what's wrong with SnesGT???

vanfanel · Post by **vanfanel** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 12:36 pm

hello there

nowadays, I find SnesGT is the best available snes emulator: perfect timming for sound (something zsnes and snes9x lack and causes music to sound out-of-perfecct sync: try Mario World), great compatibility and perfect-synced graphics in full screen, etc.. (BSNES is accurate but slow as hell, totally unplayable in my Core2Duo MAC)

however, I've tried 0.230 betas 5 and 6, and I find they have bad, clicky sound even on a Core2Duo machine!! I know they aimed for accuracy, but...those betas are unable to keep on with a small sound buffer in an Atom or Core2DUO machine, they perform equally bad.
So, what's going on with this emulator?? it has been a year or so since it last updated, and those cheesy betas...

Gary_Oak · Post by **Gary_Oak** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 1:39 pm

I also think that it's been quite a while since the latest beta release, but trust me, this emulator is alive and kicking (I've checked the emulator's board recently, and it seems to contain recent reports about bugs and feature requests). We just have to be pacient, I understand we're always looking forward for the next release of a great emulator, but first we must understand that programers are human just like us and have a real life to manage.

As for your clicking problems, I don't think it's a problem with the betas since everything works fine on my end, try updating all your hardware to the latest drivers (and DirectX too), especially the sound card.

vanfanel · Post by **vanfanel** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 3:19 pm

I am using the latest DirectX available for my OS (Windows XP, only because of SnesGT), thats dx 9.0c.

I am using the latest controllers from Intel for my graphics & video chips (Azalia ALC 888 and GMA950).

The betas work well IF you leave a large sound buffer. however, that's NOT desired for reasons you should know. Those betas, in the same hardware, are slower. And NO, I am not eagerly waiting for a release.
I just wanted to know what's going on with the emu and why those faulty betas.

paulguy · Post by **paulguy** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 3:36 pm

Hmm, if bsnes is slow on a core 2 duo then I'm more wondering whether something is wrong, or if it's a lower-end core 2 duo. Maybe some crappy virus or whatever. It could also be the cause of your audio problems in snesgt.

vanfanel · Post by **vanfanel** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 4:35 pm

No: I know EVERY little process running in my minimal Windows setup. In fact, it only runs system-critical processes to support emulators. I don't even go online with that crappy OS. I've got OSX and Gentoo Linux for that... (and it's running NATIVELY, not under vmware/parellels).

I can uders tand why Bsnes is so slow: I understand it's approach toward accurate, cycle-exact emulation, but I don't need that to play.
My computer is a MAC BOOK with the Santa Rosa core2duo cpu at 2 Ghz.
Low end? A macbook? Heh

On the OSX port, bsnes is equally slow for a lot of games.
No, thats not the cause. Those betas are f***ed.

byuu · Post by **byuu** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 5:47 pm

So you're triple booting to run SNESGT on Windows, then? That's gotta be a hassle.

This is obviously of no help to you, but:

The E4600 is a butchered Core 2 with half the cache of the normal chips. If you're getting less than 112fps average, then something is definitely wrong. I'd venture a wild guess it's something to do with Direct3D.

I'd recommend SNESGT to you (well, any non-developer) anyway (SFX+SA-1+BS-X+savestates, 3x faster). The SNESGT betas are unstable as he's re-writing a lot of the low-level stuff. I'm sure the next official release will be fine, and the old releases still work well enough.

AamirM · Post by **AamirM** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 6:09 pm

Betas can be faulty. Thats why they are called "betas". :P

Gil_Hamilton · Post by **Gil_Hamilton** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 7:31 am

vanfanel wrote: Low end? A macbook? Heh

Yes, low-end Macs exist. Just because they COST like a high-end IBM clone doesn't mean they ARE a high-end IBM clone.

Anyways, you've done something wrong if a 2-GHz dual-core Core 2 is choking, as byuu noted.

