The Yuzu emulator team is taking a look back at the new changes and improvements they've made since the start of the year in a new progress report. Already, the Nintendo Switch emulator has seen a number of changes throughout the first month of 2023, ranging from fixes for LDN, to input improvements. Headlined in the breakdown is a major reduction in stuttering, thanks to a new pipeline cache for the Vulkan API. The full list of changes, fixes, and technical details can be viewed in the progress report below.

During the time it took to merge last month’s Project Y.F.C. 1.5, several other GPU related changes had to be delayed. One change that slipped by, made by a new contributor, improved the Vulkan experience so dramatically, it almost feels like cheating… The change is simple: instead of relying on the GPU driver to store and validate the pipeline cache (a.k.a. the shaders), and having the usual suspects like the Windows AMD driver fail to store 95% of them because of some arbitrary low size limitation, Wollnashorn decided that doing it with the official Vulkan API is better.

By storing the entire pipeline cache in a custom file among yuzu’s folders, AMD GPUs running on Windows can now properly load large caches in mere seconds, as it should be. This has saved me literal hours of time while playing Xenoblade Chronicles 3 with an RX 6600, as the game has the lovely perk of many heavy shaders. Booting the game with 25000 shaders used to take close to 15 minutes, with the driver only providing the first 3000 shaders or so, and the rest always being recompiled. The process now takes mere seconds.

NVIDIA and Intel are faster at shader building than AMD
But this isn’t just another fix for AMD Windows users. While the objective was accomplished, the benefits didn’t stop there. As it turns out, locally stored files are much quicker to save compared to relying on the GPU driver. Possibly due to fewer checks being performed? All GPU vendors see reduced stuttering when facing new shaders!

The usual limitations apply: the cache still asks the driver for validation, so updating it to a newer or older version will require a recompilation, and since the cache is vendor-specific, you won’t get to keep the cache if you switch to a new GPU from another vendor. (And we’re glad there are more than two options now.)

While Wollnashorn intended this feature to be optional at first, we consider it fully stable, so it’s now enabled by default. Anyone interested in testing disabling it will find the new option in Emulation > Configure… > Graphics > Advanced > Use Vulkan pipeline cache.

Source

 

[Desconocido90]

The switch had putdated hardware before the PS4 and Xbox One came out.
The switch has lower resolution gsmes thsn WiiU.

At least the 3DS had 3D.

The switch is just sh!t, PS3 tryhard graphics.

No, Switch hardware was pretty good in 2017.
Tegra X1 had a great GPU (from 2015, yet Vulkan 1.3 feature level) and decent CPU at that time. Powerwise, Switch is a generation jump ahead of PS Vita.

Also, it was somewhat more powerful than WiiU, and you can see how almost every WiiU->Switch port has better resolutions or performance.

Was weaker than 2017 home consoles? Obviously, it's foremost a handheld with handheld hardware, with a fraction of size and power consumption of PS4.

Switch hardware might has some flaws (I suspect the RAM speed and bandwith were one of them), but WiiU was worse (consequently, many X360/PS3 to WiiU ports ran terribly)

The low performance and resolution of some Switch games aren't the system blame, but the developers. Too many first and third party projects were hurried, cutting corners with heavy middleware and lack of testing.

A hardware capable of running MK8DX at 1080p60 and Zelda BotW at 900p30fps, should be able to run the 3D lateral platformer Yoshi Crafted World at 1080p... instead of 675p. The same with Link's awakening remake, most of the time at 30fps, between 1080-720p. The culprit is rushy shitty code.

Why doesn't Xenoblade 2 reduce video quality on Handheld mode? Or use the 480mhz GPU mode to reduce the bottleneck?
Answer: Crappy development.

Why Hyrule Warriors 2 runs at 1080p in Handheld mode, tanking the framerate into the 20s fps?
Answer: Crappy devs.

Etc etc

Edit: it was the first Hyrule Warriors, not the second one

 

[Cris1997XX]

Imagine if they actually started selling their games on PC, at reasonable prices. Literally printing money.

