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Is Glide64 For PJ 2.1 Broken?

6button

New member
Hello all,

I am running Project64 2.1 that comes with a pre-installed version of Glide called "Glide64 for PJ64: 2.0.0.1"

I've tried every conceivable combination of settings in order to get Glide64 to run properly, but nothing seems to work. The game will load but the lag is HUGE. The games only run at around 10fps (according to the osd).

I have a quad-core AMD processor, 8gigs of RAM and a GeForce 6800GT video card. I image this is enough to run the plugin as the default Jabo's Direct3D8 works great. Also, I check the system usage in the Task Manager when running PJ with Glide and it only says I'm using about 30% CPU power and 2gigs of RAM.

I need to get Glide working as it's the only plugin that will allow some games to play properly on my system (Mortal Kombat Trilogy is one example).

I was wondering if the version that comes prepackaged with version 2.1 of PJ was broken and I could get it to work with another version. Also, should I try to get an older version of Glide to work with PJ 2.1 to see if it requires lower system specs?

Thnx
 

DETOMINE

New member
Things that you may try :
-update your graphic drivers
-update your version of PJ64

Please note that the 2.1 version is notably unstable.

You may want to try PJ641.6+Glide64 Final or mupen64plus + windows GUI+Glide64mk2, which are known to be stable.
 
OP
6

6button

New member
Things that you may try :
-update your graphic drivers
-update your version of PJ64

Please note that the 2.1 version is notably unstable.

You may want to try PJ641.6+Glide64 Final or mupen64plus + windows GUI+Glide64mk2, which are known to be stable.

Thanks for the info. I do believe I am already running the most current version of Project 64 as I downloaded it from the main site. As for downgrading and trying Glide64 Final, I'm certainly willing to give that a try.

However, before I do all that, I was just wondering could anyone confirm that with my current system specs listed above, should Glide64 work without lag? Otherwise, it's a moot point and I'll have to use another plugin altogether on this system.

Thnx
 
F

Fanatic 64

Guest
You know, instead of waiting 12 hours just for someone to tell you that your hardware specifications are enough, it would take you just 2 minutes to download and install Glide64 Final and find out for yourself.

Just saying...
 
OP
6

6button

New member
While I was waiting I decided to just throw everything against the wall and see what stuck. So I installed 1964 using Glide64 Final as well as downgrading to Project 64 1.6 and Glide64 Final.

Changing the emulators nor setting Glide to its lowest settings made any difference. All the games that normally work with the default plugin, run super slow at around 10fps with Glide64.

I image that it has to be something about my system specs. Can someone take a second look and tell me what it might be?

Windows 7 64bit
GeForce 9500GT (drivers were current as of my last install which was last Summer)
Quad Core AMD Processor
8gigs of RAM


If these specs work for other people, what could possibly be lagging me out on my system?
 

Toasty

Sony battery
Didn't you have a GeForce 6800GT a few posts ago? (Though I imagine both would be fine for most forms of N64 emulation.) It wouldn't hurt to just check if Nvidia has newer drivers out for your card and see if they improve things. Of course, make sure you know which card you have first... :p
 
OP
6

6button

New member
Yeah that was my old video card in my last system. Just a typo, force of habit. Besides, having a 9500 should make it even more likely that the specs are up to par.

I guess I just don't get why someone with the same system specs (or possibly less) doesn't have the lag issue I'm having. Doesn't make sense.
 
OP
6

6button

New member
I'm actually using the Glide64 Final, which came with an INI, so I image it has to be the latest version. I also Googled a newer INI and can't find one. Also, already tried the default settings.

Again, the importance of why I'm looking to get Glide working is that it seems to be the only plugin that accurately emulates some games. To date I've tried Jabo's latest video plugin that comes shipped with PJ 2.1 and even tried an old copy of Aristotle Rice Plugin. Nothing works. Glide seems to be the only one that gets it right.

