ROM Hack [Release] PS1 Forwarder Creator

[AlexPV]

I made some new findings yesterday regarding how CPU clockspeed values affect performance in MGS (which I one of the games I've chosen for benchmarking). I guess some of you might already know this but for discussion's sake I'll be posting anyways. Btw, I'm using the actual .cia version of PCSX-ReArmed more than the forwarder, because it's easier to experiment that way. Normally, I'm on a very performance/speed-friendly configuration (with all relevant settings either enabled or disabled accordingly - except for audio, blending and lighting, which are always enabled). Also, I'm currently on a one week old nightly (I think). So now, let's talk about CPU clockspeed.

Normally when I tinker with clockspeed at all, I would try to find one particular value I can settle with so that the game could run in a most stable or uniform manner possible fps-wise when compared to how it runs at the default 50 (naturally, this would only happen if 50 is not good enough). For example, Spider-Man 1 is very volatile when set at 50: less demanding segments would run very smoothly but the drops and slowdowns are way too noticeable when the game gets really demanding; when set somewhere in the range 37-41, the framerate becomes much more stable and uniform, and the game much more playable, though naturally also a bit more janky (but still tolerable for me.)

According to my experience MGS is one of the more difficult 3D or graphically intensive games to get to run in a stable manner. At 50, cutscenes have tons of slowdowns (I often benchmark the opening submarine sequence), and in-game segments (meaning when you actually get to control Snake) also suffer from slowdowns when the game gets demanding. In my last efforts, when I play MGS I've usually set the clockspeed at 45 - merely as a compromise, so that cutscenes could benefit from some more frames while gameplay hopefully won't suffer too badly due to the decrease of only 5. Here's where it's problematic: MGS' in-game segments are really unfriendly towards underclocking. At 45, Snake mostly runs like snail.

Overall, MGS had always run like shit for me regardless of which clockspeed I tried. Until yesterday, when for the first time I actually tried to go above 50 (normally, I wouldn't dare doing that if a game already runs like shit at 50.) So I raised it to 60, and now in-game segments ran almost perfectly. Even in places when slowdowns had always happened when clockspeed was at 50 or lower. The cutscenes suffered from more slowdowns, sure, but I think now I can actually play the game if I want to (besides, I've always known that MGS cutscenes run way better with underclocking. For example, the opening submarine sequence runs very well at 30-31, with no discernible slowdowns.) My guess is that MGS might not be that demanding a game after all. Perhaps thanks to the overhead camera position, increasing clockspeed (when it feels rather counter-intuitive, at least for me) does make a real difference in performance and playability for a change in a 3D/graphically intensive game.

What config you use? Could you share it?

 

[wanderindirk]

What config you use? Could you share it?

You really should try justinweiss' latest experimental build (https://gbatemp.net/threads/unofficial-3ds-retroarch-builds.462252/page-27#post-9197943). I tested MGS on this version yesterday and it ran waay too well for me to believe. Sure there's still some minor slowdowns and sound bugs (we will never get rid of these completely), but the overall gameplay (both in-game and cutscenes) is stable and uniform enough for me to call it playable.

My Retroarch config:
Video: v-sync: off; threaded video: off (this is crucial for the threaded rendering setting in core config because if you leave this on it will hamper threaded rendering's performance)
Audio: audio sync: on; audio output: dsp_thread; audio latency 128 (you might as well try 64 though); audio resampler: CC; resampler quality: lowest

My PCSX-Rearmed core config:
Enable dithering: off; PSX CPU Clock: 55-60 (this is crucial for MGS); enable blending: on; enable lighting: on; enable fast lighting: off; enable forced interlace: off; enable pixel skip: off; enable hi-res downscaling: off (this doesn't matter for MGS but can yield a significant boost in other games); enable threaded rendering: on; sound reverb: off; sound interpolation: off; CD access method: asynchronous; assume GTE regs unneeded: on

As you can see, my strategy is basically going all out for speed while still keeping audio sync, blending and lighting on since for me they're essential for the experience. If you've been benchmarking MGS frequently like myself, I hope you'll see an incredible improvement in performance with this experimental version and with my config especially when compared to the 1.9.0 official release.

Keep in mind though that this build is very experimental, so expect a lot of arm11 crashes. Rule of thumb is if you want to change game, first choose the "Quit Retroarch" option and then reopen the app, as choosing another game through "Load Content" almost guarantees an arm11 error. Nevertheless, if you only stick to playing one game proper at a time then I think it runs stable enough for you to enjoy it.

 

[GaroK]

I don't get it then, do I just run the game .bins through retroarch PS1 core, or install them as .cias with the help of the forwarder?

 

[AlexPV]

It doesn't work for me. Black screen before the title screen. Any help to fix it?.

 

[rolenks]

lol for the games that usually don't work and just knock you to home screen they are always around 25 mb no matter if its a big multidisk game like ff7 or a smaller game like SFA3.

