Implement game render thread delay (#180)

More details: https://www.reddit.com/r/Citra/comments/1e1v4e1/fixing_luigis_mansion_2_performance_issues_once/

src/android/app/src/main/java/org/citra/citra_emu/features/settings/model/IntSetting.kt

@@ -40,7 +40,8 @@ enum class IntSetting(
     VSYNC("use_vsync_new", Settings.SECTION_RENDERER, 1),
     DEBUG_RENDERER("renderer_debug", Settings.SECTION_DEBUG, 0),
     TEXTURE_FILTER("texture_filter", Settings.SECTION_RENDERER, 0),
-    USE_FRAME_LIMIT("use_frame_limit", Settings.SECTION_RENDERER, 1);
+    USE_FRAME_LIMIT("use_frame_limit", Settings.SECTION_RENDERER, 1),
+    DELAY_RENDER_THREAD_US("delay_game_render_thread_us", Settings.SECTION_RENDERER, 0);
 
     override var int: Int = defaultValue
 

src/android/app/src/main/java/org/citra/citra_emu/features/settings/ui/SettingsFragmentPresenter.kt

@@ -729,6 +729,18 @@ class SettingsFragmentPresenter(private val fragmentView: SettingsFragmentView)
                     IntSetting.TEXTURE_FILTER.defaultValue
                 )
             )
+            add(
+                SliderSetting(
+                    IntSetting.DELAY_RENDER_THREAD_US,
+                    R.string.delay_render_thread,
+                    R.string.delay_render_thread_description,
+                    0,
+                    16000,
+                    " μs",
+                    IntSetting.DELAY_RENDER_THREAD_US.key,
+                    IntSetting.DELAY_RENDER_THREAD_US.defaultValue.toFloat()
+                )
+            )
 
             add(HeaderSetting(R.string.stereoscopy))
             add(

src/android/app/src/main/jni/config.cpp

@@ -169,6 +169,7 @@ void Config::ReadValues() {
     ReadSetting("Renderer", Settings::values.bg_red);
     ReadSetting("Renderer", Settings::values.bg_green);
     ReadSetting("Renderer", Settings::values.bg_blue);
+    ReadSetting("Renderer", Settings::values.delay_game_render_thread_us);
 
     // Layout
     Settings::values.layout_option = static_cast<Settings::LayoutOption>(sdl2_config->GetInteger(

src/android/app/src/main/jni/default_ini.h

@@ -175,6 +175,10 @@ anaglyph_shader_name =
 # 0: Nearest, 1 (default): Linear
 filter_mode =
 
+# Delays the game render thread by the specified amount of microseconds
+# Set to 0 for no delay, only useful in dynamic-fps games to simulate GPU delay.
+delay_game_render_thread_us =
+
 [Layout]
 # Layout for the screen inside the render window.
 # 0 (default): Default Top Bottom Screen, 1: Single Screen Only, 2: Large Screen Small Screen, 3: Side by Side

src/android/app/src/main/res/values-es/strings.xml

@@ -663,5 +663,7 @@ Se esperan fallos gráficos temporales cuando ésta esté activado.</string>
     <string name="artic_base_connect">Conectar con Artic Base</string>
     <string name="artic_base_connect_description">Conectar con una consola real que esté ejecutando un servidor Artic Base</string>
     <string name="artic_base_enter_address">Introduce la dirección del servidor Artic Base</string>
+    <string name="delay_render_thread">Retrasa el hilo de dibujado del juego</string>
+    <string name="delay_render_thread_description">Retrasa el hilo de dibujado del juego cuando envía datos a la GPU. Ayuda con problemas de rendimiento en los (muy pocos) juegos de fps dinámicos.</string>
 
 </resources>

src/android/app/src/main/res/values/strings.xml

@@ -689,5 +689,7 @@
     <string name="artic_base_connect_description">Connect to a real console that is running an Artic Base server</string>
     <string name="artic_base_connect">Connect to Artic Base</string>
     <string name="artic_base_enter_address">Enter Artic Base server address</string>
+    <string name="delay_render_thread">Delay game render thread</string>
+    <string name="delay_render_thread_description">Delay the game render thread when it submits data to the GPU. Helps with performance issues in the (very few) dynamic-fps games.</string>
 
