Few General Questions about Dolphin

[sl23]

I simply copied this as it was closed due to me being accused of 'Ranting'! Sorry if I came across that way, really that's not how I meant to sound, I'm really just pointing something out and asking for help. I just thought it a bit harsh that I couldn't post. Though It was indeed my mistake for posting in the wrong place - oops!


Hi there.

I just joined the forum to ask a couple of questions...

I've tried searching the forum, and the web, for my queries quite extensively looking at others posts but nothing comes up as my questions are specific.

Thanks.


Well, here goes...

I have a second-hand Acer x1300 (spec below) and play GC games using Dolphin v3 x32. Only played 3 games Mario Sunshine, WindWaker and Ocarina of time. Sunshine and WindWaker are a little slow but playable whereas Ocarina sound is constantly fluctuating and very slow. I know little about playing games on PC, or about graphics cards, good/bad ones etc. Though am fairly proficient at sorting problems out.

Would the speed be improved by getting a graphics card or does the CPU need upgrading?
Which is the more important... CPU or Graphics card?
Though primarily running GC games I'd like to use my Wii discs so would need a powerful Graphics card I assume. Can two cards be used to improve performance?
Can GC/Wii discs be made to run directly from the DVD drive rather than converting to ISO? Does that improve compatibility/performance?

Also, I can't figure out why on two seperate 64bit systems Win7/Vista HP Dolphin x64 won't start. 0xc000007b error keeps appearing. Tried installing the Visual C++ files as suggested here but nothing has worked.

After reading this I'm astounded that you actually don't supply these files, or give a readme with EXACT links and cautions to avoid this sort of thing. When you run a program and it gives an error that a .dll is missing, you're first instinct is to d/l and install it, yes? Well surely if that is going to cause a problem it should be made VERY CLEAR not to do so. But now I know it can cause this error. I'm not having a go but it is a bit unclear for the less technical to get to grips with this stuff. I know very little about PC's but get by. Things like Java, Visual runtimes etc are a pain in the ass! To me it's extremely unclear which is the right version sometimes.

For example, after attempting to get Dolphin x32 to run I got .dll errors. I installed them, obviously not knowing better, then find out I need DirectXv9c or something! But the link I came across on the Dolphin site sent me to a general area to d/l a specific version. WTF?! On a forum post it was said to use the latest installer? Again confused! Why? Because, in my mind, when software gets updated it supersedes all previous versions, yes? so Win7 supersedes Vista. People still use Vista but still Win7 is superior in many ways, so it is with all software. So I'm curious why use, what appears to me, an old version of DirectX, ie v9c when v11 appears to be the latest? If v9c is the latest version compatible with how GC/Wii games work (I know nothing about programming so I'm trying to summise how it may work) why say to use the latest installer that would surely install DXv11? Also, I need the Redistributable package as my x1300 has no connection to internet at the moment.

I'm sort of requesting that all necessary files could be linked to directly on a single page on your site to make it easier for those less knowledgeable of us. A short description would be helpful as to it's use, which OS or x32/x64 it's for etc.

Acer x1300 spec:
Summary:

Operating System:
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit
Installation Date: 29 August 2012, 17:48
Serial Number: X9C6H-8W44C-G6K7C-DWF2K-QYWBM
.NET Frameworks installed
v3.0
v2.0

CPU:
AMD Phenom X3 8550 39 °C
Cores 3
Threads 3
Instructions MMX (+), 3DNow! (+), SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4A, AMD 64
Toliman 65nm Technology

RAM:
3.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 399MHz (5-5-5-18)
Memory:
Type DDR2
Size 3072 MBytes
Channels # Dual
DRAM Frequency 400.0 MHz
1.8v

Motherboard:
Acer WMCP78M (Socket AM2 ) 51 °C

Graphics:
Philips FTV (1920x1080@60Hz)
256MB GeForce 8200 (Acer Incorporated [ALI])
GPU C77/C78

Hard Drives:
298GB Hitachi HDT721032SLA380 ATA Device (SATA) 44 °C

Optical Drives:
ATAPI DVD A DH16A6S ATA Device

Audio:
NVIDIA HDMI Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio

Network:
You are not connected to the internet

[LordVador]

Your questions have been answered a thousand times. If you had searched a little bit more you would've found what you were looking for. But nevermind.

Would the speed be improved by getting a graphics card or does the CPU need upgrading?

You should upgrade both

Which is the more important... CPU or Graphics card?

Dolphin is more CPU dependent

I'd like to use my Wii discs so would need a powerful Graphics card I assume

A decent and recent GPU is needed
http://forums.dolphin-emu.org/showthread.php?tid=18414

Can two cards be used to improve performance?

