Dolphin - Emulating Wii and Gamecube Games

It's been a long time since I dabbled with Dolphin (last time was probably back in 2008 or so) - how much have things progressed since then? If I go through the effort of ripping my copies of the Wii Zelda games I still haven't played, will they be perfectly playable without audio issues or slowdown?

Also, how are CPU requirements these days? Will a Phenom II X2 555 BE unlocked to a quad core and with a modest overclock be able to handle it?
 
Whats the best way to capture the highest quality footage from dolphin? Is it's internal capturing any good? or should i use some other software like fraps or bandicam?
 
It plays really well locked at 30 FPS but then randomly drops to 13 FPS as in the shot below.

If anyone has any suggestions to keep the frame rate up at 30 please share.

I think I may have fixed this by locking Dolphin to 60 FPS in the Config menu rather than having it set to auto.
 
Whats the best way to capture the highest quality footage from dolphin? Is it's internal capturing any good? or should i use some other software like fraps or bandicam?
Steer clear from FRAPS, it's horrendous. Open Broadcast Software (which also has local recording features), dxtory and maybe Shadowplay if you have an nVidia card (since I don't know if it'll work with Dolphin) are vastly superior alternatives.
 
I've been trying to play Xenoblade on the HLE hacked version of Dolphin (I think the version is 3.0-72) & I've been getting hang ups/crashes where the game freezes, and it repeats the same audio over and over again, sort of like it's going "d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d" infinitely. I've tried my best to deal with it but after 20 hours I just can't do it anymore, it's ruining the experience for me. Outside of crashes, the game runs ideally for the type of equipment my rig is running, going in between 20 - 30 FPS. I've tried using 4.0.2 and while the game doesn't seem to be crashing, the audio seems to be going in and out when my FPS drops, like it's getting softer and louder, not to mention it just generally runs worse for some reason.

Please help me, I just want to play the game without any audio problems or freezes. ;_;
CPU = G2020
GPU = 560ti
 
Steer clear from FRAPS, it's horrendous. Open Broadcast Software (which also has local recording features), dxtory and maybe Shadowplay if you have an nVidia card (since I don't know if it'll work with Dolphin) are vastly superior alternatives.

If they want the highest quality footage, Fraps absolutely is not horrendous. In that regard, it's the best there is.

Your framerate might tank if your PC isn't capable enough, but the quality of each individual frame is on par with lossless PNG screenshots. The quality is unmatched.
 
If they want the highest quality footage, Fraps absolutely is not horrendous. In that regard, it's the best there is.

Your framerate might tank if your PC isn't capable enough, but the quality of each individual frame is on par with lossless PNG screenshots. The quality is unmatched.

There's nothing special about FRAPS as far as quality goes - pretty much anything can do lossless recording.
 
If they want the highest quality footage, Fraps absolutely is not horrendous. In that regard, it's the best there is.

Your framerate might tank if your PC isn't capable enough, but the quality of each individual frame is on par with lossless PNG screenshots. The quality is unmatched.
Other software can capture lossless footage too while offering more flexibility in terms of options, and with better performance. There is no reason to use FRAPS.
 
Other software can capture lossless footage too while offering more flexibility in terms of options, and with better performance. There is no reason to use FRAPS.

Fraps offers recording video in 3D, which I've unfortunately not found an alternative for.

Also, recently I've been doing some Dxtory recordings and been unable to lock 60, but with Fraps it's just 1,2,3 go perfect. Each has it's own trade off, no need to completely remove one possible tool from the belt.
 
Shadowplay in it's newest update allows you to work with windowed full screen apps like Dolphin.

I did some testing with Skies in particular actually and the footage is boner inducing. Shadowplay's footprint is itty bitty too.
 
Since we're talking about recording already; the AMD equivalent of Shadowplay works perfectly fine in PC games and emulators since it's an encoder which you use in conjuration with capture software such as Dxtory, MSI Afterburner, or anything that let's you pick your own codecs. I've recorded several games (PC and emulation) without framedrops.

I've made a post about how to set it up in the Let's Talk About Recording / Streaming Software thread. Check it out if you're interested.
 
Is this guide still relevant for using the newer Wii U Remote Plus? Finally getting round to re-setting Dolphin up on my new PC build and didn't have a Motion Plus remote previously.

Will I also be able to use my motherboards (Asus PO8Z77-I) built-in bluetooth or will I need a USB dongle?

Cheers.
 
Am I right in saying, this doesn't look like widescreen?

Y48weYG.jpg

I have the settings put at "force 16:9" and "full-screen".
 
Am I right in saying, this doesn't look like widescreen?
It isn't. That's just stretched.

Read this:
https://wiki.dolphin-emu.org/index.php?title=The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Twilight_Princess_(GC)

Widescreen Hack
Enabling the widescreen hack will cause reflections to be buggy and certain objects to disappear at the edges of the screen.

Better to switch off the widescreen hack and use one of the following AR Codes instead. Remember to turn on "Enable cheats" and use the "Force 16:9" or "Stretch to window" Aspect Ratio.

