Dolphin Manual: Difference between revisions

Linux users have more extensive software requirements (see Section 2.1).

Below is a screenshot of what Dolphin looks like when run (after adding some games, see Section 2.3) and a basic description of the interface:

*Go to the Menu, select Options -> Configure, click the Paths tab, and click the Add button. (see Section 3.6 for more details).

To reset a running game go to the Menu and select Emulation -> Reset. Dolphin by default does not have a hotkey for this action, however users can specify their own by editing the hotkeys (see Section 3.2 for more details).

'''Enable Dual Core:''' Allows Dolphin to use two separate threads to emulate the GC/Wii CPU and GPU instead of one. This option dramatically increases speed and allows Dolphin to use two cores on a CPU. Although it may rarely cause crashes in a limited number of games, it is highly recommended to have this option enabled.

'''Enable Cheats:''' Allows Dolphin to use Action Replay or Gecko codes. Without this option enabled, cheats cannot run on any game.

*Off – Disables framelimiting altogether. Runs the game as fast as possible. Useful for benchmarking.

*Audio – Limit the framelimit based on the audio speed, also known as audio throttling.

Most games will run fine with Auto or Audio, however, some games may require a specific value.

'''Limit by FPS:''' If enabled, framelimit will measure using actual frames rendered per second. If disabled, framelimit will measure using the amount of frame render requests the Dolphin's emulated CPU sends to the emulated GPU. Disabling this option may give more accurate emulation, however, users may not notice a difference.

*JIT (Just-In-Time) Recompiler – Actively recompiles native Gamecube/Wii PowerPC code into x86/x64 assembly for execution. This runs significantly faster than the interpreter. Due to its stability and speed, the JIT recompiler is the recommended option. In comparison to the JITIL recompiler, it may be faster on 64-bit systems.

*Go to the Menu, select Options -> Configure …, and go to the Interface tab.

'''Confirm on Stop:''' Before stopping a game, Dolphin will display a dialog box asking if the user truly wants to stop the game when this setting is enabled.

'''Use Panic Handlers:''' Lets Dolphin alert users of potentially serious problems. Turning this off may avoid getting constant message boxes, but Dolphin may also crash without warning.

'''Theme:''' Choose different themes that alter the look of Dolphin, chiefly the Toolbar and other icons. Themes are customizable, see Secton X.X for information about adding and using new themes.

'''On-Screen Display Messages:''' Enable Dolphin to show various on-screen messages for events such as loading or saving games.

Dolphin has two tabs for hotkey configuration, General and State Saves. The first group of hotkeys deals with common functions in Dolphin such as starting a game or taking a screenshot. The second group deals exclusively with saving and loading save states (see Section 5.1 for more details). To edit a hotkey, simply click the button next to the hotkey's name. Dolphin will wait for 3 seconds for any input. If the user enters no input then the hotkey's value will remain unchanged. The Enter key clears the value for the hotkey. Modifiers such as Shift, Alt, and Ctrl can form combinations with other keys as well.

'''DSP Emulator Engine:''' Determines how Dolphin will emulate the Gamecube/Wii CPU. The available values are as follows:

*DSP HLE emulation – Executes Gamecube/Wii DSP ucodes using high level emulation. This option is the fastest and least demanding for computers. Most games under this option produce accurate audio, except in a handful of special cases, thus HLE audio is generally recommended over LLE audio.

'''DSP on Dedicated Thread:''' Allows Dolphin to process audio on a separate thread. When using the DSP LLE recompiler or interpreter, this option usually results in a speedup depending on the game and hardware. Various issues may occur with this option enabled for DSP HLE emulation, although it may help under certain circumstances as well. Generally, it is recommended to enable this option for the DSP LLE recompiler or interpreter and to disable this option for DSP HLE emulation.

'''Dump Audio:''' When playing a game, records all audio output to a file. In the user's Dolphin folder, the location of the dump is Dump\Audio.

 

 

'''Latency:''' Sets the latency of the output audio in milliseconds for the OpenAL backend. Increasing this value allows the backend to timestretch the audio if Dolphin is not processing audio at fullspeed. This helps to reduce static, stuttering, and other audio distortion. If the latency is set too high, or Dolphin processes audio too slowly, the audio may seem to play in “slow-motion”.

'''Skip BIOS:''' If checked, Dolphin will use high level emulation to get past the BIOS, therefore BIOS dumps are not required to run Dolphin. If unchecked, Dolphin will try to look for the BIOS files and run them. If the BIOS files are not found and this option is unchecked, Dolphin will use HLE to boot normally and automatically check this option. For info on setting up the BIOS files, refer to Section X.X.

