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Author Topic: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC (with Netplay)  (Read 209610 times)

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Offline Bolverk-GTM

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Re: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC
« Reply #125 on: January 27, 2010, 04:27:12 PM »

Still getting the same results with 1650


yo dragonedge i had the same exact problem you do.  all you have to do to fix it is go into your graphics settings and uncheck Allow 8-Bit Textures.  it removes the white background from the hud and the textures that had it, now your MBAA should run perfectly.  i know mine is with the exception of a small amount of lag experienced when i'm selecting my character's style.  once i select the style it kicks right back up to the solid 60 fps range.  i love it i love it i love it!  :D
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Offline academico

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Re: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC
« Reply #126 on: January 28, 2010, 05:09:48 AM »
I'll test this and if it works i'll post the results. ;)
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Offline Bolverk-GTM

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Re: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC
« Reply #127 on: January 28, 2010, 04:38:07 PM »
I'll test this and if it works i'll post the results. ;)
here's the update on my part.  ran through Sion's arcade mode smoothly.  i only experienced lag when fighting Osiris (go figure) and the frame rate cut down to 45 fps or so during that fight, but it was still playable.  here's to an awesome arcade ending and a nicely running MBAA on PCSX2. :D  (screencap done with FRAPS) 
 :prinny:
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[21:05] <Chaoschao> Pay for poverty games? : psyduck :

Offline angelicxx

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Re: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC
« Reply #128 on: January 30, 2010, 11:09:26 AM »
I can't seem to get rid of these lines.
Any ideas? Everything else works fine.

Offline CrimsonMoonMist

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Re: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC
« Reply #129 on: January 30, 2010, 11:45:14 AM »
Try Pressing F5. I think that's what you press to toogle between Interlacing choices.
if not go into the video plugin and chance them manually.

Offline angelicxx

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Re: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC
« Reply #130 on: January 30, 2010, 11:55:50 AM »
I went to the video plug in and tried all of the interlace options. Most of them made the game look terrible and some made it shake.
Bottom line however was that NONE of the options removed the lines across the characters.


:(

Offline CrimsonMoonMist

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Re: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC
« Reply #131 on: January 30, 2010, 12:37:07 PM »
Actually, i had the same problem on my old PC,
fixed it by turning off "allow 8-bit textures"I think.
it's quite some time ago, i did have that problem, that much i remember.

Offline angelicxx

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Re: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC
« Reply #132 on: January 30, 2010, 12:49:09 PM »
My GSX or w/e doesn't show that check box when I go to configure.

Offline CrimsonMoonMist

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Re: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC
« Reply #133 on: January 30, 2010, 01:02:44 PM »
Really?
could you show a pic of it so i can see your exact settings?

Offline heir

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Re: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC
« Reply #134 on: January 30, 2010, 04:06:20 PM »
Turn off antialiasing.

Offline s4itox

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Re: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC
« Reply #135 on: January 30, 2010, 06:45:17 PM »
I can't seem to get rid of these lines.
Any ideas? Everything else works fine.


Turn off Interlace and runn Progressive Scan mode.

Offline Bolverk-GTM

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Re: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC
« Reply #136 on: January 30, 2010, 07:28:57 PM »
well guys i posted a video onto youtube showcasing some of MBAA's gameplay on the PCSX2 emulator.  i'll never do it again until MBAA comes to the PC because the emulator already uses about 20% of my CPU and then having it record video that's being compressed as it's recording takes about 60 or 70% of my CPU.  this leaves me with about 30 fps to work with in gameplay.  yeah this montage took me much longer than i expected because doing anything in half of the regular fps is horrid and makes me cry on the inside.  it definitely recorded just fine though so here you go, my very small MBAA showcase on PCSX2.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGOAH-94MOA

**EDIT**: angelicxx what version of PCSX2 are you using?  i know i had that problem at one point but i fixed it by getting the latest PCSX2 beta release (1888).  have you tried using MBAA's integrated progressive scan mode?
« Last Edit: January 30, 2010, 07:31:29 PM by NarugaDenka »
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Offline angelicxx

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Re: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC
« Reply #137 on: January 31, 2010, 12:28:52 PM »
Well guys I fixed it all.
I re-installed DirectX, and upgraded my PSX2 to the beta version. I also downloaded the latest GSDX drivers and then proceeded to max everything out which fixed it.


It looks amazing, and still over 60 FPS :D.


I also hooked up two PS3 controllers so now me and my roommate are playing!


woot.

