Problems with full screen mode, sound, freezing

[neurotic]

The full specs for my Dell Inspiron 710m laptop can be found here. Below are the ones I imagine to be relevant:

Processor: Intel Pentium M 755 / 1.7 GHz
RAM: 1GB DDR SDRAM
Display: 12.1 in TFT active matrix, 32-bit color
Video Card: Intel Extreme Graphics
Video Memory: 64 MB

I'm not sure what the native resolution of my display is, but the maximum I can set it to is 1280x800.

The emulator and all CD images are stored on a portable external HD.

I am running Windows XP and have DirectX 10 installed.

I was having problems with the sound stuttering on several games. I originally tweaked the latency to try to solve this, but after reading through a few threads on this forum decided to reset the latency to the default and make the following changes to my configuration instead:

Frame skipping: on
Vsync: off

I also manually set the resolution to 1280x800 65hz, and set the aspect ratio to auto.

When I try to run the emulator in full screen mode, I get a blank (black) screen and have to return to windowed mode.

I'm not an expert on graphics or sound hardware/settings, so I'm sure I've just done something stupid that's preventing me from running in full screen (which I'd like to do as I've read that it improves performance, including sound which I've been having problems with).

Any other questions about my equipment or settings, please ask and I'll try to answer ASAP in detail.

[UPDATE]

Despite returning all settings to their defaults (exception: the acceleration on my speaker settings, which is set to highest now), I have started having problems with the emulator and various games freezing that didn't freeze previously.

I recently got a Super Dual Box Pro to use with my dualshock controller for PSX, and unless it was coincidence, all problems except for stuttering sound and not being able to run in full screen mode started after setting it up. However, disabling the SDBP and controller don't correct the freezing problem.

[Gamesoul Master]

Alright... let's see if we can get this fixed...

Both those settings you changed... you actually want Frame skipping off and Vsync on. If you haven't messed with the video drivers too much, the highest it lets you set your desktop resolution is usually your native resolution, so 1280x800 should be fine.

However, that 65 Hz refresh rate isn't very good. First of all, you generally want multiples of base frame-rates (for NTSC, it'd be 60, 90, 120, etc... for PAL, it'd be 50, 75, 100, etc). What is the highest your laptop will let you set your desktop refresh rate? Try setting it to 60 Hz and then choosing that same refresh rate in pSX.

Also, have you made sure to install the latest version of DirectX9.0c? And... make sure your desktop is set to 32-bit True Color if possible.

And yes, leaving the latency at default is your best bet. Did you make sure that on the Sound tab in pSX's configuration, you made sure that all four check boxes are checked?

[neurotic]

Dec 15, 2008 16:35:12 GMT -5 Gamesoul Master said:

Alright... let's see if we can get this fixed...

It didn't really occur to me that running a later version of DirectX could be the problem- I think I successfully installed 9.0c but I'm not sure, as it claimed to have installed within seconds of running the installer. Should I uninstall 10 and try installing 9.0c again?

I changed the rest of the settings according to what you've advised as well. The highest refresh rate my monitor allows is 65hz, but I switched it to 60hz to align it with pSX.

I can now enter full screen mode; however, instead of toggling between windowed mode and full screen, I toggle between black screen and full screen. To exit full screen I have to pull up the task manager. Is there a fix for that?

Sound is still stuttering significantly (by which I mean terribly).

[Gamesoul Master]

Hmm... Maybe some basics are to blame (unlikely, but let's give it a shot).

How many games have you tried this with? Are you mounting the images on a virtual drive or loading them directly?

And... I just realized you put DirectX10 and Windows XP in the same sentence. They really shouldn't be unless you're talking about how it *shouldn't* be running on XP. The only version I know of is an unofficial alpha build of it made for XP, which I'd definitely recommend you uninstall. After uninstalling it and rebooting, you should grab the web updater program for DirectX from my signature and run that until it tells you that there are no more updates you need.

I suppose the DirectX10 shouldn't be causing any problems (as I recall, it's just different files, basically extensions and not replacements), but unless you're playing games that specifically need DirectX10 (and on your laptop, you wouldn't be able to take advantage of the extra quality that a limited few games would offer with DX10 anyway), there's really no point to having it on there.

[neurotic]

Dec 15, 2008 17:31:01 GMT -5 Gamesoul Master said:

How many games have you tried this with? Are you mounting the images on a virtual drive or loading them directly

I have several game images that I load directly in pSX and one game I use the CD for. I have always had problems with sound stuttering and running in full screen mode, but I didn't have problems with freezing until recently, and sound problems have been aggravated in games that previously worked fine.

