Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

I did a whole bucket load of testing for a wiki update. With 3.0-735, the DX11 backend doesn't seem to have the problem with the "blurry top left quadrant" with EFB to Ram. Give it a try, it should help.

Actually for me that issue is basically gone on all builds after v3.0-710, sorry if that wasn't clear. Although I did just take a close look at DX9 & OpenGL in v3.0-735 and there is still something slightly weird about the way that part of the screen looks. It's nothing like in earlier version 3 builds though. Like you say DX11 is pretty much perfect but I still can't use 3.0-735 because of the BGM looping issue.

Also I just noticed that the "dot" in the middle of the screen is related to the HUD, it goes away if you set visor opacity to zero. Somehow it's still there in cutscenes though.

Does anyone have a xbox 360 gamepad profile for Metroid prime 3? The one here, have problems with the range of motion of IR (have problems with up and down). He has the same problem and it didn't say any solution.
I'm using dolphin 3.0 - Build 682
Thanks

So if anyone else besides be is still rockin an old Q6600 and upgraded their system for OCing and such, I've been able to play the game continuously for long periods of time on Dolphin revisions r6205 and r6164 as suggested in an earlier part of this thread. These revisions, to my experience, in SSSE3 optimization are the fastest stable revisions for MP3.

My problem with these revisions is they STILL CRASH after about 1-2 hours even though I'm playing the game at full speed for about 95% of the time. Should I post screens of my config? I'd much rather have revisions suggested to me that are stable and FAST. I've tried some 3.0+ revisions, and they may be stable, according to some people, but some of them don't even run this game, and all of the ones I tried are SLOW(getting less than half speed even with frameskipping on 1 or 2).

I recently just got stuck on a part of the game that's giving me time to look for a much more stable build if anyone has a suggestion. And PLEASE don't suggest a new build just because it works on your i5 2500k OC'd to 4.2 GHz. I'm looking for answers from people with E8400's or what I got.

And apparently, I'm new to the forums, even though, I'm almost positive I had an account. It may have just been to the old Dolphin-Emu Forums for Dolphin-emu.com when it existed, which was... a long time ago. I've been using this emulator since 08 I think. The first Rev I used was like 2000 something, maybe it was 3000 something. Eh, who cares? It certainly has come a long way though.

****EDIT****
SORRY, I figured out my problems with stability and performance were my config, it turns out, and I haven't seen this anywhere in the thread(or I overlooked it) but turning off the "Lock Cores to Threads" option gives a HUGE performance boost and stabilizes the framerates. BUT, I've been testing and there are so many audio glitches in recent builds, I'm starting to wonder if any build will handle this game without flaw. The older revs crash randomly, and the newer ones have audio problems! If the older ones didn't crash, I would play the whole game on them, but I want to find something better. Any suggestions? I tried using LLE plugin, but my CPU isn't the best, so I have more problems with that than with HLE(and both have the same BGM looping issue as well as the same audio glitches). The builds I just tested this on were, 3.0-735 and ICC optimized, 3.0-305 ICC, and 3.0-715-dirty. I'm going to continue trying other builds, but as far as I know, the audio problems started with all metroid games starting somewhere in the 7600s which was right before 3.0 and they still continue. Although, it seems some of the earlier 3.0 builds have less glitches, they are still present. Anyone with an old mid-range PC able to play the game flawlessly? I can figure out the configs, but I just wonder if there are any revs without crashes and without audio glitches(it seems like it either or).

****EDIT****
So I looked back in the thread again and found that someone said 3.0-199 was flawless. And I checked it out. It worked great, I played for as long as I could(about 2+ hours) without any crashes and it was actually very fast. If anyone has the same trouble I did, try 3.0-199, I'm going to look for an ICC or SSSE3 version and see if I get any boost in performance, my guess, it won't make much difference, but I've seen Game Booster improve performance slightly. I'm playing the game at full speed almost all the time, I'll post some screen shots of my config here in a bit.

Full Speed Emulation 95% of the time with 3.0-199 64bit

With a Q6600 OC to 3.0GHz, 8GB of DDR3 Corsair Vengance 1333 9-9-9-24 and the GTX 550 ti
Yeah, its awfully mid-range but it is fantastic! Dolphin has improved so much since I first used it, I remember I couldn't even play metroid prime at 30fps until build 5060-somethin.

OH and one more thing: Set Frameskipping to 1!

