Hyrule Field Slowdown Observation

[obscured]

Can you upload a patched build for us?

[Xtreme2damax]

Sure, give me a moment and I'll have it uploaded.

:Edit: It's uploading now, will post a link once it's finished, will be available at the same place where all my builds are available for download.

Here it is: http://www.xtemu.com/forum/dolphin-x86x64-svn-revision-5807-file120.html

Please note that this will be a bit slower due to soren reverting skids change that removed the StoreFromX64 that was causing slowdowns. I'll revert soren's change after I get some sleep to hopefully give a bit more speed. I will update the file tomorrow after I revert the change.

[StripTheSoul]

Awesome

However, I guess the devs won't like this in the code since it's a hack, right?
Could it be made optional? Like a speed-hack? That would be the best solution cuz only then you can be sure that this code is not responsible for any future issues...

[obscured]

haha this thread is funky.....

edit: thanks for the build.

[StripTheSoul]

blabla, write something, people...otherwise the damn next page won't show
Xtreme, could you please open a new thread, this one sucks big-time with the next page not showing up...

EDIT: Ah, finally ^^

[Monotone]

I've got the PAL version of the Gamecube and the game is still running at the same speed, with and without the patch :/ it turns about 15-16 fps.

How many fps do you have Xtreme2damax?

I've maybe done something wrong, can someone else test with the PAL version?

[skid]

The code to the ZTP speed up patch looks good. Do you know if it speeds up any games other than ZTP? Can you make the hack optional? Also the printf should be replaced with a INFO_LOG.

[obscured]

Here are some of my results on Win 7 64bit on x64 builds:

SVN 5803 (No TP patch) 56% speed
SVN 5807 (with latest patch) 70% speed
SVN 5030 (with old patch) 91% speed

All these speeds are takened in Hyrule field.

[Jack Frost]

Hmm, this adds about 4 fps for me.
ZTP GC PAL, r5807, ZTP map texture found at address 00bc9b00

Edit: Slightly modified it, might squeeze an extra fps every now and then :p Too lazy to do a GUI option right now, but I guess you can figure out what to do.
I'm a bit concerned about the condition in my new Flush_MapTexZTP method tho, are those really supposed to be or's (maybe different ordering could also squeeze another frame, like checking address and tevorder.enable first)?

[fircrestsk8]

monotone, the patch should only speed up areas in and around hyrule field (large, outdoors areas). At what point are you in the game? also, select view, show console and look for a message that says "ZTP map Texture found...". It should pop up the first time you enter hyrule field. If you see this message, the problem is probably due to the JIT problems that Xtreme mentioned, and will be fixed in the next build he puts out. If you don't see this message, It may be that the pattern i noticed is more subtle earlier in the game, and i should therefore make the "texture found" conditions a little more lax.
BTW, i get about 17-20 fps with this hack in hyrule field and full speed nearly everywhere else. I use revision 5807 with "\Source\Core\Core\Src\PowerPC\Jit64\Jit_Integer.cpp" rolled back to revision 5790.

skid, The hack works by identifying a very specific pattern of BP writes that occur in ZTP while in or around hyrule field (This pattern was identified thanks to Kiessel's patch). These writes always occur while a particular texture is being drawn, so once the pattern has been identified, the texture's address is saved and the hack is enabled via a "found" bool variable. The speed increase is then gained by disabling the the normal pipeline flush that occurs during a BPWrite whenever this texture is being drawn. The primitives are then drawn all at once once the end of the pattern is reached (right before the texture becomes deactivated). Basically, it consolidates thousands of small pipeline flushes into several very big flushes.
It's hard to say whether any other game would contain a similar pattern of BP Writes, but i think it is unlikely. That's why i don't think it will affect other games, negatively or positively.

Making the hack optional sounds like a great idea I'm just not too sure how to go about it. I guess the best way would be to add a checkbox to the video plugin config window. If i understand correctly, i should then make this checkbox set a g_config variable (that i would need to create). I would then check the status of this variable with g_activeconfig to control how BPstructs handles BP writes (enabling or disabling the hack). I will probably need some guidance in creating the check box, and making the checkbox control not only g_config but resetting the variables used in BPstructs as well, so that the texture is found every time the box is checked (if that is possible, it might be bad program flow). Any idea where i might be able to find some of this information (I'll probably be able to figure most of it out by shuffling through the code, but i don't want to miss anything important).

The printf has been replaced with an INFO_LOG( VIDEO, ...), thanks for the heads up It will be changed when the "optional" version gets finished.

Xtreme, thanks for putting the build out Hopefully making the hack optional will make it acceptable for a commit.

EDIT: wow, people are postin up a storm

obscured, Hmmm... I was hoping for this patch to run just as fast, or at least nearly as fast, as kiessel's. Anyway could you test it on an older revision, or at least a new revision with Jit_integer rolled back? Either way, thanks for getting some data

jackFrost, Ahhhh, thats how function pointers are used Are the additional function calls really going to speed things up, I thought function calls were slower than inline code... also, I put the address condition first so that the if statement would short-circuit quickly when processing the important BP writes (when the map texture is not currently stored), but swapping the last two conditions may or may not be a little more efficient (i highly doubt it would be noticeable at all). I'm gonna start the GUI enable now, I could use some input if you've done this kind of thing before...