Software renderer like pcsx2

Zetchzie · (This post was last modified: 10-02-2013, 06:22 PM by Zetchzie.)

I know this is not the pcsx2 forum but I do love the software renderer on it because it does better then all the other backends so. would it be possible to make the software renderer like pcsx2 uses. im not sure how it works i would do research on how it works but i cannot find any articles on it but from what I know all the other backends on pcsx2 are glitchy but software renderer emulates allot better.

xemnas · 10-02-2013, 06:11 PM #2

Dolphin already has Software Renderer but currently it's crawlingly slow. I believe it will be a lot faster in the future. PCSX2's GSDX Software Renderer is very fast compared to Dolphin's. And it supports multi-core which greatly increases the speed with each additional core. If I understand correctly, it supports unlimited cores.

Zetchzie · 10-02-2013, 06:19 PM #3

(10-02-2013, 06:11 PM)xemnas Wrote: Dolphin already has Software Renderer but currently it's crawlingly slow. I believe it will be a lot faster in the future. PCSX2's GSDX Software Renderer is very fast compared to Dolphin's. And it supports multi-core which greatly increases the speed with each additional core. If I understand correctly, it supports unlimited cores.

well its good to know its in there i cant wait to see it get better Tongue

I always got confused with the software renderer in dolphin but i imagine it will be more explanatory and user friendly in the future

**degasus** · 10-02-2013, 06:42 PM #4

> I do love the software renderer on it because it does better then all the other backends so
So maybe their backends are just slow :-)

In fact, out sw backend is unnecessaryly slow as hell. It could be improved a lot, but I doubt someone will do.

***MayImilae*** · (This post was last modified: 10-02-2013, 06:43 PM by MayImilae.)

The software backend in Dolphin is accuracy focused and entirely single core. The software backend in PCSX2 is multi-threaded and not accuracy focused; plus its hardware backends hardly support any features and run badly (most of their time is spent on software mode). So yea, PCSX2's software plugin is faster.

Dolphin is only as slow as it is because it has matured into very high accuracy, and that accuracy requires better hardware. For example, PCSX2 is roughly comparable to the maturity of Dolphin somewhere between it's 2.0 and 3.0 releases. Play Dolphin 2.0, and you'll see what I mean. It's REALLY fast. This is just the nature of emulation. Development could have just stopped at 2.0, instead they kept moving forward and making it more and more accurate, supporting more and more games and getting rid of glitches. Given time, PCSX2 will become more accuracy focused and slow down too.

Doesn't mean software couldn't be faster in Dolphin though. Tongue

But I can't imagine it becoming faster than hardware. PCSX2 relies on software so much because of how bizzare the PS2 is. If they could run things on hardware decently, they absolutely would ignore the software plugin and focus on hardware just as Dolphin has.

Zetchzie · (This post was last modified: 10-02-2013, 07:04 PM by Zetchzie.)

(10-02-2013, 06:42 PM)MaJoR Wrote: The software backend in Dolphin is accuracy focused and entirely single core. The software backend in PCSX2 is multi-threaded and not accuracy focused; plus its hardware backends hardly support any features and run badly (most of their time is spent on software mode). So yea, PCSX2's software plugin is faster.

Dolphin is only as slow as it is because it has matured into very high accuracy, and that accuracy requires better hardware. For example, PCSX2 is roughly comparable to the maturity of Dolphin somewhere between it's 2.0 and 3.0 releases. Play Dolphin 2.0, and you'll see what I mean. It's REALLY fast. This is just the nature of emulation. Development could have just stopped at 2.0, instead they kept moving forward and making it more and more accurate, supporting more and more games and getting rid of glitches. Given time, PCSX2 will become more accuracy focused and slow down too.

Doesn't mean software couldn't be faster in Dolphin though. But I can't imagine it becoming faster than hardware. PCSX2 relies on software so much because of how bizzare the PS2 is. If they could run things on hardware decently, they absolutely would ignore the software plugin and focus on hardware just as Dolphin has.

I really wouldn't mind to see a branch focus on just speed like hashless. as im a user on pcsx2 i must say that for ppl that don't focus on accuracy all 115 games i've played on it have no probs with the software renderer but on other backends the games are riddled with glitches. of course i play this on my dads cpu that is way more powerful than mine and dolphin is being blocked by dep so i cant play anything now. the gamecube isnt nearly as powerful as your emulation specs but I suppose in the future it will be trimmed down once things are figured out

xemnas · (This post was last modified: 10-03-2013, 10:13 AM by xemnas.)

(10-02-2013, 06:42 PM)degasus Wrote: So maybe their backends are just slow :-)

They are very fast actually. I think he means the accuracy.

(10-02-2013, 06:42 PM)MaJoR Wrote: The software backend in Dolphin is accuracy focused and entirely single core. The software backend in PCSX2 is multi-threaded and not accuracy focused; plus its hardware backends hardly support any features and run badly (most of their time is spent on software mode).

GSDX Software Renderer is very accurate. Actually, that is the point. Hardware Renderers don't have many features but they do have important features like scaling up to 6x and custom resolution and texture filtering. Shade boost is a nice feature too but I don't use it. In my opinion, only one important feature missing is proper AA support. It supports MSAA but it's glitchy. However, it also supports FXAA and custom shaders.

Also, it doesn't run badly. It runs perfectly for me. I'm completely satisfied with 4x/3x scaling + FXAA + custom shader.

***MayImilae*** · (This post was last modified: 10-02-2013, 07:15 PM by MayImilae.)

Play Shadow of the Colossus or Metal Gear Solid 3 in a hardware renderer. You'll figure out what they are missing really fast.

xemnas · 10-02-2013, 07:21 PM #9

I finished SotC with a hardware renderer a long time ago. I didn't notice anything obviously wrong. Maybe you used an old version or didn't read Wiki on how to solve known issues?

Zetchzie · (This post was last modified: 10-02-2013, 07:23 PM by Zetchzie.)

(10-02-2013, 07:14 PM)MaJoR Wrote: Play Shadow of the Colossus or Metal Gear Solid 3 in a hardware renderer. You'll figure out what they are missing really fast.

hardware renderer sucks on allot of games things falling through floors, not loading correct textures. the software renderer is more accurate and pretty fast. i remember galerians ash not showing texture and text in hardware but in software everything shows up.