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+--- Thread: Is it possible to play without fps drop or stutter? (/Thread-is-it-possible-to-play-without-fps-drop-or-stutter)
Is it possible to play without fps drop or stutter? - Saint Chewy - 08-13-2014
Is it? I love Dolphin and what its doing but it seems that no matter what settings I use, I cannot have a perfect game. When the fps drop the sound stutters along with it and that is what kills it for me. Just wondering if its normal or if people know the perfect settings to use...
Games in question: Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Specs- i5 2500k OC @ 4.4ghz, 780ti @ 980mhz, 16 gb of ram and using the newest build 4.0-2524
Note! I was using the vbeam speed hack, however it seems that when that is on my games run at double speed
RE: Is it possible to play without fps drop or stutter? - JMC47 - 08-13-2014
I'd say let the game generate it's shader-cache over a few games, don't change builds for a while, and it will stop stuttering over time. Wish I had a better answer.
RE: Is it possible to play without fps drop or stutter? - Saint Chewy - 08-13-2014
(08-13-2014, 03:43 AM)JMC47 Wrote: I'd say let the game generate it's shader-cache over a few games, don't change builds for a while, and it will stop stuttering over time. Wish I had a better answer.
If you say it will stop stuttering then that is a great answer! Also, so when you do update Dolphin does it reset all the shaders then?
RE: Is it possible to play without fps drop or stutter? - n-fani - 08-14-2014
Usually you'll want EFB copies to texture unless the game requires RAM to look proper.
Also what type of problem is this exactly? You mention fps drop and stutter. If it runs at 100% but there are sometimes small pauses/stutters in emulation but after it's over it runs smoothly again then the above post is best advice. Probably shader cache stuff. It will only happen when certain effects occur for the first time in a game.
If it just flat out dips below 100% speed then it's a performance issue but seems unlikely as I have the same CPU at roughly the same overclock and can run Super Mario Galaxy at constant full speed with newer builds. Currently have 4.0-2440 in use.
One thing you might want to try is LLE for sound. It generally seems to work better for me. HLE is faster but more often has skips and the like for me.
RE: Is it possible to play without fps drop or stutter? - Saint Chewy - 08-14-2014
Yeah its mainly just dropping down for a few seconds. But that's when its also very irritating because besides that I seem to have no problem. But the stutter does go away though? I played Luigis Mansion for over an hour today trying to rebuild the cache, but every time it would go into a cut scene or a different room I would get that stutter. I play almost all my games with LLE except for Wind Waker.
Another question is that could it possibly be my dumps? Most of my games I bought off ebay and they arent exactly in pristine condition.
RE: Is it possible to play without fps drop or stutter? - Kosake - 08-14-2014
i have EXACT the same problem. My thread is this: https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-upgrade-cpu-to-play-mario-galaxy-and-dkcr
i think the stuttering is not a performance stuttering. When i overclock my 4690k @ 4.1 Ghz, reduce internal res to 1x and use HLE, the stuttering comes on and off a well. When i disable Vsync and framelimit off the game runs at the stuttering position with 200 %.
Sometimes i can play 20 min without stutter, than i reached a new area in Mario Galaxy, the stutter begins. I make a savestate, close the game and restart and load the savestate: no stutter. I close the game AGAIN, restart, load savestate und the stutter is there.
Playing is no fun under this circumstance.
RE: Is it possible to play without fps drop or stutter? - Shonumi - 08-14-2014
@Saint Chewy - Different areas of a game might require different shaders. If you're playing the area or segment of a game, playing it once should be enough to generate the shaders you'll need for it. You could try updating to the latest development revision as well. There have been over 2000 changes since 4.0.2, perhaps one of them will help.
Also, stuttering isn't a symptom of a bad dump, at least not one I've heard of. Usually it's black screens and emulator hangs/crashes that indicate a corrupt dump. If you're worried, generate an MD5 for the dump and check it online. Newer revisions of Dolphin have a built-in MD5 generator (Right-click a game, Properties, Info tab).
RE: Is it possible to play without fps drop or stutter? - Saint Chewy - 08-15-2014
(08-14-2014, 10:46 AM)Shonumi Wrote: @Saint Chewy - Different areas of a game might require different shaders. If you're playing the area or segment of a game, playing it once should be enough to generate the shaders you'll need for it. You could try updating to the latest development revision as well. There have been over 2000 changes since 4.0.2, perhaps one of them will help.
Also, stuttering isn't a symptom of a bad dump, at least not one I've heard of. Usually it's black screens and emulator hangs/crashes that indicate a corrupt dump. If you're worried, generate an MD5 for the dump and check it online. Newer revisions of Dolphin have a built-in MD5 generator (Right-click a game, Properties, Info tab).
I am actually using revision 4.0-2524 but it doesnt seem to matter which revision I use, I still get the stuttering. But I am not sure if it has been answered but will updating Dolphin reset the shader caches? I would try an update Dolphin every time there was a new revivision
RE: Is it possible to play without fps drop or stutter? - Shonumi - 08-15-2014
I think using different revision of Dolphin will cause Dolphin to recreate the shader cache, though I'm not sure if it applies to every single different revision or if it only applies to revision where Dolphin actually needs to generate completely different shaders (like 4.0.2 and 4.0-2005 or something).
RE: Is it possible to play without fps drop or stutter? - Saint Chewy - 08-15-2014
Now I am not 100% sure how the shader cache works, but does it work for the entire game or just for a map or level? For example in SSBB, if I play on a map that I haven't played on before its very laggy.