So, Dolphin (and other console) emulators...

[deuxhero]

Thought this was about a new Ecco game. Am disappoint.

Why would you be disappointed a publisher isn't raping their old franchises?

 

[yes plz]

Has anyone gotten Skies of Arcadia to run well? Anytime I've tried, the characters are textureless (or at least I assume that's the problem, as they look like blobs of silver or black) and while the custom hack for it fixes that particular problem, with that on the text disappears and other problems pop up, and regardless of whether the hack is on or off the speed is always choppy. I've seen videos of it running at full speed with no graphical problems, so I'm assuming there's some combination of settings that lets it run well but I haven't been able to find it.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Any way to get Star Wars Rogue Leader running?

 

[felipepepe]

Any way to get Star Wars Rogue Leader running?

I possible to run, but you'll get a draw distance so small that you won't be able to see anything...

 

[Excommunicator]

I've opened this thread on 3 separate occasions hoping that it would be about a Moonbase Alpha-esque Dolphin Simulator. I'm disappointed

I can just imagine a whole bunch of dolphins swimming sideways and upside down, others sinking lifelessly to the bottom of the ocean whilst others attempt to rape their corpses.

Someone make it happen.

 

[spekkio]

yes plz
Try setting EFB copies to RAM:

http://wiki.dolphin-emu.org/index.php?title=Skies_of_Arcadia_Legends

 

[Gerrard]

What's REALLY embarrassing is that Tales was around for EIGHT YEARS at that point and didn't improve squat, but a bunch of sRPG makers (Flightplan) with no experience making this kind of game decided to make a similar game (Summon Night: Swordcraft Story) a year before on the GBA, and it beats any Tales game in every single aspect: You have 3 sets of attacks that actually do something different and can be chained together, and can change to 2 other completely different movesets at the press of a button. your specials are varied and can't be spamed because of a double Vanciean (you only get so many preperations of a spell before resting AND you can only cast 5 or 6 spells a battle) spellcasting system. On top of that, the characters are actually enjoyable, weapon crafting is fun, the story has its unique points, the setting for the first game is actually fairly interesting (It's a Venice analog with a bizzare mix of technology thanks to the world's status as a dimensional hub)


Is it clear I HATE ToS yet?

It's clear you are full of shit. The battle system in both SCS games was a joke even compared to the original Phantasia and Destiny, not to mention later games like Eternia, Destiny 2 or Rebirth.

 

[deuxhero]

Gerrard Is Symphonia's combat really bad and unrepresentative of the series then? Because fans seem to call it one of the series highlights.

 

[SCO]

Thought this was about a new Ecco game. Am disappoint.

Why would you be disappointed a publisher isn't raping their old franchises?

That was already done

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Is Symphonia's combat really bad an unrepresentative of the series then?

I don't think so...going from one attack to another to create a combo felt really fluid, and it general felt as if the characters weren't stuck to a certain spot (in Tales of Phantasia and Tales of Destiny I would frequently fight with the character as he wanted to turn his back to the enemy, because maintaining the group formation is more important than life itself)

 

[deuxhero]

Fluid, yes, but there is no variation the entire (rather lengthy from the HP bloat) fight, just use the same damn attacks.

To my understanding Phantasia and Destiny were 2d with multiple people (all squishy except the main in Phantasia), so it was all "make sure the enemy doesn't get to the left", while Symphonia is 3D with only allies able to move freely, meaning getting past your character does absolutely nothing.

 

[Gerrard]

Gerrard Is Symphonia's combat really bad and unrepresentative of the series then? Because fans seem to call it one of the series highlights.

The English speaking fans probably, since a lot of the good games were never released in the west, and because a lot of them never played Eternia.
Not sure about this, but I think Symphonia was made by a new team compared to the previous ones, and it was the first 3D game. Abyss improved upon its combat system in pretty much every way, like adding a free run ability (which ended up being arguably overpowered). You can also get the skill that lets you combo in any order on all characters.
However, from what I heard (since I haven't been paying any closer attention in a very long time), compared to some of the more recent games Symphonia doesn't look that bad anymore. Fucking Namco is the EA of Japan.

 

[deuxhero]

I thought that was Capcom?

 

[jerichocaine]

So this isn't a thread about a game where you're a dolphin?

I mis-read the title and was expecting a dolphin simulator. And know that's all I want.

 

[taxalot]

What is there to do in a dolphin simulator besides going after fish, and doing funny noises at people ?

