Touhou lagging on new pc

[Lunatic_Reimu]

Update: Setting Vsync to Off in Nvidia Control Panel, and setting a frame cap of 60 fps on Nvidia Inspector's Frame Rate Limiter, and set Preferred Refresh Rate to 'Highest Available' removed the stutter in lots of the games. Screen Tearing left also! Didn't change any other settings apart from these, when I altered some other settings the image was getting blurry. Slowdown is still there though. Getting closer!

In Touhou 7 I keep getting fluctuating rates from 59.95 to 60.00, which over time is causing a big %of slowdown. Touhou 6 does it also but with 59.88. Touhou 8 seems more stable, but overall slowdown till the end of stage 2 Lunatic was 0.24%.

Touhou 5 seems to be working fine but I'll have to test this more in depth, and try out some of the other PC98 games.

[shockdude]

Huh, I guess the "framerate limiting" method works. Feels a bit overkill for Touhou, but if it works then w/e.
Unfortunately you've now opened a rabbit hole lol.

What you're experiencing is a specific form of stuttering called "framepacing issues". This is different from traditional "dropped frames" stuttering.
Explanation 1: Your TV outputs 60 frames per second, or one frame per 16.667ms. Your GPU outputs 60 frames per second on average. Frames may not be delivered at the exact 16.667ms intervals that your TV expects - hence, framepacing issues.
Explanation 2: Your TV outputs 59.94 frames per second. Touhou wants to output 60 frames per second, but the GPU needs to output 59.94 frames per second. The timing is off ever so slightly, and Touhou doesn't like it - hence, framepacing issues.

Nvidia's built-in framerate limiter is decent but isn't that good at framepacing. Reset that back to off or whatever the default is.

The best framerate limiter in town is RivaTuner Statistics Server, which comes with MSI Afterburner. Scroll down and download version 4.2.0 Stable/Final (not 4.3.0 Beta). It's designed for AAA PC games but does work with Touhou.
Open RivaTuner. Set the "Global" framerate limit to "60". Leave RivaTuner open and try a Touhou game. Close RivaTuner when you're done.
Note that Touhou 6-9.5 may require setting up that DX8 to DX9 converter in order for RivaTuner to work, and I have no idea if it'll work with PC-98 or Seihou. Easy way to check if RivaTuner's working is to set the framerate limit to something weird, like 28.
If you want, open vpatch.ini and set GameFPS to 70; this guarantees that RivaTuner's frame limiter takes priority.

From my tests, no stuttering was visible, though Touhou's FPS counter did fluctuate a bit between 59.95 and 60.05.

RivaTuner also tends to work well with VSync On. Minimal input lag and zero tearing. This is more useful for AAA PC games than Touhou, though.

If RivaTuner can't fix the stuttering...I dunno.
Is there a proper computer monitor or a different TV that you could test?

Edit: For what it's worth, I went and looked at my Touhou 6 and Touhou 7 replays, all of them had anywhere from 0.1-0.4% slowdown, and I play on a pretty powerful laptop. All the Touhou 8 replays had 0% slowdown though.
If you don't notice any stuttering, I really don't think you should be worrying about it. IIRC one of the Touhou highscore websites accepts replays with up to 5% slowdown.
And remember: when recording and streaming, the slowdown % will be less on your current desktop than on your older laptop :p

[Lunatic_Reimu]

Thank you for your explanation about the frame-pacing issues, although I'm not sure how it helps me lol. I still don't know how to solve it Btw did you see my previous two posts, specifically the one where I said I took out my graphic card and the pc wouldn't boot into Windows? And that when I tried reverting back to the VGA/DVI adapter it was more stuttery than before? Just pointing these out in case it makes a difference,

I've been testing out Rivatuner for the past 2 hours, I'm getting screen tearing and a higher slowdown than with Nvidia Inspector. Sometimes Rivatuner also 'skips' a frame kinda to catch up. It did this with Vsync On, Off, and Use the 3D application settings. As for Slowdown: Touhou 7 Extra midway through the Chen fight, 0.13 - 0.19% with Nvidia Inspector, 0.32- 0.40% with Rivatuner. I was so pre-occupied with noticing stutter that I wasn't taking notice of input lag. With Nvida Inspector I'm getting quite a noticeable input lag that is making Touhou 7 feel like it doesn't even have a vpatch! :/

The PC98 games are stuttering again. . . I don't understand how I reverted back to my previous settings that they were working fine on and are still stuttering now. . .

