Hyrule Field Slowdown Observation

[Starscream]

I think what he is saying is that the FIFO code that is currently in place works to some extent, but that same code is what is keeping some games that need "more correct code" from working at all. In other words, the code is decent enough to allow the games that do not require the timing to be perfectly correct to work, but does stop some games that are looking for "more detailed timing" from working. Correct me if I'm wrong here, skid.

[skid]

Xtreme2damax, possibly, but pretty unlikely. The current FIFO code in Dolphin is using speed hacks that say "run the GPU as fast as possible." As fast as possible is as fast as possible, if you get what I mean.

Starscream, yes, that is correct.

[Xtreme2damax]

If this won't fix the issue, what could likely be done to fix the issue? We are just making generalizations what the problem likely is, but is the actual issue and source of the slowdowns known yet?

I see kiesel's patch as a short term solution, it presents some issues with rendering textures and certain effects so finding a way to flush this data to the pipeline without these massive slowdowns should be figured out if possible.

Also, why is this problem triggered in a specific area of the game at a certain time? For example the slowdown doesn't kick in until visiting Hyrule Field North. As soon as you visit north Hyrule Field, Hyrule Field southwest which was previously running at full speed has lost about 10 FPS.

[Starscream]

I think it's pretty obvious that the problem is a video issue, not anything else. When you progress in the game, the other areas that open up forces the game to render more of the Hyrule Field area. When you're in HF earlier, not all of it has to be accounted for, then when other areas open up, more data is needed for more map area to be used. Once you enter the HF area after more areas open up, the entire area and all possible land areas have to be rendered in case the player chooses to go that way.

[Xtreme2damax]

I thought that was already debunked, it was tested before and after with wireframe mode and free look and was determined that there isn't any additional geometry being rendered, at least nothing that would be responsible for the slowdowns.

[Starscream]

Everything that Kiesel stated on page 18 and post 171 (according to him, and me) says that is it a video issue.

"The slowdown happens while the game draws the ingame map"

"Every time the texturing environment is changed, dolphin does a flush of the video pipeline, with is pretty costly."

"Hyrule field consists over all of 127 000 triangles, which the game draws to the map in chunks of 9-10 triangles, leading to 12 700 video pipeline flushes per frame. "

"I made the relevant function not emit the pipeline flush on texture environment change, instantly increasing framerate by 200%"

You've even stated yourself that the patch increased the FPS and does work.

[Xtreme2damax]

Yes, but my point is there is something else triggering the slowdowns, not necessarily just the geometry. The fact that Hyrule Field SouthWest was running full speed and is 10 FPS slower after vising Hyrule Field North without any additional geometry being rendered points to another problem in the video or fifo code.

As to why the slowdown is only triggered after visiting other parts of Hyrule Field such as Hyrule Field North is yet to be discovered.

[jakeslogan]

(05-06-2010, 11:58 AM)[SS] Starscream Wrote: I think it's pretty obvious that the problem is a video issue, not anything else. When you progress in the game, the other areas that open up forces the game to render more of the Hyrule Field area. When you're in HF earlier, not all of it has to be accounted for, then when other areas open up, more data is needed for more map area to be used. Once you enter the HF area after more areas open up, the entire area and all possible land areas have to be rendered in case the player chooses to go that way.

Maybe, maybe not, hope this will help.

(05-03-2010, 11:41 PM)shortzi Wrote:

(05-03-2010, 11:25 PM)jakeslogan Wrote: any1 here know TLoZelda Oot? Emulator on PC show that it has a cheat that allows Link to levitate, with that cheat u can go to many inaccessible place(access only until certain things have done).
How bout adding in the cheat list of Twilight Princess that kind of cheatcode? with this cheat, We may be able to gain access to the North Hyrule field in the begining and see if the slowdown actually happens???

I was just about to post that, i have the full area map open without doing anything in the game, One quick run-a-round, From East-Noth-West-South, and it still slows down.

As soon as you hit Hyrule Field north frames drop 5fps, then as every other map is open frames continue to drop untill around 12fps.

Even if after i done that, enter back into the woods, then return to the field the slowdown is still present.

I can attach a save file if anyone wants to play with it.

*EDIT* Gamesave and Game config attached.
Save is PAL NGC version.
GameConfig has cheats moonjump etc activated.

[skid]

(05-06-2010, 01:46 PM)Xtreme2damax Wrote: points to another problem in the video or fifo code.

Yes, maybe go back to the Intel VTune results and take another look at what functions are chewing up a large amount of time (aside from the fifo.cpp stuff). Can you try making another profile that runs for a longer period of time in that area during the slowdown? I wonder if the GPU is waiting for the CPU thread??

(05-06-2010, 01:46 PM)Xtreme2damax Wrote: As to why the slowdown is only triggered after visiting other parts of Hyrule Field such as Hyrule Field North is yet to be discovered.

Only Nintendo can answer that question. They wrote the Zelda code. I'm sorry, but it is pointless to continue asking why in this forum.

[Xtreme2damax]

Well sorry for wasting anyone's time, thought maybe it would help the developers or encourage other developers to look into it.

Right now I've only seen a couple/few developers that have responded to this thread including yourself, and no one else except the same developers have really bothered responding. Even though I (mostly myself) and other members who have posted have provided a ton of information, not a whole lot of developers have taken an interest in fixing this issue as can be perceived by the lack of developer responses.

I suppose this issue will just have to persist, it's either deal with the slowdowns or use Kiesel-Steins patch and break some stuff. This makes me wish my Wii wasn't bricked so I could play my copy of Twilight Princess without issues.

I however wish you luck with your fifo fixes, perhaps by chance it may fix this issue as well. However I am not going to continue stressing myself over an issue or continue providing anything further if there isn't a possibility or interest for this issue to be fixed by most of the developers.

Maybe you can see what the actual hardware is doing different than Dolphin in Hyrule Field and work from there, I don't know.