I am itching to play PDS again and am wondering if anyone has played PDS with SSF 012 beta r3? Does the game lock up at the end of disk one still or has that been corrected? I still have my Saturn and PDS, but haven’t tried playing it via ssf yet. The lock up issue deterred me from trying in the past. I guess what I am asking is if the quality of playback is at least on par with just playing it on my Saturn?
I did a complete playthrough of the game using SSF years ago, and the emulation has only improved since then. The few graphical glitches that were there have since been corrected, the progressive output works and SSF can enable real transparency to replace the old wireframe effect that the original used. I think it’s about as good as it can get. Haven’t tried beta 3 yet but beta 2 seems to work fine. Here’s a video I just uploaded:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw31kVkI4Hg (I used a custom upscaler to convert it to 1080P)
I did a 100% play through on SSF a couple of years ago, and when using a controller it’s just like the real thing. I had no lock up issues, only the notorious green roof bug during the Gigra fight.
the ssf emulation looks so splendid, it is a big surprise. I did run it years ago and it looked terrible ! is it the emulation that is progressing so much or does it depend on a healthy saturn bios ? I have the original cds so that is not the issue anymore if its about that. must check it out asap P:
That’s also fixed now, at least when I tried it in highest compatibility mode. Same with the sky texture in the excavation site.
The emulation has progressed, but SSF has been running Panzer Dragoon Saga very well for a long time now. I’d have to check if the BIOS is required or not (it’s required for Yabause at least). Also interesting to note: it’s possible to use Lance Way’s girigiri savegames with SSF and Yabause, I can explain the settings needed to get that to work if anyone’s interested.
Did you have to make modifications to the files themselves? If so… could we add SSF and Yabause versions to the site alongside the original GiriGiri versions?
Sounds like it is time to try a SSF playthrough. Would you recommend running with highest compatability and a US saturn bios for best performance?
Indeed (though I’m not sure if the BIOS is needed), here are some key settings I changed:
Enforce Aspect Ratio: on (both window and fullscreen)
Wide Screen: Off (On for Zwei since it actually supports widescreen)
Mesh Translucent: On (enables real transparency)
Deinterlace (very slow): On
EZ setting: Full compatbility (Very Slow)
Hook Backup Libary: disable this if you want to use Lance Way’s GiriGiri saves. In its default setting SSF uses a different method of saving games. Disabling this setting makes the save games compatible between SSF, Yabause and GiriGiri. You can’t convert the savegames between the two formats though (it should be technically possible but there’s simply no application for it as far as I’m aware). To use the savegames, you need to replace the “InternalBackupRAM.bin” file with the bin savegames from Lance Way (you’ll also need to rename them of course). That should allow SSF to access the savegames.
I have no problem running the emulator on these settings on my system (i5 2500K). SSF’s video capture works flawlessly as well, though you’ll need a particular program called AviUtl to convert it to an AVI.
I presume this is only actually useful for displays running at that resolution natively, in order to bypass their own built-in and usually sub-par upscaling; it won?t increase quality, only avert a decrease.
In contrast, I?d really like it if SSF could render at higher/arbitrary resolutions, but I also appreciate shima?s ethos of 1:1 emulation and thus doing everything in software. From what I remember reading, he said something like that might be possible away down the line, but accuracy is the overriding goal until it?s 100%.
Anyway, the last version was released in December, marking probably the longest duration between versions I remember seeing? I hope SSF hasn?t lapsed into developmental limbo. 
Hah, I remember playing the game in like 2006 with SSF, and it worked perfect even then, except for like 2 backgrounds being glitched, and some audio being wrong.
The audio is still not perfect though, but anyone short of Steve Snake could not get that right.
It won’t look any better than it did 5 years ago, barring emulation bugs being corrected. Remember, the game runs in 352x224 resolution…
If you have the original CDs, make a cd image from them and load them from a virtual drive, running from the original discs can cause hangups.
Bios version does not matter, the only thing that can maybe cause a problem is running the game without a bios. And even that is a “maybe”.
