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Dolphin - Emulating Wii and Gamecube Games

You guys reckon that BlackBeetleKing's pics are touched up? I mean, he sure loves to come in, post a bunch of pics that look way too good without a word at all.

wat. That's exactly what the game looks like when you play it in Dolphin (except his screenshots are always in the wrong aspect ratio)
 
wat. That's exactly what the game looks like when you play it in Dolphin (except his screenshots are always in the wrong aspect ratio)
Hey maybe I'm wrong but I don't think I'm the first person to say so. I can't actually run dolphin so I just admire the screens in here but something about his shots just always look...off. I mean, aside from the aspect ratio.
 
Hey maybe I'm wrong but I don't think I'm the first person to say so. I can't actually run dolphin so I just admire the screens in here but something about his shots just always look...off. I mean, aside from the aspect ratio.

Pretty sure he's running them through a PS sharpening filter after capturing them in the fucked aspect ratio. You can see the edge-enhancement (the white halo's around characters and objects; the second shot with the blue background shows this artifact off best which is a byproduct you can only get by sharpening) throughout all those Crystal Bearers screenshots.
I'm certain this came up with Xenoblade shots that were also sharpened to hell. As far as I know there aren't any sharpening filters in Dolphin so your observation is pretty on base; that is not how the games look when playing.
 

Jocchan

Ὁ μεμβερος -ου
Yep, wrong aspect ratio + sharpen filter. These Crystal Bearers shots seem to have the correct aspect ratio and less touching up than usual, though.

Oh, and the textures in this game, despite the low resolution, are painted masterfully.
 

ss_lemonade

Member
What's the proper settings for Final Fantasy CC? I remember it working fine in older revisions, then it just sort of broke later (bad performance, water glitches, etc). I noticed with revisions where the game wasn't working right, text like the Square logo in the beginning had green artifacts around it
 

Ledsen

Member
BlackBeetleKing is a weird enigma. This guy comes in here and posts sharpened pics with completely fucked up aspect ratio BECAUSE HE PREFERS IT THAT WAY, then leaves without any comment.
 
Can anyone give me a hand with Skyward Sword? The game runs amazing on the latest build, but... when you z-target an enemy, the frame rate tanks to unplayable levels, lowering all the graphics doesn't help.

Then I learned that revision 7719 is the best for it, so I got it and sure enough there are no more slowdowns during targeting but, there are weird artifacts between polygons sometimes, like black lines where polygons meet.

Can any one point me to the right settings/revision I should be using ? Thanks
 

fernoca

Member
Wow, ignored that Layle had sideburns! :O! XD

EDIT:
Guess I wasn't the only one surprised at that! XD

Overall nice pics, moar!!!

My favorite:

ibjr1aQregt71o.png

EDIT 2:
Though, noticed the pics are missing some effects, like the fur on the jacket.
 

Medalion

Banned
I hope it's not gonna get me banned for inquiring, where might one find the link to see this high-res texture pack for Twilight Princess?
 

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
What kind of setup does one need to be able to play wii/gc games in dolphin on a 2560x1440 monitor?
 

ACE 1991

Member
So I recently bought my friend's Wii off of him and successfully dumped the "coef" and "rom" files needed to run LLE. However, I'm still getting the "failed to load dsp rom.bin in my user/GC folder. What gives?
 
What kind of setup does one need to be able to play wii/gc games in dolphin on a 2560x1440 monitor?
It depends quite a bit on the game and the video backend. My 460gtx holds 60 fps easily in most GameCube stuff with an internal resolution of 4x native plus MSAA (I like the OpenGL backend), but Wii stuff like Galaxy can chug quite a bit in places.

If you look at the Dolphin wiki each game has a page with info on compatibility. If you go to the bottom people will have posted reports with their specs, helpful stuff.
 

Sullichin

Member
I'd appreciate if someone could ELUCIDATE.

I'm going to be getting a new MacBook Pro soon. Ideally, I'd love to run Dolphin on it.

I'm thinking:
2.2GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7
AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 512MB GDDR5

But I could possibly ugprade to:
2.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
AMD Radeon HD 6770M with 1GB GDDR5

IF it would mean I would be able to run Dolphin/games way better. Don't really want to spend way more money for the graphics card upgrade if it's the CPU that's going to be the main bottleneck anyway. Not expecting to run Skyward Sword at 1080p on this. But if anyone knows what WOULD work, I'd appreciate it. I'm not getting the MBP just for this, not interested in getting a different type of computer, just wondering what I'd be able to do with dolphin on a new MBP.

