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Hey everyone! I wanted to make a guide on how I get PSOBB running on my GPDWIN2 using dgVoodoo2, Power Settings in Windows, and Ephinea’s client settings. If you’re seeing a lot of slow down, having high CPU/GPU temperatures or not familiar with some of these settings, I hope this helps you out.
I want to quickly mention dgVoodoo2. I’m sure many of you know about it, but for those who don’t, dgVoodoo allows you games to run games using older graphics APIs that Windows no longer uses. I’ve seen better performance in PSOBB and other games (FFXI in particular) that are made to run on older hardware.
If you’d like to try out dgVoodoo go to the developers site and download the latest stable version (2.63.2 at the time this guide was written).
Installation is simple:
Settings of importance for dgVoodoo:
General Tab:
DirectX Tab:
If I left out a setting, it didn’t have much impact on my game or made it run poorly. You can always mess around and see if it impacts your hardware.
Power Settings:
I’ve found PSOBB is CPU inefficient. Before doing the steps below, one or two of my cores will be running at 100% and my computer gets hot and fan starts blowing like a hurricane.
Ephinea/PSOBB Settings:
And that's about it! I hope this helps some of you. If you have anything else you’d like to add or any questions let me know!
I want to quickly mention dgVoodoo2. I’m sure many of you know about it, but for those who don’t, dgVoodoo allows you games to run games using older graphics APIs that Windows no longer uses. I’ve seen better performance in PSOBB and other games (FFXI in particular) that are made to run on older hardware.
If you’d like to try out dgVoodoo go to the developers site and download the latest stable version (2.63.2 at the time this guide was written).
Installation is simple:
- Open the Ephinea folder.
- Use whatever program you use to extract .ZIP files and extract dgVoodoo.
- Move the dgVoodoo.cpl file into Ephinea’s root folder. Right click the .cpl file, Go to properties, compatibility tab, and check the “run as administrator” check box. Click okay.
- Open the dgvoodoo “MS” folder, then x86 folder and move the contents into Ephinea’s root folder.
- Open the orange dgvoodoo.cpl file. The program should be open.
- The top of the window has a “path bar” and to the right of it there are some buttons. Click on the ./ button so dgVoodoo knows where to apply its settings.
- For now, click on the DirectX tab and check the “dgvoodoo watermark” checkbox.
- Run ephinea as normal and if you see the watermark on the bottom right, you’re all set! You can disable the watermark now that it is confirmed working.
Settings of importance for dgVoodoo:
General Tab:
- API - Set to “Best API Available”
- GPU - Select your dedicated GPU over integrated GPU if possible. If unsure, select “use all.
DirectX Tab:
- Make sure “Disable passthrough to real DirectX” remains unchecked. If checked, it disables dgVoodoo.
- Videocard: I’ve found using ATI Radeon 8500 gives me the best performance with VRAM at 256mb. dgVoodoo’s 3D card also worked well for me too (VRAM maxed)
- Texturing: This makes textures at a distance look better. Uses more resources so play with it to see what works best for your PC.
- Antialiasing: Resource heavy, but smooths edges around models. Similar to the texturing setting, play with it and see what works best for your PC.
- “Fast Memory Access” on the bottom has helped with frame drops on my device
If I left out a setting, it didn’t have much impact on my game or made it run poorly. You can always mess around and see if it impacts your hardware.
Power Settings:
I’ve found PSOBB is CPU inefficient. Before doing the steps below, one or two of my cores will be running at 100% and my computer gets hot and fan starts blowing like a hurricane.
- Press Windows button and search for “Power.” Open Power Control Settings.
- To the right of the window, there should be an option for “Advanced Power Setting.” Click it.
- To the right of this window, there should be an option to “Create new power plan.” Click it.
- Select a High Performance Plan, and create it. Find your new plan and select “Change Plan Settings” to the right. Click on “Change advanced power settings” on the next page.
- Scroll down and open up the “Processor Power Management.” Change your Maximum Professor State to anything from 90-99%. 97% works well for me, any higher and my CPU overheats. You can fiddle with this to find what % works best for you.
Ephinea/PSOBB Settings:
- Classic Fullscreen: I use this on my GPDWIN2. It’s not a powerful computer so disabling this is a big performance hit for me. The cost is that the game is played in a lower resolution. If you’re having a lot of issues with performance changing to classic fullscreen or just lowering your output resolution should help. Note that Classic Fullscreen breaks the game during character creation (has something to do with the video). Disable classic full screen when creating a character - make sure you close the video pop up and hit ESC afternoon to make your character.
- Clicking on “More” from Ephinea’s settings bring you additional game options. I’ve found that enabling “Wait V-Sync” and disabling “Auto Frame Skipping” makes my game run better.
- Make sure “Advanced effect” is off. I don’t see any real noticeable improvements with this enabled and it destroys my FPS.
- I play with medium shadows since all it does is increase resolution of shadows and is an overall performance hit for me.
- I play with Pixel Fog since it is the only one I’ve attributed to graphical improvements at a unnoticeable performance cost. You can see the effect in Forest 1 - distant terrain has a misty effect which I think looks nice.
- Clip Distance is experimental and gives me problems with targeting. I leave it at default but you can play around with it. Note that it’ll give your PC more objects to render so it can be a performance hit.
And that's about it! I hope this helps some of you. If you have anything else you’d like to add or any questions let me know!
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