- RATCHET AND CLANK PS2 EMULATOR SLOW PATCH
- RATCHET AND CLANK PS2 EMULATOR SLOW SOFTWARE
- RATCHET AND CLANK PS2 EMULATOR SLOW CODE
The first is that software must manually flush the cache whenever it accesses a peripheral that reads main memory. A mismatch between cache and main memory could result in anything from corrupted graphics to a hard crash, but there are two general ways to prevent this. PS2 DMA can transfer data to a variety of devices, including the GPU, sound chip, and controller. For example, the PS2's DMA engine only reads from main memory. This is fine for most applications, but things get hairy when the CPU starts accessing other hardware as it is possible that the cache and RAM will have separate contents. The PS2's Emotion Engine is rather simple and only has a single 8 KB level of data cache.īy design, the cache is separate from main memory, and unless explicitly programmed to do otherwise, the CPU will try to read and write the cache. Modern caches are multi-level and rather complex, but the main idea is the same: frequently accessed data allows the CPU to maximize throughput instead of waiting on memory. Enter the data cache: CPU designers figured out that since the majority of time would be spent accessing a relatively small amount of memory, they could cache program data on a small buffer of memory embedded directly onto the CPU. Any time a memory access happened, the CPU would have to wait dozens of cycles! Increasing the clock rate would make no difference if programs were bottlenecked by memory speed, so a smarter solution was needed. As the years went on, CPUs began outpacing memory speeds. This meant that making the CPU faster would always make whatever program it was running faster as well. Older systems, such as the NES, were slow due to CPU speed being the main bottleneck. What is this data cache thing, why is it so slow, and why does DOA2 even need it? The Dreaded Data Cache Furthermore, this game won't work at all on any PS2 emulator without the patch, so it's not a problem specific to PCSX2. But why? Enabling "EE data cache" does allow DOA2 to boot and go in-game, but it tanks performance to such a ridiculous extent that the game might as well not exist.
RATCHET AND CLANK PS2 EMULATOR SLOW PATCH
This is deceiving, however, as PCSX2 has a patch for DOA2: without the patch, the game fails to boot. One might question why Dead or Alive 2 is mentioned in the title, given that it has worked fine in PCSX2 for many years.
RATCHET AND CLANK PS2 EMULATOR SLOW CODE
Since the code worked on PS2, no one cared, and it was shipped as-is. Some of this code would break on PC, but the PS2 is far more forgiving. The other end, however, has sloppy, inefficient, and overall buggy code written only to meet deadlines. Games like Jak and Daxter as well as Ratchet and Clank would fall in this category. The first end is one of optimization: using every trick in the book, and many more unwritten tricks, to bring about the best performance and graphical fidelity possible. Boasting a library of thousands of games, the PlayStation 2 can be taken to two extremes that cause trouble for emulators.