 </resources>

src/citra/config.cpp

@@ -147,6 +147,7 @@ void Config::ReadValues() {
     ReadSetting("Renderer", Settings::values.use_vsync_new);
     ReadSetting("Renderer", Settings::values.texture_filter);
     ReadSetting("Renderer", Settings::values.texture_sampling);
+    ReadSetting("Renderer", Settings::values.delay_game_render_thread_us);
 
     ReadSetting("Renderer", Settings::values.mono_render_option);
     ReadSetting("Renderer", Settings::values.render_3d);

src/citra_qt/configuration/config.cpp

@@ -667,6 +667,8 @@ void Config::ReadRendererValues() {
     ReadGlobalSetting(Settings::values.texture_filter);
     ReadGlobalSetting(Settings::values.texture_sampling);
 
+    ReadGlobalSetting(Settings::values.delay_game_render_thread_us);
+
     if (global) {
         ReadBasicSetting(Settings::values.use_shader_jit);
     }
@@ -1168,6 +1170,8 @@ void Config::SaveRendererValues() {
     WriteGlobalSetting(Settings::values.texture_filter);
     WriteGlobalSetting(Settings::values.texture_sampling);
 
+    WriteGlobalSetting(Settings::values.delay_game_render_thread_us);
+
     if (global) {
         WriteSetting(QStringLiteral("use_shader_jit"), Settings::values.use_shader_jit.GetValue(),
                      true);

src/citra_qt/configuration/configure_graphics.cpp

@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ ConfigureGraphics::ConfigureGraphics(QString gl_renderer, std::span<const QStrin
     // Set the index to -1 to ensure the below lambda is called with setCurrentIndex
     ui->graphics_api_combo->setCurrentIndex(-1);
 
+    const auto width = static_cast<int>(QString::fromStdString("000000000").size() * 6);
+    ui->delay_render_display_label->setMinimumWidth(width);
+    ui->delay_render_combo->setVisible(!Settings::IsConfiguringGlobal());
+
     auto graphics_api_combo_model =
         qobject_cast<QStandardItemModel*>(ui->graphics_api_combo->model());
 #ifndef ENABLE_SOFTWARE_RENDERER
@@ -82,12 +86,25 @@ ConfigureGraphics::ConfigureGraphics(QString gl_renderer, std::span<const QStrin
     connect(ui->graphics_api_combo, qOverload<int>(&QComboBox::currentIndexChanged), this,
             &ConfigureGraphics::SetPhysicalDeviceComboVisibility);
 
+    connect(ui->delay_render_slider, &QSlider::valueChanged, this, [&](int value) {
+        ui->delay_render_display_label->setText(
+            QStringLiteral("%1 ms")
+                .arg(((double)value) / 1000.f, 0, 'f', 3)
+                .rightJustified(QString::fromStdString("000000000").size()));
+    });
+
     SetConfiguration();
 }
 
 ConfigureGraphics::~ConfigureGraphics() = default;
 
 void ConfigureGraphics::SetConfiguration() {
+    ui->delay_render_slider->setValue(Settings::values.delay_game_render_thread_us.GetValue());
+    ui->delay_render_display_label->setText(
+        QStringLiteral("%1 ms")
+            .arg(((double)ui->delay_render_slider->value()) / 1000, 0, 'f', 3)
+            .rightJustified(QString::fromStdString("000000000").size()));
+
     if (!Settings::IsConfiguringGlobal()) {
         ConfigurationShared::SetHighlight(ui->graphics_api_group,
                                           !Settings::values.graphics_api.UsingGlobal());
@@ -101,6 +118,16 @@ void ConfigureGraphics::SetConfiguration() {
                                                &Settings::values.texture_sampling);
         ConfigurationShared::SetHighlight(ui->widget_texture_sampling,
                                           !Settings::values.texture_sampling.UsingGlobal());
+        ConfigurationShared::SetHighlight(
+            ui->delay_render_layout, !Settings::values.delay_game_render_thread_us.UsingGlobal());
+
+        if (Settings::values.delay_game_render_thread_us.UsingGlobal()) {
+            ui->delay_render_combo->setCurrentIndex(0);
+            ui->delay_render_slider->setEnabled(false);
+        } else {
+            ui->delay_render_combo->setCurrentIndex(1);
+            ui->delay_render_slider->setEnabled(true);
+        }
     } else {
         ui->graphics_api_combo->setCurrentIndex(
             static_cast<int>(Settings::values.graphics_api.GetValue()));
@@ -144,6 +171,9 @@ void ConfigureGraphics::ApplyConfiguration() {
                                              ui->toggle_disk_shader_cache, use_disk_shader_cache);
     ConfigurationShared::ApplyPerGameSetting(&Settings::values.use_vsync_new, ui->toggle_vsync_new,
                                              use_vsync_new);
+    ConfigurationShared::ApplyPerGameSetting(
+        &Settings::values.delay_game_render_thread_us, ui->delay_render_combo,
+        [this](s32) { return ui->delay_render_slider->value(); });
 
