Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

This is a list of the options Dolphin currently provides. I'll try to explain each option, what it does, what the risk(s) is of enabling/disabling it is/are and which advantage(s) it provides:

Dolphin Configuration - General


Enable Dual Core (speed up)
Only useful if you have more than one CPU core

What it does:
Uses multiple threads on two CPU cores instead of one for higher processing speed

Advantage:
Major speedup for all games.

Disadvantage:
Really small chance of incompatibilities with games or causing crashes.


Enable Idle Skipping (speedup)

What it does:


Advantage:
Major speedup for all games.

Disadvantage:
Really small chance of incompatibilities with games or causing crashes.


Enable Cheats

What it does:
Makes people hate you. At least if its used online. Which is not possible with Dolphin. YAY!

Advantage:
Do whatever you want

Disadvantage:
Spoiler, glitches, crashes, faggotree


Framelimit

What it does:
Limits the framerate to a certain number (frames per second). Can be used to set the max game speed to 100%(full speed) instead of going faster

Advantage:
May limit games to run at the intended speed

Disadvantage:
Only partially compatible with vsync, which sets - if enabled - the upper limit for max fps


HLE the IPL (recommended)

What it does:
Uses IPL(GameCube BIOS) if available. ipl.bin should be in \Sys\GC\<region>

Advantage:
Allows you to play the GameCube logo on game startup

Disadvantage:
-


Enable OpenCL
Requires a OpenCl 1.x compatible graphics card and driver

What it does:
Uses your graphics card to decode texture

Advantage:
Major speed up for some games (eg Metroid Prime 2)

Disadvantage:
May be inaccurate for some games and result in graphical glitches (eg Eternal Darkness)


CPU Emulator Engine: Interpreter (VERY slow)

What it does:
Translates game code into code that is supported by your CPU and then executes it

Advantage:
Highest game compatibility

Disadvantage:
Unplayably slow


CPU Emulator Engine: JIT Recompiler (recommended)

What it does:
Recompiles the game code and then executes it

Advantage:
Fast and reliable

Disadvantage:
W.I.P., buggy and incomplete


CPU Emulator Engine: JITIL experimental recompiler

What it does:
Recompiles(optimized) the game code and then executes it

Advantage:
Might be faster than JIT

Disadvantage:
W.I.P., pretty buggy and incomplete


Lock threads to cores

What it does:
Each thread can only use one specific CPU core

Advantage:
Might be slightly faster

Disadvantage:
or slightly slower depending on the game and CPU


DSPLLE on thread
Only relevant in connection with the Dolphin DSP-LLE (Audio) Plugin.

What it does:
Runs DSP-LLE on a dedicated thread (not recommended).

Advantage:
Slightly faster

Disadvantage:
Audio skipping and terrible synchronization




Dolphin Configuration - Display


Fullscreen Display Resolution

What it does:
Defines the display resolution in fullscreen mode on your primary monitor

Advantage:
-

Disadvantage:
-


Window Size

What it does:
Defines the display resolution in windowed mode

Advantage:
-

Disadvantage:
-


Start Renderer in Fullscreen

What it does:
Starts the game in fullscreen mode instead of windowed mode

Advantage:
Fills the whole monitor, no more window frame

Disadvantage:
Takes up the whole monitor


Hide Mouse Cursor

What it does:
Hides your mouse cursor when hovering over the game

Advantage:
No annoying mouse cursor in your game

Disadvantage:
You loose track of where your mouse cursor is


Render to Main Window

What it does:
Displays the game inside the main window of Dolphin

Advantage:
No secondary dolphin window on game start

Disadvantage:
No secondary dolphin window on game start



Confirm On Stop

What it does:
Asks again if you really want to stop the game when trying to Stop the game or closing Dolphin altogether

Advantage:
No accidental closing of Dolphin and your game

Disadvantage:
Annoying


Use Panic Handlers

What it does:
Displays game errors in a popup on game crash or not supported/erroneous instructions used by the game

Advantage:
Provides information on the bug or incompatibility of Dolphin for the developers

Disadvantage:
Annoying


Theme

What it does:
Choose one of four different Dolphin skins

Advantage:
Make it look different

Disadvantage:
You might can't decide


Game List Language

What it does:
Defines what language to display of the game in your game list. Does not set the language of the game

Advantage:
Display description and name of the game as you know and can understand it

Disadvantage:
Not all languages are available for each game(-> no text at all). Depends on the game itself


Hotkeys

What it does:
Define hotkeys (key combinations) for toggling between fullscreen and windowed mode, pausing and unpausing the game, stopping the game and (re)connecting wiimotes

Advantage:
Quick

Disadvantage:
-





Dolphin Configuration - Gamecube


System Language

What it does:
Sets the GameCube system language and thus also the game language if available

Advantage:
Playing in your language of choice

Disadvantage:
-


Slot A/B

What it does:
Choose your type of memory card. <Nothing> for no card inserted, Memory Card and its path for proper saving ingame or Dummy for placebo card(acts as a memory card, but doesn't save anything)

Advantage:
Keeping savegames...

