P4 2.6 GHz can not run Metal Slug 2? (answered!)

[ragnar]

I am getting slowdown issues with Metal Slug 2 which surprises me.

Metal Slug 1 works perfectly.  Metal Slug 3 has no slow down issues about 99% of the time but it probably is creaming the CPU for the most part..

I have a build of Mame that is about 1 month old (mame0139b_i686).  My processor is a 2.4 GHz P4.  I have 1 Gig of memory.  And I turned off my antivirus.

What am I not doing right here?  Is this just the way it is?

Would an older build of Mame work?  I have mame0122b and mame0119b but do not use them.  If I remember, this is just prior to a software architecture change in Mame.

ANSWERED:
Wow, so I just verified.  Metal Slug 2 had slow down issues.  That's just the way it is.  That is why Metal Slug X was released.  From wikipedia:

A revised version of Metal Slug 2, titled Metal Slug X, was released on March 1999 for the Neo Geo MVS. It fixed problems with slowdown present in Metal Slug 2, and increased the difficulty. Metal Slug X also introduced a few new elements to the Metal Slug 2  game system. New weapons and items were added, such as the "Iron Lizard" and the "Drop Shot". The enemy placement and bosses were re-arranged as well.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Slug_2#Metal_Slug_X

[Smeghead]

 No idea sorry but I can tell you I'm using an ancient mame and it runs fine

[ragnar]

No idea sorry but I can tell you I'm using an ancient mame and it runs fine

Well, I found one ini file change that helped, sort of.  prescale was on.  I turned it off.  So, instead of the CPU being at 100%, it was at about 85%.  Maybe 90%.  But I still had some slow down issues.  It felt slightly better but it definitely had slowdown issues when to many sprites were on screen.

Can I ask what version of Mame you are running and what CPU?  And if you (or anyone) could, could someone run Metal Slug 2 with task manager up (ctrl-shift-escape is a shortcut for it) so the CPU utilization chart keep a record of utilization and let me know what it is like along with Mame build and CPU info?  That would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: I am running at 80-85% CPU utilization

[romshark]

Actually, Metal Slug 2 had slowdown even on the real board. Since MAME keeps things as real as it can, the slowdown may be, in a way, intentional.

Although if you have seen it running faster before (using MAME, as other Neo-Geo emulators might be tweaked to prevent slowdown), then ignore my ramblings.

[ragnar]

Google found something.  I am not alone and even people with i7 based motherboards have issues.  Turning off hyper-threading can help, but this seems to be an issue with Mame running Metal Slug.  It seems to be that simple.  A good read:
http://forums.ngemu.com/software-discussion/121227-mame-fast-computer-slow.html

[WhereEaglesDare]

thats really odd.  Is there a fix for it?

[ragnar]

thats really odd.  Is there a fix for it?

I tried out the Nebula emulator.  Similar performance as Mame.  100% CPU.  Almost identical lag issues.

[ragnar]

Actually, Metal Slug 2 had slowdown even on the real board. Since MAME keeps things as real as it can, the slowdown may be, in a way, intentional.

Although if you have seen it running faster before (using MAME, as other Neo-Geo emulators might be tweaked to prevent slowdown), then ignore my ramblings.

I wouldn't doubt it from what I am experiencing.  I'm just surprised that they would release a game in such an unpolished state.

[ragnar]

Wow, so I just verified.  Metal Slug 2 had slow down issues.  That's just the way it is.  That is why Metal Slug X was released.  From wikipedia:

A revised version of Metal Slug 2, titled Metal Slug X, was released on March 1999 for the Neo Geo MVS. It fixed problems with slowdown present in Metal Slug 2, and increased the difficulty. Metal Slug X also introduced a few new elements to the Metal Slug 2  game system. New weapons and items were added, such as the "Iron Lizard" and the "Drop Shot". The enemy placement and bosses were re-arranged as well.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Slug_2#Metal_Slug_X

[JustMichael]

Is it a slow down due to Mame or due to the NeoGeo having too much on the screen?  I know in Metal Slug 2, certain parts of the game slowed down on the actual machine due to tons of stuff on the screen at the same time.  That machine ate many of my quarters!

[ragnar]

Is it a slow down due to Mame or due to the NeoGeo having too much on the screen?  I know in Metal Slug 2, certain parts of the game slowed down on the actual machine due to tons of stuff on the screen at the same time.  That machine ate many of my quarters!

As it turns out, it's the emulator doing what it is supposed to.  The game actually had these lag issues.  See the post above yours for more info.

[Hoopz]

I know you found it elsewhere but it may help others if I point out that the Mame FAQ has a section that discusses specific games.  Metal Slug 2 isn't covered per se, but the Metal Slug series is:

http://mamedev.org/devwiki/index.php/FAQ:Games#Metal_Slug_.28Series.29

[ragnar]

I know you found it elsewhere but it may help others if I point out that the Mame FAQ has a section that discusses specific games.  Metal Slug 2 isn't covered per se, but the Metal Slug series is:

http://mamedev.org/devwiki/index.php/FAQ:Games#Metal_Slug_.28Series.29

That's interesting.  Especially this:

"Although the FPS counter shows 100% speed for these games, they may appear choppy. This is true to the original — even the original hardware of these games struggled with them and therefore the choppiness is actually accurate emulation of these games. You may be able to get rid of it in some cases by using the -cheat parameter, hitting the tilde key and browsing the on screen menu until you find "CPU overclocking". This will run the emulated CPU faster which may or may not fix it. It may also cause the emulation to have errors, so don't bug people if overclocking screws up a game. "