I've been using FCEUX (Win7) for awhile and like it, but I can't get it to scroll smooth (just like the original). Not sure what I'm doing wrong. I've tried a few different video settings but horizontal scrollers still "jerks" every now and then. I've tried both PAL and NTSC versions, no difference.
I've got an i5-4670 CPU running at 3.4GHz so I don't think that's the problem.
My screen updates at 60hz so I assume NTSC ROMs should work best but it doesn't seem to help.
Hints?
FCEUX has never run perfectly smoothly for me. Things get significantly worse if there is more than once instance open (even if one is paused). You'll also notice it when something is flickering on the screen. A frame gets dropped and you get multiple consecutive "on" or "off" frames.
I'd love to know if there's a way to improve it, but I just stick with Nestopia for playing and only use FCEUX to debug.
It's never run perfectly smooth for me either, and that's under XP. Other emulators behave fine (again on XP). There's something about their audio/video synchronisation method, combined with the VSync option in the Video area, that causes this.
P.S. -- When talking about these kinds of issues going forward, always disclose whether or not you're talking about in full-screen mode or in windowed mode. Yes it matters.
I've tried both windowed/fullscreen. Same result.
EDIT: So, what NES emulator do you guys use for just playing? Nintendulator refused to work in fullscreenmode for me.. :/
Try nemulator. Smooth scrolling in both windowed and full screen modes.
For playing, I use Nestopia UE ("unofficial edition") and sometimes VirtuaNES. You can find Windows builds for Nestopia UE
at emucr.
If you want to know what settings I set in Nestopia I can try to dig them up + do a comparison vs. stock defaults. I really don't toggle all that much stuff.
I should note that the last time I tried Windows 7, the same Nestopia configuration which was smooth in windowed mode under XP would intermittently lose Vsync for a brief moment and recover, but it was noticeable enough that it pissed me off. As such I'd probably give nemulator a try, as James definitely understands the nuances involved with A/V synchronisation, Vsync, and other stuff.
For development or RE, I primarily use FCEUX and VirtuaNES, and Nintendulator + NO$NES for extra insights. And I'll always try code out on Nestopia UE too. Any "finalised testing" is done on actual hardware via a PowerPak.
James wrote:
Try nemulator. Smooth scrolling in both windowed and full screen modes.
Yeah it has a nice UI, but I couldn't find a way to configure my NES-controller (using a USB-adapter). And I missed some NTSC-filters that are present on a few other emulators.
When you say 'smooth scrolling' are you referring to the lack of VSYNC or the fact that some emulators drop the occasional frame for timing purposes?
Initial post says "jerks", so I'm inclined to think the latter.
The problem is that it's not that black and white of a situation -- sometimes incorrect Vsync, in addition to occasional frame droppage, are interrelated.
Another thing people need to remember is that game consoles earlier than say 2000 cheated on their video timing a little bit. They don't run at exactly at the 29.97 NTSC rate, and definitely not 60 FPS. it's like, what do you want, a smooth scrolling picture that over time doesn't match the real system, or slightly wrong audio?
Nemulator works good (except for configuration, where it is not very user-friendly sadly), FCEUX has scrollingissues, Nintendulator have some kind of inputlag with my USB-device, Nestopia have other issues.
I just wanna play my favourite games on my computer, why is it so hard?
Computers are built for generality, not for real-time performance. To users of word processors and web browsers, generality tends to be more important than real-time performance.