Hoping they'll sell their exclusives on PC is useless, it will never happen. Unless they go through another crisis like the GameCube and Wii U they won't be that desperate

Post automatically merged: Feb 12, 2023

No, Switch hardware was pretty good in 2017.
Tegra X1 had a great GPU (from 2015, yet Vulkan 1.3 feature level) and decent CPU at that time. Powerwise, Switch is a generation jump ahead of PS Vita.

Also, it was somewhat more powerful than WiiU, and you can see how almost every WiiU->Switch port has better resolutions or performance.

Was weaker than 2017 home consoles? Obviously, it's foremost a handheld with handheld hardware, with a fraction of size and power consumption of PS4.

Switch hardware might has some flaws (I suspect the RAM speed and bandwith were one of them), but WiiU was worse (consequently, many X360/PS3 to WiiU ports ran terribly)

The low performance and resolution of some Switch games aren't the system blame, but the developers. Too many first and third party projects were hurried, cutting corners with heavy middleware and lack of testing.

A hardware capable of running MK8DX at 1080p60 and Zelda BotW at 900p30fps, should be able to run the 3D lateral platformer Yoshi Crafted World at 1080p... instead of 675p. The same with Link's awakening remake, most of the time at 30fps, between 1080-720p. The culprit is rushy shitty code.

Why doesn't Xenoblade 2 reduce video quality on Handheld mode? Or use the 480mhz GPU mode to reduce the bottleneck?
Answer: Crappy development.

Why Hyrule Warriors 2 runs at 1080p in Handheld mode, tanking the framerate?
Answer: Crappy devs.

Etc etc

Wait...what the fuck? 1080p in handheld mode? What were they thinking!?...I've just found out the same thing happened with Hyrule Warriors 1, the developers really were incompetent

 

[RedoLane]

I've noticed a great performance boost since i've updated Yuzu 2 days ago, and a few games like Luigi's Mansion 3 and Bayonetta 3 seem to run better enough to be considered fully playable(framerate wasn't hitting 30 or 60 most of the time).

 

[Desconocido90]

Hoping they'll sell their exclusives on PC is useless, it will never happen. Unless they go through another crisis like the GameCube and Wii U they won't be that desperate

Post automatically merged: Feb 12, 2023

Wait...what the fuck? 1080p in handheld mode? What were they thinking!?...I've just found out the same thing happened with Hyrule Warriors 1, the developers really were incompetent

There were. I suspect it's the result or shortened development cycles to fill the release calendar, plus Nintendo not giving a shit about fixing technical issues after the release (with few exceptions)

Do you want another example of incompetence? Xenoblade Chronicles (not quite) Definite Edition.
They underclocked the GPU in handheld mode, worsening the bottleneck.

Most 3D games use 380mhz GPU mode.
Some very heavy third party games like Mortal Kombat 11 use 460mhz mode, a mode enabled some time after Switch release.
Monolith, in all their wisedom, chose to run XC Def Ed at 307mhz, a mode typically reserved for 2D indies.

adsadsas#@#@#€€@#!!!1

 

[ganons]

But does Yuzu support FullXCI dumps?

Yes

 

[Delerious]

No, Switch hardware was pretty good in 2017.
Tegra X1 had a great GPU (from 2015, yet Vulkan 1.3 feature level) and decent CPU at that time. Powerwise, Switch is a generation jump ahead of PS Vita.

Also, it was somewhat more powerful than WiiU, and you can see how almost every WiiU->Switch port has better resolutions or performance.

Was weaker than 2017 home consoles? Obviously, it's foremost a handheld with handheld hardware, with a fraction of size and power consumption of PS4.

Switch hardware might has some flaws (I suspect the RAM speed and bandwith were one of them), but WiiU was worse (consequently, many X360/PS3 to WiiU ports ran terribly)

The low performance and resolution of some Switch games aren't the system blame, but the developers. Too many first and third party projects were hurried, cutting corners with heavy middleware and lack of testing.

A hardware capable of running MK8DX at 1080p60 and Zelda BotW at 900p30fps, should be able to run the 3D lateral platformer Yoshi Crafted World at 1080p... instead of 675p. The same with Link's awakening remake, most of the time at 30fps, between 1080-720p. The culprit is rushy shitty code.

Why doesn't Xenoblade 2 reduce video quality on Handheld mode? Or use the 480mhz GPU mode to reduce the bottleneck?
Answer: Crappy development.

