Self-Increasing frame skip from some games after a while

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What steps will reproduce the problem?
1. Load VBA-GX 2.1.6
2. Load a game like Golden Sun 2.
3. Start a new game or load a new one. Check that starts with a FS
(playable) but then self-increases to another one (unplayable) even if you
don't do anything and without returning to normal by itself (keep reading).

What is the expected output? What do you see instead?

Alright here's the deal. I know that games like Golden Sun 2 always have
been slow on the emu but there's a strange behavior. 

When you start the game, it runs with a certain frame skip, which is
playable. The problem is that after a few moments, the frame skip increases
so much that makes it unplayable. 

The weird thing is that, if you press start (on Golden Sun 2) and save the
game, after that, the frame skip returns like the beginning, but again,
after a while it increases a lot.

For example, let's say FS starts with a value of 3 and then increases to 9
or something like that (not exact values, just guessing them), even if you
don't do anything. Then you save and again returns to 3, making the game
playable for a few seconds.

Why it increases if you are in the same area, even if you don't do anything?

Does this issue occur on VBA-M r781
(http://visualboyadvance-m.googlecode.com/files/VisualBoyAdvance781.7z)?
If so, please report the issue to the VBA-M forum.
Nope.

What version are you using? On GameCube or Wii?
2.1.6 Wii

Are you using the official build (from the downloads page or auto-update)?
Auto-Update.

Please provide any additional information below.
This happens with heavy games in resources, like Golden Sun 2, Doom II, and
I think I tested Pokémon FireRed, but the increase in FS wasn't so big like
the first ones.

Thanks for all your efforts. This emulator is really nice. Almost all games
are perfect or playable except for those ones.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by reyes.ch...@gmail.com on 20 May 2010 at 10:16

• Merged into: #247

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I reported an equal issue (251).
The last 3 Revisions of vba wii have heavy frame-skips and lags.
It's not the "wii performance" issue.

Example: Castlevania Aria of Sorrow runs absolutely fluent on vba gx 2.1.3, but 
now
it's unplayable as most of the games.
Metroid Fusion was also running perfectly.

There must be a change in the core or port code that needs a lot of performance.

Original comment by starlord...@googlemail.com on 28 May 2010 at 9:35

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At times like this, I wonder if we will ever see these kinds of improvements to 
the
core (optimizations, etc). 

Original comment by nintendonerd1889@gmail.com on 30 May 2010 at 2:37

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The funny thing is, the emulator run very good in 2.1.2 (sorry I mean 2.1.2 not 
2.1.3
in my last post. I forgot the double release last time ^^). Just some games had 
small
frame skipping problems in 2.1.2 (like Golden Sun 2 or Metroid Zero). But most 
of the
games could be played without any issues. Now till 2.1.3 you get heavy jerkings 
and
lags with every game. 2.1.6 is the worst one concerning fluent gameplay.

I believe some of the performance optimizations from dancinninja could broke 
some
stability and the video/audio code changes in the last release added some 
performance
issues.

Original comment by starlord...@googlemail.com on 31 May 2010 at 10:15

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ok, let's try an experiment. here's 6 builds, with various code reverted. 
report 
back and let me know how well each one works.

http://www.mediafire.com/?z1gojfjnwgj

reverting the whole project back to 2.1.2 makes no sense of course, so this 
will 
help me isolate what changes caused the problems.

Original comment by dborth@gmail.com on 31 May 2010 at 9:23

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Test A: Same Issue as the actual release 2.1.6. Heavy Jerkings and Frameskipps. 
It
has a different Screen Size with the same settings as in the release.

Test B: A little bit better than Test A, i believe. But a lot of regular/heavy
Frameskips (every second). Long Loading Time during the boot of the rom.

Test C: Better than A and B. Heavy Regular Frameskips every Second. No long 
loading
times like in Test B.

Test D: Better than C. Fluent Gameplay between regular Frameskips. Small but
Noticeable Frameskips/jerkings every sec. Freeze during the Quit of the Emulator
(homebutton).

Test E: Same as D. But with another Size of the Screen (like A).

Test F: Best One. It's like D (Performance). Normal Screensize (like in the 
settings). 

Tested all games with Castlevania - Aria of Sorrow. 
This game was running perfect in 2.1.2.