No

Can GC/Wii discs be made to run directly from the DVD drive rather than converting to ISO?

They can. But GC discs need a compatible reader

Does that improve compatibility/performance?

It does not. You'd better dump your games

I'm astounded that you actually don't supply these files, or give a readme with EXACT links and cautions to avoid this sort of thing

I guess this does the job
http://wiki.dolphin-emu.org/index.php?title=FAQ

[neobrain]

*sigh* you just posted the wrong link. You need the SP1 of the runtime.

The problem is that we have no control over the idiotic FAQs on the wiki. Well, technically we do but we have better alternative FAQs and can't remove the one from the wiki.

[LordVador]

The problem is that we have no control over the idiotic FAQs on the wiki. Well, technically we do but we have better alternative FAQs and can't remove the one from the wiki.

I suppose this will be rectified on the "new" site

[sl23]

Ok, now I feel stupid for not being able to find that FAQ page! Thanks for the quick reply and it's exactly what I hoped for These extras, are they updated or does Dolphin require these older versions? I assume they are older due to the '2010' in the name.

I realise there are loads of questions regarding types of CPU + GPU but I'm confused about the whole history of these parts. I know that ideally i'd want an i7 though not sure which is the best (also depending on what I can afford). AMD gets me even more lost. Graphics are about as coherent to me as AMD CPU's. I simply don't understand the whole naming scheme so can't make an informed choice as to which is best for my budget. I simply don't know what is meant by 'decent' or 'powerful' as they are relative terms dependant on the progress of Dolphin and the Hardware. It's ever changing which makes it more awkward to get to grips with.

I was given an nVidia geforce 6200 card for my last PC and thought that was good, but it turned out to be old! Arrggh!!

Is it just me? I recently bought an Acer S3 with i5 and expected it to be a lot faster than my old Acer 5920 but so far I don't see a great improvement! I principally bought it for making music though, but then came across Dolphin

Thanks for your help

[LordVador]

Is it just me? I recently bought an Acer S3 with i5 and expected it to be a lot faster than my old Acer 5920 but so far I don't see a great improvement! I principally bought it for making music though, but then came across Dolphin

Thanks for your help

Your CPU is too weak. The clock speed is too weak. 2.0GHz (a little bit more with TurboBoost) isn't enough.
My old 760 for example (2.8GHz, with TurboBoost 3.3GHz) isn't enough for a lot of games. An overclock is useful .
Depends on the level of playability you're ready to bear, if you use LLE, the games you're playing, etc

[Shonumi]

The problem is that we have no control over the idiotic FAQs on the wiki. Well, technically we do but we have better alternative FAQs and can't remove the one from the wiki.

Well, we can't remove the FAQ page (unless we just change it to a blank page, to get the same effect) but we can edit it just like everyone else. Granted, some know-nothing might come along and revert the changes, I'm sure we could get the them to stay, especially if we asked some of the regular wiki guys (MaJoR for example) to keep it that way.

@OP - For the CPU, if you want to play Dolphin a lot, you should probably stick with CPUs from Intel. Dolphin use 3 major threads at most (with LLE on Thread) but it's otherwise a going to use two cores. An i7 will only be useful to you if you want to do other things that require that many threads (processing video for example).

Currently an overclocked i5-3750K is recommended if you're looking to maximize Dolphin's performance. You can also go for a cheaper CPU but overclock it with an ASRock Z77 motherboard. You'll need a cooler for either though.

For the GPU, think about the level of quality you want. Do you want to play in HD? Do you care if the resolution native GC/Wii or do you want to play at 2x, 3x, or 4x that size? Depending on what you want in this category, take a look at this thread for a rough estimate of what some GPUs are capable of, pick a model, then shop around for a price that's right for you.

[sl23]

Thanks for the advice peeps

As regards quality, I'm using it on my Acer x1300 connected to a Philips 42" Ambilight TV. Currently I only play Mario Sunshine and Wind Waker which are playable though there's a noticeable slowdown it's not too bad. Dolphin's settings are default, I think, I did mess a bit with them to see if I could improve things but reverted back as much as I could to get the speed back up a little.

I'm only running Dolphin in a window which is about the size of 23" 4:3 TV which is fine for me. All I really want is a speed increase, not Supersize HD Perfection

[DefenderX]

Then the Core i5-3570k + Z77 MoBo + decent CPU cooler for overclocking will do the job.

[sl23]

Ok thanks for the info it's a great help. Would this allow me to play any GC without slowdown or just certain ones? Would I need a graphics card in addition to the MoBo/CPU?