With the fact that my system specs are clearly more than enough that SHOULD run this, I have to turn to what could be some kind of compatibility problem. Is there possibly something in my video card (drivers already updated) that is causing it to lag out? Could I change something in Glide64 that could handle the processing that might allow it to smooth out?
 
F

Fanatic 64

Guest
Just to be sure, you haven't touched anything labeled "framebuffer" in the plugin settings, right?
 
OP
6

6button

New member
Well, I was able to determine what was causing the emulation issue in MK Trilogy. It was the "Always Use Texture Filter" option. Using PJ 1.6 allows me to turn this off, so that is a quick fix. However, the only way to get proper 4:3 display ratio in PJ1.6 is to lower my plugins resolution to 1024x768. My monitor/HD TV is running at 1360x768.

Will I be loosing image quality by lowering the plugins video resolution to that which is lower than my monitor/TV?
 

Toasty

Sony battery
I'm assuming you're getting a pillarboxed image that fills the TV vertically but has black bars along the left and right sides? If that's the case, 1024x768 should be fine for that TV. In that case, your computer is sending the TV a 1024x768 image. Since the image is exactly the same height as your TV's native resolution, but narrower width, the TV will add black bars to the sides (assuming it's configured to do so) and output an otherwise unaltered image. No scaling will be done, since the 1024x768 image still occupies a 1024x768 region on the screen.

Another option that should work is to have Glide64 output at 1360x768 and then make sure that Aspect ratio is set to 4:3 in Glide64's Emulation settings tab. Then your computer will send a 1360x768 image to the TV, but the graphics plugin will insert the black bars to enforce correct aspect ratio. As long as both options work, it's largely a matter of preference, though I tend to prefer the latter since no resolution changes are necessary when switching between running the emulator and normal use, and there's no need for the TV to adjust the image.

EDIT: I see that you mentioned Always Use Texture Filter, so you must be back to using Jabo's plugin instead of Glide64. If that's the case and you're using an older (<= 1.6) version of Jabo's plugin, you probably will have to go with the first option. AFAIK, the older plugins didn't have a mechanism to enforce correct aspect ratio. The newer 1.7 does.
 
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OP
6

6button

New member
EDIT: I see that you mentioned Always Use Texture Filter, so you must be back to using Jabo's plugin instead of Glide64.

Yes, I prefer Glide but I've turned my system upside down in trying to get it to work right but even with a quad-core processor, 8 gigs of RAM and a 9500GT video card I can't get it to run over 10fps.

The newer 1.7 does.

1) Rartio issue is fine but I see that Jabos Direct 3D8 1.7.0.57-ver 5 seems to have this "Texture Filter" on by default for every game. Just by selecting it and playing the game, I can compare screen shots and see that all the edges are softer and blurred in order to reduce blockyness. Can you confirm that the 1.7 plugin blends and blurs the textures by default?

also...

2)
I noticed someone in another thread uses "Alpha Blending" to get games like Mario Tennis to work correctly. Should I leave this option on all the time for other games as well or could it interfere with the emulation of other games and make them not look correct? Is it a safe option to always leave on?
 

Toasty

Sony battery
1) Rartio issue is fine but I see that Jabos Direct 3D8 1.7.0.57-ver 5 seems to have this "Texture Filter" on by default for every game. Just by selecting it and playing the game, I can compare screen shots and see that all the edges are softer and blurred in order to reduce blockyness. Can you confirm that the 1.7 plugin blends and blurs the textures by default?
In the 1.7 plugin the setting is configured per-game. Some games may have that set as their default and others may not. After you've loaded a ROM, you should be able to change that game's setting in the graphics plugin's settings.
 
OP
6

6button

New member
Long time no see!

Looking back on this thread I want to thank everyone for a lot of useful info in their attempts to help. After giving up on this project for a few months due to frustration and other distractions; I finally got back to it!

