Slowdown with PCSX2

Hey there, totally new to the forum but I have a quick question. I am emulating Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix+ and the game runs at 100% most of the time, however whenever a lot of fire/flames/effects appear emulation speed drops below 50% wondering if this is an error on my part in terms of computer hardware or if it is a pcsx2 issue and of it is, how can I fix it?
Pc specs:
ASUS Desktop pc CM1745 series
Processor: AMD A8-5500APU with Radeon HD graphics 3.20 GHz
12.0 GB installed memory
64 bit operating system, x64-based processor

I'm not the brightest in that world, but I would have to say that it is either your graphics card taking in too much of a load. Or that your CPu isn't strong enough to withstand the attack of the emulator loading all of those effects and sounds. Also it depends whether you're using an ISO CUE BIN or DVD, all of them have different effects on the gameplay.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Edward_Stryfe

I'm not the brightest in that world, but I would have to say that it is either your graphics card taking in too much of a load. Or that your CPu isn't strong enough to withstand the attack of the emulator loading all of those effects and sounds. Also it depends whether you're using an ISO CUE BIN or DVD, all of them have different effects on the gameplay.

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It is an iso, would using a dvd or another format fix this issue? Or of its the graphics card, any ideas about what is recommended for a powerful graphics card for the range of about 100$? Also my graphics card has 6GB of memory is that decent enough? Or is it mostly my CPU?

I'd put my money on the CPU and you can find a PS2 grade graphics card for under 100$ but I would say that it's from the stress on the CPU from personal experience, try running low memory applications that are only mandatory while playing too. I would recommend that you use .cue or maybe .bin I'm not sure how easy that is to find. If you want I have KHII and that's it I could rip it and give you the .cue. I must stress though that running the DVD is the worst idea, that is unless you have a custom gaming PC that ran you about 400 to 500 USD.

The problem I want to stress by the sounds of it is the CPU it sounds like it's just having a very hard time processing all of the spastic instances of the emulator. If they were more common it would be a lot easier and you would probably get 86-94% most of the time. Like I said though try the .cue and see if that helps, and don't have any other optional applications running if they don't have to be. I wouldn't go and buy a new CPU core or anything like that, because I am not an expert on computers but it sounds like it's possible to do without spending money.

To test really though if it's the graphics card, download an HD god-tier action video. Find where the big explosion is and have the volume on high, use VLC media player and skip from a still scene to an action one. If the video lags it might be your CPU if the video gets distorted it's the VIDeo Card. Now this is just a hypothesis though. I hope that you can resolve the issue without spending any money :D

I could be totally wrong though don't do anything to extreme based off of what I gave you XD and please don't sue me xD
I"M NOT A PROFESSIONAL ANYTHING

for perspecitive on my level of advice, could think of it perhaps as opposite of Edward_Stryfe's perspective.
I use to be really informed of these kind of issues, however my info maybe outdated or no longer apply to modern hardware.

The .ISO vs .BIN/.CUE, doesn't matter as far as I know... They are all CD/DVD image formats, it shouldn't matter which one you use, the formats use to only come into play when you Burn them to CD/DVD, but thats only because some of the Image formats are prorietary to the burning application, or server the application with copyrigth protection bypass info etc... None of which applies when your simply playing it off the Harddrive... Think of it similar to Video file containers such as .MP4 , .FLV , .HDMOV , .MKV , etc. It doesn't matter which your using as playback if they all encoded using the .h264 format, they will all Look the same.

and regaurding Edward's last paragraph, just fyi, nothing personal, your just ill informed... video playback for the most part has nothing to do with Emulation, or 3D graphic performance.

Its also a good time for me to point out I have no experience emulating PS2

tho I've heard INTEL cpu's are generally better for emulation, due to Emu optimizations on that platform, tho i have no clue if that specificly applies to PS2 Emus... Tho I also generally have known these past few generations, INTEL has been kicking AMD's ass in regaurds to perforamce efficency. Price per performance ratio may remain competitive tho.. you get what you pay for.

I also heard, the modern Integrated Graphics on the CPU Dies (I forgot the term) is actually better than the cheapo after market cards. Not like the old Onboard Graphics which shared the same Motherboard, but Didn't share the CPU's Bus speed and resources, etc.

In my experience with past hardware, Disabling the "application controle" function in your advanced graphics properties from the desktop control pannel.. and then manually Turning off VSYNC, and switching to 16bit display mode, would litterally nearly double gameplay speed/performance. If you don't know how to set the app to run in 16bit display mode, forcing your desktop to 16bit mode, and then forcing the application to run in WINDOWED mode instead of FULLSCREEN, will force it to 16.
This may no longer apply to modern hardware, and there maybe a lot more options... However If lowering the most powerful resouce intensive options, shows little to No performance difference.. Thats a pritty good hit its CPU related and not GPU.

The reason I say to use .cue is because it's the most universal, that and depending on PC's and installation the BIOS could get screwed up so that you have to use a different format. Example:

Got bored friend said to try out Xenoblade emulated because it would look really funny on my weak compy, cue didn't work but ISO did. That's for the Wii though for playstation the .cue file format has been the most successful out of the three. That and you bring up Video Codec while the same body is still there are few differences such as compatability. For instance how MKV can only be opened by a handfull of media players and yet has the same encoding as the MP4 comaptable with almost all of them, MOV too.

I'm not sealing anything in blood just a mere suggestion. I recommend trying the cue to help speed things up it's been the most efficient out of all in my experience of 7 years of VG emulating.

Ed I think you have some miss conceptions. unless something changed, which is possible, I havn't worked with cd images in years. However .BIN and .ISO were virtually identical. .CUE was used a lot to assist the burning process of copy protected Disks such as games, however running them Off the HDD meant the .CUE did nothing. IF the Ops Issue wasn't a Slow down, but an exacution of the game, I'd agree DLing a diff version may help, not because of the format, but because the previous source could of been corrupt(which sounds like what happend to you). but Slow down is probably more a performance / emulation issue, unless inconsistant.

Ed this may or maynot also interest you, but you may DL the MKV splitter, so it can run on Any video application on the system. you can use the "Haali Media splitter" or the indevidual "Matroska splitter" all by itself. Haali decodes the most common containers including MKV, the "Matroska splitter" can be used standalone ofcourse tho.
search "haali" will bring u2 its page
search "guliverkli2" will bring you to the sourceforge project page, under the FILES tab it lists the decoders\splitters
search "guliverkli" (no 2) will bring up the legacy, old decoder page

really off topic now lol... just fyi also, if you watch old school stuff, "ffdshow" is a decoder(Not a Splitter) for almost all Codec types and it has a bitmap overlay function that can allow you to emulate Scanlines. IIRC theres diff development forks of it, so just for reference, I havn't updated it ina long time cause its always worked fine for me, but this is the rev i used... "ffdshow tryouts rev4513"

You pointed out my point that I missed myself. I'm saying that the game could be erronious because of the version being that the graphics and textures aren't going being executed properly. However the chances of it being a hardware issue are almost 90% but the problem is figuring out whether it is a CPU RAM or Video Card error or slowdown.