Optimizing PM on Dolphin

[Snailtopus]

Hello everyone,

I recently got Dolphin and downloaded PM, and finally figured out how to get it to work. However the game is not running at full speed - the bar at top usually displays about 30fps (half speed) and there is no sound. The game only runs at 60fps when I am on the stage select screen.

What can I do to make it consistently run at 60fps, and why isn't the sound working? I use an NVIDIA graphics card, my computer has an Intel i5 core processor, and I have plenty of disk space.

 

[Rizner]

How much ram do you have? What else are you running while dolphin runs? Open up the task manager and see what's maxing out when it runs. What nvidia graphics card is it?

 

[Y-L]

RAM and Graphics card are essentially irrelevant. What model of i5 do you have?

run dxdiag in your computer (search for it in the start menu) and screenshot the system information and post it.

 

[Snailtopus]

How much ram do you have? What else are you running while dolphin runs? Open up the task manager and see what's maxing out when it runs. What nvidia graphics card is it?

I've got 6144Mb of RAM.
I was only running Google Chrome while Dolphin was open.
My card is GeForce GT 540M (I think).

RAM and Graphics card are essentially irrelevant. What model of i5 do you have?

run dxdiag in your computer (search for it in the start menu) and screenshot the system information and post it.

 

[Y-L]

I've got 6144Mb of RAM.
I was only running Google Chrome while Dolphin was open.
My card is GeForce GT 540M (I think).

Your laptop cpu is slow for Dolphin, however it should be able to run at full speed. The main problem here is that your cpu is probably running too hot and overheating and is throttling (reducing speed) to cool off. Multimedia laptops are not designed for gaming and usually have poor cooling. They also generally share the CPU heatsink with the GPU so what you should do in Dolphin is change the display adapter to intel integrated graphics (options->graphics->adapter), that way the GPU wont generate additional heat to your CPU. Now, doing this you will probably have to lower your IR if you raised it down to 1-2X as the integrated graphics for that CPU are pretty weak.

Also go to power options and set your configuration to the high performance option. This will make sure your CPU is running at full clock speed always.

Make sure you don't play with your laptop on your lap/bed/blanket either. Keep it on a flat surface so that it gets plenty of ventilation.

For more information head to the thread in my siggy and read the FAQ regarding laptops not running full speed.

 

[Snailtopus]

Your laptop cpu is slow for Dolphin, however it should be able to run at full speed. The main problem here is that your cpu is probably running too hot and overheating and is throttling (reducing speed) to cool off. Multimedia laptops are not designed for gaming and usually have poor cooling. They also generally share the CPU heatsink with the GPU so what you should do in Dolphin is change the display adapter to intel integrated graphics (options->graphics->adapter), that way the GPU wont generate additional heat to your CPU. Now, doing this you will probably have to lower your IR if you raised it down to 1-2X as the integrated graphics for that CPU are pretty weak.

Also go to power options and set your configuration to the high performance option. This will make sure your CPU is running at full clock speed always.

Make sure you don't play with your laptop on your lap/bed/blanket either. Keep it on a flat surface so that it gets plenty of ventilation.

For more information head to the thread in my siggy and read the FAQ regarding laptops not running full speed.

I don't see Intel Integrated Graphics in the drop-down, only the NVIDIA option is available. I couldnt change it if I wanted to.
I always have my computer set to Power Saver, so switching to high performance should help lol

 

[Y-L]

I don't see Intel Integrated Graphics in the drop-down, only the NVIDIA option is available. I couldnt change it if I wanted to.
I always have my computer set to Power Saver, so switching to high performance should help lol

Oh.. that will definitely make a difference.

 

[Snailtopus]

Oh.. that will definitely make a difference.

It didn't

 

[Y-L]

Oh, try downloading hwmonitor and monitor your cpu core temps. If they're higher than like 80C then you're throttling, if not then idk. Screenshot your graphics settings (all tabs) on dolphin too.

