A comprehensive list of games that are only problematic on AMD/ATI graphics cards

[solarmystic]

Background:-

As you may already know, PPSSPP uses an OpenGL (OGL) backend for graphics rendering.

NVIDIA has always had a long history of excellent OGL support for all their cards, dating back to the illustrious Geforce 256 itself. They are the undisputed leader for OGL implementations and their support for other OS that use OGL is flawless. E.g. Linux.

Unfortunately, AMD (previously known as ATI before being bought out) does not, even to this very day. Avid PC gamers will remember the RAGE (2011) debacle for AMD card owners due to their crappy OGL support.

AMD and AMD users are fortunate that since Direct3D (9/10/11) is the leading graphics API that is widely used in PC games, the shortcomings of AMD's OGL drivers can mostly be ignored, until an application comes along and decides to use it. Like PPSSPP.

Long story short, what this means is that there are certain implementations that are inferior in AMD's OGL drivers and this affects the playability of certain games when emulated on PPSSPP.

As an owner of such an ATI/AMD card, I intend to use this thread to list out games which currently have issues with only AMD's cards and are playable on NVIDIA's cards.

Let's begin.


The list (updated to account for v0.9.5-1018-g1614c61):-

1. Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection (universal)

The game has broken text rendering by default. Disabling Buffered Rendering fixes the issue for NVIDIA cards. Does nothing for AMD cards and remains unplayable due to the issue. Seems to affect even older pre-DirectX 9.0c cards like the X800 series also.

https://github.com/hrydgard/ppsspp/issues/2018

(Update 1:- Now finally fixed for AMD/ATI cards since v0.9.1-491-g09c07a8 thanks to raven02! Update to the latest dev builds now!)

(Update 2:- Fix reverted for AMD/ATI cards after v0.9.1-533-gb054f1d due to issues it was causing other games. Use v0.9.1-532-g18c2342 or v0.9.1-502-gffae887 from the buildbot if you still want to play this game on your AMD/ATI machine.)

(Update 3:- Game is finally fixed again for ATI/AMD cards since the Disable Stencil Test hack was added into the Graphics options from v0.9.1-703-g74418c1 onwards.)

(Update 4:- The hack is no longer required to display everything properly. Only Hardware Transform needs to be disabled to make it look right)

2. Danganronpa (universal)

The game's targetting reticule does not work during Investigation Mode by default. It requires the FramebuffersToMem hack which was recently implemented into PPSSPP as of v0.8.1-20-g5fcd521. This hack fixes the issue on NVIDIA cards. Again, it does nothing for AMD cards, and the game remains unplayable. Items are not selected properly, and are out of order.

https://github.com/hrydgard/ppsspp/issues/1686

(Update 1:- With the release of v0.8.1-325-g0eadfdc on the buildbot and the FramebuffersCPUConvert functionality now available to the masses, AMD/ATI cards finally have parity with NVIDIA's cards in this particular game. Just remember to set both FramebuffersCPUConvert = True and FramebufferstoMem = True in the ppsspp.ini file.)

(Update 2:- For users experiencing crashes when entering a certain sequence in Chapter 6, the current solution is to temporarily disable Hardware Transform until to get past that part. Further details on github here.)

(Update 3:- Instructions in Update 1 are outdated. Change Rendering Mode in Graphics Options to Read Framebuffers to Memory (CPU) to get the same effect in the latest builds)

3. Tekken 6 (universal)

This game is a system killer. Basically unplayable at 100% on any mobile Android/iOS device (100% means a consistent 60 VPS without ANY frameskipping switched on, since this is a fighting game which requires perfect input timing).

On the PC, decent lower end NVIDIA cards paired with reasonably modest CPUs have almost zero issues with the game, with the exception of an initial stutter when the first punch/kick connects with the enemy and the effects render.

AMD cards on the other hand have various issues in this game even when coupled with decent CPUs. In addition to the issues NVIDIA cards have, AMD cards actually suffer in performance when Hardware Transform (HT) is turned ON. That's right, a function that usually helps improve performance in other games does the exact opposite here. Turning it OFF increases VPS for AMD cards.

However, turning OFF HT switches off the lighting effects on the characters during their introductions and also when customizing them, making them ghostly pale. (screenshots courtesy of worldgg)

(A user with a 7770 card and 13.2 Catalyst drivers reports that the pale characters issue with HT off does not occur for him. ymmv.

(Update:- Pale characters are back with the latest 13.6 Catalyst drivers.)

(Update 2:- It seems like in the latest revisions (0.8.1-10xx+), turning OFF HW Transform is actually much more detrimental than keeping it ON for AMD cards. Keep HW Transform ON if you're using the latest dev builds.)

