Slowdown in certain games

[bosstanaka]

Let's take R-Type III as an example because here I can reproduce the problem, which I will do below. But it also happens in the same way with games like Contra III when there is a lot on the screen.

So when starting the game I select the second Force Device. As soon as I get the Yellow pickup which is a green guided laser, the game slows down when I start shooting. The FPS stays at a constant 60. This happens both with VSYNC on and off. With filters on and off, a resolution of 640x480, auto framerate on and off. Whether it's windowed or not.

Why is this happening? How do I solve it? Does it also happen on the SNES?

My PC is a AMD 2.4Ghz (4000+) 1GB RAM, ATI X800XT 256MB

[randal]

I know that R-Type III and Contra III suffered from quite a bit of slowdown.

[leilei]

You can raise the percent of execution to solve some of the natural SNES slowdown phenomenon at the risk of emulation stability and accuracy.

Gradius III and Kirby Superstar are notorious for slowdown.

This 'slowdown' is perfectly normal and is not a problem with emulation or your system.

[Gil_Hamilton]

Why is this happening? How do I solve it? Does it also happen on the SNES?

Because the SNES is being asked to do more than it can do in a single frame, so it keeps the old frame until it catches up since it doesn't have the option of frame-skipping.

Go back in time and tell Nintendo that the 65816 sucks and will forever cripple their upcoming NES/FamiCom replacement that won't be backwards-compatible anyways.

Yes, it does. And RType 3 and Contra 3 aren't even the worst examples.


In that order.

[bosstanaka]

Why is this happening? How do I solve it? Does it also happen on the SNES?

Because the SNES is being asked to do more than it can do in a single frame, so it keeps the old frame until it catches up since it doesn't have the option of frame-skipping.

Go back in time and tell Nintendo that the 65816 sucks and will forever cripple their upcoming NES/FamiCom replacement that won't be backwards-compatible anyways.

Yes, it does. And RType 3 and Contra 3 aren't even the worst examples.


In that order.

Thanks for your answer. Now I'm beginning to understand how an emulator works. And I don't have to buy a SNES anymore, hoping to get decent speed:)

You can raise the percent of execution to solve some of the natural SNES slowdown phenomenon at the risk of emulation stability and accuracy.

Gradius III and Kirby Superstar are notorious for slowdown.

This 'slowdown' is perfectly normal and is not a problem with emulation or your system.

I tried raising the percent to execute, but it didn't help much, speeded up the whole game instead of just the slow parts. I guess it just doesn't work that way.

EDIT: on second thought it does..... I'm going to experiment a little
EDIT2: Actually it works very good. It almost completly eliminates the slowdown. I was firing the lasers the whole time, so I didn't notice how fast the game actually runs if you don't shoot
You have my thanks!