[GC] Skies of Arcadia Legends

[Genesis]

Ok. I tested the following builds for this issue and here is what i got:

builds:

7528: FINE
8034: FINE
9154: FINE
9196: FINE
9198: FINE
-------
9200: ISSUE (https://github.com/dolphin-emu/dolphin/pull/3752)
9209: ISSUE
9233: ISSUE
9450: ISSUE

I consider this problem VERY relevant for a decent experience for this particularly game. SOA has tons of random battles and have to experience this issue all the time you go to a battle is very annoying.

Considering that Dolphin official 4.0.2 has problems with this game (very low performance), i really recommend the dolphin team to fix this before Dolphin 5.0. But that is just me.

BTW. While i noticed that this issue started with build 9200, i only played this game thoroughly using build 7528. I don't know if newer builds up to 9198 are also "issue-free" like 7528 (they may have other issues different than this one). I can say that 9200 and later are not the best ones, though.

[JMC47]

Can confirm this. I'll be looking into it.

Created an issue: We'll be looking into this further. If it's not easily fixable, we may have to wait until after Dolphin 5.0 to handle this. https://bugs.dolphin-emu.org/issues/9599

[JMC47]

Please test: https://dl.dolphin-emu.org/prs/pr-3902-dolphin-latest-x64.7z

[Genesis]

(06-16-2016, 09:02 PM)JMC47 Wrote: Please test: https://dl.dolphin-emu.org/prs/pr-3902-dolphin-latest-x64.7z

Thanks for your brilliant work. This fixed the issue 100%.

I did a bit more tests with this build and i didn't notice any other issues. I think it may be just as good, maybe better than the last build i used to play this game for a very long time (7528).

However, some known problems with this game still require you to set the config according to those ones i mentioned earlier in this very thread.

Speed up Disk Transfer Rate: OFF - Otherwise, video will freeze once Cupil shows up during the game's presentation. It is not serious, as the game will go back to its normal a couple of seconds later, at the "new game" / "continue" screen. The game will run PERFECTLY FINE and fast with Speed up Disk Transfer Rate: OFF. I don't know if there are other issues with this option ON.

Deterministic Dual Core set to FAKE COMPLETION: This greatly improves the performance of the game, allowing perfectly smooth gameplay. This can be noticed during the game presentation. Turn this to NONE and you will have framerate issues or certain parts of the presentation, with slight choppy sound.

Skip EFB access from CPU: CHECK THIS. Otherwise you will notice major slowdown during Fina's Flashback at the beginning of the game, just after you beat the first boss - Antonio (i can provide a save state if requested). This has nothing to do with the issue you fixed today, it is something that is there since ancient times. And no, checking this will not cause any harm.

Also, that nasty item menu bug, which is described at the game's wiki page, which shows up only if you enable "Dual core" for this particularly game is almost 100% fixed. I barely see this issue anymore. Even the "wanted list" on the sailor's island, which had a similar bug, now seems to be working just fine. I think i noticed this improvement in build 7528, i am not sure. It is still not 100%, but i don't see many pros in turning this setting off, as it greatly improves the framerate, as i told earlier (with fake completion on too).

Skies of Arcadia USA
File: .ISO 1.425.780 KB
gameID: GEAE8P
MD5: 3e7fa5033c4a2704434fb6ba98195ecd

[JMC47]

I don't agree with most of those comments for various reasons (namely, you probably have the "correct" settings in some cases but some of the reasonings are incomplete.)

Fake-completion is faster because this game uses syncGPU by default. So it is a performance up, but USUALLY it would be a performance down. Speedup Disc transfer rate is a non-default setting, but it's nice to know it causes regressions .

Skip EFB Access from CPU... i don't know. usually when it causes a slowdown, the game is doing something. I'd need to research it more before recommending that. At least that narrows down why it's slow though!

[GallJ93]

Hey everybody,

I don't know how many people visit here regularly, but I thought I'd ask anyway. I'm starting my latest (almost annual) play through of Skies, and this time thanks to Dolphin I have an opportunity to use some Action Replay codes. I'm not interested in most of them, like Infinite Gold, or unlock all spells etc, but I am interested in some Exp modifiers to speed the leveling process.

Ideally that would be a flat multiplier, but I don't see any of them online, but I do see a quick level code. It seems to work by reducing the needed Exp for the next level up to 1, but when I tried it, the Exp would accumulate properly, but the level up was never triggered.

Has anybody else got a code that does what I'm looking for or know how to fix the quick level code? I'm on EU.

Thanks.

[GallJ93]

Never mind, I've actually now found 3 great codes, all for EU, courtesy of Ralf at this thread and I'll share them below:


Enable 60Hz Mode:
B65A-W7MB-UBP0E
RT6D-QRNP-V1PXY
E4Z0-8YBJ-C4W02

16:9 Aspect Ratio (Widescreen):
U36F-UZW1-0MT96
YT88-AJHB-15D2N

Experience Multiplier:
04003B40 1F5A00xx
04003B44 9747B978
04003B48 4806BDD4
0406F918 4BF94228

xx = EXP Multiplier

Magic Experience Multiplier:
04003B50 1C8400xx
04003B54 98830001
04003B58 4806BDCC
0406F920 4BF94230

xx = Magic EXP Multiplier

[Pyrii]

Just to point out that the PAL 60Hz AR codes speed up how fast the graphics run so animations are faster and this desyncs cutscenes as the audio plays at the same speed.

Sadly I've found the only way to get 30fps is to play the US version of the game :<

[XSFOX]

(10-12-2016, 11:30 AM)Pyrii Wrote: Just to point out that the PAL 60Hz AR codes speed up how fast the graphics run so animations are faster and this desyncs cutscenes as the audio plays at the same speed.

Sadly I've found the only way to get 30fps is to play the US version of the game :<

Try this instead? http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3002/

Edit: Actually nevermind made using that very same code and it has the same issue just tested myself.

[justice88]

(10-12-2016, 11:30 AM)Pyrii Wrote: Just to point out that the PAL 60Hz AR codes speed up how fast the graphics run so animations are faster and this desyncs cutscenes as the audio plays at the same speed.

Sadly I've found the only way to get 30fps is to play the US version of the game :<

(12-04-2016, 05:00 AM)XSFOX Wrote: Try this instead? http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3002/

Edit: Actually nevermind made using that very same code and it has the same issue just tested myself.

Not if you are using an UNDUB version of the game since the JAP version is 60HZ/30fps.