Release PCSX ReARMed, with a new GPU

[porg]

Game "Driver" > New Game > Introduction game (learn how to drive) > START-key brings up menu > Restart: Are you sure? > Yes > Fade-out animation for about 1 second (as intended by the game, I guess), than a blank screen, PCSX crashes.

My image was in the format CCD/IMG/SUB. After removing the SUB file, the crash does not occur anymore!


Removing the SUB file tremendously improved other games' emulation stability! Incredible discovery!

 

[Stainy]

I`m running RR typ4 .. everything is fine until I start the race... maybe between 5-10 seconds in .. the HUD ( meaning the speed etc round the edge of the screen ) turn into pink squares. also the main screen gets a bit garbled..

 

[PokeParadox]

I`m running RR typ4 .. everything is fine until I start the race... maybe between 5-10 seconds in .. the HUD ( meaning the speed etc round the edge of the screen ) turn into pink squares. also the main screen gets a bit garbled..

Which GFX plugin are you using. If it is the GLES one - it is known to be buggy. It looks nice on the games it does work on so you can save the plugin per game.

 

[Stainy]

Built in plugin.. What do you suggest?

 

[Stainy]

I changed it from default to GLES.. just had a go... seems good

 

[mal_CanDo]

Has anyone had any luck running Porsche Challenge? I cen get it to around the menus, then a load of coloured blocks appear on-screen.


It might be due to the fact that it runs at 60fps ( 50 on PAL ).

 

[porg]

I opened up a centralized dedicated thread for the .SUB file handling issue:





Please follow up there. Thanks!

 

[notaz]

A sneak peak preview of the upcoming version, which features double resolution rendering:

This is achieved by tuning Exophase's code to output in double resolution, and is able to run fullspeed at around 900MHz (depending on game). Considering that it's done without using the GPU and is done fully in software, this is quite an achievement I'd say. Doing this in software will also allow close to full compatibility without any glitches, what can't be done (or is very difficult to do) when using the GPU because of some PSX specifics.


This will also need a new pandora's kernel update to overcome some performance issues (TLB misses).

 

[porg]

Wow! Looks amazing!


Was the rendering in the previous versions only half of the PSX native resolution?


Or was it full PSX resolution, and this upcoming version, renders double resolution from the PSX objects (2D sprites / 3D models / gfx instructions), or double resolution achieved through (intelligent) pixel interpolation?


Nevertheless I hope that this feature is optional, so that one can also run PCSX still at moderate CPU speeds (600-700 Mhz), in order to keep battery drainage low.


Last, but not least, if you have some time now, I'd appreciate a response to the .SUB file handling thread. Thank you!

 

[EvilDragon]

Wow, awesome, this sounds (or looks ) great.


While I don't like it for games like Final Fantasy with prerendered backgrounds (low res background and highres characters just looks weird), it will be fantastic for pure 3D games like Spyro, Muppet Racemania and many many more


Thanks

 

[ekianjo]

Wow, that is impressive! Good work Notaz!

 

[_wb_]

Or was it full PSX resolution, and this upcoming version, renders double resolution from the PSX objects (2D sprites / 3D models / gfx instructions)

I'm assuming it is this. There already was a hardware GPU mode in PCSX that did the same kind of upscaling, but it was quite horribly glitchy on many games.


Great work, notaz! Amazing how you manage to improve something that is already great!

 

[CapcomSuicide]

Thanks Notaz! Can't wait to try it, hadn't expected this!

 

[mcobit]

Thats great! Now you only need to implement software bilinear filtering for 3d objects and you can leave the gpu alone completely as it has nothing more to offer

 

[porg]

Or was it full PSX resolution, and this upcoming version, renders double resolution from the PSX objects (2D sprites / 3D models / gfx instructions)

I'm assuming it is this. There already was a hardware GPU mode in PCSX that did the same kind of upscaling, but it was quite horribly glitchy on many games.

Wow! This would mean, that PCSX creates a higher resolution graphical experience than on the original PSX hardware! Emulation better than the original. Has there EVER been such an approach? Not that I know of!!!

 

[mcobit]

Every emulator that uses 3d is capable of doing it by just rendering in a higher resolution. PC psxemulators do it since years and mupen does ist by default.

 

[_wb_]

It has been done before (e.g. try the GPU plugin "gpu_gles" in PCSX), but afaik they always used OpenGL (|ES), which seems to introduce many glitches.


If they can pull this off in software, it is really amazing because you would get "pixel perfect" double resolution emulation, without those annoying glitches. This is indeed "emulation better than the original". Of course typically the textures will be too low res, but at least the geometry will look much better, and maybe with some bilinear interpolation (or even cubic?) the textures would look quite nice - if that can be done.

 

[porg]

mcobit & _wb_ , thanks for your information ex-course!

 

[Exophase]

Just for those who are wondering, adding any kind of filtering would be a ton of work and make things much slower. It'd also cause some glitches. An easier thing to do would be to get it to output in 24bpp color instead of dithering down to 15bpp, but even that would require a fair amount of rework.

 

[mcobit]

There are neonscaler/filter libraries available afaik. Maybe trying wouldn't hurt if it isn't too much hassle with those.