Alright, I *finally* managed to get things going... and it's 3:41 in the morning. That means it took me nearly SEVEN hours to get things going to a point where I can call it a night. Nothing was super difficult; but I just kept running into settings that wouldn't stick, files that wouldn't copy, poor extractions, and broken links. But now I've got my first impressions and questions lined up, and would appreciate any and all input! Also, thank you to those who encouraged me to persevere.
First off, my specs:
Core i7 930 2.8Ghz OC'd to 3.4Ghz (but for some reason registering on Dolphin at stock 2.8)
GTX 570 with a mild OC
6GB RAM (normally 12, but testing something with half my RAM for the next couple weeks).
Running off a 10,000RPM HDD
Trying to run everything at 1080p on my 1920x1200 monitor
Build r7719
I ripped Mario Kart Wii, Donkey Kong Country Returns, and Twilight Princess.
If I use 9x (odd number) AA, I don't see much of an improvement on the jaggies, but luckily, I also don't see much of a drop in performance. What *really* makes the games look good is the "internal resolution". At 4x Native, all these games look freaking GORGEOUS!!! Unfortunately, the fps take a massive hit. ... Well, actually... that's the problem... according to my fps counter, it seems no game really dips below 20fps; but it seriously looks like it's running at 3fps. Three. It's awful. I've dabbled with the settings and can't seem to find a fix. That said, if I stick to 2x it still looks really good, and Twilight Princess played WONDERFULLY in the starting area; but DK and MK still suffered.
And no matter what I did, I couldn't seem to get DK to run smoothly. The game looks really crisp, but DK is supper fuzzy. What's the deal?
And is it normal for the games to start off really choppy but get SIGNIFICANTLY better over time? It seemed that DK was getting better as I played for about the first 10 minutes. I know the game caches; but does it make that much of a difference?
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I guess at the end of it all; I have three pressing questions.
1.For my build, what would people recommend I put all the settings at on Dolphin for SS. I'd like to stay at a locked 30fps.
2. From my little play time, the whole thing seems like a pretty buggy experience. A couple lock ups, funny graphical glitches, audio cutting out - sometimes completely, etc. Are these just early growing pains? Or is that par for the course with Dolphin?
3. Can someone please give me a direct link to where/how you rip Gamecube games? I didn't see it; but then again, it's late and I'm tired and my eyes may not be working right. I'd love to play The Twin Snakes on this.
Thank you!
