SuperFX overclocking mod just a fake?

I own a Starfox 2 cart based on a Stunt Race FX cart (SuperFX GSU1A).

The game does run on a pretty low framerate. The maximum framerate is 20, the lowest I have experienced is 8. I heard a lot about the improvements in overclocking the SuperFX chip. So I decided to do it as well.

I removed the ceramic resonator and installed a 28.2240 crystal from an old Elsa MicroLink Modem. Unfortunately I can't notice any speed increase. The framecounter shows the the same framerate during the intro and the games. I had expected an increase in the framerate at least at the title screen. But it doesn't run any smoother at all.

A member of the benheck forums had similar problems with marshall's mod and he claims that it's just a hype. He shows another method of overclocking the SuperFX chip:
http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=44345

I'm not an expert in overclocking. I have no idea if he's right or not. I'm interested if anyone here had similar problems with his Starfox 2 cart. I just would like to play it a little bit smoother.

 

Ignore anything drakon says. He can only mod from a kit and even then it looks terrible

 

Marshallh? You mean this guy? http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30265

Somehow I think if he can figure out making a Nintendo 64 flash cart I don't think he made up some fake mod.

 

This.

 

It would not be fake. lol.

You could try a 4 pin oscillator.

 

hi max,

i didn´t know that you are able to make snes repros
maybe we can talk about that next time...

stefan

 

By the way, it's possible the framerate dips are not solely related to the Super FX in that particular game. It could be being held back by the SNES's Main CPU.

 

Marshallh is a respected modder in the community, making a thread to disrespect him (eg "marshallh's SuperFX overclocking mod just a fake?" thread) is not a nice thing to do IMO. A respected modder doesn't bullcrap intentionally, nor has the need to; it doesn't do creditability after all, so if he says it works, it works.

 

It's not mdmx though, he cited someone at another forum that made this claim. And I'm guessing he didn't know that this marshallh is the same as the one that is a member here and the creator of the 64drive cartridge.

 

It's just German directness misinterpreted as rudeness. I'm sure mdmx didn't want to disrespect anyone. So let's just change the topic title and move on

 

Well I am very sure marshal knows what hes talking about.

 

I'm sorry about the trouble I've generated. I never wanted to disrespect marshall. I just wanted to know if Drakon's opinion is true. Probably I should have chosen the title of the topic more carefully.

I ask this question because I cannot see any enhancement after I performed marshall's mod. I'm pretty sure that members of Assemblergames performed this mod already and made their own experience.

btw, I assume the framecounter in Starfox 2 shows the number of frames generated by the SuperFX chip, otherwise it would be a useless information for the developers.

 

Wouldn't over-clocking the FX Chip only yield a faster playback speed, but at the same crummy frame rate? I'm pretty sure the game needs to be modified in order to take advantage of the speed increase and render more frames.

EDIT: Unless the game was programmed to run at the max speed possible (with frame drops/skips) if needed. Though, I think this adds work for a feature that would never really be useful to anyone considering the game isn't user serviceable.

 

I've fixed the thread title.

 

I've been looking for a definitive answer to this question, but haven't gotten one yet. To my eyes, it doesn't look like the overclocked Star Fox videos I've seen add any frames, but I've read claims that Vortex behaves differently (and that'd be good news, since that game needs help badly).

Maybe byuu could answer this definitively?

EDIT: Aha, here's the Vortex claim, and it's coming from marshallh, who says (at the bottom of the page) that he "got about 3-4 MORE FPS than at the previous speed.. The game ran at the same speed but much smoother." If so, that's very cool.

 

We need to put Mdmx on bast , oh we did that already tough break son its always fubu.
In all seriousness can someone change this thread title so that Mdmx looks like less douche. To people who don't he may know him this makes him look like a complete ass.

 

I've read somewhere the biggest problem with those superfx overclocking stuff, is that the games have been programmed specifically for a 10/20Mhz sfx1/2 so most of time overclocking the chip does not do anything visible/or it just achieve an improvement barely visible (and even sometimes it just locks up).

So it doesn't matter how fast you overclock, if you don't modify the game behavior, it wont be faster/smoother.

 

Star Fox 1, will actually run faster. Everything in the game moves faster though. Ideally you'd want to reprogram/tweak the game to run smoother with the added processing power to have more frames but not make the game play so much faster. I think this Vortex game was one of few Super FX games that actually is programmed in a way which will benefit from faster processing.