wacky CPU/GPU utilization

[teamhankinskc]

anyone else running this game and their CPU is literally doing all of the work? My GPU is literally idling as my CPU is sitting around 55-60c whie playing MGS2...

[Aoi]

The game was made to run on a PS2, you should check the "Graphics Synthesizer" specs.
It's not a remake, but a barely remastered port which could be more than easily rendered with (now outdated) legacy fixed function pipeline. Remaking the graphics engine would pretty much mean rewriting the whole engine and probably the whole game at this point.
Not sure what you expected.

But recently announced MGS Delta remake should melt your GPU down if that's what you're asking for.

[Nussy Snake]

If you are using a laptop, make sure your Manufacturer's Control Panel isn't doing some weird hybrid stuff and prioritizing the CPU over the GPU.

[shonasof]

it's basically emulating a PS3 game that's in turn emulating a heavily modified PS2 game. It's not really geared to take advantage of modern GPUs, leaving the CPU to do the heavy lifting.

[Kyo Tanaka]

Originally posted by shonasof:

it's basically emulating a PS3 game that's in turn emulating a heavily modified PS2 game. It's not really geared to take advantage of modern GPUs, leaving the CPU to do the heavy lifting.

It's not emulating anything.

[Toasty]

That's just how the game was written. Try emulating a PS2 copy of the game and you'll see it does the same thing.

[teamhankinskc]

Originally posted by shonasof:

it's basically emulating a PS3 game that's in turn emulating a heavily modified PS2 game. It's not really geared to take advantage of modern GPUs, leaving the CPU to do the heavy lifting.

iiiiiiiiiinteresting. That would make sense!

[Toasty]

Originally posted by teamhankinskc:

Originally posted by shonasof:

it's basically emulating a PS3 game that's in turn emulating a heavily modified PS2 game. It's not really geared to take advantage of modern GPUs, leaving the CPU to do the heavy lifting.

iiiiiiiiiinteresting. That would make sense!

It wouldn't. Nothing is being emulated for MGS2/MGS3, it's a native x86 executable. It's just CPU bound because the engine was written over 20 years ago for the PS2, so it isn't designed to take full advantage of your computer from the future.

[~Senpai]

Most of the responses here are misinformed. If you're on a device that allows manual control of the CPU clock frequency, you can lower it while the game is running without detriment.

For example on the Steam Deck MGS2 by default hits the CPU hard, but if you limit the CPU clock speed you get better performance AND thermals.

For some reason MGS2 in particular seems to request a ton of empty clock cycles from the CPU that have nothing to do with the game's performance. It's a weird one. The issue is NOT caused by emulation overhead. MGS3 does not exhibit this behaviour.

[Kyo Tanaka]

Originally posted by ~Senpai:

Most of the responses here are misinformed. If you're on a device that allows manual control of the CPU clock frequency, you can lower it while the game is running without detriment.

For example on the Steam Deck MGS2 by default hits the CPU hard, but if you limit the CPU clock speed you get better performance AND thermals.

For some reason MGS2 in particular seems to request a ton of empty clock cycles from the CPU that have nothing to do with the game's performance. It's a weird one. The issue is NOT caused by emulation overhead. MGS3 does not exhibit this behaviour.

What's the recommended setting on steam deck for 2 and 3? I worry about the deck's heat when it's not plugged in.

[~Senpai]

Originally posted by Kyo Tanaka:

Originally posted by ~Senpai:

Most of the responses here are misinformed. If you're on a device that allows manual control of the CPU clock frequency, you can lower it while the game is running without detriment.

For example on the Steam Deck MGS2 by default hits the CPU hard, but if you limit the CPU clock speed you get better performance AND thermals.

For some reason MGS2 in particular seems to request a ton of empty clock cycles from the CPU that have nothing to do with the game's performance. It's a weird one. The issue is NOT caused by emulation overhead. MGS3 does not exhibit this behaviour.

What's the recommended setting on steam deck for 2 and 3? I worry about the deck's heat when it's not plugged in.

I haven't tested this personally as I use a Decky plugin called PowerTools to limit the CPU, but for MGS2 you can probably just set a TDP limit of maybe 6 or 7 watts to curb the CPU overworking. MGS3 in my experience doesn't need to be limited in any way and just works correctly.

You should find that performance isn't affected at all. I'll boot up 2 and 3 and test with the built in TDP limit and let you know my own findings when I get a chance.

EDIT: Just tested it, you can limit MGS2 to a TDP limit of 4w and get almost perfect performance. If it gets a little framey, you can bump the limit to 5w.

[El Fuerte]

Originally posted by teamhankinskc:

My GPU is literally idling as my CPU is sitting around 55-60c whie playing MGS2...

working exactly as intended as this garbage port is internally locked at 720p and missing the anti-aliasing from the PS3/X360 version.

[Casey Payne]

Originally posted by shonasof:

it's basically emulating a PS3 game that's in turn emulating a heavily modified PS2 game. It's not really geared to take advantage of modern GPUs, leaving the CPU to do the heavy lifting.

Dude, this ain’t it. What are you on about? These games were ported to ps3, they don’t run BC. Same applies for MC, only MGS1 and before run emulated

[Dieter]

This thread was quite old before the recent post, so we're locking it to prevent confusion.