Max FPS, but games still choppy

[tomawashi]

Hi all,

I have a problem that happens with all versions of dolphin, with any settings.
My config should be powerful enough to run most games : i5 3570k @4.4 Ghz, Radeon HD 7870 XT, 8Gb RAM.
The FPS counter is always at its max (60 FPS in Mario Kart Wii, 30 FPS in zelda WW or Zelda TP, etc.) but the games are not smooth. It happens whatever resolution I run them at, whatever internal resolution, etc. The "choppiness" is totally random and doesn't depend on what is going on in the game.
I tried to change the frame limiter, auto, audio, by FPS... It does not change anything.

Is this just me, or does it happen to everyone ??

Thanks !

(Sorry if my English is not great, I'm French... :p )

[haddockd]

Have you tried disabling vsync in Dolphin and your video card's control panel? Sometimes that can cause choppiness.

[tomawashi]

Have you tried disabling vsync in Dolphin and your video card's control panel? Sometimes that can cause choppiness.

Yes I did that, actually it's even worse with vsync enabled. But still, without vsync, it's choppy too.

[xystus]

I've got a similar config. What I discovered, is that when your GPU load is too low your AMD GPU can clock back to low-power clock-speeds. Then it could switch back to "gaming" speeds when a scene got a little heavier on the GPU - this switching back & forth caused choppiness for me in games like Donkey Kong Country Return, Star Fox Assault and Soul Calibur 2.

When I increased the load on the GPU, the clock-speeds didn't go into low-power mode and the stuttering was gone.

Try increasing IR (rendering resolution) to 3x or 4x. Furthermore, enable pixel lighting and maybe even MSAA. These are all GPU related improvement - if I'm not mistaken & increase the load on your GPU.

If this doesn't help, you could also try enabling Vsync. I see you've already tried the framelimiting options which can also be the cause of the problems you're having.
edit: already tried this I see

[tomawashi]

I've got a similar config. What I discovered, is that when your GPU load is too low your AMD GPU can clock back to low-power clock-speeds. Then it could switch back to "gaming" speeds when a scene got a little heavier on the GPU - this switching back & forth caused choppiness for me in games like Donkey Kong Country Return, Star Fox Assault and Soul Calibur 2.

When I increased the load on the GPU, the clock-speeds didn't go into low-power mode and the stuttering was gone.

Try increasing IR (rendering resolution) to 3x or 4x. Furthermore, enable pixel lighting and maybe even MSAA. These are all GPU related improvement - if I'm not mistaken & increase the load on your GPU.

If this doesn't help, you could also try enabling Vsync. I see you've already tried the framelimiting options which can also be the cause of the problems you're having.
edit: already tried this I see

Good idea ! But I just tried and it doesn't work

My HD 7870 is overclocked (GPU 1170 Mhz and memory 1560Mhz)
I tried to run mario kart wii with catalyst overdrive control panel open, so I could see GPU load. With internal resolution x4 and pixel lighting, I get around 35% and it's still choppy (60 FPS all the time). If I set AA on 2 samples, it goes up to 98% and the game lags (FPS goes down)

Maybe 35% is not enough, but I don't know how to get it to 60 or 70% to check if it works.

What about you ? Your games are smooth ?

Edit : I also can't see any difference between 32 and 64 bits version. Is it normal ?

[xystus]

Yep, most of my games are smooth, except some REAL heavy CPU monsters like F-Zero GX and Metroid Prime. But I did a lot of tweaking with options and I use Dolphin 3.5 for certain games (DX9 and DX11) and 4.0 for the rest (OpenGL & DX11). I've got a custom ini file for each game (I love tweaking haha).

-35% load average works great for me, so that's not the problem.
-Use 64bits Dolphin; it's faster than x86.

For example, I use the following config for Mario Kart Wii:

Dolphin 3.5-1597 (because I couln't get it as smooth on Dolphin 4.0):
DX11 renderer
MSAA = 0
EFBScale = 7 (4x IR)
VSync = True
DisableFog = True
Audio framelimit, Xaudio sound
Per-pixel-lighting, scaled EFB copy, 16xAF
Fast depth calc. hack

[tomawashi]

Yep, most of my games are smooth, except some REAL heavy CPU monsters like F-Zero GX and Metroid Prime. But I did a lot of tweaking with options and I use Dolphin 3.5 for certain games (DX9 and DX11) and 4.0 for the rest (OpenGL & DX11). I've got a custom ini file for each game (I love tweaking haha).

