Wiki edit or default .ini request for all Guitar Hero and Rock Band games

themanuel · 11-29-2017, 12:26 PM #1

I was trying to play Guitar Hero: Metallica with my daughter today and we were getting frustrated by the choppiness of the video as the notes flowed down the screen, and the audio which kept falling out of timing. This is an issue I had noticed before and kept postponing it but not being able to play the game normally with my daughter motivated me to address it once and for all.

I spent a good amount of time switching parameters on and/off to no avail, until I chanced upon a comment from one of the testers in the game's wiki page who advised to use the "Skip EFB Access from CPU" (EFBAccessEnable = False) hack. This turned out to be the magic bullet: after changing this and recalibrating, I was banging away at the drums, limited only by my own mediocrity, and not by the inconsistent framerate.

You may say I have a low-ish PC configuration but I can run pretty much all games full speed with it so I think these games might simply spam the EFB, wreaking havock on the emulated video. I did not notice anything amiss by enabling the hack on this game but can't confidently say it doesn't break anything in any of the other GH or RB games.

If the experts think this is a safe enough hack for these music simulation games, it would be beneficial to simply have it enabled in the default games' .ini files. At the very least, the wiki should include a comment for each of these games recommending this route for those that have choppy emulation. This would save at least some users a lot of trouble.

Best regards.

**Helios** · (This post was last modified: 11-29-2017, 12:52 PM by Helios.)

See, I don't really understand why your config can't run Dolphin at full speed. I have a system with the same CPU clocked LOWER and I haven't found anything I can't run at fullspeed.

As for your request, I'd see what JMC thinks. I don't know what that particular GH game does. Generally we tend to not put things in INI unless they make the game work or the boost in perf is so massive that it's worth having a small thing broken. But maybe JMC will feel differently

themanuel · 11-29-2017, 12:54 PM #3

(11-29-2017, 12:49 PM)Helios Wrote: See, I don't really understand why your config can't run Dolphin at full speed. I have a system with the same CPU clocked LOWER and I haven't found anything I can't run at fullspeed.

As for your request, I'd see what JMC thinks. I don't know what that particular GH game does.

Well that's the thing. As I stated, I can run most games at full speed with my system including SMG2, MPT, etc., except apparently these music games. I don't think it's necessarily an issue with CPU capability.

Have you tried playing any of the GH games with your system and is the audio always in sync with notes smoothly scrolling through the screen?

**ExtremeDude2** · 11-29-2017, 12:59 PM #4

What are all of your audio and graphics settings?

themanuel · 11-29-2017, 01:01 PM #5

Dolphin.ini:

Code:
[General]

ShowLag = False

ShowFrameCount = False

ISOPaths = 4

ISOPath0 = D:\Disc Images\Wii

ISOPath1 = D:\Disc Images\Gamecube

ISOPath2 = D:\Disc Images\Wii\WiiWare

ISOPath3 = D:\Disc Images\Wii\Virtual Console

RecursiveISOPaths = False

NANDRootPath = C:\Users\Arcadius\Documents\Dolphin Emulator\Wii

DumpPath = 

WirelessMac = 00:17:ab:a8:88:40

WiiSDCardPath = C:/Users/Arcadius/Documents/Dolphin Emulator/Wii/sd.raw

[Interface]

ConfirmStop = False

UsePanicHandlers = True

OnScreenDisplayMessages = False

HideCursor = True

MainWindowPosX = 708

MainWindowPosY = 45

MainWindowWidth = 1191

MainWindowHeight = 960

LanguageCode = 

ShowToolbar = True

ShowStatusbar = True

ShowLogWindow = False

ShowLogConfigWindow = False

ExtendedFPSInfo = False

ShowActiveTitle = True

UseBuiltinTitleDatabase = True

ShowDevelopmentWarning = True

ThemeName = Clean Blue

PauseOnFocusLost = False

DisableTooltips = False

[Display]

FullscreenDisplayRes = Auto

Fullscreen = True

RenderToMain = True

RenderWindowXPos = 382

RenderWindowYPos = 296

RenderWindowWidth = 1297

RenderWindowHeight = 699

RenderWindowAutoSize = False

KeepWindowOnTop = False

DisableScreenSaver = True

[GameList]

ListDrives = False

ListWad = True

ListElfDol = True

ListWii = True

ListGC = True

ListJap = True

ListPal = True

ListUsa = True

ListAustralia = True

ListFrance = True

ListGermany = True

ListItaly = True

ListKorea = True

ListNetherlands = True

ListRussia = True

ListSpain = True

ListTaiwan = True

ListWorld = True

ListUnknown = True

ListSort = 1

ListSortSecondary = -3

ColumnPlatform = True

ColumnBanner = True

ColumnDescription = False

ColumnTitle = True

ColumnNotes = True

ColumnFileName = False

ColumnID = True

ColumnRegion = True

ColumnSize = True

ColumnState = True

[Core]

