Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

Maybe this has been answered or talked about already on here but I couldn't find a thread dedicated to this subject.

I am considering getting a Gsync compatible monitor and had some questions regarding it's compatibility within Dolphin.


I'm currently playing on a TV that supports 1080p/120hz and I notice micro stuttering in almost every game i play. Some titles it's almost completely stutter free, while others it's clearly visible.


If I get a monitor that supports vrr/gsync, will it help with stutter like it is supposed to with regular PC games? I don't want to drop a few hundred on something that is going to leave me in the same spot I'm in now.


I also get screen tearing when connected to my TV, so I have to enable vsync, which does add slight input lag.


If I play on my laptop itself with no external display I don't get any screen tearing but the stutter is still there. I know that VRR monitors and gsync are supposed to work wonders for stuttering and screen tearing while reducing lag that is normally introduced with vsync, so I'm hoping this would be a nice solution for me.


My computer is more than capable of running Dolphin without issues


i5 9300h
GTX 1650
12GB ram

If you're are getting stuttering with v-sync off a new monitor isn't going to help afaik, that will only fix the tearing.

Dolphin does not support GSync or Variable Refresh Rate, and well, we wouldn't really even benefit from it. VRR and Gsync are most useful when running games that are GPU bound and can't maintain and steady frame rate. None of that applies to Dolphin, since we are -always- CPU bound (outside of silly circumstances like someone running 16x native or something).

(04-20-2020, 10:56 AM)MayImilae Wrote: [ -> ]Dolphin does not support GSync or Variable Refresh Rate, and well, we wouldn't really even benefit from it. VRR and Gsync are most useful when running games that are GPU bound and can't maintain and steady frame rate. None of that applies to Dolphin, since we are -always- CPU bound (outside of silly circumstances like someone running 16x native or something).

Spoiler:

Plus it would very difficult to make work even if we wanted to do so, and it would only work in a handful of games. A typical GameCube or Wii game will tie their game logic to the framerate, so any attempt to raise or lower the framerate will cause the game logic (and thus the game itself) to speed up or slow down. There are exceptions to this of course, for example, Smash games need to handle lots of chaos and effects without slowing down, so it has a built in frame limiter. Because of that frame limiter they can't tie game logic to framerate, so we can come behind them and have more frames per second if we wish. That is very rare though. And setting up VRR on top of that would have additional hurdles.

Thank you for the information. What do you recommend to help stutter then? The worst offender is TimeSplitters Future Perfect. The game runs a solid 60fps using Vulkan but it seems to run faster than it should, which leads to the microstutter. If you've played the game, you know what I mean. I'm using mostly default settings with the exception of asynchronous ubershaders, 3x IR (matching my display), 4x MSAA. 

Other games such as NFS Underground 2 have a variable frame rate and the game is smooth almost as if I set my TV to interpolate motion. No stuttering at all. Is it just a game by game basis? 

I really didn't buy my laptop to play modern PC games, as I've always been a console gamer, so emulation and PC gaming in general are both new to me. I apologize if I say anything that's been mentioned on here before, or I ask an obvious question. 

Thank you again

(04-20-2020, 10:56 AM)MayImilae Wrote: [ -> ]Dolphin does not support GSync or Variable Refresh Rate, and well, we wouldn't really even benefit from it. VRR and Gsync are most useful when running games that are GPU bound and can't maintain and steady frame rate. None of that applies to Dolphin, since we are -always- CPU bound (outside of silly circumstances like someone running 16x native or something).

Spoiler:

Plus it would very difficult to make work even if we wanted to do so, and it would only work in a handful of games. A typical GameCube or Wii game will tie their game logic to the framerate, so any attempt to raise or lower the framerate will cause the game logic (and thus the game itself) to speed up or slow down. There are exceptions to this of course, for example, Smash games need to handle lots of chaos and effects without slowing down, so it has a built in frame limiter. Because of that frame limiter they can't tie game logic to framerate, so we can come behind them and have more frames per second if we wish. That is very rare though. And setting up VRR on top of that would have additional hurdles.

