dolphin README

The project's README from github.com/dolphin-emu/dolphin. As one markdown file: README.md.

Dolphin - A GameCube and Wii Emulator

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Dolphin is an emulator for running GameCube and Wii games on Windows, Linux, macOS, and recent Android devices. It's licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later (GPLv2+).

Please read the FAQ before using Dolphin.

System Requirements

Desktop

Android

Dolphin can only be installed on devices that satisfy the above requirements. Attempting to install on an unsupported device will fail and display an error message.

Building

You may find building instructions on the appropriate wiki page for your operating system:

Before building, make sure to pull all submodules:

git submodule update --init --recursive

Android-specific instructions

These instructions assume familiarity with Android development. If you do not have an Android dev environment set up, see AndroidSetup.md.

If using Android Studio, import the Gradle project located in ./Source/Android.

Android apps are compiled using a build system called Gradle. Dolphin's native component, however, is compiled using CMake. The Gradle script will attempt to run a CMake build automatically while building the Java code.

Uninstalling

On Windows, simply remove the extracted directory, unless it was installed with the NSIS installer, in which case you can uninstall Dolphin like any other Windows application.

Linux users can run cat install_manifest.txt | xargs -d '\n' rm as root from the build directory to uninstall Dolphin from their system.

macOS users can simply delete Dolphin.app to uninstall it.

Additionally, you'll want to remove the global user directory if you don't plan on reinstalling Dolphin.

Command Line Usage

Usage: Dolphin.exe [options]... [FILE]...

Options:
  --version             show program's version number and exit
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -u USER, --user=USER  User folder path
  -m MOVIE, --movie=MOVIE
                        Play a movie file
  -e <file>, --exec=<file>
                        Load the specified file
  -n <16-character ASCII title ID>, --nand_title=<16-character ASCII title ID>
                        Launch a NAND title
  -C <System>.<Section>.<Key>=<Value>, --config=<System>.<Section>.<Key>=<Value>
                        Set a configuration option
  -s <file>, --save_state=<file>
                        Load the initial save state
  -d, --debugger        Show the debugger pane and additional View menu options
  -l, --logger          Open the logger
  -b, --batch           Run Dolphin without the user interface (Requires
                        --exec or --nand-title)
  -c, --confirm         Set Confirm on Stop
  -v VIDEO_BACKEND, --video_backend=VIDEO_BACKEND
                        Specify a video backend
  -a AUDIO_EMULATION, --audio_emulation=AUDIO_EMULATION
                        Choose audio emulation from [HLE|LLE]

Available DSP emulation engines are HLE (High Level Emulation) and LLE (Low Level Emulation). HLE is faster but less accurate whereas LLE is slower but close to perfect. Note that LLE has two submodes (Interpreter and Recompiler) but they cannot be selected from the command line.

Available video backends are "D3D" and "D3D12" (they are only available on Windows), "OGL", and "Vulkan". There's also "Null", which will not render anything, and "Software Renderer", which uses the CPU for rendering and is intended for debugging purposes only.

DolphinTool Usage

usage: dolphin-tool COMMAND -h

commands supported: [convert, verify, header, extract]

Usage: convert [options]... [FILE]...

Options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -u USER, --user=USER  User folder path, required for temporary processing
                        files.Will be automatically created if this option is
                        not set.
  -i FILE, --input=FILE
                        Path to disc image FILE.
  -o FILE, --output=FILE
                        Path to the destination FILE.
  -f FORMAT, --format=FORMAT
                        Container format to use. Default is RVZ. [iso|gcz|wia|rvz]
  -s, --scrub           Scrub junk data as part of conversion.
  -b BLOCK_SIZE, --block_size=BLOCK_SIZE
                        Block size for GCZ/WIA/RVZ formats, as an integer.
                        Suggested value for RVZ: 131072 (128 KiB)
  -c COMPRESSION, --compression=COMPRESSION
                        Compression method to use when converting to WIA/RVZ.
                        Suggested value for RVZ: zstd [none|zstd|bzip|lzma|lzma2]
  -l COMPRESSION_LEVEL, --compression_level=COMPRESSION_LEVEL
                        Level of compression for the selected method. Ignored
                        if 'none'. Suggested value for zstd: 5

Usage: verify [options]...