     if (Settings::IsConfiguringGlobal()) {
         Settings::values.use_shader_jit = ui->toggle_shader_jit->isChecked();
@@ -170,9 +200,16 @@ void ConfigureGraphics::SetupPerGameUI() {
         ui->toggle_async_present->setEnabled(Settings::values.async_presentation.UsingGlobal());
         ui->graphics_api_combo->setEnabled(Settings::values.graphics_api.UsingGlobal());
         ui->physical_device_combo->setEnabled(Settings::values.physical_device.UsingGlobal());
+        ui->delay_render_combo->setEnabled(
+            Settings::values.delay_game_render_thread_us.UsingGlobal());
         return;
     }
 
+    connect(ui->delay_render_combo, qOverload<int>(&QComboBox::activated), this, [this](int index) {
+        ui->delay_render_slider->setEnabled(index == 1);
+        ConfigurationShared::SetHighlight(ui->delay_render_layout, index == 1);
+    });
+
     ui->toggle_shader_jit->setVisible(false);
 
     ConfigurationShared::SetColoredComboBox(

src/citra_qt/configuration/configure_graphics.ui

@@ -307,6 +307,83 @@
         </property>
        </widget>
       </item>
+      <item>
+        <widget class="QWidget" name="delay_render_layout" native="true">
+          <layout class="QHBoxLayout" name="delay_render_layout_inner">
+            <property name="leftMargin">
+              <number>0</number>
+            </property>
+            <property name="topMargin">
+              <number>0</number>
+            </property>
+            <property name="rightMargin">
+              <number>0</number>
+            </property>
+            <property name="bottomMargin">
+              <number>0</number>
+            </property>
+            <item>
+              <widget class="QComboBox" name="delay_render_combo">
+                <item>
+                  <property name="text">
+                    <string>Use global</string>
+                  </property>
+                </item>
+                <item>
+                  <property name="text">
+                    <string>Use per-game</string>
+                  </property>
+                </item>
+              </widget>
+            </item>
+            <item>
+              <widget class="QLabel" name="label_delay_render">
+                <property name="text">
+                  <string>Delay game render thread:</string>
+                </property>
+                <property name="toolTip">
+                  <string>&lt;html&gt;&lt;head/&gt;&lt;body&gt;&lt;p&gt;Delays the emulated game render thread the specified amount of milliseconds every time it submits render commands to the GPU.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Adjust this feature in the (very few) dynamic-fps games to fix performance issues.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/body&gt;&lt;/html&gt;</string>
+                </property>
+              </widget>
+            </item>
+            <item>
+              <widget class="QSlider" name="delay_render_slider">
+                <property name="minimum">
+                  <number>0</number>
+                </property>
+                <property name="maximum">
+                  <number>16000</number>
+                </property>
+                <property name="singleStep">
+                  <number>100</number>
+                </property>
+                <property name="pageStep">
+                  <number>250</number>
+                </property>
+                <property name="value">
+                  <number>0</number>
+                </property>
+                <property name="orientation">
+                  <enum>Qt::Horizontal</enum>
+                </property>
+                <property name="tickPosition">
+                  <enum>QSlider::TicksBelow</enum>
+                </property>
+              </widget>
+            </item>
+            <item>
+              <widget class="QLabel" name="delay_render_display_label">
+                <property name="text">
+                  <string/>
+                </property>
+                <property name="alignment">
+                  <set>Qt::AlignRight|Qt::AlignTrailing|Qt::AlignVCenter</set>
+                </property>
+              </widget>
+            </item>
+          </layout>
+        </widget>
+      </item>
      </layout>
     </widget>
    </item>

