The limitations of ZSNES

[kumakouji]

first off, I wanna thank all the ZSNES team for all thier hard work over the years, you've allowed me to play games I thought I'd never get to replay or even see in English. Hats off to you guys.

OK, now for some backgroud information before I get to my enquiry:

I have a sony Viao laptop, pentium 4 - 3GHz, 512MB RAM, 128MB video card, so for a laptop its pretty high spec. I usually play ZSNES using my video out connection so it displays on my TV.

What I'm interested to know is, does the ZSNES emulator have the capability to display games (provided the ROM is good quality) flawlessly?

the two main options I tweak is a) video size and b) frame skip rate. Videosize to make sure my entire TV screen is filled and frame skip rate to determine the smoothness of the animation. at very best, I can display the videosize at full screen, and have the frame skip rate at 2 without a slowdown. If I put the frame skip rate to 0, the animation is smooth, but the game music slows down considerably. but even at a skip rate of 2, certain games are jumpy and its not as smooth as id like it.

so, I have a high spec laptop, but it cant display ZSNES at its lowest frame skip rate without some slow down. what id like to know is: Is this "normal" or are there other settings I've neglected to tweak?

[grinvader]

I have a p4 1.4GHz (desktop), and no trouble whatsoever.
I see no reason why a processor of the same family twice as buff would choke on anything.

Enable autoframeskip, and whatever amount of max frameskip. Since you use TV out, there should be no tearing issue.

And no, ZSNES currently doesn't display games "flawlessly".

[kumakouji]

I have a p4 1.4GHz (desktop), and no trouble whatsoever.
I see no reason why a processor of the same family twice as buff would choke on anything.

when you say "no trouble" do you mean you get totally smooth, non skipping animation ie. 0 frame skip rate?

If you set your frame skip rate to zero, would it slow down the emulation for you?

[rlbond]

frame skip zero actually SPEEDS it up for me, and i'm on a 1.8ghz Athlon XP M. try updating your video drivers or something. I get a perfect framerate even with graphic filters enabled.

[grinvader]

As I already mentionned, enable autoframeskip.

If you don't do that I can't really help you.

[Overload]

so, I have a high spec laptop, but it cant display ZSNES at its lowest frame skip rate without some slow down. what id like to know is: Is this "normal" or are there other settings I've neglected to tweak?

You wasted your money, you should have bought a laptop with a mobile based processor. Laptops with a Pentium 4/Celeron will slow down continually because the processor overheats.

[PHoNyMiKe]

You wasted your money, you should have bought yadda yadda

that's a big help. I love when people tell me I wasted money on something electronic. why not also call him a shitbag while you're at it.

[kumakouji]

You wasted your money, you should have bought a laptop with a mobile based processor. Laptops with a Pentium 4/Celeron will slow down continually because the processor overheats.

I'm a graphic design student here in London, so I needed a high spec laptop for front end design.

I bought my laptop about year ago, and at that time Pentium M wasnt anywhere near as good as a pentium 4. I could have bought a pentium M laptop but considering it was slower than the pentium 4 by quite a lot it would have defeated the point.

Also, as with any laptop nowdays, they dont perform as well as desktops because they *all* produce high amounts of heat, even the ones with mobile power saving processors. In an ideal world Id have the space for a desktop, but I dont, and I also needed a mobile computer to work at home and college. Saying it was a waste of money just because it doesnt perform as well as a desktop is short-sighted: can you wander around your house or browse the net in your back yard when its sunny with your desktop? can you take your desktop out the house and connect to any wifi access point in your city? does your desktop only take up the same amount of space as a large book? All these were major points for me and were worth the loss in processor speed. 3GHZ was more than enough for me to use PS and like software.

[kumakouji]

As I already mentionned, enable autoframeskip.

If you don't do that I can't really help you.

uh, im already using auto frame rate, thats why I said frame SKIP rate, not max frame rate.

[creaothceann]

Possible reasons would be...

- no 60 / 50 fps (in NTSC / PAL games)
- "high-priority mode" enabled in ZSNES
- resource hogging programs in the background
- outdated drivers

What are your VSync and Triple Buffering settings?

[kumakouji]

Possible reasons would be...

- no 60 / 50 fps (in NTSC / PAL games)

I'm not sure what you mean?

I dunno whether it might be because of the TV... I'm based in the UK and my TV is pal...most of the games are NSTC. Would that effect it?

- "high-priority mode" enabled in ZSNES

Ive enabled it.

- resource hogging programs in the background

Nope, whenever I used ZSNES i close all other programs.

outdated drivers

My laptops barely a year old, so I dont think it could be that...how would I check?

What are your VSync and Triple Buffering settings?

Triple buffering and VSync both used, and sound buffering for the music.

