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Dolphin - Emulating Wii and Gamecube Games

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
brochiller said:
This is kind of off topic but these screens are so amazing I have to know. Will it be possible (and if so, probable) for Nintendo to make the Wii HD or whatever it will be called so that it can upscale Wii games like emulation can? Because that would be awesome.
JeffDowns said:
It seems like some 3rd party could release some sort of box to sit between your Wii and your TV, and do the conversion...but I guess that's easier said than done. I wish such a device existed.
Jesus Christ, this shit gets better every time it gets brought up.
 
Minsc said:
Such a thing doesn't exist. You have to actually build an emulator to run the game in higher resolutions, and such emulator has to be built on a per-game basis.

Never happened across a whole system, and never will.
though it still interests me to see Nintendo's artists making assets clearly designed to look good in 3D. they *are* thinking about releasing these games in 3D one day, or they wouldn't be spending the time and money creating HD suitable assets for an SD system.

that doesn't mean that they WILL release them in HD someday of course, but Nintendo are clearly thinking about it.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
jarosh said:
most people still don't grasp the difference between upscaling and rendering at a higher resolution.

Or that emulators that do render at higher resolutions (specifically 1080p with 16xAF + high AA) such as this have 1000s of quirks and bugs, and at a commercial level such a project would be an utter disaster. New versions breaking compatibility with older games, old versions running certain games better than other old versions, display bugs, performance issues, it's like any company's worst nightmare imaginable to release some sort of magic box to play older games in higher resolutions.

PC is the only such magical box, unless they work on stuff for individual games, like commercially selling re-releases / HD versions.
 

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
Minsc said:
Or that emulators that do render at higher resolutions (specifically 1080p with 16xAF + high AA) such as this have 1000s of quirks and bugs, and at a commercial level such a project would be an utter disaster. New versions breaking compatibility with older games, old versions running certain games better than other old versions, display bugs, performance issues, it's like any company's worst nightmare imaginable to release some sort of magic box to play older games in higher resolutions.

PC is the only such magical box, unless they work on stuff for individual games, like commercially selling re-releases / HD versions.
People are so desperate for an easy out. Emulators are too hard for me so I'll just repeat the same retarded question that gets repeated every couple pages and is ripped apart every couple pages.
 

JADS

Member
brochiller said:
This is kind of off topic but these screens are so amazing I have to know. Will it be possible (and if so, probable) for Nintendo to make the Wii HD or whatever it will be called so that it can upscale Wii games like emulation can? Because that would be awesome.

Upscaling will not produce the same image quality as Dolphin does. Dolphin is not upscaling the image (Ie just simply resizing a 480P source to 1080P) but actually rerendering it to 1080P. I have attached two screenshots to illustrate the difference. The first was taken with 4x SSAA, the second one was taken with XFB set to Real. To get as close as possible as what the actual Wii does, I have also disabled EFB scaled copy, SSAA and any other enhancements.

Upscaling is already possible with the Wii using something like VDIGI VD-W3, but frankly it looks like ass.

 

xemumanic

Member
JADS said:
Upscaling will not produce the same image quality as Dolphin does. Dolphin is not upscaling the image (Ie just simply resizing a 480P source to 1080P) but actually rerendering it to 1080P. I have attached two screenshots to illustrate the difference. The first was taken with 4x SSAA, the second one was taken with XFB set to Real. To get as close as possible as what the actual Wii does, I have also disabled EFB scaled copy, SSAA and any other enhancements.

Upscaling is already possible with the Wii using something like VDIGI VD-W3, but frankly it looks like ass.


While the point needs to be made every so often (didn't someone try to derail this thread early on with talk that upscaling was just as good or better? What blind bastards.......), I don't think that's what was being asked. While brochiller did indeed say the word upscale, I think he's asking is could Nintendo make a Wii that ran the games in HD res like so many of the screenshots in this thread show Dolphin doing.

