NextGPU mini configuration guide 1.

1 6/29/2002 ----------------------------------------------------------------------For a detailed guide (with pictures) check out the configuration guides at psxfanatics.com's support section! ----------------------------------------------------------------------This guide is supposed to explain some ambiguous terms used in the configuration and is not a full guide! Check out the plugin guides at PSXFanatics.com's support section, or you can ask for help either at emuforums.com or by e-mailing me. 1.) Screen settings -> Scanlines: 1.) Normal - Puts scanlines over the entire screen before displaying it. 2.) Double - Like the normal mode, only the scanlines are twice as thick. 3.) Screen writes only - Only puts scanlines over MDECs, etc. -> Screen shot format: Selects the format that will be used when writing screen shots. 1.) TGA - (Targa Truevision) This is the default. Supports 16 and 24 bit formats as well as RLE compression. 2.) BMP - (Windows Bitmap) Doesn't use any RLE compression, but supports 16 and 24 bit color formats. 3.) PCX - (ZSoft Paintbrush) Uses RLE compression, but only supports 24 bit color formats. 3.) Emulation options -> DMA chain fix - The long DMA chain fix is enabled by default. This will fix problems in games like Tekken 3 or Metal Slug X. (Usually the short DMA chain fix is recommended.) -> Data access - This feature will be explained once it's enabled. -> Emulate mask bit - Enabled by default. Masks are used in games like Silent Hill or Chrono Cross. There's no noticable performance loss when this is enabled. 4.) Texture cache - The texture cache is enabled by default and the texture type is set to palettized by default. -> Cache size - There will be one or more options in the list that will allow you to adjust the size of the cache. The amount of memory required is displayed under the list box. It's recommended that you use a setting that's in between the lowest and the highest options that are available. Using the lowest cache size can sometimes result in poor performance, but you should experiment to see what gives you the best results. -> Texture page depth - It's recommended that you use palettized textures if you video card supports them. These are the most compatiable, and in the case of games like Spyro which make heavy use of palettized textures, palettized textures can also be the fastest and easiest on your memory. 32-bit page depth - This appears to give the best performance for non palettized textures, but it also eats up memory a lot faster than using a 16-bit page depth.

16-bit and 2xSaI - This is a special texture mode which will smooth out the images through means of a special filtering process. Be aware that this mode is not as fast as regular 16-bit textures and uses up a bit more memory. This mode also doesn't currently support any of the more advanced semi transparency modes that the other texturing modes do. 16-bit page depth - This is similiar to using a 32-bit page depth, only it doesn't use as much memory :) 8-bit page depth - This is similiar to using a 16-bit page depth, only it doesn't use as much memory, doesn't have an alpha channel, and ususally doesn't look so great. Palettized - This is the most compatiable texture type that's available. It supports CLUT palette cycling unlike the true color textures and is almost essential in games like Spyro for good performance. -> Disable update on move - This is enabled by default. When this option is not enabled, everytime there's a VRAM to VRAM data move, the texture cache will check to see if anything has changed and update textures if needed. Enabling this option will give a noticable performance boost on lower end systems, but it will also disable some game features like "blinking" in Chrono Cross battles or Tekken 3. -> Texture filter mode - Turning this on will make the textures appear smoother than they would by default. Just keep in mind that by turning this feature on, although somethings will look nicer, you might still encounter some minor graphical errors. Also note that for all texture modes besides 2xSaI and palettized both "Bilinear" and "High quality bilinear" have different effects. For example, high quality bilinear will remove more black borders than bilinear but may take more time to process. For palettized and 2xSaI using either filtering option besides "none" will give plain bilinear filtering without any extra adjustments. In the future this will change so that all texture modes can benefit from less of the black border problem. -> Texture alignment mode - This only affects how textures look when either a filtering mode other than "none" is selected or 2xSaI textures are being used. The default option is "fast," but I have noticed that for polygon texture alignment in most cases, "best" seems to fix a lot of alignment problems that often occur when texture filtering is enabled. You should experiment to see which alignment mode gives the best results! 5.) Screen filtration - Disabled by default. In order to use this feature, your video card must support textures larger than 256x256. This excludes earlier VooDoos (such as the VooDoo 2.) -> Post bilinear filtering - This will apply bilinear filtering to every frame before it's displayed. Not as good as

bilinear filtering per texture in some cases, but it can look better (no texture misalignment for example.) -> Fast motion blur - This will apply a motion blur effect to everything that's displayed when this is enabled. -> Slow motion blur - This is like fast motion blur, only it leaves longer trails and more artifacts.