src/common/settings.cpp

@@ -100,6 +100,7 @@ void LogSettings() {
     log_setting("Renderer_TextureFilter", GetTextureFilterName(values.texture_filter.GetValue()));
     log_setting("Renderer_TextureSampling",
                 GetTextureSamplingName(values.texture_sampling.GetValue()));
+    log_setting("Renderer_DelayGameRenderThreasUs", values.delay_game_render_thread_us.GetValue());
     log_setting("Stereoscopy_Render3d", values.render_3d.GetValue());
     log_setting("Stereoscopy_Factor3d", values.factor_3d.GetValue());
     log_setting("Stereoscopy_MonoRenderOption", values.mono_render_option.GetValue());
@@ -192,6 +193,7 @@ void RestoreGlobalState(bool is_powered_on) {
     values.frame_limit.SetGlobal(true);
     values.texture_filter.SetGlobal(true);
     values.texture_sampling.SetGlobal(true);
+    values.delay_game_render_thread_us.SetGlobal(true);
     values.layout_option.SetGlobal(true);
     values.swap_screen.SetGlobal(true);
     values.upright_screen.SetGlobal(true);

src/common/settings.h

@@ -479,6 +479,8 @@ struct Values {
     SwitchableSetting<TextureFilter> texture_filter{TextureFilter::None, "texture_filter"};
     SwitchableSetting<TextureSampling> texture_sampling{TextureSampling::GameControlled,
                                                         "texture_sampling"};
+    SwitchableSetting<u16, true> delay_game_render_thread_us{0, 0, 16000,
+                                                             "delay_game_render_thread_us"};
 
     SwitchableSetting<LayoutOption> layout_option{LayoutOption::Default, "layout_option"};
     SwitchableSetting<bool> swap_screen{false, "swap_screen"};

src/core/hle/service/gsp/gsp_gpu.cpp

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 #include <boost/serialization/shared_ptr.hpp>
 #include "common/archives.h"
 #include "common/bit_field.h"
+#include "common/settings.h"
 #include "core/core.h"
 #include "core/hle/ipc_helpers.h"
 #include "core/hle/kernel/shared_memory.h"
@@ -410,6 +411,9 @@ void GSP_GPU::TriggerCmdReqQueue(Kernel::HLERequestContext& ctx) {
 
     auto* command_buffer = GetCommandBuffer(active_thread_id);
     auto& gpu = system.GPU();
+
+    bool requires_delay = false;
+
     while (command_buffer->number_commands) {
         if (command_buffer->should_stop) {
             command_buffer->status.Assign(CommandBuffer::STATUS_STOPPED);
@@ -420,6 +424,10 @@ void GSP_GPU::TriggerCmdReqQueue(Kernel::HLERequestContext& ctx) {
         }
 
         Command command = command_buffer->commands[command_buffer->index];
+        if (command.id == CommandId::SubmitCmdList && !requires_delay &&
+            Settings::values.delay_game_render_thread_us.GetValue() != 0) {
+            requires_delay = true;
+        }
 
         // Decrease the number of commands remaining and increase the current index
         command_buffer->number_commands.Assign(command_buffer->number_commands - 1);
@@ -435,8 +443,20 @@ void GSP_GPU::TriggerCmdReqQueue(Kernel::HLERequestContext& ctx) {
         }
     }
 
-    IPC::RequestBuilder rb = rp.MakeBuilder(1, 0);
+    if (requires_delay) {
-    rb.Push(ResultSuccess);
+        ctx.RunAsync(
+            [](Kernel::HLERequestContext& ctx) {
+                return Settings::values.delay_game_render_thread_us.GetValue() * 1000;
+            },
+            [](Kernel::HLERequestContext& ctx) {
+                IPC::RequestBuilder rb(ctx, 1, 0);
+                rb.Push(ResultSuccess);
+            },
+            false);
+    } else {
+        IPC::RequestBuilder rb = rp.MakeBuilder(1, 0);
+        rb.Push(ResultSuccess);
+    }
 }
 
 void GSP_GPU::ImportDisplayCaptureInfo(Kernel::HLERequestContext& ctx) {