PSX problem with certain games?

[ZJrocket]

Hi there, my name is Jake, and I just now joined these forums because whenever I try to look for an answer to my problems with certain emulation over the internet (I.E. Google, of course) I seem to have extremely bad luck in never exactly getting the right information that I need for my problem. So, I thought it'd be best to join and ask straight up myself what the problem is and how I'd like it explained to me.

I use PSXfin (What the file says anyways) and I love using it. A couple games on it work completely fine (cept' for Metal Gear Solid, that was painful) but games like MEGA MAN X4, Castlevania: SotN, and MEGA MAN X5 keep freezing (Also Dark Dizzy's stage is very slow). For example, the music will probably quit looping (most prominent in Castlevania...) loading screens won't appear, X or Zero won't do their victory pose and just sit there after a boss fight, and etc... However, all of these things (and I mean ALL of them) can be fixed by simply reopening the .bin or .cue file and the game continues just fine. (Humorously, I can skip X and Zero's victory poses that way...) But hay, that's no way to play a game now, is it? To keep constantly stopping to open a file just to keep the music going and the game to continue? Now there's gotta be some simple way to fix that. Well, I hope it's simple, anyways!

Now on the topic of how I'd like it explained... Truth be told, I am a cave man when it comes to computers (and emulators no less) I only know very basic bare-bones stuff. I know how to reach system specs, run an anti-virus program and fiddle around in MS Paint. But I don't know what a "MS9007+ DRIVER SLAG ERROR" is and how to fix it through long drawn out paragraphs using words I probably don't understand at all. I'm the kind of idiot who would probably end up deleting the wrong thing or pulling the wrong part of something and destroying it forever. (At least I get the System32 joke/meme and didn't need to find out the hard way...) If it's TRULY truly needed, I'll post my awful computer specs (this isn't even my PC, it's a hand-me-down that I'm stuck with for 2 months):

Operating System Version:
Windows XP (32 bit)
NTFS: Supported
Crypto Provider Codes: Supported 311 0x0 0x0 0x0

Video Card:
Driver: ATI Radeon 3100 Graphics

DirectX Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.10.6860
DirectX Driver Version: 6.14.10.6860
Driver Date: 31 Dec 2002
OpenGL Version: 2.1
Desktop Color Depth: 32 bits per pixel
Monitor Refresh Rate: 60 Hz
DirectX Card: ATI Radeon 3100 Graphics
VendorI 0x1002
DeviceI 0x9611
Number of Monitors: 1
Number of Logical Video Cards: 1
No SLI or Crossfire Detected
Primary Display Resolution: 1024 x 768
Desktop Resolution: 1024 x 768
Primary Display Size: 14.17" x 10.63" (17.72" diag)
36.0cm x 27.0cm (45.0cm diag)
Primary Bus Type Not Detected
Primary VRAM: 700 MB
Supported MSAA Modes: 2x 4x

Sound card:
Audio device: SoundMAX HD Audio

Memory:
RAM: 1791 Mb

So yeah, that's... pretty much it. I'd just like to find out how to fix this issue so I can actually enjoy these games like they were an actual video game, not reopening .cue and .bin files all the time to keep going.

Forgot to mention that I tried ePSXe but that took up WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much processing space and just became a huge hassle.

[Zorlon]

Switch back to ePSXe and just use P.E.oP's Soft Driver for your Video plugin

If you don't have the soft plugin get it from http://www.pbernert.com/html/gpu.htm

It is listed as P.E.Op.S. Soft GPU (Windows)

Keep everything on default for now except the Video plugin that you should of changed to P.E.oP's Soft Driver

Run it as normal File>Run ISO>select the cue file and hit Open

P.E.oP's Soft Driver, not only has the highest compat but will work on default settings for most games without having to fine tune it for every game, it is also the fastest plugin.

If your graphics card can handle it you can use Stretching settings like HQ2x stretched or HQ3x stretched to have smoother looking visuals (don't use the unstretched versions, you can see why if you test that with Castlevania) [If you want it closer to the original hardware then set the res to multiples of 320x240 so x2 that is 640x480 (good for HQ2x) or x3 960x720 (good for HQ3x)]

PSXfin is not a configurable emulator and only runs what it can run, not much can be done about it, the emulator is only great if you run games it can play without issue, otherwise it is very much sucky.

