Dolphin is a GameCube and Wii emulator with high compatibility across the majority of titles for both platforms. It was first developed as closed source in 2003, and as open source since 2008.
When Dolphin went open-source in 2008, it was released under the GPLv2 license. However it has since been relicensed to GPLv2+. According to the license, you may use Dolphin and its source code for any purpose, but distributing Dolphin requires that the source code be released and attribution given. For more details, see the license document.
Over 200 people have worked hard over the years to create Dolphin. The list of contributors can be found on GitHub.
Dolphin is not affiliated with Nintendo in any way.
Dolphin is a cross-platform emulator that runs on Windows (10 and newer), Linux, macOS (10.15 Catalina and up), and Android (5.0 and above). Other Unix-like systems (such as FreeBSD) may work but are not officially supported. Operating systems are required to be 64-bit to run Dolphin.
Dolphin is a dual core application that relies upon IPC (Instructions Per Clock) and clockspeed for performance. Additional cores will not make Dolphin go any faster, though an "extra" core that Dolphin isn’t using may help slightly by keeping background tasks from using the same cores as Dolphin.
Accordingly, the perfect CPU for Dolphin has high IPC, a high clock rate, and four cores or more. With four cores, Dolphin has two cores for the main emulation threads, a third core for other tasks, and another core for the operating system and background tasks to run without taking resources from the emulator.
Newer processors are generally better than older ones, thanks to the increased IPC that comes with newer architectures.
Intel: Within a single generation of processors, the difference between i5 and i7 (hyperthreading/extra core counts) don't affect Dolphin very much. Newer generations will give higher performance per clock, and K series processors will allow for overclocking to gain extra performance. Be wary of U and Y series processors, as their reduced clockspeeds often struggle with Dolphin's workload.
AMD: Dolphin's workload didn't match the strengths of AMD processors until the Ryzen line. As such, we can only recommend Ryzen or newer for Dolphin among AMD's line of processors.
For more details, such as specific CPU recommendations, CPU comparisons, or what hardware you should purchase to get playable speeds on a specific game, please ask on our Hardware Forum before purchasing.
Note: For more information regarding CPU performance, please check out this handy benchmark that contains results from tons of users. It's important to remember that Dolphin is a console emulator with tons of optimizations and features. But, in the end, it does what the game instructs it to do. Some games only use features that are easy to emulate, and thus will run full-speed on just about any computer that supports Dolphin. Meanwhile, others struggle to run full speed at all times on even the most powerful of processors.
Choosing a GPU for Dolphin is a fairly simple task. The more powerful the graphics card, the more pixels and enhancements you can throw at it before you’ll see slowdown. However, the biggest thing to watch for is making sure the GPU supports DirectX11.1 and OpenGL 4.4. Dolphin emulates a console that functions very differently from a traditional PC, and uses the latest D3D and OGL features to reduce overhead. If you do not have those extensions, performance will suffer.
NVIDIA: Any modern mid-range or better NVIDIA GPU will be able to play Dolphin in HD resolutions with Ubershaders quite well. Old (6+ years) and/or low end GPUs may struggle, and are not recommended.
AMD: Any modern mid-range or better AMD GPU will perform well in Dolphin with Ubershaders. AMD generally favors D3D over OpenGL, so we recommend D3D for these GPUs. Old (6+ years) and/or low end GPUs may struggle, and are not recommended.
Intel: Iris Pro iGPUs will handle Dolphin well in D3D in Windows, though there are driver issues with the other graphics backends on that OS. A full fledged discrete graphics card is still highly recommended. IGPs older than the HD4000 are not supported.
2GB or more is recommended. RAM speed or the amount of RAM generally has no effect on emulation speed.
The latest beta version of Dolphin is a good choice to start with: our betas are well tested and should give a reliable experience. Development versions have the latest fixes and optimizations, but their constantly changing nature means that little testing has been done on them and unknown bugs may appear. Choose dev builds if you want to be on the bleeding edge of new features, and/or want to help with Dolphin's development.
Our buildbot provides each revision of Dolphin in four variants on the main site:
We no longer distribute Linux builds on our website, requiring users to build from source. Please see our Building Dolphin on Linux guide for instructions.
Dolphin does not support 32-bit operating systems. To check if your version of Windows is compatible with 64-bit applications, open the Start Menu, right click on Computer and select the Properties option. A window should appear, showing "64-bit operating system" as the System type if your Windows version can run Dolphin x64. If you are running a 32-bit operating system, you should upgrade to a 64-bit version to better utilize the abilities of your hardware.
