Is it possible to speed up Dolphin Emulator?

[Adnan Bukvic]

As the title says "Is it possible to speed up Dolphin Emulator?"

Usually when I play Wii games, (mostly Super Mario Galaxy 2) the game is running on about 15 to 25 FPS while playing and around 40 FPS at cutscenes.
Now my question is, can I make the game run faster (40 FPS while playing) without upgrading or replacing my computer?

Here are my specs:

Manufacturer: Lenovo
Device: IdeaPad 320S 14 inch
CPU: Intel Core i3-7130U
CPU speed: 2.70
CPU cores: 2
GPU: Intel HD Graphics 620
RAM amount: 4GB
RAM type: DDR4
Storage amount: 120GB
Storage type: SSD
Score by PCMark10: 2 831,00
Dolphin version: 5.0
OS: Windows 10
OS version: Home x64

Hope someone can help me!

See ya!

[DJBarry004]

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Int.../3120vs876

SMG 2 is particularly demanding, both CPU and GPU-wise. Make sure you´re using the lowest settings possible and that you´re using High Performance mode.

You may want to keep the temps cool so your ULV CPU doesn´t slow itself.

Also, use the latest dev builds.

[Adnan Bukvic]

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Int.../3120vs876

SMG 2 is particularly demanding, both CPU and GPU-wise. Make sure you´re using the lowest settings possible and that you´re using High Performance mode.

You may want to keep the temps cool so your ULV CPU doesn´t slow itself.

Also, use the latest dev builds.

What setting do you recommend to change to the lowest?

[Shonumi]

For SMG, first try setting your IR to 1x. It's been a long time since I played it, but I remember that certain spots were pretty demanding depending on resolution.

You can also try CPU underclocking in Dolphin's settings (I forget where it is), but messing with it too much can lead to unpredictable/unstable results.

[mstreurman]

As the title says "Is it possible to speed up Dolphin Emulator?"

Usually when I play Wii games, (mostly Super Mario Galaxy 2) the game is running on about 15 to 25 FPS while playing and around 40 FPS at cutscenes.
Now my question is, can I make the game run faster (40 FPS while playing) without upgrading or replacing my computer?

Here are my specs:

Manufacturer: Lenovo
Device: IdeaPad 320S 14 inch
CPU: Intel Core i3-7130U
CPU speed: 2.70
CPU cores: 2
GPU: Intel HD Graphics 620
RAM amount: 4GB
RAM type: DDR4
Storage amount: 120GB
Storage type: SSD
Score by PCMark10: 2 831,00
Dolphin version: 5.0
OS: Windows 10
OS version: Home x64

Hope someone can help me!  

See ya!

There is 1 thing you really have to keep in mind:
The CPU is an Ultra Low Power one and not made for high-end emulation or sustained performance, it is made to last long while running on a battery and/or stay cool in a small case.


That said, before you start make the following changes to your system:
0. Make sure your laptop is plugged in to a power outlet at all times.
1. Make sure your Windows is fully up to date. (No more updates available in Windows Update)
2. Download and install the latest drivers from the Intel site. (https://downloadmirror.intel.com/27803/a...0.6094.exe as of 28 May 2018)
3. Download the latest Dolphin development version from the top of the download page, extract it to a new and clean folder and create an empty portable.txt in the same place as Dolphin.exe.
(This will put Dolphin in portable mode and makes a clean configuration inside the Dolphin User folder instead of inside of My Documents\Dolphin Emulator this also means any savegames you had will be (temporarily) unavailable and put Dolphin back into Factory Settings)
4. Set your Windows Power options to High Performance.
5. Close ALL applications: not a single Browser, musicplayer, videoplayer or Streaming/recording app open. Not even Rivatuner or whatever you use to measure your FPS externally.

Start Dolphin, don't change anything except for:
1. Shader Compilation > Synchronous ---> This will introduce some shaderstutter but that will go away the more you play that specific game.
2. Compile Shaders at Start-up > Ticked ---> This will make starting your game take a bit longer, but will be faster for slower systems
3. Graphics Back-end > Direct3D
4. Internal Resolution (IR) > 1x
5. Anti-Aliassing (AA) > 1x
6. Anisotropic Filtering (AF) > 1x
7. Sound Back-end > HLE + CubeB
8. Controller settings
9. Rom/NAND/Save paths

Now check if your game runs at 100% if not > Your computer is too slow or is throttling down because it gets too hot. There is nothing that we can do about it without breaking the game (see bottom paragraph)


If it does run at 100% take the following steps one by one, testing in between, to get the highest quality settings for YOUR system and THIS SPECIFIC game:
1. Change Shader Compilation to Asynchronous (Ubershaders) > To eliminate shader compilation stuttering.
2. Increase the IR 1 step at a time, testing if the game still runs 100% in between. Do not go higher than your maximum native resolution (I guess 3xIR)
3. Increase the AF 1 step at a time, testing if the game still runs 100% in between.
4. Increase the AA 1 step at a time, testing if the game still runs 100% in between.