Could the stuttering I have be an in general problem with the whole PC rather than with Touhou? Anywhere I could check?

Unfortunately I don't have a proper computer monitor, always had laptops. I'm gonna try connecting the PC to a 4K tv with game mode and pc mode, see if that makes a difference. . .

I never used to record on my laptop, it was too weak, I tried and it made the game crawl. Understandable though, it's only a dual core and has 2 GB RAM. What I meant in my previous post was that if I'm experiencing slowdown now (with no recording programs), let alone when recording how much that will increase!

I still would like to thank you again. It's been a long journey, and you've been at my side with daily support. Really, thanks. That's a lot of effort for someone you don't know. I appreciate it.

[Lunatic_Reimu]

Well, I hooked up the pc to a 4k tv in the house, and results are just the same as my hd tv. Nothing at all changed, no difference in slowdown, or stutter.

So, I decided to call a friend over, and he brought his pc monitor, we tried it out, all the stutter left! Replaced by blurring instead, but looks much better than stutter! No difference in slowdown though.

Seeing the stutter vanish from the monitor, i decided to try hooking up my pc with the DVI/VGA adapter again. I did so, and it was very stuttery, worse than with the HDMI cable, but I changed the screen resolution to 1280 x 768, and BAM, the stutter is almost non existent! Not as smooth as the pc monitor, but very close!

I decided to try out Touhou 11, and slowdown stayed at 0.00% on that one :/

[shockdude]

Not a problem. I enjoy this sort of tech support, especially when it comes to people playing video games lol.

I'm on mobile so can't answer too much.

Yeah abandon rivatuner, seems like it's not gonna help in your case. Keep it installed though, it's still good for PC gaming in general.

How did you connect your computer to the monitor?

What scaling mode are you using right now, aspect ratio or no scaling? What refresh rate options are available? For both your TV and the monitor, if possible.
Also what resolutions are reported by your TV/the monitor when running Touhou?

In Nvidia Inspector, there should be buttons in the rightmost column to set a setting to default.

[Lunatic_Reimu]

Thanks haha, greatly appreciated. Would be completely lost otherwise, feel like I'm running out of options.

Thanks for taking the time to reply even though you're out Hope you're having a blast

Ok will do I dunno if it makes a difference, Rivatuner keeps saying 'failed to connect to update server' every time I open it.

PC to monitor with the same VGA cable that was connected with the TV.

Aspect ratio, refresh rate was 60 Hz, for both the tv and monitor.
Resolutions are 640 x 480 @ 60 Hz

Btw I figured out why it was stuttering when I connected the DVI/VGA cable with the tv first before I dropped it to 1280 x 768. I pressed the INFO button on the remote and and it was saying 640 x 480 @ 75 Hz!! (this was when resolution was set to 1600 x 900). On resolution 1280 x 768, and 1366 x 768 in Touhou it says 640 x 480 @ 60 Hz. Weird that the Hz would change on their own just cause of the resolution huh?

Yeah called 'Apply Changes' right? I press that every time I set the frame rate limiter to 60 fps (or back to Off), but it's not seeming like such a viable option. Its making the games seem like they don't have vpatch, and its VERY noticeable on Touhou 7

I was thinking of installing Windows 10 (with the disc that came with the pc) on a partition on the drive I was planning to use for recording. Thought maybe I'd have better luck trying out the games on Windows 10? I dunno if that sounds stupid, getting desperate here lol.

[shockdude]

Thanks for the info.

Try connecting your computer to the monitor with DVI/HDMI next time. It's pretty clear that your computer does VGA fine.

