Looking for inspiration on what to play...

[Handz_Gaming]

Hi all

New to the forum here but long time Dolphin fan!

Recently I copied most of my Gamecube and Wii games onto my PC to play on Dolphin. I've already checked out a few and they're running really well, couldn't be happier. However I'm co-running a YouTube channel where I'll be posting various comparison videos of these games and I would like to gauge what level of interest the games have on the Dolphin community.

As I've only just signed up to the forum, I won't go posting links back to the channel or videos just yet as I don't want to get flagged up as a spammer! The first video I did was on Super Mario Bros. Wii but I would like to know what games really show off the Dolphin for those who aren't familiar with it. I'm keeping the videos down to about 5 minutes each, so they're not long lets plays but more of a taster of what Dolphin can do. There are already a ton of videos for some of the more popular Wii games, so I wanna do some on games that may not have been covered as much.

Anyways, here's the full list!

A Boy and his Blob
Baten Kaitos
Battalion Wars 2
Conduit 2
Donkey Kong Country Returns
Eternal Darkness
F-Zero GX
Fire Emblem
Geist
Ghost Squad
House of the Dead: Overkill
007 Nightfire
Link's Crossbow Training
Luigi's Mansion
Madworld
Mario Kart: Double Dash
Mario Strikers
Metroid Prme Trilogy
Metal Gear Soild
New Super Mario Bros
Pandora's Tower
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Pikmin
Punch Out
Resident Evil
Resident Evil Code Veronica X
Sin & Punishment
Second Sight
Sonic Adventure 2
Sonic Heros
Star Fox Adventures
Star Fox Assault
Star Wars: Rebel Strike
Star Wars: Rogue Leader
Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2
Super Mario Sunshine
Super Monkey Ball 1 & 2
Super Paper Mario
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004
TimeSpiltters 2
TimeSpiltters Future Perfect
Turok Evolution
Viewtiful Joe
Xenoblade Chronicles

Thanks in advance and also a massive thanks to the Dolphin devs for such amazing work!

[Admentus]

Ocarina of Time in HD, no question about it. Best game ever made by mankind. Anyone claiming otherwise never played a real game. You are also missing Twilight Princess, Majora's Mask and Wind Waker. Everything you basically need in gaming is Zelda. But Mario is great too!

[Handz_Gaming]

(10-06-2016, 07:30 AM)Admentus Wrote: Ocarina of Time in HD, no question about it. Best game ever made by mankind. Anyone claiming otherwise never played a real game. You are also missing Twilight Princess, Majora's Mask and Wind Waker. Everything you basically need in gaming is Zelda. But Mario is great too!

Can't disagree with you there Admentus, OOT has to be one of if not the best of all time! 

I didn't copied over my Wii or GC version of Twilight Princess as it already has a proper HD remaster on the Wii U, likewise with The Wind Waker. Majora's Mask and Ocarina also have excellent 3DS remasters as well.

What I might do is give the Master Quest a bash, though that could lend itself to a longer video. Maybe I'll do one of them some time! I've seen on Dolphin that there are some HD texture packs for this as well, so I'll need to get them installed. 

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll drop you a line when I get the video done. 

[themanuel]

DK Country is a feast for the eyes when played on dolphin with 1080p rendering. If you plan to use custom textures, then the Super Mario Sunshine & Galaxy 1/2, Wind Waker and Super Smash Brothers Brawl games with the community created texture packs look incredible. The Wii games I mentioned, all run at 60FPS, whereas the GC ones run at 30FPS. However, there is a 60FPS hack for Sunshine that works very well and takes the game to another level with silky smooth animation. Of course, don't forget the widescreen hack for both of those GC games.

You could also showcase Admentus' fantastic work with texture packs on the Nintendo 64 games to show what can be done with games of Nintendo's first 3D generation.

[Kurausukun]

OOT is very overrated. Majora's Mask will give you a much better time.

[Handz_Gaming]

(10-12-2016, 05:34 AM)themanuel Wrote: DK Country is a feast for the eyes when played on dolphin with 1080p rendering.  If you plan to use custom textures, then the Super Mario Sunshine & Galaxy 1/2, Wind Waker and Super Smash Brothers Brawl games with the community created texture packs look incredible.  The Wii games I mentioned, all run at 60FPS, whereas the GC ones run at 30FPS.  However, there is a 60FPS hack for Sunshine that works very well and takes the game to another level with silky smooth animation.  Of course, don't forget the widescreen hack for both of those GC games.

You could also showcase Admentus' fantastic work with texture packs on the Nintendo 64 games to show what can be done with games of Nintendo's first 3D generation.

Ah DK Country is a good shout, might have to give that a go. Funny enough I've just done a Mario Sunshine video but I didn't know about the 60FPS hack? Do you know how to do this as I'll re-record the video in 60FPS as that would be amazing.

Haven't heard of Admentus though, I'll have to check him out. Already got Project64 running with some HD texture packs, but they seem to just crash the games! 