 

[Snailtopus]

Oh, try downloading hwmonitor and monitor your cpu core temps. If they're higher than like 80C then you're throttling, if not then idk. Screenshot your graphics settings (all tabs) on dolphin too.

 

[Y-L]

Under enhancements check scaled EFB copy and change internal resolution to 1x native. Under hacks check vertex streaming hack.

 

[DraconisMarch]

Your laptop cpu is slow for Dolphin, however it should be able to run at full speed. The main problem here is that your cpu is probably running too hot and overheating and is throttling (reducing speed) to cool off. Multimedia laptops are not designed for gaming and usually have poor cooling. They also generally share the CPU heatsink with the GPU so what you should do in Dolphin is change the display adapter to intel integrated graphics (options->graphics->adapter), that way the GPU wont generate additional heat to your CPU. Now, doing this you will probably have to lower your IR if you raised it down to 1-2X as the integrated graphics for that CPU are pretty weak.

Also go to power options and set your configuration to the high performance option. This will make sure your CPU is running at full clock speed always.

Make sure you don't play with your laptop on your lap/bed/blanket either. Keep it on a flat surface so that it gets plenty of ventilation.

For more information head to the thread in my siggy and read the FAQ regarding laptops not running full speed.

I gave up on running PM on Dolphin. Now I'll have to try it again! Thanks!

 

[Y-L]

I gave up on running PM on Dolphin. Now I'll have to try it again! Thanks!

If you tell me what your specs are (run dxdiag as per above) I'll tell you if you can run it or not so you don't have to waste your time if you can't.

 

[Snailtopus]

Under enhancements check scaled EFB copy and change internal resolution to 1x native. Under hacks check vertex streaming hack.

Running a little better, but still really laggy. Computer isn't getting hotter than 65C

 

[Y-L]

Running a little better, but still really laggy. Computer isn't getting hotter than 65C

And that's while in game? Try going to my guide in my siggy and look at the FAQ about laptop performance and follow the guide that I link to.

 

[Snailtopus]

And that's while in game? Try going to my guide in my siggy and look at the FAQ about laptop performance and follow the guide that I link to.

Yeah, that's while in game. While not in game, it only reaches 54C

I'll try the guide now. Thanks for your efforts I just want to play PM dammit


It's saying I need to DL Throttlestop, but if my laptop isn't throttling, would the program actually do anything?

 

[profetylen]

I'm pretty sure it isn't your CPU that is the bottleneck. I'm running project M on dolphin with an i5-3450 (3.1 GHz x 4) at 60 FPS, no lag. Also, if it doesn't heat up, it shouldn't be the problem. I'm pretty sure switching to an Intel graphics card would kill your FPS hard, since the Intel laptop GPUs really are quite weak. RAM should not be the issue either since the Wii has only got 88 MB of it (So really, even 1GB should definitely be enough unless you are running some other memory intensive stuff. You could always check your memory usage if you are worried, though.). My guess is that it is the graphics card. Try setting all the graphics related settings to the minimum and see if performance improves. If it does, it most likely is the graphics card. You can also experiment with setting the graphics settings to the maximum and see what happens, then draw conclusions from that.

I don't know why Y-L is telling you that the graphics card is irrelevant. It isn't. Check this FAQ: dolphin-emu.org/docs/faq/ (can't link properly, apparently I have posted to little). Especially these statements:

NVIDIA: Due to the importance of the OpenGL Extension “Buffer Storage” no NVIDIA GPU before the Geforce 4xx series can be recommended. Despite being a bit old, the Geforce GTX 460 will handle almost any game you throw at it in HD resolutions. Older NVIDIA GPUs will still be able to run the games fine, especially within the D3D backend and in OpenGL with older builds still using the “Vertex Streaming Hack.”

Especially the last sentence might be worth checking out. Maybe you can try an older build (I'm not entirely sure that's what they are suggesting, but it might be worth a shot).

Good luck!