Nvidia Inspector: not the apply changes button. Hover your mouse over an option and a gray button to the right will appear, that button will restore that option to default. You still have to apply changes after resetting to default.

Windows 10 is a whole other can of worms that I don't think you should get into just yet.

Edit: At my laptop now.

Does your motherboard's onboard graphics have an HDMI or DVI connector? Try testing that, instead of VGA.
There should be a BIOS option to enable the onboard graphics so that Windows will actually boot.

Attached is a screenshot of the "Restore Defaults" button in Nvidia Inspector.

[Lunatic_Reimu]

The monitor doesn't have a DVI port, only VGA...

So, I tried connecting the pc to the tv with the VGA cable on the motherboard, it doesn't display an image. I tried the HDMI on the motherboard, it doesn't work either. The DVI port on the motherboard is DVI-D when my adapter is DVI-I so it doesn't fit (it has 4 extra pins). I tried going into the BIOS and scrolled through all the advanced options, doesn't look like there is anything that is disabled that would affect it.

I used Driver Easy to update all my drivers to the latest, and I clicked on Hardware Info. It seems like the Integrated Graphics aren't being detected in the Mainboard section? I took a screenshot of each of the tabs (like CPU, Memory, etc) maybe there is something you spot that isn't how it should be. The Nvidia Gtx 980 under Graphics is showing 2D Desktop for some reason.

Also, on vids I was seeing on youtube, when people go into Manage 3D Settings in Nvidia Control Panel, on the top it gives them a choice between Inetgarted Graphics, or the Graphic Card. I don't have this choice available...

I deleted Nvidia Inspector for now, that reset all settings to default.

Ok we'll dismiss the Windows 10 option for now then.

[shockdude]

A VGA-only monitor? Dang, that's petty old haha.

The Graphics tab of DriverEasy has a dropdown menu for the GTX 980 and 2D Graphics; do those dropdowns have anything else?

If Windows can only see the GTX 980Ti and not the Intel Graphics, that means the BIOS is hiding it from Windows. Look up your motherboard documentation and check again.

The switching between Integrated/Nvidia graphics is a laptop-only feature iirc. Maybe it's available on desktops, I dunno, but since Windows can't see the integrated graphics then obviously that option won't show up lol.

If you do get integrated graphics working, use the HDMI port.

Deleting Nvidia Inspector won't reset the settings to default...?

[Lunatic_Reimu]

Haha yeah quite, but it got the job done for an alternate test

Yes there are 4 options: 2D Dekstop, Default, and 3D Applications twice. I attached screen shots of each as they change the values.

Ok I don't mind it, I'm sure my graphic card will be better than the integrated. Was just pointing it out in case it helped find the fault :/

Why would I need to use the integrated when the graphic card is better?

Sorry my mistake. I re-installed it and set it to default again. Should I set Max pre-rendered frames to 1 again?

[shockdude]

On your GPU's HDMI, have you tried both Nvidia scaling options, Aspect Ratio & No Scaling? What effects did they have, if any?

Regarding integrated graphics, I want to narrow the cause of the microstutter to either your GPU's HDMI out or to your TV's HDMI in.
Getting your computer to output HDMI through integrated graphics is one way to do that. The other way is to connect your GPU's HDMI to a different TV/monitor.

If all else fails, just use VGA on your TV and call it a day.
Alternatively, install Windows 10 for more tech support fun :p

[Lunatic_Reimu]

Yes I tried both. I even tried scaling on the GPU. All this did was add input lag, although there was less screen tearing in general, but still noticeable. Slowdown stayed the same at 0.19% till Chen in Touhou 7 Extra.

I tried connecting my pc to the 4K tv in the house, and also renamed it to PC (I used the correct pc port also, digged it up in the manual, learnt from my previous mistakes haha), it was still stuttery and slowdown didn't change! Still the same percentages! I think it's something in my pc rather than the tvs. When I connected to the monitor with VGA slowdown percentages stayed the same also.