Offline Bolverk-GTM

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Re: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC
« Reply #138 on: January 31, 2010, 12:37:31 PM »
Well guys I fixed it all.
I re-installed DirectX, and upgraded my PSX2 to the beta version. I also downloaded the latest GSDX drivers and then proceeded to max everything out which fixed it.


It looks amazing, and still over 60 FPS :D.


I also hooked up two PS3 controllers so now me and my roommate are playing!


woot.
good to hear you got it working now.  i use my PS2 controller for MBAC and MBAA.  enjoy it!  :D
[21:05] <MashThat5A> Do I have to pay for this game?
[21:05] <Chaoschao> Pay for poverty games? : psyduck :

Offline academico

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Re: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC
« Reply #139 on: February 05, 2010, 03:33:18 PM »
Well it's done i already test this emulator and this is the result



this is my configuration



it works at 10 FPS when charges the scenarios but in the battle i can play very well at 58-60 FPS

can't believe i'm playing MBAA in my PC ;D

Specifications:

Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo CPU
E4500 @2.20 GHz
2.20GHz , 1.87Gb RAM


nVidia GEforce 7050/610i
« Last Edit: February 05, 2010, 03:36:52 PM by academico »
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Offline suzumiya4ever

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Re: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC
« Reply #140 on: February 08, 2010, 06:28:51 PM »
Hm this is weird, I was playing MBAA on PCSX2 on Vista Ultimate and ran without any lines and anything, it was flawlessly perfect, then I moved to Win 7 pro and I cannot seem to get rid of those dang lines no matter what I do. Is this another compatibility problem for Win 7? I even set PCSX2.exe compatibility to Vista SP2 and still same... used exact same setting from what I had before. Thanks for any help. (I also read this thread and tried everything.. progressive scan mode, new gsdx plugin, updating direct x, using public beta version of PCSX2)  :mystery:

Offline CrimsonMoonMist

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Re: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC
« Reply #141 on: February 11, 2010, 07:27:18 AM »
Try updating your DirectX, there was a new update added to it recently.

Offline Dark Pulse

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Re: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC
« Reply #142 on: February 23, 2010, 12:44:17 AM »
Apologies for bumping this topic, but I finally saw a topic that I felt I had to register up to this board for, having lurked here and read stuff for quite some time.

Therefore, my gift to the Melty Bread community: One of the most recent versions of PCSX2, 0.9.7 Alpha r2650. This is (as of February 28, 2010) the latest build. If new builds come out (especially with important feature or plugin changes) I will update, compile, and put a new build up. Please note this build will only work for Windows users; sorry Linux fans, but I don't have the know-how to compile it for Linux too. There's a guide on it, though, and odds are if you're on Linux you're hardy enough to take a look at it anyway, so here's the Linux Compilation Guide.

Put this in a new directory; don't reuse the plugins or INIs from the older version. You will, of course, still need a legal PS2 BIOS, as I don't include one in that package and never will for legal reasons. Dump your own BIOS, and of course, buy your own copy of the game. You can use the PS2 BIOS you've been using for 0.9.6; it will still work fine. Just copy it over to the new install.

Be warned: Some of the configuration stuff (and the look of the emulator) has changed MASSIVELY since the 0.9.6 revisions you guys are using. I'll be glad to help out and answer questions on stuff like this.

Also, keep in mind: PCSX2 runs FAR better on a Dual Core system, period. IT IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU HAVE AT LEAST A DUALCORE CPU; this means at least a Intel Core 2 Duo, or an Athlon X2. The faster the Clock speed, the better. The faster the FSB frequency, the better. The more L2 Cache, the better. That said, a friend I know has a fairly modest system, and she can get full speed with NO speed hacks. Dual cores are really the key factor. Note that having a Tri or Quad Core will not produce much further speed (yet) due to how the emulator is coded. Also, the instruction set of your CPU really helps: The speed difference between a CPU that supports SSE2 and SSE4.1 can be a good 20-30% in the emulator, as the emulator can use less instructions to do the same work. You can find out what instruction sets your CPU supports with a program called CPU-Z. Use the version of GSdx that is equal to the highest version CPU-Z reports. The only ones that matter are SSE2 (If you don't have this, the emulator won't run - pure and simple), SSSE3 (NOT SSE3 - note the extra S!) and SSE4.1. (ATTENTION ATHLON USERS: SSE4a does *NOT* count for SSE4.1 compatability!) Always use the highest one supported by your CPU; it really helps the speeds. Having a fairly good videocard helps a bit, but it's not as important as the CPU. Anything from a GeForce 7 or higher (ideally, GeForce 8 or higher) or a Radeon X1900 or so should be just perfect.

