GSdx: Difference between revisions
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
no edit summary
mNo edit summary |
Karasuhebi (talk | contribs) No edit summary |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
GSdx is the most known graphics plugin for [[PCSX2]] dating back to 2007 and initially developed by Gabest | GSdx is the most well-known graphics (GS) plugin for [[PCSX2]], dating back to 2007 and initially developed by Gabest. GSdx is able to use both DirectX and OpenGL APIs. It also can switch between hardware and software rendering. Some of many of the impressive features of GSdx are high resolution rendering, anti-aliasing, texture filtering, many deinterlacing modes, full screen mode, correctable aspect ratio, et cetera. DirectX 10/11 mode is confirmed by many to be the most compatible (in contrast with DirectX 9) but some games will still work better under DirectX 9. You can find the official GSdx thread [http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-GSdx here]. | ||
==Hardware requirements== | ==Hardware requirements== | ||
The minimum hardware requirements are a graphics card with pixel shader 3.0 (ATi Radeon 9500 series and later and the NVIDIA GeForce FX series) and SSE2 CPU | The minimum hardware requirements are a graphics card with pixel shader 3.0 (ATi Radeon 9500 series and later and the NVIDIA GeForce FX series) and SSE2 CPU. Most PCSX2 emulated games are not hungry for GPU power but are dependent on the CPU. However, certain scenes in some games can be slowed down significantly if your graphics card is weak. Care must also be taken when running PCSX2 on laptops. Some of them are not designed to work on constant 100% load and can suffer damage from overheating. Investing on a decent laptop cooler is a good idea.<br /> | ||
For DirectX 10 mode you will need a DirectX 10 capable card (NVIDIA GeForce 8000 series or ATi Radeon HD 2000 series at the least) running under Windows Vista or | For DirectX 10 mode you will need a DirectX 10 capable card (NVIDIA GeForce 8000 series or ATi Radeon HD 2000 series at the least) running under Windows Vista or newer.<br /> | ||
Don't forget to update your DirectX ([http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=35 Web installer], [http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=8109 Runtime package]) specifically if your PCSX2 does not want to work demanding to update DirectX or complaining about some missing dlls.<br/> | Don't forget to update your DirectX ([http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=35 Web installer], [http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=8109 Runtime package]) specifically if your PCSX2 does not want to work demanding to update DirectX or complaining about some missing dlls.<br/> | ||
You will also need to update your system with Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2010, 2012 and 2013.<br /> | You will also need to update your system with Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2010, 2012 and 2013.<br /> | ||
In most cases you'll have several | In most cases you'll have several DLLs for each GSdx version. '''SSE2''', '''SSSE3''', '''SSE4''', '''AVX''' and '''AVX2'''. Which one to choose depends on your CPU installed. | ||
* '''SSE2''' -- is Intel 2001 CPU extension features many additional instructions for 64-bit and floating point operations. AMD adopted these instructions from Athlon 64 CPUs in 2003. Your CPU will surely support SSE2 and thus this dll will be your safe choice. | * '''SSE2''' -- is Intel 2001 CPU extension features many additional instructions for 64-bit and floating point operations. AMD adopted these instructions from Athlon 64 CPUs in 2003. Your CPU will surely support SSE2 and thus this dll will be your safe choice. | ||
* '''SSSE3''' -- is Intel 2006 revision to '''SSE3''' CPU extension supported Intel Core 2 processors and higher as well as AMD Bobcat processors and higher. '''Warning''': If you will try to use SSSE3 optimized dll on Pentium 4 CPU you will encounter a crash whenever the code reaches SSSE3 optimized part (it may not happen for some time but it will occur eventually). | * '''SSSE3''' -- is Intel 2006 revision to '''SSE3''' CPU extension supported Intel Core 2 processors and higher as well as AMD Bobcat processors and higher. '''Warning''': If you will try to use SSSE3 optimized dll on Pentium 4 CPU you will encounter a crash whenever the code reaches SSSE3 optimized part (it may not happen for some time but it will occur eventually). | ||
| Line 22: | Line 22: | ||
* '''Renderer''' -- A choice between DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 (when you have met the requirement for DirectX 10 otherwise DirectX 9 will be the only choice here). There are two subtypes for each API: | * '''Renderer''' -- A choice between DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 (when you have met the requirement for DirectX 10 otherwise DirectX 9 will be the only choice here). There are two subtypes for each API: | ||
