I have downloaded your latest update at
speedofmac.com/pcsx_latest.html and set it up. At first, I was having the exact same issues I listed in my initial post. Then, I got to thinking. "Maybe it isn't the emulator that's causing me problems. What if my controller itself is having issues??" I came up with that because when I said my game was "freezing", it wasn't really doing that. I could still hear sound coming from my game which told me it was still running. It was my controller that was no longer accepting input from me. I would hit every single button and I would get nothing. My character would not move or do anything I told it to. So to REALLY test this out, I went and grabbed my wife's controller. She has the exact same one I do (Gravis GamePad Pro) but she hasn't used hers nearly the amount of times I have used mine. So, I plugged in her controller and played Breath of Fire 4 for awhile. About the same amount of time I would play using my controller. And in that amount of time, MY controller would stop accepting input from me. But while using my WIFE'S controller, it worked the whole entire time. My character always did what I told it to do. So, I have come down to the conclusion that MY controller is no longer working properly. Either its the controller itself, or there is a short in the wiring somewhere within the cable that runs from the controller to my computer. Thinking its time now for me to purchase a new controller and ditch this one. As far as the emulator goes, it works pretty smoothly. Haven't noticed any issues with it yet. I will inform you of any issues I do come across though.
Brian