FBAnext Emulator: Now at build r486!

[squarepusher2]

Oh and BTW - as a consequence of turning on triple buffering, shader performance is up by leaps and bounds now.

Point in fact - the CRT shader could previously not run at more than 30fps at either 1080p (1920x1080) 4:3 or 1080p 16:9. Now at least it runs at fullspeed (60fps) at 1080p (1920x1080) 4:3. That's a pretty big leap.

And whereas previously 1440x1080 could handle CRT shader at fullspeed at 4:3, now it can at 16:9.

[squarepusher2]

err... could you fix the link squarepusher? just goes to the main multiupload page

Fixed.

[squarepusher2]

Is it me or Marvel Super Heroes Vs Street Fighter audio is a little messed up. The music audio is much louder then the sound effects.

Sounds normal to me.

[squarepusher2]

Grrr... I updated to the latest FBAnext in the wiki and now it doesn't detect my roms. Did that version change the Roms directory?

It's most likely the fact you will have to edit your XML file.

But really - I want to hack in a 'Set ROM path' option just like I did in SNES9x PS3/VBA/FCEU - because this non-configurability kind of sucks.

[squarepusher2]

Is it just me or did they take out the .xml entirely with version r417? Is it back in r422, because I had to go back to an older version because I prefer my roms external.

I think everyone would be super greatful if you hacked in a set rom path function, though.

If you know how to do that, maybe you could fix the "assign button" feature on controller 2 to accept r2 as well? Off topic but also, snes 4.4.4's assign button feature doesnt work at all if youre good at adding/ sprucing up features.

Tried hacking something in for this upcoming release, but decided against it.

I'm sure Lantus will be able to create an 'Add ROM path' setting that will integrate far more nicely with the code than the hackery I would be able to come up with. So let's wait for that instead.

BTW - I want to hear some more about these button mapping issues you're having in SNES9x PS3 4.4.4. Best do that in the SNES9x thread.

[squarepusher2]

Is it just me or did they take out the .xml entirely with version r417? Is it back in r422, because I had to go back to an older version because I prefer my roms external.

You can just edit the first ROM path entry and it will work.

[squarepusher2]

Most of these changes I and Themaister made will be applied soon by Lantus.

FBANext PS3 - Custom build - r423 (FW 1.92+/FW 3.15/FW 3.41/CFW 3.55)

fbanext-ps3-r423-custom.zip (20.33 MB)

WHAT'S NEW:
* Core - updated fm.c fmopl.c with to match latest mame.
* PS3 - added triple buffer option (check options to toggle). Triple buffering
will be stored in xml
CUSTOM CHANGES:
* A much faster graphics driver - try CPS3 and CPS2 games and feel and see the difference in terms of speed. Most of the input lag noticed by experienced arcade players should be mostly gone now.
* Triple-buffering is hardforced to be enabled by default - together with the new graphics driver makes the framerate very fast.
* Sysutil OSD is used for some parts of the In-Game menu, such as saving a savestate, saving a button preset, or generating a clrmame.dat file, and so on.

[squarepusher2]

No roms show up at all for me in this new release.

This is because you have to manually edit the XML file and set up the ROM path there.

This has always been the case with FBA - it absolutely sucks from a user's perspective - I could hack in a ROM path directory setting but it would have looked ugly and non-native to FBA so I pass the baton over to Lantus on this one.

In case you want to know what you have to edit - in fbanext-ps3.xml:

< paths >
< rom >
< path >/dev_hdd0/ROMS/FBA/< / path >

BTW - I added the spaces there inbetween the lesser than and greater than signs because otherwise it wouldn't output correctly with HTMLbb. So don't try to copy-paste this or it won't work.

That's an example of setting up a ROM directory.

[squarepusher2]

basically i did this:

-d/l the geohot 3.55 version of the new build
-installed that on my ps3
-went into fbanext and noticed that less than half of the roms were showing up
-went to comgenie to make sure that the roms were still on the hdd and noticed that they were
-d/l the xml file off of the previous page
-went back into fbanext but nothing is showing up now
-went back to comgenie and noticed that the roms aren't there anymore at all on /dev_hdd0/game/FBAN00000/USRDIR/roms

now i'm about to put the roms back on hdd using my usb device again...hopefully they show up this time?

*shrugs*

i'm not worried. everything was fine with 417, so...i don't know/understand what happened but i'm sure it'll work itself out.

Umm - perhaps when you uninstalled the previous version, that resulted in all your ROMs in that directory being erased?

Because that is actually the case if you store them inside that directory. If you uninstall FBA - and you have any ROMs in USRDIR/roms - your ROMS are deleted too.

That's why I recommend manually editing the XML file with a text editor and changing the path to something that is outside of the /dev_hdd0/game/FBAN0000/' dir. That way, nothing gets deleted when you uninstall the app.

Of course, this option should be totally expected to be configurable inside the emulator of course - one shouldn't have to text-edit XML files in order to set the ROM path.

[squarepusher2]

It's running brilliantly here. Man I love that curved-crt shader.

Triple buffering was set to off in the options, is that normal even though it's hard-forced on?

In Lantus' r423 - it is toggleable.

The reason why I hardforced it to On is because I couldn't find a clean way to enable it at the start prior to the creation of the XML file, and because double buffering just plain sucks at this point. Notice that with the CRT shader - you can run that with triple buffering at full speed at 1920x1080 (Scaled mode - 4:3) whereas you have no chance in hell of that happening with double buffering. And the games are so much smoother and less handicapped by video blocking that I would really advocate that FBA enable it by default and then give you the option to disable it in the Settings menu.

And no - setting triple buffering on or off won't do anything in my build - it's on anyways.

According to this article by Anandtech, there are almost no downsides to triple buffering compared to double buffering. If anything, it will help reduce input lag (according to the article).

Triple Buffering: Why We Love It - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

Input lag also becomes more of an issue with vsync enabled. This is because the artificial delay introduced increases the difference between when something actually happened (when the frame was drawn) and when it gets displayed on screen. Input lag always exists (it is impossible to instantaneously draw what is currently happening to the screen), but the trick is to minimize it.

Our options with double buffering are a choice between possible visual problems like tearing without vsync and an artificial delay that can negatively effect both performance and can increase input lag with vsync enabled. But not to worry, there is an option that combines the best of both worlds with no sacrifice in quality or actual performance. That option is triple buffering.

In other words, with triple buffering we get the same high actual performance and similar decreased input lag of a vsync disabled setup while achieving the visual quality and smoothness of leaving vsync enabled.