 

[Y-L]

I'm pretty sure it isn't your CPU that is the bottleneck. I'm running project M on dolphin with an i5-3450 (3.1 GHz x 4) at 60 FPS, no lag. Also, if it doesn't heat up, it shouldn't be the problem. I'm pretty sure switching to an Intel graphics card would kill your FPS hard, since the Intel laptop GPUs really are quite weak. RAM should not be the issue either since the Wii has only got 88 MB of it (So really, even 1GB should definitely be enough unless you are running some other memory intensive stuff. You could always check your memory usage if you are worried, though.). My guess is that it is the graphics card. Try setting all the graphics related settings to the minimum and see if performance improves. If it does, it most likely is the graphics card. You can also experiment with setting the graphics settings to the maximum and see what happens, then draw conclusions from that.

I don't know Y-L is telling you that the graphics card is irrelevant. It isn't. Check this FAQ: dolphin-emu.org/docs/faq/ (can't link properly, apparently I have posted to little). Especially these statements:



Especially the last sentence might be worth checking out. Maybe you can try an older build (I'm not entirely sure that's what they are suggesting, but it might be worth a shot).

Good luck!

I'm sorry but you don't really know what you're talking about. Your cpu is much faster than his due to it being the 3 series compared to 2 (ivy bridge is much faster than sandy bridge in Dolphin). There is no "Intel graphics card", it's the integrated graphics in the processor. The graphics requirements are very minimal with dolphin because the CPU is emulating all graphics, that's how emulation works and why it is so CPU intensive.

Laptops will almost always overheat while using a dedicated card because not only due they have really bad thermal paste and ventilation but multimedia laptops share gpu and CPU heatsink. Intel hd 3000 graphics should be able to do 1 or 2x native, project m is not a very demanding game. You are right that it has nothing to do with ram but not because the wii only has 88 mb (you cannot compare wii hardware to pc hardware it is completely different). The wii CPU is a single core processor under 2 ghz but yet even the strongest pc processors can't run all games full speed.

It is not the graphics card as his dedicated card should easily do 2.5x IR. You have to remember emulation is 90 percent CPU as you cannot compare wii hardware with pc hardware, it's apples and oranges. BTW that quote is for running games in "HD resolutions" aka 3-4x IR. GPU mainly handles IR/AA in Dolphin.

 

[profetylen]

I'm sorry but you don't really know what you're talking about. Your cpu is much faster than his due to it being the 3 series compared to 2 (ivy bridge is much faster than sandy bridge in Dolphin).

Yes, it's faster, but I do you really think it's the difference between lag-free and half speed? Also, since it doesn't heat up almost at all, I don't think this is the bottleneck.

There is no "Intel graphics card", it's the integrated graphics in the processor.

Sorry for mixing up graphics card and GPU. You are right, it's not a graphics card.

The graphics requirements are very minimal with dolphin because the CPU is emulating all graphics, that's how emulation works and why it is so CPU intensive.

This is false. The CPU generated polygons with textures stil needl to be rendered (which is much faster on a GPU). Try changing graphics/general/backend from "OpenGL" to "Software renderer" and you will see the difference. (2 FPS at intro movie VS lag-free for me.) Also some graphics features could be emulated by OpenGL/OpenCL (I'm unsure if Dolphin does this, though).

Laptops will almost always overheat while using a dedicated card because not only due they have really bad thermal paste and ventilation but multimedia laptops share gpu and CPU heatsink. Intel hd 3000 graphics should be able to do 1 or 2x native, project m is not a very demanding game. You are right that it has nothing to do with ram but not because the wii only has 88 mb (you cannot compare wii hardware to pc hardware it is completely different). The wii CPU is a single core processor under 2 ghz but yet even the strongest pc processors can't run all games full speed.

Yes, for CPU emulation, they are uncomparable as both architectures are running different instructions that need to be translated which generates some overhead. However, this is not true for memory. Memory is still memory on the Wii and 1 MB of data stored on the Wii can be represented by 1 MB of data stored on your computer. Therefore the amount required comes quite close to what the emulated console has.