I have looked at the Dolphin wiki but I haven't really found too much information on Mac stuff.
 

ACE 1991

Member
Alright, so I did a fresh install of the latest version of Dolphin and it corrected whatever issue I was having with getting LLE to work. However, I'm getting very frequent music stuttering while in this mode. While I realize running LLE is very demanding, I'm rocking an i5 2500K @ 4.0GHZ, and from what I gather this is powerful enough to be able to handle LLE. Does anyone have any tips or setting changes to make LLE run smoothly? Thanks!
 

Seik

Banned
Alright, so I did a fresh install of the latest version of Dolphin and it corrected whatever issue I was having with getting LLE to work. However, I'm getting very frequent music stuttering while in this mode. While I realize running LLE is very demanding, I'm rocking an i5 2500K @ 4.0GHZ, and from what I gather this is powerful enough to be able to handle LLE. Does anyone have any tips or setting changes to make LLE run smoothly? Thanks!

I have a i5 2500K @ 4.5GHZ and LLE still lags with some games, I guess patience is our only answer here. It all depends on the games you are playing with it.

Indeed, the lastest revision did some upgrades for me too, Resident Evil Umbrella/Darkside Chronicles both have better framerates. Kirby Returns to Dreamland doesn't crash when a video starts. Still I need to do more tests.

I was using 4417 (or 9917?) before switching to this revision, so yes, its been a while.
 

Tomodachi

Member
I'd appreciate if someone could ELUCIDATE.
It's simple. It's all about the CPU. I don't think you'd have an easy time trying running it smoothly on a laptop, especially a mac.
Also, sandy bridges are better since they have some technology that's supposed to make Dolphin run better, here's a list of cpus that should be better for dolphin (scroll to the mobile section): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_bridge

My quad-core 3.2 GHz (not an intel unfortunately, it's a phenom II) with a 560 Ti makes skyward sword playable, but I must say it's annoying when in larger areas it drops below 25fps. No way a 2.2 Ghz could make it playable imvho.

About the video posted: gamecube titles will run fine I guess, and mario kart wii is pretty light on the graphics side. I bet he can't run skyward sword nor any other more complex wii title though.

So yeah, the second configuration could be worth it if you're interested in gamecube titles and if it's not that much more expansive. Other than that, don't expect complex wii games to run great.

Alright, so I did a fresh install of the latest version of Dolphin and it corrected whatever issue I was having with getting LLE to work. However, I'm getting very frequent music stuttering while in this mode. While I realize running LLE is very demanding, I'm rocking an i5 2500K @ 4.0GHZ, and from what I gather this is powerful enough to be able to handle LLE. Does anyone have any tips or setting changes to make LLE run smoothly? Thanks!
What game are you having trouble with? I use HLE and have no problems with Skyward Sword, Mario Kart and Resident Evil (the only games I played so far on Dolphin).
I solved my music stuttering issues in Skyward Sword by setting XAudio2 as Audio Backend, by the way.
 

Sullichin

Member

It's simple. It's all about the CPU. I don't think you'd have an easy time trying running it smoothly on a laptop, especially a mac.
Also, sandy bridges are better since they have some technology that's supposed to make Dolphin run better, here's a list of cpus that should be better for dolphin (scroll to the mobile section): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_bridge

My quad-core 3.2 GHz (not an intel unfortunately, it's a phenom II) with a 560 Ti makes skyward sword playable, but I must say it's annoying when in larger areas it drops below 25fps. No way a 2.2 Ghz could make it playable imvho.

About the video posted: gamecube titles will run fine I guess, and mario kart wii is pretty light on the graphics side. I bet he can't run skyward sword nor any other more complex wii title though.

So yeah, the second configuration could be worth it if you're interested in gamecube titles and if it's not that much more expansive. Other than that, don't expect complex wii games to run great.


What game are you having trouble with? I use HLE and have no problems with Skyward Sword, Mario Kart and Resident Evil (the only games I played so far on Dolphin).
I solved my music stuttering issues in Skyward Sword by setting XAudio2 as Audio Backend, by the way.

Thanks for the info!
 