(Update 3:- The speed issue and pale characters issue have been largely resolved for AMD/ATI cards in the latest 0.9.5 git builds (from v0.9.5-373-ga6ee264 onwards). The use of "Software Skinning" combined with "Texcoord Speed Hack" is required to alleviate performance issues in this game, which is now highly playable on lower end AMD/ATI cards and CPU systems as a result.)

4. GTA Vice City Stories (only on the pre HD/X series ATI cards)

The game has a black screen glitches and/or funny artifacts no matter the setting. It is known that Buffered Rendering is mandatory to play the game properly from the start, but that does nothing to rectify the issue on those preHD legacy cards (e.g. X800).

(report courtesy of Danyal Zia, status updated, fixed by Danyal Zia himself quite sometime ago.)

5. Persona 3 Portable

This game is relatively trouble free for AMD/ATI cards, until the endgame, when you reach the final block of Tartarus, after the Tziah block (165F+).

The game will hang, and then crash PPSSPP after a few enemy encounters, without fail. This is does not happen on NVIDIA cards even with Hardware Transform.

The temporary solution to this issue is to disable Hardware Transform for now in that final block. This will incurr a performance penalty but is a guaranteed method for stable gameplay in that block at this moment.

https://github.com/hrydgard/ppsspp/issues/2846

(Updated: Issue now resolved since v0.8.1-735-geaf5cc1. You may now enable HW Transform for the entire game without any known issues in Persona on AMD cards)

6. 2nd Super Robot Wars Z 破界篇 Hakai Hen and 再世篇 Saisei Hen

This game has font/text rendering issues only on AMD/ATI cards but displays all of them properly on NVIDIA cards in all revisions.

(Report courtesy of Ditodong)

More will be added as we discover them. Stay tuned.

Non-game specific, generalized, ATI/AMD issues when using PPSSPP (new section)

1. Pressing the Escape button on your keyboard while playing a game to pause it (and head to the PPSSPP pause menu) which cause the emulator to crash in revisions starting from v0.8.1-397-gab1b7e7.

(update:- Any other key that's binded to the pause function will also crash ppsspp)

https://github.com/hrydgard/ppsspp/issues/2690

(updated again:- fixed in v0.8.1-429-gbab3027 thanks to Henrik)


Protips for a happier PPSSPP experience with your AMD card:-

1. Non-Crossfire (Single) AMD card owner?

Always disable Advanced Catalyst A.I. in your Catalyst Control Center(CCC) for PPSSPP. This is a major source of grief for many AMD users in the form of memory leaks, crashes and other problems as has been previously reported in the forums and on github. If you're using an even older and ancient X series card (e.g. X800), this does not apply to you.

2. Using a legacy card (pre 5xxx series)?

I recommend AMD Catalyst 11.11a. It has the best stability for this emulator. The 12.x and 13.x Legacy series are horrendous for 4xxx cards and below and have a tendency to crash the emulator at random or cause display driver hang ups.

2a. Using an even older X series (and below) legacy card?

Use Windows XP and these 10.2 drivers from AMD for PPSSPP. AMD/ATI's OGL driver support and performance in anything after XP for the X series is just horrible. Windows XP is still the best bet for you for getting the best performance, least amount of crashes and trouble.

3. Using 64bit Windows plus the 11.11a drivers with a legacy card?

Use the 64 bit Orphis build of PPSSPP. It has a much lower CPU overhead compared to the 32bit version which means better overall performance for your AMD card. You may see this for yourself by running the cube.iso test on ppsspp using both the 32 and 64 bit version of the emulator and setting the VPS to unlimited coupled with a 3x Rendering Resolution or less. The disparity is even more pronounced if your CPU is not that powerful to begin with.

[Ritori]

(06-28-2013 03:34 AM)solarmystic Wrote:  As you may already know, PPSSPP uses an OpenGL (OGL) backend for graphics rendering.

NVIDIA has always had a long history of excellent OGL support for all their cards, dating back from the illustrious Geforce 256 itself. They are the undisputed leader for OGL implementations and their support for other OS that use OGL is flawless. E.g. Linux.

Unfortunately, AMD (previously known as ATI before being bought out) does not. Even to this day. Avid PC gamers will remember the RAGE (2011) debacle for AMD card owners due to their crappy OGL support.

Long story short, what this means is that there are certain implementations that are inferior in AMD's OGL drivers and this affects the playability of certain games when emulated on PPSSPP.