SkipIPL = True

TimingVariance = 40

CPUCore = 1

Fastmem = True

CPUThread = True

DSPHLE = True

SyncOnSkipIdle = True

SyncGPU = False

SyncGpuMaxDistance = 200000

SyncGpuMinDistance = -200000

SyncGpuOverclock = 1.00000000

FPRF = False

AccurateNaNs = False

DefaultISO = 

EnableCheats = True

SelectedLanguage = 0

OverrideGCLang = False

DPL2Decoder = False

AudioLatency = 20

AudioStretch = False

AudioStretchMaxLatency = 80

MemcardAPath = C:\Users\Arcadius\Documents\Dolphin Emulator\GC\MemoryCardA.USA.raw

MemcardBPath = C:/Users/Arcadius/Documents/Dolphin Emulator/GC/MemoryCardB.USA.raw

AgpCartAPath = 

AgpCartBPath = 

SlotA = 8

SlotB = 255

SerialPort1 = 255

BBA_MAC = 

SIDevice0 = 6

AdapterRumble0 = True

SimulateKonga0 = False

SIDevice1 = 6

AdapterRumble1 = True

SimulateKonga1 = False

SIDevice2 = 6

AdapterRumble2 = True

SimulateKonga2 = False

SIDevice3 = 6

AdapterRumble3 = True

SimulateKonga3 = False

WiiSDCard = True

WiiKeyboard = False

WiimoteContinuousScanning = True

WiimoteEnableSpeaker = False

RunCompareServer = False

RunCompareClient = False

EmulationSpeed = 1.00000000

FrameSkip = 0x00000000

Overclock = 2.00000000

OverclockEnable = False

GFXBackend = D3D

GPUDeterminismMode = auto

PerfMapDir = 

EnableCustomRTC = False

CustomRTCValue = 0x386d4380

EnableSignatureChecks = False

[Movie]

PauseMovie = False

Author = 

DumpFrames = False

DumpFramesSilent = False

ShowInputDisplay = False

ShowRTC = False

[DSP]

EnableJIT = False

DumpAudio = False

DumpAudioSilent = False

DumpUCode = False

Backend = Cubeb

Volume = 60

CaptureLog = False

[Input]

BackgroundInput = False

[FifoPlayer]

LoopReplay = True

[Analytics]

ID = 2f61b4e1b76558cea04e3127560a083c

Enabled = True

PermissionAsked = True

[Network]

SSLDumpRead = False

SSLDumpWrite = False

SSLVerifyCertificates = True

SSLDumpRootCA = False

SSLDumpPeerCert = False

[BluetoothPassthrough]

Enabled = True

VID = -1

PID = -1

LinkKeys = 00:21:47:c3:b7:95=5a7a3234abf7bebbac65a749647a9885,00:19:1d:2f:48:f1=6167d71ae06a8920b1eac8a385d61eee

[USBPassthrough]

Devices = 

[NetPlay]

SelectedHostGame = Mario Kart Wii (RMCE01)

TraversalChoice = direct

GFX.ini:

Code:
[Enhancements]

ForceFiltering = False

ForceTrueColor = True

MaxAnisotropy = 4

PostProcessingShader = 

[Hacks]

BBoxEnable = False

EFBAccessEnable = True

EFBEmulateFormatChanges = False

EFBScaledCopy = True

EFBToTextureEnable = True

ForceProgressive = True

ImmediateXFBEnable = False

VertexRounding = True

XFBToTextureEnable = False

[Hardware]

Adapter = 0

VSync = True

[Settings]

AspectRatio = 0

BackendMultithreading = True

BackgroundShaderCompiling = True

BorderlessFullscreen = False

CacheHiresTextures = True

CommandBufferExecuteInterval = 100

ConvertHiresTextures = False

Crop = True

DisableFog = False

DisableSpecializedShaders = False

DumpEFBTarget = False

DumpFramesAsImages = False

DumpTextures = False

EnableGPUTextureDecoding = False

EnablePixelLighting = True

EnableValidationLayer = False

FastDepthCalc = True

FreeLook = False

HiresTextures = True

InternalResolution = 3

InternalResolutionFrameDumps = False

LogRenderTimeToFile = False

MSAA = 0x00000004

OverlayProjStats = False

OverlayStats = False

SafeTextureCacheColorSamples = 128

ShowFPS = False

ShowNetPlayMessages = False

ShowNetPlayPing = False

SSAA = False

SWDrawEnd = 100000

SWDrawStart = 0

SWDumpObjects = False

SWDumpTevStages = False

SWDumpTevTexFetches = False

SWZComploc = True

SWZFreeze = True

TexFmtOverlayCenter = False

TexFmtOverlayEnable = False

UseFFV1 = False

wideScreenHack = False

[Stereoscopy]

StereoConvergencePercentage = 100

StereoDepth = 20

StereoMode = 0

StereoSwapEyes = False

**Helios** · 11-29-2017, 01:16 PM #6

(11-29-2017, 12:54 PM)themanuel Wrote: Well that's the thing. As I stated, I can run most games at full speed with my system including SMG2, MPT, etc., except apparently these music games. I don't think it's necessarily an issue with CPU capability.

