First Impression Performance Explanations and Questions

[AmnesiaBR]

Hello, i am new to Dolphin, using latest release, and like almost everyone i am experiencing to get the better performance possible my computer can handle. I started experiencing in Mario Kart Wii and compered the race cronometer to a real cronometer to check for emulation slowdowns also using the "show fps" option to get an FPS average. After the fisrt 2-3 hours of testing here are my conclusion and doubts/questions (my specs are on my signature, am leaving the questions highlighted):

- Enhancements on AA and internal render resolution would reduce FPS but look a lot better, no enhancements and 1x internal render resolution makes the image bad but the FPS 60 and emulation speed correct.

- The gain with 1 level AA (0 to 4x) OR one step at internal resolution (1x to 1.5x) is great, using one step of each seemed even better but with less gain than the previous change, further improvements were smaller.

- Curiosity: the reduction in FPS came with a slow down in emulation speed. Anyone knows why?

- Conclusion: found that 1.5x internal render resolution and 4x AA looks great, anisotropic seemed to make no difference in Mario Kart. Performance (FPS and emulation speed) around 60% tough. Started feeling bad since read lost people with worse specs doing better.

SOLUTION: Turn off "RAM" option at EFB, under Graphics at 3.0. Now the game with enhancements runs great, got 2x internal render resolution and 4xAA without problems.

- Curiosity, experience further, now with RAM option unchecked when i increased the enhancementes (AA and internal resolution) the emulation speed would stay OK and only the FPS would drop.

- Final question: what is the best setup to avoid emulation slowdowns (i can live with FPS drops, but game speed decreases are bad)?

-Bonus question: what does VPS stands for?

Thanks and will return with more impressions later.

[NaturalViolence]

I hate to be that guy but:

Quote:compered

compared

Quote:cronometer

chronometer

Quote:like almost everyone i am experiencing to get the better performance

The word experiencing doesn't make any sense in that sentence.

Quote:Thanks and will return with more impressions later.

The word impressions doesn't make any sense in that sentence.

Quote:- Curiosity: the reduction in FPS came with a slow down in emulation speed. Anyone knows why?

Isn't it obvious? Gamespeed is linked to framerate. The game was designed to run at a certain framerate, if you cannot maintain that framerate than the game is not running at it's intended speed. Most PC games have a dynamic framerate (gamespeed is not linked to framerate), but most console games are set to run at a certain framerate.

Quote:-Bonus question: what does VPS stands for?

Vertical interruptions per second. It's used by dolphin to determine how fast the emulated cpu is running compared to fullspeed.

[DarzgL]

(08-12-2011, 08:51 AM)NaturalViolence Wrote: Isn't it obvious? Gamespeed is linked to framerate. The game was designed to run at a certain framerate, if you cannot maintain that framerate than the game is not running at it's intended speed. Most PC games have a dynamic framerate (gamespeed is not linked to framerate), but most console games are set to run at a certain framerate.

Hmm, I've often experienced framerate dropdowns in GC games (on the actual console), and they weren't associated to a game slowdown.
And it isn't obvious for someone who is new to emulation.
To the OP : You should overclock your CPU. It's easy and safe (unless you're WILLING to break your CPU). Get a good CPU cooler and you're fine.

[neobrain]

(08-12-2011, 09:04 AM)DarzgL Wrote: Hmm, I've often experienced framerate dropdowns in GC games (on the actual console), and they weren't associated to a game slowdown.

That most likely is due to performance metrics not yet being implemented in Dolphin.

[ExtremeDude2]

(08-12-2011, 09:22 AM)neobrain Wrote:

(08-12-2011, 09:04 AM)DarzgL Wrote: Hmm, I've often experienced framerate dropdowns in GC games (on the actual console), and they weren't associated to a game slowdown.

That most likely is due to performance metrics not yet being implemented in Dolphin.

Yet?

[AmnesiaBR]

Thanks everyone for the tips and corrections. Im sorry for my bad english but it is not my native language, i think I a am improving though.

[neobrain]

(08-12-2011, 12:10 PM)ExtremeDude2 Wrote:

(08-12-2011, 09:22 AM)neobrain Wrote:

(08-12-2011, 09:04 AM)DarzgL Wrote: Hmm, I've often experienced framerate dropdowns in GC games (on the actual console), and they weren't associated to a game slowdown.

That most likely is due to performance metrics not yet being implemented in Dolphin.

Yet?

"Yet" just like in "Quad core not being used yet" or "HLE audio not being fixed, yet".

[NaturalViolence]

Quote:"Yet" just like in "Quad core not being used yet" or "LLE not being fixed, yet".

[neobrain]

(08-13-2011, 02:12 PM)NaturalViolence Wrote:

Quote:"Yet" just like in "Quad core not being used yet" or "LLE not being fixed, yet".

Meh, I actually meant to say HLE audio, but whatever

[DarzgL]

(08-12-2011, 09:22 AM)neobrain Wrote:

(08-12-2011, 09:04 AM)DarzgL Wrote: Hmm, I've often experienced framerate dropdowns in GC games (on the actual console), and they weren't associated to a game slowdown.

That most likely is due to performance metrics not yet being implemented in Dolphin.

Well, I said that because I thought he was meaning that you should get gamespeed slowdowns as well on the real hardware.