Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

Hi All!

I've tried Dolphin 3.5 and 4.0 to play Skyward Sword on my Mid-2012 Macbook Pro Retina and just can't seem to get about 19/20 FPS.
I consistently have seen videos / topics on how well Dolphin performs on this machine so can't get my head around why it's going wrong?

Spec's:

2.3 GHz Intel Core i7
Intel HD Graphics 4000 1024 MB
8 GB Memory

I can only seem to get a best of 69% speed if I put the internal resolution below x 2 or at x 1

Core i7 what? You´ll need to provide the full model of your CPU (e.g. i7-4700MQ, i74900-MQ, etc.). Skyward Sword is also sort of demanding.

Apples official specs
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP694

i7 3615QM
The CPU should be fine for the game if it was paired with a decent GPU (Nvidia GT 650M , AMD 7770M or better GPU) , not integrated GPU like Intel HD 4000 and the turbo boost function must work properly (CPU clock speed must run at 2.9GHz or higher )

Yes but it does have Nvidia 650M

http://support.apple.com/kb/sp653

Install Windows 7/8 64bit version via bootcamp and follow the performance guide

There is no way to control CPU speed via OSX but if you insist on using OSX then you should switch integrated GPU Intel HD 4000 to Discrete GPU Nvidia GT 650M (Must install gfxcardstatus)

Things to keep in mind :
_It won't work if your laptop actually don't have GT 650M
_OSX may run Dolphin cooler than Windows . However, you have less graphic backend (only OpenGL) and less performance than Windows

Use the latest development version instead of 4.0.2.