ZSNES 1.42 not optimized?

What evar · Post by **What evar** » Sun Feb 27, 2005 1:28 am

Because of some issues with my controller, it is borderline impossible for me to use ZSNES without it being optimized. I've been told several times that the next official build (which is finally here! YES!) would "probably" be optimized, but it obviously isn't.
Now my question is how would I download the source and compile it myself so that it would be optimized?

Oblivion · Post by **Oblivion** » Sun Feb 27, 2005 1:34 am

On my other, significantly old computer, Zsnes 1.42 runs faster than the latest WIP, and I've heard that there have been speed improvements of late. I'm not one to give directions on using CVS, though, so I'm sure someone else will comment on that.

What evar · Post by **What evar** » Sun Feb 27, 2005 1:39 am

I'm not currently using the latest WIP, I'm using an old WIP that was optimized. (May 25 2004)

Joe Camacho · Post by **Joe Camacho** » Sun Feb 27, 2005 1:41 am

I'm willing to bet that this problem is on your end and not the issue of Zsnes "not being optimized" what's the problem with your controller?

What evar · Post by **What evar** » Sun Feb 27, 2005 1:53 am

Look, I'm 100% sure that it's because of it not being optimized. Every single build of ZSNES, every single WIP is incredibly slow for me. (And when I say incredibly slow, I mean five minutes to load a save state sometimes. It's not very fun) And it's not my specs, I have a 2ghz processor and 512mb of RAM.

That optimized WIP works PERFECTLY, no wait to start ZSNES, no wait to load, no wait for anything.
The thing is, I have no idea what the problem with my controller is. It's a PSX controller hooked up to my PC via a Rockfire USB converter. It seems to only cause trouble with ZSNES.

Anyway, I know I can compile it in some special way that takes 30 minutes or something (A dev specifically told me this on the forum months ago) so that it will run faster. All I'm asking is how I should do this.

Post by **Nach** » Sun Feb 27, 2005 2:00 am

All official builds are optimized using the insane method that takes half an hour to compile.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Sun Feb 27, 2005 2:41 am

Anyway, I know I can compile it in some special way that takes 30 minutes or something (A dev specifically told me this on the forum months ago) so that it will run faster. All I'm asking is how I should do this.

You may want to look at your profile, there is something that lets you view your old posts... in one of the old posts... one of the devs have responded... so you need to check it out.

(And when I say incredibly slow, I mean five minutes to load a save state sometimes. It's not very fun) And it's not my specs, I have a 2ghz processor and 512mb of RAM.

Well, it probably isn't your comp.. but I'm willing to bet you haven't deleted the .cfg and .dat files that get generated by ZSNES...

When some of the newer builds try to read older versions of ZSNES .cfg/.dat files, it tends to cause really nasty performance problems and/or compatibility issues.

What evar · Post by **What evar** » Sun Feb 27, 2005 3:55 am

Woah, thank you very much, Deathlike. That was actually it! It would never have occurred to me that it was the .dat and .cfg files.
Well, at least I know that this version of ZSNES works well with my controller.
But just so you know: On 1.36 I actually tried taking out the controller from the USB port, and then it worked fine, so there's some issue with that for sure. Doesn't matter now, though, since it works perfectly.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Sun Feb 27, 2005 5:05 am

No prob... you need to repeat this operation on any newer version (or older) of ZSNES. This should work with essentially ANY version (WIPs or official builds).

Post by **grinvader** » Sun Feb 27, 2005 10:26 pm

Nach wrote:All official builds are optimized using the insane method that takes half an hour to compile.

It's only insane because of newgfx16.asm being insane in the first place...

daft · Post by **daft** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 12:29 am

Maybe this would be asking too much, but I think updated zsnes builds should correctly work with older .dat/.cfgs.

Future builds could either automatically update the less compatible settings with the newer ones (upon notification), or if that's too complicated, at the least, have some "Reset Configuration" option somewhere.

While it's clear deleting .cfg and .dat files accomplishes the same thing, 90% of zsnes users would have no clue to do this.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 12:41 am

Maybe this would be asking too much, but I think updated zsnes builds should correctly work with older .dat/.cfgs.

