I've been trying to upgrade from the stable 4.0.2 to a newer developmental version of Dolphin. I would be happy with the current revision I have now (I can play every game I've tried 1080p, varying AA, full speed except for The Last Story) but I've noticed random crashes when I use the DX11 API (no problem with OpenGL or DX9) as well as my texture packs in Xenoblade: Chronicles do not work. However, ever time I try to upgrade to a newer revision I have very slow performance and large frame-rate drops if performance is good.
Xenoblade Chronicles has frame-rate issues in 4.0.2 when arts are used in battles if I use DX11 or OpenGL, while when I use DX9 in Dolphin 4.0.2 I not only have smooth battles, but the AA is much better (4x SSAA) than what I've experienced with DX11. Plus I haven't noticed a quality difference in effects between the two API's. OpenGL works alright for this game, but I still have stuttering. With the newer versions of Dolphin this is made even worse. I assumed it was because of shader compilation, but it doesn't seem to get better the more I play it. Then I assumed the issue might just be enhanced because the high-res textures actually do work in this revision, but when I turn off the high-res textures the problem still persists. That is the least of the problems though. Other games like Super Mario Galaxy, Donkey Kong Country: Returns, Legend of Zelda: Wind-Waker, Arc Rise Fantasia, etc, etc all of which run full-speed on Dolphin 4.0.2 have 15 fps regardless of the API I use. I've tried tampering with the frame-rate locking, but nothing seems to work. If I keep the frame-rate unlocked,the fps when these games boot goes up, but during game-play they still play at 15 fps. Other games that do run at full-speed, like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii), Skyward Sword, Skies of Arcadia: Legends, Fire-Emblem, and Wii Sports have huge drops in frame-rate. The only game that seems to improve in newer revisions, performance-wise, is The Last Story and that is mostly because the audio doesn't stutter in cut-scenes anymore, I still have a frame-rate between 24-30 fps when locked and between 24-45 fps unlocked.
The current revision I've tried is 4.0.5710, but I've always tried downloading newer revisions, weekly, for the last few months now, just to see how they work out of the package. I attempted using this revision because somebody recommended it to me. I really want to upgrade to take advantage of the benefits of a newer release (such as texture packs), but unfortunately for the games I've already gotten to work flawlessly (and almost effortlessly) on 4.0.2 it just doesn't seem to translate to newer versions.
What exactly is the problem here?
My specs:
G3258 @ 4.5 Ghz Stable Overclock
r9 280
8 GB DDR3 1300 mhz
Windows 7 64-bit
Xenoblade Chronicles has frame-rate issues in 4.0.2 when arts are used in battles if I use DX11 or OpenGL, while when I use DX9 in Dolphin 4.0.2 I not only have smooth battles, but the AA is much better (4x SSAA) than what I've experienced with DX11. Plus I haven't noticed a quality difference in effects between the two API's. OpenGL works alright for this game, but I still have stuttering. With the newer versions of Dolphin this is made even worse. I assumed it was because of shader compilation, but it doesn't seem to get better the more I play it. Then I assumed the issue might just be enhanced because the high-res textures actually do work in this revision, but when I turn off the high-res textures the problem still persists. That is the least of the problems though. Other games like Super Mario Galaxy, Donkey Kong Country: Returns, Legend of Zelda: Wind-Waker, Arc Rise Fantasia, etc, etc all of which run full-speed on Dolphin 4.0.2 have 15 fps regardless of the API I use. I've tried tampering with the frame-rate locking, but nothing seems to work. If I keep the frame-rate unlocked,the fps when these games boot goes up, but during game-play they still play at 15 fps. Other games that do run at full-speed, like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii), Skyward Sword, Skies of Arcadia: Legends, Fire-Emblem, and Wii Sports have huge drops in frame-rate. The only game that seems to improve in newer revisions, performance-wise, is The Last Story and that is mostly because the audio doesn't stutter in cut-scenes anymore, I still have a frame-rate between 24-30 fps when locked and between 24-45 fps unlocked.
The current revision I've tried is 4.0.5710, but I've always tried downloading newer revisions, weekly, for the last few months now, just to see how they work out of the package. I attempted using this revision because somebody recommended it to me. I really want to upgrade to take advantage of the benefits of a newer release (such as texture packs), but unfortunately for the games I've already gotten to work flawlessly (and almost effortlessly) on 4.0.2 it just doesn't seem to translate to newer versions.
What exactly is the problem here?
My specs:
G3258 @ 4.5 Ghz Stable Overclock
r9 280
8 GB DDR3 1300 mhz
Windows 7 64-bit