Extremely slow performance - What am I doing wrong?

[Fidelio]

I'm new to Dolphin but consider myself pretty technical. I was finally able to get the new Wiimote with built-in Motion Plus (RVL-CNT-01-TR) working on my system (using the advice in this thread), but the problem is that the two games I've tested run incredibly slow, to the point of seeming to be in slow motion, with frequent frame skipping and audio glitches.

The two games I've tried are SMG1 and Skyward Sword.

I have a 13" Macbook Pro but am hard booting (Boot Camp) into Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit.

My specs:
Proc: 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5
GPU: Intel HD Graphics 3000 512 MB
RAM: 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3

As detailed in the above linked thread, I'm using a revised Dolphin 3.0-433. Apparantly these were the only changes made to it (I have no idea what this means, but it works with the Wiimote I have):

Code:

IOWin.cpp, line 128:
static int VIDLength = 4;
static int VID[4] = {0x057E, 0x0001, 0x0002, 0x057E};
static int PID[4] = {0x0306, 0x0002, 0x00F7, 0x0330};
IOWin.cpp, line 460:
const std::wregex wiimote_device_name(L"Nintendo RVL-\\w{3}-\\d{2}(-\\w{2})?");

I use the default configuration, save that the framelimit is set to off. I'm in the Direct3D9 setting. Even running in 800x600 is unplayable.

At first I thought it might have been that I was reading the .iso off an external drive, but this wasn't the case. Then I thought using an alternate display was affecting it (as it sometimes does with my Steam games). Perhaps it could be lack of HD space (19GB free of 56GB), but that seems silly. I run the Batman Arkham games (Steam) just fine, so surely my specs can handle SMG? I'm guessing it has to do with the GPU or the Dolphin build.

So tell me, what am I doing wrong? What do I need to do?

[Starscream]

Those two games are pretty CPU demanding and your GPU is horrible. Try setting the internal resolution to 1x. You should also consider overclocking your CPU.

[Fidelio]

(03-08-2012, 09:49 AM)Starscream Wrote: Those two games are pretty CPU demanding and your GPU is horrible. Try setting the internal resolution to 1x. You should also consider overclocking your CPU.

Huh, I guess I'm still learning, but looking at the specs of an actual Wii, it seems like I'd have no problem.

What about if I was using the 15" Macbook Pro (specs)?

[StupidStories]

You sure as hell don't sound like you are very "technical".
Wii hardware =/= PC hardware

[Fidelio]

Yeah, maybe I'm not. But damn near felt like it when I saw the Wii cursor moving around on my projector using the sensor bar I soldered from Radioshack parts.

Annoying to get that far and learn that a Wii game from 2007 is somehow more intense on my computer than Portal 2. Guess I'll have to cure my ignorance with some more research.

[StupidStories]

Maybe I was a little harsh.
The emulator has to emulate the Wii hardware using software. That is by design a very inefficient way to do things. PC games do not have to run on emulated hardware.(SIMPLIFIED)

[Shonumi]

Just to clear some things up as well, modern PC games and emulators like Dolphin are two different kinds of programs that have different demands on the hardware. Most PC games today aren't as demanding on the CPU as they are on the GPU. That's why having a good GPU allows you to play many games with high settings even with a mid-range CPU. For Dolphin, it's often more demanding on the CPU than the GPU. The GPU in Dolphin is responsible for things like raising your internal resolution, anti-aliasing, and anisotropic filtering. The rest of your game's performance usually comes from the CPU.

Emulation isn't going to be nearly as fast as the actual hardware running native instructions. You have to translate all of the Wii's instructions into something your computer can understand, and at a fast enough pace to give you good gameplay.

[admin89]

Build the desktop then
My laptop can run Skyward Sword full speed or close to full speed but only get 40FPS with SMG (HLE back-end)
Mac = no overclocking + overprice
SMG + HLE back-end = i3 2120 @ 3.3Ghz or better CPU
SMG + LLE back-end = i5 2500k @ 4.4Ghz or higher

[Fidelio]

Ok, this all makes sense. Thanks. Seems no-brainer now but I definitely had the wrong impression of how emulators worked.

So it's (essentially) impossible to run Dolphin smoothly with any of the current MacBook Pro specs? I'm stuck using one, so I guess the PC world wins my jealousy for the emulator category.

[admin89]

If that macbook has i7 2760qm
It's fine as long as it can turbo to 3.3-3.5Ghz with dolphin
Or you could wait till June for Ivy Bridge or 2013 for Haswell