Hi folks,
First things first, been using Dolphin about a month, blah, testament to the open-source model, blah blah. You guys are fantastic.
Trying to work out the way Dolphin handles/will handle loading custom textures. Please correct me if I'm wrong on any point.
So, currently Dolphin loads custom textures into RAM when they're needed, and ditches them when they're not.
This is RAM efficient, but leads to stuttering since textures have to get reloaded every time they come back into use.
Here are the solutions to the stuttering problem I've seen.
1) The Xenoblade Chronicles HD solution:
Use DDS textures, which are (apparently?) loaded straight into RAM. This needs to be done on the level of individual texture packs.
[FUTURE READERS: Nope. They're just compressed and can thus be loaded faster, causing less stuttering.]
2) The RAM drive solution:
My current setup is to have an ISO for each texture pack, load the appropriate one into a virtual RAM drive, and mount the drive to /Textures.
This mean all textures are kept in RAM for the duration and a bit of setup is required, but stutter is eliminated. Most rigs that can run Dolphin will probably have a gig or so of free RAM kicking around anyway.
3) The degasus solution:
As I understand it, degasus's (and, eventually, the main) build *keeps* all textures in RAM after loading the first time.
This will still cause a stutter the first time textures are loaded, but could be more RAM efficient than loading all of them, and won't cause a long delay before starting the game.
Seems a RAM drive (or Dolphin preloading the textures) is the only totally stutter free solution. The degasus build is good, but it ought to be optional once it gets merged with main, or else low RAM systems will be out of luck, and folk like me will have to use a lot of RAM to run stutter-free, since the textures will also be kept loaded by Dolphin. That's the intent, right?
Correction or clarifications on any point, especially how DDS textures/loading work, would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
First things first, been using Dolphin about a month, blah, testament to the open-source model, blah blah. You guys are fantastic.
Trying to work out the way Dolphin handles/will handle loading custom textures. Please correct me if I'm wrong on any point.
So, currently Dolphin loads custom textures into RAM when they're needed, and ditches them when they're not.
This is RAM efficient, but leads to stuttering since textures have to get reloaded every time they come back into use.
Here are the solutions to the stuttering problem I've seen.
1) The Xenoblade Chronicles HD solution:
Use DDS textures, which are (apparently?) loaded straight into RAM. This needs to be done on the level of individual texture packs.
[FUTURE READERS: Nope. They're just compressed and can thus be loaded faster, causing less stuttering.]
2) The RAM drive solution:
My current setup is to have an ISO for each texture pack, load the appropriate one into a virtual RAM drive, and mount the drive to /Textures.
This mean all textures are kept in RAM for the duration and a bit of setup is required, but stutter is eliminated. Most rigs that can run Dolphin will probably have a gig or so of free RAM kicking around anyway.
3) The degasus solution:
As I understand it, degasus's (and, eventually, the main) build *keeps* all textures in RAM after loading the first time.
This will still cause a stutter the first time textures are loaded, but could be more RAM efficient than loading all of them, and won't cause a long delay before starting the game.
Seems a RAM drive (or Dolphin preloading the textures) is the only totally stutter free solution. The degasus build is good, but it ought to be optional once it gets merged with main, or else low RAM systems will be out of luck, and folk like me will have to use a lot of RAM to run stutter-free, since the textures will also be kept loaded by Dolphin. That's the intent, right?
Correction or clarifications on any point, especially how DDS textures/loading work, would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
![[Image: Yqpb8L.png]](http://i.cubeupload.com/Yqpb8L.png)
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