Project M being a little choppy

[OneWithanOrgan]

Hi everyone I had never played Project M before, so I decided to give it a shot. I did on on my PC with the iso method (netplay version). So far I've tested Paper Mario: TTYD, Super Mario Sunshine, and the regular SSBB, and they all work perfectly. There was a tiny little lag spike at the start of the testing match on normal Brawl right as the characters appeared, but after that I watched the FPS carefully the whole match, and I don't think it ever dipped below 60. Anyway, in Project M, it's mostly the music that sounds pretty choppy, to where it sounds a little static-like, though not a lot. The gameplay itself isn't choppy for the most part, and I watched the FPS during the testing match, and it rarely dropped below 60 (few instances it dropped it was only to like the mid 50s for like a second or less). So I think it may be more of a sound issue, and don't really know how to go about fixing it. Again, Normal Brawl seemed perfectly fine.

Some general info:
-Using Dolphin 4.0.2
-Using the following created file: Build ISO PM 3.6 Beta (Netplay only)
-Intel i7 4790K 4.0 GHz 8 core
-GTX 970
-16 GB RAM
-Windows 7 (up to date)

Strongly doubt my PC is the issue, but I might as well provide info if I'm asking for help. At any rate, I'd greatly appreciate any help figuring this out. I'd love to actually try out and see how I feel about Project M

P.S. Is Project M designed so you have to be a little harder on the analog? I feel like I have to tap it harder than normal to sprint.

 

[OneWithanOrgan]

Update: I got on again, and instead of doing just one match, I did around 3 CPU matches. The issue does seem to only be a sound issue. The sound issue seemed to be completely gone sometime around the second match, and didn't come back after. Class early tomorrow, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if the issue will stay gone, or if it's something that'll happen every time I get on to play. Anyone know if this issue? I called it choppy before, but stuttery could also describe it. And again, it's not the frame rate.

Also, I still feel like you have to tap the analog harder/faster than in Smash Wii U. I just want to know if that's by design, so I can get use to it, or if it may be a controller configuration issue.

 

[Y-L]

First of all, the i7 4790k has 4 cores, not 8 (it does have 8 threads).

Second, you're using an extremely out dated version of Dolphin. 4.0.2 is over a year old so you need to update. The current one that we use for Netplay is 4.0-6554 but if you have no interest in Netplay you can just get the newest dev build (may have to disable panic handlers if you get errors when you load stages, new bug). There has been a TON of optimizations since 4.0.2 so that will likely sort out your issues.

As for the controller, set the radius on both sticks to 100. It defaults to 70 which is too low. However, if you have a 4 port Nintendo or Mayflash adapter I urge you to use Direct Connect instead. Dolphin has native support for these which allows them to have 0 input lag and map 1:1 with console. Just Google Wii U adapter on Dolphin and follow the setup using Zadig if this is an option for you.

 

[OneWithanOrgan]

First of all, the i7 4790k has 4 cores, not 8 (it does have 8 threads).

Second, you're using an extremely out dated version of Dolphin. 4.0.2 is over a year old so you need to update. The current one that we use for Netplay is 4.0-6554 but if you have no interest in Netplay you can just get the newest dev build (may have to disable panic handlers if you get errors when you load stages, new bug). There has been a TON of optimizations since 4.0.2 so that will likely sort out your issues.

As for the controller, set the radius on both sticks to 100. It defaults to 70 which is too low. However, if you have a 4 port Nintendo or Mayflash adapter I urge you to use Direct Connect instead. Dolphin has native support for these which allows them to have 0 input lag and map 1:1 with console. Just Google Wii U adapter on Dolphin and follow the setup using Zadig if this is an option for you.

Thank you for the very helpful response. Yeah, I was extremely sleepy last night, and I must've just typed the wrong thing while looking at the dxdiag page (said 8 CPU).

Wow, that makes sense. I went for the latest "stable version" of Dolphin, thinking it'd be my best bet. I'll certainly download the version you suggest, and hope that fixes the issue. I'm assuming it'll run other games just as well as my current version.

I did set the radii for the sticks to 100, and even then it feels like I have to be a little harder on the stick. I am, however using the Mayflash adapter for it. Is Direct Connect a different adapter, or is it software I can use to improve it?

 

[Y-L]

Thank you for the very helpful response. Yeah, I was extremely sleepy last night, and I must've just typed the wrong thing while looking at the dxdiag page (said 8 CPU).

Wow, that makes sense. I went for the latest "stable version" of Dolphin, thinking it'd be my best bet. I'll certainly download the version you suggest, and hope that fixes the issue. I'm assuming it'll run other games just as well as my current version.

I did set the radii for the sticks to 100, and even then it feels like I have to be a little harder on the stick. I am, however using the Mayflash adapter for it. Is Direct Connect a different adapter, or is it software I can use to improve it?

If you have the Mayflash 2 port you can't use it but if you have the 4 port you can. Which do you have? If you have the 2 port, post a pic of your gc pad settings.

 

[OneWithanOrgan]

If you have the Mayflash 2 port you can't use it but if you have the 4 port you can. Which do you have? If you have the 2 port, post a pic of your gc pad settings.

I have the four port adapter. Here are my controller settings. I calibrated on the device manager and everything.

http://imgur.com/rECH0vF

 

[Narpas_sword]

I have the four port adapter. Here are my controller settings. I calibrated on the device manager and everything.
http://imgur.com/rECH0vF

Do what YL said here:

Google Wii U adapter on Dolphin and follow the setup using Zadig

 

[Y-L]

I have the four port adapter. Here are my controller settings. I calibrated on the device manager and everything.

http://imgur.com/rECH0vF

From my controller setup guide on Smashladder (download Zadig here).

