23:30 For Gecko/AR codes, at the very least slip in the URL reference from where you got that specific code. Don't assume it came from Dolphin wiki; some codes were made twenty years ago on a forum somewhere but never updated to the wiki.
absolutely incredible. thanks so much for making this video and breaking down the different graphics options. I'm tuning my Dolphin in 4K 120hz HDR 4:4:4 for projector usage and this definitely helped me.
Great video. There’s also one hack that’s called some thing like ‘fast depth calculation’ that’s important to know about as well. It try’s to quickly determine the order layer of the images to display and sometimes it gets things wrong, and you’ll be left with a section that should have text or some other image and it’ll be blank. You can disable it to fix the games (Def Jam fight for NY is 1 I know off the top of my head)
@@warpedpolygon what about a Saturn emulation guide with the Mednafen emulator? Saturn is a much beloved system and with Mednafen it finally have a trully good emulation solution, but Mednafen itself is far from a user-friendly software. So exploring the settings, specially the graphical ones, with your expertise and great didactics would be awesome! Please think about it! ;)
Excellent video...all your tutorials have been a great help....I was wandering, have you thought of writing a book (or two) on how to?.Just an idea,I think it would do well with people in the community....just a thought.
@@warpedpolygon Basically a guide on how to setup emulators (exactly what you do on video).The settings choices on the very popular emus has not changed much,so would not make the basic settings redundant; and you could explain your personal journey as to if.....why....what...and your obvious passion (obsession!) for emulation.Just a thought.
You can use area sampling to make higher than native resolutions look better than native! I use it extensively and that's what it's meant for. Also don't use 16x or anything above default on games like Mario Sunshine unless you like Milky water. It has issues. The other output resampling options are more geared toward nostalgic purposes when paired with AA on 1x resolution. Same with color correction although it can be used for HDR conversion if one desires.
I didn't knew there were recommended combinations of backends and ubershaders modes. It's there any source or documentation for them? I was just using Vulkan with my old GTX 1060. However after doing some tests I think I will remain in Vulkan. While both D3D11 and 12 indeed seem to load a new shader a little bit faster, it also seems to be more performance intensive or to drop frames more often, at least with my short Metroid Prime test using my usual graphics settings and Hybrid Ubershaders. Vulkan can have a few minor stutters here and there when beginning a new game, but they clear up very quickly and performance is way better. Good guide as always. Next Dolphin updates could be very interesting. Theoretically they will add RetroAchievements and MAYBE the much necessary in-game interface to match PS emulators.
Just as a heads up, Hybrid with Vulkan and Nvidia cards is currently broken. It'll still run as you know, but no ubershaders are actually being used. All my info is from the dolphin website. I linked the ubershaders article and some other bits.
@@warpedpolygon Wait, Hybrid totally broken with Vulkan? I just did another test, but this time I deleted the shader cache and started Metroid Prime with Vulkan using Hybrid and NO Shader compilation at start and... it worked fine. I also tried OpenGL and both D3D backends. OpenGL was the second best, great performance but I always have a micro stutters opening a door that leads to a big environment (like the main one in Phendrana Drift). I shoot the door, it open and stutters, I move back so the door closes, fire again, it opens and stutter. Both D3Ds have performance issues that OGL and Vulkan don't have and the stutter at that door and similar ones is worse. With Vulkan that door transition and any other is smooth XD The blog with the backends and shader combos is from 2017. Maybe they improved things a lot? I just read a Dolphin blog from September, October and November 2022 talking about ubershader improvements, including Vulkan. Or maybe Metroid Prime 1 has been completely tamed at this point...
@@Antillles well damn, if it works it works. I'll check out that updated blog about ubershaders. That info about vulkan is on their current performance guide. There's so much documentation for this emulator it's hard to wade through it all. Between us we'll figure it out.
@@Antillles After reading some more on that article, Vulkan pipelins are greatly improved with the newish Vertex Loader, but still not perfect. Fixes a lot of games with Hybrid and Vulkan but not all. D3D11 doesn't even use pipelines, and as a result doesn't suffer the same issues the other do with pipelines which is most helpful for lower end hardware. Hope that helps!
@@warpedpolygon Oh thanks for taking your time to research this! Now I know I can test a different backend if a game stutters with vulkan before trying other options.
Everytime I search for "(Emulator) Graphics settings" I always look out for your videos. I have a whole collection of your videos in a playlist for each emulator now By the way, for Hybrid Ubershaders should I choose Direct3D 11 or Direct3D 12?