On Android, Dolphin also requires 64-bit (ARMv8 AArch64). To see if your Android phone has the necessary requirements, simply run the APK, and Dolphin will alert you.
Do note that sometimes various revisions may not have built correctly for all OSes, and some builds are missing. If this occurs, it will be fixed in a short time.
Dolphin now uses Visual Studio C++ 2022 on Windows. Windows users must have the latest Visual C++ 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2022 runtime installed in order to use Dolphin. If you ever encounter a MSVCP__.dll or vcruntime__.dll error, please download the latest Visual C++ runtime version from Microsoft's website.
Also, remember to extract Dolphin's files from the archive to a folder on your computer instead of running Dolphin directly from inside the archive.
Update and/or repair DirectX or reinstall the Xbox 360 Controller Drivers.
When people see one of the error messages about vcomp100.dll or xinput1_3.dll missing they often download 32-bit builds of these files from the internet and expect them to work fine with 64-bit applications.
If you're suffering from this issue, make sure to delete any manually downloaded DLL files which are stored in your system paths and in the path where the Dolphin binary is stored and reinstall them with the proper runtime installers instead. Refer to the two questions above for further information.
Laptops and modern GPUs use a variety of tricks to reduce their power consumption and overall temperature. Underclocking, reducing voltages, using integrated instead of discrete graphics, etc. Sometimes these tricks get in the way of Dolphin, and the system needs a little help to use its maximum capabilities with the emulator. Use the links below for assistance.
Gwnewch yn siwr fod Porth GC 2 wedi ei osod fel 'Standard Controller' yn y ffurfweddiadau Gamecube. Os yw'r broblem yn parhâu, mae'n bosib nad yw'r gêm yn cynnal ail rheolydd GC.
Sometimes when you're running a game you may run into occasions where Dolphin is unable to run full-speed. Because the emulated console isn't running full-speed, it doesn't output as much audio as Dolphin needs. As such there end up being gaps in the audio, commonly referred to as audio stuttering by users.
This is not actually an audio issue, but a performance issue. Audio stuttering can be avoided by running Dolphin full-speed, or, in the latest development builds, activating time-stretched audio. Time-stretched audio will "stretch" the currently output audio over the gaps, allowing the game to sound more natural at the cost of some audio latency.
Even with a decade of work, Dolphin isn't a perfect emulator. This means you may encounter various issues that range from minor sound or graphics defects to game breaking errors and crashes. In order to provide users with as much information as possible, the Dolphin website hosts a wiki with thousands of pages dedicated to games and various features of the emulator. Game Specific pages often list problems a game has, solutions, and what settings are needed to make it run as accurately as possible.
If you find a bug in a game that isn't listed on the Wiki, please checkout the issue tracker and see if it is reported there. If it isn't, feel free to report the bug you found so that the developers are aware of the issue. Be aware, one of the rules you must follow before reporting an issue is make sure the issue isn't already fixed on the latest development version.
Dolphin is configured to run as fast as possible by default. However, for some games, that will cause a lot of problems, and they need more accurate and more demanding settings to run properly. For user convenience, many games have had these settings preconfigured in the "GameINI", a file with custom settings for each game.
Note: The below is only relevant to Dolphin versions before 5.0-4171
By opening the graphics menu, you are overriding the GameINI default settings and instead using the settings within the graphics menu, which will be the global defaults or whatever you last set them to. If you are playing a game that needs accurate but demanding settings, opening the graphics menu will disable those settings and result in a speed up. However, you will then be subject to the glitches and problems the GameINI settings were protecting you from.
See the Dolphin Wiki for details on what games needs which settings to run correctly and why.
The build instructions are available on GitHub:
Builds are compiled for every development version of Dolphin and are available on the download page.
All of the Git commits are also available on GitHub where you can comment on changes and view new pull requests to get a jump on upcoming features.
Most of the Dolphin developers read the "Development discussion" forum. Posting a thread there might be a good idea to get some feedback from developers but also from users.
Dolphin developers also communicate via IRC, which is better for instant discussion than a forum. Join us on #dolphin-emu @ irc.libera.chat.
Even if your idea is very good, note that developers are doing their work on Dolphin on their free time and don't necessarily have the time to implement everything people suggest. If you can, implementing a first draft of your idea might be a good way to get developers attention.
