Framebuffers to memory behaviour

[Gurlok]

Lately i'm stuck with an older build, the v0.8.1-486-gb25c85f 64 bit to be precise, because for some reasons (at least on my side) with newer builds enabling the option "read frambuffers to memory" is competely broken, all the games I tested have heavy/minor graphical glitches, here are some few examples:


Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity

Musou Orochi 2 Special (known in USA and Europe as Warriors Orochi 3)

Final Fantasy II

SD Gundam G Generation OverWorld
the movement range of any unit is not displayed (actually I'm not too sure if this bug was already present on older builds I'll check later), also there are some graphical glitches on pilots CG during battle animations, something minor, some dissolve effects when those faces show up etc.

EDIT: The movement range it was indeed a bug present earlier, hence it is futile to discuss it here, while the pilot portrait is caused by the framebuffer.

Gundam Assault Survive

I made all those test with the v0.8.1-655 64 bit build.

This is what I Could find. and they were affected by frambuffers to memory without any doubt, since disabling it "fix" most of those issues.
I decided to make a new thread instead of posting said issue in each game topic since to me it's more of a general problem then related to games, but correct me if I'm wrong please. Also is this frambuffers to memory the so formerly called "skip updating PSP memory"? Because if so, I don't understand why it got broken if it is essentially the same thing.
On a side note, it seems that keyboard mapping got broken again in this build.

PS: I prefered to use the hyperlink instead of tag image since each image size is aprox 2mb, because I couldn't figure out how to use the spoiler tag, (using [spoiler][/spoiler] didn't work) yeah I know, shame on me.

[solarmystic]

Disable the option then.

Why enable them in games unless the games need them to properly function?

AFAIK, there are only 5-6 games that I know of that need the FramebufferstoMem and FramebuffersCPUConvert options to be ON to work properly:-

1. Danganronpa

If they're not on, Investigation mode is broken, breaking the game completely. This game was the main reason why @arnastia even bothered to add this Framebuffers option in the first place.

2. Ys Seven

Required to enable proper minimap, and save screenshot functionality

3. Legend of Heroes Trails in the Sky

Required for proper background transparency in the status menu and save screenshot functionality

4. Soul Calibur

Used to enable proper snapshot functionality during Creation mode for your customized characters

5. The 3rd Birthday

Required to remove the white lines that appear on the screen.

6. Gods Eater Burst

Required to prevent screen flickering when loading saves.

To summarize, you should not have to enable those FB options unless they restore functionality to the games. Games that run fine without them on, should always be run without them on.

Using those options will always incurr a performance penalty and results in poorer speed.

[Gurlok]

(07-20-2013 05:47 PM)solarmystic Wrote:  Disable the option then.

Why enable them in games unless the games need them to properly function?

AFAIK, there are only 5-6 games that I know of that need the FramebufferstoMem and FramebuffersCPUConvert options to be ON to work properly

To summarize, you should not have to enable those FB options unless they restore functionality to the games. Games that run fine without them on, should always be run without them on.

Using those options will always incurr a performance penalty and results in poorer speed.

Thanks for your reply. I see, I thought that framebuffers to memory and skip updating PSP memory were the same thing with a different name. Then may I ask what happened to the latter? I had no problem leaving it enabled on every game, if anything it helped emulation (on my side).

[solarmystic]

(07-20-2013 06:39 PM)Gurlok Wrote:  Thanks for your reply. I see, I thought that framebuffers to memory and skip updating PSP memory were the same thing with a different name. Then may I ask what happened to the latter? I had no problem leaving it enabled on every game, if anything it helped emulation (on my side).

They are, in a sense.

Enabling Skip Updating PSP Memory = Disabling Framebuffers to memory = Better Speed for all your games, and should work with most of them. (This is the default and preferred option with a fresh build)

Disabling Skip updating PSP memory = Enabling Framebuffers to memory = Worse speed for all your games, but necessary for SOME games to work properly, like the ones I mentioned in my previous post. (this should only be enabled on a case by case basis, depending on the game)

So in effect, if you were leaving Skip updating PSP Memory ON, you were getting the best performance available to you for all your games anyway.