Disadvantage:
...or not


SP1

What it does:
Sets what is connected to the (emulated) addon port of the NGC for devices like BBA(Broadband Adapter), AM-Baseboard(Triforce motherboard) or a Dummy device

Advantage:
Might widen the options for games using these kinds of hardware addons(like Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II)

Disadvantage:
Buggy and possibly unstable as BBA and AM-Baseboard are not fully emulated


Port 1/2/3/4

What it does:
Sets what is connected to the (emulated) controller ports of the NGC for devices like the gamecontroller or GBA(-Adapter)

Advantage:
Might widen the options for games using these kinds of hardware addons(like Legend Of Zelda - Four Swords Adventure)

Disadvantage:
Buggy and possibly unstable as the GBA-Adapter is not fully emulated





Dolphin Configuration - Wii


Sensor Bar Position

What it does:
Set the location of your sensor bar

Advantage:
Position of choice

Disadvantage:
-


Enable Screen Saver (burn-in reduction)

What it does:
Use Nintendo Wii's automated screen saver option

Advantage:
Minimize display wearing (aka burn-in reduction)

Disadvantage:
-



Enable Progressive Scan

What it does:
Progressive instead of interlaced video output if it were a real console

Advantage:
-

Disadvantage:
-


Use EuRGB60 Mode (PAL60)

What it does:
Uses the (european) 24bit RGB(red green blue, 8bit each) color-formatting at 60Hz, a video-encoding standard known as PAL60

Advantage:
Supports more games

Disadvantage:
-



Aspect Ratio

What it does:
Optimal Aspect Ratio for your kind of computer monitor (4:3 or 16:9)

Advantage:
No stretching or borders

Disadvantage:
There might still be small borders for displays that are not 16:9 or 4:3 (like 5:4 or 16:10)


System Language

What it does:
Sets the Wii system language and thus also the game language if available

Advantage:
Playing in your language of choice

Disadvantage:
-


Insert SD Card

What it does:
Emulate an inserted SD card

Advantage:
Use SD card features (eg Wii Menu, Super Smash Bros. Brawl)

Disadvantage:
-


Connect USB Keyboard

What it does:
Emulates a connected USB keyboard to type with your computer keyboard

Advantage:
Use your computer keyboard for typing in games that support this feature(eg Monster Hunter Tri)

Disadvantage:
-




Dolphin Configuration - Paths


ISO Directories

What it does:
Set the path to directories containing Wii and Gamecube games in the supported formats(.iso, .gcz, .wad) in order to use the Dolphin game list

Advantage:
Faster to start games and it has cute little game icons

Disadvantage:
Dolphin takes longer to start as it scans the folders and files you set


ISO Directories

What it does:
Scans all sub-directories located in the iso directories paths you set

Advantage:
Sorting games in a folder structure doesn't require you to add each single folder

Disadvantage:
Takes longer to scan if there are lots of subfolders and files


Default ISO

What it does:
Set your default game of choice

Advantage:
Easy and fast to start your favorite game

Disadvantage:
-


DVD Root

What it does:
Set the path to your (emulated) DVD drive to directly play games

Advantage:
No need to rip already burned game to your computer

Disadvantage:
Slower and does only work with burned copies or virtual drives and not original game discs


Apploader

What it does:
???

Advantage:
???

Disadvantage:
???





Dolphin Configuration - Plugins


Graphics

What it does:
Select your GFX plugin. Either Dolphin Direct3D9(Windows only), Dolphin Direct3D 11(Windows only), Dolphin OpenGL or Dolphin Software Renderer

Advantage:
Choose compatible plugin for optimal performance

Disadvantage:
-


Graphics: Dolphin Direct3D9
Requires Windows, a DirectX 9 compatible graphics card and latest DirectX 9 installed

What it does:
Uses DirectX 9 instruction set for rendering games

Advantage:
Faster than OpenGL plugin

Disadvantage:
Buggier than OpenGL plugin


Graphics: Dolphin Direct3D 11
Requires Windows Vista or 7, a Direct3D10 compatible graphics card and latest DirectX 11 installed

What it does:
Uses DirectX 11 instruction set for rendering games

Advantage:
Faster than OpenGL and Direct3D9 plugin

Disadvantage:
Buggier than OpenGL and Direct3D9 plugin, incomplete plugin


Graphics: Dolphin OpenGL
Requires a OpenGL 2.x compatible graphics card and latest graphics card driver installed for OpenGL 2.1 support

What it does:
Uses OpenGL 2.1 instruction set for rendering games

Advantage:
Highest Compatibility

Disadvantage:
Slower than Direct3D9 or 11


Graphics: Dolphin Software Renderer

What it does:
Renders games using only software

Advantage:
Doesn't require a certain graphics card

Disadvantage:
Very slow, low compatibility


DSP

What it does:
Select your audio plugin. Either Dolphin DSP-HLE Plugin or Dolphin DSP-LLE Plugin for DSP(Digital Signal Processing)

Advantage:
Choose compatible plugin for optimal performance

Disadvantage:
-


DSP: Dolphin DSP-HLE Plugin

What it does:
Uses HLE(High-Level Emulation) for all the different audio streams and formats

