Dolphin on New Rig - A Few Questions (Super Mario Galaxy)

[Dolemub42]

Hi,

I got a Intel Skylake 6700K system OCed to 4.5 GhZ. 64-bit Windows 10. Geforce 770. Playing at 1080p. Latest beta built. Playing Direct3D.

I have a few questions, concerning my initial playthrough of early levels in Super Mario Galaxy.

1) How do I get rid of the mouse cursor in fullscreen mode? It is distracting when viewed alongside the ingame cursor.

2) I notice that the game is prone to suttering, especially noticeable with the audio. This is almost, but not entirely, eliminated by playing from a solid-state drive. Is there some other way to help this?

3) FPS is super smooth almost always, but sometimes when initially entering a stage of level it slows way down temporarily. Is there a fix?

Thanks.

[JosJuice]

Is your profile up to date? If so, you really should update from Dolphin 3.5 to the newest development version.

(12-05-2015, 08:03 AM)Dolemub42 Wrote: 2) I notice that the game is prone to suttering. This is almost but not entirely eliminated by playing from a solid-state drive. Is there some other way to help this?

3) FPS is super smooth almost always, but sometimes when initially entering a stage of level it slows way down temporarily. Is there a fix?

These problems are likely caused by shader compilation. There's currently no fix other than playing the game for a while to build up the shader cache. Every time you get to an area or a graphics effect that makes the game stutter, it caches shaders so that it won't make the game stutter the next time. However, if you're using an old version of Dolphin, updating can improve the performance in general.

[leolam]

He says "latest beta build", so maybe he's referring to the development builds. I don't know.

(12-05-2015, 08:03 AM)Dolemub42 Wrote: 1) How do I get rid of the mouse cursor in fullscreen mode? It is distracting when viewed alongside the ingame cursor.

In the Graphics options, just tick Hide Mouse Cursor in the General tab.

[JosJuice]

(12-05-2015, 08:37 AM)leolam Wrote: He says "latest beta build", so maybe he's referring to the development builds. I don't know.

Thanks. I must've missed that when reading the post

[Dolemub42]

Yes, sorry. I updated my profile and signature. It is the latest development build 4.0-8297.

(12-05-2015, 08:12 AM)JosJuice Wrote: These problems are likely caused by shader compilation. There's currently no fix other than playing the game for a while to build up the shader cache. Every time you get to an area or a graphics effect that makes the game stutter, it caches shaders so that it won't make the game stutter the next time. However, if you're using an old version of Dolphin, updating can improve the performance in general.

1. Is this time to build shader cache limited by CPU or storage medium? I'm wondering if a RAM drive would help with this, since I saw some improvement switching from a standard HDD to a solid-state drive.

2. Would this also solve the weird slowdowns in FPS when entering a new area?

3. Should I be using D3D or OpenGL for games like Mario Galaxy?

EDIT:

4. Also are there any downsides to using this?
https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-unofficial-ishiiruka-dolphin-custom-version

[JosJuice]

(12-05-2015, 09:14 AM)Dolemub42 Wrote: 1. Is this time to build shader cache limited by CPU or storage medium? I'm wondering if a RAM drive would help with this, since I saw some improvement switching from a standard HDD to a solid-state drive.

It's limited by the CPU (more specifically, the graphics driver). The storage medium shouldn't affect this, but I haven't actually measured it, so don't take my word for it.

(12-05-2015, 09:14 AM)Dolemub42 Wrote: 2. Would this also solve the weird slowdowns in FPS when entering a new area?

Yes. Entering a new area means encountering a lot of new shaders, so what you're noticing is an amplified version of shader compilation stuttering. This only applies if the lag is right when the area starts rendering - if the lag is shortly before that, it's probably accessing the disc (i.e. the ISO) that's the problem, but that's much less noticeable than shader compilation.

(12-05-2015, 09:14 AM)Dolemub42 Wrote: 4. Also are there any downsides to using this?
https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-unofficial-ishiiruka-dolphin-custom-version

I'm assuming you're interested in the asynchronous shader compilation since it's related to your problem. It will improve the performance, but it will do so by not rendering certain things while shaders are compiling (instead of temporarily freezing the game), so some objects will be temporarily invisible when many shaders are being compiled. It's also possible that Ishiiruka has different bugs than regular Dolphin, but it usually works well enough.

[Dolemub42]

(12-05-2015, 09:49 AM)JosJuice Wrote:

(12-05-2015, 09:14 AM)Dolemub42 Wrote: 1. Is this time to build shader cache limited by CPU or storage medium? I'm wondering if a RAM drive would help with this, since I saw some improvement switching from a standard HDD to a solid-state drive.

It's limited by the CPU (more specifically, the graphics driver). The storage medium shouldn't affect this, but I haven't actually measured it, so don't take my word for it.

(12-05-2015, 09:14 AM)Dolemub42 Wrote: 2. Would this also solve the weird slowdowns in FPS when entering a new area?

Yes. Entering a new area means encountering a lot of new shaders, so what you're noticing is an amplified version of shader compilation stuttering. This only applies if the lag is right when the area starts rendering - if the lag is shortly before that, it's probably accessing the disc (i.e. the ISO) that's the problem, but that's much less noticeable than shader compilation.

(12-05-2015, 09:14 AM)Dolemub42 Wrote: 4. Also are there any downsides to using this?
https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-unofficial-ishiiruka-dolphin-custom-version

I'm assuming you're interested in the asynchronous shader compilation since it's related to your problem. It will improve the performance, but it will do so by not rendering certain things while shaders are compiling (instead of temporarily freezing the game), so some objects will be temporarily invisible when many shaders are being compiled. It's also possible that Ishiiruka has different bugs than regular Dolphin, but it usually works well enough.

Thanks.

Now I get weird FPS slowdowns even in the main hub when no new areas are loading, but only in fullscreen mode. Any idea what could be causing that?

[Dolemub42]

I think it is because my HW render was changed from d3d to opengl for some reason.

[Dolemub42]

One thing that has helped with the suttering is moving not only the game to the solid state drive, but also i) the dolphin folder and ii) via registry hack moving the USER folder as well to the solid state drve.
https://dolphin-emu.org/docs/guides/controlling-global-user-directory/

[Dolemub42]

A couple of more notes about the low FPS in some scenes. This was due to:
1) V-sync being engaged, dropping FPS to 30 even when unlocked FPS was far exceeding 60 FPS
Is there any way to fix this? e.g., enable tripple buffering

2) 4xMSAA (anti-aliasing) also kills FPS, 2xMSAA is much better performance wise