Progress Report March 2020 (#168)

Progress Report March 2020

site/content/entry/yuzu-progress-report-mar-2020/index.md

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+date = "2020-04-20T07:11:00-03:00"
+title = "Progress Report March 2020"
+author = "GoldenX86"
+forum = 217502
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+
+How are you doing in this quarantine, yuzu fans? We hope you are all staying in your homes safe and sound.
+Today, we are bringing you a report on a few changes from the past month for both the Early Access and regular Mainline versions of yuzu.
+<!--more-->
+
+We have on our plate a couple of bug fixes, some graphical improvements, the first “performance win” for Intel GPUs, a really serious case of serendipity, and some groundwork for amazing improvements that will be coming to you in a “near-ish” future.
+
+## Bug fixes and improvements
+
+After some intensive debugging by [Rodrigo](https://github.com/ReinUsesLisp), an OpenGL rendering bug in *ARMS* (that was with us since the game started to boot), was solved by simply updating our buildbot virtual machine from Visual Studio 2017 to the latest 2019 version.
+Thanks to [DarkLordZach](https://github.com/DarkLordZach) for the change!
+
+PSA - Please update to or install the latest [Visual C++ 2019 x64 redistributable](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2977003/the-latest-supported-visual-c-downloads), or else you won’t be able to open yuzu, as it will complain that the library `VCRUNTIME140.dll` cannot be found.
+
+{{< single-title-imgs
+    "Better, right?"
+    "./03.png"
+    "./04.png"
+  >}}
+
+[perillamint](https://github.com/perillamint) and [bunnei](https://github.com/bunnei) stubbed (this means to send a fake `everything’s OK` signal so the game can continue) some VR related services.
+These changes are needed for version 1.6.0 of *The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*, 1.3.0 of *Super Mario Odyssey*, and versions 3.1.0 and above of *Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*.
+
+Commercial games aren't everything.
+[Rodrigo](https://github.com/ReinUsesLisp) decided to give homebrew lovers and old-school gamers something to play with by implementing some attributes from the old OpenGL 1.X and 2.X days.
+It’s now possible to run `Xash3D`, so you can frag in Counter-Strike, or follow G-Man’s orders in Half-Life!
+Currently, this needs to be manually built with newer dependencies, but that should be solved for good in the near future.
+
+[Margen67](https://github.com/Margen67) and [Morph](https://github.com/Morph1984) wanted to improve the graphics for games and so they added Anisotropic Filtering (AF) to yuzu.
+With this feature in place, distant textures now look much sharper, improving game quality even over what the original Switch can produce! 
+Games like *Pokémon Sword*, *Pokémon Shield*, and *Fire Emblem: Three Houses* benefit a lot from this; however, some other games don’t respond well to this new feature, one example being *Astral Chain*. 
+Feel free to experiment with it!
+
+An example in *Pokémon Sword*:
+	
+{{< imgs
+    "./15.png| AF Off"
+    "./14.png| AF 16x"
+  >}}
+  
+And another example in *Fire Emblem: Three Houses*:  
+  
+{{< imgs
+    "./01.png| AF Off"
+    "./02.png| AF 8x"
+  >}}
+
+Shader cache invalidations are something our users don’t like at all. 
+We don't either, but it’s all part of the process of improving yuzu to achieve better performance and accuracy.
+For example, one of our recent invalidations was needed to fix the reflections in *Luigi’s Mansion 3*, making certain parts of the game playable.
+
+Because the art of dancing is important, [namkazt](https://github.com/namkazt) and [Rodrigo](https://github.com/ReinUsesLisp) have been fighting with the code, allowing us to enjoy 3D graphics in *Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA MEGA39's*, and as collateral, fixed some rendering issues in *Bayonetta 1* and *Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*.
+
+{{< imgs
+    "./07.png| Miku Miku Dance!"
+  >}}
+
+{{< single-title-imgs
+    "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's menu (Before & After)"
+    "./08.png"
+    "./09.png"
+  >}}
+
+[Kewlan](https://github.com/Kewlan), a regular in our Discord Server, submitted a small change to our input mapping GUI, changing the position of the shoulder buttons so they no longer make anyone angry.
+
