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How to speed up the emulator?

72K views 37 replies 28 participants last post by  jonc2006 
#1 ·
Hey,

I recently downloaded this emulator, and I got to say thanks to everyone who worked on it, it's a masterpiece!

I am relieved that I can still play my Gamecube games even tho my friend moved away without giving me back my Gamecube.

There is just one issue I have, and that's the speed of my games. For example, I will take Metroid Prime.

In closed rooms, without enemies I get a perfect speed of 50-60 FPS. But, the problem is, when I am in the overworld, or in a room filled with a lot of enemies, the speed drops down to 30FPS, sometimes even less.

Now, I can beat the game like this, it's not a problem, but it gets rather annoying on boss fights and other major events. When the boss fight is slow, the difficulty falls and there is no speed and no adrenaline. The thing that's most fun about boss fights. I think you know what I mean.

So what I wanted to ask is, what do I have to do to increase the speed of my emulator? Is it possible in the first place? When I searched for an answer, I heard several people that claimed they have a constant 60fps in Metroid Prime.

Here are my computer specs:


Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp.080413-2111)
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E7200 @ 2.53GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 2044MB RAM
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 9500 GT
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Display Memory: 512.0 MB
Driver Version: 6.14.0011.8122 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)

What would I have to upgrade to get a good constant 60 FPS on games like Metroid Prime? Is there maybe a chance the specs are enough but I got a software problem?

Any help is appreciated.
 
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#2 ·
Me too... I have significant problems with this game, Metroid Prime 2, and Wind Waker. But, I realize that the emulator is still a work in progress and that we're probably going to have to deal with these slowdowns for a while, which I really don't mind.
If anybody DOES get high framerates with these games (fixed audio for MP2 would be nice too) let me know as well, k?

thx
 
#3 ·
I am relieved that I can still play my Gamecube games even tho my friend moved away without giving me back my Gamecube.
mmm, He legally own the console but he didn't have it already.....playing GC games using Dolphin in that statement is it illegal or not??? (I think no)

anyway, talking about your issue the slowdowns should be caused by your CPU/GPU (or the emu still doesn't support that game at full speed), your CPU run a little slow to handle high-demanding games like Metroid, that model can be OC by quite a margin if you know what you're doing and have the optimal HW.

Also your GPU is a little weak so disable AA and AF from Dolphin to avoid bottlenecking.
 
#11 ·
Since this thread exists...

I have the Dolphin SVN 2441 build to 64-bit computers.
I am playing Fire emblem: Path of Radiance and it has a decent FPS in the menus (22 - 26 Fps), but best when in dialogues (27 - 30 Fps). However, ingame it's roughly 11 - 14 Fps. Is there are method to speed it up? My computer specs are:

Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 2.10 Ghz.
4 GB Ram.
Nvidia Geforce 8600M GT.
Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit.

Any help is appreciated!
 
#16 ·
Remember to check "enable dual core" option! (if you got 2 cores of course!)
It's unchecked by default.
It'll speed up things A LOT, try check/uncheck "lock threads to cores" too.
 
#19 · (Edited)
be glad your not using my computer, non enemy rooms are 15 fps, while big enemy rooms are 7-10. just be glad your getting 30 in enemy rooms

btw, my computer is one of those 2006-07 windows vista home premium, with a graphics card that hasnt been updated since i got it,(nvidia geforce 6100) half of the memory is used, 32 bit drive, 1 gig ram, so forth that makes a sucky-in-speed computer. the only good thing is that its a desktop. in fact, the fangame metroid confrontation runs at a non fullspeed with a steady 16-18 fps. oh, can anyone give me a recomendation for a dolphin that is faster for my comp? im currently running SVN R 3661, the newer one
 
#20 ·
be glad your not using my computer, non enemy rooms are 15 fps, while big enemy rooms are 7-10. just be glad your getting 30 in enemy rooms

btw, my computer is one of those 2006-07 windows vista home premium, with a graphics card that hasnt been updated since i got it,(nvidia geforce 6100) half of the memory is used, 32 bit drive, 1 gig ram, so forth that makes a sucky-in-speed computer. the only good thing is that its a desktop. in fact, the fangame metroid confrontation runs at a non fullspeed with a steady 16-18 fps. oh, can anyone give me a recomendation for a dolphin that is faster for my comp? im currently running SVN R 3661, the newer one
The newest revision is 4308, and given the now working Direct3D plugin you will see better performance.
 
#21 ·
this will give yo some more FPS like 10 to 15 more
download game booster and run it before you run dolphin heres the link
Game Booster | Faster Play, Free Download | Free Game Accelerator Download

and

Open notepad and put in this code:

TASKKILL /IM EXPLORER.EXE /F
TASKKILL /IM SIDEBAR.EXE /F
start /high /wait DolphinIL.exe
start explorer.exe
start sidebar "without .exe"

Now save the file as a ".bat" in the Dolphin's main folder, making sure to change the "Save as type" drop menu to "All Files". It doesn't matter what file name you give it, as long as you make sure to end it in ".bat". Now run the bat file. What this does is close the graphical user interface of windows, "explorer.exe", and start Dolphin. This is a very CPU and Memory hogging process. It opens again when you close Dolphin. Doing this should give you a little FPS boost. Thanks to hansenderek for this tip.

the las part was copy from krypking in the oficial dolphin forum
 
#26 ·
Hi!

I didn't want to create a new thread when this could have fit nicely here (besides that it's old). I'm trying to play Mario kart at a decent speed. It's sluggish. I was wondering if anyone could help me with settings and whatnot to maximize the speed.

My specs are:
CPU: Core i7 920 2.67GHz
Ram: 12gb
OS: Win 7 64-bit
Video card: Radeon 4850 1gb
 
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