'''Slot A/B:''' Sets the device to emulate for the Gamecube's memory card slots. The values can be <Nothing> for no device, a Dummy (null) device for debugging, a Memory Card, USBGecko, or a Mic. Users can browse for memory card files by clicking on the “...” button.

'''Port 1/2/3/4:''' Sets the device to emulate for the Gamecube's controller ports. The values can be <Nothing> for no device, a Standard Controller for regular Gamecube controllers, Steering Wheel for the Logitech Speed Force Racing Wheel, TaruKonga for the Bongos in the Donkey Konga games, or a GBA for games that use the Gamecube-to-GameBoy Advance connection. See Section X.X for information on setting up the Gamecube-to-GameBoy Advance connection. Only Port 1 can use an AM-Baseboard for Triforce games.

'''Connect USB Keyboard:''' Allows Dolphin to use the current keyboard for Wii games that support USB keyboards.

'''Search Subfolders:''' Allows Dolphin to search any subfolders for a listed directory.

'''Default ISO:''' Specifies the default game file Dolphin will load if no other game is selected to launch. Also used to display an inserted disc in the Wii [[System Menu]].

'''Wii NAND Root:''' Specifies the root directory for Wii saves and the NAND dump. See Section X.X for more details on setting up NAND dumps to work with Dolphin.

'''Backend:''' Chooses between various graphical backends for rendering. The available choices are OpenGL, Direct3D9, Direct3D11, and Software Depending on the computer's hardware and OS. OpenGL and Software Renderer are the only backends available on Linux and OS X; both Direct3D backends are restricted to Windows. Direct3D11 requires a card that supports at least DirectX 10 as well as the necessary drivers. The Software Renderer is not recommended for use outside of debugging; it also does not share many of the same options as the hardware accelerated backends (see Section X.X for using the Software Renderer).

'''Adapter:''' Chooses which GPU to use for hardware accelerated rendering. Users with integrated graphic processors may need to switch which GPU Dolphin uses for higher performance. This option is only available for the Direct3D9 and Direct3D11 backends.

'''Fullscreen Resolution:''' Sets the resolution Dolphin will use when entering fullscreen mode; options vary depending on display size.

'''Aspect Ratio:''' Sets the aspect ratio Dolphin will use when running games. Available options are Auto, 4:3, 16:3, or Stretch to Window.

'''V-Sync:''' Uses vertical syncing to reduce the presence of screen tearing.

'''Use Fullscreen:''' Starts Dolphin in fullscreen mode rather than rendering in a window.

'''Show FPS:''' Displays the current FPS in the top left-hand corner when running games.

'''Auto adjust Window Size:''' Automatically adjusts the window to the current internal resolution (see Section 3.2 for details about the internal resolution).

'''Render to Main Window:''' Sets Dolphin's render window as the main window instead of creating a separate render window. With this option, the main window's game list (see Section 1.2 screenshot) is replaced with a rendering of the game itself, but all of Dolphin's buttons and menus are still visible and accessible.

'''Internal Resolution:''' Specifies the resolution in which Dolphin will render the games. This option will allow graphics to render in HD, in resolutions of 1080p and beyond. Auto (Window Size) will set the Internal Resolution to the same size as Dolphin’s render window. Auto (Multiple of 640x528) will set the IR as a multiple of 640x528 based on the size of Dolphin’s render window. The other options are specific multiples of 640x528. Raising the Internal Resolution depends on the power of the GPU.

'''Anti-Aliasing:''' Specifies the level of anti-aliasing Dolphin will apply. This will reduce the appearance of “jaggies” or sharp, pixelated lines by making them look smoother. The Direct3D11 backend uses MSAA for anti-aliasing, while the Direct3D9 backend uses SSAA for anti-aliasing. The OpenGL backend uses both MSAA and SSAA for anti-aliasing. Anti-aliasing can be turned off completely. Raising anti-aliasing depends on the power of the GPU.

'''Anisotropic Filtering:''' Specifies the level of anisotropic filtering Dolphin will apply. This helps improve the look of textures when viewing them from oblique angles. Most modern GPUs will easily handle the maximum value of 16x.

'''Post-Processing Effect:''' Selects the post-processing shader to apply to games. These will apply various interesting effects on images such as making them look 32-bit, cell-shaded, or in sepia. Post-processing effects are currently only available under the OpenGL backend.

