Dolphin |OT| GameCube and Wii in the High Fidelity Era

[datschge]

OP adapted with permission by Stallion Free

Dolphin is an emulator for two recent Nintendo video game consoles: the GameCube and the Wii. It allows PC gamers to enjoy games for these two consoles in full HD (1080p) with several enhancements: compatibility with all PC controllers, turbo speed, networked multiplayer, and even more! - The Dolphin Devs

1. A Dolphin Build: daily updated Dolphin builds website.
2. A Computer: dual core clocked at 3+ ghz, 4+ gigabytes of ram, and a modern videocard.
3. A Wii: read this page to learn how to rip your games on your Wii.
4. Xbox 360 controller (Recommended): works great with the emulator as a GC pad replacement.
5. Wiimote (Recommended): many games require motions that cannot be mapped easily to another controller format.
6. Motion+ (Recommended): a real Motion+ attachment is required for Motion+ games such as Skyward Sword.
7. Steam Controller (Recommended): is a good way to play Wii games without access to a Wiimote.
   
8. Bluetooth Adaptor (Required for Wiimote): view this list to find one compatible with the Wiimote so that it can sync to your PC.
9. Wireless Sensor Bar (Recommended for Wiimote): so you don't have to use the one attached to your Wii.
10. Dolphin Bar (Recommended): a popular two-in-one Sensor Bar/Bluetooth device that's relatively cheap.

1. Game Specific Guides: pretty much every Wii game covered and discussed. Same for titles for GameCube, WiiWare, Wii Channels and Virtual Console.
2. The Wiki Page: even more info for setting things up.
3. Front Ends: boot directly into games from Steam. Dolphin specific stuff here.
4. Progress Report: Monthly articles on the development progress in Dolphin. Highly insightful.

Spoiler: Warning, wallpaper stuff

 

[datschge]

Now the reason why I was looking for a Dolphin thread on here to begin with. =) Let me know if you miss something in the OP.

Dolphin Progress Report: October 2017
Now that Wii Shop is supported within Dolphin a slew of NAND related fatal bugs have been fixed so that Dolphin smoothly handles the addition and removal of games and channels.

 

[datschge]

New article: To the Screen with Hybrid XFB

 

[NovumVeritas]

Oh sweet a Dolphin OT, thanks :D

 

[shockdude]

Glad to hear they got Hybrid XFB working. The implementation and results both look awesome.

 

[Knurek]

datschge, you might want to add to the OP that Steam Controller is a good way to play Wii games without access to a Wiimote.
I'm currently 40+ stars into Super Mario Galaxy on a SC. No issues so far after the initial pad profile setup.

 

[datschge]

datschge, you might want to add to the OP that Steam Controller is a good way to play Wii games without access to a Wiimote.
I'm currently 40+ stars into Super Mario Galaxy on a SC. No issues so far after the initial pad profile setup.

Click to shrink...

Thanks Knurek, added it to the OP.

 

[Dmax3901]

Can anyone help me out?

Every time Windows 10 installs a new update my Toshiba BT stack just completely screws up. Is there any way to fix this without having to reinstall it and go into the driver signature etc all over again?

 

[shockdude]

Can anyone help me out?

Every time Windows 10 installs a new update my Toshiba BT stack just completely screws up. Is there any way to fix this without having to reinstall it and go into the driver signature etc all over again?

Click to shrink...

why do you need the Toshiba BT Stack? I'm pretty sure Windows 10's default Bluetooth supports all Wiimotes. Only Windows 7 needs the Toshiba stack.

 

[Dmax3901]

why do you need the Toshiba BT Stack? I'm pretty sure Windows 10's default Bluetooth supports all Wiimotes. Only Windows 7 needs the Toshiba stack.

Click to shrink...

So I have BT usb thing plugged into the back of my PC. At this point do I just uninstall all bluetooth things with the thing unplugged, then plug it in and let Windows 10 do its thing?

 

[shockdude]

So I have BT usb thing plugged into the back of my PC. At this point do I just uninstall all bluetooth things with the thing unplugged, then plug it in and let Windows 10 do its thing?

