Custom Configuration

This page is for advanced users that want to tweak RPCS3’s Rock Band 3 Custom Configuration more than the average user.
Some of this stuff can get very technical!

Changing a Custom Configuration

If you’re editing a Custom Configuration (like the one you installed from [Quick Configuration]), right click on Rock Band 3 in RPCS3, then click on Change Custom Configuration.

Creating a Custom Configuration

If you don’t have a Custom Configuration yet, right click on Rock Band 3 in RPCS3, then click on Create Custom Configuration From Default Settings.

Don’t forget to click Apply then Save custom configuration after adjusting settings!
Keep in mind that you’ll have to restart the game for most of these settings.

Color Guide

To make things easier, all configuration tweaks have been color coded.
Anything not colored should be left on defaults.

COLOR	MEANING
	REQUIRED
	Performance Tweaks
	Recommended

Custom Configuration

CPU

• Improved performance, depending on machine:
  • Change SPU Block Size to Mega - Ties smaller SPU compiled together, which can help machines with fewer cores/threads.
    Drastically speeds up game startup time on certain machines.
  • Change Preferred SPU Threads to 1, 2, 3, or 4 - May help prevent stutter caused by CPU overloads on systems with fewer cores/threads.
    Start at 4 and lower it one by one until it improves.
  • Change Thread Scheduler to RPCS3 Scheduler, or RPCS3 Alternative Scheduler - FOR CPUs WITH 12+ THREADS ONLY!
    May help with thread distribution to prevent microstutters.

GPU

• REQUIRED:

  • Enable Write Color Buffers - Characters will have severe graphical bugs without this.

• Adjust depending on graphics card:

  • Adjust Resolution Scale to increase the rendering resolution. Higher numbers require a better graphics card.
    Lowering this below 100% will rarely help performance.
  • Adjust Output Scaling to preference and to what your computer can handle. This affects how the game is “blown up” in size when fitting to your monitor’s native resolution. Helpful for those keeping Resolution Scale (mentioned above) at 100% while playing on a monitor larger than 1280x720.
    • Nearest is completely unfiltered and gives you a raw unmodified image. This can cause the game to look pixelated.
    • Bilinear uses smoothing to scale the image up. This may cause the game to look blurry.
    • FidelityFX Super Resolution 1 (FSR1) uses complicated math to sharpen and enhance the image when it gets blown up to your monitor’s resolution. This can create odd artifacts in some instances.
      • You can use RCAS Sharpening Strength below to adjust the strength of its effect.
  • Change Framelimit
    • Leave it on Auto to let RPCS3 set a frame rate limit.
    • Set it to Off if you’re using VSync or an external frame limiting.
    • 120 is recommended if you’re using a 144Hz (or higher) display.
    • Set it to Display if you want to lock to your display’s refresh rate.
    • DO NOT set it below 60!
    • Higher framerates require more resources. Keep this in mind if you’re on a low end system.
    • It’s suggested to disable VSync within Rock Band 3 Deluxe itself in Menu > Options > Deluxe Settings > Venue Options > Graphics > Advanced.
  • Enable VSync - Reduces screen tearing at the cost of slight latency. It’s suggested to use your graphics card’s VSync instead.
    Do not enable VSync with Framelimit enabled.
  • Adjust Anisotropic Filter - Improves texture rendering at distances and angles. Just about every GPU should be able to handle x16.
  • Change ZCULL Accuracy to Relaxed - Provides a slight performance improvement at the cost of some accessories looking weird at distances.
  • Adjust Shader Quality to preference - Setting this to Low seems to do nothing visually but it improves performance.
  • Enable Multithreaded RSX if you have a computer with CPU cores/threads to spare.
    This offloads a few RSX (graphics unit in the PS3) operations to other cores/threads.
  • Enable Asynchronous Texture Streaming if you have a high end machine, are using Vulkan, and also enabled Multithreaded RSX.
    This transfers textures on a parallel thread, which may help performance.
  • Change Renderer depending on your computer. - This is at the very bottom because it’s not recommended for most people.
    Only people on extremely low end machines should change this to OpenGL.

Audio

• Tweak depending on computer:

  • Leave Enable Buffering on if you prefer stable audio at the cost of latency.
    Disable it if you want less latency at the cost of potential audio errors.
  • Adjust Audio Buffer Duration depending on system. This only works if Enable Buffering is on!
    • Set this as low as you can before you hear crackling. 32 ms is a decent starting point on most systems.
      • Lower values = less audio latency but more CPU impact.
      • Higher values = more audio latency but use less CPU impact.
    • Vocalists are affected the most by this, as a higher latency creates a distracting echo. Instrument players can use calibration to compensate regardless of audio buffer setting.
    • You can change this while the game is running!
    • Changing this require re-calibrating in Rock Band 3’s system settings.
  • Change Audio Out to XAudio2 - While most users should stay on Cubeb, a few people have experienced better performance with XAudio2. Your milage may vary.

