Makes a fast HDD dolphin also faster?

Hippox77 · (This post was last modified: 01-25-2013, 12:36 AM by Hippox77.)

I thought it'd might not make a lot of sense. haha. I think you answered it nicely, anyhow, though. Gotta run for work now. Smile

Edit:

''What do you mean by that? Do you mean that the shaders are called very
often? Or possibly that the shaders are recompiled very often?''

Yes, it seems that the shaders are recompiled often. Probably after Dolphin reset, I think, at least.

''Wait what? You want to pre-cache the cache?''

Yes. SSBB is a competitive game, and eliminating/reducing these skips, seems like a worthy goal. It be worth the extra loading time/more RAM needed, if such was indeed some of the side-effects. That is, If you could make game specific, customizable profiles for games that would allow such options to exits.

But then you say this:

''Dolphin stores the shader cache on the HDD. The cache entries are
persistant as long as they aren't invalidated by certain conditions
(which from what I gather are fairly rare).''

Is this really the case? Because it doesn't seem so to me, at least? I don't know.

''That makes no sense. How would you optimize the shader cache for specific games?''

By having it be more reusable by storing it much longer/infinite despite extra resources needed? Like, longer load times/more RAM needed.

But this is all too technically for me. I am fumbling in the dark. lol. All I know is that I get these skips and thought It could be cured by allowing Dolphin to use more RAM/increasing load times by choice. And possibly by having a fast SDD. Sorry I am noob Smile

**RachelB** · (This post was last modified: 01-25-2013, 02:13 AM by RachelB.)

Quote: All I know is that I get these skips and thought It could be cured by allowing Dolphin to use more RAM/increasing load times by choice.

Feel free to put your game on a ram disk, and see if it prevents the stuttering.

Hippox77 · (This post was last modified: 01-25-2013, 03:34 AM by Hippox77.)

(01-25-2013, 02:13 AM)RachelB Wrote:
Quote: All I know is that I get these skips and thought It could be cured by allowing Dolphin to use more RAM/increasing load times by choice.
Feel free to put your game on a ram disk, and see if it prevents the stuttering.

I don't have one, myself. Or I'd have tried it out. Messing with computers is fun. Wink

But doesn't sound like it'd do much for Dolphin, as you guys pointed out, so I am holding out for now. Besides, I am not complaining about Dolphin's performance, or even about skips that doesn't actually ruin anything for me. It's a small thing, really, but you can discuss these things, still, and not be 'greedy'. I am very satisfied. Sorry, if I sounded 'greedy'. :p

**ExtremeDude2** · 01-25-2013, 03:45 AM **#14**

Technically every one does has a RAM disk I suppose, they just need a program to use it XD

**RachelB** · 01-25-2013, 04:48 AM **#15**

(01-25-2013, 03:27 AM)Hippox77 Wrote:
(01-25-2013, 02:13 AM)RachelB Wrote:
Quote: All I know is that I get these skips and thought It could be cured by allowing Dolphin to use more RAM/increasing load times by choice.
Feel free to put your game on a ram disk, and see if it prevents the stuttering.
I don't have one, myself. Or I'd have tried it out. Messing with computers is fun. But doesn't sound like it'd do much for Dolphin, as you guys pointed out, so I am holding out for now. Besides, I am not complaining about Dolphin's performance, or even about skips that doesn't actually ruin anything for me. It's a small thing, really, but you can discuss these things, still, and not be 'greedy'. I am very satisfied. Sorry, if I sounded 'greedy'. :p

A ram disk is a virtual hdd stored in ram. Google can explain more.

**AnyOldName3** · 01-25-2013, 05:42 AM **#16**

I thought you were meaning a dedicated DDR3 storage drive (including a battery so it doesn't get wiped when you shut down). I thought you were suggesting he spend a large amount on one of these.

**NaturalViolence** · 01-25-2013, 09:23 AM **#17**

Ramdisk != SSD

What you're describing would be a type of high end SSD (they do still sell SSDs that use dram but they're only for enterprise systems).

**AnyOldName3** · 01-26-2013, 04:53 AM **#18**

I realise that now. I was pointing out that I didn't at first.

kernel64 · 01-26-2013, 07:35 AM **#19**

Quote:Feel free to put your game on a ram disk, and see if it prevents the stuttering.

Just make sure you have enough ram for, say, SSBB which is an 8 GB image, otherwise your RAM disk could be swapping to HD. Tongue

**NaturalViolence** · 01-27-2013, 06:55 AM **#20**

ExtremeDude2 Wrote:Technically every one does has a RAM disk I suppose, they just need a program to use it XD

.....what?

Hippox77 Wrote:I thought it'd might not make a lot of sense. haha. I think you answered it nicely, anyhow, though. Gotta run for work now. Smile

Edit:

''What do you mean by that? Do you mean that the shaders are called very
often? Or possibly that the shaders are recompiled very often?''

Yes, it seems that the shaders are recompiled often. Probably after Dolphin reset, I think, at least.

How do you know that?

Hippox77 Wrote:''Wait what? You want to pre-cache the cache?''

Yes. SSBB is a competitive game, and eliminating/reducing these skips, seems like a worthy goal. It be worth the extra loading time/more RAM needed, if such was indeed some of the side-effects. That is, If you could make game specific, customizable profiles for games that would allow such options to exits.

That makes no sense.

Hippox77 Wrote:But then you say this:

''Dolphin stores the shader cache on the HDD. The cache entries are
persistant as long as they aren't invalidated by certain conditions
(which from what I gather are fairly rare).''

Is this really the case? Because it doesn't seem so to me, at least? I don't know.

Yes, that is really the case.

Hippox77 Wrote:''That makes no sense. How would you optimize the shader cache for specific games?''

By having it be more reusable by storing it much longer/infinite despite extra resources needed? Like, longer load times/more RAM needed.

HOW?

We cache every shader that can be cached when it can be cached without breaking the game. And caching more shaders isn't going to eat up more ram or increase loading times.

Hippox77 Wrote:But this is all too technically for me. I am fumbling in the dark. lol. All I know is that I get these skips and thought It could be cured by allowing Dolphin to use more RAM/increasing load times by choice. And possibly by having a fast SDD. Sorry I am noob

Your stutters could be caused by many different things. The shader cache will only cause stuttering the first time that do something (unless you manually clear the cache). Every time you run the game after that and do the same thing the same shaders should be used and therefore should not need to be cached.

Common sources of stuttering in dolphin are audio emulation, gpu microstuttering, and incorrect refresh rates. List your settings and we can start eliminating possibilities.