[Handz_Gaming]

(10-12-2016, 03:14 PM)Kurausukun Wrote: OOT is very overrated. Majora's Mask will give you a much better time.

Careful now, OOT has special place in my heart!  MM is also a classic, though I think the 3DS version has done such a good job of the remake I can't imagine there is much demand for it.

[Admentus]

Who dares to dimish the value of Ocarina of Time? As punishment, I will continue to complete Ocarina of Time in full HD! You have been warned! Ocarina of Time is the greatest product of entertainment every being made by mankind, anyone claiming otherwise could just go back to Facebook and play Farmville. . Majora's Mask is great, but to equal Ocarina of Time? No sir.

Nah, but seriously. It is an old game, way back in 1998. So yeah... I understand it is being outdated, both in game mechanics and graphical presentation. Twilight Princess could actually have beaten Ocarina of Time should the soundtrack, texture quality and optionals such as double damage, double enemy HP, switching mirror mode and GC / Classic controller support were all properly done. Twilight Princess HD managed to fix most of that by actually supporting a Classic Pro Controller, higher textures quality and a real Hero mode, still... It lacks a few improvements.

Well... That is just me wishing the best out of every game. Even OoT has it's own flaws. But nothing that some wonderful AR and Gecko codes can fix (30 FPS, Extended Draw Distance, Double Damage, and so on).

[Handz_Gaming]

(10-13-2016, 12:18 AM)Admentus Wrote: Who dares to dimish the value of Ocarina of Time? As punishment, I will continue to complete Ocarina of Time in full HD! You have been warned! Ocarina of Time is the greatest product of entertainment every being made by mankind, anyone claiming otherwise could just go back to Facebook and play Farmville.

Nah, but seriously. It is an old game, way back in 1998. So yeah... I understand it is being outdated, both in game mechanics and graphical presentation. Twilight Princess could actually have beaten Ocarina of Time should the soundtrack, texture quality and optionals such as double damage, double enemy HP, switching mirror mode and GC / Classic controller support were all properly done. Twilight Princess HD managed to fix most of that by actually supporting a Classic Pro Controller, higher textures quality and a real Hero mode, still... It lacks a few improvements.

Well... That is just me wishing the best out of every game. Even OoT has it's own flaws. But nothing that some wonderful AR and Gecko codes can fix (30 FPS, Extended Draw Distance, Double Damage, and so on).

Oh are you the Admentus who creates the HD packs that was mentioned a minute ago? If so, sorry for not noticing you had already replied on this thread! What is this AR/Gecko codes you mention? I got a feeling that I've only been scratching the surface of Dolphin and there is a whole lot more out there that I haven't discovered yet!

[Admentus]

Ahh yes. The one and only Admentus right here. As you might have guessed I am a massive fan of N64 games (which still are today unparalleled). So yeah, about using codes. Dolphin (just like the actual GameCube and Wii) has support for two different kinds of codes: AR and Gecko.

When you open Dolphin, you can right-click a game to open the properties window, where you can go into the AR Codes or Gecko Codes tab. Dolphin already includes a large amount of AR or Gecko (sometimes both) for most games. Still, a lot of codes are not covered yet and have to be added manually, which is easier for AR since there is a nice Add button. Within the properties window there is a button for Edit Configuration (or something similar) which opens a ini files. This ini files contains all the specfic settings and codes for that particular game version and region.

Back on codes again. When adding codes it is important to keep in mind: the version, region and code type (AR or Gecko). An AR Code for PAL wil most likely not work as a Gecko Code for NTSC-U. If you are for example looking for codes for Super Mario 64, you can find a lot of great codes on the main post here: https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-super-mario-64-hd-texture-pack-v1-4-2016-08-30.

There is a thread for widescreen codes: https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-unofficial-widescreen-development-topic-archive.
Zelda games: https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-ar-codes-for-ocarina-of-time-master-quest-majora-s-mask
FPS: https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-60-fps-master-list or https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-game-modification-60-fps-hacks-and-patches?pid=425044#pid425044.

Feel free to ask if you are looking for a particular code. The best AR and Gecko coders around here on the forums are with no doubt darkludx and gamemasterplc.

So... After this long boring story of how codes work, you might ask yourself why? Well... For Ocarina of Time you can actually change the behaviour of the game for a better experience. Normally this game runs at 20 FPS, but a code can change that to 30 FPS. Normally the view distance isn't that large. Well... A code grants you unlimited view of the map. Want to play hardcore? You can get double damage when being hit.

In closing, Dolphin does what Nintendo doesn't. Really! Want 1080p or even 4k? Dolphin does it! Want higher FPS? Dolphin could do it with the right codes. Want to save your game at any time? Use save states with Dolphin (although, don't overrely on them). Want to have higher quality textures? Dolphin can! So yeah... That is why emulation is to great in a nutshell. It is mostly due hardware limitions of the consoles, the Wii is just 480p since it just lacks the power.