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Rape, of course.

http://scienceray.com/biology/marine-biology/not-so-cute-dolphin-gang-rape/

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Dolphin 4.0 released: https://de.dolphin-emu.org/download/

On behalf of the Dolphin Emulator development team, I am pleased to announce the release of Dolphin 4.0, the newest major release of the most compatible and most performant GameCube and Wii emulator for PC. Dolphin 4.0 is a special release for all of us, since it also marks the 10 years anniversary of the project, first unveiled by Henryk Rydgård (ector) in September 2003.

Dolphin 4.0 can be downloaded for Windows (x86 or x64), Mac OS X (>= 10.7) or Ubuntu 13.04 from our official website: dolphin-emu.org.

Changelog

With about 2500 changes since Dolphin 3.5, Dolphin 4.0 is a big release with the addition of several new major features:

Beta support for the Wii official online multiplayer (Documentation)

This is a feature that has been coming for a long time. More than two years ago, Matthew Parlane and Shawn Hoffman started working on emulating the Wii Wi-Fi networking API in order to run Wii online multiplayer games inside Dolphin. While it was not an easy change in itself, it also required a lot of modifications to core components of the emulator to be implemented properly (for example asynchronous IPC HLE) and a lot of debugging. It is now working well enough that we are releasing it to the public as a beta: don't expect everything to work, but popular games like Mario Kart Wii or Super Smash Bros Brawl can be played online right now.

Alpha support for ARM/Android

About two years ago, Ryan Houdek began the implementation of an ARM port of Dolphin, designed to run on powerful mobile phones and other ARM devices in the future. After a long time spent making Dolphin work well on both ARM and x86, Dolphin can now emulate GameCube and Wii games on recent Android phones. This support is still in early alpha stages: crashes happen, it's slow on Qualcomm hardware because of graphics drivers issues, and it is still missing a ton of features. Nowadays, Dolphin on Android is a two man project: Mathew Maidment is helping Ryan with the UI and making the Android version actually usable.

Global User directory on Windows (Documentation)

This is not exactly a major feature, but it is a big change in how Dolphin works on Windows, and requires user interaction to move from the old configuration system to the new one. Before 4.0, Dolphin configuration was stored next to Dolphin.exe, often causing issues when upgrading to a new version of Dolphin. New versions of Dolphin use a centralized location to store the configuration for all builds, usually My Documents\Dolphin Emulator. The documentation article linked above explains the details of this move, as well as what you need to do to migrate your old configuration to the new system (if you were using Dolphin before).

New AX DSP HLE emulation code

DSP HLE is the main audio emulation technique used in Dolphin. Before 4.0, it was extremely inaccurate and full of bugs, mostly due to how it was implemented. Dolphin 4.0 introduces a full rewrite of the audio emulation used in 99% of games, fixing hundreds of audio related bugs in Dolphin. On the flip side, it is now required to run a game at full speed to get full speed audio out of it, which is a direct consequence of fixing these bugs.

A lot of more minor changes were also integrated in that new Dolphin release:

New look

A new look has been designed by MaJoR for Dolphin (new icon, new icon theme) and implemented on a new version of the Dolphin website by Pierre Bourdon.

Wii Balance Board and GC Steering Wheel support

Support for these two devices was added respectively by Matthew Parlane and skidau. The Wii Balance Board is not emulated and requires the real device to be used.

Wii Remote support improvements

Wii Remote background scanning was implemented to more closely match how a real Wii detects remotes, and support for -TR (Wii Motion Plus Inside) remotes was implemented for Mac OS X. A new documentation guide about Wii Remotes on Dolphin was also written by MaJoR to help Windows users with Wiimote issues.

Fastmem support for Linux and OSX

Fastmem is an optimization for Dolphin's CPU emulation, which was previously only implemented on Windows. Adding Fastmem support on Linux and OSX boosted the performance by 15 to 20% on these platforms.

New OpenAL audio backend

This audio backend, written by skidau, supports three important features that are not implemented in other backends yet: configurable audio latency, surround sound using the information contained in the Dolby Pro Logic II encoding used by most GameCube and Wii games, and support for sound stretching to make audio slow down when a game does not run at full speed.

OpenGL video backend rewrite

The Dolphin OpenGL video backend was rewritten by Markus Wick in order to use newer features of OpenGL and be GLES3 compatible. As a result, the OpenGL backend is now the fastest Dolphin video backend on NVIDIA cards.

