Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

Title explains it mostly, while playing Super Smash Bros Melee on dolphin emulator, it will run beautifully at 60 FPS but drop below that during moments where I jump in the air or moves with big particle effects are done. I think of my rig as being capable (see below) so I have no clue what could be causing the issue.

I've gone into the Nvidia control panel and told it to use the high performance Nvidia card when using Dolphin. And i've messed with most settings in dolphin itself

Help???

(My System Specs)
I am also using the Alienware graphics amplifier with a GTX 760 inside

You're probably not engaging maximum speeds for your CPU, which is where the slowdown is coming from because you have an Ultra-Low Voltage (ULV) CPU.
Read this thread on how to use throttlestop to force your CPU into max turbo speeds: https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-un...ance-guide

(01-19-2015, 08:11 AM)KHg8m3r Wrote: [ -> ]You're probably not engaging maximum speeds for your CPU, which is where the slowdown is coming from because you have an Ultra-Low Voltage (ULV) CPU.
Read this thread on how to use throttlestop to force your CPU into max turbo speeds: https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-un...ance-guide

Very well written and useful reply! thank you!

I think this may not be the issue though, with a setup that can run things like the witcher 2 and other intensive games, it seems like smash wouldn't be an issue.

are there possibly any emulation-side errors that could be going on?

(01-19-2015, 01:32 PM)mrkrbnsn Wrote: [ -> ]...

Very well written and useful reply! thank you!

I think this may not be the issue though, with a setup that can run things like the witcher 2 and other intensive games, it seems like smash wouldn't be an issue.

are there possibly any emulation-side errors that could be going on?

Ah, you have fallen into the common misconception that good in PC games means good in Dolphin. PC games rely more on the GPU than the CPU, where it is the opposite in Dolphin. Dolphin is a dual-core program, which relies heavily on the CPU for everything, where the faster the singe-core speeds, the faster Dolphin is. Because you have a ULV processor, you normally run at low speeds to stay within the thermal power draw of like 15 W (which is really low).

Have you followed the steps to make sure that Windows power management is set to high performance, your laptop is plugged in, and have you looked into using throttlestop to get into sustained turbo mode?

Sounds like it's texture caching that is causing the slow downs. Try letting the game run for awhile setup a fight with just the cpu's fighting each other, and try again after they are done with the same characters to see if it still happens.

(01-19-2015, 01:52 PM)KHg8m3r Wrote: [ -> ]

(01-19-2015, 01:32 PM)mrkrbnsn Wrote: [ -> ]...

Very well written and useful reply! thank you!

I think this may not be the issue though, with a setup that can run things like the witcher 2 and other intensive games, it seems like smash wouldn't be an issue.

are there possibly any emulation-side errors that could be going on?

Ah, you have fallen into the common misconception that good in PC games means good in Dolphin. PC games rely more on the GPU than the CPU, where it is the opposite in Dolphin. Dolphin is a dual-core program, which relies heavily on the CPU for everything, where the faster the singe-core speeds, the faster Dolphin is. Because you have a ULV processor, you normally run at low speeds to stay within the thermal power draw of like 15 W (which is really low).

Have you followed the steps to make sure that Windows power management is set to high performance, your laptop is plugged in, and have you looked into using throttlestop to get into sustained turbo mode?

Ah that makes sense! After making sure the laptop was in high performance / plugged in and stuff I still had issues. I have throttlestop installed and working (seemingly) but it doesn't seem to help

The one thing I did notice is rather than the multiplier looking like this:



It's measured in some mysterious unit, reading as "63 T" and being capped out at that, not able to increase it at all:




Any Ideas?

63T means you're setting it to run at 6.3 Ghz in Turbo Boost. Technically not possible on your system, so I'm guessing some sort of problem.

What happens when you hit the "Turn On" button in the bottom right? cause technically that screen shot is showing that Throttlestop is not running.

(01-19-2015, 04:51 PM)KHg8m3r Wrote: [ -> ]63T means you're setting it to run at 6.3 Ghz in Turbo Boost. Technically not possible on your system, so I'm guessing some sort of problem.

What happens when you hit the "Turn On" button in the bottom right? cause technically that screen shot is showing that Throttlestop is not running.

Huh! thats super weird. Turning it on yields similar if not exactly the same results



I wonder if its worth reinstalling/installing an older version of throttlestop? Any other advice is much appreciated!!

Thanks a lot for your help so far KHg8m3r ^_^

(01-19-2015, 02:11 PM)lok1 Wrote: [ -> ]Sounds like it's texture caching that is causing the slow downs. Try letting the game run for awhile setup a fight with just the cpu's fighting each other, and try again after they are done with the same characters to see if it still happens.

Interestingly enough, after doing what you suggest the slow downs seem to be less frequent / severe.

Are there any commonly suggested fixes for issues with texture caching and dolphin / SSBM specifically?

Texture cache is just something that needs to be built over time. Debs are looking into a better way of handling it, but no solutions yet.

Nope, Throttlestop is acting like it should. Under the CpU model is the multiplier, 24.19x99.77, and below that is the clock speed of 2413 (2.4 Ghz)
What you're doing is running one core at max speed. Try setting it to 23T and see if you get any difference, because that is the dual core max turbo speed.