• Change depending on audio setup:

  • For vocalists:
    • Set Microphone Type to Standard.
    • Select an input device in Mic1, Mic2, and Mic3 for vocals.
      If not playing vocals, Mic1 will be used for voice chat.
  • Change Audio Device if you want audio to come out of another device that isn’t the default one.
  • Change Audio Output Format if you’re using a surround sound setup.
    Rock Band 3 supports LPCM 2.0, LPCM 5.1, and Dolby Digital 5.1 (NOT RECOMMENDED!).

I/O

Make sure your MIDI instrument is connected.. YOU MAY HAVE TO MAKE THE WINDOW WIDER TO READ THE OPTIONS!

• Performance Tweaks:

  • Change Pad Handler Mode to Multi-threaded - Only change this if you have plenty of cores/threads.
    May help improve performance.

• Recommended:

  • Leave Keyboard Handler on Basic to use Rock Band 3 Deluxe’s keyboard functions.
  • 🎹 [MIDI Keyboard Players]: Leave your Emulated MIDI type on Keyboard and select your keyboard or MIDI interface in the drop-down menu next to it.
  • 🥁 [MIDI Drums Players]: Change your Emulated MIDI type from Keyboard to Drums, then select your MIDI Drum Kit or MIDI to USB interface in the drop-down menu next to it.
  • 🎸 [MIDI Pro Guitar Players]: Change your Emulated MIDI type from Keyboard to Guitar (17 Frets) if you have a Mustang Pro Guitar, or Guitar (22 Frets) if you have a Squier Pro Guitar, then select your MIDI to USB interface in the drop-down menu next to it.
    • Revisit the [Controllers page] if you need help.

Network

• REQUIRED:

  • Change Network Status to Connected. - If left on Disconnected, the game will temporarily freeze when browsing the song library.

• For online multiplayer:

  • To play Rock Band 3 online, add Rock Band Enhanced’s Server IP.
    • Set IP/Hosts switches to rb3ps3live.hmxservices.com=45.33.44.103.
    • Either tick Enable UPNP or forward port 9103 (UDP) in your firewall. - This is necessary to play with more than 2 players.

Advanced

• Depending on your computer:

  • Change RSX FIFO Accuracy to Fast - May help with latency but needs more testing. If you use Fast, you must set a Driver Wake-up Delay to 20µs or higher!
  • Set Driver Wake-up Delay to 20µs to avoid crashing after a few songs if using Fast RSX FIFO Accuracy. Increase it to 40µs if the issue persists.
    If it keeps happening, keep increasing it by increments of 20.

• Strongly Suggested:

  • Enable Debug Console Mode - This, along with Rock Band 3 Deluxe, will allow Rock Band 3 to have more memory. This means more songs (up to 16000) and increased stability.
    Everyone should enable this! [Click here for more information.]
  • Change Exclusive Fullscreen Mode to Prefer borderless fullscreen to prevent potential crashes and audio desync when changing from Rock Band 3 to another program while in fullscreen.
  • Toggle Use Re-BAR memory for GPU uploads depending on your graphics card. This can increase performance significantly if you have a Re-BAR compatible graphics card and Re-BAR is enabled in your BIOS. Check your graphics card and BIOS manuals for more information!

Emulator

You can leave this as is if you want, but these are still nice options to consider:

• Optional tweaks:
  • Show trophy popups - Mimics the way Trophy notifications appear on the PS3.
  • Show RPCN popups - Shows a message on the top left whenever you or your friends connect to RPCN.
  • Show shader compilation hint - This creates a popup whenever RPCS3 is compiling shaders. When you emulate PS3 games, it has to compile shaders to “translate” the graphics from a PS3 format to a format your PC can work with. The game will stutter when this happens. This happens on ALL computer systems. When it finishes compiling an effect, it will usually never happen again. The best way to deal with this is just to play the game as it will quickly go away.
    You can also use Rock Band 3 Deluxe’s Autoplay modifier to let it go through a few songs in party shuffle and let it compile a decent amount of shaders.
  • Show PPU compilation hint - This creates a popup whenever RPCS3 is compiling units for the PPU. This only comes up when launching the game if you’re using suggested settings.
  • Show mouse and keyboard toggle hint - Shows a message on the top left whenever the keyboard is being used in the native interface, such as the virtual keyboard that comes up when naming things.
  • Show capture hints - Shows a notification when you take a screenshot.
  • Start games in Fullscreen mode - Switches to Fullscreen when you start Rock Band 3.
  • Use Native Interface - If you disable this, it will remove the pretty displays RPCS3 adds, including notifications, RPCN menus, and the game startup background. It will instead use old school pop-ups. This can sometimes fix a problem with instrument controllers soft-locking the game when the keyboard comes up.