SEGA RALLY 2: network Link Play performances (.ini config)

[zuppa_di_pesce]

Hi guys!!
I noticed some FPS degradations when playing 2 (MASTER : LinkID1 = SLAVE : LinkID2) instances of SEGA RALLY 2; also there are some occasional hiccups / stutters.
Playing in singlemode singleplayer I have solid 60FPS with 4K widecreen resolution in fullscreen. Gameplay is smooth, always.

In network-linked mode my FPS fluctuate between 48 and 59 (is somewhat stable at around 57 FPS) and I get some random stuttering.
Resolution is windowed: 2* (1200x900).

Hardware is not bottlenecked: Ryzen1700 + GTX1660Super.
CPU and GPU usage is equivalent in both singlemode as well newtork Link Play.
CPU is around 22% average.
GPU is around 37% average.


I highly suspect there's something misconfigured in my Supermodel.ini, especially I think I set too high value of "PowerPCFrequency = 120".
Could you please have a look if there's something to adjust?

Code: Select all

[ Global ]

MultiThreaded = 1
GPUMultiThreaded = 1
PowerPCFrequency = 120
MultiTexture = 1
EmulateSound = 1
Balance = 0
EmulateDSB = 1
SoundVolume = 100
MusicVolume = 40
LegacySoundDSP = 1
ForceFeedback = 1
New3DEngine = 1
QuadRendering = 1
XResolution = 1200
YResolution = 900
FullScreen = 0
WideScreen = 0
Stretch = 0
WideBackground = 0
VSync = 1
Throttle = 1
ShowFrameRate = 1
InputSystem = sdl
SDLConstForceMax = 100
SDLSelfCenterMax = 100
SDLFrictionMax = 100
SDLVibrateMax = 100
SimulateNet = 1
Network = 1
PortIn = 1970
PortOut = 1971
AddressOut = "127.0.0.1"


[gm_matthew]

It might not look like it, but it's probably a CPU bottleneck. It only shows 22% because it's two threads, one for each emulated machine, that are doing most of the work (PowerPC emulation) while the other fourteen threads are either doing much less or are not being used at all.

Your PowerPC frequency is pretty high; Sega Rally 2 should run at full speed with 83 MHz or higher, though you could bump it up to 100 if you really want to be sure. I have a Ryzen 5 1600 myself and I got similar performance to you when I tried two linked machines each with 120 MHz.

[zuppa_di_pesce]

Hey gm_matthew!
Tests were done on (Arch)Linux.

I get hardware stats via MangoHud (https://github.com/flightlessmango/MangoHud).
Supermodel is started from within two separate Bash:

Code: Select all

[BASH_A]$ MANGOHUD_DLSYM=1 mangohud ./supermodel-master
[BASH_B]$ MANGOHUD_DLSYM=1 mangohud ./supermodel-slave


Said that, If I remeber correctly MangoHud should reports "intelligent" total statistics: you see summed values.
So, I think that 22% CPU usage is actually 11% (master) + 11% (slave).
Doing some rough bad maths: 11% of 16 cores is almost 2 cores (1.76 to be precise); 22% is almost 4 cores (3.52).

But I would double-check against $ top.

Back to singlemode tests I've done: I tried up to "PowerPCFrequency = 135", but at that point Supermodel starts degrading.

BTW, as soon as I can I'll try network-linked mode with "PowerPCFrequency = 83".

[zuppa_di_pesce]

So, I think that 22% CPU usage is actually 11% (master) + 11% (slave).

OK, I can confirm it's actually 11% (master) + 11% (salve).
"PowerPCFrequency = 90" does the job (testing were also done with "75" and "83").

I feel the game is not running perfectly smooth as in singlemode, but this comes from my raw feelings (I have not done extensive precise benchmarks).
For what is worth, here my "results" messing with PowerPCFrequency:

• 120 = irregular FPS and occasional short stuttering (let's say... 5% impact on whole frametime)
• 90 = solid FPS and almost imperceptible stuttering (let's say... 1% impact on whole frametime)
• 83 = solid FPS and almost imperceptible stuttering (let's say... 1% impact on whole frametime)
• 75 = solid FPS and almost imperceptible stuttering (let's say... 2% impact on whole frametime)

I only played in Riviera stage.

Here's my Supermodel.ini (equal for both MASTER and SLAVE):

Code: Select all

MultiThreaded = 1
GPUMultiThreaded = 1
PowerPCFrequency = 90
MultiTexture = 1
EmulateSound = 1
Balance = 0
EmulateDSB = 1
SoundVolume = 100
MusicVolume = 40
LegacySoundDSP = 1
ForceFeedback = 1
New3DEngine = 1
QuadRendering = 1
XResolution = 1200
YResolution = 900
FullScreen = 0
WideScreen = 0
Stretch = 0
WideBackground = 0
VSync = 1
Throttle = 1
ShowFrameRate = 1
[...]