• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Dolphin - Emulating Wii and Gamecube Games

R

rollingstart

Banned
I'm tempted to make Metroid the first game I play with this. I wonder if I rig up a way to play with my classic controller, then use my mouse to aim in first person (hold right mouse button to trick it into thinking I'm pointing it at the screen). If only.
 
J

JADS

Member
Reallink said:
Dual Core TB runs at 2.4 Ghz on the 720qm, and forcing it in dolphin (locking threads to cores) actually yielded worse performance than the default where presumably Windows manages all the cores/threads at lower clocks. Admittedly, I only tested it once or twice, and this was older builds that could have possibly been broken, but that was my experience. In general though, regardless of settings, it wouldn't run anything in Dolphin at full speed except 2D fare like Muramasa and NSMB. I'm not sure what kind of strides they've made in OpenCL since then, I quit trying around the 5600 or 5800 builds.
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing your experience. My i7 860 has no problem running most games, Turbo overclocks it though, but 2.4 Ghz would indeed be pretty slow for the emulator.

Linkzg said:
I'm tempted to make Metroid the first game I play with this. I wonder if I rig up a way to play with my classic controller, then use my mouse to aim in first person (hold right mouse button to trick it into thinking I'm pointing it at the screen). If only.
Click to expand...

http://forums.dolphin-emu.com/thread-11796-page-1.html - Might be interesting, dunno if it works.
 
Nabs

Nabs

Member
you should also be able to play it in windowed mode. point the cursor at the window for first person, and pull away for normal use.

i really need to get a 360 pad for dolphin. it would be awesome for gc games.
 
S

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
Repost for new page:

Metroid: Other M

I only had time to play the opening, but here is the start of my photo album: WIP Photo Album


Metroid%20Other%20M%20002.jpg


Metroid%20Other%20M%20003.jpg


Metroid%20Other%20M%20007.jpg


Metroid%20Other%20M%20013.jpg


Metroid%20Other%20M%20016.jpg
 
R

Red

Member
What sucks is I'll only be able to play at 1024x768 while I'm at my apartment :(

What's your config, Stallion? I've been checking around for a good build to play on but there doesn't seem to be any consensus. I'm almost twitchy sitting here waiting for the game to arrive and I need something to mess with in the mean time :lol
 
jediyoshi

jediyoshi

Member
Quick video of the beginning training.

256118zq9c.jpg


12351690q8p.jpg


Odd bug, the cut scenes cut to a black screen half the time, probably worth just playing through on a Wii the first time through.

JADS said:
http://forums.dolphin-emu.com/thread-11796-page-1.html - Might be interesting, dunno if it works.
Click to expand...

Has anyone tried this? Probably just something on my end but my cursor doesn't go above a certain point so I can't look up and it's naturally pointing towards the bottom of the screen.

I completely half-assed my own controller config for it but it's the least elegant solution ever.
 
S

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
I'm using an actual Wiimote with a bluetooth adaptor so I can't help you guys with custom configs. I should have another set of screens up later tonight and what my config is more or less (stuck on my netbook atm).
 
IrishNinja

IrishNinja

Member
JADS said:
The i7 720Q should emulate most GC and Wii stuff if you can force it to run at 2.8 Ghz. Otherwise, running at 1.6Ghz will be inadequate for most games except for maybe some 2D and some early 3D games. Dolphin does not benefit from more than two cores, chances are it will stay that way, so a quad core is kinda pointless for emularing GC and Wii. As long as you stay away from integrated graphics or extreme low end your GPU will not make much of a difference.
Click to expand...

Reallink said:
Dual Core TB runs at 2.4 Ghz on the 720qm, and forcing it in dolphin (locking threads to cores) actually yielded worse performance than the default where presumably Windows manages all the cores/threads at lower clocks. Admittedly, I only tested it once or twice, and this was older builds that could have possibly been broken, but that was my experience. In general though, regardless of settings, it wouldn't run anything in Dolphin at full speed except 2D fare like Muramasa and NSMB. I'm not sure what kind of strides they've made in OpenCL since then, I quit trying around the 5600 or 5800 builds.
Click to expand...

crap. so what am i to make of this, then?

Features 1333MHz system bus, 8MB L2 cache and 1.6GHz processor speed with Turbo Boost up to 2.8GHz.
Click to expand...

1st post got me hopeful - the specs/resources on the setup sounded like that could be done, and the games'd run smooth - but the 2nd one has me thinking it might be buggy/troubled. has anyone run dolphin on a similar setup? id really like to make this a priority in my purchase as well, hate to find out i cant run GC/Wii stuff worth a crap.

i mean, look at Stallion's screenshots, i want what he's having.
 
R

Red

Member
Stallion, how bad are the cutscene issues? I'm playing through on Wii first so I can see them completely, but it's tough looking at your screens and knowing I can unlock that shine any time I want.
 
