Speed Hacking Q&A

[codecx]

Hi all,

I want to learn more about what works/what doesn't.
I've seen in another post that games that have Mode7 or FX chip technology will not run.

I've noticed that Starfox, Super Mario RPG, Kirby Superstar Deluxe and Tetris Attack play really laggy, but a game like DK Country plays perfectly. (Isn't it FX rendered?)

I've noticed some games (1st generation like Contra III, Final Fight, Street Fighter) when loading the game a dialogue box pops up saying "Speedhack found, applying" runs beautifully.

On games such as Final Fantasy 3, no speedhack is found, it runs Ok..but. Not great (30-43fps~)

Is the speedhack function built into the snes9xTYL software, or is it a function of the rom?

I've done some research today and tried a shot at rom-speedhacking Kirby Superstar Deluxe. Unmodified I cannot get it to do more than ~8fps. I took a lesson from www.snesadvance.org/ and used the SNES Advance Tools v6 GUI to diagnose what changes to make, and Hex workshop to edit the ROM.. Didn't seem to do much of anything... but I cannot find all of the hex combinations larger than 4 digits.

eg. Speed Hacks for Kirby Superstar Deluxe.smc:
4B93=42D9 (that was found and I changed it)

18AD47=4218
1E228D=421D
2CDC70=428F
377365=4214

I am unable to locate that sequence of code. Anyone have ideas?

(phew, what a long winded 1st post..)

[craig588]

IIRC, Starfox, SMRPG, and Kirby all use some of the highest end extra chips avalible for the SNES, don't expect full speed out of them.

This emulator uses the same core as the newest version as SNES9x and that already has all of the known extra chips emulated, so theres no problem with running games that use them, they will just be slow.

Mode 7 has been working senice version 0.1. It never didn't work.

[codecx]

I remember long ago when I had my old p 233, I'd get similiar frame rates as now, couldn't run all games etc.

So.... Basically. since the clockspeed of the psp is 333mhz, I should expect as much power as if I were playing it with a PC emulator on an old PC?

Is the psp locked in at 333? e.g.. not overclockable to 366 or 400?

In regards to Mode 7, Yes, I know it *does* work. but I see a noticable slow-down on games that use it. (e.g. FF6 on the map screen)


Back to the question on the emulator applying speedhacks.

Is it a property of speedhacks built into the emulator, or is it the result of a modified rom?

[psphreak]

I remember Zsnes v.700 at this time was the fastest and best when I had my 233 mmx. IMHO, Zsnes is the fastest and best snes pc emu but, it's that way because its written in assembly. Don't see this being ported anytime soon .

[stryke3]

codecx said:

I remember long ago when I had my old p 233, I'd get similiar frame rates as now, couldn't run all games etc.

So.... Basically. since the clockspeed of the psp is 333mhz, I should expect as much power as if I were playing it with a PC emulator on an old PC?

The PSP processor is not an x86 chip, so even though they are at the same clock speeds, I'd say you wouldn't be able to compare them directly. Regardless, I'd like to think that when the emulator for the PSP reaches the level of the PC emulators at that time, in terms of length of development, that it will run games closer to full-speed.