Click to shrink...

That would probably work, yeah. So long as the Windows 10 Bluetooth driver gets installed in the end.

 

[PGamer]

There is no progress report this month. Next month's will cover November and December.

Also with the recent announcement of GameCube and Wii games coming to the Nvidia Shield in some capacity I thought it was interesting that a couple of Dolphin developers have essentially confirmed that Nvidia hired the former lead developer of the Dolphin Android port.

https://www.reddit.com/r/emulation/...games_coming_to_the_nvidia_shield_in/dqskb45/
https://www.reddit.com/r/emulation/...games_coming_to_the_nvidia_shield_in/dqsuu6t/

 

[PGamer]

A research paper using Dolphin for AI development: Nintendo Super Smash Bros. Melee: An "Untouchable" Agent

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Should I let Dophlin handle all the AA and AF or can I improve performance by setting my GPU to do it in the nvidia panel ?

CPU : i5-4670k
GPU : GTX 1060

 

[NeoChaos]

Have the emulator do it. Forcing AA/AF from NVCP doesn't work and barely affects performance vs doing it in the emulator anyway.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I actually gave it a try last night. I turned off AA and V-synch in Dolphin. I turned on AA 8x, supersampling 8x and vsynch in the nvidia panel for Dolphin and the game does look sharper and run smoother playing Xenoblade Chronicles. So, maybe it is better ? I'm gonna keep it like that and play some more and see how it goes.

 

[PGamer]

New article: Dolphin Progress Report: November and December 2017

 

[elektrixx]

The last stable version is pretty old. Is there a known good dev release that's everyone's go to?

I copied my Wii NAND a while ago. With Dolphin these days, can I essentially virtualize my Wii?

 

[shockdude]

The last stable version is pretty old. Is there a known good dev release that's everyone's go to?

I copied my Wii NAND a while ago. With Dolphin these days, can I essentially virtualize my Wii?

Click to shrink...

Download the latest dev release, and update to newer dev releases every once in a while. There are few reasons to use older Dolphin releases.
With a NAND dump, Dolphin gets pretty darn close to virtualizing a Wii. Downloading the Internet Channel on Dolphin and seeing it in the purchase history of my real Wii was surreal.

 

[charlieman999]

Can a amd ryzen 1200 8gb ram and gtx 1060 run dolphin decently?

 

[AlexFlame116]

Is there a good site or configuration to help me with setting up controls for a PS4 controller? I don't have a 360 controller, only a wired One controller. But I really want to play on a controller!

 

[PGamer]

New article: Dolphin Progress Report: January 2018

 

[Al3x1s]

My Mayflash DolphinBar just arrived but I can't get it to enter firmware update mode, any help? The directions are in kind of broken English.

How to Upgrade?

1. Download the firmware from http://www.mayflash.com/Support/Download/ and install it on your Windows system.
   
   
2. Double click on the firmware and leave the firmware window open on your screen.
   
   
3. Press and hold the SYNC button on the adapter.
   
   
4. Connect the adapter directly to a USB interface on your PC, still holding the SYNC button the entire time
   
   
5. As soon as the firmware window indicates under "Device" that the adapter has been recognized, you may release the SYNC button
   
   
6. Select "Update"
   
   
7. Do not disconnect the device until you are informed that the updated was completed successfully.

Click to shrink...

I got the download from like April 2017 or something like that. I run the exe, hold the sync button, plug the DolphinBar USB cable in the PC, nothing happens, no lights, nothing changes in the exe window.

The actual exe pop up thing has even more broken English and says:

Note: If the DolphinBar isn't in the Update mode, Please Press SYNC button then POWER on it, let it enter the update mode first.

Click to shrink...

I'm doing the same steps by using the power on switch instead of re-plugging the USB cable in but still no luck, the firmware update thing remains greyed out.

I want to make sure I have the latest firmware because people said in the past the infrared lights would remain turned on when not in use which would make them burn out too soon.

It works beautifully in games though, no problems at all other than taking a while to get it working with the Motion Plus accessory. I played The House of the Dead 3, Red Steel 2, Metroid Prime 3, Wii Sports Resort and others fine!

