Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

Frames are not always consistent in every state.

Take The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition and The Legend of Zelda: Master Quests discs for example:

Collector's Edition / Master Quest disc menu -> 60 FPS
Zelda 1 (NES) -> 60 FPS
Zelda 2 (NES) -> 60 FPS

--- Ocarina of Time + Majora's Mask ---
File Select -> 60 FPS
Pause Menu -> 30 FPS
In-Game / Intro -> 20 FPS

So what's the standard to aim for then? How would you decide at which FPS both either disc runs at?

This is just an example. Multiple games can adjust their FPS, as for example during menu's. Mario Kart for example halves the FPS when playing multiplayer with 3 or 4. Xenoblade Chronicles uncaps the FPS during loading screens.

Then there is also the matter of being able to manipulate the FPS in certain games. How do we account for that?

Framerate listing sounds easy, 30/60 or 25/50, but this rabbit hole goes way, WAY deep!

In addition to the exceptions listed above, I'll add two more. I'm not an expert but this is my understanding, so, just fyi.

There is a major separation between variable framerate games and fixed framerate games. Most games on the GameCube and Wii are fixed framerate, aka they expect a very specific framerate and use that framerate as timing for game logic (physics, animation, etc). Any attempt to run fixed framerate games above or below the expected framerates break the engine's logic, if it is possible to do it at all. Of course there are exceptions within fixed framerate games, for example a lot of 30hz games have remnants of a 60hz mode that can be hacked into since most games start at 60hz, but if we ignore that by targeting 120hz, the majority of GameCube and Wii games just break at 120hz because they are fixed framerate. The alternative is variable framerate games. For example, Melee has built in frameskipping to prevent slowdown during high action, and was built with game logic separated from the framerate. Thanks to that, pushing Melee in crazy ways, like 120hz, is very doable. And it's variable so 45hz, 90hz, whatever is possible for these titles. If you are wanting to do this database for framerate enhancement workloads, variable vs fixed is going to be just as valuable than the game's desired framerate limit.

What about the games that straight up never reach their target frame rates? The Last Story, for example, has a 30fps cap but never actually reaches it on hardware. Dolphin gives it all the performance it asks for, well beyond what the Wii could ever do, which is why it is so bloody difficult to emulate! How does one indicate a game that has a framerate target but was designed to never reach it?

So like, doing this kind of work is not just finding the information, it's finding these exceptions and deciding the line you are going to draw on what to include and what not to include. This and a lot of the already given reasons are why I've been against covering framerate info on the wiki before. It's VERY messy, but knowing the depths of that mess is critical to doing anything serious with the information, so a shallow approach is a poor fit. And a shallow approach aka "only general details but on absolutely everything" is best for wikis.