Future builds could either automatically update the less compatible settings with the newer ones (upon notification), or if that's too complicated, at the least, have some "Reset Configuration" option somewhere.

That's too much unneeded work.. though the reset config wouldn't hurt though...

While it's clear deleting .cfg and .dat files accomplishes the same thing, 90% of zsnes users would have no clue to do this.

It'll be in the documentation in the next official version..

Joe Camacho · Post by **Joe Camacho** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 12:41 am

daft wrote:While it's clear deleting .cfg and .dat files accomplishes the same thing, 90% of zsnes users would have no clue to do this.

Ah... Is it too hard to click on an icon, right click for the menu and then just choose delete? is not like they have to do it via DOS commands or anything.

Edit.- Unless they are using DOS (Which it's still a possibility) or Linux (That I don't now about, so it MIGHT be different) but I think those users might be really aware of how it works anyway.

daft · Post by **daft** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 1:31 am

Joe Camacho wrote: Ah... Is it too hard to click on an icon, right click for the menu and then just choose delete? is not like they have to do it via DOS commands or anything.

Never overestimate the average computer user. That's all I'm going to say.

Joe Camacho wrote: It'll be in the documentation in the next official version..

Again, I'm not expecting the "average" zsnes user to bother reading through documentation, although it wouldn't hurt to add though.

Still think something inside the program itself should be done.

Jipcy · Post by **Jipcy** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 1:50 am

ZSNES already checks the existence or non-existence of config and dat files. If they don't exist, it creates them. So maybe code could be added in there somewhere:

1. Config file exists?
2. No? Create files. Yes? What version of zsnes created these files?
3. No version number, or version number not current? Files are too old. Notify user to either clear all entries or continue to use config at user's own risk.
3. Version number is the same as current program? Continue with no notification.

In other words, add version numbers to the config/dat files, so that ZSNES knows what its dealing with.

Jipcy · Post by **Jipcy** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 1:51 am

Joe Camacho wrote:Ah... Is it too hard to click on an icon, right click for the menu and then just choose delete? is not like they have to do it via DOS commands or anything.

The action is not difficult. It's that the user may not know it's necessary.

Starman Ghost · Post by **Starman Ghost** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 1:58 am

What they should do is have a version flag in both the cfg and dat files and upon running zsnes it checks to see if the files are for this version. If not it tells the user and deletes them.

ipher · Post by **ipher** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 2:30 am

The thing is, you don't have to delete the cfg files after every release. I keep my config files until ZSNES doesn't work right anymore.

Lord Alpha · Post by **Lord Alpha** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 2:39 am

ipher wrote:The thing is, you don't have to delete the cfg files after every release. I keep my config files until ZSNES doesn't work right anymore.

Me too. Which isn't very damned often.

Post by **pagefault** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 1:36 am

I would recommend deleting the config files after every release though.

ieremiou · Post by **ieremiou** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 7:58 pm

pagefault wrote:I would recommend deleting the config files after every release though.

I recommend this too cause between the 1.41 and 1.42 release I had the worse time forcing ZSNES to save the stupid dir for SRAMs and everything lol. It was fixed by deleting my config file since the settings changed a number times before 1.42 was released.

I build WIPS releasegrade style (I also build with CPU=pentium4 cause that's my chip) since I have no reason not to and it doesn't slow my computer down any bit even if my CPU tops out lol.

/Ieremiou

snkcube · Post by **snkcube** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 8:26 am

pagefault wrote:I would recommend deleting the config files after every release though.

This is a definite recommendation.

What evar · Post by **What evar** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 10:30 pm

At least add it to the FAQ.
I've been using ZSNES for years, and I had no idea AT ALL that deleting the .cfg and .dat files could make such an immense difference.

AspiringSquire · Post by **AspiringSquire** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 11:07 pm

What evar wrote:At least add it to the FAQ.
I've been using ZSNES for years, and I had no idea AT ALL that deleting the .cfg and .dat files could make such an immense difference.

It was added to the FAQ after the release of 1.42. You'll see it when 1.43 is released.

daft · Post by **daft** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 5:27 am

Cool, any word on whether a "Reset Settings" option will be implemented into ZSNES?