Why Hyrule Warriors 2 runs at 1080p in Handheld mode, tanking the framerate into the 20s fps?
Answer: Crappy devs.

Etc etc

Edit: it was the first Hyrule Warriors, not the second one

I think another thing people tend to forget is the cost factor. Everyone likes to shit on the Switch for being an "over-glorified smartphone." To be fair, yeah, it probably is over-glorified. But comparing it to a smartphone is also a rather unfair point to make, considering the tablet component on its own really only makes up for $200-$220 of the $300 retail price after factoring in the dock and joy-cons. Flagship smartphones, on the other hand, generally cost $800+ depending on what brand you get. That, and the fact that it came out in 2017 and is using mobile technology from 2015 is still fairly impressive in its own right.

Still though, the Switch is quickly becoming outdated at this point, and has more or less been treated more as a system for ports than anything. That's not so much bad in its own right, as we still get some great games on a portable device, and the business model has clearly worked in their favor. But how well that continues to work for them now that they have the portable PC market to contend with is something that Nintendo is going to need to consider. Lucky for them then, that they can still continue to sell their product to younger audiences, or people who are ignorant about the overall portable gaming market in general.

 

[Cris1997XX]

There were. I suspect it's the result or shortened development cycles to fill the release calendar, plus Nintendo not giving a shit about fixing technical issues after the release (with few exceptions)

Do you want another example of incompetence? Xenoblade Chronicles (not quite) Definite Edition.
They underclocked the GPU in handheld mode, worsening the bottleneck.

Most 3D games use 380mhz GPU mode.
Some very heavy third party games like Mortal Kombat 11 use 460mhz mode, a mode enabled some time after Switch release.
Monolith, in all their wisedom, chose to run XC Def Ed at 307mhz, a mode typically reserved for 2D indies.

adsadsas#@#@#€€@#!!!1

Why the hell would they do something like that?? They should've used 460mhz mode instead

Post automatically merged: Feb 12, 2023

I think another thing people tend to forget is the cost factor. Everyone likes to shit on the Switch for being an "over-glorified smartphone." To be fair, yeah, it probably is over-glorified. But comparing it to a smartphone is rather unfair at this point, considering the tablet component on its own really only makes up for $200-$220 of the $300 retail price after factoring in the dock and joy-cons. Flagship smartphones, on the other hand, generally cost $800+ depending on what brand you get. That, and the fact is that it came out in 2017 and is using technology from 2015, so I consider that pretty impressive in its own right.

Still though, the Switch has more or less been treated more as a system for ports than anything. That's not so much bad in its own right, as we still get some great games on a portable device, and the business model has clearly worked in their favor. But how well will that continue to work for them now that they have the portable PC market to contend with? Only time will tell.

I feel like as long as Nintendo will sell their consoles in the 300-400 dollar price range, handheld PCs won't be that much of a problem for them

 

[raxadian]

Anyone has a list of games that play perfectly in this emulator or close to that?

 

[stanleyopar2000]

hopefully Metroid Prime is playable and doesn't stutter

"Lower resolution games than Wii U" except plenty of Wii U titles ported to Switch had better resolution and even performance while docked. Unless you're referring to portable mode, then I guess, but the Wii U isn't portable, so eh.

That's because the Wii U was the last potential console "competitor" from Nintendo to Microsoft and Sony. With a slew of gimmicky features and it the best graphics that were somewhat comparable to the competition.

...and it failed miserably. Their answer was the Switch. A casual focused handheld / console hybrid with an SOC that was already 2 years old when it came out....and it sold like gangbusters. You will never see a serious console competitor from Nintendo to Microsoft and Sony ever again. Same thing with the GameCube which was marketed as a competitor? Sold below expectations. Wii? Casual driven poor graphics...and sold millions.

This is why Nintendo has yet to even announce or research a more powerful successor despite it very much showing it's underpowered age and struggling heavily with few AAA ports it gets nowadays. (not counting shit "cloud" versions) Nintendo knows they don't have to release a better successor until sales start to slow (which don't show to be happening anytime soon)

 

[Viri]

I wonder if it'll run better on Steam Deck. Link's Awakening stuttered like crazy when I last tried it. But that was probably because of shaders. I wish they could just compile all the shaders at once, instead of making me play the game to get the shaders.

