What are the best PSX Plugins and for what?

[Dynamo]

I use Pete's D3D Driver as it was recommended for my vid card (ATI Rage 128 Ultra) and aside from the sluggish speed due to frameskip (which is due to my crappy vid card) it runs everything ive thrown at it yet fine aside from said problems. Can someone who also uses this driver explain to me what the terms "Off-Screen Drawing", "Advanced Blending", "Framebuffer Textures", and "Framebuffer access" mean because i noticed them in the compatiblility options of this plugin and dont know what to do with them. I just put the last settings for all of them except the last one assuming that they were the best settings possible for these options Another problem that i have with this plugin is that the graphics are "choppy", akin to not using Vsync on other emulators. Is there any way i can fix this?

 

As far as sound and CD/ISO plugins go im lost as to which ones to use so i just picked the ones with the latest release dates (P.eo.Ps (sp) for sound and Xeven for CD) and they seem to work okay but i would like to know if there are better. Also, what does "Syncronous" and "Asyncronous" mean as they are both options in my select sound and CD plugins and which should i choose?

[Agozer]

* FrameBuffer Access/Textures:

 

The PSX constantly sends images to the screen and reads image data from the screen just by accessing a specific area of the Video RAM (VRAM). This is called FrameBuffer access. it can be used for recursive texturing, or for capturing a copy of the screen for effects processing.

 

Disabled: Doesn't use any Framebuffer access, speeding up emulation, but missing some of the special effects.

 

Writes: Only writes to the framebuffer. Used in static splashscreens, etc.

 

Read: Reads from the framebuffer. This is SLOW, but offers almost total emulation of the different PSX effects.

 

Read/Write: Self-explanatory, don't you think <_>

 

 

* Framebuffer Textures: See below

 

 

* Off-Screen Drawing:

 

The PSX can draw primitives (rendered images) to the Video RAM that are actually not being displayed. (The VRAM is usually called to refresh the display) These rendered images can then be used as textures on the screen. Software routines are use to draw the primitives.

 

Disabled does not use software routines.

 

Basic: Renders primitives that are not in the visible area of the VRAM (since VRAM has two parts, visible and hidden)

 

Extra: If the PSX attempts to use a primitive as a texture, then Full off-screen drawing will be enabled. When the recursive texturing stops, off-screen drawing goes back to Basic mode

 

Extra + FBR: Same as above + has an extra frame buffer read at the start of VRAM rendering. Frame buffer access is used when rendering complicated screen effects, etc. such as the swirling in FFVII.

 

Full: Draws all primitives to the PSX VRAM using software routines at all times. (slows down emulation.)

 

* Syncronous/Asyncronous (Audio/CD):

 

I think that this has got to do with how PSX reads audio and normal data... Synchronous reads and outsputs the data in sync. Asyncronous reads the data that is sent, but also reads a bit ahead, so that the sound and display (FMVs most notably) stay smooth even with small reading errors.

I stronly suggest that you use asynchronous.

 

 

As far as different plugins go, you just need to find ones that work best for you. Generally, different plugin for 2D and 3D games. I'd suggest Jabo's and Rice's plugins. As for sound, use Azimer's Audio. What are your specs anyway? Go to http://www.emulation64.com for good plugin lists.

Edited July 22, 2004 by Agozer

[Dynamo]

My specs are:

 

Dell Dimension 4400

Win XP Home

P4 @ 1.6 Ghz

ATi Rage 128 Ultra

Integrated Sound

640 MB DDR SDRAM

20 GB HD

Intel Pendleton D845PT (mobo)

 

I have to run my games wih frameskip because my vid card sucks that much. But the games sure look good (better than a real PSX),and are playable to an extent (except for fighting games, because the timing is off due to frameskip). I use the plugins from a plugins pack i got from aldostools. Out of all the plugins i have available (and there are many, 80+) i find that Petes D3D plugin works best for my vid card (it was even recommended for my card in the wizard guide on EPSXE). The only problem i have is that the screen is clippy/choppy when i play as if i werent running VSync..........