And the answer is........yes. Nintendo _should_ easily be able to make a 'WiiHD' that ran games at proper HD resolutions, making them look like how they do in Dolphin. How Nintendo could accomplish this is up for some debate, but it would no doubt require a more powerful version of the GPU used in the Wii, as well as a larger framebuffer.

The benefits are two fold. Not only would games suddenly be able to match (and maybe even surpass at this point) the level of detail seen in both the 360 and PS3, but it wouldn't require any additional work on the game development side. Look how many games just look infinitely better. Micheal Pachter and N'Gai Croal used to mention a lot that they thought such a system was soon to come, but obviously that's never happened.
 

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
xemumanic said:
And the answer is........yes. Nintendo _should_ easily be able to make a 'WiiHD' that ran games at proper HD resolutions, making them look like how they do in Dolphin. How Nintendo could accomplish this is up for some debate, but it would no doubt require a more powerful version of the GPU used in the Wii, as well as a larger framebuffer.

The benefits are two fold. Not only would games suddenly be able to match (and maybe even surpass at this point) the level of detail seen in both the 360 and PS3, but it wouldn't require any additional work on the game development side. Look how many games just look infinitely better. Micheal Pachter and N'Gai Croal used to mention a lot that they thought such a system was soon to come, but obviously that's never happened.
I'm not going to rewrite this explanation every time someone comes up with fantastical nonsense like this so here is what I have said before:

Stallion Free said:
No, not the the degree it is here. We already had this discussion, it is way too much effort for almost no real monetary return to the console manufacture. If you are lucky, they will sell Wii games/GC games on their next system like they do N64 games now but it will be an incredibly limited selection and won't have much effort put into them (16:9 where applicable, super-sampling).

And if they make too many changes to the hardware layout, they will have to do brute force software emulation as seen in Dolphin and that almost always requires orders of magnitude more power than the original system and is far from perfect. The original PS3 included parts from the PS2 to make emulation optimally, but later on they removed that part and switched over to mostly software based emulation and all of the sudden there were tons of issues. GC games on the other hand work almost perfectly on the Wii because the hardware architecture remained so similar and hasn't changed since release.
Nintendo clearly has no interest in being on top when it comes to graphical hardware and that is where they would need to be to even come close.
 
xemumanic said:
While the point needs to be made every so often (didn't someone try to derail this thread early on with talk that upscaling was just as good or better? What blind bastards.......), I don't think that's what was being asked. While brochiller did indeed say the word upscale, I think he's asking is could Nintendo make a Wii that ran the games in HD res like so many of the screenshots in this thread show Dolphin doing.

And the answer is........yes. Nintendo _should_ easily be able to make a 'WiiHD' that ran games at proper HD resolutions, making them look like how they do in Dolphin. How Nintendo could accomplish this is up for some debate, but it would no doubt require a more powerful version of the GPU used in the Wii, as well as a larger framebuffer.

The benefits are two fold. Not only would games suddenly be able to match (and maybe even surpass at this point) the level of detail seen in both the 360 and PS3, but it wouldn't require any additional work on the game development side. Look how many games just look infinitely better. Micheal Pachter and N'Gai Croal used to mention a lot that they thought such a system was soon to come, but obviously that's never happened.

They could, but compatibility would be a mess. So they would never do it like that and just offer regular, no frills Wii BC instead. Same reason Sony doesn't make a super ps1 emulator for the ps3.
 

xemumanic

Member
I never said they SHOULD, I said they COULD. That was the question.

And yeah, it ain't gonna happen, for those exact reasons.

EDIT: And before anyone says:

Yeah yeah, I used to word should, as in 'should be easy', not they should do it.
 

JADS

Member
xemumanic said:
While the point needs to be made every so often (didn't someone try to derail this thread early on with talk that upscaling was just as good or better? What blind bastards.......), I don't think that's what was being asked. While brochiller did indeed say the word upscale, I think he's asking is could Nintendo make a Wii that ran the games in HD res like so many of the screenshots in this thread show Dolphin doing.

