PocketVCS:

The Settings screen allows you to adjust the performance of the program to suit each machine. Here are a few guidelines:

1. Set the Frameskip to a value that gives smooth motion with the sound OFF! The sound routines are highly optimized at this point and do not add any delays, but incorrect buffer sizes can slow things down greatly.
2. The higher the sound sampling rate, the more sound data must be in the buffer to avoid clicks in the sounds. Adjust the sound buffer to a point "just past" where the clicking stops. This is a limitation of WinCE as it does not seem possible to get interrupts for filling the sound buffers, so you need to keep dumping to it. If the buffer size is too large, time is wasted, things slow down.
3. Changing the sound pitch will change the buffer speed, so make sure the buffer is set right if you change the pitch.
4. Speed a problem?  Try pausing, then resuming. There is a glitch in the WinCE system that causes thread timing to be skewed on some creates, making things run slower. Amazingly, simply pausing and unpausing works great.
5. The Atari is a miserable machine to emulate, since the actual machine had no dedicated video hardware. The programs run one pixel at a time, with a strict demand on processor time. To get better graphics, game programmers did some wild tricks with their code, and because of this, some games will not work properly with some of the features. Some games MUST be set to 0 skipframes to work properly. Others need the screen overscanned to eliminate "ghost" characters on the sides of the screen. Be sure and check the notes given on the main site.
 

PocketColeco:

The Settings screen allows you to adjust the performance of the program to suit each machine. Here are a few guidelines:

1. Setting the Speed: The settings for the CPU time greatly affect the games. Hence the 4 (four!) speed controls available. Set the skipframes and speed slider first, and remember to set the Frameskip to a value that gives smooth motion with the sound OFF! The speed slider should be at FAST for most machines
2. Cycles per Vsync changes the number of CPU instructions that are done before the screen is updated. The higher the number, the faster the games will run. Usually about 60000-70000 is fine, but try higher or lower numbers to see the effects. The program won't allow invalid numbers so feel free to experiment.
3. Cycles per Hsync works almost the opposite. More cycles mean slower action. Try reducing this and increasing Vsync to get more speed on slower machines. Usually around 30 is fine.
4. Adjust the sound LAST. Remember that higher sound rates take more processing time, and require a larger buffer. Adjust the sound buffer to a point "just past clipping". This is a limitation of WinCE as it does not seem possible to get interrupts for filling the sound buffers, so you need to keep dumping to it. If the buffer size is too large, time is wasted, things slow down.