Emulator

Game Name?

Various; I've personally tested with Xenoblade Chronicles.

Game ID? (right click the game in the game list, properties, info tab)

Various (SX4E01 for Xenoblade)

MD5 Hash? (right click the game in the game list, properties, info tab, MD5 Hash: Compute)

f76e76b2656b92490df354e7a757257b

What's the problem? Describe what went wrong.

Certain gecko codes seem to cause intermittent stuttering (by which i mean dips into single-digit fps for .25-1 seconds) when used; in my case, I was using One More Try's 60fps hack, detailed at https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-wip-xenoblade-60fps-and-other-mods . To get the obvious out of the way, yes, my system should be more than capable of handling the game at 60fps. Running the game with cheats disabled at 200% speed doesn't produce any such stuttering, and, logically, if I can play at a locked 30fps without the hack, I shouldn't be getting dips into the single digits with it. Normally I'd expect this to be a problem with the hack and not with Dolphin, but further investigation found that it actually works fine in builds prior to 5.0-4575. This build made changes to the codehandler, and the pull request has a few comments about it causing stuttering in widescreen hacks in other games.
What steps will reproduce the problem?

Load up Xenoblade with the code enabled (I've posted the most refined version is in this post: https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-wip-xenoblade-60fps-and-other-mods?pid=451469#pid451469
And, well, the stuttering happens just about anywhere, from standing still, battling, navigating menus, staying still in menus, etc. It does seem to happen more often when doing certain actions, such as bringing up the menu or targeting an enemy, or during a battle. When bisecting to find the build, I left the game on the map screen and listened for stuttering in the audio to ensure the stuttering wasn't coming from anything else.

Alternatively, you could try the widescreen hacks for The Wind Waker or Twilight Princess that are listed on the wiki, which are reported to cause stuttering by comments in the pull request https://github.com/dolphin-emu/dolphin/pull/5670 . I can't confirm the issues in these games myself atm as I don't have dumps handy.

Is the issue present in the latest development version? For future reference, please also write down the version number of the latest development version.

5.0-5376

Is the issue present in the latest stable version?

No (5.0)

If the issue isn't present in the latest stable version, which is the first broken version? (You can find the first broken version by bisecting. Windows users can use the tool https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-green-notice-development-thread-unofficial-dolphin-bisection-tool-for-finding-broken-builds and anyone who is building Dolphin on their own can use git bisect.)

5.0-4575

What are your PC specifications? (CPU, GPU, Operating System, more)

CPU: Intel i7 3930K
GPU: AMD R9 290X
RAM: 24GB, 1600MHz
OS: Windows 10 64-bit (build 15063)

Is there anything else that can help developers narrow down the issue? (e.g. logs, screenshots,
configuration files, savefiles, savestates)

I've provided a save file to save the trouble of getting through the intro, since sitting on a menu is the best way to make sure the stuttering isn't due to anything intensive happening in the game.