Hacking Devolution Speculation thread

[wiismodrome]

It may make it perform at the full frame rate if this didn't happen before, not sure. But the point is it won't exceed the frame rate it was originally made to play at.

Again, I don't know the specifics in this case.

However, in a PC scenario, when VSync is enabled, framerates are limited to some fraction of the refresh rate (1/1, 1/2, 1/3, etc...). So, assuming 480P, we're looking at a 60 Hz refresh rate, and therefore a maximum framerate of 60 FPS. With VSync on, any game which can render at or above 60 FPS will be held steady at 60 FPS; however, any drop in GPU rendering speed below 60 FPS (say down to 55 FPS) will result in a 50% drop to 30 FPS, because VSync only allows the fractions above. Presumably, a Gamecube game which can only be rendered at a maximum 50 FPS will be displayed at 30 FPS due to VSync. However, if bumping up the GPU clock by 1.5 X allows the rendering speed to meet or exceed 60 FPS, and the game allows it, then the displayed framerate would effectively double from 30 FPS to 60 FPS.

 

[Coto]

say, if we were to overclock GPU and CPU, but then vertical refresh/frame draw is hardcoded into game, wouldn't they run the same? I know waninkoko did run some GC games at wii clockspeed and they ran faster, but I think he "forced" those only? I know their team worked on MIOS so they kinda had that experience after all.

edit: I don't think devolution tells/forces the game frame rate, but rather it simply reads it from the main dol

It doesn't tell the game the frame rate, it tells the game the clock speed. tueidj said so himself.

I don't remember saying "devolution changes the clock speed". I'm saying :

I don't think the game cares a lot if it's running at either 486mhz or 720mhz as long as it's not underclocked and all the resources the app are using are available. mainly because those values are hardcoded/working closely with the hardware so those "limiters" are defined in the game coding (frame rate, vblank) but resources are handled differently from Wii to GC mode (DSP access, Flipper calls, MEM2/ARAM, etc) which ARE available PHYSICALLY on Wii mode after all.

Just to think about it.. I think devolution does more than we all think.
And, framerate *should* be smoother on more demanding games, but not faster.

 

[flamepanther]

And, framerate *should* be smoother on more demanding games, but not faster.

In other words, the frame rate won't be higher, but it might drop less often?

 

[Jacobeian]

However, in a PC scenario, when VSync is enabled, framerates are limited to some fraction of the refresh rate (1/1, 1/2, 1/3, etc...). So, assuming 480P, we're looking at a 60 Hz refresh rate, and therefore a maximum framerate of 60 FPS. With VSync on, any game which can render at or above 60 FPS will be held steady at 60 FPS; however, any drop in GPU rendering speed below 60 FPS (say down to 55 FPS) will result in a 50% drop to 30 FPS, because VSync only allows the fractions above. Presumably, a Gamecube game which can only be rendered at a maximum 50 FPS will be displayed at 30 FPS due to VSync. However, if bumping up the GPU clock by 1.5 X allows the rendering speed to meet or exceed 60 FPS, and the game allows it, then the displayed framerate would effectively double from 30 FPS to 60 FPS.

I'm pretty sure the increased CPU speed is needed for the extra "emulation-like" processing.
For syncing, games either use HW Timer or Video Interrupt: the former obviously runs faster on Wii and might be required for precise timings so it might need to be patched somehow.
As for the latter, it's not true VSYNC is "capping" the framerate: if a game is too slow and cannot met the video interrupt period for its general processing then it will miss a frame, that's all, it won't render at half framerate. Increased CPU speed might help reduce frameskipping but it's certainly not the majority of GC game lagging like that and, at the end, the maximal framerate is still bound to Video hardware, it's 59.92 fps at max. Also, on console (doesn't know about PC since buffering is much larger), contrary to popular belief, running with VSYNC is actually not a bad design idea since it ensures you are not gonna skip a frame every 10s or the like because game loop periodically desync itself from video hardware.

 

[wiismodrome]

And, framerate *should* be smoother on more demanding games, but not faster.

