TL;DR: Netplay desyncs if you pause x number of times. You get more pauses if memcards are disabled. How can I pause/save freely during a Spectator-only Netplay session? Specs and settings below.
Hello everyone!
Before I begin, I want to give a big thanks to all the developers of this legendary emulator. You guys have done an outstanding job at improving the stability and performance of this game. (And others, I'm sure.) I know the Wiki says "the game crashes very easily," but I have played (and saved) in solo play for several hours without a problem and I don't even have a graphics card installed. So either this game really favors my particular setup or it's time to update the Wiki. That being said, on to the bad news.
It appears that this game's propensity for crashing has moved over to the Netplay side of things; and by "crashing", I, of course, mean the online equivalent: "desyncing." Granted, this game does not technically support multiplayer. Still, "Spectator Mode" is not multiplayer per se, plus, according to the Netplay Guide: "the spectator will not cause lag or latency." Thus, it stands to reason that things should run smoothly. Sadly though, they do not.
For the past 3 days, I have tried almost every possible combination of settings with 3 different releases of Dolphin and I have finally settled on what I think is as close to "Netplay stable" as I, alone, am gonna get. It's not perfect by any means, and even if you make the inconvenient trade-offs for Netplay stability, it will still desync eventually. It'll just take considerably longer for it to do so. During my trials, however, I made 3 particular observations that I think may help narrow down the root cause of this behavior. (Wait... 3 days? 3 releases? 3 observations? 3 threes? Half-Life 3 confirmed.)
NOTE: The following assumes an optimal network environment.
Now some may look at that list and say that the obvious solution is simply don't pause. Well, those people have clearly never played a Zelda game in their lives, because that solution is just implausable. Okay, I'm done. All jokes aside though, it really is. Then there's the issue of the memcards. Again, easy: don't save, right? Again, never played Zelda before. Because while completing a Zelda game in a single run might make for an interesting challenge, it's probably not something you ever want to ever try over Netplay. Ever. Bringing me to the very reason for my post.
Short of a "magical fix", which I more than welcome, I'm looking to get some contributing feedback from other people who have had the same troubles with this game on Netplay. Should I connect directly or use something like Hamachi? Does being on a Skype (voice) call with the spectator make things worse? Would something like Mumble or RaidCall be better? What settings do you recommend? I know there are some settings listed in the Wiki Compatibility Page, but what's good for solo play may not necessarily be what's best for Netplay. In other words, I wouldn't mind making some sacrifices in the eye candy department if it means I can pause and save without a problem. Lastly, FWIW, it might be a good idea to have a separate Netplay rating and/or section for all or certain games in the Wiki. Just throwing that out there...
Below you will find both systems' specs and shared settings. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
[color=#CC0000]Specs[/color]
[color=#CC0000]Settings[/color]
Hello everyone!
Before I begin, I want to give a big thanks to all the developers of this legendary emulator. You guys have done an outstanding job at improving the stability and performance of this game. (And others, I'm sure.) I know the Wiki says "the game crashes very easily," but I have played (and saved) in solo play for several hours without a problem and I don't even have a graphics card installed. So either this game really favors my particular setup or it's time to update the Wiki. That being said, on to the bad news.
It appears that this game's propensity for crashing has moved over to the Netplay side of things; and by "crashing", I, of course, mean the online equivalent: "desyncing." Granted, this game does not technically support multiplayer. Still, "Spectator Mode" is not multiplayer per se, plus, according to the Netplay Guide: "the spectator will not cause lag or latency." Thus, it stands to reason that things should run smoothly. Sadly though, they do not.
For the past 3 days, I have tried almost every possible combination of settings with 3 different releases of Dolphin and I have finally settled on what I think is as close to "Netplay stable" as I, alone, am gonna get. It's not perfect by any means, and even if you make the inconvenient trade-offs for Netplay stability, it will still desync eventually. It'll just take considerably longer for it to do so. During my trials, however, I made 3 particular observations that I think may help narrow down the root cause of this behavior. (Wait... 3 days? 3 releases? 3 observations? 3 threes? Half-Life 3 confirmed.)
NOTE: The following assumes an optimal network environment.
- Desyncing occurs almost exclusively as a result of pausing in-game.
