Ok so it seems like almost every runner for this game uses emulator which is fine. However I have a thought: I have a few people asking me about the game and wanting to start running it. I mainly get asked the question of which emulator I use.

I've also noticed that other games on SR for emulated runs carry a strict rule. ONE emulator for EVERYONE.

Perhaps its time to discuss / vote which emulator we should use for future runs to keep things fair. For instance some people use psxfin and some other people use epsxe. I have no idea of the time differences here but maybe we should all come to an agreement on which emulator and version to use to avoid confusion.

Noob question here so please bear with me.

Why would different emulators produce different times? For RTA I can understand that some emulators run faster than others or have rendering issues so makes sense that everyone should use the same emulator. However, since RE:S is IGT, I thought that the IGT is calculated by counting frames so why would running a faster and a slower emulator produce different IGT?

From what I have noticed, the people who use pxsfin have a faster RTA with a larger gap between the RTA and IGT (c. 3mins) compared to epsxe which has a slower RTA with a gap of about 2mins.

However, again this is just from what I have seen, the IGT for decently mirrored runs doesn't seem to be that different albeit this is based on a small sample size.

Regardless of your answer to the above, I am happy to use any emulator as doesnt make that much difference, however we would have to agree on whether to wipe times from the LB that don't use the eventually agreed emulator.

Sorry I just saw this when I got back to the office. First to address Ben's post, I completely agree with deciding on an emulator to run this game for a few different reasons that I have seen through testing, but also proposing one more test just to check something that I have been thinking about. I have been approached by a few people as well that want to run the game and their first question is which emulator should I run on. Through the testing that I have done, I have found the following (feel free to say otherwise if anyone has found anything out differently), for the 3 emus commonly used by the community:

PSXfin - The game runs incredibly smooth on this emulator and doesn't have some of the darkness issues of the original console version (PS). No FPS drops randomly, but the in game timer always seems to be above the real timer by at least 20 seconds. Compared to the other emulators, it is similar to PSXjin and slower by about 45-60 seconds compared to ePSXe

PSXjin - Almost the same points I would make with PSXfin but I have not tested this one nearly enough.

ePSXe - The game is beautiful here with enhanced features and brightness. However, with all the enhancements there are also a lot of FPS drops, which directly affect the in game timer. Therefore, what I have noticed overall if that an in game timer will mostly be below the real timer in this case and for decently similar runs on my end, it runs about 45 seconds or so faster than the other two emulators.

What I propose is, and I know a few runners have copies, that a run be completed on original console and then mirrored on the three emus (I don't mind trying to mirror the run since I run the game multiple times a week on and offline) and whichever emu is closest to the original may be the best option here.

To answer Zooball's questions: All questions are welcomed and are very helpful to discuss the issues, so don't feel they are less important coming from a newer runner to the leader boards my friend. You are correct in your assessment of the IGT versus RTA issues with the emulators, but I have never seen a cap that large interestingly enough. The problem comes in with the frame drops that can happen with certain emulators. When the frame rate drops significantly, often times the IGT can also slow down in those sections basically equating to the character moving extremely fast through a section with good lines and dodges. This has also come up in other communities, like FF7, where frame limiters are used to make sure the playing field is level. Personally, I have seen the difference in survivor when I did some ePSXe testing, but also in games like Outbreak, where I have accidentally turned off the frame limiter and had super speed Yoko, but because of this the IGT was crazy bad.

My personal vote would be for PSXfin or jin depending on the outcome from the original hardware test, but I am willing to use what the community votes for.

I wouldn't even say RTA is that great or provides more of a reason to decide on one emulator tbh. RTA is still off because it really depends how your PC runs the game with the emulator. Brando and I have raced multiple times using the exact same emulator and copy of the game and even if I've won in real time his IGT will come up faster. Similarly with PAL, I could run this game on my PS2 with a European copy of the game and even if it would take me near double the time in real time I could still PB on my emulator run because of the IGT and how it tracks frames. Notoriously I just feel like RE's timing methods are pretty whack generally, but then I do think it is worth being as consistent as we can between runs.

So for consistency's sake I still think psxfin or jin is the way to go. Really with a game that tracks frames we want to go for an emulator that has the least lag points/frame drops I guess? I'm not too knowledgeable on the subject and for the most part I trust what Maximus says as I know he has looked into it more than anyone. But I would vote for psxfin/jin.

I would definitely say psxfin or jin are the closest to original software than the other emus as well as keeping a consistent FPS. I'd have to agree with both Max & becks and vote for psxfin/jin.

Thanks for the explanation Max, makes sense. When you say fin/jin are 45 secs slower than epsxe do you mean RTA or IGT cos I don't feel like my PBs are significantly slower in terms of gameplay than the times around them on the LB (again might just be my setup and crappy laptop).

Happy to use fin/jin also, just curious what the thoughts are on runs already completed using other emus on the LBs?

When I did the testing for ePSXe I feel like I had decently mirrored runs and that was the discrepancy that I saw, but as Becks said it can also depend on setup. There are always a lot of variables with this kind of thing so trying to hammer one down at a time seems the most efficient. I don't think the boards necessarily need to be wiped, because those runners have already put in the time and grind to get decent times, just have a consistent rule set for future runners.

Whatever emu that is not epsxe

Ok so are we all in agreement on the use of PSXfin? I would take it to a vote but I think the majority of runners here are in favour of psxjin.

All good with me.

I mean it was just a place to have a discussion on the topic because the emulators are obviously different as seen through the testing the runners and mods have done. No need to get so defensive about the topic, discussion is what the forums are for. A decision should be made though and pretty soon so that everyone can be on the same page.

ReavzAU - The point in this is to make it fair for all runners in the game without people cheating or manipulating the game. If all runners use the same emulator , then all is fair. That is the point we are trying to make.

Retroarch uses the Mednafen core doesn't it, same as Bizhawk? In terms of fairness those are probably the best bets, if anything. But one universal emulator is probably best for times and it doesn't really matter which as long as its not ePSXe like Zenix said.

im willing to change my emu for this game.