S

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
Crunched said:
Stallion, how bad are the cutscene issues? I'm playing through on Wii first so I can see them completely, but it's tough looking at your screens and knowing I can unlock that shine any time I want.
Click to expand...
It's irritating. You can mostly figure out what's going on by just listening and I don't really care about the story that much, but if you do you should really beat it first on Wii and save this for a replay.
 
R

Red

Member
Stallion Free said:
It's irritating. You can mostly figure out what's going on by just listening and I don't really care about the story that much, but if you do you should really beat it first on Wii and save this for a replay.
Click to expand...
Okay, thanks.
 
B

brain_stew

Member
Nice, it looks like they've baked AO into the environments. Seriously impressive poly count and texture resolution as well and a decent smattering of TEV effects. Does it run at 60fps on Wii?
 
S

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
brain_stew said:
Nice, it looks like they've baked AO into the environments. Seriously impressive poly count and texture resolution as well and a decent smattering of TEV effects. Does it run at 60fps on Wii?
Click to expand...
Yeah, when I run things on Dolphin I can see what 100% speed is and gameplay for this game is 60 fps. In engine cutscenes and pre-rendered cutscenes are locked at 30 fps.
 
R

Red

Member
brain_stew said:
Nice, it looks like they've baked AO into the environments. Seriously impressive poly count and texture resolution as well and a decent smattering of TEV effects. Does it run at 60fps on Wii?
Click to expand...
It slows down occasionally but certainly seems to be 60 fps most of the time.
 
B

brain_stew

Member
Stallion Free said:
Yeah, when I run things on Dolphin I can see what 100% speed is and gameplay for this game is 60 fps. In engine cutscenes and pre-rendered cutscenes are locked at 30 fps.
Click to expand...

Definitely one of the best uses of the Wii hardware then.

What are the shadows like? Look like they may be stencil shadows? I can't really tell, or are they just projected textures?
 
Refreshment.01

Refreshment.01

Member
brain_stew said:
Definitely one of the best uses of the Wii hardware then.

What are the shadows like? Look like they may be stencil shadows? I can't really tell, or are they just projected textures?
Click to expand...
Really that impressive to you guys? Must admit the emulation does wonders for this game.

But ithe game features a fixed camera in very closed spaces (for the mayority on enviroments). That its when not in first person. From what i can see Prime seems more impressive to me and it also runs most of the time at 60 FPS.
 
S

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
Refreshment.01 said:
Really that impressive to you guys? Must admit the emulation does wonders for this game.

But ithe game features a fixed camera in very closed spaces (for the mayority on enviroments). That its when not in first person. From what i can see Prime seems more impressive to me and it also runs most of the time at 60 FPS.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I kinda agree that the Prime is more impressive, especially at 60 fps.
 
jediyoshi

jediyoshi

Member
Refreshment.01 said:
Really that impressive to you guys? Must admit the emulation does wonders for this game.

But ithe game features a fixed camera in very closed spaces (for the mayority on enviroments). That its when not in first person. From what i can see Prime seems more impressive to me and it also runs most of the time at 60 FPS.
Click to expand...

Can you define 'fixed camera'? This has probably one of the most dynamic cameras I've seen in a game in a while
 
S

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
jediyoshi said:
Can you define 'fixed camera'? This has probably one of the most dynamic cameras I've seen in a game in a while
Click to expand...
I think he means that it's kind of controlled how much of the environment you see at once, but first person missiles removes that argument.
 
IrishNinja

IrishNinja

Member
Teetris said:
Pretty good! I think you'll be satisfied
Click to expand...

yessssss
this is what i wanted to hear; again, hoping to all but replace my GC/wii with this one day when the scene allows for it (prolly when the gen's over :lol )
 
Refreshment.01

Refreshment.01

Member
jediyoshi said:
Can you define 'fixed camera'? This has probably one of the most dynamic cameras I've seen in a game in a while
Click to expand...
Ok, maybe i should've said "directed camera angles" or "developer managed camera views" but thankfully the point got across. :)

I think he means that it's kind of controlled how much of the environment you see at once, but first person missiles removes that argument.
Click to expand...
I introduced the argument because people comented that the texture quality (or lack of) becomes more aparent in first person view, but maybe this fact isn't taken much into account when discussing the game visuals because its the view you'll spend the least amount of time when playing. It's the oposite with Prime.
 
V

VAIL

Member
brain_stew said:
Definitely one of the best uses of the Wii hardware then.

What are the shadows like? Look like they may be stencil shadows? I can't really tell, or are they just projected textures?
Click to expand...

It's not like the Wii is a complete slouch at the resolution it runs at, you just have to make it your bitch as opposed to the other consoles bending over and taking it... from a programming standpoint of course
 
S

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
VAIL said:
It's not like the Wii is a complete slouch at the resolution it runs at, you just have to make it your bitch as opposed to the other consoles bending over and taking it... from a programming standpoint of course
Click to expand...
Yeah, there are some devs who really deliever on the Wii and it really shows in some of the shots you see in this thread. There are some scenes in RE Darkside Chronicles that could easily pass for 360 material when thrown through the magic Dolphin machine.
 