NetPlay stability and usability improvements

Before Dolphin 4.0, GameCube NetPlay was at best a curiosity. 4.0 added a lot of NetPlay related changes which makes it actually usable for most games, but sometimes with performance issues. Super Smash Bros Melee players are now using Dolphin for regular online NetPlay tournaments, and it just works. Read the official NetPlay guide for more information.

Mac OS X support enhancements

This release also adds a few small OS X improvements: the Dolphin DMG bundles are now signed by a valid developer ID and do not require you to disable Gatekeeper to be used. The emulator is also Retina Display aware and handles the logical scaling better on these screens.

Icon themes support

In addition to shipping with a new default icon theme, Dolphin now allows you to make your own themes and share them with other people.

 

[DalekFlay]

I need to use this to play the two Zelda games eventually. I'm not a big Nintendo fan, but those are worth playing I assume.

 

[Bahamut]

Whatever they done, Skies of Arcadia still probably got shit compatibility (well lettme test it)

EDIT: Well, they at least fixed colorfull shadows, but only on dx11 plug

 

[DalekFlay]

I need to use this to play the two Zelda games eventually. I'm not a big Nintendo fan, but those are worth playing I assume.

skyward sword definitely, twilight princess maybe

Oh I forgot about the Wii one, I meant Wind Waker and Twilight. Can I play Skyward without a stupid motion controller?

 

[ghostdog]

Gamecube And Wii games I've played:

Eternal Darkness
Silent Hill : Shattered Memories
Xenoblade Chronicles + 1/2




Gamecube and Wii games on my list :

Super Mario Sunshine
Skies of Arcadia Legends
Resident Evil
Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime 2 Echoes
Metal Gear Solid The Twin Snakes
Ikaruga
The Last Story
Pandora's Tower.


These are the only games that have piqued my interest.

 

[Machocruz]

You need a Wiimote to play Galaxy? Some of the features in Monster Hunter Tri don't work or don't work well without one.

 

[Dexter]

Global User directory on Windows (Documentation)

This is not exactly a major feature, but it is a big change in how Dolphin works on Windows, and requires user interaction to move from the old configuration system to the new one. Before 4.0, Dolphin configuration was stored next to Dolphin.exe, often causing issues when upgrading to a new version of Dolphin. New versions of Dolphin use a centralized location to store the configuration for all builds, usually My Documents\Dolphin Emulator. The documentation article linked above explains the details of this move, as well as what you need to do to migrate your old configuration to the new system (if you were using Dolphin before).

New AX DSP HLE emulation code

DSP HLE is the main audio emulation technique used in Dolphin. Before 4.0, it was extremely inaccurate and full of bugs, mostly due to how it was implemented. Dolphin 4.0 introduces a full rewrite of the audio emulation used in 99% of games, fixing hundreds of audio related bugs in Dolphin. On the flip side, it is now required to run a game at full speed to get full speed audio out of it, which is a direct consequence of fixing these bugs.

A lot of more minor changes were also integrated in that new Dolphin release:

Wii Remote support improvements

Wii Remote background scanning was implemented to more closely match how a real Wii detects remotes, and support for -TR (Wii Motion Plus Inside) remotes was implemented for Mac OS X. A new documentation guide about Wii Remotes on Dolphin was also written by MaJoR to help Windows users with Wiimote issues.

NetPlay stability and usability improvements

Before Dolphin 4.0, GameCube NetPlay was at best a curiosity. 4.0 added a lot of NetPlay related changes which makes it actually usable for most games, but sometimes with performance issues. Super Smash Bros Melee players are now using Dolphin for regular online NetPlay tournaments, and it just works. Read the official NetPlay guide for more information.

Fucking finally, that's some amazing shit right there, the audio bugs were hounding games since way back. Some sounds didn't play or music used to stop after a while in games like Mario Galaxy.



Also, I tried a WiiMote with Wii Motion Plus at some point and it was a rather shit experience, I'm not sure if it was purely software or hardware since I was using a cheap IR bar.

I wonder if the Global User directory is also for things like Saves.
https://wiki.dolphin-emu.org/index.php?title=Controlling_the_Global_User_Directory

 

[Terpsichore]

Zelda: OoT Master Quest (it came with WW preorder)

 

[deuxhero]

It is indeed for saves. Your memcards are kept in the /GC folder.

The two games I know do NOT work on Dolphin and have a physical copy to compare with, Gladius and Toadstool Tour, still don't work right (Gladius is better than it has been, but the audio is crappy)