Post subject: PAL60 vs NTSC
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I was testing with Killer7, and I'm not sure if PAL60 (runs at 60.02 fps if I remember right) is faster than NTSC (59.94). I know for 16-bit games like sonic all the movement and stuff is based on the frame/framerate, but with dreamcast PAL60 and onwards, I'm not sure. For 8-bit or 16-bit era games on Wii virtual console, or re-released like the sonic games collection, is PAL60 faster than NTSC? For games after that, are PAL60 and NTSC the same? I'm guessing it might be case by case for dreamcast/gcn games, but I'm not sure
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That page doesn't mention PAL 60 at all.
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"Likewise, if you are running a PAL game ((E)), you must record your movie in PAL mode." It's right there.
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Naegleria wrote:
For 8-bit or 16-bit era games on Wii virtual console, or re-released like the sonic games collection, is PAL60 faster than NTSC?
Wii PAL VC games run in 50 Hz exclusively. The only exception is that import games like Super Mario RPG run in 60 Hz exclusively, because they are just NTSC ROMs with a Wii PAL region code.
Spikestuff wrote:
"Likewise, if you are running a PAL game ((E)), you must record your movie in PAL mode." It's right there.
PAL60 is an officially supported video mode on newer consoles, not some hacky option in emulators to play PAL games 20% too fast. I don't see how that rule is relevant. EDIT: Yeah, the rule page says "This rule only comes into effect on NES games and possibly Genesis games that have badly programmed region lock-out."
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Naegleria's question still hasn't been answered...
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I don't have Killer7 but I know it's a GameCube (& PS2) game and I don't know if it has a changing the FPS within the game. I also don't have a GameCube so my question is. Does the European GameCube have a changing the Hz in the settings or does the game itself have this option when booting it?
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AntyMew
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Spikestuff wrote:
I don't have Killer7 but I know it's a GameCube (& PS2) game and I don't know if it has a changing the FPS within the game. I also don't have a GameCube so my question is. Does the European GameCube have a changing the Hz in the settings or does the game itself have this option when booting it?
It's a setting on the gamecube bios. NTSC can run at 50 Hz, too
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Then I have no problems! waits for a higher up to show up out of nowhere
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Spikestuff wrote:
Does the European GameCube have a changing the Hz in the settings or does the game itself have this option when booting it?
GameCube games that support multiple video modes ask what video mode you want to use when you start it, before it gets to the title screen or displays any intro cinematic. For PAL games, this is a choice between 60 Hz and 50 Hz, while NTSC games can have a choice between interlaced and progressive scan instead. I've heard that you need to hold the B button when booting to bring up these options, but from what I remember, I could play in 60 Hz on my GameCube without doing that... Of course, all of this doesn't matter if the game only supports one video mode.
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I'll rephrase my question. Does PAL60 having a higher framerate (60.02 compared to 59.94) mean it is generally better for speedrunning?
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Naegleria wrote:
I'll rephrase my question. Does PAL60 having a higher framerate (60.02 compared to 59.94) mean it is generally better for speedrunning?
That depends entirely on implementation details of the game in question. A properly-written PC game ought to be framerate-agnostic, as it can't know what kind of hardware it will be run on and needs to be able to run at the correct speed regardless. This generally involves performing physics at fixed "ticks" (e.g. 10x per second) and filling the rest of the unused time with extra display updates (interpolating between the physics updates) so that the framerate is as smooth as possible. As long as your hardware is able to do each physics update on time, the game will run at the correct speed, regardless of anything else. But on a console, you do (in theory) know what kind of hardware you run on, so maybe you're just running a physics update every 5th frame or something. In that case, having a higher framerate would actually make the game run faster -- again, assuming that the hardware was able to do the updates that quickly. I would expect modern console games to be implemented "properly", if only to make porting to PC easier. But I can't say for certain.
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ehhh, thats a lot of numbers from what i gather, that tells you the framerate. From what i understand PAL60 is actually 0.08 fps faster NTSC. What I am asking is if that means games run on PAL60 play faster than NTSC as a result, as previously mentioned, the framerate might not make a difference depending on if the hardware is framerate-agnostic or not. I guess this could be game-specific, so for Killer7 and Billy Hatcher, is PAL60 faster than NTSC?
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I think this is moot because Dolphin runs NTSC games at a flat 60; and I'm guessing that it'd run PAL60 games at a flat 60. It really depends on the game at that point.
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Naegleria wrote:
ehhh, thats a lot of numbersWhat I am asking is if that means games run on PAL60 play faster than NTSC as a result, as previously mentioned, the framerate might not make a difference depending on if the hardware is framerate-agnostic or not.
Software, not hardware, so yes, it could be game-specific. Dolphin shmolphin; I believe the original question was about doing speedruns on actual hardware, yes?
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Yes, the original question was about speedruns on an actual gamecube/wii. I figured you guys would know more about this stuff than anyone else.
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On actual GameCube/Wii, it depends on the game. Yes; there are still games that run slower on PAL50 than NTSC, and faster/same on PAL60 from what I know about Dolphin. You'd be surprised at how half assed some engines are; but it'll be a lot rarer than N64, which still did it commonly. Also, I just meant you assumed the emulator.