Note: from your specs I would of thought that OpenGL or Direct3D would run ok for now, maybe not OpenGL2 though, but I am guessing that the games don't use 3D graphics anyway, not played them all so that is a guess plus the HQ?x filters look nice even with 3D games.

[ZJrocket]

Switch back to ePSXe and just use P.E.oP's Soft Driver for your Video plugin

If you don't have the soft plugin get it from http://www.pbernert.com/html/gpu.htm

It is listed as P.E.Op.S. Soft GPU (Windows)

Keep everything on default for now except the Video plugin that you should of changed to P.E.oP's Soft Driver

Run it as normal File>Run ISO>select the cue file and hit Open

P.E.oP's Soft Driver, not only has the highest compat but will work on default settings for most games without having to fine tune it for every game, it is also the fastest plugin.

If your graphics card can handle it you can use Stretching settings like HQ2x stretched or HQ3x stretched to have smoother looking visuals (don't use the unstretched versions, you can see why if you test that with Castlevania) [If you want it closer to the original hardware then set the res to multiples of 320x240 so x2 that is 640x480 (good for HQ2x) or x3 960x720 (good for HQ3x)]

PSXfin is not a configurable emulator and only runs what it can run, not much can be done about it, the emulator is only great if you run games it can play without issue, otherwise it is very much sucky.

Note: from your specs I would of thought that OpenGL or Direct3D would run ok for now, maybe not OpenGL2 though, but I am guessing that the games don't use 3D graphics anyway, not played them all so that is a guess plus the HQ?x filters look nice even with 3D games.

Which version of epsxe should I use then? The one I was using was 1.7 (I think? There was a 1 and a 7 in there... It's been so long) and that took up so much processing space that it made my computer lag up a serious storm. Even if it uses up a lot processing, I don't care, honestly. As long as the version you'd suggest to me runs games really well. In fact, the last version I used ran games way too quickly and the mega man games were way too slow. But honestly, I'm pretty sure the version I was using was too slow and the plugin I was using wasn't the right one(s) either. But I agree, PSX is pretty sucky minus the games that it CAN play well, which there are very few.

[Zorlon]

1.8.0 or 1.9.0 or even 1.6.0 (1.7.0 has a bug for multi disc games)

Just get the latest version or 1.6.0. (1.6.0 might be best for XP users though)

[ZJrocket]

1.8.0 or 1.9.0 or even 1.6.0 (1.7.0 has a bug for multi disc games)

Just get the latest version or 1.6.0. (1.6.0 might be best for XP users though)

Alright, I tried it and it works better than the other one I used but... now there's no music. :C Which sound plugin should I get?

The sound plugins I tried were...

P.E.Op.S. DSound Audio Driver 1.9 (Sounds but no music whatsoever)
ePSXe SPU core 1.5.2 (Same exact issue)

[Zorlon]

What version did you get, also please do not double post, just edit your posts instead (look to the lower right of your posts for that )

Anyway make sure sound is enabled (first 3 options for sound under Configure>Sound 4th option is just for certain games, none of the ones you detailed, that's for ePSXe 1.6.0)

For CDDA sound tracks in ePSXe 1.6.0 you do need to mount the disc images with something Like Deamon Tools Lite.

You can try out 1.8.0 or 1.9.0 though as these can run from a cue sheet making D-Tools Lite or any other Virtual CD drive not to be needed for games with CDDA sound tracks, but those revisions of ePSXe are aimed at newer versions of Windows.

Default sound plugin should work though, as long as sound is enabled

[ZJrocket]

What version did you get, also please do not double post, just edit your posts instead

Oh, I am an IDIOTTTT... I didn't check-mark the third option like you just said. Now there's music... Good. My life is now complete and Christmas has meaning again, thank you sir.

[Zorlon]

You are welcome

Any other issues though you are more than welcome to ask, ePSXe is easy enough to use, but it can seem daunting at first, specially if you start out with issues.