System Requirements

xamenus · Post by **xamenus** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 5:02 am

Has anyone bothered to see if the system requirements have changed? Perhaps the -O999 for NASM has sped things up...

Of course there's the new C code to factor in, too...

Post by **Nach** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 5:15 am

Actual RAM usage by the Win/Lin ports have gone down by 2-4MB depending on the game.

Slower machines should probably notice 2-3 extra FPS when rewind is on in games in Win/Lin, but that's not signifigant enough to make ZSNES that was unplayable now playable.

JAPPsmash · Post by **JAPPsmash** » Sat Feb 19, 2005 4:13 am

For slow machines like Pentium I or II, I'd rather use the DOS version of ZSNES. Making some adjustments and it will run at a nice 30 fps

Mexandrew · Post by **Mexandrew** » Sat Feb 19, 2005 6:07 pm

Well, I used to get 60 FPS with 8B VESA 2 graphics, new grafx engine, and 16000 Hz sound sampling rate and sound buffering on my MMX (166 MHz) with 48 MB RAM. Of course, using the DOS version.

I'd suggest these stats as Minimal requirements for smooth play.

xamenus · Post by **xamenus** » Sat Feb 19, 2005 11:07 pm

Mexandrew wrote:Well, I used to get 60 FPS with 8B VESA 2 graphics, new grafx engine, and 16000 Hz sound sampling rate and sound buffering on my MMX (166 MHz) with 48 MB RAM. Of course, using the DOS version.

I'd suggest these stats as Minimal requirements for smooth play.

On which version of ZSNES?

BTW, here's the current system requirement list in the docs, posted here for convinience. All of this comes directly from 1.36:

Code: Select all

    Windows Port:
    Windows 95/98/ME:
    - 150MHz processor (500MHz recommended)
    - 16MB of RAM (64MB recommended)
    - 3D graphics accelerator required (nVidia GeForce 2 or equivalent
      recommended)
    - DirectX v8.1 or higher required


    Windows NT/2000/XP:
    - 200MHz processor (500MHz recommended)
    - 32MB of RAM (64MB recommended)
    - 3D graphics accelerator required (nVidia GeForce 2 or equivalent
      recommended)
    - DirectX v8.1 or higher required


    Linux Port:
    - 200MHz processor (500MHz recommended)
    - 32MB of RAM (64MB recommended; more if SDL is compiled to use X)
    - 3D graphics accelerator required (nVidia GeForce 2 or equivalent
      recommended)
    - SDL v1.20 or higher required


    DOS Port:
    Somewhat Recommended System:
    - 486/100 processor
    - Min 14.5MB of RAM (or min 12.5MB free, which can only run 2MB rom images)
    - VGA card
    - Sound Blaster or 100% compatible
    **You might need to disable SPC emulation for this system (go to
      Config-->Sound)** 


    Strongly Recommended System:
    - Pentium processor (P133 or higher)
    - 32MB of RAM (min 17.0MB free)
    - SVGA card
    - Sound Blaster 16 or 100% compatible


    Recommended System for 65536 (16-bit) Color Mode:
    - Fast Pentium processor (P166 or higher)
    - 32MB of RAM (min 17.0MB free)
    - SVGA card which supports 320x240x65536 or 640x480x65536 colors
    - Sound Blaster 16 or 100% compatible


    Recommended System for SuperFX Support:
    - Fast Pentium processor (P200 - P2-300 (depending on the game))
    - 32MB of RAM (min 17.0MB free)
    - VGA card
    - Sound Blaster 16 or 100% compatible

    You need 17.0MB of RAM to run 48mbit (6 megabytes) ROMs in the DOS port.
    Also for DOS, an FPU is required for DSP-1 emulation.

Post by **Agozer** » Sat Feb 19, 2005 11:26 pm

I'd say that the above requirements list is accurate.

The recommended system for the DOS port in 16-bit mode, I think the bare minimum is P200 without any special filters. This is based on my own experience.

