Metroid Prime 1 GC tips to reduce stuttering

[DolphinPC]

First of all it soesn't completely eliminate the stuttering, but it reduces it to the minimun possible (I have almost no stuttering when using those settings, this makes the game a lot more playable for people who can't stand the stuttering like me, so basically the emulation is almost perfect), But it requires a Very strong PC to get full speed.
My settings are: I enabled Fast Depth calculation (doesn't cause problems in the game), disabled dual core and idle skipping (that's why it requires a very strong pc), disabled bounding box too. I also unticked Ignore format changes, and skip efb access from cpu (don't know if they change anything).

the stuttering in the motroid prime series always freaks me out, and with those settings the games is almost stutter free (after the first times you do some basic actions like shooting, using the morph ball etc) and the emulation (graphics and sound wise) is perfect! (please note that in the first minutes you will encounter some stuttering because the shaders haven't been cached yet, but it's really pretty minor)

Hope it will help it's really a night and day difference for me.

Edit: I have Windows 7 X64, and I used OpenGL. I have GTX 980 (I don't know how AMD cards works with OPENGL)

[cyrax33]

Currently been playing Metroid Prime here and I have to say that I have gotten smooth gameplay overall after last night's Nvidia driver update, even on moments when I would get out of a save station and immediately get attacked by those flying creatures my frames would go down during these rough moments. But now these instances got eliminated last night. However, you mentioned disabling dual core....big disadvantage there. Since other users have different hardware than yours, you have a 5930K whereas I have an i5-4200M on board, these settings doesn't always work for everyone.

Heck I'm using stable 4.0.2 with OpenGL in MP1 ever since and for me, it is the best in overall speed and experience AND no slowdowns while using thermal visor and fights. But again another user with different hardware may try these settings and may or may not work for them, so it all depends on each everyone's hardware. AMD go well with D3D and OpenGL goes well with Nvidia.

[DolphinPC]

Currently been playing Metroid Prime here and I have to say that I have gotten smooth gameplay overall after last night's Nvidia driver update, even on moments when I would get out of a save station and immediately get attacked by those flying creatures my frames would go down during these rough moments. But now these instances got eliminated last night. However, you mentioned disabling dual core....big disadvantage there. Since other users have different hardware than yours, you have a 5930K whereas I have an i5-4200M on board, these settings doesn't always work for everyone.

Heck I'm using stable 4.0.2 with OpenGL in MP1 ever since and for me, it is the best in overall speed and experience AND no slowdowns while using thermal visor and fights. But again another user with different hardware may try these settings and may or may not work for them, so it all depends on each everyone's hardware. AMD go well with D3D and OpenGL goes well with Nvidia.

I think You should try the latest development version the next time you start a game. I said that it has really high system requirements, but it helps with the stuttering. anyway, disabling Fast depth calaculation really helps minimizing the stuttering (especially with dual copre disabled) and it has no negative effects or bugs at all.

[cyrax33]

I've tried one of the latest builds before already with MP1 and it doesn't do it for me. I get significant low frames when accessing the maps and this is caused by how the map is layed out (gridlines) which got remedied back in stable build, and I don't know how this got presented back in latest dev. for me that's why I'm sticking with stable for this one. I've had not so good performance with couple latest dev. builds over the past months or so.

[DolphinPC]

I didn't consider that, but anyway, My tips are NOT for performance increase, they are only for minimizing the micro stuttering (caused by the shader geneneration, not realted to performance). I didn't try Metroid Prime 2 and 3 yet, But I can say that with those settings, both metroid prime 1 and 2 have PERFECT emulation besides the stuttering (No audio or graphical glitches or bugs), and now Metroid Prime is perfect for me (after I built the shadercache a little bit and repeated some actions, I have almost no stuttering anymore).

[cyrax33]

Appreciate the tips. Yes Metroid games are notorious for the cache stutters, glad we both are experiencing minimal to none with MP1. I have MP2 and MP3 as well but haven't given it a try yet to see how improved, same or differ than MP1 is under my settings. If stutters increase then I may have to switch out Dolphin versions to latest dev. and work from there. I'm been trying to complete MP1 first to go on to the next one.

[DolphinPC]

I really hope that it will help other people (I have to mention that disabling per pixel lighting also reduces stuttering a lot, and you have to use all of the options together otherwise the stuttering won't go). I started playing Metroid Prime 2 to see if that helps in there too (I forgot to mention that in each game I completed the prologue twice, and in Metroid Prime 1 it was enough and i didn't have to replay another part of it besides the prologue).

[DolphinPC]

Played for a hour in Metroid Prime 2, and the settings seem to help in there too, even though like Metroid Prime 1, You will have to have some patience, and play the the first 30 minutes twice (in the socned time just continue to plat the game, in the first time you will build the shader cache, and afterwards you'll be able to continue with almost no stutters at all (besides when loading a new area or effcect for the first time, and even then the stuttering is really minor and happens only one time if at all)

From what I've noticed, the stuttering is so annoying because the shader generation happens not only when a new effect is loaded, or a new action is being done, but also when you enter a new area'region. With my settings, the stuttering only happens when a new effect or a new action is being loaded for the first time and even then it's less noticeable, but the big difference is that the stuttering almost never happens when a new area/region is being loaded (sometimes no stuttering at all, and some times a really minor stutter only, that happens only once). I used dolphin 4.0-6701, and I used the exact same settings for both games. It really helped me, and I hope that people will try it and tell me if it helped them or not. Once again, it requires a very strong PC due to disabling dual core.

[cyrax33]

I figured the same will happen with MP2. Yes you are right, the game is generating a new room right before a blast door is opened. This also happens in real console, some doors stays shut for about 1-2 sec after blasting it. Yes the stuttering is reduced when playing it several times around, or leaving Dolphin running about an hour so. With your settings, I assume the same would occur on my end with my settings under 4.0.2 in MP2 with the stuttering's. But that disabling dual core suggestion gives me the chills.

[DolphinPC]

I figured the same will happen with MP2. Yes you are right, the game is generating a new room right before a blast door is opened. This also happens in real console, some doors stays shut for about 1-2 sec after blasting it. Yes the stuttering is reduced when playing it several times around, or leaving Dolphin running about an hour so. With your settings, I assume the same would occur on my end with my settings under 4.0.2 in MP2 with the stuttering's. But that disabling dual core suggestion gives me the chills.

Unforunately, like I said, I tried many settings combinations, and To reduce the stuttering you need to use the EXACT same settings I used (Change even one little setting and it won't work). with those settings, the generating will reduce much less stuttering then before, and instead of playing for hours, one hour will be more than enough, and entering new rooms will reduce only little stuttering for only one time, if at all. that's the big fifference in the sttings- You won't have stuttering every time a new area is being generated (that problem is far worse than generating new effect for the first time), and that makes the movement between areas much smoother and almost completely stutter free, which is the biggest improvement.