PPSSPP Crisis Core slow down

Libretro Cores
#1

So apparently the PPSSPP core is up to date with the standalone, give or take. But I’m getting lags in the libretro core that are absent in the standalone (even compared to older versions). Specifically, the beginning of most cutscenes in Crisis Core starts in slow motion for 1 or 2 seconds before catching up. You can see that in the intro mission, the cutscene where Zack is shown climbing up the stairs with the fleeing citizens, before the Behemoth. It’s much more apparent after the mission, when Zack is doing squats before Angeal shows up with the new assignment.

I’ve made sure I’m using the same options in the core than in the standalone: default settings, with fast memory off (due to its instability), basic x1 rendering no fanciness. I’ve tried D3D11 and Vulkan driver. Anything else?

#2

Oh nose… don’t say you have issues in THAT fantastic fantasy game :astonished: Duck feels your pain :persevere:

I can tell you both on RA core and Stand Alone the game runs fluid at 100.1% consistantly over here… Iam using 4xXBR upscale MSAAX4 , every graphics (vulkan) setting is buffed over here :kissing_smiling_eyes:

And psp only utilizes like Cpu 10% - 15% MAX, GPU 5% - 10% (MAX)

Let me first ask you this ↓

A. Post your desktops / systems CPU/GPU specs… B. Also, have you tried reproduce this using ppsspp 1.14.1 stand alone ? C. Does every Action/adventure game has slowdowns ? Not talking about the remake of Final Fantays 4 complete…

I run that game at 3500% unthrottled speeds :smile:

My decade ol system (apart from the GPU) = CPU: FX-8350@4,7Ghz , GPU : RX-6600 /8GB :yum:

Slowdowns, can have many causes.

EDIT: Most important tip i can give you, try out a few ppsspp games → unthrottled speeds… And post you max/min fps … That’s an good bench tool to assesst your systems capabilities.

But and thats an task for the Dev team, it all depends how well the emu is “optimized” for your hardware !! Optimizing = KEY i’d most certainly SAY :point_up: :grinning:

cheers, TD

#3

System performance shouldn’t be an issue, the game runs amazingly well all the time, but early cut scenes are not behaving properly. Fore reference I’m running a i7-11K with a 3070, and the game can easily reach 800 fps unthrottled.

Because it’s not happening on the standalone I think it’s something that is specific to the libretro core, even though it is up to speed with it.

I’ve made a quick video that shows the two moments I mentionned https://youtu.be/k6yXAGpJzis

#4

There you have it :point_up: :grinning:

Thanks for the sneak vid preview :wink:

huh, no sound ? But i see what you probebly mean, jerky video motion ingame :point_up: :smile: ?

Question, does it happend “every” single time at that specific spots ingame ? Cuz iam thinking, when something for some reason gets READ / WRITE to your storage disks (ssd/HDD) you can have lots of stutter in game too !!

Maybe an good thing to check your drives activity → taskmanager ?

EDIT: just check that game myself at that spot, and everything runs just fine over here… have used my 7 pass shader preset in ppsspp to tax my gpu just to see what would happend… And everything keeps running smooth … although my gpu now is utilized for like 40 - 70% instead of 5 - 10% :sweat_smile:

Lastly (IMPORTANT) , have you ever considered to adopt AMD hardware :laughing: :ok_hand: I

cheers, TD

#5

It does feel a little like the cutscenes are loading slowly. The game is loaded from a blazingly fast NVMe SSD and the core is not set to emulate UMD load times. But the thing is, this lag is reproductible. It wouldn’t be the case if it was due to random disk access messing things up. :thinking:

have you ever considered to adopt AMD hardware

Actually I have, haha. But then again I need CUDA support for work.

#6

Hey xunkar my benevolent friend :slightly_smiling_face: :ok_hand:

The reason i made that statement is, because i have solved stutter/jerky playback by adding apps/games to my amd center and use the RSR feature on it , believe it or not… Don’t ask me why… but the RSR feature can prevent apps that forcefully change desktop refresh rates down to 60hz !!

maybe THAT ↑ the issue at hand … not saying it is… but… never knock it till you try it :sweat_smile: :ok_hand:

cheers, Td

#7

Hey you pssst :wave: :grinning:

Have some suggestion you can try out in ppsspp (Core).

This ↓ is my PPSSPP config , and i play pretty much all my games at 100.1% perfect pitch audio AND → Video :smile: :ok_hand: . NOT 1 bit lag. Your system is faster than mine, and should have no problem running this game P-E-R-F-E-C-T just like me :sweat_smile:

The settings :

In ppsspp, try these settings :

Rendering 1:1 (auto)

Frame Skipping = completely OFF (Important!)

