Your Feedback Made a Difference: 60 FPS at 8× on Thor Lite

Remember the issues reported in the last WatermelonDS test builds?

A lot of the feedback from Patrons was focused on performance, rendering, audio, and device-specific problems. Most of them have been solved! 

After working through the reported issues and testing the latest changes, I wanted to share one result that I think is worth showing.

8× Internal Resolution on the Thor Lite

One of the tests I’ve been using is The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks on the Thor Lite, running at 8× the original DS resolution.

With OpenGL, the game is running around 25-35 FPS in this test.

With the new Vulkan rendering path, the same test reaches 60 FPS.

OpenGL 8× IR: ~25-35 FPS
Vulkan 8× IR: 60 FPS

That’s a pretty noticeable difference.

And more importantly, this is exactly the kind of improvement I wanted the recent testing to help us reach.

This Is Why Patron Testing Matters

The latest test builds generated a lot of useful reports. Patrons reports helped me identify problems that I wouldn't necessarily have found through my own testing.

I’ve been working through those issues and the latest build is now in a much better state.

What's Next?

I’m now preparing the next WatermelonDS release.

There are still some things I want to verify before pushing it out, but the latest results are looking very promising.

Thank you to everyone who has been testing, reporting bugs, sending logs, and sharing performance results.

— Sapphire 💙