Note: Use the NTSC codes if you're running the USA or Japanese versions of Twilight Princess. Otherwise, use the PAL codes for the UK, Europe, etc.

NTSC-16:9 Widescreen Hack
0445391C 3FE38E39
PAL-16:9 Widescreen Hack
044558DC 3FE38E39

The following are for use with NVIDIA Surround at 5040x1050, aka 48:10 ratio.

NTSC-48:10 Widescreen Hack
0445391C 4099999A
PAL-48:10 Widescreen Hack
044558DC 4099999A
 
Got my Wii U Remote Plus set-up with Dolphin. The Toshiba stack wouldn't recognise my motherboards bluetooth adapter so had to use a USB dongle but got there in the end. Need to pick up a wireless sensor bar though.

Can anyone recommend some tweaks for Skyward Sword please? I've just put Force Texture Filtering On and Fast Depth Calculation Off as per the wiki guide, left on DX11 and default settings otherwise. Getting a bit of distracting judder/stutter at times even though the framerate itself doesn't appear to be dropping below 30. Tried various internal resolutions from auto windows (1080p output) to 3x scaling but doesn't really seem to make any difference.

CPU is a 3770k at 4.5ghz and GPU is an R9 290 so plenty of power to chuck at it I'd expect.
 
Thanks, I'll look into it. :)

So am I supposed to connect the wireless sensor bar to my PC?

If it's wireless you shouldn't need to plug it in. The plug in the Wii is just to provide power to the bar, there's no actual info transferred from the remote into the sensor bar, it just generates IR dots that the Wii Remote uses to detect where it is (more or less).
 
If it's wireless you shouldn't need to plug it in. The plug in the Wii is just to provide power to the bar, there's no actual info transferred from the remote into the sensor bar, it just generates IR dots that the Wii Remote uses to detect where it is (more or less).

Yeah, it seems to be both wireless and wired as optional. It's this one here.


I think I'm gonna order it then. :)
 
I don't believe there's an AMD-optimized version. I don't know all the technical stuff, but Dolphin was designed to run efficiently using Intel processors. This was LITERALLY the main reason I jumped from a FX-8320 to an i5 4670K. My 5 year old i5 750 was getting better framerates than a 8320.

My "Steambox" meaning PC attached to the TV has FX8350 and it is not good at all.
For Xenoblade to run with only occasional frame dips have to use 3x resolution, no AA and 1x aniso
 
My "Steambox" meaning PC attached to the TV has FX8350 and it is not good at all.
For Xenoblade to run with only occasional frame dips have to use 3x resolution, no AA and 1x aniso

Heads up, there's no reason to not always max out texture filtering, it's the least taxing graphical option there is with the most to gain.
 
Has anyone got a AR code for widescreen in Metroid Prime 1 GC?

The inbuilt dolphin widescreen hack works of course, but the rendering of areas is still limited to 4:3 (pop up, pop up everywhere)
 
Oh dude, holy shit, how did no one post about this?!

bjCVdOz.png


Both of the biggest issues of Super Mario Galaxy have been fixed!? So the game is playable with HLE now, and as such, WAY better performance!
 
Someone's gotta help me.
I've tried FOREVER to get Xenoblade to work but have failed in doing so.

I'm using my own ripped PAL version iso of the game.

As soon as the game boots up and the "Take care to have lots of room for swinging the Wiimote" screen comes up, the game's fps drop to 0 and thus the creen freezes. Can't hear no sound either.

I'm using the latest stable release of Dolphin (4.0.2).

What am I doing wrong?
Are there specific graphic options I have to check/uncheck?
 
Oh dude, holy shit, how did no one post about this?!

Both of the biggest issues of Super Mario Galaxy have been fixed!? So the game is playable with HLE now, and as such, WAY better performance!
Yeah. It was a point in the March and April 2014 report, PGamer posted it on the previous page.

Someone's gotta help me.
I've tried FOREVER to get Xenoblade to work but have failed in doing so.

I'm using my own ripped PAL version iso of the game.

As soon as the game boots up and the "Take care to have lots of room for swinging the Wiimote" screen comes up, the game's fps drop to 0 and thus the creen freezes. Can't hear no sound either.

I'm using the latest stable release of Dolphin (4.0.2).

What am I doing wrong?
Are there specific graphic options I have to check/uncheck?
First of all use the absolute latest Dolphin version as that contains a lot of fixes and should be faster than 4.0.x.
If you're still getting freezes, calculate the MD5 or SHA1 of the ISO with whatever (I would recommend HashTab as that integrates nicely into the OS) and post them here. Your ISO might be corrupt.
You can then compare it with the Xenoblade hashes on GameTDB and keep redumping until they match.
 
Wow, megaton! Have you tried this yet? Any issues?

I gave it a shot, and it definitely seems better.

I was using DX11 and DSP HLE with XAudio2 backend.

Something to keep in mind is that Dolphin still defaults to forcing LLE with SMG, so you have to right click the game, and in its properties, tick DSP HLE emulation.