EDIT: With 22050Hz Stereo sound too, so not actually "bare minimum".

Oblivion · Post by **Oblivion** » Sun Feb 20, 2005 12:04 am

I'd say that's pretty accurate also, although the "Somewhat Recommended System" in DOS definitely won't want to have sound on.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Sun Feb 20, 2005 9:26 pm

You can get rid of this line...

Also for DOS, an FPU is required for DSP-1 emulation.

Since Pentium processors have an FPU.. this shouldn't be a problem... you can stick DSP-1 emulation with the SuperFX support. You could say that you need a decent FPU (Cyrix and AMD in the original Pentium processor age had pathetic, if not slow FPUs)

You may want to put an asterisk at:

32MB of RAM (min 17.0MB free)

And then insert it to this line:

You need 17.0MB of RAM to run 48mbit (6 megabytes) ROMs in the DOS port.

You want to show a better correlation as to why that is there.

SuperFX support should be lumped in as "Special Chip Emulation" and then you want to describe what chips are included in this description (SuperFX, DSP-1, etc.)

Instead of this:

SVGA card which supports 320x240x65536 or 640x480x65536 colors

You may want to specifically mention a video card that supports VESA 2 or better. You may want to mention the use for Scitech Display Doctor for older cards (as long as Scitech Display Doctor supports them) and link to their site. Scitech Display Doctor has been free for a while. (no need for a keygen) It is hard to get anywhere with a non-VESA 2.0 compliant card (only one transparency mode - and that's only a VESA 1.0 mode and only the 640x480 res)

Side question: Would it not to be too much to ask to add a few more modesfor VESA 1 for the sake of having it? I'm not sure about the resolution limitations of VESA 1 but it is sad to only have one VESA 1 mode.. let alone for transparancies in VESA 1.

Requested modes:
320x240x8b
320x240x16b
640x480x8b

Anyways...

You may want to revise this line in the SuperFX support though...

- VGA card

There is some expectation that the processors speeds listed will have an SVGA card anyways...

Also...

You may want to revise this:

- Min 14.5MB of RAM (or min 12.5MB free, which can only run 2MB rom images)

Change 14.5MB to 16MB (it almost seems odd there)

For the Windows port info:

- 150MHz processor (500MHz recommended)

You should revise that to a 166MHz processor (I'm not a fan of those processors that use the 60Mhz bus...)

- 16MB of RAM (64MB recommended)

Up that to 32MB minimum I don't see why Windows 95 gets that kind of treatment when DOS needs at least 32MB to get anywhere with ZSNES (16MB and Win95 doesn't look good anyhow)

- DirectX v8.1 or higher required

You may want to dumb that down to 8.0a as that was the last version Win 95 supported..

For the NT section, you probably want to drop or separate NT from 2K/XP (as NT only supports up to DX3)

xamenus · Post by **xamenus** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 4:14 am

Wow, thanks for the suggestions.

I'll add them soon if there are no big objections.

Also, about DirectX 8.0a, I actually wondered about that before. At one time, I believe the FAQ said to use 8.0a, while the readme said 8.1 (or was it the other way around?).

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 5:24 am

Some relevent links to add there (if needed)

Scitech Display Doctor:
http://www.scitechsoft.com/products/ent ... itles.html

Direct 8a for Win95:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/ ... X80eng.exe

DirectX:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/default.aspx

creaothceann · Post by **creaothceann** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 10:41 am

Has anyone tried a really low-end system? I'm not talking about realtime-emulation, obviously.

- 80386
- 8 MB (or even less?)
- VGA card (or even less, eg. EGA)

I'll try it with DOSBox when I have time, and see how ZSNES reacts.

Post by **Agozer** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 1:04 pm

creaothceann wrote:Has anyone tried a really low-end system? I'm not talking about realtime-emulation, obviously.

- 80386
- 8 MB (or even less?)
- VGA card (or even less, eg. EGA)

I'll try it with DOSBox when I have time, and see how ZSNES reacts.

