Hacking Questions about the PSP PS1 emulator.

[zygie]

Hi 'temp,

I've done a web search and the information I got was outdated at best, and just flat out doesn't apply.
I'm on a PSP Go (05g) running 6.20 PRO-B9.

Ok so, I know that by default PS1 games run with a CPU freq. of 333/166. From what I've read, changing the CPU game clock from the VSH menu doesn't affect it at all, nor does the CPU XMB clock (by testing, no slowdowns in FFAnthology - FFVI at all when set XMB clock at 75/37.)
I used CWCheat to change the clock speed ingame, and I think it worked. (XMB/game clock speeds set at "default" in the VSH menu.)

1) Is there any other way to change POPS clock speed via firmware?
2) If not, is there a way to change POPS clock speed with a plugin that isn't CWCheat, or has more choices? (CWCheat has limited frequency choices, and I use TempAR for my cheats, since I can't figure out how to use cheat.db for CWCheat

)
3) If there's a choice, is there a recommended CPU clock speed for playing PS1 games? Something like a speed-to-battery-life compromise or compatibility or whatnot.

Thanks for your time.

 

[synce]

Does the PSP's clock rate really affect battery that much? I'd figure most of it is drained by the screen

 

[zygie]

I'd say yes in my experience: I'm always on the lowest brightness + headphones, but when I played Jeanne d'Arc on 333/166 to eliminate slowdowns, my Go's already so-so battery life took a considerable hit.

 

[kevan]

Does the PSP's clock rate really affect battery that much? I'd figure most of it is drained by the screen

It probally does otherwise I can't think of a real reason
why they would have underclocked it in the first place!

 

[BasedKiliK]

1) So far, no.

2) Other cheat plugins really. HOWEVER, CWCheat uses cheatpops.db for PS1 games, not cheat.db.

3) From my own experience, leave it on it's default 333mhz. Going lower causes slowdown, read/buffer issues and less vertical sync/screen tearing.

 

[zygie]

1) So far, no. Damn, alright.

2) Other cheat plugins really. HOWEVER, CWCheat uses cheatpops.db for PS1 games, not cheat.db. I meant with normal PSP games. I must've screwed the database up with CWCheat, and then when I tried TempAR, it just worked, so I went with it anyway.

3) From my own experience, leave it on it's default 333mhz. Going lower causes slowdown, read/buffer issues and less vertical sync/screen tearing. I'm only playing Final Fantasy VI (Final Fantasy Anthology for PSX) though, which I think isn't that demanding. I have it on 266/133 right now and it's playing fine, but I do hear some half second slowdowns in the sounds when going into a battle, and going into the menu.

 

[Rydian]

Turns out that the settings in PRO do change the clock rate, but they do it differently than older plugins used to, so older plugins won't read the changed value or something like that.

Try setting the clock speed to like 75mhz or something and then watch games run slow to make sure.

 

[zygie]

I read somewhere that game clock speed doesn't affect pops clock speed, but vsh clock speed does, but I did a test about that (put it on 75/37) and FFAnthology/FF6 still ran fast.

I'm going to do a test using game clock speed now.

Update: All right, looks like pops is also integrated into game clock speed. To the next point: I also read that there's some kind of "optimal" clock frequency (aside from 333/166) for PSX games. demonicstrife already said he just puts it at 333/166, anyone else use different clock frequencies? Some guy at another forum said he suggested 166/85 to neur0n because it's "best" for PSX games. PRO only has 166/83, plus, I don't think I can trust a lot of people about this stuff now. Lol.

 

[xist]

VSH clockspeed affects the XMB, Game clockspeed is self explanatory. Many PSX titles run fine at 222 which should net you another hour or so (probably).

There's no "optimal" speed for PSX games as a whole. Anyone who claims that has no clue....i expect you got that from a rather large PSP game site.

 

[zygie]

Something like that.

Anthology/FFVI had sound glitches/millisecond slowdowns on 222/111, needed at least 266/133 to run with the sound artifacts negligible. I guess there's no use not going full clock speed anyway. Thanks for all the input.