I was connected with the VGA/DVI adapter yesterday all day! So it's definitely not the HDMI

I was thinking of installing Windows 7 onto one of the hdds instead of the ssd, maybe the ssd is faulty? I dunno I really feel stuck.
If that fails I could try Windows 10?

[Lunatic_Reimu]

So I tried this program called Borderless Gaming. That made the screen tearing disappear but the game looks very pixilated! Also when Pressing the INFO button when Touhou 7 was running, resolution was 1366 x 768 @ 60 Hz as opposed to the usual 640 x 480 @ 60 Hz. Just mentioning it in case it makes a difference. Slowdown was unchanged.

I also tried windowed mode (without Borderless Gaming), and still get screen tearing :/

[shockdude]

I seriously wouldn't worry about slowdown percentages if they are less than 1%. The fact that you could get 0% slowdown on your older laptop is cool and all, but extremely few people get 0% slowdown ever.
I'm honestly surprised 0% was possible, given how much Touhou's framerate fluctuates in-game.

Are you able to identify slowdown without looking at a percentage at the end of the game? If you can't, then imo everything is normal.

I'm only concerned if the game has visible microstutters, since that actually has a negative impact on gameplay. It sounds like it doesn't microstutter over VGA, but it does over HDMI with your Samsung TV, which is weird.

Borderless Windowed = Windowed, except stretched to fit your screen. They are otherwise are functionally identical, and shouldn't perform any better than fullscreen. Screen Tearing in Windowed mode is because Touhou disabled the Windows Aero theme; with Windows Aero enabled there is no screen tearing.

In PC games in general, there are three recommended ways to get low input lag without screen tearing.
Option 1: Fullscreen, High framerate (>100FPS), Nvidia FastSync=On. This doesn't apply to Touhou since Touhou is strictly 60FPS.
Option 2: Fullscreen, Nvidia VSync=On, maximum pre-rendered frames=1, (optional but sometimes necessary) RivaTuner framelimit=60.
Option 3: Windowed (or Borderless Windowed Fullscreen), Windows Aero enabled. Framelimit optional.
There are no other ways to get lower input lag with no screen tearing without getting a fancy GSync monitor.

For Touhou, I personally put up with screen tearing to remove that extra frame or two of input lag. For all other PC games, I use Option 2 above.

I just remembered that decreasing maximum pre-rendered frames sometimes causes stutter. Try resetting that to default; see what happens on both VGA and HDMI on your 1080p TV.

Honestly if you have several hours of time to kill, you should install Windows 10. It is the future after all, and aside from needing the DX8 to DX9 converter there shouldn't be any (additional) negative effects on Touhou games at least.

[aUsernameIsFineToo]

aside from needing the DX8 to DX9 converter there shouldn't be any (additional) negative effects on Touhou games at least.

I'm running Windows 10 on my laptop and I didn't need any converter to play PCB, IN, DDC, or even Danmakufu. In fact, all my games worked without a hitch.

Now, that being said, if you can, try to install Windows 10 Enterprise. If you're a student you might be able to get Windows 10 Education, which is the same as Enterprise but with a different name and restrictions on commercial usage (which you're most likely not doing anyway). Trust me, it'll save you a lot of headaches and keep you from throwing your computer out the window. Home and Pro editions are a nightmare to manage with automatic mandatory driver updates that can and will degrade your user experience. Unless your hardware completely supports Windows 10's drivers, meaning your computer came with Windows 10 pre-installed, it's best to install the only version of Windows 10 that lets you pick and choose updates like you can in previous versions of Windows.

[Lunatic_Reimu]

Believe me it's possible. I attached a screenshot of one of my Touhou 5 Extra clears

For Touhou 6 onwards no I cannot identify it myself without the results screen, but for the PC98 games it is very noticeable even while playing. Its like sometimes the stutter really kicks in when there's a mass of bullets at once that are fast (in Touhou 5 for example: Alice's first attack when fighting her at stage 3, also if you keep shooting at Alice's barrier and it reflects those white bullets (those stutter a lot), and most of the blue kunai in stage 5, so the Yumeko fight is very stuttery).