-35% load average works great for me, so that's not the problem.
-Use 64bits Dolphin; it's faster than x86.

For example, I use the following config for Mario Kart Wii:

Dolphin 3.5-1597 (because I couln't get it as smooth on Dolphin 4.0):
DX11 renderer
MSAA = 0
EFBScale = 7 (4x IR)
VSync = True
DisableFog = True
Audio framelimit, Xaudio sound
Per-pixel-lighting, scaled EFB copy, 16xAF
Fast depth calc. hack

Wow great, I have to try that !
Do you also have a custom ini for wind waker and twilight princess ?
Would you mind sharing your inis ?

Edit : I tried the version you told about, and it's really great for mario kart GC and wii, and new super mario bros, they are totally smooth now ! Many thanks
BUT they are terrible with zelda WW and TP. Maybe another version is better ?

Also, I noticed in AMD overdrive that the frequency seems to vary, the GPU sometimes goes down to 500Mhz ! So I think you were right after all ! But it's difficult to find the options, for EACH game, which will prevent the GPU from slowing down... Is there a way to make it run full speed all the time, no matter how demanding is the task ?

[xystus]

Wow great, I have to try that !
Do you also have a custom ini for wind waker and twilight princess ?
Would you mind sharing your inis ?

Edit : I tried the version you told about, and it's really great for mario kart GC and wii, and new super mario bros, they are totally smooth now ! Many thanks
BUT they are terrible with zelda WW and TP. Maybe another version is better ?

Also, I noticed in AMD overdrive that the frequency seems to vary, the GPU sometimes goes down to 500Mhz ! So I think you were right after all ! But it's difficult to find the options, for EACH game, which will prevent the GPU from slowing down... Is there a way to make it run full speed all the time, no matter how demanding is the task ?

Good to hear, glad to have helped

Setting IR to 4x helps keeping the clockspeeds relatively high. Also, just try enabling AA for a game and check how it affects your fps.

My Zelda windwaker settings:
Dolphin Dolphin-x64_4.0-156
D3D renderer
auto limiter (not audio)
vsync on
IR 4x
per-pixel-lighting, scaled EFB copy, 16x AF, fastdepth calc. hack

My Zelda Twilight Princes settings:
Dolphin Dolphin-x64_4.0-156
OPENGL renderer
auto limiter (not audio)
vsync on
IR 3x
mpdecoder hack, per-pixel-lighting, scaled EFB copy, 16x AF, fastdepth calc. hack


And remember: you got more PC-power than me, so you could probably do Zelda TP @IR 4x as well + try the MSAA settings. You could also try disabling vsync on both presets - works good for me too.

[tomawashi]

Wow great, I have to try that !
Do you also have a custom ini for wind waker and twilight princess ?
Would you mind sharing your inis ?

Edit : I tried the version you told about, and it's really great for mario kart GC and wii, and new super mario bros, they are totally smooth now ! Many thanks
BUT they are terrible with zelda WW and TP. Maybe another version is better ?

Also, I noticed in AMD overdrive that the frequency seems to vary, the GPU sometimes goes down to 500Mhz ! So I think you were right after all ! But it's difficult to find the options, for EACH game, which will prevent the GPU from slowing down... Is there a way to make it run full speed all the time, no matter how demanding is the task ?

Good to hear, glad to have helped

Setting IR to 4x helps keeping the clockspeeds relatively high. Also, just try enabling AA for a game and check how it affects your fps.

My Zelda windwaker settings:
Dolphin Dolphin-x64_4.0-156
D3D renderer
auto limiter (not audio)
vsync on
IR 4x
per-pixel-lighting, scaled EFB copy, 16x AF, fastdepth calc. hack

My Zelda Twilight Princes settings:
Dolphin Dolphin-x64_4.0-156
OPENGL renderer
auto limiter (not audio)
vsync on
IR 3x
mpdecoder hack, per-pixel-lighting, scaled EFB copy, 16x AF, fastdepth calc. hack


And remember: you got more PC-power than me, so you could probably do Zelda TP @IR 4x as well + try the MSAA settings. You could also try disabling vsync on both presets - works good for me too.

Thanks a lot, I'll try these settings !

One more question about the Zeldas : Do you use custom texture packs ?

[pauldacheez]

If your GPU's going between clockspeeds too often, just put Dolphin on a high-performance profile in the Catalyst drivers. This affects the Nvidia drivers as well, and it's an inherent conflict with how Dolphin uses graphics APIs and how the drivers decide to change clockspeeds.