As an owner of such an ATI/AMD card, I intend to use this thread to list out games which currently have issues with only AMD's cards and are playable on NVIDIA's cards.

Let's begin.

The list (updated to account for 0.8.1-63):-

1. Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection

The game has broken text rendering by default. Disabling Buffered Rendering fixes the issue for NVIDIA cards. Does nothing for AMD cards and remains unplayable due to the issue.

https://github.com/hrydgard/ppsspp/issues/2018

2. Danganronpa

The game's targetting reticule does not work during Investigation Mode by default. It requires the FramebuffersToMem hack which was recently implemented into PPSSPP as of v0.8.1-20-g5fcd521. This hack fixes the issue on NVIDIA cards. Again, it does nothing for AMD cards, and the game remains unplayable. Items are not selected properly, and are out of order.

https://github.com/hrydgard/ppsspp/issues/1686

More will be added as we discover them. Stay tuned.

Protips:-

1. Non-Crossfire (Single) AMD card owner? Always disable Advanced Catalyst A.I. in your Catalyst Control Center(CCC) for PPSSPP. This is a major source of grief for many AMD users in the form of memory leaks, crashes and other problems as has been previously reported in the forums and on github.

2. Using a legacy card (pre 5xxx series)? I recommend AMD Catalyst 11.11a. It has the best stability for this emulator. The 12.x and 13.x Legacy series are horrendous for 4xxx cards and below and have a tendency to crash the emulator at random.

I dont know what my AMD/ATl series is they got website for that?

[solarmystic]

(06-28-2013 04:06 AM)Ritori Wrote:  I dont know what my AMD/ATl series is they got website for that?

Use GPUz to find that information out:-

1. Download it from http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/

2. Run it. It gives you all the details.

Also, in the future, you don't have to quote my whole initial post lol. It's not necessary. Just ask the question directly.

---

*Updated to add Tekken 6*

[Ritori]

Look liked i use 6xxx series (i dont know this right or not)
my gpu pretty weak lol (that i think)
http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/13/06/28/edc.png

PS: Okay then sorry for trouble

[solarmystic]

*Bump to account for some minor updates/corrections*

[Danyal Zia]

Many thanks for making such list! I would add GTA Vice City Stories which doesn't work on pre-HD ATI/AMD cards such as X series while the game with same engine a.k.a GTA Liberty City Stories runs flawlessly with it. I have X800 in my old PC. Enabling Buffered rendering gives either black screen glitch or funny artifacts, no matter which version of atioglxx.dll is being used.

[solarmystic]

(06-30-2013 10:44 AM)Danyal Zia Wrote:  Many thanks for making such list! I would add GTA Vice City Stories which doesn't work on pre-HD ATI/AMD cards such as X series while the game with same engine a.k.a GTA Liberty City Stories runs flawlessly with it. I have X800 in my old PC. Enabling Buffered rendering gives either black screen glitch or funny artifacts, no matter which version of atioglxx.dll is being used.

Thanks, will add this game to this list for the X series.

[Scorpion31]

Not sure if you want to add this to your list but I do not have the pale fighters in tekken 6 with HT turned off running the game on a XFX radeon 7770 13.2 catalyst beta

[solarmystic]

(06-30-2013 12:03 PM)Scorpion31 Wrote:  Not sure if you want to add this to your list but I do not have the pale fighters in tekken 6 with HT turned off running the game on a XFX radeon 7770 13.2 catalyst beta

Noted. Already added as a part of list under Tekken 6 entry. Thanks for the report.

Also, just to confirm, the pale characters issue usually only occurs during the character's introduction sequence and when changing their outfits/accessories in the Customize mode.

[Scorpion31]

I would also like to contribute as much as I can so if you need someone to test on a Radeon HD 7770 or 7 series just let me know I will be glad to do so.

[solarmystic]

(07-01-2013 01:06 AM)Scorpion31 Wrote:  I would also like to contribute as much as I can so if you need someone to test on a Radeon HD 7770 or 7 series just let me know I will be glad to do so.

Will do, thanks for the offer. It'll be good to have a mix of modern and legacy cards for testing purposes.

[Danyal Zia]

Thanks for adding game to the list! I would also add that somehow I managed to get it run by disabling buffered rendering and setting frameskipping to 3. But, it's very glitched (for instance, map, wrong scaling etc) and it isn't much playable.

[solarmystic]

Bumped for the updated Danganronpa situation.

[solarmystic]

Bumped for yet another update to the Danganronpa situation with the release of v0.8.1-325-g0eadfdc, which allows other AMD/ATI owners without compiling ability to properly play Danganronpa.

[Ritori]

nice that game playable at last