It does microstutter over VGA also. I've been connected with the VGA/DVI adapter 2 days ago and tested like that for a whole day, no difference to stutter. Back to HDMI now.

Ah ok, didn't know about the Windows Aero thing. Thanks.

So, I tried this: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/33641-screen-refresh-rate-custom-nvidia-brand.html
It basically made me set my refresh rate for my tv to 60.001 Hz, and it actually made a difference! Most of the screen tearing is gone! There still is a bit, but MUCH less noticeable! Slowdown in Touhou 6 and 7 decreased by around 0.02% - 0.05%. Minimal, but thought I'd point it out. Stutter is slightly better in the PC98 games but still there as I said above in this post. I also set the pre-rendered frames to default as you said, stutter got a bit better but it didn't make such a big difference unfortunately I attached screenshots of my current Nvidia settings. Triple buffering helps in my case, I tested with and without it.

For some reason Rivatuner's framelimiter doesn't do anything for me. No differences whatsoever! :/ When using Nvidia Inspector's frame limiter it removes ALL screen tearing completely, but the input lag it adds is outrageous. Touhou 7 is unplayable it becomes so laggy, and my performance when testing out Touhou 11 really declined also. So the frame limiters aren't really an option.

I wouldn't mind using Windows 10 instead of 7, another laptop I have came with that installed so I'm quite used to it. It just worries me about compatibility for the PC98 games, Seihou, and loads of the Touhou fan games! I wanted this machine to be my main Touhou hub and I could pull off everything from it. Don't want it giving me issues when trying to run some of the fan games. Is there even a functioing Applocale for windows 10? This link worries me: https://www.reddit.com/r/touhou/comments/3fnmyf/psa_windows_10_locale/

@aUsernameIsFineToo: Unfortunately the pc came with Windows 10 Home installed on it, and it came with the disc also. Did you ever try out the PC98 games and Seihou?

Thank you both once again for all your help. Made a big step today with that refresh rate 60.001 Hz. Everything feels much better except for the PC98 games (which sucks cause I was playing Touhou 3 when I switched over to this pc and wish to continue it!!!!)

[shockdude]

Huh, using custom resolutions to set a custom refresh rate. Forgot that was an option.
I'm assuming you did it right and set it to 640x480 @ 60.001Hz, and not just 1366x768 @ 60.001Hz.
Yeah Touhou will behave much better at 60.001Hz than 59.94Hz. Ideally, you should be able to create a custom resolution that is exactly 60.000Hz.

What are your PC-98 emulator settings? Resolution/refresh rate? Is there an option to enable/disable VSync within the emulator itself (instead of in Nvidia Control Panel)?

Regarding RivaTuner, do you mean you didn't notice a difference, or did you try a 43FPS cap and it didn't cap the game to 43FPS?
I just tested RivaTuner and it works on my end. You don't even need the DX8-to-DX9 converter. Keep it open and it takes effect immediately.
[attach=1]

I'm not sure why the Nvidia frame limiter affects screen tearing or input lag, but w/e. Maybe it silently enables VSync or something.

Windows 10 Home is fine.
AppLocale no longer works on Windows 10, but there are many newer locale programs available such as Locale Emulator.

[aUsernameIsFineToo]

the pc came with Windows 10 Home installed on it

Then you should be good to go. All the horror stories I've heard involving Home edition have to do with incompatible drivers and older hardware, which doesn't seem to apply to that laptop.

Did you ever try out the PC98 games and Seihou?

I don't have any of those games, but the PC98 emulator I use to listen to PMD/FMP music works fine in Windows 10. After all, it's just an emulator, the host OS shouldn't have an effect on what runs within it.