I also use the keyboard and mouse for the game, you really don't need a wii remote. Here's my config for that:



If you're wondering about the tilting, swinging, pitching, pulling, etc., just use the wiimote and nunchuck shake functions, they do everything you need. And the Axis Z+ and Z- are my mouse wheel scroll.
These are the most playable settings I have for this game. The D-pad works here because they are conveniently located within reach. I also like B as SPACE because I use space to jump in other PC games. Just trust this config, its comfortable and I urge you to try it

Hi, ironman120693, thanks for all your trouble putting the screenshot for us. I use the exact setting as you and i setup the keyboard and mouse just as you suggested, but the range of the mouse is the same as with xbox gamepad. The cursor can't go up unless the Sensor Bar Position is set to Bottom. But when you set to bottom, the cursor can't go down. This problem is getting me nuts because you can't pass the initial part of the game which asks you to press the lower button first and then the upward button in you ship. Any suggestion (either with keyboard or with gamepad)?

(08-13-2012, 09:31 AM)chenci Wrote: [ -> ]Hi, ironman120693, thanks for all your trouble putting the screenshot for us. I use the exact setting as you and i setup the keyboard and mouse just as you suggested, but the range of the mouse is the same as with xbox gamepad. The cursor can't go up unless the Sensor Bar Position is set to Bottom. But when you set to bottom, the cursor can't go down. This problem is getting me nuts because you can't pass the initial part of the game which asks you to press the lower button first and then the upward button in you ship. Any suggestion (either with keyboard or with gamepad)?

well for me, idk how it would be different for you, i leave the sensor bar position on Top. There is one problem though, unless you set the Center to 100 you won't be able to move the mouse around the screen properly, in addition, you also need the Height and the Width to be at least 70 and you'll be able to move the cursor all over the screen.

as for executing the sequence in the game, just use the "Shake" wiimote function to twist. this becomes a problem later on in the game because you will need to have set something for the "Tilt" function in order to twist a sort of puzzle. Here is a new screen shot of my "now suggested config" for Keyboard and mouse. I don't even want to bother with a controller on this game XD:



here's a link to the same pic with explanations, if you wanna see why I set the controls the way i do, and how: http://i46.tinypic.com/2hn029k.jpg

and the only reason you're having problems, with a keyboard or mouse at least, is because you didn't copy ALL the key values exactly. Have a look again and look at the annotated screenshot, it will give you an explanation for all the values I set(the ones that matter).

---

I also wanted to add to this forum some of my new experiences since I've been able to play this game(its my first playthrough, and I'm doing lots of testing while I do, its fun! Just like benchmarking with an actual game).

On revision 3.0-199(which I could find no ICC optimized builds, and I don't know how to compile them myself) the game runs near perfect on my system with the PAL version without EuRGB60 and Progressive Scan enabled. Progressive Scan causes problems with the game(I assume the game supports it, but my PC isn't powerful enough). I'm almost always playing the game at 100% speed, to make it better(although, i don't like the jagged gameplay) I set Frameskipping to 1, this keeps it from hitting <90%.

There are some audio glitches, though I seldom encounter them. They seem to have no specific cause in the config, and these problems occur on all the Metroid Prime games, 1GC, 2GC, 3, and Trilogy. Don't ask me why, but if you're CPU is good enough, you can try LLE and see if it fixes anything. From my experience though, these issues are performance related. If the game isn't running @ 100% the majority of the time(sometimes my PC likes to annoy me and be slow, but suddenly speeds up ) you will definitely encounter audio problems. This build specifically(don't know why) has the best performance/stability on this game and minimizes the amount of audio glitches. ANY other build from the 7600 range to the most recent, these glitches are MUCH more prominent! I haven't tried any around 3.0-199(I'm quite happy with it) so idk if there is a better revision.

ALSO, the NTSC version is slower. In PAL, I can actually get the game running at up to 120% speed most of the time. For some reason, it doesn't go beyond 60fps though(really its the vps limiting the fps). And for some CRAZY reason beyond my comprehension, the NTSC version DOES NOT RUN FULL SPEED! I have no idea why, if the PAL can run 120% speed @ 60fps(full speed for PAL is 50fps), why can't NTSC run 100% @ 60fps? So take my word, and don't waste you're time or money with the NTSC version if you almost match my system specs.

If you have a modern PC with at least a NEW mid-range CPU(i.e. any i5) don't even worry about performance issues, but my GFX config will work for EVERYONE and my controls might make you're life a whole lot easier in the game. Assuming you're as cheap and lazy as me and don't feel like buying a bluetooth dongle, IR emmiter, and buying/borrowing a wiimote and nunchuck from the store/a friend

****EDIT****
Forgot to mention, I tested the game on all GFX plugins and the fastest was OGL. You don't need to use DX11 or DX9 at least in this revision, and if you're running the game full speed, in fact, if you do want to use AA I suggest using OGL since the AA on there has minimal performance impact if any. DX11 also is faster than DX9 when it comes to the resolution and AA. In DX11 and DX9, the resolution tended to have big impacts on the performance of the game, in OGL the impact is negligible or non-existent.