Ledsen

Member
So how many people have extensively played Xenoblade on Dolphin?
I'm running my 2500k@4,5GHz, have tried at least three different builds (two hacked HLE sound fix ones made specially for Xenoblade), Dx9 and Dx11, 2,5x and 3x native res, etc etc, and I STILL can't get a perfect 30 fps in all battles. My test case is I warp to the radio tower in Sword Valley, go up the ramp and fight the enemies up there with the camera turned towards the huge structure. When I do this the fps drops to about 22-25 during battle. I want it to be perfect 30 fps all the time :( tips GAF?
 
Is there like optimal graphic settings for GC games? I'm getting screen tearing towards the bottom of my monitor and I'm not sure why :| I have VSync set and auto framerate. Anything else I should try?
 

hateradio

The Most Dangerous Yes Man
So how many people have extensively played Xenoblade on Dolphin?
I'm running my 2500k@4,5GHz, have tried at least three different builds (two hacked HLE sound fix ones made specially for Xenoblade), Dx9 and Dx11, 2,5x and 3x native res, etc etc, and I STILL can't get a perfect 30 fps in all battles. My test case is I warp to the radio tower in Sword Valley, go up the ramp and fight the enemies up there with the camera turned towards the huge structure. When I do this the fps drops to about 22-25 during battle. I want it to be perfect 30 fps all the time :( tips GAF?
You can check out the compatibility wiki.
http://wiki.dolphin-emulator.com/index.php?title=Xenoblade_Chronicles
 

IrishNinja

Member
So how many people have extensively played Xenoblade on Dolphin?
I'm running my 2500k@4,5GHz

...fuck. looking to OC my i5-760 to @ 3.6ghz soon (6870/4GB RAM) and was really hoping to playthrough this one, but if you're struggling with those specs, i'm boned.
 

Ledsen

Member
Playing a bit of Skyward Sword... anyone else get slowdown during certain cutscenes? Just during the first 30 mins, I had slowdowns down to about 23-25 fps during certain dialogue scenes. It seems weird because there's nothing in those scenes that should be demanding, and gameplay runs at a perfect 30 fps. I see people saying "I played it 30 fps ALL THE TIME", but maybe they don't notice it even though it's there? I'm on a 2500k@4,5GHz.

edit: This doesn't happen on the latest revision (3.0.415) when I switch to DX9. It's only there in DX11. I do have a bit of shadow banding in DX9 though, if I look at the trees... god this is confusing. What's the ultimate rev/config to get rid of the slowdown?

edit2: Tried OpenGL, seems to be like DX9, no slowdown but shadowbanding. God damn :( :( :(

edit3: Success! I used these settings in rev 7719 and the cutscenes/dialogue are now 30 fps even in DX11 :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDdqAHGq71o&feature=youtu.be

Code:
gfx_dx11.ini
[Hardware]
VSync = False
Adapter = 0
[Settings]
AspectRatio = 0
Crop = False
wideScreenHack = False
UseXFB = False
UseRealXFB = False
ShowFPS = True
ShowInputDisplay = False
OverlayStats = False
OverlayProjStats = False
DLOptimize = 0
Show = 0
DumpTextures = False
HiresTextures = False
DumpEFBTarget = False
DumpFrames = False
FreeLook = False
UseFFV1 = False
AnaglyphStereo = False
AnaglyphStereoSeparation = 200
AnaglyphFocalAngle = 0
EnablePixelLighting = False
EnablePerPixelDepth = False
ShowEFBCopyRegions = False
MSAA = 0
EFBScale = 1
TexFmtOverlayEnable = False
TexFmtOverlayCenter = False
Wireframe = False
DisableLighting = False
DisableTexturing = False
DstAlphaPass = False
DisableFog = False
UseGLSL = False
EnableOpenCL = False
OMPDecoder = False
[Enhancements]
ForceFiltering = False
MaxAnisotropy = 3
PostProcessingShader = 
Enable3dVision = False
[Hacks]
EFBAccessEnable = True
DlistCachingEnable = False
EFBCopyEnable = True
EFBCopyDisableHotKey = False
EFBCopyRAMEnable = False
EFBCopyVirtualEnable = True
EFBEmulateFormatChanges = False

edit4: Turns out it was the resolution causing this. At 3x the cutscene where Zelda saves Link from falling (about 5 mins into the game) slows down to ~23 fps. At 2.5X it runs at a perfect 30 fps.