[Lunatic_Reimu]

Well did some more testing today. Touhou 7 Lunatic from the beginning till around the middle of stage 4 gave a 0.06% slowdown which I'm very happy with!!! Why does it give me a 0.17% - 0.19% until Chen in Extra though (which is only around 3 minutes in)? Weird that for a longer period of time the  slowdown was less :/ Touhou 11 stays at a perfect 0.00% slowdown which I love xD The PC98 games are sucking hard, with lots of microstutter.

I created 2 resolutions, and they're both ticked, so I assume it switches between them when on desktop and into a Touhou game? I attached a screenshot.

I'm trying with all 3 emulators. Anex86 and Neko run very bad and stutter much worse than T98. I used to use Anex86 on my old laptop. The other 2 emulators really used to make the game lag and not work well (due to my laptop having low specs I assume). Being able to use T98 now feels like a dream compared to Anex, the music is so much better! I use the settings for the emulators that came with the English Patch Pack. I attached them also for quick reference.

Well no differences except for adding input lag and some slight reductions in screen tearing! Frame limiting isn't helping in my case, while it reduces screen tearing (Nvidia Inspector is working much better for me than Rivatuner at doing this), the input lag is a horrendous trade off, even with the vpatch. It almost feels like the vpatch isn't working when any of these two frame limiters are on :/ I tried Rivatuner on 28 fps and yeah it's definitely capping the game to that, it showed it in the in game counter, and everything was ridiculously laggy.

Best balance between input lag and minimal screen tearing I've found so far was to leave Vsync from the Nvidia Control Panel set to 'Use the 3D Application settings', after doing the custom refresh rate, it's seeming to work much better. In Touhou 11 though there is still a very high amount of screen tearing. I experimented and set Vsync to Fast Sync, and the screen tearing completely left, and the increase in input lag was so minimal (unlike on Touhou 7), that its worth the trade off. Does it make sense to change the settings according to game? I also noticed Seihou becomes very input laggy with Maximum Pre-Rendered Frames set to 'Use the 3D Application setting', but very responsive and no screen tearing at all with Maximum Pre-Rendered Frames set to 1.

Will I have trouble running most of the fan games on Windows 10 though? Remember I don't only want to get the official games working. . . Compatibility for the fan games is important also. Is it even worth switching over now that almost all the games are working well apart from the PC98 ones, and Touhou 6 which still has that horrible ghosting effect? Feels like we got much closer.

@aUsernameIsFineToo: That's awesome, glad to hear I won't be plagued by those driver problems in Windows 10 then if it comes down to installing that. Thanks. Did you ever play any of the fan games on Windows 10 (except for Danmakufu)? Do they work well if so?

Thank you both once again for all your assistance in this. Wouldn't have gotten this far without you. Getting closer to the end!

[Lunatic_Reimu]

A friend of mine told a buddy of his about my problem with the PC98 games stuttering, and he said that the problem is the PC98 games are too old for my pc, and the CPU can't clock down to the PC98 speeds, that's why stuttering is happening on the PC98 games but the Windows games seem to work fine. Any truth to this?

He also said that to avoid this problem, I could hook up my new pc to my old laptop, play the PC98 games through the old laptop, and record using my new pc. Is this really possible? If so, will the recording be as clear and HD quality as if I was doing everything (playing and recording) from my new pc?

[aUsernameIsFineToo]

Did you ever play any of the fan games on Windows 10 (except for Danmakufu)? Do they work well if so?

After what seems like a hardware incompatibility (BSOD when changing speaker volume while DirectSound is active) I've reinstalled Windows 7. So I can't test things further.

the PC98 games are too old for my pc, and the CPU can't clock down to the PC98 speeds, that's why stuttering is happening on the PC98 games but the Windows games seem to work fine. Any truth to this?

That's actually a common misconception about any kind of emulation. The problem isn't your computer running too fast. The problem you seem to be having is that you've set the emulated PC98 CPU faster than what your computer's physical CPU can handle. The slowdowns and stuttering happen because of that. Try to set the emulated CPU to around 66MHz, which is equivalent to the 80486 used in a real PC98. Use that as a starting point, and slowly increase or decrease the emulation speed until you find one that's fast enough for the emulator and not too fast for your computer.