If you feel you got plenty of horsepower to spare, you can make things look a tiny bit nicer. Sadly, the character sprites cannot be improved (this causes the infamous "lines" problem many of you experience) but you can make the game look a bit nicer and play a bit better:
  • First, use Progressive Mode if you can. Hold Triangle + X when the game is loading, and select the top option twice. (The game is notifying you it's switching to progressive mode, then asks to confirm if you can see it.) As we are all on PCs, all monitors are progressive scan, and this produces a nice, clean image without interlacing artifacts. The only reason not to do this is if it kills performance on your PC.
  • Use GSdx's DX10 mode if you can at all. GSdx runs FAR better and less glitchy in DX10 than DX9. If you want a good reason to get Vista or Win7, that might be one. Linux users are pretty much stuck with ZeroGS or ZZOGL - sorry.
  • GSdx options: (Config > Video (GS) > Plugin Settings...) D3D Internal Rez to 1024x1024, Scaling to 4x, Texture Filtering a solid square/grayed checkmark. (NOT a regular checkmark - this is what causes the "lines." This option attempts to filter sprites AND backgrounds if just regular checked, and obviously the sprites aren't filtered very nicely...) If on DX9, check Logarithmic Z and Alpha Blend Correction (FBA). Leave everything else unchecked. In DX10, those will be unselectable so don't worry about it. GSdx should now auto-detect what version of Windows you have and use the appropriate one, but you can switch it if you really want to. Always use Hardware if you can, NOT Software, although if you have a Quad-core CPU and a poor videocard, setting this to software and using 4 render threads might give you more speed.
  • Sound options: (Config > Audio (SPU2) > Plugin Settings...) Interpolation to 1 - Linear, Module to 1 - XAudio2. Tick the WIP 5.1 option if you want to, but it's WIP and thus can be buggy.
  • Speedhacks: (Config > System Settings, Speedhacks tab) For me, Actress Again is fully playable without speedhacks - but then again, I have a Core 2 Duo E8400 running overclocked at 3.4 GHz and a GeForce GTX 285. Here's where you can adjust speedhacks after enabling them. "Enable INTC Spin Detection" and "Enable BBFC0 Spin Detection" are generally pretty safe hacks to enable. Only check "IOP x2 Cycle Rate Hack" if you're seriously struggling for speed; same with adjusting the "EE Cyclerate" and "VU Cycle Stealing" options. Touch those only if you absolutely, positively cannot get 60 FPS.
  • More GS Options: (Config > App Settings) Here you can set a custom window size, as well as tell PCSX2 if your monitor is 4:3 or 16:9. PCSX2 will letterbox the game on Widescreen displays unless you force it to stretch it by selecting "Fit to Window/Screen." It's also where you can tick to start in fullscreen as opposed to windowed. "Use Exclusive Fullscreen Mode" only works on DX10 I think, so you'll need to use GSdx for that, and so it only works on Vista/Win7.
  • One final tip: Run the game off a ISO if you can. Switching between your DVD Drive and the ISO loader can be done in the CDVD menu in the main PCSX2 window, and it's also how you'd access the BIOS if you needed to for some reason. (Select "No Disc.") Besides saving your disc, it will obviously load considerably faster, to the point there's very little to no loading at all. If you're really struggling for space, set your CDVD plugin to "Linuz ISO CDVD 0.9.0" and click Configure. Point it to your MBAA ISO, and have it compress it in BZ format. You'll have to then select the BZ'd image and then use "Boot > Run CDVD" to load it though.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this gift of mine. I might have a few more if the demand is up for it. :)

And of course, what would all of this talk be without a nice test shot? Be warned, the image is LARGE - 2560px × 1792px and 1341.76 KB. Yeah, I like lossless PNG. ;)
« Last Edit: February 28, 2010, 04:51:46 AM by Dark Pulse »
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Offline s4itox

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Re: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC
« Reply #143 on: February 27, 2010, 09:27:45 PM »
That's a cool new GUI on the emulator, but I find it's less stable? Perhaps it's just because of the state of development it's in right now. The new 0.9.7 has crashed at least twice for me now in the same time frame where the old 0.9.6 didn't even so much as flicker while running MBAA.

Offline Dark Pulse

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Re: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC
« Reply #144 on: February 28, 2010, 03:39:43 AM »
In all of my tests, 0.9.7 is as stable as a rock. I've never had it crash for me on the game, and I've done a full Arcade playthrough from beginning to end several times.

That said, as it *IS* an Alpha, it is possible for it to be slightly less stable for some.

Does it give you an error message when it bombs out? If so, maybe I can try to see why it is.