- Leaving Write memcards (GC) unchecked significantly extends the duration of a synced Netplay session, pausing included.
- People with ADD really shouldn't do this type of testing, as they might clear 2 dungeons before reexamining their original purpose.
Now some may look at that list and say that the obvious solution is simply don't pause. Well, those people have clearly never played a Zelda game in their lives, because that solution is just implausable. Okay, I'm done. All jokes aside though, it really is. Then there's the issue of the memcards. Again, easy: don't save, right? Again, never played Zelda before. Because while completing a Zelda game in a single run might make for an interesting challenge, it's probably not something you ever want to ever try over Netplay. Ever. Bringing me to the very reason for my post.
Short of a "magical fix", which I more than welcome, I'm looking to get some contributing feedback from other people who have had the same troubles with this game on Netplay. Should I connect directly or use something like Hamachi? Does being on a Skype (voice) call with the spectator make things worse? Would something like Mumble or RaidCall be better? What settings do you recommend? I know there are some settings listed in the Wiki Compatibility Page, but what's good for solo play may not necessarily be what's best for Netplay. In other words, I wouldn't mind making some sacrifices in the eye candy department if it means I can pause and save without a problem. Lastly, FWIW, it might be a good idea to have a separate Netplay rating and/or section for all or certain games in the Wiki. Just throwing that out there...
Below you will find both systems' specs and shared settings. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
[color=#CC0000]Specs[/color]
Quote:Host
Dolphin [color=#B0B0B0]4.0.2[/color] [color=#B0B0B0]4.0-7777[/color] 5.0-rc-27 • Windows 7.sp1 x64
Intel Core i5-4590s @ 3.00GHz • INTEL HD Graphics 4600 • G. SKILL 8GB×1 DDR3 • OCZ 120GB SATA III SSD
Client
Dolphin [color=#B0B0B0]4.0.2[/color] [color=#B0B0B0]4.0-7777[/color] 5.0-rc-27 • Windows 7.sp1 x64
Intel Core i7-4710HQ @ 2.50GHz • NVIDIA GeForce 840M • Kingston 8GB×1 DDR3 • HGST 1TB SATA III HDD
[color=#CC0000]Settings[/color]
Quote:General: Dual-Core: [color=#006ABD]Off[/color] • Idle Skipping: [color=#006ABD]On[/color] • Cheats: [color=#006ABD]Off[/color] • Framelimit: [color=#006ABD]Auto[/color] • CPU Emu: [color=#006ABD]JIT Recompiler[/color]
Gamecube: Slot A: [color=#006ABD]Memory Card[/color] • Slot B: [color=#006ABD]<Nothing>[/color] • SP1: [color=#006ABD]<Nothing>[/color]
Audio: DSP Emu: [color=#006ABD]DSP LLE recompiler[/color] • Backend: [color=#006ABD]XAudio2[/color]
Graphics: Backend: [color=#006ABD]Direct3D[/color] • V-Sync: [color=#006ABD]Off[/color]
Enhancements: Res: [color=#006ABD]Native[/color] • AA: [color=#006ABD]None[/color] • AF: [color=#006ABD]1x[/color] • Scaled EFB Copy: [color=#006ABD]On[/color] • Force Texture Filtering: [color=#006ABD]Off[/color] • Per-Pixel Lighting: [color=#006ABD]Off[/color] • Disable Fog: [color=#006ABD]Off[/color]
Hacks: Skip EFB Access: [color=#006ABD]Off[/color] • Ignore Format Changes: [color=#006ABD]On[/color] • Store EFB Copies:[color=#006ABD]Off[/color] • Texture Accuracy: [color=#006ABD]Safest[/color] • XFB: [color=#006ABD]Disable[/color]
Netplay: Buffer: [color=#006ABD]5[/color] • Write Memcards: [color=#006ABD]On[/color] • Record Input: [color=#006ABD]Off[/color] • Pad 0: [color=#006ABD](Host)[/color] • Pads 1-3: [color=#006ABD]None[/color]
Game-Specific: Deterministic dual-core: [color=#006ABD]Not Set[/color] • Everything Else: [color=#006ABD]Default[/color] ("Undetermined")