By the way. Tantric/Dborth u are doing a great job. Thx for every release. 
I like your projects very much. ^^

Original comment by starlord...@googlemail.com on 31 May 2010 at 10:57

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very strange...

test D - nothing reverted
test E - all reverted

Original comment by dborth@gmail.com on 31 May 2010 at 11:31

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do you have a save state in Castlevania - Aria of Sorrow at a point that 
clearly 
shows the problem?

Original comment by dborth@gmail.com on 1 Jun 2010 at 12:07

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Alright, I did some testing too.

Perhaps the issues are game specific, because the ones I tested perform very 
similar
to 2.1.6, but same as starlord, I found that Test F performed *slightly* 
better, at
least for the games I tested. For the rest I didn't noted any major difference 
in
FrameSkip, even with E.

The games I tested are:
* Donkey Kong Country 3.
* Mother 3 (with translation patch). 
* Final Fantasy VI.
* Golden Sun 2. This is the only one that performed the same on all, but wasn't
surprised because the game has always been slow and presented the same issue I
described above.

Thanks for your help, time and this great project!

Original comment by reyes.ch...@gmail.com on 1 Jun 2010 at 2:35

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Did another small test. Tried Castlevania - Aria of Sorrow (US version if it 
makes
any difference). Just tried the first part of the game (like the first three 
corridors).

- First, tried 2.1.6 and IMO, the game is perfectly playable, there's some 
frameskip
(but not that big) in the first and second corridor, but noting major... at 
least for
me. Does it get worse on another part?
- Now tried Test F and then Test E. For me, the game performed same than 2.1.6 
on
both... perhaps a little better with F, but that was barely noticeable.

I tested again Final Fantasy VI, and watching a bit more closely, for me the
differences are minimal. Test E was supposed to revert everything right? Well,
performed almost same as 2.1.6 and Test F was just slightly better (again barely
noticeable).

You know, like I said in the bug report above, for me the only games that have 
major
issues are GS2 and Doom II, but that's a problem that has always been there (at 
least
for me).

Would be possible to get an option or something similar to see a game FPS or 
speed?
It would be cool to test performance a bit more accurate.

Original comment by reyes.ch...@gmail.com on 1 Jun 2010 at 3:25

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Mhh strange. o-O

dborth did you change anything in the settings.xml or paletts.xml?
I tried to delete everything and tested 2.1.2 and the newest revision (Test F).
Both with the same fluent gameplay (Test F performes a little bit better). 
Before I
deleted every file, I  had the heavy lag issue. But now it's gone.

I attached my savestate for Aria of Sorrow. Use File 2 (in the game) and go 
straight
to left. You will get some regular frameskipps (also happens in Metroid Fusion).

Original comment by starlord...@googlemail.com on 1 Jun 2010 at 11:59

Attachments:

• [Castlevania - Aria of Sorrow Auto.sav](https://storage.googleapis.com/google-code-attachments/vba-wii/issue-263/comment-10/Castlevania - Aria of Sorrow Auto.sav)

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Could the FCEUX and SNES9X issue "Weird Choppy Framerate Issue " be the same?
http://code.google.com/p/snes9x-gx/issues/list

I mean it sounds very similar.

Original comment by starlord...@googlemail.com on 11 Jun 2010 at 9:29

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Got the Solution!!!

I know why dborth didn't get the error.
Dborth is using a NTSC wii and I am a PAL user (like the rest of us).
I changed the Pal settings to 60Hz frequency. And everything is working fine 
now.
The music is running in normal speed (60Hz is faster than 50Hz) and the graphic 
bugs like the choppy/self increasing framerate are gone.

So the issue is based on the 60Hz/50Hz frequency for Televisions.

Original comment by starlord...@googlemail.com on 20 Jun 2010 at 10:07

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[deleted comment]

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So .. the solution only works on PAL and not in NTSC users  :( ??
I think it's possible
Golden sun 2 runs well if you press sleep mode mode buttons for refresh the 
screen but is only for a few moment (1 sec. duration) >_<

Original comment by chiko.th...@gmail.com on 16 Aug 2010 at 6:05

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Original comment by dborth@gmail.com on 19 Oct 2010 at 10:08

• Changed state: Duplicate