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.
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
(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?
What are all of your audio and graphics settings?
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
(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.
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.
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.
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.
(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?