 

[OneWithanOrgan]

From my controller setup guide on Smashladder (download Zadig here).

Omg you're my favorite person right now. Pretty much everything you suggested worked perfectly. I have the new issue of Dolphin crashing when I end emulation now, but I'll take that over the other issues haha. Game runs so well, as does the controller. Thanks

 

[Y-L]

Omg you're my favorite person right now. Pretty much everything you suggested worked perfectly. I have the new issue of Dolphin crashing when I end emulation now, but I'll take that over the other issues haha. Game runs so well, as does the controller. Thanks

Dolphin crashing on end emulation is a bug that's being worked on right now. You can work around it by using the OpenGL backend instead of D3D (which you should probably do since you're using a GTX 970), enable confirm on stop, or not play in fullscreen (although you should since it reduces input latency).

 

[OneWithanOrgan]

Dolphin crashing on end emulation is a bug that's being worked on right now. You can work around it by using the OpenGL backend instead of D3D (which you should probably do since you're using a GTX 970), enable confirm on stop, or not play in fullscreen (although you should since it reduces input latency).

OpenGL actually seems to make the graphics pretty bad for some reason, where with D3D it looks perfect. Idk if that's normal. But if it's a common bug, I'm not too worried. Guess the last thing I need to test soon is to see if I can actually connect with other people via Netplay, since I never have before.

 

[Y-L]

OpenGL actually seems to make the graphics pretty bad for some reason, where with D3D it looks perfect. Idk if that's normal. But if it's a common bug, I'm not too worried. Guess the last thing I need to test soon is to see if I can actually connect with other people via Netplay, since I never have before.

Updating your graphics driver might fix those problems with opengl. You can go on smashladder.com to find people to play with.

 

[OneWithanOrgan]

You're so knowledgeable O.o Anyway, I updated my drivers, and it didn't change anything (and my last driver update was only like a month older anyway). I don't know if this is normal, but "Adapter" with my video card doesn't show underneath backend when I select OpenGL. However, it seems that when it's set to OpenGL, it doesn't crash when I end emulation from what I can see, though it still looks worse.

 

[Y-L]

You're so knowledgeable O.o Anyway, I updated my drivers, and it didn't change anything (and my last driver update was only like a month older anyway). I don't know if this is normal, but "Adapter" with my video card doesn't show underneath backend when I select OpenGL. However, it seems that when it's set to OpenGL, it doesn't crash when I end emulation from what I can see, though it still looks worse.

It's using the dedicated card on OpenGL. It just doesn't show it on that backend. I'm not really understanding what you mean when you say the game "looks bad" on OpenGL. Maybe you just didn't crank up the Internal Resolution on that backend.

 

[OneWithanOrgan]

It's using the dedicated card on OpenGL. It just doesn't show it on that backend. I'm not really understanding what you mean when you say the game "looks bad" on OpenGL. Maybe you just didn't crank up the Internal Resolution on that backend.

Woooowww now I feel really dumb. I didn't realize those settings were individual to each backend. I set it to 2x native for internal like I had on the other one, and it looks just as good. I also set the anisotropic filtering to 2x, but only because I saw that on an optimizing guide some time ago. Looks good and doesn't seem to crash on end emulation now. Thanks a ton! Anything else I should change to optimize? Idk if the internal resolution or the filtering would benefit from increasing it anymore.

Oh, and I meant to ask, what makes OpenGL the ideal backend? Sorry for my ignorance

 

[Y-L]

Woooowww now I feel really dumb. I didn't realize those settings were individual to each backend. I set it to 2x native for internal like I had on the other one, and it looks just as good. I also set the anisotropic filtering to 2x, but only because I saw that on an optimizing guide some time ago. Looks good and doesn't seem to crash on end emulation now. Thanks a ton! Anything else I should change to optimize? Idk if the internal resolution or the filtering would benefit from increasing it anymore.

Oh, and I meant to ask, what makes OpenGL the ideal backend? Sorry for my ignorance

You can do 16x anisotropic filtering no prob it's not a demanding graphical enhancement. All of the graphical enhancements (IR/AF/AA) are dependent on your GPU. The better your GPU is, the more enhancements you can have. You said you have a GTX 970 (I have one as well) so you can do pretty much any enhancements you like. I just use scale to window size for my internal resolution, 16x AF and sometimes I use max AA, but it can cause some graphical defects in other games (it makes the NES wads look weird for me) so I just keep it off. It will improve look though.

The OpenGL backend isn't necessarily the ideal backend, it's hardware dependent. It depends on drivers and such. NVIDIA cards just tend to perform better on it.

 

[OneWithanOrgan]

You can do 16x anisotropic filtering no prob it's not a demanding graphical enhancement. All of the graphical enhancements (IR/AF/AA) are dependent on your GPU. The better your GPU is, the more enhancements you can have. You said you have a GTX 970 (I have one as well) so you can do pretty much any enhancements you like. I just use scale to window size for my internal resolution, 16x AF and sometimes I use max AA, but it can cause some graphical defects in other games (it makes the NES wads look weird for me) so I just keep it off. It will improve look though.

The OpenGL backend isn't necessarily the ideal backend, it's hardware dependent. It depends on drivers and such. NVIDIA cards just tend to perform better on it.

I see I see. Well, thanks again for all your help! If there were a way to up vote people on here, I would