That makes sense.... depending upon other factors, like how much overhead Devolution requires, and other specifics with the coding.

Will be interesting to do some comparisons between my Wii and Gamecube once Devolution is released....

 

[emmanu888]

So anymore news on that ? im still debating on either purchasing a 32gb sd card for dml or just wait and use an old 160 gb harddrive for devolution

 

[Anon10W1z]

Why can't anyone just start a new topic for this argument? And tueidj isn't even a moderator in the first place (I don't care what his member title says.)

 

[tueidj]

Why can't anyone just start a new topic for this argument? And tueidj isn't even a moderator in the first place (I don't care what his member title says.)

What are you talking about? Do you make pointless posts like this just to boost your post count?

 

[GolfDude]

hey tue .. do you plan on having a graphical interface for it when you release it, or are you gonna release it as we see in the video with the text based listing?

 

[DoctorWhosThat]

Expanding on that query: If it's possible, I think the Gamecube IPL should be emulated with extra features added to it.

Edit: there's a familiar saying around, that which it goes by: "When it's done"

 

[tueidj]

What would be the point of recreating the GC boot menu when the wii menu can already do all the same things?

 

[Dr Eggman]

What would be the point of recreating the GC boot menu when the wii menu can already do all the same things?

B..b..b..but I like that animation and sound ._. And what about holding down 'Z'?? Admit it. We all loved holding down Z (and impressing your friends by plugging in all the controllers and holding down Z on all of them to get that samurai sound...awesome!)

 

[naxil]

hello any news about that project? is possible see any release?

 

[DoctorWhosThat]

Spoiler

What would be the point of recreating the GC boot menu when the wii menu can already do all the same things?

B..b..b..but I like that animation and sound ._. And what about holding down 'Z'?? Admit it. We all loved holding down Z (and impressing your friends by plugging in all the controllers and holding down Z on all of them to get that samurai sound...awesome!)

If you download Dolphin Emulator and google for the Gamecube IPL, you'll be able to do that on there (especailly if you don't own the console).

With the default configuration on the emulator, press and hold the D button on the keyboard (assigned as Z) whilst booting a game.

 

[Maxternal]

Spoiler

What would be the point of recreating the GC boot menu when the wii menu can already do all the same things?

B..b..b..but I like that animation and sound ._. And what about holding down 'Z'?? Admit it. We all loved holding down Z (and impressing your friends by plugging in all the controllers and holding down Z on all of them to get that samurai sound...awesome!)

If you download Dolphin Emulator and google for the Gamecube IPL, you'll be able to do that on there (especailly if you don't own the console).

With the default configuration on the emulator, press and hold the D button on the keyboard (assigned as Z) whilst booting a game.

Or you can just go to youtube to see it but I get nostalgic every time I see/hear that intro animation. Maybe it should be made as an option somehow for those who do/don't want it because I kinda miss the old blue box.

 

[Rail Fighter]

This will support WBFS?

 

[JoostinOnline]

This will support WBFS?

As in the file system? No way, that is for Wii games. Why do you even have wbfs? It's long since been deprecated and replaced by FAT32.

 

[wiismodrome]

Speaking of file systems, doesn't it make more sense to use NTFS for a game partition?

I use FAT32 for Wii applications, but NTFS for the games, because NTFS allows for full dual-layer Wii ISOs without running into the 4 GB limit of FAT32.

 

[Rail Fighter]

This will support WBFS?

As in the file system? No way, that is for Wii games. Why do you even have wbfs? It's long since been deprecated and replaced by FAT32.

never had any problem, u know

but that's not big deal, I used wbfs2fat.py to solve this

 

[Sicklyboy]

Speaking of file systems, doesn't it make more sense to use NTFS for a game partition?

I use FAT32 for Wii applications, but NTFS for the games, because NTFS allows for full dual-layer Wii ISOs without running into the 4 GB limit of FAT32.

4GB is hardly a limit when game managers will split the files when they reach that.