I think this is missing an important point. With a fixed refresh rate monitor, if Dolphin is half a millisecond late with a frame, its predecessor will be displayed for another 16.6 ms, leading to a visible stutter. If it were set up properly, a variable refresh rate monitor could just delay for that half a millisecond then show the late frame as if nothing went wrong. You'd still be running the game slower than real time, so would need audio stretching on, but the overall experience of running a game at 95% speed would be much better. We make an effort to keep the emulated CPU and GPU in sync when one can't run at full speed, so I don't see why keeping the emulated monitor in sync, too, would be a pointless idea.

(04-20-2020, 11:40 PM)AnyOldName3 Wrote: [ -> ]I think this is missing an important point. With a fixed refresh rate monitor, if Dolphin is half a millisecond late with a frame, its predecessor will be displayed for another 16.6 ms, leading to a visible stutter. If it were set up properly, a variable refresh rate monitor could just delay for that half a millisecond then show the late frame as if nothing went wrong. You'd still be running the game slower than real time, so would need audio stretching on, but the overall experience of running a game at 95% speed would be much better. We make an effort to keep the emulated CPU and GPU in sync when one can't run at full speed, so I don't see why keeping the emulated monitor in sync, too, would be a pointless idea.

I can second this, I have been using a Freesync monitor with Dolphin and it is so much better than a non VRR monitor. With a non VRR monitor you either have tearing or Vsync enabled and micro-stuttering.  

Besides, Freesync can be found on almost any semi modern monitor so you probably don't have to specifically look for a VRR monitor.

(04-21-2020, 01:27 AM)Miksel12 Wrote: [ -> ]I can second this, I have been using a Freesync monitor with Dolphin and it is so much better than a non VRR monitor. With a non VRR monitor you either have tearing or Vsync enabled and micro-stuttering.  

Besides, Freesync can be found on almost any semi modern monitor so you probably don't have to specifically look for a VRR monitor.

The thought of VRR, freesync, gsync was short lived. Turns out my laptop has Nvidia Optimus which to my understanding is incompatible with any type of VRR. Is this true? 

Guess I just have to deal with the microstutter in certain games. My TV is a Sony X950 which handles motion pretty well overall but I've been entertaining the idea of other TVs with VRR and just thought it may work. 

(04-21-2020, 01:42 AM)DrumFreak89 Wrote: [ -> ]The thought of VRR, freesync, gsync was short lived. Turns out my laptop has Nvidia Optimus which to my understanding is incompatible with any type of VRR. Is this true? 

Guess I just have to deal with the microstutter in certain games. My TV is a Sony X950 which handles motion pretty well overall but I've been entertaining the idea of other TVs with VRR and just thought it may work. 

It depends on how your computer is connected to the GTX 1650. If you have a Display Port connection directly to the GTX 1650, then you can use VRR. You can check this by going into Nvidia Control Panel > 'Configure Surround, PhysX' and checking if there are any display connections hooked to the GTX 1650, or if they all run through the Intel iGPU.

You might also want to install the latest Intel iGPU drivers, as that could be a source of your problems: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/downloa...CH-Drivers

(04-21-2020, 10:26 AM)KHg8m3r Wrote: [ -> ]It depends on how your computer is connected to the GTX 1650. If you have a Display Port connection directly to the GTX 1650, then you can use VRR. You can check this by going into Nvidia Control Panel > 'Configure Surround, PhysX' and checking if there are any display connections hooked to the GTX 1650, or if they all run through the Intel iGPU.

You might also want to install the latest Intel iGPU drivers, as that could be a source of your problems: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/downloa...CH-Drivers

I don't believe my laptop has a display port, but under my PhysX settings it says Nvidia GTX .... 

Under that it has a diagram of my Sony TV connecting to my Nvidia card. 

Am I good to go? As in if I got a compatible gsync monitor I would be able to use the feature? Not to worry about Optimus? I'm sorry, I tried to upload a photo but it was too large

You can upload it to a site like Imgur and post a link here, or crop/reduce/compress the filesize of the image to host it here.

Nvidia only supports VRR over HDMI 2.1 for a select number of LG TVs from what I remember/can google.

If you want to use G-Sync on anything else, pretty sure it has to be DisplayPort or miniDisplayPort