I still get the slow down RIGHT when you enter the hub world and the toad who gives free lives is walking around with the jingle, but once they're off screen I shoot up to 60.

I think it's getting to a point where I'm more GPU limited than CPU. There are much larger stretches of time where I'm locking 60fps, and areas that perviously gave me huge frame rate drops (like Gusty Garden Galaxy) run totally smooth.

There is still that little slow down as soon as you enter the world, and there is still audio slowdown when collecting a BUNCH of starbits all at once, but it seems like the game itself doesn't slow down, just the audio gets a bit funky.

One last thing, with HLE (and it's mentioned on the wiki) some audio plays a bit louder than others. For example, the little jingle when you collect a power star is louder than the rest of the audio. It's not a huge issue at all, but just something of note.

With LLE I was getting huge frame drops and now using LLE, the music never cuts out, and I'm able to play through the game holding 60 the majority of the way, only dropping at times where it isn't really that important, like a quarter of a second when you first enter a new galaxy.
 
Oh dude, holy shit, how did no one post about this?!

bjCVdOz.png


Both of the biggest issues of Super Mario Galaxy have been fixed!? So the game is playable with HLE now, and as such, WAY better performance!

Best Dolphin news I've heard in ages. Thanks for the heads up.
 
I used to be able to play using my Wiimotion plus (Nintendo RVL-CNT-01). Now it pairs up with windows just fine but I can't get dolphin to accept it. I choose Wiimote menu, select Real Wiimote and click Refresh. The button turns blue and will either not do anything for a long time or cause dolphin to stop responding. I've tried both the Microsoft and Toshiba stack as well as two different bluetooth dongles. No luck. Anyone had this problem and been able to fix it?

Thanks.
 
Oh dude, holy shit, how did no one post about this?!

bjCVdOz.png


Both of the biggest issues of Super Mario Galaxy have been fixed!? So the game is playable with HLE now, and as such, WAY better performance!

Holy... :o I can confirm it too, just played a whole level with HLE and the music was there all the time! And whatever they did also fixed the F-Zero GX performance for me :D
 
I used to be able to play using my Wiimotion plus (Nintendo RVL-CNT-01). Now it pairs up with windows just fine but I can't get dolphin to accept it. I choose Wiimote menu, select Real Wiimote and click Refresh. The button turns blue and will either not do anything for a long time or cause dolphin to stop responding. I've tried both the Microsoft and Toshiba stack as well as two different bluetooth dongles. No luck. Anyone had this problem and been able to fix it?

Thanks.

Once it freezes, did you try pressing some buttons on the controller, like A, or 1+2?
 
Just a heads-up to those wanting to play Twilight Princess (either the Gamecube or Wii version of the game) but held off due to the dreaded Hyrule Field; if you've got a decent rig, you can now run it at full speed. Yes the ZTP was removed (for good reason), but the devs have converted the hack to Dolphin patches and it's already in the gameconfig in the latest Dolphin builds.

I'd recommend you though to use this patch (newer version that will probably get merged to the master build at some point) instead of the one it comes with as it should increase the performance a bit more. Open the game config and replace the existing code with the pastie code. Pick the appropriate code for your system and region.

I've just tested it out and I get 30FPS mostly in end-game Hyrule Field with EFB Copy to RAM and LLE on a 2500K at 4.5GHz.
 
Just a heads-up to those wanting to play Twilight Princess (either the Gamecube or Wii version of the game) but held off due to the dreaded Hyrule Field; if you've got a decent rig, you can now run it at full speed. Yes the ZTP was removed (for good reason), but the devs have converted the hack to Dolphin patches and it's already in the gameconfig in the latest Dolphin builds.

I'd recommend you though to use this patch instead of the one it comes with as it should increase the performance a bit more. Open the game config and replace the existing code with the pastie code. Pick the appropriate code for your system and region.

I've just tested it out and I get 30FPS mostly in end-game Hyrule Field with EFB Copy to RAM and LLE on a 2500K at 4.5GHz.


Man that's amazing, I may finally try OCing for the first time. How fast of a CPU speed would you recommend?
 
Man that's amazing, I may finally try OCing for the first time. How fast of a CPU speed would you recommend?
Depends on your CPU and whether you want EFB Copies to RAM (for the minimap) or not or if you want to use LLE (for better audio levels now) or not.

For all the bells and whistles from what I've seen:
A 2500K at 4.5GHz can maintain around 30FPS with EFB Copies to RAM and LLE
A 3570K at approx 4.2GHz should rival that 2500K while a 4670K at stock completely destroys both CPUs.
 
Oh dude, holy shit, how did no one post about this?!

bjCVdOz.png


Both of the biggest issues of Super Mario Galaxy have been fixed!? So the game is playable with HLE now, and as such, WAY better performance!

Holy shit....for real?!

I did it on the Wii U recently because my PC cannot run SMG-SMG2 with LLE without having some drops here and there.

Will do again soon for sure!!!
 
Top Bottom