** '''Hardware renderer''' -- uses your graphics card to render the picture. This is the fastest and preferred mode. | ** '''Hardware renderer''' -- uses your graphics card to render the picture. This is the fastest and preferred mode. | ||
** '''Software renderer''' -- uses your CPU to render the picture. There will be ONLY native internal resolution available (thus original PS2 visuals). In some cases this mode may produce the best images with the least amount of graphical artifacts. Unfortunately GSdx requires quite a bit of CPU power to render with the software renderer even in internal resolution (without anti-aliasing or anything else applied) so you may end up with a correctly rendered game but which only runs at an unplayable 3-10 fps. Note also that PCSX2 is very CPU hungry but currently supports only 2 cores (the third core may also help a wee when used by different system processes leaving first two exclusively to PCSX2) thus if you have a 3+ core CPU you may consider using them for GSdx working in this mode increasing the render speed dramatically with every additional core (see '''SW renderer threads'''). You can also switch between hardware renderer and software renderer during runtime, see [[ | ** '''Software renderer''' -- uses your CPU to render the picture. There will be ONLY native internal resolution available (thus original PS2 visuals). In some cases this mode may produce the best images with the least amount of graphical artifacts. Unfortunately GSdx requires quite a bit of CPU power to render with the software renderer even in internal resolution (without anti-aliasing or anything else applied) so you may end up with a correctly rendered game but which only runs at an unplayable 3-10 fps. Note also that PCSX2 is very CPU hungry but currently supports only 2 cores (the third core may also help a wee when used by different system processes leaving first two exclusively to PCSX2) thus if you have a 3+ core CPU you may consider using them for GSdx working in this mode increasing the render speed dramatically with every additional core (see '''SW renderer threads'''). You can also switch between hardware renderer and software renderer during runtime, see [[GSdx#List_of_ingame_keys|'''List of ingame keys'''-'''F9''']]. | ||
* '''Interlacing''' -- is used to choose the default deinterlacing mode when starting the emulation process. For more detailed explanation see [[ | * '''Interlacing''' -- is used to choose the default deinterlacing mode when starting the emulation process. For more detailed explanation see [[GSdx#List_of_ingame_keys|'''List of ingame keys'''-'''F5''']]. | ||
* '''Aspect ratio''' -- is used to choose the default aspect ratio mode when starting the emulation process. For more detailed explanation see [[ | * '''Aspect ratio''' -- is used to choose the default aspect ratio mode when starting the emulation process. For more detailed explanation see [[GSdx#List_of_ingame_keys|'''List of ingame keys'''-'''F6''']]. | ||
* ''' | * '''Internal Resolution''' -- is used to set the render resolution target. The higher resolution you choose here the bigger picture will be rendered before being resized into your screen resolution thus you'll see more clear and crisp visuals. Unfortunately all those game you'll be playing were created and tested for lower native resolution (~500 x ~450) so some picture parts or objects may look wrong (displaced/framed/no image/invalid colors, etc.) when rendered in higher resolution. These artifacts you may eliminate only by using '''native resolution'''. Increasing internal resolution will impact the rendering speed so the higher resolution you set the more powerful graphics card you'll need to have. | ||
** '''Native''' resolution. In contrast with the higher extrapolated '''D3D internal resolutions''', this is a more compatible mode because it uses the original PS2 display resolution. It should be used first before you attempt to upscale your resolution. | ** '''Native''' resolution. In contrast with the higher extrapolated '''D3D internal resolutions''', this is a more compatible mode because it uses the original PS2 display resolution. It should be used first before you attempt to upscale your resolution. | ||
* '''Enable Shade Boost''' -- is used to manually adjust Saturation/Brightness/Contrast levels. | * '''Enable Shade Boost''' -- is used to manually adjust Saturation/Brightness/Contrast levels. | ||
| Line 107: | Line 107: | ||
* '''F6''' -- cycles through different aspect ratios. Includes 4:3, 16:9 and "stretch to screen". | * '''F6''' -- cycles through different aspect ratios. Includes 4:3, 16:9 and "stretch to screen". | ||
* '''F7''' -- tries to alter the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_geometry "pixel geometry"] by applying some | * '''F7''' -- tries to alter the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_geometry "pixel geometry"] by applying some hard-coded filters. | ||
* '''F8''' -- takes the screenshot of the current screen. Screenshots are taken in the current rendering resolution (not the resolution of your GSdx window) and stored in the emulator's '''snaps''' folder. | * '''F8''' -- takes the screenshot of the current screen. Screenshots are taken in the current rendering resolution (not the resolution of your GSdx window) and stored in the emulator's '''snaps''' folder. | ||