Resident Evil 4 (GC) PAL - 50/60 Hz option no longer accessible

[dolphinluv]

Hi all!

When first launching RE4 in Dolphin (Windows 10 x64) recently, I was able to choose between 50 and 60 Hz refresh rate by holding the B button on game startup. I first chose 60 Hz; on next launch, I used the same method and instead chose 50 Hz.

Since then, holding B when launching no longer brings up this choice. 

I've reinstalled Dolphin, erased my RE4 save and system file through the GC BIOS, and I still can't access the 50/60 Hz selector. I've tried it in the latest Dolphin beta (5.0-16380), the latest development build (5.0-16621), and the old 5.0 stable build. Tried with different controllers. Even with a new Dolphin Emulator folder in Documents, all fresh files and memory cards, the problem was still there.

Other games allow me to switch back and forth each time.

I found a ticket for this issue here. I don't know what "SRM" refers to in the response.

I'd be grateful for any insight!

[AdmiralCurtiss]

The Gamecube's SRAM (which in Dolphin is stored at [userdir]/GC/SRAM.raw) stores whether it should display the 60Hz prompt on next boot or not, so I suspect that's what the response refers to.

This is an odd one, not sure what could cause this exactly. If something caused this to happen on console you'd think it would be more well-known... you could try deleting that SRAM file so it gets regenerated (make a backup before, so we have a reference 'broken' state for debugging) but even if that worked it wouldn't really explain why.

[DJBarry004]

You may also want to check that Progressive Scan is enabled.

[AdmiralCurtiss]

PAL 50/60Hz does not care about progressive scan.

[dolphinluv]

I've figured it out!

The solution: run another game at 60 Hz first, then launch RE4 - the latter will automatically give a prompt.

The few games I've tested all behave this way. If 60 Hz is opted in to on one boot, the next boot (of the same game or another) will automatically give the 60 Hz prompt again (without holding B). When 50 Hz is selected, the prompt will stop appearing automatically on boot until opting back in with B.

RE4's outlying behaviour is that holding B won't force it - another game must run before to take it back from 50 to 60 Hz.

I guess it's always been like this, I just never noticed!

The Gamecube's SRAM (which in Dolphin is stored at [userdir]/GC/SRAM.raw) stores whether it should display the 60Hz prompt on next boot or not, so I suspect that's what the response refers to.

This is an odd one, not sure what could cause this exactly. If something caused this to happen on console you'd think it would be more well-known... you could try deleting that SRAM file so it gets regenerated (make a backup before, so we have a reference 'broken' state for debugging) but even if that worked it wouldn't really explain why.

Ah, I see. I've just given this a shot to see whether it works - deleting the SRAM file makes no difference whether the prompt appears.