Games that worked fine before getting the SDBP:
Chocobo's Magical Dungeon 2
Final Fantasy VII
Medal of Honor
Monster Rancher 2
Parasite Eve
SaGa Frontier (use CD)

After getting the SDBP, I tested my copy of Gran Turismo 2 (image loaded directly), and at that point started having problems with freezing, severe sound stuttering, lag, and sync problems with video and sound. I also started having problems with other games stuttering and freezing that previously worked fine- even Chocobo's Magical Dungeon 2, which is not graphic intensive at all. Sometimes my images won't load, either.

I did a system restore from prior to installing DirectX10, and made sure 9.0c was updated.

Did another test:
- Still having black screen/full screen toggle problem
- Sound still stutters significantly
- Game still freezing after a few minutes of play

I'm quite tempted to blame SDBP and/or the controller at this point.

Disabling vibration and analog helped with the sound, but it still stutters. Will edit this post if/when game freezes as well. Naturally this had no effect on the toggle problem for full screen.

[Gamesoul Master]

Have you tried updating your whole chipset? Starting to run out of good ideas... maybe I need to eat something today to get that energy going... lol.

[neurotic]

Dec 15, 2008 18:31:50 GMT -5 Gamesoul Master said:

Have you tried updating your whole chipset? Starting to run out of good ideas... maybe I need to eat something today to get that energy going... lol.

Disabling the vibration and analog functions on my controller helped somewhat... I'll see if the chipset can be updated and let you know if anything changes.

[Gamesoul Master]

Hmm... let's think slowdowns here...

Do you have a lot of processes running besides pSX? Are there any power-saving options running while you're trying to play? Have you tried setting the fullscreen resolution to "Default", and making sure the "Sleep when idle" option is *not* checked? How about setting the process priority to "Above normal" or "High"?

And you know what...? I noticed (I forgot about this... a bug that's never been fixed) that once I go to fullscreen, hitting Alt-Enter again doesn't take me out of fullscreen, but instead changes me to an alternate fullscreen mode (which seems to be the rendered resolution, stretched to fit my monitor). It seems to be an extremely simple problem though. Basically, pSX is doing everything it should be doing to go back to windowed mode except actually *leaving* fullscreen mode (as in, it sets the resolution back to the windowed size and all that, but is still stuck in fullscreen). I know of no fix for this at the moment.

Edit:


I want you to address my above questions (at the start of this post), and set your graphics settings to look exactly like this, and see how that works out for you. At the very least, it should solve the escaping out of fullscreen problem.

Also just noticed that you actually explained what the SDBP was (you updated your post after I already had it up, so I never saw the update). I actually figured it out about 5 minutes ago and came to clarify, then happened to notice you say "Super Dual Box Pro" in your update and felt half dumb (for not seeing it) and half smart (for guessing it correctly)... LOL.

Anyway, what did you do to "set it up"? Just as simple as installing the drivers? Do you have anti-virus running to ensure something didn't tag along with the installation program for the drivers?

[neurotic]

Processes running besides pSX: No other programs running, but ~30 processes, CPU usage between 3-5% according to task manager

Power-saving Options: No

Fullscreen Resolution to default: How do I do this?

Sleep when Idle: Not Checked

Process Priority: High

Setting up SDBP was as simple as downloading the drivers directly from Play Asia (it came with a floppy disk containing the drivers but I don't have a floppy drive). I don't have anti-virus, but I'm not concerned about the download from Play Asia.

I changed the settings to match that screenshot, and a test yields the following results:
- Can no longer enter full screen mode at all, only toggle between black screen and windowed mode (progress?) Toggle works now!
- Game SFX don't seem to be skipping but music continues to stutter significantly

With music off and analog on, the game ran fine for several minutes, then froze in a menu when I went to turn the rumble on after being satisfied that the game wouldn't freeze. Because it happened in a menu rather than during gameplay, I'm not inclined to lump this in with the preexisting problems.

With music off, analog and rumble on, the game freezes after only a couple minutes of playtime, in a loading screen (an improvement over freezing in the middle of gameplay, but obviously still makes the game unplayable).

It may be worth noting that when I say "the game freezes", the entire process becomes unresponsive and I have to close it via the task manager.

I can live without vibration, so I will continue to test the game with the music and vibration disabled and see whether or not it freezes after extended play. My concern is only with the basic functionality of the controller- analog and vibration are not necessary for me.