How to INCREASE graphical quality

[Streeter]

Hey everyone! :)

I've been looking around and can only seem to find threads asking how to increase performance and speed. My PC is quite fast indeed, so optimal performance isn't my biggest concern. I want to know what the best settings are to make my games look pretty.

Perhaps it will help if I give you a quick rundown of my PC specs:

CPU: Intel Core is 2700k @ 3.40GHz
RAM: 8.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 665MHz
GPU: 1280MB Geforce GTX 570 (EVGA)
Monitor: 1920x1080@60Hz
OS: MS Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1
Office Chair: Very Comfy

Now, don't refrain from the technical jargon. I know my way around 3d real-time graphics, and wouldn't normally ask for input on these settings, it's just that I don't exactly know the inner-workings of this emulator.

For example, OpenGL is more accurate, but does D3d11 offer any other advantages? It's not like it would provide tessellation-based effects. Should I enable EFB to RAM caching? Anything that can make this look fabulous.

Thanks in advance!

[Starscream]

You want pretty, change your Internal Resolution to 4x and your AA to 9x, then watch your graphics card choke and lower it accordingly.

[Streeter]

You want pretty, change your Internal Resolution to 4x and your AA to 9x, then watch your graphics card choke and lower it accordingly.

Setting my resolution to 4x seems kind of useless unless you've got some nice downsampling algorithm, which is the kind of stuff I'd like to know (and why I posted this thread!).

And setting AA to 9x is only for Dx9, when there's Dx11 and OpenGL (the most accurate) available, both of which with much different AA features . What type of AA does Dx11 offer? MSAA? It doesn't seem so clear to me.

I'm looking for more of a discussion than "increase resolution and anti-aliasing", as I said I'm already fairly familiar with 3d graphics.

[Starscream]

You'll get your wish soon enough. Our resident know-it-all hardware/settings/discussion guru will be able to provide you with pages of info when he arrives. Unfortunately, I do not have as much time to get into the type of discussion you seem to want. My suggestion until someone more satisfying comes along, just crank it up and see what you get.

[NaturalViolence]

Should I enable EFB to RAM caching?

Yes. The ram copies are locked to native resolution (640 x 528) so you need the texture copies to experience higher than native internal resolution. D3d9 is generally the recommended backend although we have seen some fermi (nvidia 400 and 500 series cards) users report better performance with openGL for some reason (it seems to be the only GPU microarchitecture that runs the openGL backend fast). Keep in mind the 4xSSAA shader is currently broken although your card should easily be able to handle 2x IR with 9xSSAA in any game and 2.5x IR with 9xSSAA or even 3x IR with 9xSSAA in most games.

AF can also be used to improve image quality but does occasionaly break certain effects and is generally not recommended. We also advise against force filtering and stay away from xfb. I'd be happy to answer any SPECIFIC QUESTIONS you have, but unfortantely you haven't really asked any yet.

You'll get your wish soon enough. Our resident know-it-all hardware/settings/discussion guru will be able to provide you with pages of info when he arrives.

then watch your graphics card choke and lower it accordingly.

I loled.

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And setting AA to 9x is only for Dx9, when there's Dx11 and OpenGL (the most accurate) available, both of which with much different AA features . What type of AA does Dx11 offer? MSAA? It doesn't seem so clear to me.

Both the openGL and d3d11 backends use MSAA. Although MSAA in the d3d11 backend is only available on d3d10.1 and higher hardware (the d3d11 backend is backwards compatible all the way down to d3d10 hardware but the MSAA feature won't be available on d3d10 hardware).

D3d9 backend uses SSAA but the 4xSSAA shader is currently broken even though a certain developer continues to refuse to admit this. 9xSSAA works but of course is EXTREMELY taxing since it requires rendering the efb targets at 9 times the internal resolution.

Setting my resolution to 4x seems kind of useless unless you've got some nice downsampling algorithm, which is the kind of stuff I'd like to know (and why I posted this thread!).

Dolphin does do downscaling/upscaling, otherwise it wouldn't be able to display the image properly. There are three separate downscaling algorithms, one for downscaling without SSAA (a standard linear filter), another for downscaling with 4xSSAA (broken), and one for downscaling with 9xSSAA (box + linear filters).

Raising the internal resolution past your physical display resolution will further improve image quality, although not by much. It will however do very little if anything to reduce aliasing.

9xSSAA can be used to reduce or eliminate aliasing but it's very demanding, you should be able to use it in combination with 2x IR in any game and 2.5x IR in most games. I recommend using an FXAA hook combined with a high internal resolution (it's not officially supported yet but it does work). FXAA does cause blurring/distortion but the higher your internal resolution is the less of it you see (and the better it is at eliminating aliasing). I have found 4x IR + FXAA to be very satisfying for my card.

