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Dolphin - Emulating Wii and Gamecube Games

Seik

Banned
Orellio said:
I wonder how many people even remember what the significance of the Dolphin name is.

If I'm not mistaken, Dolphin was the first name of the console that was suposed to follow the N64, which later became the Gamecube, right?
 

Seik

Banned
Orellio said:
Indeed sir, you are correct!

Crazy that that was 10 or 11 years ago now.

True that, those years are so close yet so far already. D:

I remember reading about that in a Nintendo Power...I wonder if I still have it in a box somewhere, I could scan the article up to put it here.
 
So does anyone have this up and running on a Mac? Want to run it on my 2011 Macbook Pro and want to know if I should set it up in Parallels or just try and figure out the OSX build.
 
POWERSPHERE said:
So does anyone have this up and running on a Mac? Want to run it on my 2011 Macbook Pro and want to know if I should set it up in Parallels or just try and figure out the OSX build.

I've got Wind Waker and Twilight Princess running almost perfectly on OSX, but I had a bit of trouble with Skyward Sword. I'm going to set up boot camp and see what happens. I haven't had much time to do it yet though.
 

bridegur

Member
TheCongressman1 said:
I've got Wind Waker and Twilight Princess running almost perfectly on OSX, but I had a bit of trouble with Skyward Sword. I'm going to set up boot camp and see what happens. I haven't had much time to do it yet though.

Mind sharing your settings? I didn't know Dolphin was working capably on OSX.
 
TheCongressman1 said:
I've got Wind Waker and Twilight Princess running almost perfectly on OSX, but I had a bit of trouble with Skyward Sword. I'm going to set up boot camp and see what happens. I haven't had much time to do it yet though.

You should see much improvement in Windows in general. (Native, I wouldn't try it in a VM). Much more mature and optimized experience. I was having issues with Wind Waker in OSX (i7 3.4 iMac, 1gb 6970m, so pretty much top of the line), but windows was perfect. Hell the last month of builds crash right after the Nintendo screen for me in Wind Waker.

It's what finally spurred my to buy a copy of Windows 7.
 

Awakened

Member
Andrex said:
I meant, do any of the emulators output higher resolution and make DS games look... not terrible.
DeSmuME is easily the best DS emulator, with quite a few filtering options and ways to set the screen layout you can try out.
 

jediyoshi

Member
Mairu said:
Anyone have any suggestions on a wireless sensor bar? The ones I saw on Amazon all have poor ratings
I have one from Nyko, but mine's been pretty spotty and they're not that easy to come by online anymore. Absurdly needs 4 aa batteries for some reason, been looking into getting the seemingly one usb powered one out there.

Awakened said:
DeSmuME is easily the best DS emulator, with quite a few filtering options and ways to set the screen layout you can try out.
This. Not sure if I'd be into the idea of actually upres-ing DS games since so few of them are purely 3d and it probably wouldn't look well in a game that mixes it in with mostly sprites.
 

MCD

Junior Member
I don't recommend the Nyko one, like jediyoshi said it consumes lots of battery juice (most wireless sensors are like that too, sadly) and the distance sucks, at least in my humble room. And oh, you gotta turn it off manually unless you don't mind hearing that damn auto shutting down alarm.

I ordered the usb one from Amazon but gonna take a few more days for it to be here.
 

jediyoshi

Member
dolphin2011-11-1218-1xfu6v.jpg

comp17cuut.png


dolphin2011-11-1218-1tbuyu.jpg

comp22rb83.png
 

masterkajo

Member
Finally my USB Bluetooth came in the mail today (still waiting for M+ should be here this afternoon). So I tried the SS demo without M+ and with the AR code I got into the game and see how it runs.

With Theroxes config (a bit lowered to get a steady 30 FPS) everything was fine apart from some big stuttering for 1-2 seconds while running. It seemed that while it loads something new in the background it completely freezes for just a second. Don't know will try to test thouroughly when M+ is here.
 

MCD

Junior Member
masterkajo said:
Finally my USB Bluetooth came in the mail today (still waiting for M+ should be here this afternoon). So I tried the SS demo without M+ and with the AR code I got into the game and see how it runs.

