Emulator

What CPU do you have and what is its clock speed when running Dolphin? Do you use the Shift-F1, Shift-F2 etc hotkeys to save and the F1, F2 etc hotkeys to load? Or do you use the menu?

I added a delay in the save state code. This delay may not be long enough for your CPU.

If you can compile your own builds, try changing the setting here:

Source/Core/Core/Src/State.cpp, line 239 and line 275:

Change
SLEEP(100);

To:
SLEEP(300);

and retest. Let us know.

The cpu = Intel Core2 Quad Q9550 @ 2.83GHz 2.83 GHz
I save and load using shift+F1 and F1.
I will change the line of code to see if it works and i'll get back to you.
Thanks for your reply

I can confirm that I am having the same issue with Mario Sunshine,

The cpu = Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 @ 3.2GHz , Overclocked
I save and load using Shift+F1 and F1.

When reloading, sometimes just the music will play & screen will be frozen.
If I disable Dual Core, this seems to reduce the amount of crashing, but it still does happen.

I usually try to pause the game first, & then I usually save 4 states to be safe.

Another thing I noticed was that as soon as sucessfully load a save state, it will prevent me from saving to the GC memcard ( usually get an error that Gamecard cant be found in Slot A - this only seems to happen once I've saved/loaded a state)

Thanks

Hello there. I'm mugg from TASvideos and wanted to check out Dolphin's ability to produce TAS movies. And I'm getting the same error, in Super Smash Bros. Melee (PAL) with r6201,32bit. I can save states, but if I load any state the emulation is bugged. It will freeze the game 1~8 seconds after the state loaded in most cases. Or it will sometimes even crash the emulator.

I encountered some other, though minor problems that I'm interested in discussing, concerning TASability, but I'm not sure where it belongs. Should I make a topic on the Dolphin forum?

Thanks in advance.

The saving the GC memcard issue is interesting - does the issue occur only if save states have been loaded? It may be an emulation timing issue.

Has anyone tried the SLEEP(300) change above?

Re: TASability, please post it to the forum under General Discussion.

In addition to the SLEEP(300) change, please test if this patch helps save states to load more reliably.

I've just tested on Dolphin 2.0 and it doesn't have this problem.
However, I can't use Frame Stepping & Pause on that version... (locks the emulator)

Apparently, this issue may be related to another issue I'm experiencing.
I can't use "left", "down" or "right" + Pause while Frame stepping is on, as this would lock the emulation for me and I have to restart Dolphin.

Once I do this, loading a savestate would always result in the hanging issue.
Replacing the current Dolphin folder with a new one doesn't solve the hanging issue, but I think, additionally to getting a new folder, rebooting the computer does.

I can confirm that in last 70 revisions in SMS when load a save state, i can't save to a mem card, like pghimbir said.

leviatan, has it ever worked? If so, which revision was it last working?

As I'm not at home, I'll try to explain as I remember. Much older revisions are not compatible with recent save states. My 7 year old son is stucked at level where you enter the cave in Bianco Hills (i belive) and can't beat it without save states. However, sometimes, if i make only one ss, it's a chance that it should be OK. But since he is very young (and add child by the way), i must make it several for him to finish it. Tomorrow, if you wish, i can upload save state. Maybe it is related to certain places, but i'll test it more in next few days, when i'm off work.

Uploading a save state is not necessary in this case. I am trying to determine if a particular commit broke this functionality. I suspect that the save states function has never maintained the GC memcard state properly.

I'm posting all the recent info I have about this issue now.

• When saving a savestate, after waiting x seconds and loading the state, it will take x seconds until the emulation hangs
• This hanging emulation issue occurs in SSBM (PAL), SSBM (NTSC) and Kirby Air Ride (NTSC) so far...
• After loading a state, if you save a new savestate before the hang occurs, it will not hang
• After loading a state, Dolphin doesn't recognize input for about 50 frames and rarely, it doesn't recognize input forever (apparently it disconnects the controller and sometimes it also disconnects the memory card)
• After loading a state, the BGM might get muted or it keeps playing the audio bit of the same frame (for the remaining emulation session)

Same issue, only ALWAYS happens with Last Story (and last story only):

1. sometimes the savestate loading results in a hang of the game, you still hear music but the image is black/still (unrefreshed??)

Latest version as of 9/12/2012. Help is necessary.