Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

Hi there. Literally just joined and I'm not a hardware person, so please don't ignore if this post if it is unintentionally too vague.

I know you need a powerful CPU to run Dolphin, but I'm not sure if the dual core on my laptop makes that much of a difference.

Game: Zelda Twilight Princes (Gamecube version)
Emulator: Dolphin 4.0
Current speed: Playable, but even in Ordon village, Link moves very slowly. Fighting in Faron Woods is in slow motion really.
Graphics: No issues at all.

Compromise: I'd be willing to give up some texture and extra effects (like seeing the blades of grass fly up where Link runs). Mainly, I'd like Link to move a bit faster. I get 38-41% in Ordon. I can't imagine how bad Hyrule field would be since that where, from what I've read, the real slow down begins.

Here are my specs. If there is a more precise way to capture details (other than System Information Summary, copy/paste, please let me know).

OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name JOHNDOE-PC
System Manufacturer Hewlett-Packard
System Model HP EliteBook 2530p
System Type X86-based PC
Processor Intel® Core™2 Duo CPU U9400 @ 1.40GHz, 1401 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Hewlett-Packard 68PSU Ver. F.13, 12/9/2010
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7601.17514"
User Name JohnDoe-PC\JohnDoe
Time Zone SA Western Standard Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 2.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 1.87 GB
Available Physical Memory 1.17 GB
Total Virtual Memory 3.73 GB
Available Virtual Memory 2.56 GB
Page File Space 1.87 GB

Any advice on configuring Dolphin etc is appreciated. Buying a gaming computer is always the obvious solution, but I'm just looking for suggestions and opinions on what I have on hand for now. Thanks in advance.

Depending on what games you plan to emulate on Dolphin, you don't necessarily need a gaming computer. In your case, you should ideally get a new computer regardless if it's a gaming PC or not, if you're looking to play Dolphin at decent speeds.

Unfortunately, you can't just "give up" certain graphical aspects to improve performance. You can lower the resolution (the Internal Resolution) and Anti-Aliasing to reduce the load on your GPU, but if your CPU is the limiting factor of your performance, Dolphin will still encounter CPU-based slowdowns.

Your CPU was very weak when it came out, and it's severely outdated now. For Dolphin, it's not much good except for very light games (Animal Crossing, Bomberman Blast, Muramasa: The Demon Blade). Ideally, you should consider a budget and the games you want to play, then we can help you pick out hardware from there.

(03-09-2014, 04:19 AM)Shonumi Wrote: [ -> ]Depending on what games you plan to emulate on Dolphin, you don't necessarily need a gaming computer. In your case, you should ideally get a new computer regardless if it's a gaming PC or not, if you're looking to play Dolphin at decent speeds.

Unfortunately, you can't just "give up" certain graphical aspects to improve performance. You can lower the resolution (the Internal Resolution) and Anti-Aliasing to reduce the load on your GPU, but if your CPU is the limiting factor of your performance, Dolphin will still encounter CPU-based slowdowns.

Your CPU was very weak when it came out, and it's severely outdated now. For Dolphin, it's not much good except for very light games (Animal Crossing, Bomberman Blast, Muramasa: The Demon Blade). Ideally, you should consider a budget and the games you want to play, then we can help you pick out hardware from there.

Ah. That's cool. I see what you mean, Shonumi. This computer is basically a lost soul that I gave a home. I think I'll try a lighter game then and give up on Zelda for now. Making a budget is a great idea. I'm a Zelda fan though, so the games list is going to be short. Ha ha.

Thanks very much for the swift response. At least now I know why I've been trying to tweak all morning and not having much luck. Cheers, Shonumi.

Might not be your cup of tea (or maybe you've already tried it) but you should still get some decent milage from it in other emulators. Anything up until the N64/PSX era should run just fine.

(03-09-2014, 04:35 AM)Shonumi Wrote: [ -> ]Might not be your cup of tea (or maybe you've already tried it) but you should still get some decent milage from it in other emulators. Anything up until the N64/PSX era should run just fine.

Well, I've played Ocarina of Time very well on N64, on a computer that was much slower than this, so that's not a bad option. Majora's Mask drives me nuts with the constant day resetting though. I'll squirrel around and see what jumps out at me. Brave Fencer Musashi for PSX is good, but has a black screen glitch at a certain point in the game. Threads of Fate should work too I guess. (I'd played that on my Playstation, sigh. Ancient history, lol).

Thanks again for the tips, Shonumi. ^-^