'''Scaled EFB Copy:''' Lets Dolphin scale EFB Copies when EFB Copies are enabled (see Section 3.3). Enhances the look of render-to-texture and post-processing effects when the EFB is scaled through the Internal Resolution.

'''Per-Pixel Lighting:''' Calculates lighting for 3D graphics on a per-pixel basis rather than per-vertex. Checking this option provides more accurate emulation. Most modern GPUs will adequately handle enabling this option.

'''Force Texture Filtering:''' Forces all textures in a game to be filtered, even if the game explicitly prohibits filtering. It may improve the look of textures, however, some games will experience glitches with this option enabled.

'''Widescreen Hack:''' Forces games to use widescreen resolution. Enabling the option may cause graphical glitches to appear and does not work well with every game.

'''Disable Fog:''' Disables fog, aka “distance fog” from being processed at all. May improve the look of some games where Dolphin does not accurately emulate fog or where fog was used to obscure low-resolution assets, however this option does not reflect real hardware behavior.

'''3D Vision:''' Enables 3D stereoscopy effects using Nvidia's 3D Vision if supported by the GPU. This option requires fullscreen to work and is only available for the Direct3D9 and Direct3D11 backends.

'''Skip EFB Access from CPU:''' Ignores any request from the emulated CPU to read or write to the Embedded Frame Buffer. While this may improve the speed for some games, it may also cause gameplay or graphical glitches in others.

'''Ignore Format Changes:''' Ignores any changes to the EFB format. When enabled, Dolphin will not reinterpret existing EFB data to another format. May graphical issues for certain games. For the OpenGL backend, this option is always enabled and cannot be unchecked.

'''EFB Copies:''' Determines how Dolphin will emulate EFB Copies. Games often use EFB Copies for render-to-texture effects and post-processing. Disabling EFB Copies altogether will disable these effects. Dolphin will emulate EFB Copies with two methods:

*RAM – Dolphin will download encoded EFB Copies from the GPU’s VRAM to RAM for decoding, and eventual reupload back to VRAM. This method is more accurate than Texture and emulates the effect used by EFB Copies more accurately, however, it can be slower and more demanding on hardware.

 

Texture caching can be enabled when EFB Copies are set to RAM. This may improve speed but may also slightly reduce its accuracy.

'''Texture Cache Accuracy:''' Determines the amount of samples of a texture Dolphin will take to generate a hash for the texture cache. Moving the slide closer to Safe increases the amount of samples taken, allowing Dolphin to more accurately detect texture changes and possibly reduce graphical glitches. Moving the slide closer to Fast reduces the amount of samples taken, which may not detect texture changes as accurately. It is recommended to keep this option on Fast since most games play without any noticeable errors; use Safe only when specified.

*Real – Dolphin will process External Frame Buffer emulation in RAM. This option closely emulates real hardware output and may lower the overall graphical quality, even when enhancements like Internal Resolution and anti-aliasing have been raised.

'''Cache Display Lists:''' Allows Dolphin to maintain a cache of display lists – series of graphical commands sent to the emulated GPU – for possible speed-ups. It can cause frequent crashes, however.

'''Disable Alpha Pass:''' Allows Dolphin to disable destination alpha used by some games’ effects.

'''OpenCL Texture Decoder:''' Allows Dolphin to use the OpenCL texture decoder over the default texture decoder. This option will use GPU resources for texture decoding. In its current state, the OpenCL texture

decoder is slower than the default texture decoder and unlikely to provide noticeable speedups.

'''Hacked Buffer Upload:''' Uses a hacked upload technique to stream vertices. The OpenGL specification actually forbids this method; it may produce heavy graphical glitches, however, it usually results in a speed-up, especially for Nvidia GPUs using OpenGL. If no graphical glitches occur with this option enabled, it is recommended to leave it checked.

'''Enable Wireframe:''' Allows Dolphin to render the scene as wireframe.

'''Texture Overlay Format:''' Modifies texture in-game to display their encoding format. Dump Textures: Dumps any textures generated by Dolphin in the user’s Dump\Texture\<game_id> folder as TGA files.

'''Dump EFB Target:''' Dumps the EFB copies generated by Dolphin in the user’s Dump\Textures folder.

'''Free Look:''' Allows the user to freely manipulate the game’s camera. Holding down the mouse’s right button while moving the mouse will pan the camera around. Holding down the Shift key while pressing one of the WASD keys will move the camera forward, left, backward, or right respectively by a set step distance. This step distance can be changed by pressing Shift + (0-9).

'''Frame Dumps use FFV1:''' When Dump Frames is checked, Dolphin will encode the video file using the FFV1 codec.