Junkhead Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 So I got an Alienware Steam Machine, which is a huuuuge step coming from a Core2Duo (rough specs 2GB RAM Nvidia 9400GT 1GB processor clocked @2.00GHz). I can run games like Metal Gear Rising and Resident Evil 7 (which is literally like 3 weeks old) at max settings. To my surprise, though, some emulators seem to run poorly. Like, FE10 runs about the same it did on my old computer (emphasis on old). DeSeMU, a DS emulator, does pretty much the same. I tried J'eanne D'arc (PSP game) and it runs insane at 1080p...so, what gives? I take it it's more of a compability issue (even though I've tried Dolphin 2.0, 4 & 5...)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Espinosa Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 I had a similar experience switching to a newer PC. VBA-rr now cannot record AVI without crashing, ever, and I also experience slowdown when playing on PSXfin, which was never a problem with the ancient desktop. Dolphin apparently played PoR without any slowdown at all last time I tried. So that's weird. Could be some codec stuff, or some settings needing change? I've never got the help I needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wist Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 That's surprising. I got FE9 (though not F10) to run at a playable speed on my low-end Chromebook. It seems the Alienware Steam Machine uses an unspecified nVidia GPU. If it's a notebook GPU, maybe you're running into a problem with Optimus...? I really have no idea; just found that through Google, sorry. I assume you've fiddled with the backend in Dolphin's Graphics Settings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junkhead Posted March 5, 2017 Author Share Posted March 5, 2017 14 hours ago, Espinosa said: Could be some codec stuff, or some settings needing change? I've never got the help I needed. Are these driver-related or more about Dolphin? 11 hours ago, Wist said: That's surprising. I got FE9 (though not F10) to run at a playable speed on my low-end Chromebook. It seems the Alienware Steam Machine uses an unspecified nVidia GPU. If it's a notebook GPU, maybe you're running into a problem with Optimus...? I really have no idea; just found that through Google, sorry. I assume you've fiddled with the backend in Dolphin's Graphics Settings? wtf Wist Nice catch. Apparently it's actually an NviDia 860m (the rough equivalent of a desktop's 760gtx), and the performance so far seems to support that. Again, it's really really weird you can play a game like RE7, and then fail at FE10 (which, comparison performance-wise, goes without saying). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wist Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 (edited) Nice find! Okay, so basically, hypothetically, if this is actually the problem... the computer might be using an integrated GPU by default to save power instead of the 860. When you run a game through Steam it switches to the 860, which is why RE7 runs great. But it doesn't know to make the switch when you run something like Dolphin. This would be a driver problem. Again, I have no idea if this is actually the problem. It might be fixed, or it might not be otherwise relevant. But if there's a way to check GPU usage in SteamOS, that might help you see if this might indeed be what's actually going on. If it is, is there a way to select the GPU in Dolphin? Or I guess you could try running Dolphin directly through the Steam application and seeing if that makes a difference (but you might run into problems with OpenGL). That's the best hypothetically possible explanation I can offer without getting even more horrifically and irresponsibly out of my depth. Sorry. Edited March 6, 2017 by Wist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junkhead Posted March 10, 2017 Author Share Posted March 10, 2017 Just tried around 4 different GC games, and they all run perfectly at 1080p with a x16 antistropic filter. I could've sworn FE10 was roughly as demanding as FE9, as they both ran at around the same speed in my previous computer. From visual cue alone, I take FE10's running at about 20fps (vs. the other GC games at 60fps). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wist Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 Well at least you know it's probably not your computer then... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junkhead Posted April 1, 2017 Author Share Posted April 1, 2017 I think it's worth mentioning, but I configured the percentage thing on the "Power Settings > Advanced Power Settings" and upped it to 100%. Brawl and FE10 run perfectly at 1080p (+ x16 anti filter) without even straining it (as in, fan running loud; it's pretty silent). Dolphin (and maybe even emulators, in general) use up a lot of CPU, which was the culprit (since the rest of my specs are pretty good). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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