I can tell you right now that EGA gets you nowhere, 80386 is too slow and...

Well.. 8MB RAM could (hypotethically) let you load some very simple games.

xamenus · Post by **xamenus** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 5:36 pm

OK, I commited your changed to CVS, Deathlike2. Thanks.

xamenus · Post by **xamenus** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 9:15 pm

I've updated the system requirements for the DOS port in CVS. The CIA page didn't show the commit for some reason, though.

Post by **grinvader** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 1:51 pm

IceFox wrote:The CIA page didn't show the commit for some reason, though. :?:

Sometimes the CIA bot gets high on drugs...

Post by **Nach** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 6:38 pm

IceFox wrote:I've updated the system requirements for the DOS port in CVS. The CIA page didn't show the commit for some reason, though.

Yes, but my full changelog does

http://nsrt.edgeemu.com/zsnes-docs-change.txt

creaothceann · Post by **creaothceann** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 9:39 am

*bump* (I think this fits best here)

Code: Select all

# HQ2X, HQ3X, and HQ4X - Depending on what D mode resolution you are using, you will be able to enable one of these three graphic filters created by MaxSt.
# Interpolation - Setting this enables interpolation, which basically blends all the inbetween colors to produce a blurry effect. However, this slows down emulation.

Isn't it a bit ironic that the "slowdown" note is mentioned at "Interpolation"? It's probably the fastest filter of them all.

So how about this?

Code: Select all

Options:

    * Perform: Allows the user to select some in-game options. (Note that graphic filters slow down emulation.)
    * Usage:
          o Auto Frame Rate - Enables auto frame rate. [...]

Or it could be left out. *shrugs*

xamenus · Post by **xamenus** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 3:50 pm

Look at the docs in CVS.

Jipcy · Post by **Jipcy** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 1:55 am

I've updated the System Requirements section a bit. However, I know next to nothing about the old video standards listed in the DOS port. If someone who has knowledge of these standards, or actually runs the DOS port on old hardware has any information, please let me know.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 8:30 am

ModeX appears to be just 320x???x256
256 happens to be the # of colors.
ModeQ appears to be just 256x???x256
The last 256 also means the # of colors.

In any case, VESA 2 is documented in Wikipedia... (even though I don't trust the source, but it can give you a basic idea).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VESA_BIOS_Extensions

Although ZSNES supports Triple Buffering, and it was supported only in VESA 3, IIRC, it is simulated Triple Buffering (it does the same job, but probably not as efficient as the native feature). I don't think it would matter for most people though. If your video card natively supported VESA 3 anyways, you would run ZSNES very acceptablely.

Jipcy · Post by **Jipcy** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 1:20 am

I've added some information to the ModeQ/X Vesa1/2 options.

I've been thinking more and more about the System Requirements section. It's pretty confusing. I think there's just too much information. I would kind of prefer just setting one single minimum system requirement for all ports. We can also add a note that it *might* be possible to run ZSNES on a slower system, and that a user should just play around and see what they can do. We can also link to the FAQ question about speeding up ZSNES.

Right now, the system requirements differ so little, there's hardly a point in having a bunch of separate requirements for different contingencies.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 2:51 am

Jipcy wrote:I've added some information to the ModeQ/X Vesa1/2 options.

I've been thinking more and more about the System Requirements section. It's pretty confusing. I think there's just too much information. I would kind of prefer just setting one single minimum system requirement for all ports. We can also add a note that it *might* be possible to run ZSNES on a slower system, and that a user should just play around and see what they can do. We can also link to the FAQ question about speeding up ZSNES.

Right now, the system requirements differ so little, there's hardly a point in having a bunch of separate requirements for different contingencies.

Mmmm.. I don't think it's that simple. I don't know what exactly is the slowest processor that would allow the SDL port to even be remotely useful. If you want a unified value, you may want to just say Pentium 2 class processor or better.