Options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -u USER, --user=USER  User folder path, required for temporary processing
                        files.Will be automatically created if this option is
                        not set.
  -i FILE, --input=FILE
                        Path to disc image FILE.
  -a ALGORITHM, --algorithm=ALGORITHM
                        Optional. Compute and print the digest using the
                        selected algorithm, then exit. [crc32|md5|sha1|rchash]

Usage: header [options]...

Options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -i FILE, --input=FILE
                        Path to disc image FILE.
  -b, --block_size      Optional. Print the block size of GCZ/WIA/RVZ formats,
then exit.
  -c, --compression     Optional. Print the compression method of GCZ/WIA/RVZ
                        formats, then exit.
  -l, --compression_level
                        Optional. Print the level of compression for WIA/RVZ
                        formats, then exit.

Usage: extract [options]...

Options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -i FILE, --input=FILE
                        Path to disc image FILE.
  -o FOLDER, --output=FOLDER
                        Path to the destination FOLDER.
  -p PARTITION, --partition=PARTITION
                        Which specific partition you want to extract.
  -s SINGLE, --single=SINGLE
                        Which specific file/directory you want to extract.
  -l, --list            List all files in volume/partition. Will print the
                        directory/file specified with --single if defined.
  -q, --quiet           Mute all messages except for errors.
  -g, --gameonly        Only extracts the DATA partition.

dolphin (dolphin-emu/dolphin)

emulation
Searching Database…

15.7K ·GitHub
Dolphin
What is this?Dolphin is a GameCube and Wii emulator: it lets you play games from those two consoles on PC and Android, with improvements over the original hardware.
How powerful a computer do I need?Any CPU with SSE2 support, though a modern dual-core around 3 GHz (not older than 2008) is highly recommended, plus a GPU with Direct3D 11.1 / OpenGL 3.3 — a card with D3D 11.1 / OpenGL 4.4 is recommended.
Will it run on any Android phone?No. You need Android 7.0+, a 64-bit CPU (ARMv8 or x86-64) and OpenGL ES 3.0+ graphics; installing on an unsupported device fails with an error. Performance also varies heavily with GPU driver quality.
Which platforms does it run on?Windows (10 1903 or higher), Linux, macOS (11.0 Big Sur or higher), and recent Android devices (7.0+). Other Unix-like systems are not officially supported but might work.
Which graphics backends can I use?D3D and D3D12 are Windows-only; OGL and Vulkan work across platforms. There is also a Null backend that renders nothing and a CPU-based Software Renderer meant for debugging only.
Does Dolphin make games better than on the original consoles?That's the project's pitch — its description promises playing GameCube and Wii games on PC 'with improvements'. The README itself doesn't enumerate the enhancements, pointing users to the FAQ and forums instead.
What is the difference between HLE and LLE audio emulation?HLE (High Level Emulation) is faster but less accurate, while LLE (Low Level Emulation) is slower but close to perfect. LLE also has Interpreter and Recompiler submodes, but those cannot be selected from the command line.
What is DolphinTool?The README has a 'DolphinTool Usage' heading but gives no details, so it appears to be a companion command-line utility documented elsewhere in the repo.
What are similar projects?rpcs3, KytyPS5, ppsspp, widemelon, duckstation, suyu-v0.0.4, ps2-web-recomp, shadPS4
Which topics is it in?directx12, gradle, emulation, opengl, retrogaming, emulator, cmake, vulkan, gplv2, android-app, gaming, cpp
Creator
dolphin-emu
Size
548.1 MB
Stars
15.7K
Updated
CommitOct 16
Age
13y
Commits · 90 Days