Another thing to mention, the only way I'm able to get the game running @ 120% speed is by using the EFB to Texture option. RAM is required for the scanner visor and x-ray visor's to work, THAT'S IT. I suggest leaving the game on EFB to Texture, and when you need to, Alt+Tab to Dolphin GFX settings and switch to RAM. When I play this way, I don't need Frameskipping on at all, but if I play with the RAM enabled, I have to keep it on 1 to play full speed.

BUT REMEMBER, I'M USING A GTX 550 Ti which is roughly in between an HD 6770/7770 and 6850/7850! If you're using any video card BELOW these specs, you can bet that you will need to be running dolphin with Frameskipping AT LEAST on 2! If you have a better spec card than I do(i.e. an HD6790 OC'd or GTX 560 ti etc.) you won't need to enable frameskipping AT ALL.

Here's an explanation on frameskipping if you don't really understand:
VPS= Virtual Frames Per Second(this is what the CPU is processing)
FPS= Real Frames Per Second(This is what the GPU is processing)
So skipping 1 frame means, for every two Virtual Frames, one REAL frame will not be processed. But really, when you set Frameskipping to 1, this means THE MOST FRAMES the GPU will skip is 1 frame for every two Virtual Frames. This will take care of GPU bottlenecks, if your VPS doesn't get any higher with this enabled, you have a CPU bottleneck and either need to upgrade, or overclock.

As for glitches, I know that sometimes you will encounter a "blurry" Top-left quadrant. I haven't yet identified why this happens, but for me, I have not seen this problem in a long while on this build. I think what causes it is using Skip Destination Alpha Pass, while this speeds up most of the Metroid Prime games, it has NO impact on performance in Prime 3 and causes the bloom and glow effects to disappear. Better to leave this UNCHECKED.

I can confirm that AUDIO glitches in this build are also PERFORMANCE related. Yesterday, I think, don't remember when it was, I played the game 5+ hours with NO PROBLEMS. However, when I have EFB to RAM enabled, I run into audio glitches and sometimes random shutdowns(very seldom) so I have some kind of bottleneck, and it probably is my CPU, but I need a new PSU if I want to OC further.

Don't know if this is mentioned above, but if you're system is like mine, Progressive Scan WILL CAUSE INSTABILITY. When I enable it, the Dolphin Crashes almost immediately when you go in-game. If you have a great PC don't even worry about all this. Remember, I have a Q6600 from 2007.

Don't use MMU Speed Hack, it causes slowdowns and instability, which its supposed to fix, but doesn't. Don't use Speed Up Disk Transfer Rate, it causes erratic stuttering. Don't use Lock Cores To Thread if your processor doesn't support Hyperthreading, this will make the game EXTREMELY SLOW unless your CPU supports HyperThreading.

I think that's all for this EXTREMELY LONG post.

Hi, ironman120693, it worked as you suggested. Now i have a new problem which you can see for yourself

I'm stuck here in the bomb slot at GFS olympus at the begining of the game. You can see the problem: i can't get out, and no cutscene is triggered after the morphing bomb.
What is wrong with NTSC of Metroid Prime 3: first the audio issues, now this. I will try with dolphin 3.0-199 build later. Maybe i could give it a try with the PAL version. I have to rip it from a friend of mine.
And thanks for all your trouble writting the post!
Chenci

---EDIT-----
It's a bad rip from the NTSC. I rip a new PAL version and it worked fantastic. Dolphin 3.0-199 is actually slower than the new version 3.0-751. 199 also have random crash that comes from nowhere.

Very impressive results there Ironman. With the computer in my sig I run the game quite well but as soon as I open a door or a huge explosion (I can see bosses becoming a drag) I receive a huge performance hit.

I'm curious, what's your average FPS/speed during normal combat and during a boss fight?

(08-17-2012, 08:03 AM)chenci Wrote: [ -> ]It's a bad rip from the NTSC. I rip a new PAL version and it worked fantastic. Dolphin 3.0-199 is actually slower than the new version 3.0-751. 199 also have random crash that comes from nowhere.

alright, well its a good thing you solved your problem. i want to give a newer revision of dolphin a try. I also found some other new things with my config.

OGL is fastest with AA and with EFB to texture, however, D3D9 almost the same without AA and EFB to RAM but slower with texture. D3D11 is slower on both but has faster AA than D3D9. Idk if that's what you'll experience with a GTS 250. D3D9 and 11 almost match in performance with EFB to texture. Idk how or why, but D3D9 is faster with EFB to RAM than with EFB to texture. I may have not tested right.

I wonder if they fixed the BGM looping yet. I know the newer builds are faster, but they seem to have more issues than the older slower revisions. At least on my system.

Anyway, glad I could help!