This video was very helpful. My hopes that Dolphin will make a better pre-game setting, similar to Duckstation and PCSX2. Its honestly not worth tinkering with pre-game setting, as if im working in a office. Duck and PCSX2 are simple, easy to understand the settings, and the Per-game setting is fast and easy once you understand on what setting is best. Leaving the setings to default (few in perfect pixel settings) in first install, and you can disable enhancements sweet as Candy Land for Windows 1998.
I like your channel very much and the contents you specialise in making. Any hope of making similiar tutirial set up videos for aethersx2,dolphin,yaba sanshiro,redream,ppsspp and duckstation on android mobile devices too? That would be great to watch as some people play emulation on pc while others are playing it more on smartphones instead. Any help would be deeply appreciated. Thank you.
Thanks for the kind words! Sorry to disappoint, but I may never be covering smart phone devices, for sure dedicated handheld stuff but I'm a bit anti smart phone, especially with emulation.
Maybe this can help Mac users with poor performance on dolphin: I use a Macbook M2 air and my fps were very low (20-28) and jumped around while playing. After enabling „Skip EFB Access from CPU“ in the Hacks Tab my fps perfectly stabilized and even shoot up into the hundreds if i uncap the gamespeed. I do not understand what this setting is for, but i hope this helps someone.
On the note of Auto aspect ratio. It's now possible to override the heuristics on a per-game basis. Should work with Widescreen hack. And it only affects GC games, not Wii. So I could actually recommend leaving it on and reporting any problematic game to the devs if you don't mind that. (Otherwise you can also always force the ratio on a per game basis with ini files)
Specs look like it could have a good shot at it. Keep settings at default first and increase if you have head room. The android PS2 emulators are very different to PCSX2 with performance options.
Would you recommend 32x SSAA for me? I have a RTX 3080, i7-12700K, and 32gb ddr5. Also is 16x and 32x SSAA new? I noticed it’s not in your version but is in mine. Thank you!
Because of the increased vram of the newer gpus they can go up to 32x Ssaa/msaa. Those options are simply not available for gpus that cant go that high, so not new. Didn't realise this till after the video. If your performance can do it, go for it.
have you tried rogue squadron II rogue leader?? sound gets crackly and in ship view on battle of hoth isnt good. any help please? running ryzen 9 5900X 32gb ram and a 3090
@@chris_player2995 no, you may be able to bind it to the middle mouse button or wheel. I can't remember what it's set to by default but you can set whatever you want, but it'll be with a button/key input that you'll have to tap.
@@bigbadaboomcz3551 you have good specs. 8gb of vram is awesome and cpu is more than capable. 60fps is entirely attainable with what you have. I'd say use vulkan and aim for 1080p if you are Upscaling. Your laptop specs are pretty much the equivalent (maybe better) to my desktop pc that I made this video on.
23:30 For Gecko/AR codes, at the very least slip in the URL reference from where you got that specific code. Don't assume it came from Dolphin wiki; some codes were made twenty years ago on a forum somewhere but never updated to the wiki.
I thought I had this set up pretty well but this video showed me a few little tweaks to make it even better. Another great video!
"Stretch to Window is only for heathens..."
A man after my own heart, there.
Great video! I wish I had this video years ago when I was learning to do this!
"Stretch to window is only for heathens" I agree 100% 🤣
Thanks mate! It is for heathens, why oh why would you want to distort the image!
Thanks, mate. I and others truly appreciate these superb tech guides to retro perfection.
This is a great guide. I certainly learnt a good few things in Dolphin.
There's a lot to lean. So much going on!
absolutely incredible. thanks so much for making this video and breaking down the different graphics options. I'm tuning my Dolphin in 4K 120hz HDR 4:4:4 for projector usage and this definitely helped me.
No worries! Damn that sounds rad, I should setup a discord or something so I can see these things people are doing with my help.
Fantastic tutorial as always . learned few things never knew before . keep retro alive 👍
Hi mate. Hope you're doing well, putting your stuff to good use as you can see! I know I've said it a million times, but thanks again!
@@warpedpolygon i see . you are welcome well deserved. Thank you for helping retro players like me 😀
Great video. There’s also one hack that’s called some thing like ‘fast depth calculation’ that’s important to know about as well. It try’s to quickly determine the order layer of the images to display and sometimes it gets things wrong, and you’ll be left with a section that should have text or some other image and it’ll be blank. You can disable it to fix the games (Def Jam fight for NY is 1 I know off the top of my head)
Good point, I didn't realise this setting hasn't been applied to every game that needs it by the Dolphin team.
