FF7 is Lagging too much need help

[foster]

Hi guys, I'm new to the world of emulating games and I'm also another noob in zipping and unzipping files across web. I only found this site by stumbling onto it by searching guides for installing emulators. I'm kind of a slow learner when it comes to teaching myself new computer skills, but I'm sure with you guys helping me out I'll find all the information I need to be at least competant at using emulators .

I have a whole bunch of PS1 games which I just felt like dusting off and playing again, so I downloaded my first emulator using the Sticky guide: General ePSXe Setup and Configuration by Guitar Gamer. It has been a very usefull guide so I thank Guiter Gamer for doing a great job, haven't had time to read through the other posts on that topic but hope to finish soon.

I didn't have problems with finding Bios settings or zlib1.dll download so I do have the emulator working, but I am having some issues when playing FF7. The game lags a lot and it takes 5 minutes for each battle scene to start, sometimes it crashes. I've tried tweaking the Graphics Configs with not much success. Could be an easy fix by finding the right patch or even downloading the right plug-in, but I can't be sure if I'm making it worse.

I've tried using Pete's OpenGL2 PSX GPU but didn't work for me since my Graphics couldn't handle it, so I downloaded the P.E.Op.S./Pete's OpenGL Windows PSX GPU version 1.78 instead. I'm still having the same lagging as before so I'm asking for some advice from you gents.

The emulator and plugins I am currently using are:
espxe 1.7.0
Pete's OpenGL Windows PSX GPU version 1.78
spuEternal150beta2

BTW I filled out my computer hardware on my profile but I'm not sure if that's enough. Just let me know if you need more information on my system.

Thank you for reading

[FatTrucker]

Like I said in the other thread. 1.7Ghz Celeron, 1Gb Ram - most likely problem is Vista not leaving enough resources for your system to run the game properly during battles, FMV etc.

Stick XP on there.

[foster]

Ok, I've given up on messing with my laptop and decided to use my Home desktop instead for my playing needs. It's got XP so I'm sure you will approve Fat Trucker . I've updated the PC specs on my profile with it's details, which are definitely an improvement to my laptop (not sure on the RAM though).

Final Fantasy 7 game is working fine now, but I still do experience some problems:

1. The game still lags for 2-6 seconds when it has to load up from the CD which has stopped spinning in the drive. Is there a way to make the CD run more efficiently??
2. When I play the game for long periods sometimes the computer will simply crash, is there any way I can avoid this from happening.

These problems are not much really of an issue, I can still play the game and luckily for me the CD's weren't too damaged after long years of neglect. But if you know what is the most likely the course of these problems please let me know

These are what I am currently using on my Home Computer.

Emulator
epsxe 1.7.0
Plugins
spuEternal150beta2
Pete's OpenGL2 Driver 2.9

BTW I set the video configuration to Nice default settings and activated the special game fix for FF7/FF8.

Plugin: Pete's OpenGL2 Driver 2.9
Author: Pete Bernert
Card vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.
GFX card: RADEON XPRESS 200 Series SW TCL x86/MMX/3DNow!/SSE2

Resolution/Color:
- 640x480 Window mode
- Internal X resolution: 1
- Internal Y resolution: 1
- Keep psx aspect ratio: off
- No render-to-texture: off

- Filtering: 0
- Hi-Res textures: 0
- TexWin pixel shader: off
- VRam size: 0 MBytes

Framerate:
- FPS limitation: on
- Frame skipping: off
- FPS limit: Auto

Compatibility:
- Offscreen drawing: 2
- Framebuffer effects: 3
- Framebuffer uploads: 1

Misc:
- Scanlines: off
- Mdec filter: on
- Screen filtering: on
- Shader effects: 0/1
- Flicker-fix border size: 0
- GF4/XP crash fix: off
- Game fixes: on [00000002]

I've just discovered the copy settings to clipboard tab so I pasted the details here. Again if you feel if the set up is wrong please let me know.

Thank you for reading.

[Zach]

Per the CD's. The only way to really deal with that problem, is to find a utility that will keep the drive from spinning down.. Or do what most of us do. Make ISO's of all 4 game discs, and keep them on your PC. Using a tool like Daemon-Tools or some CD-burning apps that have virtual drives, you can mount those disc images in a virtual drive and the access will be just like reading something off the hard drive. no latency or waiting to spin up problems.


As for the random crashes after long periods of play.. That sounds like a possible heat problem. Make sure your PC is in a well ventilated area and has plenty of room to exhaust hot air out the back.. If its sitting in a desk with one of those cabinets people tend to stick their PC's in, get it out of there, or make sure the back of the cabinet is open so air can escape.

[FatTrucker]

Per the CD's. The only way to really deal with that problem, is to find a utility that will keep the drive from spinning down.. Or do what most of us do. Make ISO's of all 4 game discs, and keep them on your PC. Using a tool like Daemon-Tools or some CD-burning apps that have virtual drives, you can mount those disc images in a virtual drive and the access will be just like reading something off the hard drive. no latency or waiting to spin up problems.


As for the random crashes after long periods of play.. That sounds like a possible heat problem. Make sure your PC is in a well ventilated area and has plenty of room to exhaust hot air out the back.. If its sitting in a desk with one of those cabinets people tend to stick their PC's in, get it out of there, or make sure the back of the cabinet is open so air can escape.

Totally agree, use something like MagicISO (shareware, free version works just fine) to rip the disks to an ISO or bin/cue file.
No need to mess with virtual drives and mounting tools as ePSXe will run the disk images directly. (you might need to change the ePSXe CD Plugin for it to do this).

[foster]

Thank you guys for helping me out .

[foster]

First I'd like to apoligise for basically bumping my own post, since I cannot seem to figure out how to edit my previous post to add other questions.

I just wanted to ask how I can transfer my saves between computers. Do I just copy whatever's in the memcards onto a transferable memory card and then paste it in the other computer memcards file? Is there any zipping involved?

Also how much memory do I have, is it limited or is it as much as I have RAM?

thanks for reading

[Jiyambi]

To transfer the saves - just go to the epsxe folder, copy the memcards folder if you save via memory card or the sstates folder if you save via save states. Then paste them into the epsxe folder on the other computer. I just had to do this when I got my new laptop, works like a charm

Too bad my laptop seems to be too minimalist to run my psx games well

[Arashi]

I am new to using any kind of emulator. I jus want to play final fantasy VII on my computer but I dont have the actual game disc. can someone help?

[FatTrucker]

I am new to using any kind of emulator. I jus want to play final fantasy VII on my computer but I dont have the actual game disc. can someone help?

No. The site rules prohibit discussion of romsites or obtaining material that's subject to copyright. You'll need to search for stuff like that on your own. Sorry.