2fast4u
New member
After messing around with Satourne's settings last nite (and getting my very first whiff of Daytona USA running on it) I decided that there may be the need for a little FAQ on how to speed up the games running on it. I am sure this is far from complete and there are tons of possibilites to add, but this is it for now.
First of all, here are my specs:
Athlon XP 1800+
256 MB RAM
GeForce2 MX
40 GB Maxtor HDD 7200 RPM
Windows XP Pro
Note that this FAQ is meant for satourne-debugger-dynarec-v01102002 (english). All referrals are made to this version (Get it at http://saturn.emulation64.com/emus/satourne/bins/satourne-debugger-dynarec-v01102002_en.zip).
Texture Cache
There are certain optimizations that do not affect visual quality. They don't bring as much speed as those that decrease it tho, so you may need to live with lower quality in the game in order to play it.
Your first optimization should be enabling the texture memory cache, to do this go to
VDP1 --> Texture Cache --> Always active
Master SH2
Another effective way to speed up the emulation is setting the Master SH2 frequency. This however decreases the visual quality. I have fooled around with it a bit and till up to around 17-20Hz the quality is still ok.
To set the Master SH2 frequency, go to
Master SH2 --> SH Frequency
VDP1
Ok, this is not really a valid idea because it virtually makes the games unplayable, but still ... the VDP1 options allow you to disable objects such as Sprites or Polygons. Needless to say you will be missing some stuff in the game, but it may be neat for experimential purposes
VDP1 --> Disable --> ...
VDP2
This is a very effective way I have found. It decreases visual quality but the effects are fairly moderate compared to disabling stuff in the VDP1.
By disabling the various "NBG" options, you turn off special effects. This creates a high speed increase but you have to go easy with them because turning off certain ones may crash your game.
Example: Disabling "NBG3" in Daytona USA causes the game to freeze and reset during the intro.
With those optimizations, I was able to get Satourne to run games at playable (approximately 50 fps) speed
That's all for now, soldiers. Any feedback and additions appreciated
First of all, here are my specs:
Athlon XP 1800+
256 MB RAM
GeForce2 MX
40 GB Maxtor HDD 7200 RPM
Windows XP Pro
Note that this FAQ is meant for satourne-debugger-dynarec-v01102002 (english). All referrals are made to this version (Get it at http://saturn.emulation64.com/emus/satourne/bins/satourne-debugger-dynarec-v01102002_en.zip).
Texture Cache
There are certain optimizations that do not affect visual quality. They don't bring as much speed as those that decrease it tho, so you may need to live with lower quality in the game in order to play it.
Your first optimization should be enabling the texture memory cache, to do this go to
VDP1 --> Texture Cache --> Always active
Master SH2
Another effective way to speed up the emulation is setting the Master SH2 frequency. This however decreases the visual quality. I have fooled around with it a bit and till up to around 17-20Hz the quality is still ok.
To set the Master SH2 frequency, go to
Master SH2 --> SH Frequency
VDP1
Ok, this is not really a valid idea because it virtually makes the games unplayable, but still ... the VDP1 options allow you to disable objects such as Sprites or Polygons. Needless to say you will be missing some stuff in the game, but it may be neat for experimential purposes
VDP1 --> Disable --> ...
VDP2
This is a very effective way I have found. It decreases visual quality but the effects are fairly moderate compared to disabling stuff in the VDP1.
By disabling the various "NBG" options, you turn off special effects. This creates a high speed increase but you have to go easy with them because turning off certain ones may crash your game.
Example: Disabling "NBG3" in Daytona USA causes the game to freeze and reset during the intro.
With those optimizations, I was able to get Satourne to run games at playable (approximately 50 fps) speed
That's all for now, soldiers. Any feedback and additions appreciated
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