 

[PGamer]

A Metal graphics backend is now under development.

 

[PGamer]

 

[PGamer]

https://github.com/dolphin-emu/dolphin/pull/6463

An auto-update feature has been added to Dolphin. Also as part of that it appears the developers are going to start offering a new release type called beta versions which will be made available once a month along with their progress reports.

 

[Al3x1s]

My friend has a good PC on par with mine (i7, gtx1070, I have a 1080) and says he can run pretty much every Wii game flawlessly but the Rogue Squadron games stutter to hell and back constantly even with the new ubershaders settings whether set to hybrid or exclusive. Anyone else? He uses the very latest version of Dolphin. The wiki says the games have no real problems, just shader stuttering that ubershaders were meant to solve, so it doesn't help. Was there maybe a regression in recent releases nobody noticed? I doubt that but it makes no sense he can run every Wii game yet a GC game has this much trouble regardless of settings (even if he disables all the improvements and goes full native).

 

[-shadow-]

That auto update and monthly beta is great!

 

[PGamer]

My friend has a good PC on par with mine (i7, gtx1070, I have a 1080) and says he can run pretty much every Wii game flawlessly but the Rogue Squadron games stutter to hell and back constantly even with the new ubershaders settings whether set to hybrid or exclusive. Anyone else? He uses the very latest version of Dolphin. The wiki says the games have no real problems, just shader stuttering that ubershaders were meant to solve, so it doesn't help. Was there maybe a regression in recent releases nobody noticed? I doubt that but it makes no sense he can run every Wii game yet a GC game has this much trouble regardless of settings (even if he disables all the improvements and goes full native).

Click to shrink...

Have you tried using Dolphin 5.0? iirc some changes in subsequent development builds caused issues with the Rogue Squadron games and I don't know if they have been fixed yet or not.

 

[Al3x1s]

I don't think he's tried 5.0, but I guess going back to 5.0 which doesn't have ubershader settings would also have problems due to that. Oh well, he'll play when they're fixed :o)

Shame the Dolphin wiki isn't updated to reflect those changes in games compatibility though.

 

[Deleted member 5956]

Rouge Squadron's hardware requirements went up significantly not long after 5.0 came out as they introduced "dynamic bat" which increased the overall accuracy but really hit the Rouge Squadron games hardest. So it's not a bug or regression, just a side affect of overall progress.

https://dolphin-emu.org/download/dev/dddd88aace046ee2443db6eef52e7e7b4caf7287/

I would go with PGamer's suggestion, use 5.0 and put up with manually building the shader cache. That or use a build of the Ishiiruka branch (with dx11 and asynchronous shader compilation) from around the same time, that is what I use and get full speed on a i3-6320 with a GTX 950 at 1080p.

 

[Jazzem]

Heya gang,

I'm downloading all my purchased WiiWare games to my SD card via Wii U (where I transferred Wii purchases), with the eventual plan to try them out on Dolphin.

Thing is...I can't find a clear answer on whether you can use WiiWare games copied to SD card on Dolphin. Can you? I found something about extracting a Wii's NAND and making wads out of the WiiWare games on there, but I'm not especially keen to do that given the Wii's limited storage and the process of copying all the games back over. Is there a way to just make wads out of the games stored on the SD card?

Thanks in advance. Solving this will finally get me to the dream of Bonsai Barber on PC :'D

 

[-shadow-]

As far as I'm aware the only way to get the WAD's with the Wii's unique key is to put them on the Wii and dumping the entire thing to the SD card through homebrew. I don;t know of any method of dumping your games directly from the SD card, something that I myself am hoping for, but doesn't seem it's happening.

 

[Jazzem]

As far as I'm aware the only way to get the WAD's with the Wii's unique key is to put them on the Wii and dumping the entire thing to the SD card through homebrew. I don;t know of any method of dumping your games directly from the SD card, something that I myself am hoping for, but doesn't seem it's happening.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, having looked into it more since posting that it seems that's the only way, d'oh. Thanks all the same, got all the WiiWare games downloaded to SD card ready at least.

