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NEC PC-Engine/SuperGrafx => PC Engine/SuperGrafx Discussion => Topic started by: DragonmasterDan on January 08, 2013, 02:31:23 AM
Title: 3x3 Eyes with arcade card how long does it take to load for you?
Post by: DragonmasterDan on January 08, 2013, 02:31:23 AM
I tried out 3x3 eyes for the first time, popped it in my arcade card equipped Duo, When you boot the game it starts a countdown starting at 30 and then starts to wind down. This counter would just stall and probably took around 2 minutes to actually load. Is this my disc, my Duo, or is this normal?
Title: Re: 3x3 Eyes with arcade card how long does it take to load for you?
Post by: Tatsujin on January 08, 2013, 02:38:15 AM
it seems that there are some loading difficulties. could be the disc or the duo (laser, lens etc.) as well. did you ever try another ACD game like AoF f.e.. how does that load?
Title: Re: 3x3 Eyes with arcade card how long does it take to load for you?
Post by: DragonmasterDan on January 08, 2013, 02:40:47 AM
it seems that there are some loading difficulties. could be the disc or the duo (laser, lens etc.) as well. did you ever try another ACD game like AoF f.e.. how does that load?
I've got a few others, Sapphire (loads with no problems) and Popful Mail (loads without issue).
Title: Re: 3x3 Eyes with arcade card how long does it take to load for you?
Post by: DragonmasterDan on January 08, 2013, 02:44:36 AM
Oh, and Gulliver Boy is another. It loads without issue.
Title: Re: 3x3 Eyes with arcade card how long does it take to load for you?
Post by: Tatsujin on January 08, 2013, 02:46:01 AM
AoF f.e. has a loading down counter (loading bar) as well, similar to the NG-CD. I had it many times that the DUO had to re-load few sections, which took some extra time. sometimes like 2~3x longer than normal.
sapphire also never had any loading troubles. I could test my 3x3 eyes disc by time.
Title: Re: 3x3 Eyes with arcade card how long does it take to load for you?
Post by: DragonmasterDan on January 08, 2013, 02:51:09 AM
Yeah, unfortunately I don't have AoF.
The 3x3 Eyes disc appears to be clean, and it did EVENTUALLY load. It just took a while.
Title: Re: 3x3 Eyes with arcade card how long does it take to load for you?
Post by: Opethian on January 08, 2013, 02:53:29 AM
the juggling monkey always distracted me from the load times...oh wrong system
Title: Re: 3x3 Eyes with arcade card how long does it take to load for you?
Post by: DragonmasterDan on January 08, 2013, 02:55:33 AM
the juggling monkey always distracted me from the load times...oh wrong system
And then the golf ball kept going into the water.
Title: Re: 3x3 Eyes with arcade card how long does it take to load for you?
Post by: Black Tiger on January 08, 2013, 04:55:52 AM
If I remember correctly, the longer load times on a fast loading Duo are between 1.5 to 2 minutes or so. If I posted a link for the raw comparison video (Sega killed my youtube channel) in whichever thread, the "1 min later" cuts are timed down to the second.
Title: Re: 3x3 Eyes with arcade card how long does it take to load for you?
Post by: SignOfZeta on January 08, 2013, 05:22:17 AM
This game takes absolutely forever to load if you are using the AC. What you are describing sounds normal, but I can't say for sure unless you actually time it or make a video or something.
Title: Re: 3x3 Eyes with arcade card how long does it take to load for you?
Post by: DragonmasterDan on January 08, 2013, 05:47:29 AM
If I remember correctly, the longer load times on a fast loading Duo are between 1.5 to 2 minutes or so. If I posted a link for the raw comparison video (Sega killed my youtube channel) in whichever thread, the "1 min later" cuts are timed down to the second.
Sega has been on a tirade lately.
Title: Re: 3x3 Eyes with arcade card how long does it take to load for you?
Post by: Black Tiger on January 08, 2013, 05:48:46 AM
Here's my post from bitd with a link to the video which should still be active:
I don't have time to completely finish this video tonight, but here's the side by side comparison (http://www.superpcenginegrafx.net/3x3_eyes_acd_vs_scd_beta.avi) of the two intro cinemas.
Some of the Super CD load pauses were trimmed to keep the videos lined up better.
The Arcade Card adds very little new content (it mostly arranges things different), but the first cinema takes 1 minute and 14.5 seconds to preload using the Arcade Card, while the Super CD cinema is only 23.5 seconds longer (not including the ACD's preload)with its added load pauses.
Here's my post from bitd with a link to the video which should still be active:
The second video shows the intro, but it doesn't show me that countdown to load the intro on the arcade card.
I saw you mentioned the first cinema taking 1 minute and 14.5 seconds to load. I may do a capture when I get home to test.
The full screen videos are trimmed to one frame of video. The ACD total load time is the duration of the ACD countdown screens + duration of the "1 min later" screen + 1 minute. It's accurate within 1/30th of a second on a fast loading Duo with a new lens. Like most vdeo game loading status indicators, it doesn't consistently move from 0 - 100% at a single steady pace. If it counted down at the speed you see at the beginning and end of the load screen, it would only be around 36 seconds long. I currently only have three imperfect CD setups and all three load games at different speeds. Even if a setup doesn't load as fast as others, it doesn't mean it's not working properly. But if you want to shoot for perfection, you should have your CD-ROM refurbished.
Title: Re: 3x3 Eyes with arcade card how long does it take to load for you?