[Tuorp]

Good topic, i'm looking for the best quality with my config which is the same of Streeter (unless my proc, a 2600k).
I try to play Xenoblade and it works nearly perfect but the game is stuttering during battle with big light effects.
I tried to O/C my processor to 4,5 Ghz and things gone well until my PC didn't boot anymore... so now, I'm playing with Open GL graphics and the game is still stuttering...
My graphics settings :
-Internal Resolution : Auto (Full-screen)
- AA : 8x
- FA : 16x

What can I change to optimize Xenoblade?

Thank you.

[Fennecat]

I spent a few hours tweaking settings today for another game and logged what changed with each adjustment. I'll share the configuration that made Dolphin run smoother in general and share a few notes I took.

Keep in mind that I'm running AMD hardware on Direct3D 9.


Configuration

General

Code:

Enable Dual Core (In addition to emulating another system's processor, Dolphin also emulates the video card.  Offloading that job to a separate core gives a huge performance boost.)

Don't place any frame limits.

Advanced

Code:

JIT Recompiler (I use it for stability)

Lock Threads to Cores: When this was NOT selected, Windows showed up to 40% more activity in the cores that weren't dedicated to Dolphin.  (I haven't notice any conclusive differences in the game though.)

Audio

Code:

I haven't dumped the LLE to my computer, but I suspect it runs better than the HLE.

LLE on Dedicated Thread: (Could have been unrelated, but I got a crash earlier than usual with this enabled.)

Graphics Settings

D3D9 has been the least buggiest for me.

Advanced
Embedded Frame Buffer

Code:

Allow CPU access and allow format changes.

Copies work best for me when set to RAM and cached with the slider all the way to the left.

External Frame Buffer

Code:

Set it to RAM and keep it there unless you reach a point in the game that won't render unless it's in Real mode.

Other

Code:

I only use Cache Display Lists and OpenMP Texture Decoder.

I still have more to play around with, but I hope this helps for tonight.

[BennyB]

Yeah great topic.

I have been messing around with various settings for the past week or so and testing what looks better, but I would also like to know what is technically better.

One thing that has been on my mind is, Internal Resolution vs AA
I am assuming the AA would provide a better image but It doesn't seem that way.

Eg. In Twilight Princess I can run 4 x IR, no AA (2560x2112) or 2xIR, 9xAA (3840x3168), both with 16xAF and 30fps constant.
I can barely tell the difference but it looks slightly better with no AA and a higher IR. Is this right or are my eyes playing tricks on me?


It terms of how dolphin works, Is it better to lower the Internal Resolution so that AA can be used OR simply max out the IR?




CPU: 2500k @ 4.5GHz
GPU: 2GB 6950
MB: Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3

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Sorry, forgot to mention I always use Direct3D 9

[Fennecat]

Yeah great topic.

I have been messing around with various settings for the past week or so and testing what looks better, but I would also like to know what is technically better.

One thing that has been on my mind is, Internal Resolution vs AA
I am assuming the AA would provide a better image but It doesn't seem that way.

Eg. In Twilight Princess I can run 4 x IR, no AA (2560x2112) or 2xIR, 9xAA (3840x3168), both with 16xAF and 30fps constant.
I can barely tell the difference but it looks slightly better with no AA and a higher IR. Is this right or are my eyes playing tricks on me?


It terms of how dolphin works, Is it better to lower the Internal Resolution so that AA can be used OR simply max out the IR?




CPU: 2500k @ 4.5GHz
GPU: 2GB 6950
MB: Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3

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Sorry, forgot to mention I always use Direct3D 9

Since you have a high-end GPU, crank both to the max!

4x and 3x are nearly identical on small displays, but differences become noticeable on large high resolution displays because the pixels are larger. Adding AA to 4x IR will keep me sober make you have to stand closer to see any jaggies, but isn't necessary otherwise.

[Maave]

Nice GPU, Streeter.

Enhancements:
I'd set the AA to whatever you have available. I run 4xSSAA (D3D9). I didn't notice a huge difference between 4xSSAA and 9xSSAA but it may be noticeable on higher resolution (I use 1x)
NaturalViolence said don't use AF so I guess don't use AF.
2x Internal Resolution should be good. Not much point in going over since nobody has screens that big, lol.

Hacks:
I'm not sure about texture vs RAM, but if you do choose RAM then Enable Cache.

Advanced:
If you check the Widescreen Hack button in Advanced you may need to set the Aspect Ratio to 16:9, my stuff never autos when I run widescreen.

D3d9 backend uses SSAA but the 4xSSAA shader is currently broken even though a certain developer continues to refuse to admit this.

What build? I run 4xSSAA on D3D9 using 3.0-201-dirty. Metroid Prime looked crappy so I turned up the AA and it looked sexy.