New Super Mario Bros. & Skyward Sword - Max % stuck at 100 - bluetooth passthrough

[Deamaed]

I hope I can explain this correctly. I am using bluetooth passthrough with an original wii module.  It generally works on my main computer other than for NSMB and I just confirmed Skyward sword.  Regardless of the backend, it works with vscync off, but when set to on there are  errors with the USB / bluetooth adapter.

I have another computer that is 10600K and RTX 3070 vs a 9600K and GTX 1080 I am testing now. So here is the crux of it. 
  
When I enable the setting to show max % in addition to FPS, I can see that NSMB and Skyward Sword at the Wii start screen and other areas, the max % is locked at 100%, and issued occur. Other games this figure goes to 300-600%, with the actual speed at 100% still.

What is odd, is that on my other computer, using the same rom and the same bluetooth dongle, the max % is not locked. 

Also odd on the "trouble" system, when I change the game speed in the general settings to either 90% or 110%, the max% is unlocked so the game speed is at 100% but the max % is much higher (and no bluetooth issue).

This happens whether or not the bluetooth adapter is plugged in or not.

I am just trying to understand what would be different between two computers running same version of dolphin, same game, and fairly similar settings would cause this specific set of issues in terms of the game max % not being higher when it should (and likely impacting other things).

[Deamaed]

To reply to this - I have no been able to isolate this specifically to the refresh rate of the monitor.
On my main (living room) system, the TV is 60hz.

On my other system, the monitor can go to 144hz and is using freesync.

If I set my other system monitor to 60hz, the issue arises in NSMB - the speed is 100%, but max speed is also locked at 100%, and there are issues with the wiimotes and I get USB failures in the log. If I set the screen refresh to 75 or higher (75 just being the next available after 60), it works fine with vsync. However, using my other system with freesync off (to test), while the remotes connect instantly and no USB errors, I did notice some issues with the wiimote speaker. Interestingly whether or not vsync is off or on (with freesync or not), the FPS is locked at 59.94 as I assume the game at 100% speed won't produce any more frames

So, all I can surmise is that there is something about NSMB and vscync where if the gamespeed is 100% and the refresh rate is synced to 60 or lower, this issue manifests itself as for some reason with that game the max game speed % itself appears locked to 100% if the screen refresh is also set at 60hz and vsync is on, and if the gamespeed is locked at 100. As noted above, once you alter the game speed up or down this vscyn max game speed % doesn't seem to occur.

This may also explain why it's not a universal issue - people may be simply running their monitors at a higher refresh rate (and with some form of VRR) so the issue doesn't arise.

[themanuel]

I found that enabling VBI Skip resolved all my NSMBW and TLOZSS bluettooth passthrough connectivity issues.

[Deamaed]

I found that enabling VBI Skip resolved all my NSMBW and TLOZSS bluettooth passthrough connectivity issues.

Excellent find! I saw your other post and hopefully for those using passthrough they take not. 

To report, enabling VBI Skip did work and did exactly what I was trying to do in NSBM in terms of unlocking the max%. The max % was now not locked at 100% and was up to 300%+.

A side effect of this in other games as well. My wiimote audio is now more consistent and works at further ranges without crackling or disconnecting.  Furthermore, in Super Mario Galaxy 2 when pointing at file select it would always be jittery as if the remote was quickly turning on and off and vibrating - that seems to be resolved as well.

I will continue testing - but clearly there is some interesting link between bluetooth passthrough and the graphics engine of the Wii and even certain games, and perhaps even hardware specific.

Thanks again! [EDIT: And too bad you didn't post this before I did - would've saved many hours of testing!]

[themanuel]

Oh I wasted hours on that issue years ago when I started using BT pass through so now it was your turn to suffer. At least somebody gave you a solution :-)
I’m really glad about this feature.

[JMC47]

VBI skip shouldn't help this, so we should really try to understand this more.

[themanuel]

I’d be glad to do any tests or provide any info you need

[Deamaed]

VBI skip shouldn't help this, so we should really try to understand this more.

Well, from the blog entry: [Edited out random HTML code]

Sam Bellievau "announced what was discovered with a longer version of the video above. It displayed a game lagging significantly while maintaining crisp audio and snappy controls."

Again not sure what it is about NSMB and Skyward Sword but I for sure noticed there was something up in those games with "max %" showing that the underlying emulation wasn't really running ahead in terms of performance, where other games show max speed as 200% percent and not locked at 100%.

All I can say is that VBI skip suddenly altered this for NSMB (when vsync on and 60hz refresh) and made it work, and also fixed a cursor issue in SMG2.

So - the reference to "snappy controls" suggested to me that without VBI skip there could be some sort of internal lag (even minute), and for those using bluetooth passthrough that was enough to mess up the timing with module that wouldn't happen in a true system. 

I'm just guessing. Would be interesting if those with more knowledge could figure it out.

As noted in my earlier post there is definitely a linkage between bluetooth passthrough and the video settings of Dolphin and the system it is running on. In my case the fact that one monitor could run past 60hz was enough to allow the game to somehow "unlock" the underlying max %, if that makes sense. Or turn on VBI skip.