Hardware RUMOR: 3DS update fixed framerate problems/load times in some software

[heartgold]

I can vouch for Kingdomhearts and luigi Mansions for improved framerates where they used to dip down.

The OS controls the GPU, so it's certainly possible they tweaked it, rather than patching individual games.

 

[Terenigma]

One game i own thats extremely crap for framerate issues is Sonic and all stars racing: transformed and I just checked 2 of the laggy tracks and they dont feel any smoother and still have the same mini-freezes that they always did. It doesnt feel better and i actually recorded one of the tracks previously to demonstrate how laggy the game is when the game came out, i compared that video with me playing just now and it was exsactly the same.

Tales of abyss in paticular tends to have a huge drop in framerate and slowdown when on the world map. I just checked that too and its still there altho i cant really tell if its better than before or not because it was usually random but so far iv not found anything that feels "obviously" better after the update.

 

[granville]

Anyone see any differences in MGS 3D? That game had the worst framerate ive seen in a commercial release.. until Sonic Racing Transformed came along

I couldn't tell any difference in the demo of MGS3D. The issue with it is that the framerate is actually capped at 20fps, so it's incapable of performing any smoother than that no matter what performance enhancements are made to the software. It was programmed specifically to not be able to go any smoother than that. Though the game can drop even further below that cap (particularly during cutscenes) and I didn't notice any improvements. The game overall was really poorly programmed, and a software performance update isn't really going to do that much for the game. It's also not going to fix the game's poor draw distance on the grass or the lower amounts of polygons on character models.

I also couldn't really see any difference in the demo of Sonic Racing (noticeable anyways). Still unstable and still has those occasional annoying jittering pauses.

 

[EzekielRage]

So I tested this myself on Castlevania. I noticed NO FRAMERATE ENHANCEMENTS whatsoever. Truth be told, the game was not unplayable before anyway at least not my copy. it was quite okay the whole time in full 3D on. Now what i DID notice was how much faster the OS was and how much shorter the loading times of the stages in Castlevania were. So I suppose there is an enhancement and I just don't see it but i know that the loading times have greatly improved sicne i spent a lot of time wandering between stages when I recorded the soundtrack for youtube and had to wait much longer. So there's that...

 

[RodrigoDavy]

It's possible that only some games show improvement with this update. I didn't notice improvements in the games I usually play, but they weren't laggy in the first place.

I couldn't tell any difference in the demo of MGS3D. The issue with it is that the framerate is actually capped at 20fps, so it's incapable of performing any smoother than that no matter what performance enhancements are made to the software. It was programmed specifically to not be able to go any smoother than that.

It's a very wild guess. No one have access to MGS3D source code, it's impossible to debug 3DS games and I don't think Konami would make a statement claiming their software is slow so... Also, people have got to stop guessing at exactly which fps a game runs.

 

[granville]

It's a very wild guess. No one have access to MGS3D source code, it's impossible to debug 3DS games and I don't think Konami would make a statement claiming their software is slow so... Also, people have got to stop guessing at exactly which fps a game runs.

No offense or anything, but I'm not guessing at MGS3D's framerate at all. Digital Foundry did a direct feed framerate analysis of the game and clocked it with a piece of software for accuracy (they've done this with other games on consoles to compare multiplatform releases of Ninja Gaiden 3, Arkham City and Sonic Racing Transformed, perhaps more). It confirmed what most people already knew. Throughout the test, the game never breaks 20fps no matter the situation., that is its maximum framerate potential. You don't need access to the game's source to determine that it never breaks 20fps. Check it out for yourself-


And it's quite often that the game will drop well below 20fps, occasionally during that test the game drops to 18, 16, and sometimes even 14 frames per second. It tends to drop the worst during cutscenes but there are ingame parts that drop as badly too. And to top it all off, there are even choppier parts than the demo above is showing. The intro is particularly choppy, as well as cutscenes after these, and people have mentioned certain bosses dropping immensely lower than what is shown in the video above.

At least with Rayman 3D, there are some situations where the framerate does reach its intended 60fps. Or in the case of Kingdom Hearts 3D where it's clear that the game is intended to run at 30fps and can often reach that. So whenever they become choppy, you can still tell that they have the potential to run better than they do. With MGS3D however, it never goes above 20fps in any situation. The PS2 version clearly runs far smoother and more consistently, the HD Collection even more dramatically so (PS3 version apparently runs at 60fps from what i've heard).

I don't usually have a problem determining when a game is suffering from framerate issues. And I can tell when something is running at 20fps and not 30 (i'd also be able to spot if it ever DID reach 30 at any point).

 

[Rydian]

To add some backing to granville, it's entirely possible to get an FPS number without software that gives you a direct number. Just open the recording in something that gives you a frame-by-frame view, and count the average number of frames that change in one second.

 

[Deleted_171835]

If I had to fathom a guess, they either clocked the CPU higher (previously underclocked to save battery life?) or updated/optimized the GPU (because apparently the PICA200 is managed by the OS, i.e drivers on the PC)

~snip

To be fair, that's only the beginning of the game which I would consider to be one of the most unpolished parts (having beat the game twice). Sure the framerate is pretty crappy throughout the whole game (although if you were cool with Peacewalker, it's pretty much the same here) but it seems to improve a little bit in certain areas. Don't know if that's just me getting used to the 20FPS or if it actually increases, though.

