Microstutter on PPSSPP on Android

[Real_Smoky]

Hello, everyone!

 

I simply don't understand what I am doing wrong. 

I am trying to run Wipeout Pure on PPSSPP for Android. 
 

I got PPSSPP for Android. I am running it on a Huawei P30 Lite with EMUI 10. Running it in standard battery mode or performance mode, definitely not battery saver.

Currently running the PPSSPP on stock settings, except constant frameskip to 1 for a locked 30fps and audio disabled. However, I have tried what feels like every single combination of the settings, though I might have skipped something, I just don't know what.
 

The game runs mostly fine even without frameskip at 60fps and my phone's native resolution but it drops randomly. So I said I can live with 30 FPS as long as it is constant. But there are still framedrops to 20 fairly regularly so the whole thing is a hitchy microstuttery mess. Running it without frameskip almost feels better because it drops to 40 fps and it's less jarring that 30 dropping to 17 which happens constantly and makes no freaking sense because if the game can run between 40 and 60, why can't it run stable 30?

 

It is an almost 20 year old game running on a 5 year old device and current software.

What am I doing wrong?

[Mark Kaine]

27 minutes ago, Real_Smoky said:

an almost 20 year old game running on a 5 year old device and current software.

What am I doing wrong?

ok but just because its old doesn't mean it'll run on everything,  especially when its running in an emulator. 

And what game? 

 

 

[starsmine]

idk a five-year-old phone emulating a PSP seems like a big ask still. 

Phones are much lower wattage and still need to be over 10x faster.

Although ARM can emulate MIPS easily, the custom GPU makes things more complicated.

[Mark Kaine]

26 minutes ago, starsmine said:

idk a five-year-old phone emulating a PSP seems like a big ask still. 

Phones are much lower wattage and still need to be over 10x faster.

Although ARM can emulate MIPS easily, the custom GPU makes things more complicated.

thats the thing, mid/low range Mali gpu? 

 

there will be issues,  i don't think op can do much other than upgrade. 

 

 

just for the record i didn't a

have any issues with ppsspp on a Sony flagship phone 10 years ago, but feature creep etc is likely to have made even that more demanding nowadays.  

(or some gpus still just don't cut it maybe)

[Real_Smoky]

10 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

ok but just because its old doesn't mean it'll run on everything,  especially when its running in an emulator. 

And what game? 

 

 

Damn, I failed to include the game. I will edit the post now. It is Wipeout Pure. Thanks!

 

[Kisai]

20 hours ago, Real_Smoky said:

I simply don't understand what I am doing wrong. 

I am trying to run Wipeout Pure on PPSSPP for Android. 

Well your first mistake was trying to play something in an emulator on Android. 

 

Please understand that even a flagship Android phone, has the performance of a 10+ year old computer.

 

This is comparing that device to a 2 year old computer

 

this is comparing it to a 10 year old computer

 

Most emulators, particularly game console emulators, require a device that is 10x more powerful than the device being emulated, just to get useable performance.

 

The 4770 (from 2013) above, is capable of GameCube emulation with a reasonable GPU. But your phone isn't even 1/4 of that. Your phone is closer to first gen i5-750 from 2009.

 

This is how you have to compare if your device should really be used to emulate something. Emulation on a desktop PC is typically a much lower hurdle than a mobile phone. The CPU in the PSP is not an ARM chip, it is just as hard for your mobile phone to emulate it as a desktop.

 

 

 

[starsmine]

56 minutes ago, Kisai said:

Well your first mistake was trying to play something in an emulator on Android. 

 

Please understand that even a flagship Android phone, has the performance of a 10+ year old computer.

 

This is comparing that device to a 2 year old computer

 

this is comparing it to a 10 year old computer

 

Most emulators, particularly game console emulators, require a device that is 10x more powerful than the device being emulated, just to get useable performance.

 

The 4770 (from 2013) above, is capable of GameCube emulation with a reasonable GPU. But your phone isn't even 1/4 of that. Your phone is closer to first gen i5-750 from 2009.

 

This is how you have to compare if your device should really be used to emulate something. Emulation on a desktop PC is typically a much lower hurdle than a mobile phone. The CPU in the PSP is not an ARM chip, it is just as hard for your mobile phone to emulate it as a desktop.

PSP was using a mips processor that was 5 years old already when it came out. And ARM emulating MIPS is semi-trivial in terms of emulation, no 10X requirment. I really think its the PSP GPU aspect that is giving the phone trouble.  

[Kisai]

5 hours ago, starsmine said:

PSP was using a mips processor that was 5 years old already when it came out. And ARM emulating MIPS is semi-trivial in terms of emulation, no 10X requirment. I really think its the PSP GPU aspect that is giving the phone trouble.  

It doesn't change the fact that the developer of the emulator releases a generic "Android" build, and makes no promises that it works on all Android devices.

 

For all we know, the Android build was intended for a device like the nvidia Shield, or maybe a ASUS ROG series. Devices that have high end GPU parts in them. It just happens to "run" on any device that can run Android because it's a generic build.

 

As a comparison, usually games compiled with Unity, have to compile separate versions for different Android GPU's in order for the games to run well at all, due to different texture formats, which is why some devices just aren't available to download a game to.

 

Likewise, many emulators often have vague requirements because it's just not possible to know what constitutes a "good" device to use with emulators. Like every time I see people tout RetroArch/RetroPIE, I'm like "So you have a toolbox to play a bunch of different games, but not all those tools are going to work equally well, because the emulators are not optimized for the CPU/GPU". Often people try to play N64/PSX/PSP games and are flat out disappointed with it, because the Pi's have substantially weak GPU's. Pi devices are just not intended to be used for this.

 

I also remember having an argument with someone who was convinced that just because Minecraft was available for a device, that meant it could also run every game available for windows. Suffice it to say, not even the Steamdeck can do this.

 

Just temper your expectations when running emulators on devices that are not desktop computers. Not every game is going to perform equally well. If every game is having the same issue, then it's likely the mobile device is just too weak overall.

[Real_Smoky]

20 hours ago, Kisai said:

Well your first mistake was trying to play something in an emulator on Android. 

 

Please understand that even a flagship Android phone, has the performance of a 10+ year old computer.

 

This is comparing that device to a 2 year old computer

 

this is comparing it to a 10 year old computer

 

Most emulators, particularly game console emulators, require a device that is 10x more powerful than the device being emulated, just to get useable performance.

 

The 4770 (from 2013) above, is capable of GameCube emulation with a reasonable GPU. But your phone isn't even 1/4 of that. Your phone is closer to first gen i5-750 from 2009.

 

This is how you have to compare if your device should really be used to emulate something. Emulation on a desktop PC is typically a much lower hurdle than a mobile phone. The CPU in the PSP is not an ARM chip, it is just as hard for your mobile phone to emulate it as a desktop.

 

 

 

Thanks for your insight.

Also, idk how, but the game runs better on Lemuroid, which, as far as my understanding goes, uses PPSSPP for PSP emulation anyway, so I am doubly confused on that part, but oh well, just software magic. 

[Mark Kaine]

On 9/18/2023 at 5:09 PM, Real_Smoky said:

Thanks for your insight.

Also, idk how, but the game runs better on Lemuroid, which, as far as my understanding goes, uses PPSSPP for PSP emulation anyway, so I am doubly confused on that part, but oh well, just software magic. 

btw as said i cannot confirm this at all, i had no performance issues playing some psp games on my 10 yo sony Xperia z1 whatsoever.  a psp has about as much power than a old cucumber,  of course a modern mobile cpu can play those games, but it depends on several factors,  especially the game itself,  not every game will perform well, obviously!