With Theroxes config (a bit lowered to get a steady 30 FPS) everything was fine apart from some big stuttering for 1-2 seconds while running. It seemed that while it loads something new in the background it completely freezes for just a second. Don't know will try to test thouroughly when M+ is here.
Sounds similar to this:

The game will stutter; to fix this play the game and as it builds cache over time the stuttering will go away. Selecting each character and using a full set of attacks will assist in populating the cache.

http://wiki.dolphin-emulator.com/index.php?title=Tatsunoko_vs._Capcom:_Ultimate_All-Stars

Not a big deal if you ask me.
 

masterkajo

Member
^ thanks! I just tested for like 5 minutes before work today. Will get M+ after work and do some real playtesting. But this puts my mind at ease and I can concentrate on actually working today... :) thanks!
 

masterkajo

Member
Stupid question but how can you unsynch your Wiimote with your Wii? It is just that while trying the SS demo I have my Wii hooked up to provide the Sensor Bar (mainly needed to start the demo but heared it should help with M+ calibration -> having some trouble with M+ ATM). And eg. turning of the Wii also turns of the Wiimote or vice versa. Thanks
 
I have a mid-2010 MacBook Pro (2.66 Core i7 and GeForce GT 330M w/ 512 MB and 8GB RAM) running the latest x64 Dolphin on Windows 7. Is that good enough to get the kind of performance you guys are seeing? The SS demo looks very washed out and I had to compromise a lot, and I don't know if it's the settings I have or if I'm using the wrong Dolphin build or something? Any tips? Thanks!
 

masterkajo

Member
Nazgul_Hunter said:
I have a mid-2010 MacBook Pro (2.66 Core i7 and GeForce GT 330M w/ 512 MB and 8GB RAM) running the latest x64 Dolphin on Windows 7. Is that good enough to get the kind of performance you guys are seeing? The SS demo looks very washed out and I had to compromise a lot, and I don't know if it's the settings I have or if I'm using the wrong Dolphin build or something? Any tips? Thanks!
I am new as well but after trying an older dolphin build I get much better FPS in the SS demo. I am running it using the r7718 version. Before I had like 17-20 FPS now I have steady 30 FPS with the same configuration!


EDIT: Just been playing the demo for a while now and I don't know if it is just me but the M+ hardly seems to work (Reminds me a bit of Miyamoto on stage). Don't know if it is the fact that I don't use a sensor bar or that at my dorm there is huge amount of WLan but my sword hardly did what I wanted. Most of the time it pointed backwards in a weird angle - but then agan there were times where it worked like a charm! Hope I can get this sorted out so I can play the real game without problems.
 

Red

Member
Andrex said:
Yes he can. Z on the Nunchuk while in water.
Oh, you.

jediyoshi, could you post your config for Galaxy? I still haven't found one that runs full speed for Galaxy 1 with LLE enabled (4GHz i7).
 

masterkajo

Member
After some long playtesting and comparing the SS demo on PC and Wii itself I come to the following conclusion:

PC:
+ HD graphics
- M+ doesn't seem to work properly
could be due to my Bluetooth adapter "Hama Nano-Bluetooth-USB-Adapter Version 2.1 + EDR Class2". It seems it loses connection about every 2-3 seconds for a very very short time and thus the M+ seems to reset itself. So while I move the M+ to the right it thinks it is in neutral prosition when reconnecting and so I end up with an unplayable SS :(
Anyone got any idea to fix that? I am using the Toshiba Bluetooth Stack drivers sent with the Bluetooth dongle. Should I try different ones? Could this fix such a problem?

Wii:
- graphics (don't want to go back to Wii after having it played just once on dolphin)
+ M+ works perfectly! Such a delight when seeing it work as it should
 

kadab

Member
masterkajo said:
Wii:
- graphics (don't want to go back to Wii after having it played just once on dolphin)
+ M+ works perfectly! Such a delight when seeing it work as it should
.
 
StopMakingSense said:
I would like to know this as well. (3.4ghz i7)

bridegur said:
Mind sharing your settings? I didn't know Dolphin was working capably on OSX.


First off, I just tried build 3.0 and the newer unstable builds, and none of those work right on osX. The one I was using works fine, but I'm not sure where I got this build at all. I thought it came from the official site, but I didn't see it on there so I just kept a back up. It has this number in the info if you want to try to find it: r7723

Now, here's my specs:

i5 2.3
4gb ram
intel HD 3000
(Macbook pro mid 2011)

And my settings:

settings_1.png

settings_2.png

AA doesn't work too well with x2 res, so I just leave it off.

Since you have higher specs than me, if you've got the right settings then it's probably the build. All the other ones I've tried seem to have so many problems with osX.
 