 

[granville]

My own experience with Snake Eater 3D is based largely on the demo, though i've checked out video walkthroughs of the rest of the game and it honestly doesn't appear any smoother in any other part of the game than it does in the beginning of the game. I've noticed that boss battles such as with the Pain and such seem to really kill the framerate too.

I'm not a fan of low framerates in general, they tend to give me headaches and are disorienting (and I tend to game on a PC outside of my 3DS because it often allows one to play games at high framerates if you've got the hardware to support it). Worse so when it's inherently low but also drops below that already low rate in an inconsistent manner. I like my games to run at least 30fps. Smoother than that is ideal (like 60fps), but at least 30.

I've not played Peace Walker, but I've heard it has framerate issues and videos i've seen of it appear to confirm those reports. The thing is that it had the excuse of being on the PSP, and was a very impressive game considering the hardware (which is noticeably weaker than PS2). I think the developers put a lot of effort into the game on a technical level, it stands among the best looking games on the PSP.

Snake Eater 3D on the other hand is a 3DS game. And while i'm certainly not claiming the 3DS is some sort of really amazing piece of tech like the Vita is, it is at the very least a noticeable step up from either PSP or PS2 hardware. Yet the game that was produced ended up running and (mostly) looking substantially worse than the PS2 version of the game. While I don't like choppy framerates on any system, Peace Walker I can concede seemed to have a lot of effort put into it. You could really see why it might have these issues. But you just expect more from 3DS hardware, and that's why MGS3D was so disappointing on a technical level.

 

[RodrigoDavy]

-Snip-

Yeah, you were right... Sorry for doubting you and thanks for expanding my knowledge

 

[Chary]

Is Sonic Racing Transformed fixed?

 

[VMM]

Is it only me, or NSMB2 seems smoother?
It looks like Nintendo is using a bit more of AA.

 

[heartgold]

I just noticed my 3DS seems to be getting more hotter quickly, I have a pre firmware 5xx 3DS too to compare with. Is it just mine or anyone experince that too?

So did they overclock the CPU, GPU or something?

Can someone test Ocarina of Time out, if it has improved framrate or is it fixed in game like MGS3D.

 

[TripleSMoon]

I just noticed my 3DS seems to be getting more hotter quickly, I have a pre firmware 5xx 3DS too to compare with. Is it just mine or anyone experince that too?

So did they overclock the CPU, GPU or something?

Can someone test Ocarina of Time out, if it has improved framrate or is it fixed in game like MGS3D.

OoT is already running at a solid 30 fps, so I'm guessing it's probably locked.

 

[Jiehfeng]

Ridge racer is the same :/

 

[granville]

Ocarina of Time for me has always run at a rock solid 30fps anyways and seems locked at that rate. Can't say i've ever noticed any drops in the first place. If there are any, they're rare and barely noticeably. It's just a perfect 30fps to my eyes though. I'd be pretty disappointed if OOT3D DID actually have framerate issues, even before this update. It certainly looks much better than the N64 version, but it is by no means stressing the 3DS hardware. Then again, neither is Rayman 3D and it still managed to have issues due to shitty porting (though Zelda is a far more competent effort than Rayman regardless).

 

[TripleSMoon]

Ocarina of Time for me has always run at a rock solid 30fps anyways and seems locked at that rate. Can't say i've ever noticed any drops in the first place. If there are any, they're rare and barely noticeably. It's just a perfect 30fps to my eyes though. I'd be pretty disappointed if OOT3D DID actually have framerate issues, even before this update. It certainly looks much better than the N64 version, but it is by no means stressing the 3DS hardware. Then again, neither is Rayman 3D and it still managed to have issues due to shitty porting (though Zelda is a far more competent effort than Rayman regardless).

The only frame rate drop/slowdown I've EVER seen in OoT 3D is during the Ganondorf battle, when you shoot him with a light arrow... interestingly enough there's a near-identical drop/slowdown in all other versions of the game (GameCube, N64, Wii VC) at that exact same moment. Makes me wonder whether that was purposeful for the sake of remaining "faithful" to gamers' expectations or not.

 

[Ergo]

The only frame rate drop/slowdown I've EVER seen in OoT 3D is during the Ganondorf battle, when you shoot him with a light arrow... interestingly enough there's a near-identical drop/slowdown in all other versions of the game (GameCube, N64, Wii VC) at that exact same moment. Makes me wonder whether that was purposeful for the sake of remaining "faithful" to gamers' expectations or not.

Check the Iwata Asks for OOT 3D--basically, yes, it was intentional.

 

[Rydian]

Now THAT's going the extra mile for a recreation.

 

[shadowgauge]

I can confirm that the update has improved the 3ds games and system functionality. I have access to a great deal of games and all show improvement games that had delayed button response. Like rayman origins are now more responsive.shinobi runs buttery smooth as does castlevainia and sonic Gen,also there's improved framerates when games are played with 3d on. So yeah the improvements are real some more noticeable than others.its not a placebo effect I have 2 3ds xl's only one is on latest firmware. Nintendo came thru big time on this update heres hoping they keep improving the 3ds and Wii u.