As soon as any of the increases have a slowdown, go back 1 step and move on to the next setting.
If you have found the best settings you can (if you wish) delete the portable.txt and move over the contents of your Dolphin\User folder to My Documents

Finally if nothing helps: There are some settings you can make that will have adverse effects on emulation accuracy and that can lead to: Crashes, Freezes, Graphical glitches, very strange behavior or uncompletable games.
If you decide to go down this road, please mention that you did that and expect us to request to turn these settings back to default if there are issues with your game.
1. Underclock the Emulated CPU, go down in steps of 5MHz, until you reach a playable state.
2. Change the game .ini files to turn off the emulation of some very needed functions

[Adnan Bukvic]

There is 1 thing you really have to keep in mind:
The CPU is an Ultra Low Power one and not made for high-end emulation or sustained performance, it is made to last long while running on a battery and/or stay cool in a small case.


That said, before you start make the following changes to your system:
0. Make sure your laptop is plugged in to a power outlet at all times.
1. Make sure your Windows is fully up to date. (No more updates available in Windows Update)
2. Download and install the latest drivers from the Intel site. (https://downloadmirror.intel.com/27803/a...0.6094.exe as of 28 May 2018)
3. Download the latest Dolphin development version from the top of the download page, extract it to a new and clean folder and create an empty portable.txt in the same place as Dolphin.exe.
(This will put Dolphin in portable mode and makes a clean configuration inside the Dolphin User folder instead of inside of My Documents\Dolphin Emulator this also means any savegames you had will be (temporarily) unavailable and put Dolphin back into Factory Settings)
4. Set your Windows Power options to High Performance.
5. Close ALL applications: not a single Browser, musicplayer, videoplayer or Streaming/recording app open. Not even Rivatuner or whatever you use to measure your FPS externally.

Start Dolphin, don't change anything except for:
1. Shader Compilation > Synchronous ---> This will introduce some shaderstutter but that will go away the more you play that specific game.
2. Compile Shaders at Start-up > Ticked ---> This will make starting your game take a bit longer, but will be faster for slower systems
3. Graphics Back-end > Direct3D
4. Internal Resolution (IR) > 1x
5. Anti-Aliassing (AA) > 1x
6. Anisotropic Filtering (AF) > 1x
7. Sound Back-end > HLE + CubeB
8. Controller settings
9. Rom/NAND/Save paths

Now check if your game runs at 100% if not > Your computer is too slow or is throttling down because it gets too hot. There is nothing that we can do about it without breaking the game (see bottom paragraph)


If it does run at 100% take the following steps one by one, testing in between, to get the highest quality settings for YOUR system and THIS SPECIFIC game:
1. Change Shader Compilation to Asynchronous (Ubershaders) > To eliminate shader compilation stuttering.
2. Increase the IR 1 step at a time, testing if the game still runs 100% in between. Do not go higher than your maximum native resolution (I guess 3xIR)
3. Increase the AF 1 step at a time, testing if the game still runs 100% in between.
4. Increase the AA 1 step at a time, testing if the game still runs 100% in between.

As soon as any of the increases have a slowdown, go back 1 step and move on to the next setting.
If you have found the best settings you can (if you wish) delete the portable.txt and move over the contents of your Dolphin\User folder to My Documents

Finally if nothing helps: There are some settings you can make that will have adverse effects on emulation accuracy and that can lead to: Crashes, Freezes, Graphical glitches, very strange behavior or uncompletable games.
If you decide to go down this road, please mention that you did that and expect us to request to turn these settings back to default if there are issues with your game.
1. Underclock the Emulated CPU, go down in steps of 5MHz, until you reach a playable state.
2. Change the game .ini files to turn off the emulation of some very needed functions

[color=#000000]Is an i5-7400 and NVIDIA 730 2GB better?[/color]

[color=#000000]Maybe I should upgrade? [/color]

[DJBarry004]

[color=#000000]Is an i5-7400 and NVIDIA 730 2GB better?[/color]

[color=#000000]Maybe I should upgrade? [/color]

Pretty much better. Possibility of higher IRs and no limitations in overclocking. But, those are desktop components. 

I´d say that it would depend if you need mobility or not.

[KHg8m3r]

The Nvidia GT 730 is equivalent to the Intel HD 620. Get a Nvidia GTX 750 at the least

[Adnan Bukvic]

The Nvidia GT 730 is equivalent to the Intel HD 620. Get a Nvidia GTX 750 at the least

Great!

[swmas]

May be power wise but the drivers are superior for the nvidia card. The GT 730 is fine for emulating GC even at 3x native resolution. I used to play Twilight Princess at 3x on a GT 630 at full speed.