TheCongressman1 said:
First off, I just tried build 3.0 and the newer unstable builds, and none of those work right on osX. The one I was using works fine, but I'm not sure where I got this build at all. I thought it came from the official site, but I didn't see it on there so I just kept a back up. It has this number in the info if you want to try to find it: r7723

Now, here's my specs:

i5 2.3
4gb ram
intel HD 3000
(Macbook pro mid 2011)

And my settings:

settings_1.png

settings_2.png

AA doesn't work too well with x2 res, so I just leave it off.
Since you have higher specs than me, if you've got the right settings then it's probably the build. All the other ones I've tried seem to have so many problems with osX.


Heh, even though im rocking an iMac, I'm staying clear of dolphin on OSX for now. Just too many issues and nowhere near the optimization, and a clear lack of testing whatsoever lately on the mac side.

Looking for the best settings for Galaxy 1/2 on Windows.
 
Hey guys, I just finished my HTPC and was wondering if I have what it takes to jump into Dolphin for some 1080p Wii action. Here are my specs and games:

Basic Specs
1. PHENOM II X4 840 3.2 GHz
2. 4 GB Ram
3. AMD Radeon HD 6670 1024MB
4. Windows 7 64-bit

Games I'd like to be able to play:
1. Fire Emblem (Wii)
2. New Super Mario Bros. Wii
3. Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition
4. Super Mario Galaxy
5. Super Mario Galaxy 2
6. Super Paper Mario
7. Twilight Princess
8. Wind Waker
9. Trauma Center (Wii)
10. Pikmin 1 and 2

Am I sitting pretty, on the cusp, or SOL?
 

Thoraxes

Member
The clock speed on your processor is kinda slow and it's AMD (no HT), so you're going to have to make some compromises in the quality if you want it to run at 1080p, but it should get you through most of the games you listed just fine, minus the Galaxy games.
 
Super Paper Mario isn't really worth playing on Dolphin, there's too many graphic glitches with screen transitions, sprites missing from cutscenes, etc.
 

bridegur

Member
TheCongressman1 said:

Cool, thanks. Mario Galaxy 2 worked almost perfectly without changing any settings. I'm going to screw around with it and try to get a more stable framerate and hopefully full music, but it's already very playable. Having Dolphin on OSX makes it so much more appealing to use; I hated going back and forth in Boot Camp.
 
Thoraxes said:
The clock speed on your processor is kinda slow and it's AMD (no HT), so you're going to have to make some compromises in the quality if you want it to run at 1080p, but it should get you through most of the games you listed just fine, minus the Galaxy games.
Sigh... playing Mario Galaxy 2 in HD (and Skyward Sword now that I think about it) were part of what I was looking forward to.

Okay, so WHAT IF I switched it out with my current desktop:

1. Core i5 750 (2.67 GHz)
2. 4 GB Ram
3. Radeon HD 6670 1GB

Would that be able to run SMG2 smoothly at 1080P?
 

Red

Member
crisdecuba said:
Sigh... playing Mario Galaxy 2 in HD (and Skyward Sword now that I think about it) were part of what I was looking forward to.

Okay, so WHAT IF I switched it out with my current desktop:

1. Core i5 750 (2.67 GHz)
2. 4 GB Ram
3. Radeon HD 6670 1GB

Would that be able to run SMG2 smoothly at 1080P?
Not with proper sound, no.
 

Datschge

Member
crisdecuba said:
Hrmm... Care to elaborate?
With Dolphin nearly always the CPU is the bottleneck. To have glitch-free sound in games like Galaxy 2 one needs to use LLE, that's short for low level emulation and needs much more processing power than HLE but works much more reliably if the CPU is powerful enough.

So, if you can change the resolution freely without affecting the framerate the graphic card is fine and the CPU is too slow.

Btw. some are mentioning the lack of Hyperthreading as a negative for AMD. This is nonsense, you don't want to use HT on an Intel, you want the two Dolphin threads to run on separate cores each, not let them hinder each other on the same core through the use of HT.
 

Thrakier

Member
So, I bought a new CPU to play SMG2. It's an i5 2500k @4.1GHZ. Now I still get framedrops in SMG2 quite frequently. Whenever there is a lot of vista, coins or those star thingies in the picture the frame drops a bit or even 5 to 10. This wouldn't be a problem normallly but because of LLE the sounds is distorted as soon as the frame drop, so it's really anyoing.

Is there anything I can do to optimizie my experience? Any special setting or someting like that? Going from 4 to 2x FSAA brings 2-3 frames...
 

donarumo

Neo Member
Thrakier said:
Is there anything I can do to optimizie my experience? Any special setting or someting like that? Going from 4 to 2x FSAA brings 2-3 frames...

Not sure but have you tried checking (or unchecking) the "enable audio throttle" option? It helped on SSX Tricky for me.
 
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