D

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
The Other M shots are outstanding. The game looks so much worse on real Wii hardware. The 16-bit dithering artifacts during cutscenes are SO bad that I thought they were actually just poorly encoded videos (of in-engine footage) rather than realtime scenes. The fact that cutscenes are all 30 fps doesn't help.

The game looks nice, but the Prime series is still well beyond it. Other M slows down far too often and doesn't appear as geometrically dense as the Prime games either.

Personally, I think Ninja Gaiden for XBOX looks nicer overall and definitely more polished.
 
S

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
Liquid_Bike said:
Stallion what are your PC specs? I'm sure you've posted them lots before but without the old search I can't find them. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Q9400 @ 2.66ghz stock (atm), 4 gb RAM, AMD 5850 1 GB RAM. The screens are taken at 1920x1080 with 4x SSAA in .bmp. They are then downsampled to 1600x900 in Photoshop and saved as .jpeg at max quality.
 
L

Liquid_Bike

Member
Stallion Free said:
Q9400 @ 2.66ghz stock (atm), 4 gb RAM, AMD 5850 1 GB RAM. The screens are taken at 1920x1080 with 4x SSAA in .bmp. They are then downsampled to 1600x900 in Photoshop and saved as .jpeg at max quality.
Click to expand...

How many FPS are you averaging?

The reason I ask is my specs are somewhat similar e8400 @3.8ghz, 4gb ram, 4870 1gb and I play in 1680x1050 but I get terrible frame rates in dolphin to the point where it is basically unplayable. Do you run the game at 1920x1080 all the time or when playing do you use a lower res? Thanks.
 
S

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
Liquid_Bike said:
How many FPS are you averaging?

The reason I ask is my specs are somewhat similar e8400 @3.8ghz, 4gb ram, 4870 1gb and I play in 1680x1050 but I get terrible frame rates in dolphin to the point where it is basically unplayable. Do you run the game at 1920x1080 all the time or when playing do you use a lower res? Thanks.
Click to expand...
It bounces between 40-60 fps. Most drops to 40 are caused by either a lot of effects on the screen or a lot of enemies or a combination. Cutscenes will drop below the 30 fps lock pretty often and the sound sometimes is unsynced because of that. I play at 1080p, 4xSSAA all the time. Maybe you need to try out one of the newest builds? Make sure you are playing in DX9, not OpenGL and make sure it's copy to texture, not RAM. Also, the 4870 isn't going to match a 5850 and apparently Dolphin likes a strong videocard.
 
jediyoshi

jediyoshi

Member
Platy said:
never noticed that mario holds his breath like that in the game ! =D
Click to expand...

Yeah, I didn't notice either until I took the shot. I think it only happens while turning and not being still. ^^

Here's some no aa, 9x aa comparisons

dolphin2010-09-0215-47t2hz.jpg


dolphin2010-09-0215-53w3nx.jpg
 
L

Liquid_Bike

Member
Stallion Free said:
It bounces between 40-60 fps. Most drops to 40 are caused by either a lot of effects on the screen or a lot of enemies or a combination. Cutscenes will drop below the 30 fps lock pretty often and the sound sometimes is unsynced because of that. I play at 1080p, 4xSSAA all the time. Maybe you need to try out one of the newest builds? Make sure you are playing in DX9, not OpenGL and make sure it's copy to texture, not RAM. Also, the 4870 isn't going to match a 5850 and apparently Dolphin likes a strong videocard.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips I think its about time upgraded anyway. Now if I can just hold out for the 68xx series or what ever nvidia has up their sleeves.

jediyoshi said:
Yeah, I didn't notice either until I took the shot. I think it only happens while turning and not being still. ^^

Here's some no aa, 9x aa comparisons

[im]http://www.abload.de/img/dolphin2010-09-0215-47t2hz.jpg[/img]

[im]http://www.abload.de/img/dolphin2010-09-0215-53w3nx.jpg[/img]
Click to expand...

AA makes such a huge difference in those shots its ridiculous.
 
R

Red

Member
Started up my playthrough on Dolphin. Just got to the bottleship. Looks nice, and I haven't run into any problems whatsoever.

Spoke too soon, looks like my cutscenes aren't rendering anymore :lol

You know, I think this actually runs better on my PC than on my Wii in some spots.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

What makes good motion controls in games?
Opinion Analysis
35
2K
Trilobit replied
Police 911; motion controls on PS2 long before Wii on a Konami hidden gem...and other interesting firsts and deep cut games from common devs
20
2K
00Magnum Gaming replied
Gaming company with over 40 years in the industry send DMCA notice to Steam [RANT]
Opinion News Drama
33
3K
Silver Wattle replied
Nocturnal Vapor Special Edition Xbox Wireless Controller to Release on April 9
Hardware Platform
28
1K
King Dazzar replied
Why did we ever stop using octagonal analog notches?
19
2K
poodaddy replied
Top Bottom