Prisoner of War (2002) seems to run slow, even with dgVoodoo

[AlphaYellow 42]

So I checked this game and seems to be a port of the PS2 version that ran at 30 FPS, but ingame it doesn't feel like 30 FPS at all, even with dgVoodoo2 properly configured. Most times seems like the game is running in slow motion or something like that when moving around, but the framerate never drops from 32 FPS (capped), really weird. Anyone can confirm this as well?

[Genesis 1]

I have no clue if that'll work, did you try with the "Fast video memory access" option enabled in dgVoodoo?

[Aemony 142]

This thread might be relevant: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=87842

[AlphaYellow 42]

It doesn't help at all, it seems like a sloppy PS2 port, maybe someone more advanced can fix the game and unlock the 30 FPS cap as well.

[diegoelcapo123 0]

7 hours ago, AlphaYellow said:

No ayuda en absoluto, parece un puerto de PS2 descuidado, tal vez alguien más avanzado pueda arreglar el juego y desbloquear el límite de 30 FPS también.

the game works perfectly for me on windows 10 on a pc with a gtx1050ti and an i5 7400 and I don't think it's a good idea to disable the 30fps limit

[scagent 1]

On 6/22/2022 at 4:12 AM, diegoelcapo123 said:

the game works perfectly for me on windows 10 on a pc with a gtx1050ti and an i5 7400 and I don't think it's a good idea to disable the 30fps limit

Why would it be a bad idea to disable the 30fps limit? First time I see someone prefer low fps in a game,

game plays smooth 60fps on PCSX2, if someone wants to emulate, it doesn't seem to be an engine issue, as people said before, lazy pc port.

[diegoelcapo123 0]

13 hours ago, scagent said:

Why would it be a bad idea to disable the 30fps limit? First time I see someone prefer low fps in a game,

game plays smooth 60fps on PCSX2, if someone wants to emulate, it doesn't seem to be an engine issue, as people said before, lazy pc port.

that the pcsx2 emulator says that it goes to 60fps does not mean that the game works internally at 60fps

for example the game black in the pcsx2 emulator says that it goes to 60fps but actually the game works at 30fps

(214) Black - PS2 - Frame Rate Test - YouTube

[scagent 1]

4 hours ago, diegoelcapo123 said:

that the pcsx2 emulator says that it goes to 60fps does not mean that the game works internally at 60fps

for example the game black in the pcsx2 emulator says that it goes to 60fps but actually the game works at 30fps

(214) Black - PS2 - Frame Rate Test - YouTube

I didn't even have to use a framerate counter, I later launched the game again using  rivatuner, to 100% confirm and not the built in counter, because you are correct its not always right, but I also didn't have to  I noticed the difference in smoothness immediately , the pcsx2 version is way above 30fps, not only is the difference felt and seen but on top of that rivatuner confirmed it. and it ran at 60fps.

 

I don't know if you want to try pcsx2 yourself, but here is a vid as well, it doesnt have a framerate counter, but you can notice how smooth it plays here during gameplay, compared to BLACK which is very  choppy and indeed runs at 30fps, dont even have to look at the graphs to see how choppy it runs

 

[magikgimp 2]

Game runs fine for me. Not sure why you guys are bothering using dgvoodoo though as this game is not running under 3dfx Glide. I installed from an ISO and used a replacement for the launcher and the fix found here on this website. I can't talk about the first two as I'll get another slap on the wrist for breaking "piracy" rules so I'm having to continue that part of the discussion on the Vogons thread instead.

[AlphaYellow 42]

Quote

Game runs fine for me. Not sure why you guys are bothering using dgvoodoo though as this game is not running under 3dfx Glide. I installed from an ISO and used a replacement for the launcher and the fix found here on this website. I can't talk about the first two as I'll get another slap on the wrist for breaking "piracy" rules so I'm having to continue that part of the discussion on the Vogons thread instead.

The game actually uses DirectX 8.1, and yes it makes sense to use dgVoodoo in older games like these to fix performance, add visual effects like anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing, and set other things like Vsync or a custom refresh rate. I don't know why someone wouldn't use dgVoodoo actually, it's one of the best tools that was ever made for old games, no doubt. But this game doesn't feel smooth at all, even with dgVoodoo, I know what I'm saying, have finished literally hundreds of PC games to know it quite well.

[magikgimp 2]

OK, I was a bit rash but I don't understand half of the options it allows you to tweak so I don't usually use it all that often. I can't see the image quality going up all that much, can it? I've also had better results using nGlide with certain things (demoscene, some games) as well. Not that I don't appreciate the work gone into dgv too of course.

I'm perhaps not the best person to look into this stuff TBH. I only have a basic 60Hz 1080 monitor and a very slow PC (an advantage sometimes??) so I guess I'm used to crappy frame rates in general! I expect if you saw my screen you'd say it was slow too. 😕 I just like to investigate myself now and then even if I'm not really going to be playing the game much.

[AlphaYellow 42]

21 minutes ago, jivolat said:

Hey, have you figured out how to solve that ?

Not yet, tried to find a way to unlock the 32FPS lock, and nothing yet. Maybe someone here in the forums could help as well

[tgamesfr 1]

For some who was long waiting for a 60 FPS patch for this game i've made one 😀

I've published today on my website the 60 FPS on Prisoner of War: World War II and Pilot Down: Behind Enemy Lines.

Both game were made by the same company and they both share same engine and use DirectX 8.1.

My patch also include Widescreen forcing at 1080p, removal of Securom and NO-CD ! 😎

Here some screenshots to show in actions the 60 FPS on theses games.

[AlphaYellow 42]

1 hour ago, tgamesfr said:

For some who was long waiting for a 60 FPS patch for this game i've made one 😀

I've published today on my website the 60 FPS on Prisoner of War: World War II and Pilot Down: Behind Enemy Lines.

Both game were made by the same company and they both share same engine and use DirectX 8.1.

My patch also include Widescreen forcing at 1080p, removal of Securom and NO-CD ! 😎

Here some screenshots to show in actions the 60 FPS on theses games.

I've tested the patch, and the game shows it's running at 60 FPS but the gameplay is actually still at 30 FPS somehow, menus run at 60 FPS, but gameplay animations, camera movement and such are all still at 30 FPS. Also the FOV isn't fixed for widescreen resolutions... could you update the patch and include those as well?

[tgamesfr 1]

It's animations who are cooked internally to run at 30 FPS (even on PS2 and Xbox) but the rendering engine now force everything else at 60 FPS.
You can check it with fraps or any software who count FPS you gonna notice it's really 60 FPS.

And for animations anything higher they get out of sync. Except that everything else run at 60 and now game runs smooth.

You can also try disable the FPS cap at all but the FPS gonna yo-yo between 60 and 180 FPS. So i've prefered just forcing 60 FPS itseelf.

If you want remove any cap change in Coldtitz.exe (Prisonner of War) with Hxd :
 

original
3F 89 88 88 3C 50 77 D6 3D (32 FPS)

modified
3F 89 88 08 3C 50 77 D6 3D (64 FPS)

test
3F 00 00 00 00 50 77 D6 3D (No limit)

For camera you can try this "test" patch :

https://we.tl/t-tYk6Ua8D4O

The only problem is i have no way to check if camera are really more smooth as mouse events are badly handled on Windows 10 + DirectX 8.1.

 

And for BEL.exe (Pilot Down) (just for info) with Hxd :
 

original
00 00 00 00 44 89 88 88 3C (32 FPS)

modified
00 00 00 00 44 89 88 08 3C (64 FPS)

test
00 00 00 00 44 00 00 00 00 (no limit)