The mistake has been made too much. For most people upscaling = what dolphin does. That is of course flat out wrong.

xemumanic said:
And the answer is........yes. Nintendo _should_ easily be able to make a 'WiiHD' that ran games at proper HD resolutions, making them look like how they do in Dolphin. How Nintendo could accomplish this is up for some debate, but it would no doubt require a more powerful version of the GPU used in the Wii, as well as a larger framebuffer.

Just like Sony did with the PS2 on PS3 right? Sorry but it is not that simple. Nintendo will never release a Gamecube/Wii emulator for the next Nintendo console. Emulation the way Dolphin does it is simply not suitable on a grand scale, unless you optimize the emulator per game. Financially BC doesn't make sense at all anyways. The amount of testing that has to be done per game is too costly for almost no benefit. Like others have said in this topic, why have BC when you can port your game easily to the next Wii and make an extra buck? Sony has shown that BC isn't really that important at all and HD classics of certain games haven't really sold that bad.

xemunanic said:
The benefits are two fold. Not only would games suddenly be able to match (and maybe even surpass at this point) the level of detail seen in both the 360 and PS3, but it wouldn't require any additional work on the game development side. Look how many games just look infinitely better. Micheal Pachter and N'Gai Croal used to mention a lot that they thought such a system was soon to come, but obviously that's never happened.

There is more to gaming than just resolution. Textures and certain graphical effects are simply not feasible on the Wii. Just increasing the resolution will not get close to the level of detail seen in 360 and PS3 games.
 

xemumanic

Member
JADS said:
Just like Sony did with the PS2 on PS3 right? Sorry but it is not that simple. Nintendo will never release a Gamecube/Wii emulator for the next Nintendo console. Emulation the way Dolphin does it is simply not suitable on a grand scale, unless you optimize the emulator per game. Financially BC doesn't make sense at all anyways. The amount of testing that has to be done per game is too costly for almost no benefit. Like others have said in this topic, why have BC when you can port your game easily to the next Wii and make an extra buck? Sony has shown that BC isn't really that important at all and HD classics of certain games haven't really sold that bad.

There is more to gaming than just resolution. Textures and certain graphical effects are simply not feasible on the Wii. Just increasing the resolution will not get close to the level of detail seen in 360 and PS3 games.

Who said anything about emulating? In the same way the Wii runs GC games, running that same native code unmodified (because its similar enough hardware, pretty much a beefed-up GC), the theory is a 'Wii HD' could run Wii/GC games at higher res. The Sony examples aren't good comparisons because the hardware is fundamentally different in each PlayStation.

But yes, there's more to it than just that. It isn't financially viable, especially not now.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
JADS said:
Just like Sony did with the PS2 on PS3 right? Sorry but it is not that simple. Nintendo will never release a Gamecube/Wii emulator for the next Nintendo console. Emulation the way Dolphin does it is simply not suitable on a grand scale, unless you optimize the emulator per game. Financially BC doesn't make sense at all anyways. The amount of testing that has to be done per game is too costly for almost no benefit. Like others have said in this topic, why have BC when you can port your game easily to the next Wii and make an extra buck? Sony has shown that BC isn't really that important at all and HD classics of certain games haven't really sold that bad.

You don't know if it has to be done on a per game basis. If they keep with the exact same architecture, it's very possible they can internally scale the resolution with no negative impact.

Of course, I would never expect Nintendo to do this.
 

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
xemumanic said:
Who said anything about emulating? In the same way the Wii runs GC games, running that same native code unmodified (because its similar enough hardware, pretty much a beefed-up GC), the theory is a 'Wii HD' could run Wii/GC games at higher res. The Sony examples aren't good comparisons because the hardware is fundamentally different in each PlayStation.

But yes, there's more to it than just that. It isn't financially viable, especially not now.
So Wii 2 will just be 3 gamecubes taped together right? I doubt Nintendo will use the exact same architecture again.
 

xemumanic

Member
Stallion Free said:
So Wii 2 will just be 3 gamecubes taped together right? I doubt Nintendo will use the exact same architecture again.

Yeah, no one expects that. This is all theoretical, don't spin my words into me saying what the next Nintendo console will be.

