Tried everything. Wind Waker just won't run right.

[MoCk_My_SoCk]

PC specs.
CPU- Intel 990x (6 core) @3.47 Ghz
MB- Intel Extreme dx58so2
RAM- 24Gb DDR3
OS- Windows 7 64bit
GPU- Nvidia 660ti 3Gb
HDD- WD 1Tb 7200 rpm & Seagate 640Gb 7200 rpm
Dolphin 4.0.1

First off, I would like to say that every Wii and Gamecube game that I have thrown at Dolphin has ran perfectly. For some reason though, I can't get Wind Waker working right. I've tried for a good week and still get massive slow downs at certain points. Older versions worked alright except they would freeze up sometimes causing me to restart the game from the beginning, so I got the new version. I've seen so many people with the same problem but not anyone with similar PC specs as me. Has anyone been able to get this game working right? Should I not bother playing it until another Dolphin update? I have tried every single configuration that I can think of. I've even tried configs that many others have used as well, but with no luck. Any help would be appreciated.

[KHg8m3r]

Please upload pictures of your graphics settings.
Really, your CPU should be able to handle Wind Waker. Have you tried putting the computer into high performance mode or overclocking slightly?

[MayImilae]

Right click the game in the game list, click properties, and make sure DSP HLE emulation is checked (not filled in or blank). That will take it back to how it was before: fullspeed but occasional freezes and audio problems. Just be careful.

[MoCk_My_SoCk]

(11-12-2013, 04:21 PM)MaJoR Wrote: Right click the game in the game list, click properties, and make sure DSP HLE emulation is checked (not filled in or blank). That will take it back to how it was before: fullspeed but occasional freezes and audio problems. Just be careful.

It works fine like that, but I'm afraid it will freeze up like it did with the older versions of Dolphin. I'd like to continue using DSP LLE without the slow down. I read that it won't freeze up that way. I also did try putting my computer to high performance. That didn't change a thing. I would love to overclock my CPU, but I have no idea how and I don't want to mess up a $1000 processor. I'm going to continue to tinker around with Dolphin a bit more. Thanks for the replies.

[haddockd]

Unfortunately with LLE, overclocking is really the only thing you can do at this point. If you have EFB to RAM, try setting ti to Texture for a speed boost. Although I think RAM is needed for a few things in game to work properly (pictobox).

[KHg8m3r]

HLE has come a long way since the older days. It was rewritten, and has much better support for games.
I'm currently playing Wind Waker, and I just passed the Undersea Temple Part (about midway). I'm using HLE and haven't had any problems with it.
Give it a try

[MoCk_My_SoCk]

I've been trying it with HLE and everything seems to work except every once and a while I get a slight audio stutter. It's nothing game breaking, it just gets really annoying after a while. It's so weird that my other games run perfect with no audio stuttering and are much more graphics heavy. Do you get the same audio stutters with Wind Waker?

[MayImilae]

Ok, time for a little explanation. Ucodes are basically audio "packages" that the gamecube/wii's DSP runs. With DSP LLE, all ucodes work perfectly, since it's using files from the original wii DSP. With HLE, it's using ucodes that were created by the dev team with reverse engineering. The AX ucode (what 99% of games use) was rewritten recently with "New-AX-HLE", so it has near-perfect audio for all AX ucode games with DSP HLE. But Wind Waker uses the "Zelda Ucode", a Nintendo exclusive Ucode that is used in Zelda, Mario, Pikmin, and Mario Kart games. The Zelda HLE Ucode has not be redone, so it remains in a very glitchy and poorly maintained state. Audio stopping, volume too loud, freezes and hangs, etc etc all occur when using DSP HLE. Because of that, one of the devs changed the GameINI (default settings for the game) to force DSP LLE on for Wind Waker, hence your slow speed on recent builds. What I instructed you to do is bypass that requirement to let you use DSP HLE again.

[KHg8m3r]

Thanks Major, I forgot about the force LLE. I had that off for a while but set it back to default recently.
MoCK_My_SoCK, which audio backed are you using? I'm running the XAudio2 with no problem with the forced LLE

[MoCk_My_SoCk]

@MaJoR - I've been playing Wind Waker with the force DSP HLE option for a bit today. I still get the occasional audio stutter, but it's really not bad. I just assumed that it could run perfectly. I'm glad you told me about the force DSP HLE because the game was driving me a bit mad. Mario Kart Wii runs flawlessly though.
@KHg8m3r - I'm using XAudio2 as well. It seems to work a bit better than DSound for me.