Jipcy · Post by **Jipcy** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 7:31 am

I've inserted a new version of the system requirements above the old version of them, in the System Requirements section. It's currently in SVN, and here for your viewing pleasure:

Code: Select all

The following system requirements should allow any of the ports to run at an acceptable speed.

    * Operating System (one of the following):
          o Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP
          o Linux, BSD, or Mac OS X, using SDL
          o Microsoft DOS (a non-Microsoft DOS may also work)
    * CPU type: 100% x86 compatible*
    * CPU speed: 233MHz (500MHz recommended)
    * RAM: 32MB (96MB recommended)
    * Video card (Win/SDL): support for 3D graphics accelaration (nVidia GeForce 2 or equivalent recommended)
          o The Win port requires DirectX v8.0a or better.
          o The SDL port requires SDL v1.20 or better.
    * Video card (for DOS port): VGA (SVGA recommended)
          o The DOS port may require Scitech Display Doctor for some video cards.
    * Sound card (Win/SDL): any sound card that supports DirectSound / SDL
    * Sound card (DOS): Sound Blaster 16 or 100% compatible
    * Hard disk space: The program files alone require about 1MB. The amount of disk space required for other files varies greatly. For example, uncompressed ROMs (not included!) require 256KB-6144KB each. Save states require about 270KB each.

    * *You probably already meet this requirement. Most consumer-grade processors sold by Intel and AMD use the x86 instruction set.
    * Because much of ZSNES' source code is written in x86 assembly, it will only run on processors that are 100% x86 compatible. "Ports" to other architectures are impossible; we recommend Snes9x as the SNES emulator of choice for portability.

Note: The above system requirements are not the absolute minimum for each port. They are general recommendations for all ports.

adventure_of_link · Post by **adventure_of_link** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 7:34 am

Isn't the highest Direct X for windows NT4 3.0?

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 7:59 am

adventure_of_link wrote:Isn't the highest Direct X for windows NT4 3.0?

3.0a

I'm against putting NT in that list.

Since when did Intel/AMD not sell consumer grade x86 processors?

It should be noted that special chips increase the CPU requirements.

Also, there is a complete difference between what Windows needs vs what SDL needs.

Neither port requires a 3D card at all.

Windows: It just needs a card that has DirectDraw acceleration (D3D probably with Vista, it probably won't matter too much when systems for Vista should most definately have no issues here). We don't use D3D at all, but maybe in the future. You can try to run it without DirectDraw acceleration, but it won't perform as well as it could (unless you have the CPU for it). The recommendation here is to have a decent card with good DirectDraw acceleration.

SDL: It isn't exactly required to have a 3D card at all, but whatever SDL uses by default isn't really fast. It is recommended to have a decent card with good OpenGL support and acceleration.

DOS: You don't need SDD if you don't have to. You only need to support VGA (which all older cards should be able to use the default mode). The recommendation here is to have a card that supports VESA 2 (it specifically needs Linear Frame Buffer support). This is achieved by using SDD (if it supports your video card), a video card that has VESA 2.0 natively, or some VESA TSR program (specific to your video card) that has VESA 2 support.

Looking at this further, I suggest against lumping in the video card/sound card portions together, but separate them by port needs (since they are very distinct). Leaving as they are now can/will cause confusion.

Sound cards...

DOS: Any SB compatible card or sound card that has decent SB emulation. It is recommended to have a SB16 or compatible one or decent SB16 emulation (DOSBox comes to mind).

Windows: Any DirectSound compatible card should be fine. It is recommended to have one that has DirectSound acceleration (some older cards simply don't have any).

SDL: This may be a little tricky. It's not that it should support SDL, but I believe it needs to support the audio output SDL can output to. It can be ALSA or OSS (SDL needs to be configured as such). I think Nach may need to comment on this.

I personally think the CPU recommendation should be upped to the speed of the XBox port (since we technically are targetting it). I think the speed was like 733Mhz or something.

After multiple edits: I'll hack at the thing and pray you like it.

The only issue is that there is too much duplication, and that parts ot the OS Section is removed (except that the XBox port is still noted.