Post by: DragonmasterDan on January 08, 2013, 07:53:58 AM
Here's my post from bitd with a link to the video which should still be active:
The second video shows the intro, but it doesn't show me that countdown to load the intro on the arcade card.
I saw you mentioned the first cinema taking 1 minute and 14.5 seconds to load. I may do a capture when I get home to test.
The full screen videos are trimmed to one frame of video. The ACD total load time is the duration of the ACD countdown screens + duration of the "1 min later" screen + 1 minute. It's accurate within 1/30th of a second on a fast loading Duo with a new lens. Like most vdeo game loading status indicators, it doesn't consistently move from 0 - 100% at a single steady pace. If it counted down at the speed you see at the beginning and end of the load screen, it would only be around 36 seconds long. I currently only have three imperfect CD setups and all three load games at different speeds. Even if a setup doesn't load as fast as others, it doesn't mean it's not working properly. But if you want to shoot for perfection, you should have your CD-ROM refurbished.
Well, I have three systems that can take my arcade card. I may try the others for timing. I don't have an AC pro to test on my TG16 + CD. But I do have an extra Duo, and a laseractive I could try it on.
Title: Re: 3x3 Eyes with arcade card how long does it take to load for you?
Post by: DragonmasterDan on January 08, 2013, 09:04:19 AM
Here's a video of it loading on my Duo.
Title: Re: 3x3 Eyes with arcade card how long does it take to load for you?
Post by: PunkicCyborg on January 08, 2013, 09:51:38 AM
for the record my duo took the exact same time with the arcade card and my duo-r was about 5 seconds faster
Title: Re: 3x3 Eyes with arcade card how long does it take to load for you?
Post by: SuperDeadite on January 08, 2013, 10:20:41 AM
Considering how much it loads, time difference could be "CD stalling" as I call it. When you play something like an RPG that is constantly loading battles, after a while, it will slow down and need a break. Usually a good solid tap to the machine fixes it. I'd assume this can happen with this game, especially if your laser is starting to show it's age.
Title: Re: 3x3 Eyes with arcade card how long does it take to load for you?
Post by: ProfessorProfessorson on January 09, 2013, 03:23:58 AM
Its possible the disc was not stamped well, causing some issues with the laser. It's not something you could see with your eyes, but the simple flaws in a pressed disc can really strain a laser. Double Dragon on Neo Cd was one that was pressed really bad. Only the best of lasers could read it without issue, and I had a Metal Slug on Neo CD once that had similar issues on spots of the disc where I guess they used a worn stamper. A few music tracks would skip in certain spots no matter what system the disc was used on except for one in particular that had no issue. When it skipped on the other decks it was always in the exact same spots on 3 other different systems. No scratches on the disc mind you. A music cd I have here now, Ministry: Greatest Fits has the same issues going on. Older cd drives have issues playing the disc and will skip in spots, especially near the end of the disc. Newer modern cd drives have no issue with it though.
Title: Re: 3x3 Eyes with arcade card how long does it take to load for you?
Post by: xelement5x on January 20, 2013, 09:48:12 AM
So I just got this game and tried it on my LaserActive with Arcade card and it only took about a minute. When I put it in my Duo-R it counted down to about 26 then sat there for about 10 minutes before I got worried and shut the Duo-R off. Booting it up with other games like Brandish and it played just fine.
Just wondering if this means my Duo-Rs laser is on the way out? Are there any pots to tweak on the board or should I just start looking for a new lens?
Title: Re: 3x3 Eyes with arcade card how long does it take to load for you?
Post by: SignOfZeta on January 20, 2013, 11:30:36 AM
My first Duo did this with Cosmic Fantasy 2 (US) once in a while. This was back in 92/93. That laser is still functioning, its now in my Duo R. I never adjusted anything. If it hangs up just open the door and close it again. This works almost every time.
The problem is that the PCE isn't so great recovering from read errors. It gets a little hung up and it just gets paralyzed. Considering 3x3 Eyes has the hugest load in the entire PCE library (I think) its not surprising that it brings this normally rare occurrence more often.
Title: Re: 3x3 Eyes with arcade card how long does it take to load for you?
Post by: DragonmasterDan on January 21, 2013, 01:45:32 AM
So I just got this game and tried it on my LaserActive with Arcade card and it only took about a minute. When I put it in my Duo-R it counted down to about 26 then sat there for about 10 minutes before I got worried and shut the Duo-R off. Booting it up with other games like Brandish and it played just fine.
Just wondering if this means my Duo-Rs laser is on the way out? Are there any pots to tweak on the board or should I just start looking for a new lens?
I think 3x3 eyes is simply the disc from hell.
Title: Re: 3x3 Eyes with arcade card how long does it take to load for you?
Post by: xelement5x on January 23, 2013, 10:20:30 AM
Hmm, I may have to give the suggestions a try and see if it helps for my Duo-R. All the more reason to use the LA I guess for durability at least.
Title: Re: 3x3 Eyes with arcade card how long does it take to load for you?
Post by: DragonmasterDan on May 16, 2013, 12:47:42 PM
I recently picked up an Arcade Card pro and tried this on my TG16+CD. 2 minutes and 14 seconds before the animation loads.
It's even slower than the Duo.
Title: Re: 3x3 Eyes with arcade card how long does it take to load for you?
Post by: SignOfZeta on May 16, 2013, 12:51:23 PM
Component PCE systems are slightly slower than Duos even when loading SCDs. This is probably just a worst case scenario version of that.