Skip GPU readbacks = V (solved ALL audio issues i had )

Lazy Texture Caching = V

Vsync = V

Render Duplicate Frames = 60

Hardware transform = V

Software Skinning = V

Texture Shader = Tex4xBrz

Anisotropic Filtering = 16x

Texture Filtering = Auto MAX quality … instead of default → auto

Lower Resolutions for effects = Safe

Good Luck TD

#8

Thank you for sharing this, but the thing is… I want accurate emulation. I don’t want the game to run better than it would on the console, so I can’t touch some of those options sadly.

However, I shared my problem over at the PPSSPP GitHub and according to the devs it’s related to video playback (ffmpeg) so nothing would help anyway. I’m just gonna have to be patient :slight_smile:

1 Like
#9

Say wut :flushed: !? LoL, err… running an emulator “accurate” , doesn’t that mean butter butt smooth playback too you :thinking: ?

Anyway, and again , weird this happends to you … But let me ask you this, are you have this in CGI movie scenes or ingame → graphics scenes ???

Cuz i can tell you movie/cgi cutscenes don’t play always smooth … but ingame cutscenes are just fine over here…

cheers, TD

#10

No. It means to be as indinstinguishable as possible to the console. If the game lags on PSP, it has to lag in an emulator too, that’s part of the experience for me. Otherwise I’d just play remasters and the like. :smiley: But in this case apprently, it’s an emulator-specific lag, or so it seems.

It’s only during cutscenes, but not the full CGI movies, and not in-game. Could be these cutscenes are in-engine cutscenes, or pre-rendered movies too it’s not clear. But if PPSSPP devs say it’s related to ffmpeg, I’ll believe them. But it also means I can’t do anything about it until then sadly.

#11

Why would you like to play a game with A/V lags !? I get what you mean…

But playing an bug-fixed game is very different from playing an “A/V Remastered” version of the same game !!

I mean the one fixed the game mechanics / gliches, the other is more of an visuall / enhanced / aesthetic fix . World of difference i’d say… Would’nt you say…

Are you talking just about the visuall aspect ingame, when you say an emulator needs to be as accurate, look and feel as close to the → original one as possible?

I mean, i’ve played psx games causing slowdowns even on the original hardware !! Isn’t it an great thing if some patch cures that ?

I get the part about graphics quality… some poeple like the arcade/retro original look … But iam talking about ingame glitches/bugs… “slowdowns” :sweat_smile:

cheers, TD

#12

Actually it doesn’t matter if a game used to lag because it was poorly optimized, or because the console could not handle it. That’s how the game was released, and that’s how players got to experience the game. If I play a game in a manner that get rids of every slowdown and glitches and such… then it’s a different game, it might turn a poor game into a good game. I want to know exactly what it was like at the time, because this is how the game is judged and remembered.

Of course the visual is also important, it must be as close a match as the original console. That’s why shaders are a must for me, but not of any kind, only those who perfectly recreate the original hardware. And that’s something you can only have with RetroArch.

#13

That ↑ wonders me… Are you a collector or gamer in the first place iam asking myself :thinking:

I would guess the first … :point_up::smiley:

But i get what you are saying…

You are one of those that likes everything in original, → pristine condition, like a comic bookstore guy i once knew :smile:

You sure are an O.G

cheers TD,

#14

I don’t see why they would be incompatible :wink: I think there’s an odd feeling when you take an old game and upscale it or push to 60 fps when it wasn’t… It’s like the uncanny valley of video games haha, it feels out of place and surreal. Many times I’ve found that the original look is better because developers would constantly find ways to make it look good with what they had, and it sometimes means playing tricks on the players; tricks that are irremediably broken when you play on modern hardware.

In a way I feel this wouldn’t do justice to the developers too. I mean, in spite of the limitations they had to work with, they made their game in a specific way, to be experienced in a specific way etc. Like art, you don’t just change it to accomodate modern technologies. The closest I can think of would be like Lucas re-editing Star Wars with a full CGI Jabba. :smiley:

But hey, that’s the beauty of emulation. Everyone gets what they want.

1 Like
#15

Actually “they” both could be an match made in heaven :innocent: .
Only, an gamer has different demands/priorities than an collector.

In many way’s you talk about the things you can see (looks / appearance / Art), wich i can understand. But iam talk about things you don’t ussually see but can have an big impact on gameplay progression & fun factor :grin: :ok_hand:

I think you are an litle bit to harsh for yourself…

True, developers from decades ago put their heart and soul into creating games back then… A craft that has been completely lost over the years in my opinion!

But here we are, honoring their legacy by continuing to play their artwork :yum: :ok_hand:

When you feel something is out of place again…

Think positive … → STAY SAFE ↓ :pray:

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You (Duck) are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. :v: :innocent:

Cheers, TD