Download the latest version of the Dolphin Emulator (5.0-13495) from the official website.

Dolphin has two performance related configuration windows: Dolphin configuration and Graphics settings, in addition to applying settings per game via their GameINI. Dolphin is a very demanding program, so configuring Dolphin the right way is very important to run titles smoothly.

1. Official website of Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator. Download the latest version (5.0-8474) now or ask questions on our forums for help.
2. Quote:one time I downloaded an emulator and I got a bad virus. Sad Out of curiosity which emulator was it? I say pj64 1.7 A virus in pj64? Maybe a less 'official' emulator. Btw I didn't know there was a 1.7 version. I'm still using the 1.6 People post fake pj64 1.7 all the time XD, although they really are working on 1.7.

• 2Dolphin Configuration
• 3Graphics Settings

System Requirements

Every game has different requirements, some titles may require a powerful computer while some other titles may not. Generally, these are the minimum recommended requirements for Dolphin.

• OS: 64-bit edition of Windows (7 SP1 or higher), Linux, or macOS (10.10 Yosemite or higher). Windows Vista SP2 and unix-like systems other than Linux are not officially supported but might work.
• Processor: A CPU with SSE2 support. A modern CPU (3 GHz and Dual Core, not older than 2008) is highly recommended.
• Graphics: A reasonably modern graphics card (Direct3D 10.0 / OpenGL 3.0). A graphics card that supports Direct3D 11 / OpenGL 4.4 is recommended.

Dolphin Configuration

Dolphin is shipped with default settings for the most optimal performance, you do not usually need to change anything on your first time Dolphin setup.

Enable Dual Core

Provides a significant speedup on modern systems. Recommended on most titles, though may cause issues like crashing or graphic issues on some titles. Refer to this page for a list of titles that require disabling Dual Core.

CPU Emulator Engine

Dolphin Emulator On Phone

JIT Recompiler is the fastest engine and is recommended on almost all titles. There are a few titles that work better with different emulator engines but unplayably slow.

Audio

DSP HLE is the fastest DSP Emulator Engine. It is very reliable, and only a few titles still have problems with it. See DSP LLE for more details. Cubeb is the faster backend. Recommended on almost all titles.

Graphics Settings

Some of these settings will improve emulation compatibility in exchange of PC performance.

General

• Depending of the game and the graphics card: OpenGL or Direct3D 11 in backend setting will offer better performance. Vulkan is still in experimental phase and it still is not recommended.
• V-Sync helps prevent screen tearing.
• Use Fullscreen toggles between fullscreen and windowed mode.
  • Exclusive Fullscreen is available on Windows, it gives Dolphin full control over the graphics card. This results in minimal latency which is important for competitive games such as Super Smash Bros. Melee. More details on its benefits can be found on Progress Report of July 2014. D3D is well supported for Exclusive Fullscreen [1]. Support on OpenGL is more of a hack [2]. Exclusive fullscreen is enabled by default when it is supported, it can be disabled by checking the Borderless Fullscreen checkbox under Graphics > Advanced > Misc.

Enhancements

The emulation can suffer slowdowns from extreme multiplier options in Internal Resolution, Anisotropic Filtering, and Anti-Aliasing settings. Start with minimum option like '1x Native (640x528)', and go up from there until you can find the highest setting without slowdown. Keep in mind non-1x options may cause graphical issues in some titles.

Hacks

• Skip EFB Access from CPU - Provides a speed boost. However it provides this boost at the expense of emulation accuracy, breaking some titles and removing effects. It's off by default for greater emulation accuracy.
• Ignore Format Changes - The vast majority of titles don't care about this, and it provides a small boost. However a small number of titles hate this setting. It's enabled by default.
• Store EFB Copies to Texture Only - Enabled by default. Disable it only when running a game that requires it. Refer this page for a list of titles that require disabling it.

• Texture Cache - Setting the slider on the 'Fast' position will improve performance greatly, but it may cause graphical glitches in some games (Most commonly missing text).
• Fast Depth Calculation - Uses a less accurate method of calculating depth values. Gives a small speedup, but can cause flickering textures.
• Disable Bounding Box - Don't emulate bounding box calculation, which is only required for a limited set of titles, mostly Paper Mario titles.
• Vertex Rounding - Rounding 2D vertices to whole pixels, fixes graphical glitches seen in several titles at higher internal resolutions.

Performance

Depending on the hardware of your system there might be some games which does not run completly fluently. If you want to play games at full speed make sure you have a good CPU. It's the most important component! For good results it's recommended to use Intel i5 Sandy or Ivy Bridge CPUs or higher (i7).

Wiimote

It is possible to play Dolphin with the Wiimote and Nunchuk. Even better, Dolphin supports multiple Wiimotes since revision r4771. Play with up to four Wiimotes.

A Bluetooth interface is used to connect the Wiimote with the Wii console. Computers can speak Bluetooth, too. So it is usually no problem to connect a Wiimote with a computer. The big picture is as follows:

To play Dolphin with a Wiimote you need:

• At least one Wiimote.
• Bluetooth (internal adapter or dongle) to connect the Wiimote with the computer.
• If you don't have an internal Bluetooth adapter connect the Bluetooth dongle with the computer through a USB port and if needed install the drivers.
• Connect the Wiimote via Bluetooth with the computer. Read the single or multiple controllers guide for detailed instructions.
• Start Dolphin and make sure the Wiimote is recognized.
• You're finished! Now you can play Dolphin with up to four players.

What about the Sensor bar?

If you want to play games in Dolphin with a Sensor Bar you can simply use a Wireless Sensor Bar. Since the Sensor Bar is just a source of Infrared Light it doesn't need to be connected to your Computer! Wireless Sensor Bars are usually battery-powered.
The Wiimote features an optical sensor, allowing it to determine where the Wiimote is pointing. The Wiimote's image sensor is used to locate the Sensor Bar's points of light in the Wiimote's field of view. The light emitted from each end of the Sensor Bar is focused onto the image sensor which sees the light as two bright dots separated by a distance 'mi' on the image sensor. The second distance 'm' between the two clusters of light emitters in the Sensor Bar is a fixed distance. From these two distances m and mi, the Wii CPU calculates the distance between the Wiimote and the Sensor Bar. In addition, rotation of the Wiimote with respect to the ground can also be calculated from the relative angle of the two dots of light on the image sensor.

Dolphin Emulator Tv

You don't have a Wiimote?

You can buy a Wiimote at trusted shops, that only sells original and high quality prodcuts. Beware of other shops which sell fake products with bad quality.

Dolphin supports multiple Wiimotes, so you can buy two or more Wiimotes. A single Bluetooth dongle is sufficient to connect multiple Wiimotes.

Dolphin Emulator On Ios

Connection Guides

Connecting the Wiimote with a computer can be tricky. The following guides will show you how to connect a Wiimote to your computer and how to play with multiple Wiimotes.

Help

If you are encountering problems feel free to contact us to make the guides more cleary and understandable.