So here is an update of where I am. Believe it or not...I GOT GLIDE64 WORKING!!! :bounce:

Don't ask me how though, as I'm not sure. It's either one of the three things that did it. First, it could be that I cleared out some hard drive space and perhaps my virtual RAM and page file actually has something to work with as it was down to less than 10% before (but that's probably a long shot). Second could be the complete clean install and updating I just did of my video drivers. Or third; it could be that I uninstalled all versions of PJ64 and reinstalled everything cleanly and didn't touch the default Glide settings (now back on the old standard of 1.6.1 as I don't really trust the new versions anymore). I think that trying to use things like "Smoothing" and HQ4X was bogging it down.

Now, things are running like a top.

So, to finish my setting up I left it at default regarding certain settings I wasn't sure about until I could come back here and get confirmation on them. Here is a hand-full of things I still need advice on:

1) I don't use any other filtering or enhancements on my other emulators ( for the likes of NES, SNES, etc.) as I want to get the exact same recreations of the games as they looked back in the day. The only thing I use is Bilinear options to smooth out the pixelated edges. That's' it. I see most everyone uses Antistropic filtering. Will that change the way the games looking from their original carts and is it necessary to get a decent look?

2) I've heard frame buffer emulation can help in some cases. Should I always keep this on for the occasional game that does require it. If I do, am I reducing quality or speed of other titles? If it's so important, I'm not sure why it doesn't come as featured that is always turned on.

3) LOD calculation is not on be default and I never see anyone say to turn it on. Based on it's description, it seems like it should be. Would it hurt emulation of any titles to have it always on?

4) How do I determine what my texture cache value should be on a system with 8 GB of RAM? I'm not suing any high-res texture packs.

5) I find I'm typicaly getting around 28-30fps or 59-60 VI/S. This is normal (and a good rate) I assume?

Thanks everyone! Much appreciated!
 

AIO

New member
5) I find I'm typicaly getting around 28-30fps or 59-60 VI/S. This is normal (and a good rate) I assume?

Thanks everyone! Much appreciated!
Glad to see you got it working. FPS and VI/s are 2 different things. Basically if you are getting 60VI/s when playing NTSC games, you are running at full speed. If you're running a PAL game, then 50VI/s is the normal speed. The 28-30fps just means you're playing a 30 fps game.
 

Toasty

Sony battery
1) I don't use any other filtering or enhancements on my other emulators ( for the likes of NES, SNES, etc.) as I want to get the exact same recreations of the games as they looked back in the day. The only thing I use is Bilinear options to smooth out the pixelated edges. That's' it. I see most everyone uses Antistropic filtering. Will that change the way the games looking from their original carts and is it necessary to get a decent look?
Anisotropic filtering is basically a technique for preserving more detail in rendered textures that aren't being viewed straight on. See Wikipedia's article for more detail. IMO, it's pretty subtle on N64 emulation where most textures are blurry no matter what -- probably has a more noticeable effect when high resolution texture packs are being used. Technically it is an enhancement over how the game would've looked on the original console, but you might not even notice the difference.
 
OP
6

6button

New member
Sounds great! Thanks for the info! However, I'm still looking to get clarification on a few of these items from my original list. Can someone take a look and give me their thoughts? Thanks!

2) I've heard frame buffer emulation can help in some cases. Should I always keep this on for the occasional game that does require it. If I do, am I reducing quality or speed of other titles? If it's so important, I'm not sure why it doesn't come as featured that is always turned on.

3) LOD calculation is not on be default and I never see anyone say to turn it on. Based on it's description, it seems like it should be. Would it hurt emulation of any titles to have it always on?

4) How do I determine what my texture cache value should be on a system with 8 GB of RAM? I'm not suing any high-res texture packs.
 

V1del

New member
2) Frambuffer is used by games using framebuffer effects it won't affect games that aren't using it, reason that it isnt always turned on and configurable that the effect is relatively taxing and there's hardware that might see performance issues.

3) I don't have a specific example but i remember a select few titles breaking in some way depending on LOD on/off because of its imprecision

4) Doesn't matter if you aren't using texture packs
 

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