don't click here

Sonic Colors 60fps hack (NTSC/PAL)

Discussion in 'Engineering & Reverse Engineering' started by evilhamwizard, Apr 26, 2015.

  1. evilhamwizard

    evilhamwizard

    Researcher
    1,392
    455
    63
    I figured I'd post it here since I know it's something people have probably wanted for a long time.

    AdderDee from the Dolphin-Emu forums came up with a patch that makes Sonic Colors run at 60fps. Quoting the post for prosperity:

    For those who are unfamiliar with Dolphin or haven't used Dolphin before, you can grab the latest developmental version of Dolphin from dolphin-emu.org. You're going to have to use a strong PC to run the game (even without the patch). Have the game in your game list and go into Config->Advanced Tab and set the slider for the CPU Clock Override to around 200%. Go to the Graphics config and tick "Store EFB copies to Texture Only" under the Hacks tab. After that you should be all set.

    I suspect someone will make a video of this shortly. I've tested the code myself on my NTSC copy and it works great. I wonder how it runs on Wii itself?
     
  2. Josh

    Josh

    Oldbie
    2,123
    1,087
    93
    USA
    Oh man, I would LOVE to try this. Unfortunately, my PC only gets about 85% on Colors without the patch, so I doubt it'd work. Thanks for sharing though, sounds fantastic.

    EDIT: Huh, Sonic Colors runs fine on my system, now. I added two GB of RAM back in December, but maybe Dolphin's also updated? The hack, unfortunately, runs at about 75%, but I've definitely got something to look forward to.
     
  3. Clownacy

    Clownacy

    Tech Member
    1,053
    581
    93
    Now if only a 60 fps patch for the original Cave Story was found...

    This sounds awesome! Though I wonder how the heck this was found to begin with.

    Also, the code's now been shortened:
    Code (Text):
    1. 008F2D97 00000001
    2. 0090DB0B 00000001
     
  4. Sappharad

    Sappharad

    Oldbie
    1,413
    70
    28
    If you follow the progress updates on their blog, a lot of speed improvements have been made over the past 6 months. Improvements up to 50%, depending on the game. It's quite interesting to read some of them:
    https://dolphin-emu.org/blog/series
     
  5. Covarr

    Covarr

    Sentient Cash Register Member
    4,233
    3
    18
    Trapped in my own thoughts.
    Two stageplays, a screenplay, and an album
    I can get full speed on the game normally, but not after increasing the clock speed in the emulator settings. Maybe either with more gradual optimizations or in a couple years when I upgrade my PC.
     
  6. Overlord

    Overlord

    Now playable in Smash Bros Ultimate Moderator
    19,218
    965
    93
    Long-term happiness
    I'd assume all they're doing is changing the value on the frame rate cap (likely from 30fps to 60). Nevertheless, neat stuff!
     
  7. Felik

    Felik

    Member
    1,845
    78
    28
    Can anyone please upload here the most fitting version of Dolphin to run Sonic Colors with proper settings? In my version boost and non-boost music very often gets desynchronized and the emulator sometimes freezes (which is very frustrating if you are playing the shuttle mode).
    I'd figure that newer versions might have these bugs fixed but they don't let me play at 30 fps (usually 25-ish). Maybe the very latest version is not the best to run Colors or I can't setup it up right?

    I'm using the 64x version of windows
     
  8. Falk

    Falk

    Member
    1,570
    15
    18
    God, this had to come at a time when I'm away from my main rigs for a few weeks.


    edit:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcNis3idMzw

    T__________________T
     
  9. Faseeh

    Faseeh

    Member
    MY GOD, this is amazing, thank you! :)
     
  10. Tets

    Tets

    one rude dude Oldbie
    903
    70
    28
    RAM isn't really a deciding factor in emulation. When was the last time you used Dolphin? Performance has been significantly improved in the past year or so. With the more recent dev builds I could even run some Wii games full speed on my old AMD FX-6300, whereas the latest stable release struggled with most Gamecube games.
     
  11. TimmiT

    TimmiT

    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Member
    Yeah, Sonic Colors specifically got a big performance upgrade some time ago. My laptop used to be incapable of running the game at full speed (that is, at 30fps), now it runs fine. And iirc, the biggest deciding factor when it comes to Dolphin is the CPU.
     
  12. Tets

    Tets

    one rude dude Oldbie
    903
    70
    28
    No doubt. You do need at least a reasonably nice GPU for graphical tweaks like per-pixel lighting or turning up the internal resolution, but the CPU does the real heavy lifting.

    My new i5 4690K hardly breaks a sweat running Wii games in Dolphin, I'll definitely have to give this hack a try.
     
  13. ELS

    ELS

    Member
    233
    64
    28
    I tried this, it's very jumpy. Different parts seem to require a different overclock.
     
  14. Josh

    Josh

    Oldbie
    2,123
    1,087
    93
    USA
    Quite a bump here, but I can finally do this now. Cranked Dolphin up to about 150%, and I've played up through the end of Starlight Carnival. It's quite ridiculous how much more responsive and gorgeous and just... FUN Colors is like this, and I'm probably gonna play through the whole thing again before long.
     
  15. SF94

    SF94

    Tech Member
    Heh, I was just playing with this again since I got a stable overclock on my CPU. 60FPS really makes a difference with Colors, bugs aside.