 

[datschge]

New article: Dolphin Progress Report: February and March 2018

 

[Strangelove_77]

This is my first time looking into this, so I have some questions-
Do I need a Bluetooth adapter if my laptop already has Bluetooth(MacBook with Windows 10 installed)?
Is there a way to use the Wii's sensor bar or do you have to buy a wireless one?
I own a Wii so I'd like to play with a Wiimote but I don't have money to go out and buy a sensor bar.
In that case can I use a DS4? How much does using a traditional controller suck?

Thanks.

 

[PGamer]

Do I need a Bluetooth adapter if my laptop already has Bluetooth(MacBook with Windows 10 installed)?

Click to shrink...

You don't need to buy another Bluetooth adapter if your laptop already has one. Wii remote Bluetooth connections can be a bit finicky at times so sometimes the specific model adapter can matter.

Is there a way to use the Wii's sensor bar or do you have to buy a wireless one?

Click to shrink...

You can use a Wii's sensor bar but that requires keeping the Wii powered on so that the sensor bar will work.

How much does using a traditional controller suck?

Click to shrink...

This largely depends on the specific game. Some Wii games map just fine to traditional controllers and others don't.

 

[Strangelove_77]

You don't need to buy another Bluetooth adapter if your laptop already has one. Wii remote Bluetooth connections can be a bit finicky at times so sometimes the specific model adapter can matter.



You can use a Wii's sensor bar but that requires keeping the Wii powered on so that the sensor bar will work.



This largely depends on the specific game. Some Wii games map just fine to traditional controllers and others don't.

Click to shrink...

Thanks for answering my questions. I'll give this a shot tomorrow. I've been wanting to play some Wii games at a higher resolution lately.

 

[Pancakes R Us]

Thanks for answering my questions. I'll give this a shot tomorrow. I've been wanting to play some Wii games at a higher resolution lately.

Click to shrink...

I'd be interested to find out about your experience of using running Dolphin on your MacBook. Which year/model is your laptop?

Thanks.

 

[Strangelove_77]

I'd be interested to find out about your experience of using running Dolphin on your MacBook. Which year/model is your laptop?

Thanks.

Click to shrink...

It's a mid 2012 MBP. I'm not completely sure but it's supposed to be the last one that didn't have a Retina display and also the last one that you could switch hard drives and add ram yourself. I've never used a more recent MBP but that's just what I've heard.

And I figure if I can run something like Dead Space 2 at 60fps and I can run PS2 games I should be able to run Wii games.
I'm not the most tech savvy, but I know an emulated game is not like a native pc game and requirements are different.
But I won't know til I try it.

 

[Pancakes R Us]

It's a mid 2012 MBP. I'm not completely sure but it's supposed to be the last one that didn't have a Retina display and also the last one that you could switch hard drives and add ram yourself. I've never used a more recent MBP but that's just what I've heard.

And I figure if I can run something like Dead Space 2 at 60fps and I can run PS2 games I should be able to run Wii games.
I'm not the most tech savvy, but I know an emulated game is not like a native pc game and requirements are different.
But I won't know til I try it.

Click to shrink...

Thanks. Wow, I'd never have imagined being able to run something like Dead Space 2 at 60 FPS on such an old MBP. Is that emulated or the PC game?

I look forward to your Dolphin impressions.

 

[Strangelove_77]

Thanks. Wow, I'd never have imagined being able to run something like Dead Space 2 at 60 FPS on such an old MBP. Is that emulated or the PC game?

I look forward to your Dolphin impressions.

Click to shrink...

Im playing the pc version of Dead Space 2.

As far as Dolphin though......yeeeeah this isnt happening.
I can run it but the fps is really low, like 15-20fps. Ive messed with the settings for a few hours and nothing fixed it. Thats the dealbreaker.
Back to my low res ass Wii I guess. Wii games did look nice in HD though.

 

[Pancakes R Us]

Im playing the pc version of Dead Space 2.