Was definitely hoping for a Dolphin video since it's my favorite emulator. Thanks!
Cheers man! It was a tricky one and took wayyy longer than I thought. But got there in the end!
Another edition of Warped Polygon added to my library. 👍🏼
Thanks Troy! Thanks for being subbed from the start, true OG!
This is a blueprint of what guide videos should be. Congratulations, really. Well done.
Thanks mate! Kind words are always appreciated
@@warpedpolygon what about a Saturn emulation guide with the Mednafen emulator? Saturn is a much beloved system and with Mednafen it finally have a trully good emulation solution, but Mednafen itself is far from a user-friendly software. So exploring the settings, specially the graphical ones, with your expertise and great didactics would be awesome! Please think about it! ;)
Excellent video...all your tutorials have been a great help....I was wandering, have you thought of writing a book (or two) on how to?.Just an idea,I think it would do well with people in the community....just a thought.
I wouldn't know where to start or how to convey anything meaningful that isn't going to be outdated in a year. What kinda book are you thinking of?
@@warpedpolygon Basically a guide on how to setup emulators (exactly what you do on video).The settings choices on the very popular emus has not changed much,so would not make the basic settings redundant; and you could explain your personal journey as to if.....why....what...and your obvious passion (obsession!) for emulation.Just a thought.
@@warpedpolygon I mean you can make a webpage with things highlighted in the video.
You can use area sampling to make higher than native resolutions look better than native!
I use it extensively and that's what it's meant for.
Also don't use 16x or anything above default on games like Mario Sunshine unless you like Milky water.
It has issues.
The other output resampling options are more geared toward nostalgic purposes when paired with AA on 1x resolution.
Same with color correction although it can be used for HDR conversion if one desires.
Hey there Warped, thanks so much for this excellent video, actually explaining what all of these various settings really do in the first place.
Yeah man, glad you find my stuff helpful!
I didn't knew there were recommended combinations of backends and ubershaders modes. It's there any source or documentation for them? I was just using Vulkan with my old GTX 1060.
However after doing some tests I think I will remain in Vulkan. While both D3D11 and 12 indeed seem to load a new shader a little bit faster, it also seems to be more performance intensive or to drop frames more often, at least with my short Metroid Prime test using my usual graphics settings and Hybrid Ubershaders. Vulkan can have a few minor stutters here and there when beginning a new game, but they clear up very quickly and performance is way better.
Good guide as always. Next Dolphin updates could be very interesting. Theoretically they will add RetroAchievements and MAYBE the much necessary in-game interface to match PS emulators.
Just as a heads up, Hybrid with Vulkan and Nvidia cards is currently broken. It'll still run as you know, but no ubershaders are actually being used.
All my info is from the dolphin website. I linked the ubershaders article and some other bits.
@@warpedpolygon Wait, Hybrid totally broken with Vulkan? I just did another test, but this time I deleted the shader cache and started Metroid Prime with Vulkan using Hybrid and NO Shader compilation at start and... it worked fine.
I also tried OpenGL and both D3D backends. OpenGL was the second best, great performance but I always have a micro stutters opening a door that leads to a big environment (like the main one in Phendrana Drift). I shoot the door, it open and stutters, I move back so the door closes, fire again, it opens and stutter. Both D3Ds have performance issues that OGL and Vulkan don't have and the stutter at that door and similar ones is worse. With Vulkan that door transition and any other is smooth XD
The blog with the backends and shader combos is from 2017. Maybe they improved things a lot? I just read a Dolphin blog from September, October and November 2022 talking about ubershader improvements, including Vulkan. Or maybe Metroid Prime 1 has been completely tamed at this point...
@@Antillles well damn, if it works it works. I'll check out that updated blog about ubershaders. That info about vulkan is on their current performance guide.
There's so much documentation for this emulator it's hard to wade through it all.
Between us we'll figure it out.
@@Antillles After reading some more on that article, Vulkan pipelins are greatly improved with the newish Vertex Loader, but still not perfect. Fixes a lot of games with Hybrid and Vulkan but not all.
D3D11 doesn't even use pipelines, and as a result doesn't suffer the same issues the other do with pipelines which is most helpful for lower end hardware.
Hope that helps!