It is not the graphics card as his dedicated card should easily do 2.5x IR. You have to remember emulation is 90 percent CPU as you cannot compare wii hardware with pc hardware, it's apples and oranges. BTW that quote is for running games in "HD resolutions" aka 3-4x IR. GPU mainly handles IR/AA in Dolphin.

"90 percent CPU". This really depends on the implementation and the console emulated. Some things can be handled by a GPU. Regarding the quote, yes, it's for HD resolutions, but Snailtopus' graphics card is worse than what is suggested to run on HD resolutions, so it might still be the bottleneck. We don't know.



Also, checking the FAQ I linked to, I came across this: forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-unofficial-laptop-performance-guide. (Which Y-L already suggested, but here was a complete guide, with images and all, so it's hard to mess it up.)

 

[Y-L]

Yes, it's faster, but I do you really think it's the difference between lag-free and half speed? Also, since it doesn't heat up almost at all, I don't think this is the bottleneck.


Sorry for mixing up graphics card and GPU. You are right, it's not a graphics card.


This is false. The CPU generated polygons with textures stil needl to be rendered (which is much faster on a GPU). Try changing graphics/general/backend from "OpenGL" to "Software renderer" and you will see the difference. (2 FPS at intro movie VS lag-free for me.) Also some graphics features could be emulated by OpenGL/OpenCL (I'm unsure if Dolphin does this, though).


Yes, for CPU emulation, they are uncomparable as both architectures are running different instructions that need to be translated which generates some overhead. However, this is not true for memory. Memory is still memory on the Wii and 1 MB of data stored on the Wii can be represented by 1 MB of data stored on your computer. Therefore the amount required comes quite close to what the emulated console has.



"90 percent CPU". This really depends on the implementation and the console emulated. Some things can be handled by a GPU. Regarding the quote, yes, it's for HD resolutions, but Snailtopus' graphics card is worse than what is suggested to run on HD resolutions, so it might still be the bottleneck. We don't know.



Also, checking the FAQ I linked to, I came across this: forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-unofficial-laptop-performance-guide. (Which Y-L already suggested, but here was a complete guide, with images and all, so it's hard to mess it up.)

Actually it could very much be the difference between (he's probably getting 80 percentish speed) and full speed. Your cpu is at least 25 percent faster for dolphin plus having 4 cores does help even though dolphin is a dual core program due to the fact that you can background process any additional things running on your computer. True that his temps seem too low for a heat bottleneck. However the single threaded performance on that CPU is almost equal (maybe a little worse) than a processor I used to have which ran full speed which I find strange. His dedicated card though, if he's not overheating, should be able to AT LEAST run 1x IR (Default wii 480p, unupscaled, not HD resolution). True that a decent gpu is required but don't listen to the dolphin recommended specs because not only is that recommended for ~3x IR but brawl (and PM) is a very lightweight game. His dedicated 540m outperforms Intel integrated HD 4000 which I have seen play dolphin. So I do not believe this is a gpu bottleneck. In Dolphin, it's almost always CPU bottleneck. We will just have to see what happens after using the laptop performance guide.

 

[profetylen]

@ Y-L : OK! Your arguments are convincing, plus I didn't notice it was just a dual core. I'll guess we'll just have to wait and see.

 

[DraconisMarch]

If you tell me what your specs are (run dxdiag as per above) I'll tell you if you can run it or not so you don't have to waste your time if you can't.

How do I attach a file? All I'm finding are the options to link to an image.

 

[Y-L]

Just upload a picture to imgur?

 

[DraconisMarch]

Just upload a picture to imgur?

 

[DraconisMarch]

I did a little testing and found that the game typically runs at a full 60 fps when nothing is happening. However, things like attacks and stage transformations cause me to drop frames (and the music cuts out at the same time). This chugging is a significant problem. (My IR is set to 1x too.)