As far as Dolphin though......yeeeeah this isnt happening.
I can run it but the fps is really low, like 15-20fps. Ive messed with the settings for a few hours and nothing fixed it. Thats the dealbreaker.
Back to my low res ass Wii I guess. Wii games did look nice in HD though.

Click to shrink...

That's a shame. I'm planning to get a 13" MBP either this or next year. Primary use isn't for gaming but I'm hoping the new one can do a bit better than yours.

I have a Surface Pro 4 i5 with 4gb ram, which I need to try Dolphin on sometime.

 

[Strangelove_77]

That's a shame. I'm planning to get a 13" MBP either this or next year. Primary use isn't for gaming but I'm hoping the new one can do a bit better than yours.

I have a Surface Pro 4 i5 with 4gb ram, which I need to try Dolphin on sometime.

Click to shrink...

It will. Mines what, 6 years old now?

Make sure to install Windows through bootcamp than a virtual machine like Parallels. The difference is pretty big.

 

[Pancakes R Us]

It will. Mines what, 6 years old now?

Make sure to install Windows through bootcamp than a virtual machine like Parallels. The difference is pretty big.

Click to shrink...

Oh, you were using Dolphin via Bootcamp? Did you try the native OSX version?

 

[Strangelove_77]

Oh, you were using Dolphin via Bootcamp? Did you try the native OSX version?

Click to shrink...

Ok I messed with it bit more. I didnt notice the frameskip button until after I typed the previous response. It wasnt in the configuration or graphics menu. Its an option at the top of the window along with save states, and it helped a ton.
I tried a few games out at 720p with frameskip 2 on Windows 10 again - I could run Dead Space Extraction between 25-30fps, New Super Mario Bros Wii at 60 with infrequent drops up to 45fps or so, Super Mario Galaxy 2 just went up to 45 and down to 35fps, Silent Hill Shattered Dimension is really glitchy and only goes up to 30 for me, which is half the speed its supposed to be. No amount of frame skipping could fix it. And SSB Brawl was mostly 60 with dips into the 50s. At least with 2 characters on screen.
The native OSX version isnt as good as the Windows 10 version, at least not on my Macbook and with the settings i tried. Its extremely close though.
I think overall its a mixed bag with my old ass macbook. Im sure a newer one would have no problem running most things that arent glitched out on the native OSX version.

 

[Pancakes R Us]

Ok I messed with it bit more. I didnt notice the frameskip button until after I typed the previous response. It wasnt in the configuration or graphics menu. Its an option at the top of the window along with save states, and it helped a ton.
I tried a few games out at 720p with frameskip 2 on Windows 10 again - I could run Dead Space Extraction between 25-30fps, New Super Mario Bros Wii at 60 with infrequent drops up to 45fps or so, Super Mario Galaxy 2 just went up to 45 and down to 35fps, Silent Hill Shattered Dimension is really glitchy and only goes up to 30 for me, which is half the speed its supposed to be. No amount of frame skipping could fix it. And SSB Brawl was mostly 60 with dips into the 50s. At least with 2 characters on screen.
The native OSX version isnt as good as the Windows 10 version, at least not on my Macbook and with the settings i tried. Its extremely close though.
I think overall its a mixed bag with my old ass macbook. Im sure a newer one would have no problem running most things that arent glitched out on the native OSX version.

Click to shrink...

Ah, thanks for explaining. I look forward to trying it when I upgrade my laptop.

 

[StraySheep]

I really want to try Dolphin, and I guess I am going to, but everything I read reminds me how this is even more temperamental pc gaming which really puts me off. But I am craving some Zelda and all my games are across the world...

My laptop is a Acer Aspire V 15, with 8GB of RAM and a i7-5500U 2.4GHz with 3Ghz "turbo boost". Intel 5500. Should I even bother with GC games?

Edit: Does it change anything if all I want is the original quality of the game, not ultra HD texture packs?

 

[Tizoc]

Does Bully perform well on the latest builds of Dolphin and Ishiiruka?

 

[PGamer]

https://github.com/dolphin-emu/dolphin/pull/6331

Dolphin is now finally using the new Qt interface by default.