# Dolphin Emulator

Dolphin is a Nintendo Gamecube, Wii and Triforce emulator, currently supporting the x86, AMD64 and ARM architectures. Dolphin is available for Linux, MacOSX (intel-based), MS Windows and Android. It is an Open Source and community-developed project. Dolphin was the first Gamecube and Wii emulator, and currently the only one capable of playing commercial games.

## Installation

Install dolphin-emu from the community repositories, or dolphin-emu-git, the git version, from the AUR. For Wayland support, install dolphin-emu-wayland-git.

## Configuration

Note: Dolphin is a resource-heavy application, so expect not all games to run properly. See the reason here.

While no additional configuration is needed for the emulator to run (it is preconfigured with the default settings), altering the settings can improve performance and graphics alike. Settings are split to three main sections, Config, Graphics and DSP.

### Config section

On the General tab, check Enable Dual Core and Enable Idle Skipping. Enabling or not the cheats is a personal choice. Keep in mind that a real man never cheats. The frame limit should be set to "Audio", so that it works with games from all regions. The CPU emulation engine should be left as JIT Recompiler. Only check "Force console as NTSC-J" if you intend to play Japanese games.

On the "Interface" tab, all options are personal choices. Choose what suits you best.

On the Audio tab, you get the DSP section's screen; setting it up now means you won't have to do it later. See the DSP settings part below.

The next two tabs are not very important; the Gamecube tab has settings about connected accessories, such as memory cards, and the only remarkable Wii tab option is the "Aspect Ratio" drop-down list. Either set it to 16:9 or 4:3, depending on your needs.

On the final tab, "Paths", you can set your ISO directories. The directory of game ISOs can also be set by clicking browse from the home screen, but here you can configure other things as well, such as the Search Subfolders option.

### Graphics section

On the "General" tab, choose OpenGL from the backend drop-down list. Set the "Display" and "Other" settings to your desired configuration. V-sync is useful but it slows the emulation down. The "render to main window" option improves the experience aesthetically.

On the "Enhancements" tab are the options that can improve graphics. While they result to great output, they can slow down emulation to the point of making games unplayable. Choose the best settings possible, as long as speed remains 100%.

Comparison of options
Option | Performance | Quality
--- | --- | ---
Internal resolution | 1x Native | Auto (Window size)
Anti-aliasing | None | at least 2x
Anisotropic filtering | 1x | at least 2x
Post-Processing Effect | (off) | your choice (see tip below)
Scaled EFB copy | unchecked | checked
Per-Pixel Lightning | unchecked | checked
Force texture filtering, Widescreen Hack, Disable fog | off | your option (recommended: off)

Tip: You can enable stereoscopic 3D by setting Post-processing effect to stereoscopic or stereoscopic2
Warning: Using filters and other ways to improve graphics might break a few games or cause some graphical glitches.

Unless sure what you're doing, the Hacks tab is best left untouched.

Defaults
Option | Value
--- | ---
Skip EFB access from CPU | unchecked
Ignore format changes | checked
EFB copies | texture
Texture cache/ Accuracy | Fast
External frame buffer | disable
Cache display lists | unchecked
Disable destination alpha | unchecked
OpenCL texture decoder | unchecked
OpenMP texture decoder | unchecked
Fast depth calculation | checked (Uncheck if you use stereoscopic 3D)
Vertex streaming hack | unchecked

Similarly, unless sure, leave everything in the Advanced tab unchecked.

### DSP section

Set the DSP emulation engine to

- DSP HLE for speed over accuracy,
- DSP LLE recompiler for better accuracy with the cost of some speed,
- DSP LLE interpreter; accurate but makes everything unplayable. Too slow.

DSP LLE on separate thread improves speed on computers with multi-core CPUs, but might cause audio glitches, and is known to break Zelda ucode games. Audio backend is best set to ALSA.

Note: If you came here from the Config section's link, you should go back now.

## Playing

Warning: Make sure you only use Dolphin for legally obtained self-made disc dumps of games you legally bought. Dolphin was not designed for illegal actions. Act legally as applying laws define. You are responsible for any usage of the emulator that you make.
Note: No links, instructions or tips for obtaining illegal content will be provided on this wiki. No copyright infringement intended.

Click on browse to set a directory of ISOs so that they are shown as a library on Dolphin's default screen. Otherwise just click Open and select your file.

### Dolphin's Wiki

Whenever a game doesn't work properly, make sure you check its page on Dolphin's wiki. Listed there are tips on setting up the emulator for each game, version compatibility charts, testing entries and video previews. Also, if you feel like doing so, you can write your own testing entries for games you tried. This should help fellow Archers or other Linux users.

Here's a Whisker Menu search action command for searching on Dolphin's wiki:

    exo-open --launch WebBrowser https://wiki.dolphin-emu.org/index.php?search=%u

Tip: Setting up your keymaps is recommended. Also prefer a gamepad to a keyboard and a mouse. For a map of the GameCube gamepad, see here. Having fun while playing is recommended.

## Troubleshooting

### Games play too fast

Make sure to set framelimit to Audio. If it doesn't work try setting it to 60 for NTSC games or 50 for PAL ones.

### Emulation is too slow

If you're using an nVidia graphics card, on nvidia-settings change the powermizer to "Prefer maximum performance". Check your CPU's governor. Kill unnecessary processes. Disabling compositing also helps.

### Dolphin crashes at certain times

On 64bit processors, Dolphin crashes when loading a game after having played another. This also randomly happens on menus. To solve this, build Dolphin manually. Once you've downloaded the source, go to `(path to source)/dolphin-emu/src/dolphin/Source/Core/Core/Src/` and edit CoreParameter.cpp Edit line 98 from `bJITLoadStorePairedOff = false;` to `bJITLoadStorePairedOff = true;`. You will also notice the comment saying `// XXX not 64-bit clean`. Save the file, and then compile the package normally.

## See also

Note: The Arch Linux wiki and its users are not responsible for any damage, misuse or illegal action caused by following instructions from webpages hyperlinked bellow.

- Dolphin's performance guide.
- Dolphin's FAQ
- Dolphin's wiki entry for legally obtaining game dumps.

Categories:

- Gaming
- Emulators