 

[Impossible_Igntiz]

emulation does what shitty nintenDOH hardware don't!

not until you come across a game lookin like this:

 

[Xzi]

I wonder if it'll run better on Steam Deck. Link's Awakening stuttered like crazy when I last tried it. But that was probably because of shaders. I wish they could just compile all the shaders at once, instead of making me play the game to get the shaders.

Yeah, you can download all the shaders before playing, but you have to do it separately. Would be much easier if they were compiled automatically instead.

 

[Viri]

Yeah, you can download all the shaders before playing, but you have to do it separately. Would be much easier if they were compiled automatically instead.

When I tested Link's Awakening, I couldn't find shaders online for it.

 

[Dark_Ansem]

I wonder if it'll run better on Steam Deck. Link's Awakening stuttered like crazy when I last tried it. But that was probably because of shaders. I wish they could just compile all the shaders at once, instead of making me play the game to get the shaders.

At the present stage, it doesn't.

 

[NyaakoXD]

Anyone has a list of games that play perfectly in this emulator or close to that?

Yuzu's site has a compatibility list for games, but it's pretty outdated. (Over a year since it updated) https://yuzu-emu.org/game/?
Ryujinx has one as well on one of their github pages: https://github.com/Ryujinx/Ryujinx-Games-List/issues

Either way, you're just going to need to test the games you want to play. They may or may not play "perfectly".

 

[gudenau]

Nintendo got an extremely good deal, Nvidia were confirmed to be giving them away, as they had a huge stockpile with no takers.

The Switch is not cheap, Nintendo have milk an immense profit of cheap, faulty by design hardware. They are making very vast sums.

$150 difference for the high end models of the Switch and the Xbox/PlayStation things. $100 difference between the low end Switch and the low end Xbox, $200 below the low end PlayStation.

 

[bent601]

Switch's hardware wasn't shit in 2017, but it aged quickly and got outdated as soon as the Xbox Series S/X and PS5 came out

Did You know it has less gaming performance than the original nvidia k1 tablet had? I still haven't bought a switch to this day because I knew before it was even released to the public that it would have performance problems since I owned and gamed on a k1 for years. I mean switch for $300, $200 for original or lite =s such a joke for such an underpowered thing that even affects games performance so I am smart I don't buy crap performance consoles like most dummies do, no offense just stating the truth as most people are smart nowadays.

Post automatically merged: Feb 13, 2023

Switch's hardware wasn't shit in 2017, but it aged quickly and got outdated as soon as the Xbox Series S/X and PS5 came out

Did You know it has less gaming performance than the original nvidia k1 tablet had? I still haven't bought a switch to this day because I knew before it was even released to the public that it would have performance problems since I owned and gamed on a k1 for years. I mean switch for $300, $200 for original or lite =s such a joke for such an underpowered thing that even affects games performance so I am smart I don't buy crap performance consoles like most dummies do, no offense just stating the truth as most people are smart nowadays.

 

[Trangalho]

Press X to doubt.

Hardware isn't everything. Having proper games is much more important than obsessing over numbers like resolution, budget or development times. The PS2 was also an awful piece of hardware which tended to break down just from looking at its direction when put next to the competition, and completely outdated when put next to PCs from 1998 with dual Voodoo 2's able to run Quake II at 1600x1200, and that didn't prevent it from having a shit ton of great games.

 

[LanHikariDS]

Good piece of software, crappy team.

How so?

 

[64bitmodels]

Hardware isn't everything. Having proper games is much more important than obsessing over numbers like resolution, budget or development times. The PS2 was also an awful piece of hardware which tended to break down just from looking at its direction when put next to the competition, and completely outdated when put next to PCs from 1998 with dual Voodoo 2's able to run Quake II at 1600x1200, and that didn't prevent it from having a shit ton of great games.

it isn't but in that case why do next gen consoles sell so well??
there's always potential for great games on the current hardware yes, but the best games always use the hardware's new strengths to make a spectacular experience
if nintendo made the N64 equivalent to a 32x in power Mario 64 and OOT would never have happened