...fuck. looking to OC my i5-760 to @ 3.6ghz soon (6870/4GB RAM) and was really hoping to playthrough this one, but if you're struggling with those specs, i'm boned.

I'm not really struggling, but I'm really picky. I'd like a constant 30 fps, but maybe it's impossible with today's processors.
 

dani_dc

Member
So how many people have extensively played Xenoblade on Dolphin?
I'm running my 2500k@4,5GHz, have tried at least three different builds (two hacked HLE sound fix ones made specially for Xenoblade), Dx9 and Dx11, 2,5x and 3x native res, etc etc, and I STILL can't get a perfect 30 fps in all battles. My test case is I warp to the radio tower in Sword Valley, go up the ramp and fight the enemies up there with the camera turned towards the huge structure. When I do this the fps drops to about 22-25 during battle. I want it to be perfect 30 fps all the time :( tips GAF?

I had no issues mantaining 30 FPS with an overclocked 2500K with 4xSSAA and internal resolution set to"Auto".
What DSP are you using? The only time I recall going under 30FPS was when I had it set up to recompiler instead of emulation.
 

Ledsen

Member
I had no issues mantaining 30 FPS with an overclocked 2500K with 4xSSAA and internal resolution set to"Auto".
What DSP are you using? The only time I recall going under 30FPS was when I had it set up to recompiler instead of emulation.

I'm using "emulation". What build did you use? Are you sure you had 30fps 100% of the time, even in intense battles in complex landscapes?

well, i'd apparently be struggling, anyway - doesnt the game run @ 30FPS native?

Yep, it does. You can lower internal resolution though to get better FPS.
 

ACE 1991

Member
I have a i5 2500K @ 4.5GHZ and LLE still lags with some games, I guess patience is our only answer here. It all depends on the games you are playing with it.

Indeed, the lastest revision did some upgrades for me too, Resident Evil Umbrella/Darkside Chronicles both have better framerates. Kirby Returns to Dreamland doesn't crash when a video starts. Still I need to do more tests.

I was using 4417 (or 9917?) before switching to this revision, so yes, its been a while.

I'm trying to get SMG2 to perform better using LLE, and special LLE settings I should tweak to get better performance?
 

Kokonoe

Banned
Does anybody have an ideal setting for full 60fps 1080p of Super Smash Bros. Melee?

4GB Ram
Tri Core 2.8 GHZ Processor
Nvidia Geforce GTX 460

Although i'm getting an 8 core processor next week.
 

Rufus

Member
Does anybody have an ideal setting for full 60fps 1080p of Super Smash Bros. Melee?

4GB Ram
Tri Core 2.8 GHZ Processor
Nvidia Geforce GTX 460

Although i'm getting an 8 core processor next week.
A higher number of cores isn't what's going to help your situation. Dolphin only uses two cores max, I believe.
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Yep, it does. You can lower internal resolution though to get better FPS.

Are you sure? You can get 60 fields per second (effectively showing each frame twice) but I don't think you can increase the actual framerate beyond native.

I played up to Gaur Plains on my 4.5GHz 2500k with nearly no problems, used the settings that were posted somewhere in the depths of this topic.

Edit: The general Configuration options here look about right, along with LLE for audio. Used 7714 with the 30FPS patch (link for that is dead now though).

 

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
It depends quite a bit on the game and the video backend. My 460gtx holds 60 fps easily in most GameCube stuff with an internal resolution of 4x native plus MSAA (I like the OpenGL backend), but Wii stuff like Galaxy can chug quite a bit in places.

If you look at the Dolphin wiki each game has a page with info on compatibility. If you go to the bottom people will have posted reports with their specs, helpful stuff.

I see, a proper dolphin setup is going to cost me quite some bit and ever since I upgraded my monitor my pc has struggled more and more when it comes to pc games. Would be a shame if I spend several hundred dollars and then none of the games I want to play would work well. But I'll be doing some sleuthing.
 
I see, a proper dolphin setup is going to cost me quite some bit and ever since I upgraded my monitor my pc has struggled more and more when it comes to pc games. Would be a shame if I spend several hundred dollars and then none of the games I want to play would work well. But I'll be doing some sleuthing.

The thing with Dolphin is that it's all about the internal resolution vs upscaled resolution. If you set it to run at 2560x1400 native resolution but set the internal resolution lower than that the performance won't be impacted because upscaling is almost performance neutral. However, it might look pretty shitty too :lol

The best advice I can give is to try it out. Even if you can't render at your native resolution for now, you'll still be able to play games with far better visuals than you could on your GC or Wii, and you'll never have to switch the discs!
 

