Few settings questions regarding emulator settings

[Damned]

Since I plan on using LLE I was wandering if the "LLE on thread" option should be checked? I have heard of some users here using it and they say it gives them a speedup but the configuration guide says it is not reccomended.

Framelimit and audio throttle. Is Auto Framelimit and audio throttle checked still the best combo? Or would framelimit off and audio throttle checked be better?

EFB copy to texture or RAM. Is RAM the more accurate one and should I enable the cache right next to it? I remember Natural Violence telling me that the heat glitches in Wind Waker could be fixed with EFB to RAM and internal resolution to x1 (which I don't mind, don't plan on enhancing graphics anyways). Would my CPU (i7 2700K at stock 3.5 Ghz speed) be able to handle it (Graphics card is an MSI Twin Forzr III Nvidia GTX 570, in case that factors in)?

Speaking of my CPU, how well would it handle the LLE plugin? I plan on playing mostly Gamecube games, more specifically the ones below.

Super Mario Sunshine
Legend of Zelda Wind Waker
Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess
Legend of Zelda Four Swords Adventures
Luigi's Mansion
Wario World
Sonic Heroes
Shadow the Hedgehog
Sonic Adventure DX
Sonic Adventure 2 Battle
Mega Man 9
Mega Man 10

So yeah, not too many games I'm interested in emulating, only about 12 (Probably a good thing though).

Seems though the link cable option with the emulator is badly bugged so it isn't going to work with Wind Waker or Sonic Adventure 2 . Maybe if I grease the palms of the Dolphin devs with some dough might encourage some fixing of it ?

[Shonumi]

Quote:Since I plan on using LLE I was wandering if the "LLE on thread" option should be checked? I have heard of some users here using it and they say it gives them a speedup but the configuration guide says it is not reccomended.

Your i7 2600K will dedicate another, separate thread to LLE, which means that it should get its own core to run on rather than sharing one. This is a great speedup in many of the games I've played where you need LLE to get proper audio. What configuration guide are you looking at? I believe the one on the website is outdated. Your hardware is more than enough to handle LLE on thread, so by all means, go for it.

Quote:Framelimit and audio throttle. Is Auto Framelimit and audio throttle checked still the best combo? Or would framelimit off and audio throttle checked be better?

In recent revisions of Dolphin, audio throttling has been moved to the frame limit options, so you can't really turn off frame limits and turn on audio throttling at the same time. On my old laptop, Auto worked fine, but I set my frame limit to Audio on my new desktop, which is more accurate.

Quote:EFB copy to texture or RAM. Is RAM the more accurate one and should I enable the cache right next to it? I remember Natural Violence telling me that the heat glitches in Wind Waker could be fixed with EFB to RAM and internal resolution to x1 (which I don't mind, don't plan on enhancing graphics anyways). Would my CPU (i7 2700K at stock 3.5 Ghz speed) be able to handle it (Graphics card is an MSI Twin Forzr III Nvidia GTX 570, in case that factors in)?

EFB copy to texture is suitable most of the time. I only recall a few instances where RAM is needed. WW is one game, and Super Mario Sunshine used to be one, but Texture works fine now. Check out the Dolphin Wiki to find out which games have problems that RAM solves. Your CPU and GPU are stellar as far as Dolphin is concerned, so don't worry about handling WW, or most other games for that matter.

Quote:Speaking of my CPU, how well would it handle the LLE plugin? I plan on playing mostly Gamecube games, more specifically the ones below.

I have Super Mario Sunshine, WW, Four Swords, and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. None of them requires LLE, as I've never encountered a problem with HLE audio while using them, though if you want to use LLE, go ahead. As I've said before, there's not too much you can't throw at your system, especially if you decided to overclock, though you should be fine at stock right now.

I haven't tried the GBA connection, and I'm not sure if it's a priority for the devs. You could always ask them to do something. That might stir them to work on it further, or just put it off even more.

[Damned]

Oh, and I do have the turbo boost turned on for the CPU (it goes up to 3.9 Ghz for turbo boost). But I'm not sure exactly how turbo boost works or if Dolphin can take advantage of it.

EDIT: Oh my cpu only has this for an aftermarket heatsink

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

I doubt it is good enough for an overclock. I'd probably need something a little higher end.

Thanks for the response, NaturalViolence, anything you would like to add ?

Oh and as for the wiki how much of that information is truly kept up to date and is 100% accurate? That is why I'm a little wreary of relying on it.

[NaturalViolence]

Turbo boost will provide a very small boost to clock rate. You can achieve much better results from manual overclocking.

Quote:Oh and as for the wiki how much of that information is truly kept up to date and is 100% accurate? That is why I'm a little wreary of relying on it.

Depends on the article (or page.....whatever you're supposed to call them I'm not sure).

[Damned]

How about the EFB to texture vs RAM thing? Is the RAM one more accurate?

Also any devs out there seeing this topic, can you pretty pretty PRETTY please look into whatever is wrong with the link cable option with Wind Waker and Sonic Adventure 2? Also, if you could fix whatever is wrong with 4 swords adventures and make Hyrule Field run at fullspeed in Twilight Princess, that would be great .

[DefenderX]

RAM is more accurate, but more demanding for the CPU. And EFB to RAM is needed for some special games (like Super Mario Sunshine)

[neobrain]

(03-26-2012, 02:36 PM)Shonumi Wrote: EFB copy to texture is suitable most of the time. I only recall a few instances where RAM is needed. [...] Super Mario Sunshine used to be one, but Texture works fine now.

What? no, not really... ?

[Shonumi]

(03-30-2012, 02:06 AM)neobrain Wrote: What? no, not really... ?

Actually yeah. Haven't played the whole game, but Texture worked fine on a lot of levels. The other day, I did encounter the 'invisible goop' just once in one level, which RAM solved, but every other time setting EFB copies to Texture worked just fine. On my iPod now, but I'll post a screenshot later.

EDIT:
Super Mario Sunshine - EFB Copies on Texture - Goop renders just fine, no weird effects or invisibility.
Super Mario Sunshin - Fully Erased Goop - Here I'm standing where the goop used to be (maybe a little off, but no damage walking through). It's fully erased, and I'm not taking damage. Enemies kept attacking while I was taking the screenshot, so that's why Mario's dirty in this one.

[NaturalViolence]

Are you sure efb copy to ram isn't enabled in the .ini ?

[neobrain]

I guess not, since it's using that by default.