 

[GnarkillAU]

Hey guys, I know this has been a hot topic for some of us. The Symphony of the Night save problems. I decided to finally crack and just apply some game patches to it. The patches I used were a quality patch, and a replay patch that allows you to play as Richter / skip cutscenes without a Clear File.

Now these were done as measures so that I could have a perfect file and simply use Save States, but incidentally I can now save as the game intended.

Not sure if the patches are the reason for this, but I have been using the same ROM consistently and this is the first time it has been able to work.

 

[GaroK]

Would anyone be kind to answer my questions above? I have no idea how this works

 

[MarioKartFan]

Would anyone be kind to answer my questions above? I have no idea how this works

It depends what you want to do. The forwarders look nice and they simplify configuration. But they are more limited in terms of options and they do not incorporate some of JustinWeiss’s latest edits which meaningfully improve performance.

 

[rolenks]

Would anyone be kind to answer my questions above? I have no idea how this works

my bad, didn't notice at first dude. First, it's best to make bins into pbp files when making cias, and secondly not all games work some games just instantly take you back to the home screen, like mega man legends or kof 99, there is a thread dedicated to determining which games work and don't here.
https://gbatemp.net/threads/pcsx-rearmed-compatibility-list.489357/

 

[Sakitoshi]

It depends what you want to do. The forwarders look nice and they simplify configuration. But they are more limited in terms of options and they do not incorporate some of JustinWeiss’s latest edits which meaningfully improve performance.

such as?
it's true that I lag behind some changes because I wait until several big changes accumulate before updating the core, but the current core is based on the latest nightly and to this day (sep 28) no further changes have been made.
so there should be no difference between retroarch cia and the forwarders.

 

[GaroK]

such as?
it's true that I lag behind some changes because I wait until several big changes accumulate before updating the core, but the current core is based on the latest nightly and to this day (sep 28) no further changes have been made.
so there should be no difference between retroarch cia and the forwarders.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pl2bTkzTe736EOaQjk8FBWY9ixfgoNSYSitbm5Gnyqs/edit#gid=0
This sheet recommends using some options for better performance that I don't see in the forwarder program, like Bilinear filter or video and audio sinc. At first I actually wondered why would it recommend options that aren't even present, but now I figured your forwarder is sort of separate project

 

[Sakitoshi]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pl2bTkzTe736EOaQjk8FBWY9ixfgoNSYSitbm5Gnyqs/edit#gid=0
This sheet recommends using some options that I don't see in the forwarder program, like Bilinear filter or video and audio sinc. At first I actually wondered why would it recommend options that aren't even present, but now I figured your forwarder is sort of separate project

save for bilinear filter (that is always off as is universaly hated and doesn't interfere with speed at all) it's all there.
vsync is explicit, you can turn it on or off. I believe I explained several pages ago that when vsync is on audio sync is off and vice versa. you need one or the other in order to not let the game go over its intended speed.

 

[MarioKartFan]

such as?
it's true that I lag behind some changes because I wait until several big changes accumulate before updating the core, but the current core is based on the latest nightly and to this day (sep 28) no further changes have been made.
so there should be no difference between retroarch cia and the forwarders.

But that’s not true. JustinWeiss has not submitted PRs for many of his changes yet.

 

[Sakitoshi]

But that’s not true. JustinWeiss has not submitted PRs for many of his changes yet.

which means the changes aren't on retroarch either.
so it's still true that the forwarders are still equivalent to retroarch.

 

[MarioKartFan]

which means the changes aren't on retroarch either.
so it's still true that the forwarders are still equivalent to retroarch.

Are they equivalent to the latest builds he posted in the Unofficial Retroarch channel? If so that’s awesome!

 

[Sakitoshi]

Are they equivalent to the latest builds he posted in the Unofficial Retroarch channel? If so that’s awesome!

if he has his own builds then no.
I follow the master branch of libretro/pcsx-rearmed

 

[MarioKartFan]

if he has his own builds then no.
I follow the master branch of libretro/pcsx-rearmed

That’s what I thought. I don’t demean anything you’ve done. Your forwarder is great and I’m grateful for your time and effort. But some of the interim development builds are too good to ignore right now.

 

[Lambda0Core]

Interesting! I tried this out, although I could never get it working, granted maybe I'm just an idiot (I can't get anything retroarch related working without *something* screwing up.) I'll keep doing tests though and see if I can get something going.

 

[Profez]

Is there a chance of there being more banner options for this forwarder? I love what you've done so far but when using cover art and such it stretches it out way too much and looks redundant with two PlayStation logos on the side.

 

[Mettadox]

Hello! I have recently decided that, to improve the rate at which I actually get through the games, to stop playing Persona 2 (both IS and EP) on ePSXe and switch it over to my hacked 3DS, for portability! But how do I carry across my save files? I have the .mcr files ready, but I used a converter that installed it as, essentially, a VC game. I would like to continue from where I was since I had levelled up a decent amount and was a decent way into the story, so how could I carry across my save?

I used the PSX2PSP converter to convert the .bin to a .pbp

Thanks!