Why is every frame rendered?

[DWells55X]

First of all: I am new here, but I have read the FAQ and searched and didn't find my answer. So my apolgies if this has been answered.

Why is it that every frame is rendered in Chankast? For example, why does 40 FPS on games like DoA2 (great thread on that, got it working easily) mean everything runs in slow-mo out of sync with the sound, and Games like Mr. Driller at 90FPS mean everything runs superfast? On Mr. Driller I can fiddle with + - to get the FPS around 60ish, but in DoA2, it's just annoying. I don't understand why it works liek this and could clarify it for me. Because in PC games, when I get 20FPS, everything is just choppy, but when I get 100FPS everything is just smooth - but the same FPS yield a different result in Chankast. If someone could explain this concept or maybe a solution, I would really appreciate it. I understand a fair amount of technical stuff and am an avid PC gamer so no nee dot make it into babytalk or anything.

Also, would I see drastically better results by using my other PC? I really would prefer not to, I already have Alcohol 120 installed, and I'd hate to get rid of it and use Daemon Tools 3.29 which has BSODed this PC a few times already.

My specs on this PC are:
Athlon 64 3200+
512MB DDR400
GeForce 6200 256MB PCIe

Primary (yet to run Chankast):
Athlon Barton 3000+
1GB HyperX DDR400 Dual Channel
GeForce 6800 Softmodded

DoA2 is looking pretty decent, though:

 

[Clements]

Console games are not designed like PC games at all, the frame rate is always fixed to a specific value due to limitations of the console's hardware. Anything above the standard results in a speed up, less results in a slowdown. Chankast can skip frames to speed stuff up, but this results in choppiness and is not especially effective.

The other PC will offer very similar performance, as the CPUs are comparable in speed. The Athlon64 machine will be a couple of percent faster. CPU speed almost entirely governs the framerate in Chankast.

 

[DWells55X]

Thanks for the kind reply, I wasn't sure if the substantially more powerful GeForce 6800 (almost 10,000 in 3DMark03 compared to the 1500 this thing gets) would make a difference or if it was entirely CPU bound. But now I know.

Is what you said true of all Console games? Because I know there are some Xbox games that I've played where the FPS being low resulted in skipping, not slow-mo.

Also, you mentioned a way to skip frames? How would I do this, I'd rather play with skippy animations and sound sync than having to wait an hour for my character to finish punching. Also, I've read so,ething about enabling V-Sync by searching to stop the games from going too fast. How do I do this? Add Chankast.exe to my list of Apps in nVidia drivers and select the "Force V-Sync" option?

Again, thanks for the speedy and helpful reply.

EDIT (to avoid double posting): How is that Chankast Utilities thing for speeding up games, anyways? Worth the time in downloading it?

 

[Agozer]

You can force VSync with drivers, but not frame skipping. VSync limits the frames to your monitor's refresh rate. A frame skip option only exists if such is hardcoded into the emulator. Of course, if the compuer isn't fast enough to play the game at the intended speed, fameskipping does occur as well, but it's not so "helpful" that way.

 

[DWells55X]

Alright, I guess that means I'll just have to wait and hope for Chankast Team to release a new version some day.

 

[Clements]

Thanks for the kind reply, I wasn't sure if the substantially more powerful GeForce 6800 (almost 10,000 in 3DMark03 compared to the 1500 this thing gets) would make a difference or if it was entirely CPU bound. But now I know.

Yep, it's almost entirely CPU bound. I say almost, since if you crank the resolution up high enough, and add a lot of AA, the video card could theoretically become the bottleneck. Those settings would need to be incredibly high though, as the DC's graphics are cake even for a 6200.

Is what you said true of all Console games? Because I know there are some Xbox games that I've played where the FPS being low resulted in skipping, not slow-mo.

I don't know a lot about XBOX, but it probably works the same as other consoles, with the framerate locked at 60fps like the other next-gen consoles. Slowdowns can occur on a console too, such happens even on older consoles such as the Super NES.

Also, you mentioned a way to skip frames? How would I do this, I'd rather play with skippy animations and sound sync than having to wait an hour for my character to finish punching.

Chankast automatically skips frames if the framerate dips below 60fps. In your shot, you can see that the framerate has been divided by three to increase performance.

Also, I've read so,ething about enabling V-Sync by searching to stop the games from going too fast. How do I do this?

You need to set your refresh rate to 60Hz, and then force vsync in your drivers. Next, open Chankast in Fullscreen mode in the resolution you set to 60Hz with. The framerate will not exceed 60fps (but can get slower than 60fps).

EDIT (to avoid double posting): How is that Chankast Utilities thing for speeding up games, anyways? Worth the time in downloading it?

I've heard that includes an app that employs various tricks like raising the priority and such. Probably wouldn't make things much faster.