Have you tried playing any of the GH games with your system and is the audio always in sync with notes smoothly scrolling through the screen?

Yes.

themanuel · 11-29-2017, 02:00 PM #7

Then something must be horribly wrong with my setup because I keep running into issues: crashes in Super Mario Sunshine with SyncGPU=True, Crashes in Mario Kart Wii with EFBToTextureEnable = False and now this.

At least I keep finding solutions that work for me but if I'm the only one with these problems perhaps my system is the cause.

**mstreurman** · 11-29-2017, 06:58 PM #8

I know this probably has been asked you many times before but are you using the latest devbuild? Because it should lock up after every song you successfully complete because of a bug (report has already been made) (at least with my generated NAND it does since I cannot reach my original Wii right now to create a good new NAND (I live in a different country now and left my Wii at my Mom's place))

There is also the thing that a few Guitar Hero games actually experience stutters on the real hardware because the wii is just a little bit too slow(I have been playing it for waaaaaaay too long on a real Wii / vWii )
I see you are using VSYNC, you really need to turn this off (it wont tear) for the GH games it causes a considerate amount of input lag and strange stutters as well.

Rock Band (3) actually needs EFB/XFB otherwise the band members show as completely black, so that will slowdown the whole game but should nonetheless be still completely playable.

themanuel · 11-29-2017, 11:08 PM #9

Hi, there.

(11-29-2017, 06:58 PM)mstreurman Wrote: I know this probably has been asked you many times before but are you using the latest devbuild? Because it should lock up after every song you successfully complete because of a bug (report has already been made) (at least with my generated NAND it does since I cannot reach my original Wii right now to create a good new NAND (I live in a different country now and left my Wii at my Mom's place))\

I'm not home now and can't check but I believe I'm suing 5931 from a few days after the release of Hybrid XFB and have not experience any lockups. I do use a NAND dump from my Wii.

(11-29-2017, 06:58 PM)mstreurman Wrote: There is also the thing that a few Guitar Hero games actually experience stutters on the real hardware because the wii is just a little bit too slow(I have been playing it for waaaaaaay too long on a real Wii / vWii )
I see you are using VSYNC, you really need to turn this off (it wont tear) for the GH games it causes a considerate amount of input lag and strange stutters as well.

I have played them quite a bit on the Wii and have never run into issues where the songs become nearly unplayable because the audio and video keep falling out of sync and slowing down for seconds at a time. This is definitely not normal game behavior and again, disabling EFB access from the CPU makes it run perfectly.
Before I found the EFB access from CPU solution I tried running with vsync on and off and it did not make a difference. In fact I just got the same stuttering plus screen tearing, although in this game tearing is not that noticeable because there is no horizontal scrolling. I'm assuming you are using the Vulkan back-end. With Vulkan, turning off vsync makes things run much more smoothly and there is no screen tear. See here.

(11-29-2017, 06:58 PM)mstreurman Wrote: Rock Band (3) actually needs EFB/XFB otherwise the band members show as completely black, so that will slowdown the whole game but should nonetheless be still completely playable.

I haven't tried playing RB3 in Dolphin but when I do I'll remember this. I always keep XFB to Ram and Texture because it doesn't degrade my performance but I do normally set EFB to textures only so thanks for the tip.

**mstreurman** · 11-30-2017, 02:34 AM **#10**

(11-29-2017, 11:08 PM)themanuel Wrote: Hi, there.

I'm not home now and can't check but I believe I'm suing 5931 from a few days after the release of Hybrid XFB and have not experience any lockups. I do use a NAND dump from my Wii.

I have played them quite a bit on the Wii and have never run into issues where the songs become nearly unplayable because the audio and video keep falling out of sync and slowing down for seconds at a time. This is definitely not normal game behavior and again, disabling EFB access from the CPU makes it run perfectly.
Before I found the EFB access from CPU solution I tried running with vsync on and off and it did not make a difference. In fact I just got the same stuttering plus screen tearing, although in this game tearing is not that noticeable because there is no horizontal scrolling. I'm assuming you are using the Vulkan back-end. With Vulkan, turning off vsync makes things run much more smoothly and there is no screen tear. See here.

I haven't tried playing RB3 in Dolphin but when I do I'll remember this. I always keep XFB to Ram and Texture because it doesn't degrade my performance but I do normally set EFB to textures only so thanks for the tip.

I'm running with a nVidia card and Ubershaders, so I should always use D3D11, which I do.
A few of the games (one I know for sure is Band Hero) stutter even on the real console, but never desync sound and video. So I really do not know what is wrong here, maybe indeed an issue with EFB access in the new Hybrid XFB.

Does this also happen on older versions of Dolphin, just to check if it is a regression?