Hell, I can run bSNES greater than full-speed on an E2140(my random survey can't find a game that drops below 90).
Admittedly it's an E2140 overclocked to 2.4GHz, but it's still a 2140.
There's no reason a 2GHz Merom should be left THAT far behind.

Especially given my XP install has about a half-dozen apps in the background(2 IM clients, 1 IRC client, 1 browser window, 1 bittorrent client, plus a systray app or two) and has not been optimized at all.

Either you have a severe hardware deficiency you're not aware of, or your Windows config is bungled somewhere.

Also: Do you have the latest VERSION of DirectX 9.0c.
Don't ask why, as I can't explain it, but MS does bi-monthly DirectX updates without incrementing the version number.
You actually have to go and download an updated installer manually.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... laylang=en

I.S.T. · Post by **I.S.T.** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 7:34 am

BTW, don't be surprised if SA-1 games make that 2140 choke. I got a 2160 that I OCed to 3 GHZ and SMRPG has some speed problems...

Gil_Hamilton · Post by **Gil_Hamilton** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 7:50 am

I.S.T. wrote:BTW, don't be surprised if SA-1 games make that 2140 choke. I got a 2160 that I OCed to 3 GHZ and SMRPG has some speed problems...

You mean... I can't play SRW Gaiden???
...
You make me sad.

I.S.T. · Post by **I.S.T.** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 8:04 am

*shrug*

Maybe it'll work better on a final build...

byuu · Post by **byuu** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 8:09 am

I just finished (hopefully) fixing the last bugs today. So I haven't started optimizing yet. The final release should be a good bit faster, plus another +15% for profiling the code.

SNESGT is still a great choice for SA-1, it seems to run all 26 games correctly from my tests.

vanfanel · Post by **vanfanel** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 8:52 am

The last redistributable installer from MicroSoft is dated august 2008, but they explicitly note that those monthly updates are included...how can that be? Aren't there any updates for DX 9.0c since 2008??

I am not connected to internet al home (yeah, I know: but I am sharing home and my floormates are just too stupid to benefit from having internet at home so they just don't want it), so I've to use this redistributable thing.... is it updated?

EDIT: has someone tested SnesGT on WINE? I would be happy to take Windows out of my machines once and for all.

franpa · Post by **franpa** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 10:51 am

the latest redistributable can be found @
NEXT TIME I'LL USE A TINYURL

byuu · Post by **byuu** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 5:32 pm

Screw their WGA, latest version is November 2008:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/ ... redist.exe

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 1:00 am

byuu, there's a more recent version, but it's axed 2k support, but that's not new news...

franpa · Post by **franpa** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 2:12 pm

march 2009 is the latest... did you check my link at all Byuu?

byuu · Post by **byuu** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:03 pm

Deathlike2: so there is ... neat. Will have to get the non-WGA link for that one.

franpa: Firefox kept telling me that "NEXT TIME I'LL USE A TINYURL" was not a valid website.

adventure_of_link · Post by **adventure_of_link** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 7:10 pm

byuu wrote:Deathlike2: so there is ... neat. Will have to get the non-WGA link for that one.

franpa: Firefox kept telling me that "NEXT TIME I'LL USE A TINYURL" was not a valid website.

Apparently someone edited his post.

DancemasterGlenn · Post by **DancemasterGlenn** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 7:42 pm

You don't say.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:09 am

DancemasterGlenn wrote:You don't say.

adventures_in_obvious strikes again.

franpa · Post by **franpa** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 4:16 am

I could have used a tinyurl, but that would have obscured where the link takes you to (not a fan of obscurity on the internet). I could also have linked directly to the latest redistribution, but chose to use the link that redirects to the latest version instead (so that the link stays pointing to the latest when updates come out etc.).

I.S.T. · Post by **I.S.T.** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 4:18 am

Next time just say where it goes in the URL, like this one. It goes to Yahoo.

adventure_of_link · Post by **adventure_of_link** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:23 am

Also, IIRC you can use tinyurl's reasurrance thing, which previews the site..

Post by **grinvader** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 6:10 am

franpa wrote:I could have used a tinyurl, but

OBJECTION DENIED