Project M VERY laggy (Dolphin)

[Notshane]

I have a very good computer that can run lots of games just fine, and it was even able to run Project M at full speed without any troubles for quite a while.

However, I do not know if this is a cache filling up or what, but the game just randomly freezes for five to ten seconds at at time at random points. Be it executing a move, simply PAUSING, hovering over ANY character portrait that I have not loaded yet. It is quite bizarre.

The slowdown gets worse the longer I play it on the emulator, but it seems to be at its best during the initial startup and first playthrough until about five minutes in. It never did this before.

Do I have to reset something in Dolphin to get it to run properly again?

 

[Charmilio]

Possible solutions:

• Make sure you're not dumping textures.
  
• Run as administrator
• Ensure you're on the proper Netplay build (currently 7840)
• Disable Cheats? I doubt cheats would be doing this, but could be worth a try.
• No other controllers/wiimotes connected
  
• Make sure you're running the right version (32 or 64 bit)

Also disable all graphical effects, if you're on NVIDIA try out OpenGL renderer if you normally use Direct3D. If all else fails, delete Dolphin and the 'Dolphin Emulator' Folder in My Documents and redownload.

 

[Notshane]

• Make sure you're not dumping textures.

What is "dumping" textures? I am loading custom textures onto it right now; HD ones. Would that be a problem?

• Ensure you're on the proper Netplay build (currently 7840)

Actually, I am on a homebrew build and am loading it through Gecko OS on Dolphin through the "Insert SD Card" feature.

• Make sure you're running the right version (32 or 64 bit)

Never knew Project M had those versions. I have a 64-bit OS, but that I am aware of, never encountered Project M having an option for it. I just downloaded 3.6 off the website.

Also disable all graphical effects, if you're on NVIDIA try out OpenGL renderer if you normally use Direct3D. If all else fails, delete Dolphin and the 'Dolphin Emulator' Folder in My Documents and redownload.

Tried that once, but the slowdown remained. Truthfully, despite this usually being the issue with most slowdowns, I NEVER have this kind of problem with graphics. My rig is capable of adapting to everything and has never slowed down through a graphical error before. I ran the game at the best graphical settings available for the longest time before this slowdown began.

But, if I delete the emulator, how can I keep my game saves then? I do not want to restart the Subspace Emissary.

Also, the Dolphin folder does have a "cache" folder. If I remember right, many said this was excess space or something, so if I delete Brawl's, do you think that would make it run better?

 

[Charmilio]

What is "dumping" textures? I am loading custom textures onto it right now; HD ones. Would that be a problem?

If you're dumping textures as well, yes. Check at Graphics>Advanced>Utility and ensure Dump Textures isn't checked. It should be near the 'Load Custom Textures' option. Disable the HD textures while you're troubleshooting, it's just an unnecessary hindrance.

Actually, I am on a homebrew build and am loading it through Gecko OS on Dolphin through the "Insert SD Card" feature.

Dolphin tends to vary a lot from version to version- being with the current Netplay build just gives me a little more in terms of knowing what your build might be doing. If you've changed versions at any point, conflicting files could be messing things up.

Never knew Project M had those versions. I have a 64-bit OS, but that I am aware of, never encountered Project M having an option for it. I just downloaded 3.6 off the website.

No, your dolphin version. Dolphin generally offers either a 32 or 64 bit exe. Make sure you're running 64-bit in your case.

Sounds like your mostly using it for single player. Are you launching through a WAD for Gecko? I think you can right click on Brawl in Dolphin and open the Wii save directory. If you see it, just copy it and replace it after a clean reinstall, assuming that's how it loads savegames. Be sure to read this.

This sounds to me more like a problem with Dolphin. No idea what the cache folder does. My guess would be Shader/Custom texture stuff.

 

[Notshane]

Dolphin tends to vary a lot from version to version- being with the current Netplay build just gives me a little more in terms of knowing what your build might be doing. If you've changed versions at any point, conflicting files could be messing things up.

I do change the characters a lot, but in my most recent build, I only added in a few. However, I don't think that should pose a major problem since only one of them is entirely unique, well the other two are just new models and sounds. I also tend to change stages in Project M quite a bit.

This sounds to me more like a problem with Dolphin.

It definitely is. I can recall this loading problem beginning around last fall, but before that point, the game EASILY ran on the computer at full speed and rarely lagged; aside from some light loading. Within five minutes of gameplay, it gets so bad to the point where every animation is requiring a half second lag stop, if not a full second lag stop. Even pausing takes 3-5 seconds sometimes, both in AND out of it. And, hovering over every individual character in the character select requires a half second load or so, which makes no sense to me.

There must be something that I can change to fix this, because this NEVER happened before. I have probably only just recently begun using Project M on Dolphin, for about four months now. During that time, it never encountered any major problems. But, around two months ago is when the major problems began.

If you need some past history on how it happened, I recall editing SFX files and using custom ones into my game led to Dolphin becoming so unstable at one point that I needed to both remove that SFX file AND restart Dolphin altogether. The current SFX files I have now are not unstable, and the most recent one I made myself does not suffer any major crashing problems. But, slowing down the game this badly doesn't seem like something that an SFX file could do on its own.

 

[Notshane]

I found the problem. The high definition textures are still buggy on Dolphin, so it caused major slowdown. Without that checked, the game runs silky smooth again. I was wondering why it did it so abruptly, but then I remembered that a couple months back, I had just put in those HD textures. Everything is fine again, it WAS the first theory I brought up.