16k seemed good. Lower settings (16-128) really slowed things down a lot. I'll test other games when I have some spare moments to see if that changes.

 

[zodttd]

GunPei2X...I believe I will have ironed out all the bugs in v9004 within a few minutes with v9004c.

So everyone please update to v9004c when it's ready in a few minutes.
It will have smoother auto frameskip and better default settings such as audio buffer set to either 1024 or 2048 (havent determined which yet).

 

[sam fisher]

I'll test in the morning. Right now I really need sleep. Its 5:10. lol.

 

[Rivroner]

GunPei2X...I believe I will have ironed out all the bugs in v9004 within a few minutes with v9004c.

So everyone please update to v9004c when it's ready in a few minutes.
It will have smoother auto frameskip and better default settings such as audio buffer set to either 1024 or 2048 (havent determined which yet).

Incredible work Zodttd! You are fireproof !
The public release will be awesome.

 

[DaveC]

Two things I forgot to do in v9004b:
The debug FPS counter pauses slightly on each display. I'm fixing this now.

*** IF USING v9004b the best audio buffer setting is 2048 ! ***
*** BE SURE TO EXIT AND START BACK UP GPSP2X AFTER SETTING ***

Sam: Set the audio buffer to 2048 and let me know if it helps. If not, I'll look into it. Thanks for the heads up.

I tried it at 2048 and the sound lags severely for me too. I usually test with the Castlevania games and Astroboy. The sound lags about 3 seconds behind. I crack the whip in CV and I don't hear anything until 3 seconds later.

Also the sound will shift channels randomly. It is like I have a loose wire on one of the speakers and it randomly cuts out for a brief moment.

The sound isn't as choppy as before. it is still kind of rough, but it is improved.

If I exit the emu then re-load it locks up at the CPU speed thing.

Also it you try to go into cheats and misc options the emu locks up.

I keep having to set to FS2. It doesn't save this setting for some reason, I have to do it every time (FS4 is way too choppy to be playable)

Just for kicks i set the audio buffer to 4096. The lag is gone but it stutters more.

Oh yeah I always test at 240 MHz as that is as high as I can go.

 

[Dark.Warlock680]

Games tested with 9004b:

Baldur's - Dark Aliance - 266Mhz
White screen.

Castlevainia - Circle of the Moon - 266Mhz
40-50 FPS with sound enabled (1024).
Just a little bit sluggish.

Best with sound disabled, frameskip 3
59 FPS average!

Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow - 266Mhz
Almost full speed with sound with a frameskip of 3, Auto

Golden Sun 2: Lost Age - 266Mhz
Black screen, I can hear distorted/glitchy sound in background.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - 266Mhz
With sound:
Sluggish.
Sound is glitchy and laggy, Same settings as Splinter Cell.
Runs at an average of 42-43 FPS.

Without Sound:
Best with no sound, frameskip 3, Auto.
Fairly playable.

Dynasty Warriors Advance - 266Mhz
Rather sluggish, It actually seems to be slower in this release.

Best for me at: Sound disabled, frameskip 3, Manual.



Will test more in a few minutes, Gotta eat now
---

Great work Zod!

EDIT: DaveC: I get the same thing, After I've loaded a rom, If I try to go into it, It locks up.
Works fine before I load a rom though.

-Arch

 

[zodttd]

Everyone please update to gpSP2X v9004c.

To update from a previous version just copy over and overwrite gpsp.gpe and gpsp.cfg.

New in this version:
- A working FPS counter that updates more often and computes a rolling average.
- Autoframeskip now works correctly. It takes a second or two to even out to 60 FPS. It will only skip up to the number of frames set, and will only skip frames if needed.
- The default audio buffer is now set at 2048. It increases speed by up to 10 FPS and higher numbers will give better performance but less crucial timing. 2048 seems to work best for me.
- Added a temporary switch to turn off FPS reporting. Press Volume up to toggle it.

TODO:
Work on getting the initial timing of audio working on certain games. It's NOT an issue on all games, but there are some titles such as Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo (mostly Euro games) that this occurs on.



EDIT: Strange, the emu doesn't lock up for me when exiting and coming back. It could very well be a corrupted cfg file either from cpu_speed.cfg or gpsp.cfg. I suggest deleting cpuspeed's cfg and updating to v9004c and using it's gpsp.cfg as required. You will have to reenter the cpuspeed settings which can take awhile due to the key delays (will be tweaked soon).

 

[Rivroner]

Thank you man

 

[gaterooze]

I keep having to set to FS2. It doesn't save this setting for some reason, I have to do it every time

Before you first load a rom, try setting it to A-FS2, then hit Y to exit the settings menu (instead of the other way). Also, if you change it for a certain game and hit Y, that setting will be saved only for that game in future (it saves a .cfg file matching the romname).

 

[purple_goat]

it seems like every time I check the thread there is a new beta :lol:
does 9004 refer to 9004 builds!? :blink:

 

[zodttd]

Ah crap, I found a bug with the rolling average making it only go lower and never raising.

 

[zodttd]

Ok, I'm building a new version with a fixed rolling average for the FPS counter, and also might have fixed the sound issues. Im going to test if the sound issue fixes are affecting performance any first.

 

[moz]

mmm might have to get the batteries on charge and my wallet out and pop the psp in the drawer for a while

 

[zodttd]

Required update:
Just put up v9004d.

New in version v9004d:
- Fixed rolling average finally. FPS counter should work correctly now.
- Audio should now be synced correctly and can default to audio buffer 512. Now smaller audio buffers result in more performance and better timings as they should.
- Pauses at the beginning of a game no longer occur. This bug fix is for you DaveC.

Please let me know how v9004d works. Unless there's a major bug, it's the last update of the day. I decided to do some small incremental updates/testing while most are asleep.

Waiting for some test results. Thanks everyone!

Moz: If the PSP is used mostly for GBA, I think release v9004d will suit you well. I finally got autoframeskip working and it helps a lot. If your GP2X overclocks to 260 or more, almost any game you throw at it will run smoothly. If you can overclock to 240, it's only a few frames slower so it basically needs one extra frameskip to hold on to 50-60FPS. The lowest framerate I get with Auto-frameskip 4 is 48 in a Capcom game (Capcom games seem to always be VERY slow in emulators). There's a few games that aren't compatible yet due to small bugs not found in the PSP version but they'll be resolved soon.

 

[gaterooze]

Great update, zodttd! Sound is now MUCH better. Yowzer, it's looking really bloody good...

The music still lags a little sometimes when autoframeskip is on, but not with a manual frameskip it seems? Not that I'm complaining

 

[zodttd]

GunPei2X: There's a few games where games will lag a bit. But I haven't seen it to an easily noticeable extent. What game does it lag on for you? I'll try it out. Manual frameskip keeps a more steady framerate by *always* skipping a certain number of frames. Auto-frameskip can get a spike in a framerate that will sometimes throw it off. I can smooth it out more if needed.

Oh yeah everyone: Be sure to update http://checklist.berzerk.co.uk with some new data on playability with v9004d as I think this release is a milestone.

 

[Rivroner]

Thank you very much again Zodttd,a bunch of games is waiting for me to test. Now with 9004D

 

[sbock]

Very good release! Massive speed and sound improvement. Sound stuttering is eliminated in most games.
At 280 Mhz even heavier games like F-Zero run smoothly with good sound. Many other games only need 240 Mhz or less.
Indeed a milestone release...

Regards,
Stephan

 

[zodttd]

Btw, F-Zero Maximum Velocity runs the fastest of the series.