Does anyone here have thier ZSNES set to the maximum settings without slowdown? ie. Auto frame rate set with max frame skip set to zero, with no slow down of game?

[Noxious Ninja]

Are you doing this plugged in, or on battery?

What sound sample rate are you using in ZSNES?

What sound chip does your laptop use?

[adventure_of_link]

outdated drivers

My laptops barely a year old, so I dont think it could be that...how would I check?

1. Go to Control Panel.
2. Click System.
3. Click the hardware tab.
4. Click the button that says Device Manager.
5. Go through your hardware (eg: Video card, game controllers, Sound card, etc) and take inventory on the hardware, and note the dates.
6. Go to the Manufacturer's website, and search for drivers.
7. If there's new drivers for your hardware, download and install them.
8. If needed, restart Windows.
9. ???
10. Profit !!

EDIT: Meant to say restart instead of Reinstall..

[creaothceann]

Possible reasons would be...

- no 60 / 50 fps (in NTSC / PAL games)

I'm not sure what you mean?

I dunno whether it might be because of the TV... I'm based in the UK and my TV is pal...most of the games are NSTC. Would that effect it?

When the monitor / LCD refresh frequency is not 60 Hz (for NTSC games; 50 Hz for PAL games) or a multiple, then the animations might not be smooth.

- "high-priority mode" enabled in ZSNES

Ive enabled it.

Try disabling it.

What are your VSync and Triple Buffering settings?

Triple buffering and VSync both used, and sound buffering for the music.

Try it with Triple Buffering enabled and VSync disabled.
Sound buffering should have no effect.

[Aerdan]

<ass>
Here's an idea: Buy a laptop that has technology appropriate for laptops, not desktops.
</ass>

[whicker]

sony VAIO laptops are trash.






no seriously, they suck.

/opinion

[Spoony]

Here's an idea: Why don't you people quit shitting up the thread with opinions that were in no way asked for, and sure as hell aren't helpful.

[PHoNyMiKe]

laptops suck. for the money, he could have taken a snes, backup unit, cd rom (with lots of roms,) lots of batteries, and a backpack and made a fully compatible portible snes solution. the snes doesn't have the same overheating problem as laptops. hell my cell phone runs zsnes at practically full speed.

[Noxious Ninja]

I'm not 100% sure that was sarcasm.

[Nach]

I bought my laptop about year ago, and at that time Pentium M wasnt anywhere near as good as a pentium 4. I could have bought a pentium M laptop but considering it was slower than the pentium 4 by quite a lot it would have defeated the point.

Are you comparing by the MHz/GHz rating? Because if you are, your comparison is very wrong.

A Pentium M clock cycle does much more than a P4's clock cycle.

A Pentium M 1.6 GHz with a similar setup to my P4 2.6 GHz machine always wins all the benchmarks I've tried.

The only time you should compare a Hz rating is within a CPU's own line, not across CPU lines.

[Jipcy]

A Pentium M clock cycle does much more than a P4's clock cycle.

A Pentium M 1.6 GHz with a similar setup to my P4 2.6 GHz machine always wins all the benchmarks I've tried.

Interesting. I too have a Pentium M 1.6 GHz in my laptop. I never realized that it was apparently that powerful. I just thought it was a "mobilized" version of the P4, making Hz comparisons roughly equivalent.

[kumakouji]

Possible reasons would be...

- no 60 / 50 fps (in NTSC / PAL games)

I think Ive worked out whats going on:

American NTSC TVS run as 60fps right? and UK Pal TVs run at 50fps..maybe my TV is too slow to display the game at 60fps...

is there anyway to slow the game down to 50fps?

[kumakouji]

<ass>
Here's an idea: Buy a laptop that has technology appropriate for laptops, not desktops.
</ass>

my laptop HAS technology approiate for a laptop, its a MOBILE intel pentium 4, you cant actually buy laptops with pentiums 4's that arent mobile. If you werent such a know-nothing loud mouth you'd know that was a given.

[kumakouji]

Are you comparing by the MHz/GHz rating? Because if you are, your comparison is very wrong.

A Pentium M clock cycle does much more than a P4's clock cycle.

A Pentium M 1.6 GHz with a similar setup to my P4 2.6 GHz machine always wins all the benchmarks I've tried.

The only time you should compare a Hz rating is within a CPU's own line, not across CPU lines.

i see, I didnt know that.


However, The pentium 4 I have is designed especially for laptops though, I thought that was a given, sorry I didnt point that out : http://www.intel.com/products/processor ... /index.htm

Which, in your opinion, would be better: Mobile pentium 4 3.06GHZ or Pentium M 2Gz?

[adventure_of_link]

phonymike: Where's the 3-7 inch TV screen ?

EDIT: kumakouji: Please don't triple post, the "EDIT" button is there for a reason. It's your friend, use it.