Dolphin mobile doesn't currently build with the x86_64 recompiler inside of it. At least one of you wanted to know why it hasn't been added yet.
The Dolphin Mobile UI is actually even set up so when the x86_64 recompiler is built and added to the APK, it will automatically show up on these x86_64 devices.
Let's go through the list of problems to determine what is needed to be done to get the recompiler working on Android.
Many Gentoo and Arch users have noticed this issue because it immediately throws an error about being unable to get memory in the lower 2GB range and then promptly crashing out. Android will hit this same issue.
Now you know the problem, and cry why won't I fix it? There's a couple of reasons for that.
There are a couple of Android devices that are available(at the time of posting) that can potentially run Dolphin Mobile once the PIC issue is fixed.
Minor update to this since I posted a link to this on Reddit.
I've checked all of the x86 Android devices on the market and currently none of them run a 64bit userspace.
So even though the hardware is capable of x86_64, the userspace is only set up to run 32bit x86 applications.
So until that problem is resolved, there isn't even a chance of Dolphin running on these x86 devices, because we dropped support for 32bit devices quite a while ago.
[/Edit]
So in particular one user was berating me about "just try it on the Nexus Player." I have no need to, I already know what the result is going to be. It's going to load the game, throw an error in logcat and then promptly crash.
This is why Dolphin Mobile doesn't have the x86_64 recompiler yet.
The Dolphin Mobile UI is actually even set up so when the x86_64 recompiler is built and added to the APK, it will automatically show up on these x86_64 devices.
Let's go through the list of problems to determine what is needed to be done to get the recompiler working on Android.
- PIC (Position Independent Code) in the x86_64 recompilers (CPU, DSP LLE, Vertex Loader)
Many Gentoo and Arch users have noticed this issue because it immediately throws an error about being unable to get memory in the lower 2GB range and then promptly crashing out. Android will hit this same issue.
Now you know the problem, and cry why won't I fix it? There's a couple of reasons for that.
- I don't like x86 (x86_64 included in that)
- It's a decent chunk of work and I don't have time for that.
- I already maintain two architectures myself, and you can see how one is in the middle of dying.
There are a couple of Android devices that are available(at the time of posting) that can potentially run Dolphin Mobile once the PIC issue is fixed.
- Nexus Player
- Nokia N1 (Hard to find outside of China, not impossible)
- Dell Venue 10 7000 (Not yet available, will be the end of this month)
- Dell Venue 8 7000 (Running Android 4.4, will get the 5.0 update soon)
- Maybe some other minor ones. I tend to ignore x86 Android devices.
Minor update to this since I posted a link to this on Reddit.
I've checked all of the x86 Android devices on the market and currently none of them run a 64bit userspace.
So even though the hardware is capable of x86_64, the userspace is only set up to run 32bit x86 applications.
So until that problem is resolved, there isn't even a chance of Dolphin running on these x86 devices, because we dropped support for 32bit devices quite a while ago.
[/Edit]
So in particular one user was berating me about "just try it on the Nexus Player." I have no need to, I already know what the result is going to be. It's going to load the game, throw an error in logcat and then promptly crash.
This is why Dolphin Mobile doesn't have the x86_64 recompiler yet.