Big improvements with the latest version of Dolphin (2603)

[SuperFranky84]

With the latest version of Dolphin for Windows and Android (version 2603), there's been a significant performance boost for Star Wars Rogue Leader - Rogue Sqaudron II.
Are there plans to port this version to the Retroarch core?
I also noticed something with this game: in Dolphin for Windows and Android, there's the option to set the aspect ratio.
With this game, it's important to set it to "auto" since the in-game sections are in 4:3 while the cutscenes are in 16:9.
However, in the Retroarch core, there's no option to set the aspect ratio: if I leave the "provided by core" option in Retroarch's video scaling settings, the entire game plays in 4:3, even the cutscenes, resulting in them being "squashed" on the sides.
Is it possible to implement the aspect ratio option in Dolphin core just like it is in the standalone application?

Thanks for your work.

[cscd98]

The core is already on 2603. But i've added the aspect ratio setting to #416

[SuperFranky84]

The core is already on 2603. But i've added the aspect ratio setting to #416

Strange, because when I pause Retroarch, it tells me the core version is 2512.0.150, and I checked for core updates just a moment ago.
In fact, with this core version I have, I don't notice any improvements with Star Wars: Rogue Leader, improvements that I see very well with the standalone app (even on Android).
Also, there's no aspect ratio option under Graphics > Settings.

[cscd98]

416 is not built yet. It has to be merged and released.

It's definitely 2603... d855814

It is just a reporting issue

[SuperFranky84]

416 is not built yet. It has to be merged and released.

It's definitely 2603... d855814

It is just a reporting issue

But have the changes to Fastmem, as reported on the Dolphin website for release 2603, been made?

[SuperFranky84]

416 is not built yet. It has to be merged and released.

It's definitely 2603... d855814

It is just a reporting issue

I updated to the latest core release today, now says 2603.
I saw the addition of the aspect ratio option, but the only options that work are "Force Wide" and "Stretch".
All other options give the same results: the image is squashed at the sides and therefore distorted.
In Retroarch's video scaling options, I set it to "Provided by core."
Even the "Auto" option doesn't fix the Star Wars Rogue Leader aspect ratio issue (cutscenes are in 4:3), in the standalone app with the "Auto" option there are no problems (cutscenes are in 16:9).
We also don't yet see the Fastmem optimizations that are supposed to fix performance issues on Star Wars Rogue Leader, as was done in the standalone app.

Edit: I found the solution to the aspect ratio issue for Star Wars Rogue Leader.
You need to set Retroarch's video scaling settings to "Provided by Core," while in the core you need to set the aspect ratio to "Auto" and also enable the Widescreen Hack. This will give you 4:3 in-game and 16:9 in cutscenes.

The performance issue still remains, but I hope it'll be the same as the standalone app in the future.

[matheuswillder]

The performance issue still remains, but I hope it'll be the same as the standalone app in the future.

Just to add some information here, based solely on my observations on my Android device, the core don't perform as well as the standalone Dolphin, even before these improvements implemented recently in standalone Dolphin.

For example, I can play relatively demanding games like Need for Speed: Carbon (Wii) with the default settings in standalone Dolphin, while in the core I need to underclock the emulated CPU to around ~70% to make it minimally playable. I don't notice any difference in lighter games, but this may simply be because in lighter games the device has more headroom for the game to run smoothly in the core. Performance hacks, like the ones I mentioned here #397 (comment), also don't work in the core currently.

But despite that, the core is already good enough for me despite these drawbacks.

[cscd98]

Please close this issue if the original issue is now resolved.