Posted: 5/10/2014 5:50 PM
Post subject: Performance with SNESHawk seems to be inconsistent
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GibusWearingMann
Joined: 8/22/2009
Posts: 58
Sometimes when I load Super Metroid, for casual gaming, it averages around 30fps, but other times it runs at a smooth 60. I am almost certain I'm not changing any settings between loads (of the emulator and of the game), and the settings I do change (performance vs compatibility core and ringbuffer IO) don't seem to help much. I'm running quad-core Windows 7 64bit with 8gb of RAM, on a laptop, with an Xbox 360 controller.
Posted: 5/10/2014 5:54 PM
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adelikat
He/Him
Emulator Coder, Site Developer, Site Owner, Expert player (3573)
Joined: 11/3/2004
Posts: 4754
Location: Tennessee
TASer of 2010 NES TASer of 2010 DS TASer of 2010 Arcade TAS of 2010 NES TASer of 2008 NES TAS of 2008 Funny TAS of 2008 TASer of 2007 NES TASer of 2007 Funny TAS of 2007
Are you setting it to 50% speed on accident? When you press tab what kind of fps are you getting when things are running "smoothly"? Performance vs Compatiblity should make a significant difference. Just remember you have to "reboot core" after making those changes for them to take effect (There's an icon in the status bar alerting you to this).
It's hard to look this good. My TAS projects
Posted: 5/10/2014 6:04 PM
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GibusWearingMann
Joined: 8/22/2009
Posts: 58
The speed is set to 100%, and I have rebooted the core when switching between cores. I'm currently running with the Performance core, like I have most of the time, and right now it averages 30 frames per second; when it runs smoothly I believe it averages 60 fps although it may dip as low as 55. Now that I think about it, it seems to switch depending on either what day it is or the computer having been in sleep mode, although that may not be related. I say this because it seems that (as an example) no matter what I can think to do (which isn't much) the game runs at 33-35 fps at most, and then when I return the next day and try again it hits 60 fps easily without me having done anything, or at least noticing that I've done anything. Edit: I've rebooted earlier and tried putting the computer into sleep mode and waking it just now, and neither seemed to affect performance. Personally, I'm stumped.
Posted: 5/10/2014 6:11 PM
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adelikat
He/Him
Emulator Coder, Site Developer, Site Owner, Expert player (3573)
Joined: 11/3/2004
Posts: 4754
Location: Tennessee
TASer of 2010 NES TASer of 2010 DS TASer of 2010 Arcade TAS of 2010 NES TASer of 2008 NES TAS of 2008 Funny TAS of 2008 TASer of 2007 NES TASer of 2007 Funny TAS of 2007
That still doesn't answer my main question. When you fast forward (press tab) what fps are you getting during the times that it is running "smoothly/60fps"?
It's hard to look this good. My TAS projects
Posted: 5/10/2014 6:52 PM
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GibusWearingMann
Joined: 8/22/2009
Posts: 58
I haven't been able to test that yet, but I'll update the next time it decides to run smoothly. Edit: It ran smoothly again and I tested it. When fast forwarding, the game runs at about 100 fps when nothing much is happening (i.e. at the title screen) and wiggles between 80 and 90 fps at other times (i.e. during the demos that are played). Once in awhile it may spike up to 120 fps but that lasts half a second realtime at most. During actual gameplay it seems to peak at 75 fps.
Posted: 5/12/2014 3:58 AM
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zeromus
Editor, Emulator Coder
Joined: 8/7/2008
Posts: 1156
sounds like your cpu fan is dusty and you dont do anything else serious with your cpu power. when you return the next day your stuff is cooled off. a seriously overheated cpu wont be cooled off after sleeping and then immediately waking it back up. when studying performance of an emulator, pick a stable scene. some emulators may shoot up to double fps for half a second while scenes change. results obtained while the game is going from menu in and out of demo modes are not useful. run any other emulator which is heavily cpu-bound, unthrottled, and watch whether its performance follows the same patterns. almost certainly it will.
Posted: 5/12/2014 9:43 PM
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GibusWearingMann
Joined: 8/22/2009
Posts: 58
Now that I think about it, you're probably right, zeromus.