PAL Optimised... Or Not?

[NeoGeoNinja]

I WAS HAVING A LOOK...
over the PAL master list, here at SS:UK. I noticed that a Red Asterisk denotes a title that has been optimised @50hz PAL.

Personally, I'm looking at running PAL games on my Multi-Regional Saturn whilst forcing their sorry asses into 60Hz where possible. As such, for me, I'm going to be leaning more towards acquiring the UNoptimised for this activity, as optimised titles run too fast when optimised and have a good 1/5 of the bottom of the screen 'cut off' too.

However, I *think* I have encountered a few anomalies on the list. I say this with the very basic 'rule' that optimised titles, and also unoptimised titles will behave just as I have described above when forced into 60Hz.

• Fighters Megamix - listed as 'unoptimised' yet the bottom part of the screen is removed and the speed increase is rather dramatic when forced into 60Hz.

• PDragoon - listed as 'optimised' yet runs at a normal speed and full screen when forced into 60Hz.

• Puzzle Fighter 2 - again, listed as 'unoptimised' yet the bottom part of the screen is removed when forced into 60Hz. Unsure about an big difference in speed.

The rest of the lists expected 'behaviour' based on being forced into 60Hz correlates fine with the PAL games I own. It was just these three titles specifically that didn't, so I just wondered what the deal was with these three titles?

Cheers!

[zyrobs]

Fighters Megamix is optimized.

Puzzle Fighter 2 is an odd case, it runs in PAL resolution but the game itself does not fill the full resolution. Most games just run in their original x480 or x448 resolutions, PAL optimized ones run in x512 - Puzzle Fighter 2 runs in that, but it doesn't draw graphics in the extra area.

[NeoGeoNinja]

Aug 12, 2011 7:27:36 GMT zyrobs said:

Fighters Megamix is optimized.

Puzzle Fighter 2 is an odd case, it runs in PAL resolution but the game itself does not fill the full resolution. Most games just run in their original x480 or x448 resolutions, PAL optimized ones run in x512 - Puzzle Fighter 2 runs in that, but it doesn't draw graphics in the extra area.

zyrobs...
sorry for the reply. Was waiting to see if anyone else was going to chime in or not. However...

So, Fighters Megamix IS optimised! Ok, cool. Perhaps someone here can make that Red Asterisk adjustment on the PAL Master List here at SS:UK then?

As for Puzzle Fighter 2? I apologise... but I'm just going to have to nod whilst smiling in agreement, as if I understand what you just said - whilst NOT doing, I'm afraid!

Thanks for the explanation though

[zyrobs]

For Puzzle Fighter 2, it means the game is letterboxed.

[martiniii]

While we're on this subject, I've been wondering why most of the PAL-only titles are listed as unoptimized. Surely if a game is only going to be released in PAL regions, even if it's a port, it makes sense to optimize it for PAL?

[Deleted]

Puzzle Fighter has a very flexible screen adjust option that will let you move the image up when playing a PAL version at 60Hz. Helpfully, it stores the screen position data so you'll only have to do it once.

[Deleted]

Aug 21, 2011 2:15:21 GMT martiniii said:

While we're on this subject, I've been wondering why most of the PAL-only titles are listed as unoptimized. Surely if a game is only going to be released in PAL regions, even if it's a port, it makes sense to optimize it for PAL?

You would think that - however it takes time and money to do PAL optimisation and the right decision from our point of view is, sadly, not always made.

[NeoGeoNinja]

Sept 4, 2011 11:02:04 GMT davyk said:

Puzzle Fighter has a very flexible screen adjust option that will let you move the image up when playing a PAL version at 60Hz. Helpfully, it stores the screen position data so you'll only have to do it once.

THIS IS QUITE INTERESTING...
to know actually. Thanks Davyk

[NeoGeoNinja]

@mick...
is there any chance you could give me the heads up on my initial queries on the FIRST post in my thread ;D

Zyrobs has already agreed with me that FMegamix IS optimised, however, no one has mentioned PDragoon yet, which seemingly ISN'T optimised.

Whats you opinion these two and, do you think "down the line", there is any chance anyone can perhaps look at the accuracy of the optimised/unoptimised 'asterisks' on the PAL Master List. I only noticed those two were (seemingly) inaccurate because I own them myself. Some individuals (many?!) appear to own COMPLETE Saturn PAL collections (some nearly TWICE over ), so they would be in a better position to assess this, than I.

I assure you, IF I had a complete collection, I'd undertake the task myself, but I don't... and doubt I ever will (based on my collecting preferences).

Cheers in advance for any info etc you can throw my way

[ninju]

Hey guys i have a big list of pal games and things are strange hear.I also have panzer dragoon 1 and i don't know if it's optimized or not but when i switch to 60HZ i lose the bottom of the screen(health bar)and i also lose some of the right side maybe upper side too.Am trying to create a list here with the pal games that play fine or not,when in 60HZ.I tested duke nukem 3d,Quake,Alien trilogy and all do like Panzer Dragoon 1 when in 60 HZ.Now i read that Quake is optimized,but i don't think that is true.Here is what i find:I am using an lcd widescreen tv,on the pal version at 50HZ,i have small boarders on the upper side and on bottom and the game is pretty slow.when i switch at 60HZ it is a Full screen but missing a lot of stuff and it's super fast.After i used a copy of the US version,there are no small boarders and i think(but not 100% sure)that the game runs faster than the pal at 50HZ.So what's going on here?

[zyrobs]

Most PAL optimized games will have the bottom of the screen cut off if you run them in 60hz.

Also, some games may have code to work in either way depending on what they detect the machine is set to. The BIOS for example will still say "NTSC" or "PAL" even if you switch AFTER the thing has booted up. It detects the setting at boot, but will not re-check it later on.

So switching while the game is running may cut off the screen, even though the game otherwise runs fine on both settings. (it just can't handle screen changing on-the-fly)

Panzer Dragoon Zwei is PAL optimized for sure, Saga is NOT optimized at all for sure, but I don't know about the first game.

There's a list here:
shining3master.fortunecity.com/titles.html

[ninju]

So if a game is pal optimized it does not need the 60HZ mod right?also if a game is optimized that means that it has no boarders?also are there different size on borders?

[zyrobs]

Well, "PAL optimized" games may be:
- running fullspeed
- running fullscreen
- running fullspeed AND fullscreen.

The screen size is easy to check. The game speed, not so much. You'd have to compare it to the ntsc original version, and that takes considerably more effort.

[ninju]

Now that makes sense..So there are no good pal optimised games..i already compared 2 games and am really dissapointed..Tomb raider said to be optimized but i think only the screen,not speed,my us version is full screen and full speed the pal is not full speed..Same happens with Duke nukem 3d and quake...i think i will continoue with only us games..

[NeoGeoNinja]

FIGHTERS MEGAMIX (PAL)...
is, allegedly, 'optimised'. LOL!

Full screen optimisation I guess, NOT full speed