Dolphin's PS5 defaults: 6x, asynchronous ubershaders, 16x AF, GPU texture decoding

Profile 12 is the best picture that holds full speed with every accuracy
setting at Dolphin's default: RE4, Melee, Wind Waker and Mario Kart Wii at 100%
in every window after boot. The port makes it the default and, as the PPSSPP
port does, sets an earlier options file aside once
(dolphin-emu.opt.before-ps5-profile), making the options folder first so the
marker exists on a fresh console. Checked on my console: the file set aside,
the new one written with the profile, Wind Waker at 100%. Rogue Leader's dips
are the driver's CPU transfers, ../PS5_Vulkan R95. tools/verify.sh PASS.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

docs/PHASE_LOG.md

@@ -3919,3 +3919,34 @@ core-options file and no history):
   20 s (25 times): no crash, every audio window 98-100%.
 
 tools/verify.sh PASS; ../PS5_Vulkan tools/check-driver.sh PASS.
+
+## 2026-09-26 — Dolphin at its best settings: the PS5 defaults, and what Rogue Leader still needs
+
+Dolphin's defaults were upstream's: 1x, Synchronous shader compilation, no
+anisotropic filtering. Profile 12 (`tooling/dolphin-profiles/p12-ps5-best.txt`)
+is the best picture that holds full speed, every accuracy setting at Dolphin's
+default: 6x, Async (UberShaders) -- exact ubershaders draw while the specialised
+shaders compile in the background, so nothing is skipped and nothing stalls --
+16x anisotropic filtering and texture decoding on the GPU. From my save states,
+Resident Evil 4, Melee, Wind Waker and Mario Kart Wii held 100% in every window
+after the one that boots and loads the state (title 870bd1bb).
+
+The port now makes these the defaults (patches/dolphin/ps5-port.patch,
+`Ps5ApplyDefaultProfile`), and like the PPSSPP port it sets an options file an
+earlier core saved aside once, as `dolphin-emu.opt.before-ps5-profile`, because
+RetroArch would otherwise keep its values over the new defaults. It makes the
+options folder first, open to FTP, so the marker (`ps5-default-profile-v1`) exists
+even where Dolphin's options were never saved. On my console (title b8d43519) my
+file was set aside, RetroArch wrote the new one with the four profile values and
+every other option as mine had it, and Wind Waker ran at 100% after boot.
+
+Rogue Leader is the exception, and it is the driver's. Its attract sequence runs
+at 73-85% for stretches and its gameplay (my Death Star Attack state) dips to
+90-97%, with every shader cached as much as cold. Sampled, Dolphin's GPU thread
+waits on its CPU thread and the other way round, and on the GPU thread the
+driver's transfers done by the CPU at submission split points -- uploads into
+tiled images, then image copies once texture decoding is on the GPU, each after
+waiting for the GPU -- are the largest cost that is not Dolphin's own. That is
+../PS5_Vulkan R95: those transfers on the GPU. R94 (compiles on several threads
+at once, ../PS5_Vulkan 6078307) removed the GPU thread's waits behind the
+compiler's lock; cold, Rogue Leader's first window went from 77% to 82%.