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
The thing with Dolphin is that it's all about the internal resolution vs upscaled resolution. If you set it to run at 2560x1400 native resolution but set the internal resolution lower than that the performance won't be impacted because upscaling is almost performance neutral. However, it might look pretty shitty too :lol

The best advice I can give is to try it out. Even if you can't render at your native resolution for now, you'll still be able to play games with far better visuals than you could on your GC or Wii, and you'll never have to switch the discs!

Yea I understand, I've been putting aside this for long enough lol, I should just go for it :(
 
Yea I understand, I've been putting aside this for long enough lol, I should just go for it :(

Do it. I'm running Skyward sword at 4x native and resolution to 2560x1400 and it looks incredible. This is on a 3.4Ghz i7 so I'm sure you could push much further than mine (unfortunately I can't overclock the CPU cause it's an iMac).
 

Ledsen

Member
Do it. I'm running Skyward sword at 4x native and resolution to 2560x1400 and it looks incredible. This is on a 3.4Ghz i7 so I'm sure you could push much further than mine (unfortunately I can't overclock the CPU cause it's an iMac).

How are you getting constant 30fps with 4x res on that rig? Like I wrote above, I have a 2500k@4.5GHz and I have to drop it down to 2.5x res to get 30fps all the time.
 

butanebob

Neo Member
So how many people have extensively played Xenoblade on Dolphin?
Yep i finished it. Took me 107 hours. Didn't have a problem with speed unless i was using LLE + DX11 + really high res.

Is there like optimal graphic settings for GC games? I'm getting screen tearing towards the bottom of my monitor and I'm not sure why :| I have VSync set and auto framerate. Anything else I should try?
I only ever had tearing when i used openGL.
 

Rufus

Member
So, ummm, anyone have that button texture pack for Xenoblade? All the links appear to be dead.
I'll try to find them.

The Rapidshare link in the wiki is dead because it was marked as illegal. Lesson: Don't call the button pack "Wii-Xenoblade-PAL-XBox360_Buttons_Pack-v1-4.7z " when you re-up it...

If anyone here has a local copy of the latest version, re-upping it on several services would be appreciated.

edit:
Found a Mediafire link: http://www.mediafire.com/?lfekfqdfrqw2wep

If it doesn't work right away, try again.
 

Ledsen

Member
So I'm running Skyward Sword at a constant 30 fps.

BUT

Even though the fps counter always says 30 fps, sometimes I perceive a slight hitching or stuttering in the framerate. It's pretty hard to see but it's noticeable, to me at least. I have no idea why it's there and why it's not reflected in the framerate. It doesn't affect the game in any way. Is anyone else incredibly picky and has had the same experience?
 
So I'm running Skyward Sword at a constant 30 fps.

BUT

Even though the fps counter always says 30 fps, sometimes I perceive a slight hitching or stuttering in the framerate. It's pretty hard to see but it's noticeable, to me at least. I have no idea why it's there and why it's not reflected in the framerate. It doesn't affect the game in any way. Is anyone else incredibly picky and has had the same experience?

You mean little hitches once or twice a minute or so? I think that's just the dreaded microstutter. In general, on PC, when you want a constant framerate you actually have to be able to sustain a framerate which fluctuates between like 105% - 110% of the cap you want. That means that there's enough overhead there that the occasional Windows fart in the background doesn't cause any hitching.

If you're only just hitting your 30/60 cap you'll notice a little hitch here and there unfortunately. If you don't mind 25fps you could always go for a 50hz lock which might give you the breathing room you need.
 

Ledsen

Member
You mean little hitches once or twice a minute or so? I think that's just the dreaded microstutter. In general, on PC, when you want a constant framerate you actually have to be able to sustain a framerate which fluctuates between like 105% - 110% of the cap you want. That means that there's enough overhead there that the occasional Windows fart in the background doesn't cause any hitching.

If you're only just hitting your 30/60 cap you'll notice a little hitch here and there unfortunately. If you don't mind 25fps you could always go for a 50hz lock which might give you the breathing room you need.

It feels like microstutter like you describe, yeah, but I'm on 2500k@4,5GHz which should be enough... god I hate microstutter but there's not much I can do about it :(
 
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