The first thing I'd make sure of is that you use the right version of GSDX. Naturally, if your CPU only supports SSE2 and you try to use the SSSE3 or SSE4 versions of the renderer, it could cause things to explode.

Anyway, they updated GSdx to fix some DX9 Hardware mode bugs, and since I'm sure at least some, if not most, people will be using that mode, I recompiled a new build. Get 0.9.7 Alpha r2650 here.
« Last Edit: February 28, 2010, 04:49:25 AM by Dark Pulse »
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Offline sumbody

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Re: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC
« Reply #145 on: March 02, 2010, 06:55:27 PM »
A big thank you to Dark Pulse for his efforts. Detailed explanations and nice compilation of PCSX2 there.

Now I'm having MBAA running perfect on my comp. Though the input lag is still present, so I still stick to my PS2 most of the time.

Offline Dark Pulse

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Re: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC
« Reply #146 on: March 03, 2010, 08:24:05 AM »
I'll actually be posting yet another new build (2655) later tonight when I get home, as I do not have access to it on my college campus.

Of note is some GSdx fixes (It crashed on PS2.0 only cards) and 5x and 6x scaling options now, but those break Melty's Sprites due to the scalers currently assuming games run at 640x512 for it to work, while Melty runs at 640x448.

If you'd like to see about the largest Melty screenshots you'll ever see, though, knock yourselves out. Just be warned: 3840x2688 PNG that's about 2 MB.
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Offline Arlieth Tralare

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Re: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC
« Reply #147 on: March 03, 2010, 11:14:54 AM »
What kinds of input lag issues are there?
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Offline Dark Pulse

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Re: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC
« Reply #148 on: March 03, 2010, 03:01:34 PM »
Depends on the system. On mine, none whatsoever, but once again, I have a Core 2 Duo E8400 overclocked to 3.4 GHz, and a GeForce GTX 285. That's pretty beefcake stuff.

You don't need a god system to run it through PCSX2, though - the female friend I mentioned earlier has "only" a Celeron Duo E3300 at 2.5 GHz and a GeForce 9500 GT, and she can get full speed in the emulator.

The real key is if your processor is dualcore or not. No single-core CPU will probably ever reach full speed unless you run it at some insane, liquid-cooled, 6 GHz configuration. Pentium 4s might have a slight speed boost over most singlecores due to hyperthreading, but you really need a dualcore to try to run any sort of PS2 game through PCSX2 at full speed, not just Melty.

After that, the next most important thing is what instruction set it supports. (SSE4.1 is currently the best possible one.) AN INTEL CPU IS ALWAYS GOING TO BE BETTER THAN AN AMD CPU. The reason for this is AMD CPUs do not support SSSE3 or SSE4 (SSE3 is useless to PCSX2, and SSE4a is only two of the actual SSE4.1 instructions) and so the only choice if you're on any kind of AMD CPU is the slowest possible renderer, the SSE2 version of GSdx. Those of you with just about any Intel Dualcore can use SSE4.1, so you'll get the best possible renderer. Scream at AMD to change this if you want. I wish you luck.

The next most important thing is what version of DirectX you have, DX9 (XP and lower) or DX10+ (Vista, Win7.) The emu generally runs with less glitches in DX10. DX11 might become a factor once they actually work on that portion of it - for now, it's in there, but just as a "dummy" copy of the DX10 renderer. OpenGL is almost always slower, but if you're on Linux, it's all you got.

After that, it comes down to videocard, but if you bought just about any videocard in the last 3 years or so, that's already more than enough. If it meets Pixel Shader 3.0 spec, it's pretty much set. Obviously, the more onboard memory the better. 256 should do fine for most cases, but if you want to use higher rendering targets and scaling modes, obviously you should have more.

Build r2655 is now up. This should fix the crashes for those of you using things like Intel GMA (Why?) and other PS2.0-only cards. It also adds the 5x and 6x scaling as I mentioned, but also breaks the sprites in the way those of you who tried sprite smoothing have experienced before. 4x and under work totally fine without killing the sprites.

Enjoy!
« Last Edit: March 03, 2010, 03:09:55 PM by Dark Pulse »
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Offline Cristu

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Re: How to run Melty Blood Actress Again on your PC
« Reply #149 on: March 05, 2010, 09:31:14 AM »
About DirectX again,

When I run the CD it would ask for an upgrade of DirectX, but my DirectX is 11.. so I don't know what to do.. if I close that windows that would pop up it would say there was an error: GS plugin failed to open/initialize

I should uninstall DX11 and install this DX emulator recomends?
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