As TheExodu5 says, the architecture is the same. This tactic has worked for them on their handhelds both the GB/GBC (Z80 derivatives) and the GBA/DS/DSi (ARM). Now their consoles are doing this with the GC to Wii.

The one thing we all agree on is that no one in their right mind should hold any hope of Nintendo doing this.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
Stallion Free said:
So Wii 2 will just be 3 gamecubes taped together right? I doubt Nintendo will use the exact same architecture again.

Why wouldn't they? The CPU is clocked at 700 MHz...there's a lot of breathing room before they hit the GHz barrier.
 

JADS

Member
xemumanic said:
Who said anything about emulating? In the same way the Wii runs GC games, running that same native code unmodified (because its similar enough hardware, pretty much a beefed-up GC), the theory is a 'Wii HD' could run Wii/GC games at higher res.

What about all the Gamecube games and some Wii games that don't support 16x9 resolutions? You can't just render them at 1080P without trouble. Heck, the widescreen hack in Dolphin completely breaks certain games and that is just telling games to render more geometry. Or are you just going to render them in a higher 4:3 resolution and strech them to 16x9?
 

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
JADS said:
What about all the Gamecube games and some Wii games that don't support 16x9 resolutions? You can't just render them at 1080P without trouble. Heck, the widescreen hack in Dolphin completely breaks certain games and that is just telling games to render more geometry. Or are you just going to render them in a higher 4:3 resolution and strech them to 16x9?
Super Mario Sunshine

:( :( :( :( :(
 
xemumanic said:
While the point needs to be made every so often (didn't someone try to derail this thread early on with talk that upscaling was just as good or better? What blind bastards.......), I don't think that's what was being asked. While brochiller did indeed say the word upscale, I think he's asking is could Nintendo make a Wii that ran the games in HD res like so many of the screenshots in this thread show Dolphin doing.

And the answer is........yes. Nintendo _should_ easily be able to make a 'WiiHD' that ran games at proper HD resolutions, making them look like how they do in Dolphin. How Nintendo could accomplish this is up for some debate, but it would no doubt require a more powerful version of the GPU used in the Wii, as well as a larger framebuffer.

The benefits are two fold. Not only would games suddenly be able to match (and maybe even surpass at this point) the level of detail seen in both the 360 and PS3, but it wouldn't require any additional work on the game development side. Look how many games just look infinitely better. Micheal Pachter and N'Gai Croal used to mention a lot that they thought such a system was soon to come, but obviously that's never happened.

Yes, thank you, that is what I meant. I realize that I used the wrong term there, as I realize "upscaling" would be no different than a DVD player "upscaling" a 480p to 1080p, which doesn't really make much of a difference. I wanted to know if it could emulate games like Dolphin does, and apparently the answer is that it's possible, but not feasible.
 

Durante

Member
JADS said:
What about all the Gamecube games and some Wii games that don't support 16x9 resolutions? You can't just render them at 1080P without trouble. Heck, the widescreen hack in Dolphin completely breaks certain games and that is just telling games to render more geometry. Or are you just going to render them in a higher 4:3 resolution and strech them to 16x9?
I'd think any official high-res rendering (unlikely as it is) would always output 4:3-only games pillarboxed.
 
Stallion, I love the hudless screenshot. I had no idea you guys could do things like that on Dolphin.

I can't wait until some Dolphin players get to world 4 in particular. The scenery in those levels is just incredible.
 
Kyleripman said:
Stallion, I love the hudless screenshot. I had no idea you guys could do things like that on Dolphin.

I can't wait until some Dolphin players get to world 4 in particular. The scenery in those levels is just incredible.
The Octagon has some pics from World 8 in the Artistic Screenshot thread.
 

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
Kyleripman said:
Stallion, I love the hudless screenshot. I had no idea you guys could do things like that on Dolphin.
I restarted my collection to account for no hud, almost finished redoing World 1. The other worlds should come a little more quickly.