[shockdude]

Yeah what your friend said about clock speeds makes no sense at all.
I don't have any hands-on experience with PC-98 games, sorry.

He also said that to avoid this problem, I could hook up my new pc to my old laptop, play the PC98 games through the old laptop, and record using my new pc. Is this really possible? If so, will the recording be as clear and HD quality as if I was doing everything (playing and recording) from my new pc?

This requires buying a capture card to put into your desktop.
The recording quality will be the same.
The gameplay quality may be the same, or otherwise equal to the recording quality (i.e. lower quality)
The input lag will definitely be higher than recording natively on the desktop.

[Lunatic_Reimu]

@aUsernameIsFineToo: Sorry to hear about your BSOD issue I tried messing around with the CPU settings for both the T98 and Neko emulators, and if anything it's coming worse! When I set Clock in T98 from Auto to 66Mhz it got much more stuttery. I tried several different options in Neko, even setting the CPU to 1.99 and changing the multiplier but no different, if anything, worse, whether I increase or decrease the value My CPU is an i7-4790, I highly doubt that the PC98 is maxing it out, especially when I'm using the exact same settings I use on my much weaker laptop, and everything works fine on the laptop!

@Shockdude: If it adds input lag then it's not worth it. I'll have to find some other way. Btw, I managed to find the setting in BIOS to use the Integrated Graphics, so I tried them out. Everything was MUCH more stuttery and laggy too. I'm sure the game wasn't running anywhere near 60 fps when I was on integrated. How could it be so laggy for such a non-graphically intense game?

I did some research on stutter around the net, and some suggested to disable Hyperthreading. I tried it but it didn't make a difference. They also said to try disabling core parking which I have yet to try. Just pointing these out maybe it gives you an idea for something else to try?

[Lunatic_Reimu]

Was wondering if it would help installing Windows 10 and trying out the PC98 games on that instead? Is it safe to install it as a dual-boot side by side with my Windows 7, so I don't lose all the progress made on that, since all the games are working well apart from the PC-98 ones (and ghosting in Touhou 6)? Or will this result in conflicts with the drivers I have installed on 7 etc, or some other issues?

Do I need to know anything in advance for getting the Touhou games to work on Windows 10?  Maybe some third party programs I need?

[shockdude]

I run Touhou on integrated graphics, even Touhou 15. There shouldn't be any dramatic stutter or lag; either you forgot to install the Intel Graphics drivers, or your TV did something silly like play Touhou at 24Hz.

I don't think hyperthreading and core parking will apply here; you should probably leave them alone.

Dual-booting Windows 10 should be fine, so long as you don't install it on the same hard drive/partition as Windows 7. Hopefully the Windows 10 installer gives you the option to make a new partition, if necessary.
These days it's not strictly necessary to use the DX8-to-DX9 converter in the latest Windows 10 updates. You do get the least input lag with converter + vpatch though.
If you don't want to lose your progress, just back up your save files somewhere.

[Lunatic_Reimu]

Hmmm, weirdly enough, I tried installing the driver you linked me to, and I get an error message saying 'this computer does not meet the minimum requirements for installing the software'. I tried running it as administrator also but it also gave the same error :/ I know what you mean, my old laptop ran on integrated and never stuttered in the games. Remember I plan on recording with this pc though, I highly doubt a recording program recording at 1080p 60fps won't cause lag if running on integrated. That's what I got the GTX 980 with 6GB of VRAM for I read that VRAM is important when recording.

Ok we'll leave them alone for now then.

I was planning on installing it as a separate partition on the same ssd that has Windows 7 on it. Would this be a problem? Since it's an ssd and much faster than a hdd. The other hdd I could install it on is the one I'm planning to record to, but then they say that it's better recording to a separate dedicated drive, so it doesn't make much sense installing it to that one. I read this about dual booting from the same drive, think I'd have any issues?: http://www.howtogeek.com/197647/how-to-dual-boot-windows-10-with-windows-7-or-8/

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on any of the above statements. I'm not really experienced at this stuff and just go on from what I research and read from others. Thanks once again for all the time you put into this.

