Shadow of the Beast loading times

[Samurai Ghost]

I recently picked up a copy of Shadow of the Beast for PCE (great game, my favorite version!), and I noticed it seems to lag a lot before each cut-scenes and between sequences. It was stay black or frozen for  The game play and music play perfectly, but just for those scenes in the beginning things seems to take a while to load. I haven't noticed this with any other CD game I have and the disc seems to be in good shape. Is this normal?

[esteban]

Perhaps you could use YouTube videos as a reference?

I'm on my way to work, and, sadly, can't check the game until later

[geise]

Maybe your lens is getting weak?  I used to have games load slower when I had my old lens.  I bought a new one last month.  I also cleaned and regreased the rails the lens moves on.  Now games load faster and I have no issues what so ever.  I'll have to try the game when I get home as well.  It could be the game.  Does the CD spin, then slow down and click like it's trying to re-read the disc?

[Samurai Ghost]

The system works great, all other games load quickly and with no problems. Plus I just had the laser replaced and the system refurbed. It just seems to be with this particular game. It might be the disc, but it looks clean to me with only a few very minor scratches. I'll have to test it on another CD system and see if it's any better.

[Arkhan]

It's loading a ton of crap.

How slow are the loads? I can check my copy when I get home. I have 4 ways to test it, lol.

[Samurai Ghost]

Actually now that I think about it I should have tried it on a different system first. But it's odd because it will stop for around 7 to 10 seconds with no movement then continue, stop again before the next scene etc. It only happens on this game. Other games have slight loading times, but it's usually a second or two at the most which seems normal.

[sunteam_paul]

Is this a JP version? I remember that having really badly crappy load times, the US one is much better.

[Samurai Ghost]

Is this a JP version? I remember that having really badly crappy load times, the US one is much better.

Yes, it is the JP version! OK, maybe I'm not crazy then. The loading times are horrible in the opening scenes!!

[bartre]

hmm...
lemme try my copy, US version.

[DynamiteSJ]

I would like to clean up the disc a bit... you mentioned there is a few scratches on it. I actually recently had a game load slower than what i expected on another system (dreamcast) and i pulled the cd out and there were a few scratches on it. Buffed it out with the machine i got and loads hella lot fast and smoother. If im right.. pce cd is only 1x and any scratch will slow its performance down. Not destroy the disc or make it unreadable.. but harder to read.

[DynamiteSJ]

if your near my area... i dunno what the chances that is... i wouldnt mind buffing/resurfacing it for ya

[DynamiteSJ]

hahaha.. ur profile says japan.. not nowhere close at all

[bartre]

yeah, no issues with load times on my US copy.
course, my copy was sealed until 2 weeks ago, so i wouldn't rule out scratches being your problem.
my copy of kunio kun soccer wouldn't load any music at all until i buffed it.
if you don't have access to a buffer, try running a little water on the disc, then "buff" it with toothpaste, then rinse and dry.

[Joe Redifer]

Sometimes my Turbo CD forgets to load.  It just sits without a care in the world on a black screen, disc spinning away completely unaware of its job.  I have to give it a slight bump and then it wakes up, does a re-seek and loads in no time flat.  It does this randomly with any given game and has done it since it was brand new.

[Samurai Ghost]

Well I'm thinking it might be the difference between the way the US and JP versions are coded. In the US version the cutscenes seem to appear in a little window in the middle of the screen, while the JP version is full screen. Looks great but maybe it has to reload all of the data between scenes instead of just playing them in succession with the different audio tracks. Anyone else have the JP version?