Where did you read that? I recall the author heavily experimenting with DX11 features, but no statements for bumped up resolutions. Which wouldn’t be easy to do to begin with, since the Saturn renders graphics more like a Megadrive than a traditional polygon device.
I imagine you would need at least Direct2D to do accurate hardware emulation of the VDP1 at arbitrary resolutions… and even that wouldn’t get all effects right (bowtie quad, pixel rewrites on transparencies, etc). But, lack of pixel rewrites would be an improvement, and the bowtie quad trick was uncommon as far as I know.
The VDP2 features may be more difficult to do, but that’s one thing where you could likely just upscale the normal results anyway.
The Backup Library option is a hack that allows you infinite backup save space, since you are saving onto your HDD, and not the emulated 32k internal / 512k external cart of the Saturn. There’s no point to not using it, especially as there IS a savegame manager:
geocities.jp/hss_0138/software.html
Look for SSBKM, aka Sega Saturn BackupRAM Manager.
It’s in japanese but you can fix that by opening the ini file and pasting this into it:
[code][Option]
Internal=Internal RAM
External=External RAM
File=Open file
Folder=Open folder
Reload=Reload
Save=Save
Close=Close
Clear=Format
Copy=Copy
Remove=Delete
Import=Import
Export=Export
Number=No.
Name=Name
Comment=Comment
Size=Size
Memory=Blocks
Date=Date
Available=Available blocks
Maximum=Maximum size
[/code]
Quick guide for using it: There are 2 identical windows, you can open different resources in each and copy from one to another. Ex. open InternalBackup.bin in the left side, and ExternalBackup.bin on the right side, and then copy from one to the other. However, as the window names specify, you can only open InternalBackup on the left (this is the standard Saturn internal ram, should be a 64kbyte file in your emulator), and ExternalBackup on the right (standard Saturn Cartridge backup ram, 1mbyte file with emulators).
The command functions are:
- Open file - opens a standard backup ram file, this is the 64kbyte internal backup or 1mbyte external backup file that ALL Saturn emulators save in. You could also dump the backup ram from your Saturn with a transfer device and open it with this.
- Open folder - opens a folder of independent save files. Use this to open the Backup Library of SSF. (which is technically just each save file saved independently on your HDD, instead of into a 32kb partition on the Saturn)
- Reload - Reloads currently open file. No effect on open folder.
- Save - Saves currently open file. No effect on open folder (changes are saved instantly if you use folder open).
on the bottom row:
- Format - deletes everything! Asks for confirmation, select yes/no.
- Copy - copies the selected entry from one window to another. Asks for confirmation, select yes/no. If the other window already has a save file of a matching name, the app will ask you if you wish to overwrite.
- Delete - deletes a single selected save.
- Import - imports independent save files, like the stuff that SSF saves into when using the Backup Library.
- Export - exports selected save to a single independent save file, like the stuff that SSF saves into when using the Backup Library.
So, you can open the SSF\Backup\InternalBackup folder on the right side, then the Lane Way saves on the left side, select all 3 saves on the right, press “Copy”, confirm with Yes, and then hit Save on the left side (and confirm again with Yes).
Other stuff you should know:
- when opening an internalbackup / externalbackup file, the pop-up window asks for recovery of deleted files. These are saves that were deleted from this “partition” by the Saturn bios - they are not physically deleted, just marked as unused, similar to how hard drive filesystems work on a PC. Click Yes to recover save files (if there are any), or No to load the save file as it shows on the Saturn.
- when saving an internalbackup / externalbackup file, the app will create a *.bak backup file of the original contents.
- when modifying internalbackup / externalbackup files, YOU HAVE TO SAVE MANUALLY, but if you edit a folder of saves, ALL CHANGES ARE AUTOMATICALLY SAVED.
[quote=“rorirub”]There’s no point to not using it, especially as there IS a savegame manager:
geocities.jp/hss_0138/software.html
Look for SSBKM, aka Sega Saturn BackupRAM Manager.[/quote]
I didn’t know that program existed, thanks for the guide on how to use it! In that case there’s indeed no reason to disable the hook backup library option.