[vsub_]

Also disabling Buffered Rendering gives you more speed and some games need this to be disabled(while BR is disabled,the other buffering options are not working)

Buffered Rendering + Framebuffers to memory enabled = low speed
Buffered Rendering + Framebuffers to memory disabled = more speed
Buffered Rendering disabled + Framebuffers to memory enabled\disabled = even more speed

Some games also work faster with Vertex Cache disabled

[Gurlok]

(07-20-2013 07:47 PM)solarmystic Wrote:  

(07-20-2013 06:39 PM)Gurlok Wrote:  Thanks for your reply. I see, I thought that framebuffers to memory and skip updating PSP memory were the same thing with a different name. Then may I ask what happened to the latter? I had no problem leaving it enabled on every game, if anything it helped emulation (on my side).

They are, in a sense.

Enabling Skip Updating PSP Memory = Disabling Framebuffers to memory = Better Speed for all your games, and should work with most of them. (This is the default and preferred option with a fresh build)

Disabling Skip updating PSP memory = Enabling Framebuffers to memory = Worse speed for all your games, but necessary for SOME games to work properly, like the ones I mentioned in my previous post. (this should only be enabled on a case by case basis, depending on the game)

So in effect, if you were leaving Skip updating PSP Memory ON, you were getting the best performance available to you for all your games anyway.

(07-20-2013 08:13 PM)vsub_ Wrote:  Also disabling Buffered Rendering gives you more speed and some games need this to be disabled(while BR is disabled,the other buffering options are not working)

Buffered Rendering + Framebuffers to memory enabled = low speed
Buffered Rendering + Framebuffers to memory disabled = more speed
Buffered Rendering disabled + Framebuffers to memory enabled\disabled = even more speed

Some games also work faster with Vertex Cache disabled

Ah that's why then! Now all this make sense to me, and that's why by default frambuffer is disabled, I see, thanks for the further explanations solarmystic and vsub_

[RPG Advocate]

(07-20-2013 05:47 PM)solarmystic Wrote:  Disable the option then.

Why enable them in games unless the games need them to properly function?

AFAIK, there are only 5-6 games that I know of that need the FramebufferstoMem and FramebuffersCPUConvert options to be ON to work properly:-

1. Danganronpa

If they're not on, Investigation mode is broken, breaking the game completely. This game was the main reason why @arnastia even bothered to add this Framebuffers option in the first place.

2. Ys Seven

Required to enable proper minimap, and save screenshot functionality

3. Legend of Heroes Trails in the Sky

Required for proper background transparency in the status menu and save screenshot functionality

4. Soul Calibur

Used to enable proper snapshot functionality during Creation mode for your customized characters

5. The 3rd Birthday

Required to remove the white lines that appear on the screen.

6. Gods Eater Burst

Required to prevent screen flickering when loading saves.

To summarize, you should not have to enable those FB options unless they restore functionality to the games. Games that run fine without them on, should always be run without them on.

Using those options will always incurr a performance penalty and results in poorer speed.

Just FYI, there are other games that need it:

Hexyz Force (minimap, menu overlay)
Criminal Girls (menu transition, battle overlay)
Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon X (menu overlay in Tales of Phantasia)
Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 3 (battle transition)
Last Ranker (battle transition, end of battle overlay)

Hexyz Force and Last Ranker still have serious graphical issues, though.

[vsub_]

(07-20-2013 08:48 PM)RPG Advocate Wrote:  Hexyz Force...still have serious graphical issues, though.

What do you mean by that...I haven't played the game on ppsspp much yet but for now I didn't see anything that I would call "serious graphical issues"

I using 0.8.1-589

[Gurlok]

Thanks for letting me know about those too, RPG Advocate. I'm curious about hexyz force and last ranker too, especially the latter. Are the glitches so unbereable? (like rengoku 2, all the screen si covered by some graphical artifacts).

[solarmystic]

(07-20-2013 08:48 PM)RPG Advocate Wrote:  Just FYI, there are other games that need it:

Hexyz Force (minimap, menu overlay)
Criminal Girls (menu transition, battle overlay)
Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon X (menu overlay in Tales of Phantasia)
Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 3 (battle transition)
Last Ranker (battle transition, end of battle overlay)

Hexyz Force and Last Ranker still have serious graphical issues, though.

Thanks for the additions, I definitely did not know about these games as I do not have them in my collection.

Perhaps we should make another thread to make a list of games that need these Framebuffers options to be ON to function properly.

[Gurlok]

(07-20-2013 10:25 PM)solarmystic Wrote:  Thanks for the additions, I definitely did not know about these games as I do not have them in my collection.

Perhaps we should make another thread to make a list of games that need these Framebuffers options to be ON to function properly.

Couldn't agree more here.