Dolphin%202010-12-04%2000-43-41-75.jpg
 
Stallion Free said:
I can't go back to 4:3 Wind Wanker.
I want to know if you activate teh "progressive scan switch" in Configuration under Display... does it open games in the supported 16:9 aspect ratio?

Because I hate playing Metroid Prime 1/2 or Zelda WW and even LoZ:TP (GCN) with 16:9 hack and having the area outside the 4:3 zone constantly rendering and occluding geometry....
 

JADS

Member
Cuban Legend said:
I want to know if you activate teh "progressive scan switch" in Configuration under Display... does it open games in the supported 16:9 aspect ratio?

Because I hate playing Metroid Prime 1/2 or Zelda WW and even LoZ:TP (GCN) with 16:9 hack and having the area outside the 4:3 zone constantly rendering and occluding geometry....

Only if the games support 16x9
 
What´s up with all the BC questions guys?

BC is dead. Well, at least on consoles. Tough this one was clear by now.

Why should a manufacturer invest time and resources to let you play your old games collection when they can just (maybe) sell you the same games again with some enhancements here and there?

Just look at some of the examples we already have. Games with minor investment, no additional content added and sold for good money. Plus with the DD model it´s an exellent time to apply this strayegy. On the next Nintendo system you´ll get something like the Galaxy collection.

But since they´ll do this remastering in a per game basis, most of the comp problems are reduced. I don´t see why the next system wouldn´t be able to handle Wii games at 1080p. Since i think the power would be there, it just up to Nintendo if they want to do it or think if its worth the effort.
 

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
clip said:
Lemmy know how you get rid of that hud plz ty.
Right click the game in the list, go to properties, and go to the Gecko codes tab. If there are no cheats there, click Download WiiRD database. A list of cheat will show and you can check off the ones you want to use. You have to make sure cheats are enabled in the Dolphin's basic options (underneath dual core).
 

clip

Member
Stallion Free said:
Right click the game in the list, go to properties, and go to the Gecko codes tab. If there are no cheats there, click Download WiiRD database. A list of cheat will show and you can check off the ones you want to use. You have to make sure cheats are enabled in the Dolphin's basic options (underneath dual core).

<3 you.
 

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
whitehawk said:
Appreciated, but why only 720p? I can't use these as a desktop background :(
That's 1600x900 downsampled from 1080p/4xSSAA for a near flawless image, if people have specific requests I will do my best to get grabs of the level with 9x SSAA for perfect 1080p wallpapers, but I'm not doing it for the whole game as the framerate doesn't hold a perfect 60 fps like 4xSSAA does.
 

deleted

Member
I finally tried DKCR with Dolphin but its not running as smoothly as it should.
While I can run SSBB and NSMBW with nearly constant 60 fps DK has an average of 46...

I got an AthlonII X4 overclocked to 3.3 Ghz and a GTX 460. Is Donkey Kong just that much more demanding or am I missing some important options?
 

Nabs

Member
right click the game and enable dlist cache and block merging. make sure you're also on a semi recent build. that might help a bit.
 

Azar

Member
Stallion Free

I fucking love you man. Pimped your DKCR and Wind Waker galleries on Twitter earlier today, actually. Is it possible to turn the HUD off in Wind Waker? I eat up screenshots of that game. Someday I'll buy a quad core and run it and it will be glorious.
 

Fafalada

Fafracer forever
TheExodu5 said:
If they keep with the exact same architecture, it's very possible they can internally scale the resolution with no negative impact.
Since "3D" rendering happened - was there ever "exact same architecture" for a new console that wasn't also "almost exact same power" as the predecessor?
 

Drkirby

Corporate Apologist
Would there be any boost to Dolphin at the moment from a 6 core processor, or does it still only make use of 2?
 

Drkirby

Corporate Apologist
So that means there is a good chance that if/when Dolphin uses 4 cores, my AMD Phenon II Should fair much better, or would 2x as many cores not get roughly twice the emulation speed?

Edit: Taking a look, in 2008 they said it would likely never use 4 and wouldn't gain anything from it. Oh well. Now to try and tweak it to see if I can get Gamecube games to both run fast and look nice.
 
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