Nid yw CPU yn gwiethio yn y modd yma.
Mae pob craidd mewn CPU yn gweithio'n baralel. Gellir rhedeg dwy dasg yn effeithiol ar yr un pryd os nad oes angen iddynt gyfathrebu'n aml. Er enghraifft, gellir cywasgu dwy ffeil ar greiddiau ar wahân gan fod cywasgu'r un ffeil a cywasgu'r llall yn dasgiau hollol annibynnol, a does dim angen iddynt gyfathrebu.
Yn efelychydd Dolphin, yr unig dasgiau sylweddol sy'n rhedeg yn effeithiol ym mharalel yw'r CPU, GPU a DSP. Bydd torri'r prosesau yma mewn i dasgiau llai - er mwyn rhedeg ar fwy o greiddiau - yn arafu'r efelychydd. Gan hynny, mae Dolphin yn rhedeg ar 3 craidd yn unig, yn lle 4 neu 6 craidd a goll fod yn eich CPU.
Er fod y Gamecube a'r Wii llawer yn arafach na'r caledwedd sydd angen i'w hefelychu, mae caledwedd y GC a'r Wii yn hynod o wahanol i beth sydd fel arfer mewn PC. Er enghraifft:
Yn lle CPU x86 Intel neu AMD, mae'r Gamecube a'r Wii yn defnyddio CPU IBM PowerPC. Rhaglennwyd gemau yn benodol ar gyfer y CPU hwn, felly mae rhaid cyfieithu pob cyfarwyddyd i mewn i rhywbeth gall PC ddeall. Yn dibynnu ar y cyfarwyddyd, gall hwn feddwl 2x i 100x yn fwy o gyfarwyddiadau yn yr efelychydd, felly mae angen caledwedd llawer yn gyflymach na'r CPU 486MHz a oedd yn y Gamecube.
Yn lle SDRAM, mae'r Gamecube a'r Wii yn defnyddio SRAM sydd yn llai ac yn gyflymach. Mae'r SRAM yma hefyd yn cael ei rhannu gan y CPU a'r GPU, sy'n cyflymu nifer o gyfarwyddiadau.
Nid yw'r GPU yn defnyddio 'shaders': Mewn GC neu Wii, mae pob effaith a chyfrifiad yn cael ei weithredu yn uniongyrchol gan y caledwedd yn lle defnyddio iaith rhyngol. Mae hwn yn hollol wahanol i'r broses sy'n digwydd mewn PC. Mae rhaid i Dolphin gyfieithu popeth yn defnyddio 'shaders', lle gall GC neu Wii weithredu'r un cyfarwyddiadau yn uniongyrchol yn eu caledwedd (sydd llawer yn gyflymach).
*Mae'n rhaid i PC rhedeg system weithredu (OS) er mwyn rhedeg sawl rhaglen ar yr un pryd. Gan fod GC a Wii yn chwarae gemau yn unig, maent yn gallu rhedeg gemau yn uniongyrchol yn eu caledwedd heb angen system weithredu.
Mae sawl rheswm arall pam fod angen cyfrifiadur mor bwerus i efelychu gemau GC/Wii, ond dylai'r rhestr yma rhoi syniad gweddol o'r heriau sydd yn dod o efelychu gemau.
Ateb byr: Nac oes. Prynwch gemau a wedyn defnyddiwch Wii i greu copïau. Mae nifer o ganllawiau am sut i wneud hyn ar y rhyngrwyd.
Ateb hir: Mae llawrlwytho gemau heb ganiatâd y creuwyr yn anghyfreithlon. Nid yw unrhywun yn nhîm Dolphin yn cefnogi cael gafael ar gemau yn y modd yma - yn cynnwys llawrlwytho gemau yr ydych wedi prynu yn y gorffennol. Rydym yn awgrymu prynu gemau'n gyfreithlon a wedyn eu dympio yn defnyddio Wii.
Er mwyn dympio gemau yr ydych wedi prynu, gellir defnyddio Wii sydd wedi ei addasu a defnyddio rhaglen fel CleanRip. Mae nifer o ganllawiau am sut i addasu Wii ar y rhyngrwyd.
Dolphin supports playing games dumped in the following formats:
Note that WBFS and CISO are lossy compression formats: they remove some of the unused information stored on the discs to make files smaller. If you wish to compress your dumps to save space, we recommend RVZ.
* Dolphin can be used to compress your games to this format