Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

Hey guys. I just got a brand new Dell laptop (Dell gaming 15 somethin  7000 series) and I've been trying to run Mario Kart Wii to no avail (or kind of avail but still not what I want)


Laptop specs:
- Intel i5-7300HQ clocked at 2.5ghz
- nVidia GTX 1050 Ti
- Windows 10 Home
- 8gb generic laptop ram
- 256gb ssd
I don't really know what other hardware specs are needed except it's got a 1080p screen.

So what happens is it stutters. When I run MKWII and it's on the loading screen it has a rad 60fps. On the title screen it stays around 60fps ish. Then, when I go to select my licence the fps drops to around 30ish and it just stays around there. Some times it picks up and its at 60fps for a bit then it drops right back down. When I'm in a race, the fps goes ranges from like 20fps to 40fps but it sticks around the 30fps mark. I might not have a good enough cpu or something and that's what I'm asking you guys.

I don't think I changed the settings that  much but I did change the graphics backend to Direct 12 (tried all of them and Direct 12 seemed to work the best) from the default OpenGL. It did improve but it still can't hold a stable 60fps. or anything stable. It goes all over the place.

One thing curious, though, is that I've been trying to run RetroArch the menu is laggy (30fps-15fps) and whenever I try to emulate a game, even as simple as Super Mario Bros for the NES, it lags a ton, which leads me to think it could possibly be a software issue.

I have tried reinstalling my drivers, using Geforce Experience, but I haven't tried downgrading my driver. I'll do that when I finish this post. Honestly I'm kind of tired so the solution might not be coming to me right now, but please post any help you can.

Thanks for reading this. If there is any more info I need to post be sure to ask.

EDIT: Just tried using my integrated Intel graphics (630) and it ran at 60 fps with very light stuttering the entire time. Definitely a software issue.

EDIT 2: Well, I seemed to have fixed it. My laptop was running off of battery and I plugged it in. No stuttering at all, just smooth 60 fps. I'll go check in some software settings to see whats causing that, because from what I know the Windows power plan is always on high performance. Anyways, thanks. I don't know who I'm thanking but the problem is fixed and that's what matters.

Your power plan might be set to high performance in windows, but your Nvidia control panel might be set to a power saving mode.

There is also a chance that dell installed some management software to "enhance" your experience and have longer battery life to put in the marketing materials.

(07-26-2017, 04:04 PM)TKSilver Wrote: [ -> ]Your power plan might be set to high performance in windows, but your Nvidia control panel might be set to a power saving mode.

There is also a chance that dell installed some management software to "enhance" your experience and have longer battery life to put in the marketing materials.

Yeah, that was the issue. The Nvidia Control Panel is so damn slow I didn't think I'd have to use it, but I changed some settings and now it runs perfectly.

And I can't stand all the Dell bloatware that comes preinstalled, I always do a fresh install of Windows when I get a new computer.

Thanks for your help!