[shockdude]

oh yeah, the Intel graphics might not install when the Nvidia drivers are still installed. Uninstall the Nvidia drivers first, and remove the GPU from the motherboard just in case.
Also make sure that the Intel graphics are detected by your computer (e.g. using DriverEasy).

The HowToGeek instructions look good. Putting both Windows 7 and Windows 10 on the SSD is a good call.
Just be sure to back up your documents and save files, in case something goes wrong. Copying them to the HDD should be enough. Optionally, remove the HDD when you install Windows 10, again to minimize the chance of something going wrong.

[Lunatic_Reimu]

The Intel Graphics Driver just won't install. I tried uninstalling the Nvidia drivers, also booted onto Integrated graphics (by changing it in bios), and I get an error saying it's not compatible with this operating system. I am sure I got the 64 bit version. I tried both the exe and the zip from the site you gave me. :/ Yes, the Integrated is now showing in DriverEasy as an unplugged device. . . how is this possible if I booted onto it?? Computers are crazy sometimes.

That's awesome thanks, I'll install Windows 10 this weekend, I'll try tomorrow after work if I get the time. Ok thank you. I will remove the hdd also to avoid chances of losing my stuff in case something goes wrong.

Could it be something to do with the way new Windows handle the emulators instead? I tried out the PC98 games on my other laptop that has Windows 10 (not my old XP one), and I got a slowdown of 0.25% in Touhou 5 till stage 3 Alice, and that mini stutter was still there. That's worse than the results I'm getting on my new pc, and worse than the results from my old XP laptop which is weaker than the new Windows 10 one!

[shockdude]

The Intel Graphics Driver just won't install. I tried uninstalling the Nvidia drivers, also booted onto Integrated graphics (by changing it in bios), and I get an error saying it's not compatible with this operating system. I am sure I got the 64 bit version. I tried both the exe and the zip from the site you gave me. :/ Yes, the Integrated is now showing in DriverEasy as an unplugged device. . . how is this possible if I booted onto it?? Computers are crazy sometimes.

That's awesome thanks, I'll install Windows 10 this weekend, I'll try tomorrow after work if I get the time. Ok thank you. I will remove the hdd also to avoid chances of losing my stuff in case something goes wrong.

Could it be something to do with the way new Windows handle the emulators instead? I tried out the PC98 games on my other laptop that has Windows 10 (not my old XP one), and I got a slowdown of 0.25% in Touhou 5 till stage 3 Alice, and that mini stutter was still there. That's worse than the results I'm getting on my new pc, and worse than the results from my old XP laptop which is weaker than the new Windows 10 one!

Ok that's weird. You have an i7-4790, which comes with Intel Graphics 4600
Open the start menu, type in "System", and open it. Make sure the System Type actually says "64-bit Operating System."
Also here's a listing of all the available graphics drivers. Be sure to filter the Operating System to "Windows 7 64-bit" (or 32-bit, if that's the case).

Good luck with the Windows 10 install.

Newer Windows versions handling things differently is certainly plausible. Your laptop, again, was super lucky to consistently get 0% slowdown.

[Lunatic_Reimu]

It looks like the problem is solved. Yesterday after I uninstalled the Nvidia drivers to try and install the VGA drivers (although they wouldn't install), I installed the Nvidia drivers again and everything seems to be working fine now :/ Did a whole day testing out loads of the PC98 games that seemed to have stutter and it's fine now I don't understand how re-installing the drivers fixed it but everything is working and I can finally continue Touhou 3 Now my only worry is that it hopefully won't give me all this hassle again when I come to re-format once the whole pc starts slowing down! I'll try putting that off as long as possible lol.

Thank you both so much for all your assistance in this topic! I'm beyond grateful for all the time you put into this, especially you Shockdude. It's been a long struggle that spanned days, but now thanks to your help it's finally over Seriously, thanks, I can't stress how grateful I am!