If anyone’s interested, here’s a video of Panzer Dragoon Saga running in Yabause’s OpenGL mode:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNm5X8GfOxU
There are quite a few problems with it and it’s not really playable, but on the other hand it seems to render some things better than GiriGiri as well.
[quote=“Ancient Weapon”]
(I used a custom upscaler to convert it to 1080P)I presume this is only actually useful for displays running at that resolution natively, in order to bypass their own built-in and usually sub-par upscaling; it won?t increase quality, only avert a decrease.[/quote]
That depends, the display’s built-in upscaling only matters when running the emulator, not the Youtube video. In this case it just helps the quality of the Youtube video, if I upload it in the original resolution then Youtube converts the video using a way too low bitrate. As for SSF, there’s a filter pack for it somewhere that has a bunch of different upscalers for it.
I somehow didn’t notice your post, sorry for not replying earlier. The save files work for Yabause just by renaming them to bkram.bin and replacing the file of the same name in the Yabause folder. As for SSF, rorirub’s guide above details what is needed to convert the files (either that or you use the method I described earlier where you disable the Hook Backup Library option).
I’ve been thinking about writing a guide about emulating Panzer Dragoon games for the website, if you don’t mind rorirub we could include the details you posted about the savegame manager (you would of course be credited for that).
I second this! I hadn?t known about that ability either. I probably won?t get much use out of it, but I?m glad I know now. 
Heh, I had no idea Yabause had gotten far enough to run anything at full speed, never mind to look quite nice at the same time! 
So thanks for that, too. What kind of specs do you have, and does it consume a lot of them?
Edit: Whoa, it even gets the music pretty accurate. 
Seems I might?ve been seriously underestimating it!
I hadn?t heard of this, so I Googled it. Relevant result: emucr.com/2009/04/ssf-filters-v0154.html It?s just your bog-standard bunch of 2xSAI, hq2x, and others ? nothing to do with polygons, and probably of quite limited potential for improvement overall. But again, I like knowing about things like this! And I?ll have to at least try them out (if I ever boot this laptop into Windows again? assuming it doesn?t die first? and so on!)
I remember those filters. They are hacks of the Kega Fusion filter engine, and they usually DONT work right at all - cut the video in half, crap like that.
Best shoice is to play the game on a Saturn though.
[quote=“Draikin”]I somehow didn’t notice your post, sorry for not replying earlier. The save files work for Yabause just by renaming them to bkram.bin and replacing the file of the same name in the Yabause folder. As for SSF, rorirub’s guide above details what is needed to convert the files (either that or you use the method I described earlier where you disable the Hook Backup Library option).
I’ve been thinking about writing a guide about emulating Panzer Dragoon games for the website, if you don’t mind rorirub we could include the details you posted about the savegame manager (you would of course be credited for that).[/quote]
That sounds good. A clearly documented guide to getting the Panzer Dragoon games working well under the different emulators would be of great benefit to the community.
I have most SSF related stuff up at
evilboris.sonic-cult.net/SSF/
So you may just link there. (I’ll see if I have the time to update it with the backup manager details)
It’s been quite some time since i played the SSF. And read the improvements it has had. I NEED to check it out. It has to be full playable now. (PD game).
Which PD game? There were previously glitches with PDS, but I think they were resolved (and were always circumventable anyway). The others are fine AFAIR.
Do note, though, that SSF has not been updated since December of 2011 despite having been updated frequently before that point. I have to wonder whether development will ever resume.
Every time I try to play Panzer Dragoon game on an emulator, I can’t. 
Post your specs. I can run it on my 2009 laptop but you need a strong cpu.
Anyways, anyone try the latest SSF version (0.12 beta 4)? I’m anxious to see if the georgius texture rotation issue got fixed but I can’t seem to find appropriate settings to fix the title screen glitch which seem unique to this version.