Advantage:
Faster

Disadvantage:
Lower audio compatibility


DSP: Dolphin DSP-LLE Plugin
Requires dsp_coef.bin and dsp_rom.bin in \Sys\GC

What it does:
Uses GameCube's original LLE(Low-Level Emulation) code for all the different audio streams and formats

Advantage:
Higher audio compatibility

Disadvantage:
Slower


Wiimote

What it does:
Select your Wii Remote plugin. Either Dolphin Wiimote or Dolphin Wiimote New Incomplete

Advantage:
Choose compatible plugin for optimal performance with Wii games

Disadvantage:
-


Wiimote: Dolphin Wiimote

What it does:
Use older Dolphin Wiimote plugin to simulate a wiimote or connect a real Wii Remote

Advantage:
It works

Disadvantage:
-


Wiimote: Dolphin Wiimote New Incomplete

What it does:
Use newer Dolphin Wiimote plugin to simulate a wiimote or connect a real Wii Remote

Advantage:
Easier to configure and possibility to use IR on analog stick for emulated Wii Remote mode

Disadvantage:
Might not work, incomplete





Graphics Plugins - Dolphin Direct3D 11

Graphics Plugins - Dolphin Direct3D 11 - Direct3D


Adapter

What it does:
Select which graphics card is to be used for games via Dolphin

Advantage:
Choose fastest graphics card of optimal performance

Disadvantage:
-


V-Sync

What it does:
Force V-Sync. Graphics card will wait until a full frame is displayed until it sends the next image to avoid any tearing

Advantage:
Remove tearing

Disadvantage:
FPS limited by the monitors frequency(often 60Hz -> 60fps). Performance hit


Widescreen Hack

What it does:
Widens the Field of View(FOV) of the game

Advantage:
Widescreen gaming even if the game doesn't support 16:9(mainly for 3D GameCube games)

Disadvantage:
Aspect ratio has to be forced to 16:9. Glitches might appear in the new visible areas. Menu and HUD will most likely be stretched and loose their original aspect ratio. Huge hit on performance


Aspect Ratio

What it does:
Choose your favorite Aspect Ratio for unstretched gameplay. Auto will only work

Advantage:
Fix erroneous aspect ratios for certain resolutions.

Disadvantage:
Auto will only work properly with Widescreen Hack disabled


Enable CPU -> EFB access

What it does:
Allow the CPU to access the EFB cache, which is partially in charge of the graphics

Advantage:
Certain EFB effects need this on to be rendered properly.

Disadvantage:
Performance loss. A few games have graphical issues with this enabled.


Enable Safe Texture Cache

What it does:
Protect graphic texture from being accidentally overwritten or changed

Advantage:
Avoids game crashes(Metroid Prime) or strangely colored textures(Eternal Darkness)

Disadvantage:
Small(Fast) to huge(Safest) performance hit. Enabling/Disabling this feature ingame will result in strangely colored textures until they reload.


This is a work in progress. More tomorrow. If you know what to write for those with ???, please pm me and ill edit and add it. Thanks

Something like this should go in the non-existent Dolphin help file. :p
Or they could be tooltips right in the config.

awesome thread, my vote for stick since its really usefull

Quote:DSPLLE on thread

What it does:
???

Advantage:
???

Disadvantage:
???

What it does: Gives the audio it's own thread/core to run on.

Advantages: Very small speedup if your using the lle audio plugin.

Disadvantages: Usually creates terrible synchronizing problems.

Quote:Lock threads to cores

What it does:
Each thread can only use one specific CPU core

Advantage:
???

Disadvantage:
Slower

Not necessarily. Depending on your cpu it can either result in a very small speedup, very small slowdown, or no difference at all. It all depends on what cpu you have.

Quote:HLE the IPL (recommended)

What it does:
???

Advantage:
???

Disadvantage:
???

What it does: Allows you to use the gamecube bios.

Advantages: Allows you to use the gamecube bios.

Disadvantages: None.





If this thread does get stickied I'll help you with the rest.

Here are the explaination http://www.dolphin-emu.org/configuration...ation.html

(08-03-2010, 07:41 PM)admin89 Wrote: [ -> ]Here are the explaination http://www.dolphin-emu.org/configuration...ation.html

doesn't cover all options


and thanks to NaturalViolence. added and edited those you mentioned

ill cover each plugin later on...

Please explain me more about Compress and Decompress ISO file... what it does, the benefits... the disadvantages ...

(08-03-2010, 12:49 PM)Oehr Wrote: [ -> ]Wiimote: Dolphin Wiimote New Incomplete

What it does:
Use newer Dolphin Wiimote plugin to simulate a wiimote or connect a real Wii Remote

Advantage:
"easier to configure and possibility to use IR on analog stick"

Disadvantage:
Might not work, incomplete

my contribution

(08-04-2010, 05:42 AM)Diathorus Wrote: [ -> ]Please explain me more about Compress and Decompress ISO file... what it does, the benefits... the disadvantages ...

not really part of dolphin settings... but i might come to that anyway

added DX11 first page of the plugin. i will not work on this for around one whole week as im on vacation. expect a finished one sometime after that