Dolphin (Wii/GameCube)

This section covers topics for the Dolphin Emulator that are relevant for both System (Gamecube and Wii) If you are looking for information on the individual systems themselves, please visit the following articles:

• Wii
• Gamecube

As probably already explained in the two child topics for Gamecupe/ WII, you can find the Dolphin interface via the PCManFM environment. Here again in short:

• To access dolphin interface, you must first connect a keyboard to your Batocera system.
• after a keyboard is connected, you can open PCManFM by pressing the “F1” key.
• On the left side under Places, select the point applications.
• start the application “dolphin-emu-config”.

The Global User Directory are the location where texture packs, saves, settings, screenshots, themes, etc. are kept. It can be considered as the work-folder of dolphin. In batocera you found this directory on the following path:

local

• /userdata/saves/dolphin-emu

through the network

• /saves/dolphin-emu

Here is a brief explanation of the most useful folders in this directory

• Load
  contains the ShaderPresets and Textures folder. In the texture folder you can store your per game texture packs
• GameSettings
  the location for your GameINI configuration files
• StateSaves
  folder for save stages
• SD
  can be used as the location of a virtual SD card (Gecko OS for example) Need to be set via the settings in dolphin

Some popular game hacks such as Newer Super Mario Bros. can be played by applying the Riivolution patch over the top of the original game's file. On a real Wii, this would be accomplished by launching the game with the correct parameters. A similar feat can be accomplished within Batocera v35 and above using Dolphin's patch profile saver:

1. First, extract the Riivolution patch you want to play and ensure that you have the correct “base” game for it in your /userdata/roms/<wii or gamecube> folder.
2. Go to Applications ([F1] on the system list) and open dolphin-config.
3. Right-click the base game (for example, New Super Mario Bros.) and select Run with Riivolution patches.
4. Specify the patch you'd like to run it with in the dialogue box that appears by selecting the appropriate XML file from the patch.

   If you'd like to test that the patch is working first, click Start and the game will begin. Once you've confirmed that everything is running, repeat the steps back up to this point and continue on.

5. Click Save.

That's it. The live patch will now appear the next time you go to EmulationStation, and can be launched just like any other ordinary Wii/GameCube game. Of course, you'll still need the base game's files to be present in addition to the patch's files.

Example JSON file

In case you'd like to see what a JSON patch file ordinarily should look like:

NewerSMBW130.json

{
  "base-file": "/userdata/roms/wii/NewSuperMarioBrosWii.wbfs",
  "display-name": "NewerSMBW130",
  "riivolution": {
    "patches": [
      {
        "options": [
          {
            "choice": 1,
            "option-id": "newercore",
            "section-name": "Newer SMBW"
          }
        ],
        "root": "/userdata/roms/wii/riivolution",
        "xml": "/userdata/roms/wii/riivolution/riivolution/NewerSMBW.xml"
      }
    ]
  },
  "type": "dolphin-game-mod-descriptor",
  "version": 1
}

You can configure settings per game through their GameINI. GameINI is a plain text file with game's GameID as its file name and INI as its file extension. The GameINI config file is useful to get out per game functions from dolphin at game start that are not available in batocera directly. This can include specific settings that are necessary for a game to run without errors, but also thinks like controller profiles, performance hacks and overall spicial generally deeper settings.

to learn more about the GameINI, visit the dolphin wiki. In the following post are the individual commands of the GAMEINI explained:

* https://wiki.dolphin-emu.org/index.php?title=GameINI

Also useful is the following forum post in the Dolphin forum, where the UNOFFICIAL gameini settings are posted:

* https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-unofficial-howto-using-gameini-settings-per-game

Via the dolphin wiki you can also find topics for each wii / gamecube game, with the recommended settings.

In general, it is recommended to visit the Dolphin wiki for every game that causes issues / glitches or to check the recommended settings in advance. Please note that the wiki offten only lists recommended settings, but not always the commands for the GAMEINI. You have to search for the appropriate command in the GameINI topic that we mentioned above. you can also search for completed gameini packages in the www.

For each game you need to create a .ini file with the GameId of the ROM. So, for example, the GameId for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (USA) is G2ME01 (which can be found on the dolphin wiki's game page for it) and so the INI file needs to be named G2ME01.ini. The GameId must match the ROM exactly. A thorough explanation of GameIds can be found on Dolphin's wiki.

The ini file needs to contain the settings for the game. For Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, we would like to have async shaders, widescreen patch, etc. And so the ini file would contain the following:

G2ME01.ini

[Video_Settings]

AspectRatio = 1

wideScreenHack = True

WaitForShadersBeforeStarting = True

[ActionReplay]

$Widescreen Culling Fix

04302498 38600001

0430249C 4E800020

04302298 38600001

0430229C 4E800020

043022F8 38600001

043022FC 4E800020

04302450 38600001

04302454 4E800020

04302364 38600001

04302368 4E800020

[ActionReplay_Enabled]

$Widescreen Culling Fix

I got the widescreen culling patch from the same dolphin wiki page where I found the GameId. Sometimes the hacks/patches use gecko codes instead and, in that case, you must have cheats enabled. You can look up a lot of the available ini options here. Also note in these examples I am forcing aspect ratio to 16:9 so I don’t need to configure this in batocera.

Here is another example with Gecko codes for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time to also achieve widescreen:

GPTE41.ini

[Core]

EnableCheats = True

[Video_Settings]

AspectRatio = 1

[Video_Hacks]

XFBToTextureEnable = False

[Gecko]

$16:9 Widescreen

2006ACD0 4180FD6C

06004000 00000010

C002B4A4 EC000732

D01F0110 481AF56C

0416DF94 C00296C4

041B3574 4BE50A8C

044EAFE4 3F1A0000

E2000001 80008000

[Gecko_Enabled]

$16:9 Widescreen

Once you have the patches and hacks added to your ini file, you need to add the file in the right location so dolphin will load it. Place the ini files in /userdata/saves/dolphin-emu/GameSettings. The next time dolphin is launched it will automatically pick up these settings in the ini files.

There is no easy way to ensure you have configured the ini file correctly except to launch the game and see if things look as expected e.g. things don’t look stretched anymore, etc.

Some function of dolphin are mapped to a hotkey Button combination. Here is a quick overview.

Select Save Stage slot
on a SNES styled gamepad you can select save stage 1 and 2 over the dpad up / down + hotkey button combination
Save a Save Stage
On a SNES styled gamepad you can save a game stage over the combination of hotkey + SOUTH Button

• NOTE: Save stages are not compatible to older and newer dolphin builds. Have this in mind if you make an batocera system update (check first if the update comes with a new Dolphin build)
  Save stages you make in game (on the virtual memory card) are compatible over cross-versions.

Load a save Stage
On a SNES styled gamepad you can load a game stage over the combination of hotkey + NORTH Button
Pause and resume the Emulation
you can set the emulation on a break point via hotkey + SOUTH Button, and resume it by pressing the combination again.
Select Video Mode
you can switch the Video mode via R1 + hotkey not realy needed (not necessary on normal basis)
Make a screenshot
you can make a screenshot via L1 + hotkey.

• Screenshots in dolphin are saved on the /saves/dolphin-emu/ScreenShots folder.

Ensure that you have “background inputs” disabled in dolphin-config.