patches/dolphin/ps5-port.patch

@@ -565,6 +565,86 @@ index c53281053f..885cdfac84 100644
      Libretro::Log::LogFrontEnd(style, caption, text, 2000);
      return true; // Always "continue"
    });
+diff --git a/Source/Core/DolphinLibretro/Common/Options.cpp b/Source/Core/DolphinLibretro/Common/Options.cpp
+index 7d27a1ea3c..0d882dcb74 100644
+--- a/Source/Core/DolphinLibretro/Common/Options.cpp
++++ b/Source/Core/DolphinLibretro/Common/Options.cpp
+@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
+ 
+ #include <libretro.h>
++#include <cstdio>
+ #include <cstdlib>
++#include <cstring>
++#ifdef __PROSPERO__
++#include <fcntl.h>
++#include <sys/stat.h>
++#include <unistd.h>
++#endif
+ #include "DolphinLibretro/Common/Options.h"
+ 
+ namespace Libretro
+@@ -1870,9 +1877,61 @@ void Init()
+   CheckForUpdatedVariables();
+ }
+ 
++#ifdef __PROSPERO__
++// PS5 port: the defaults are the best picture that holds full speed on the
++// console (tooling/dolphin-profiles/p12-ps5-best.txt in the title's repository):
++// 6x internal resolution, asynchronous ubershaders -- exact ubershaders draw
++// while the specialised shaders compile in the background, so nothing is
++// skipped and nothing stalls -- 16x anisotropic filtering, and texture decoding
++// on the GPU. Every accuracy setting keeps Dolphin's default. Resident Evil 4,
++// Melee, Wind Waker and Mario Kart Wii held 100% in every window after boot.
++static void Ps5ApplyDefaultProfile()
++{
++  static const struct
++  {
++    const char* key;
++    const char* value;
++  } profile[] = {
++      {Libretro::Options::gfx_settings::EFB_SCALE, "6"},
++      {Libretro::Options::gfx_settings::SHADER_COMPILATION_MODE, "2"},
++      {Libretro::Options::gfx_enhancements::MAX_ANISOTROPY, "4"},
++      {Libretro::Options::gfx_settings::GPU_TEXTURE_DECODING, "enabled"},
++  };
++  for (retro_core_option_v2_definition* def = option_defs; def->key; ++def)
++    for (const auto& entry : profile)
++      if (!std::strcmp(def->key, entry.key))
++        def->default_value = entry.value;
++
++  // Once: an options file saved by an earlier core keeps its values over these
++  // defaults (RetroArch reads it when the options are set, just after this), so
++  // the first run of this profile sets it aside, recoverable, as the PPSSPP port
++  // does. The folder is made first, open to FTP, so the marker exists even on a
++  // console that has never saved Dolphin's options.
++  const char* const folder = "/app0/config/dolphin-emu";
++  const char* const saved = "/app0/config/dolphin-emu/dolphin-emu.opt";
++  const char* const marker = "/app0/config/dolphin-emu/ps5-default-profile-v1";
++  struct stat status;
++  if (stat(marker, &status) == 0)
++    return;
++  if (mkdir(folder, 0777) == 0)
++    chmod(folder, 0777);
++  if (stat(saved, &status) == 0)
++    std::rename(saved, "/app0/config/dolphin-emu/dolphin-emu.opt.before-ps5-profile");
++  const int fd = open(marker, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC, 0666);
++  if (fd >= 0)
++  {
++    fchmod(fd, 0666);
++    close(fd);
++  }
++}
++#endif
++
+ void SetVariables()
+ {
+   unsigned version = 0;
++#ifdef __PROSPERO__
++  Ps5ApplyDefaultProfile();
++#endif
+ 
+   struct retro_core_options_v2 options_us = {
+     const_cast<retro_core_option_v2_category*>(option_cats),
 diff --git a/Source/Core/DolphinLibretro/Main.cpp b/Source/Core/DolphinLibretro/Main.cpp
 index cd8753b666..85271453ba 100644
 --- a/Source/Core/DolphinLibretro/Main.cpp

tooling/dolphin-profiles/README.md

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ any launch that is not a test run, so a profile never outlives its run.
 | `p5-ram-efb.txt` | 5: profile 4 with EFB copies to RAM (read back through the CPU) |
 | `p6-scale-Nx.txt` | 6: the scaling ladder, 1x to 6x on the accurate baseline |
 | `p7-msaa-N.txt`, `p7-max-torture.txt` | 7: 2x/4x/8x MSAA on the accurate baseline, and 6x with 8x MSAA and profile 3's settings |
+| `p12-ps5-best.txt` | 12: the PS5 defaults -- 6x, asynchronous ubershaders, 16x AF, GPU texture decoding |
 
 Each file names the options its profile is defined by, rather than relying on the
 core's defaults for them.

tooling/dolphin-profiles/p12-ps5-best.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+# Profile 12, the PS5 defaults (patches/dolphin/ps5-port.patch): the best picture
+# that holds full speed. 6x internal resolution, asynchronous ubershaders (exact
+# ubershaders draw while the specialised shaders compile in the background, so
+# nothing is skipped and nothing stalls), 16x anisotropic filtering, texture
+# decoding on the GPU; every accuracy setting at Dolphin's default.
+dolphin_renderer=Hardware
+dolphin_cpu_core=1
+dolphin_fastmem=enabled
+dolphin_cpu_clock_rate=1.00
+dolphin_efb_scale=6
+dolphin_shader_compilation_mode=2
+dolphin_wait_for_shaders=disabled
+dolphin_max_anisotropy=4
+dolphin_anti_aliasing=0
+dolphin_gpu_texture_decoding=enabled