+{{< imgs
+    "./11.png| Incorrect."
+    "./12.png| Much better."
+  >}}
+
+We also have a cool improvement by [Tobi](https://github.com/FearlessTobi).
+The Switch is a surround sound compatible console and our implementation of downmixing removed any channel that wasn’t left or right.
+By keeping the extra channels and mixing them in the left and right stereo outputs, the sound in tons of games, including *Luigi’s Mansion 3*, *Sonic Forces*, and *Bayonetta*, has been improved.
+
+## A peculiar case of "Even a broken clock is right twice a day!"
+
+The Nintendo Switch supports `ASTC`, a type of texture format generally used in mobile hardware, such as phones and tablets, in order to reduce bandwidth usage (a limited resource in those devices).
+Since it's a heavily compressed format, decoding it via the CPU, like it is normally done on PC, is a time-consuming task.
+
+To give an example, Astral Chain is a game that uses `ASTC` very extensively and in bizarre ways, as previous fixes and optimizations have shown.
+On NVIDIA and AMD graphics hardware, the first scene of a new game typically takes `17` seconds to load. The GPU has to wait for the CPU to decode all the `ASTC` textures, and thus slowing down the whole process.
+
+Thanks to [Rodrigo's](https://github.com/ReinUsesLisp) research, it was discovered that on any recent Intel GPU this same operation is immediate and occurs with no delay, due to it being the only vendor providing a native `ASTC` decoder in their hardware.
+That’s right, the best way to experience Astral Chain in yuzu is with a small, and typically inferior, iGPU (like the ones that come in any desktop or notebook CPU from Intel).
+
+On the topic of formats, implementing the `RG32` and `RGB32` vertex formats fixed a room that refused to load in The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening in Vulkan.
+Great work, [Rodrigo](https://github.com/ReinUsesLisp)!
+
+{{< imgs
+    "./13.png| It works!"
+  >}}
+  
+## Paving the road for even bigger changes
+
+[Rodrigo](https://github.com/ReinUsesLisp)'s initial work on `Transform Feedback` has concluded and is now partially working. 
+This has already helped games like POKKÉN Tournament DX, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and Xenoblade Chronicles.
+
+An optimization by [Blinkhawk](https://github.com/FernandoS27) reduced the use of RAM by 1GB.
+When talking about RAM usage, less is best!
+
+Now, for an important but also astonishing fix; one that nobody expected, not even our project leader [bunnei](https://github.com/bunnei).
+While he was working on fixing what seemed to be a simple bug on Final Fantasy VIII, he also accidentally fixed Super Smash Bros. Ultimate fights!
+This case of serendipity, is without a doubt, a surprise, but a welcome one.
+
+Now all users can brawl to their hearts' content thanks to a measly 5-line change in yuzu’s code!
+However, keep in mind that any Super Smash Bros. Ultimate update newer than 3.1.0 will work, but will also make the characters T-pose, resulting in hilarious fights and victory screens.
+We’re working on resolving this, but for now, stick to update 3.1.0 or older!
+
+[bunnei](https://github.com/bunnei) fixed audio crackling in various games like Crash Team Racing and Super Mario Odyssey.
+We are slowly but surely improving our audio quality.
+He also implemented initial support for `32-bit ARM` emulation. 
+Nothing tangible can be tested yet, but thanks to this, it will be possible in the future to run `32-bit` games like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
+
+And last but not least, [Blinkhawk](https://github.com/FernandoS27) has been making some serious changes to yuzu's GPU emulation, while also laying the foundation for the recent rework of yuzu's Virtual Memory Manager (codename: Project Epimetheus).
+
+These, in turn, will help further advance the development of Project Prometheus, one of the super-secret Projects our devs are currently working on to bring some considerable changes to yuzu’s performance and hardware requirements.
+Stay tuned to hear more about them in the future!
+
+That’s all for now folks, see you in the April report.
+
+&nbsp;
+<h4 style="text-align:center;">
+<b>Please consider supporting us on [Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/yuzuteam)!<br>
+If you would like to contribute to this project, check out our [GitHub](https://github.com/yuzu-emu/yuzu)!</b>
+</h4>