"Stable" dev build of Dolphin for OS X

[ach]

Hi,

Can someone point to a *relatively* stable dev build of Dolphin, preferably tested on OS X? I'm currently using Dolphin 4.0, because I tried a dev build several months ago that had a noticeable regression for Brawl. Is there a recent dev build that's pretty regression-free?

Thanks in advance!

[JMC47]

If you find any regressions, please report them so we can fix them.

[ach]

(09-27-2014, 05:12 AM)JMC47 Wrote: If you find any regressions, please report them so we can fix them.

I do, but I can't find a build without regressions. Can you point to a relatively stable dev build?

[JMC47]

What regressions? If you told us what was going on, maybe we could fix them.

Oh, go complain to apple about their shit drivers, it's their fault, not ours.

[ach]

(09-27-2014, 09:55 AM)JMC47 Wrote: What regressions? If you told us what was going on, maybe we could fix them.

Oh, go complain to apple about their shit drivers, it's their fault, not ours.

Why are you assuming I haven't? I've reported several over time on the Google Code issue tracker. At this very moment, the most recent dev build is currently unusable on OS X, due to a broken GCPad that no longer reads input. It broke somewhere between now and 4.0-1192. Most of the bugs I've reported are UI/GUI crash/input related, and don't relate to Apple.

And I wouldn't be so quick to blame Apple. Valve's blog regularly extolls the virtues of OpenGL. And read this: www_extremetech_com/gaming/133824-valve-opengl-is-faster-than-directx-even-on-windows . After tweaking L4D2 to run on OpenGL on Linux, the *Windows* OpenGL version ran faster than the Windows DirectX version *had ever run*. My friend there mentioned this is usually the case when they rewrite games for OpenGL. I wouldn't be surprised if a coordinated Dolphin development effort focused on OpenGL brought the Linux/Mac builds on par with Windows in terms of graphics performance.

[JMC47]

I'm saying that Apple's shitty drivers make it so post 4.0-1192 run worse for you. It's not our problem. We've seen it reported again and again. It's falling back to software at some point in their driver, which is inexcusable.

Anyway, UI/GUI/Input related bugs need to be tracked down. WE have mac users that aren't having problems, so you need to narrow down the exact build that changes the behavior.

[ach]

(09-27-2014, 02:59 PM)JMC47 Wrote: I'm saying that Apple's shitty drivers make it so post 4.0-1192 run worse for you. It's not our problem. We've seen it reported again and again. It's falling back to software at some point in their driver, which is inexcusable.

Anyway, UI/GUI/Input related bugs need to be tracked down. WE have mac users that aren't having problems, so you need to narrow down the exact build that changes the behavior.

Oh I'm not familiar with that, what exactly is falling back to software?

Just did a BST over 9 damn builds, the GCPad ignoring input issue first appeared in build 4.0-2167, 2 months 1 week ago, titled "Start cleaning up the input interface (PR #604 from magcius)".

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Here are two relevant issues for the GCPad regression: https://code.google.com/p/dolphin-emu/issues/detail?id=7537 and https://code.google.com/p/dolphin-emu/issues/detail?id=7691

The first was filed 2 months ago.

[Shonumi]

(09-27-2014, 03:22 PM)ach Wrote: Oh I'm not familiar with that, what exactly is falling back to software?

IIRC, sometimes OS X will go to using a software renderer for OpenGL, which causes notable slowdowns (and other issues?). That's what I remember hearing about it last time, at least.

[KHg8m3r]

To further what Shonumi said, there are certain function calls in Dolphin that on OS X will fall from the OpenGL backend to the Software backend.

edit: Found it the first bold:

(09-18-2014, 03:34 PM)pauldacheez Wrote: DJBarry004: There are absolutely zero GPU driver options on OS X – seriously, you have to use a separate app to manually switch between integrated and dedicated GPUs, and you have to edit system files to prevent a dedicated GPU from downclocking itself. If you need to know the supported GL version for a specific GPU on a specific version of OS X, either ask the user to install OpenGL Extensions Viewer off the App Store or, even better, use this handy chart Apple has: https://developer.apple.com/opengl/capabilities/ Spoiler: his supports GL 3.3 and no further.

Edvon7: There are numerous OS X-specific Intel HD 3000 driver bugs that prevent current versions of Dolphin from running well on it, notably a recent one (that may or may not be Yosemite-specific) that makes it drop down to software rendering for things as simple as the water in Metroid Prime, among other things in other games. (You can notice when this happens pretty easily – the game freezes for a second or two, then starts running at <10 fps, and there's a CVMCompiler process taking up 100% CPU.) I'd recommend running Dolphin on Windows or Linux if you want reasonable performance on current builds. (It'll be even faster than older builds on OS X, no kidding.)

You also might have noticed that audio under HLE sounds completely different at low speeds between 3.5 and 4.0+. If you think it sounds nicer in 3.5, keep in mind that the reason for that also breaks an immeasurable amount of shit – 90% of the random game crashes you get on 3.5 are the fault of HLE. That was thoroughly fixed in 4.0 and above. Yes, the stuttering is annoying (protip: try the OpenAL audio backend), but that's the tradeoff for not breaking shit.