@@warpedpolygon Oh thanks for taking your time to research this! Now I know I can test a different backend if a game stutters with vulkan before trying other options.
This guide teached me one or two things, very helpful thank you :)
No worries.
with the cheevos (retroachievements) coming to the dolphin, This video will definitely be of great help!
Thanks man!
this is the best tutorial so far, really appreciate mate. kudos!!!
Glad it helped!
Great video bud.
Everytime I search for "(Emulator) Graphics settings" I always look out for your videos. I have a whole collection of your videos in a playlist for each emulator now
By the way, for Hybrid Ubershaders should I choose Direct3D 11 or Direct3D 12?
11 is the more popular one
This video was very helpful.
My hopes that Dolphin will make a better pre-game setting, similar to Duckstation and PCSX2.
Its honestly not worth tinkering with pre-game setting, as if im working in a office.
Duck and PCSX2 are simple, easy to understand the settings, and the Per-game setting is fast and easy once you understand on what setting is best.
Leaving the setings to default (few in perfect pixel settings) in first install, and you can disable enhancements sweet as Candy Land for Windows 1998.
I hate the way Dolphin handles per game stuff. It's a pain in the butt
I like your channel very much and the contents you specialise in making.
Any hope of making similiar tutirial set up videos for aethersx2,dolphin,yaba sanshiro,redream,ppsspp and duckstation on android mobile devices too? That would be great to watch as some people play emulation on pc while others are playing it more on smartphones instead. Any help would be deeply appreciated. Thank you.
Thanks for the kind words! Sorry to disappoint, but I may never be covering smart phone devices, for sure dedicated handheld stuff but I'm a bit anti smart phone, especially with emulation.
No worries. Thank you for your reply., 😊
thanks
cheers
Maybe this can help Mac users with poor performance on dolphin:
I use a Macbook M2 air and my fps were very low (20-28) and jumped around while playing. After enabling „Skip EFB Access from CPU“ in the Hacks Tab my fps perfectly stabilized and even shoot up into the hundreds if i uncap the gamespeed.
I do not understand what this setting is for, but i hope this helps someone.
On the note of Auto aspect ratio. It's now possible to override the heuristics on a per-game basis. Should work with Widescreen hack. And it only affects GC games, not Wii. So I could actually recommend leaving it on and reporting any problematic game to the devs if you don't mind that. (Otherwise you can also always force the ratio on a per game basis with ini files)
Incredible guide
Please make one for RetroArch, that thing is a nightmare to navigate.
Can you please do rpsc3??? Amazing video btw!
thank you.
Is this phone Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro+ good enough for Emulating PS2 Games ?
Specs look like it could have a good shot at it. Keep settings at default first and increase if you have head room. The android PS2 emulators are very different to PCSX2 with performance options.
@warpedpolygon is playing games like NfS CARBON on dolphin emu better than aethersx2 ?
@@RiC3R69 very hard to answer. Performance wise I'd say aether at defaults is better than dolphin
7:03 What if my resolution is 1336x768? any way to add a custom internal resolution so dolphin doesn't rescale the game??
Would you recommend 32x SSAA for me? I have a RTX 3080, i7-12700K, and 32gb ddr5. Also is 16x and 32x SSAA new? I noticed it’s not in your version but is in mine. Thank you!
Because of the increased vram of the newer gpus they can go up to 32x Ssaa/msaa. Those options are simply not available for gpus that cant go that high, so not new. Didn't realise this till after the video.
If your performance can do it, go for it.
@@warpedpolygon Oh I see! Thank you for replying and love your videos!
have you tried rogue squadron II rogue leader?? sound gets crackly and in ship view on battle of hoth isnt good. any help please? running ryzen 9 5900X 32gb ram and a 3090
Thanks :)
No problem!
when a game asks me to shake the Wiimote do I use the mouse? i tried it with house of the dead overkill and didnt work
@@chris_player2995 no, you may be able to bind it to the middle mouse button or wheel. I can't remember what it's set to by default but you can set whatever you want, but it'll be with a button/key input that you'll have to tap.
what gpu are you using?
1660ti, did you watch the video?
I have a 4080, should I use D3D12, 11 or OpenGL?
Vulkan is working better with ubershaders these days. With a 4080 you can choose what ever you want. I'd start with D3D11
@@warpedpolygon ty! Will try =D
I have a 4090GPU, what exactly should I max out for graphics?
With that, everything! You may be able to use exclusive ubershaders by default with all that vram
Hello can i run Dolphin on my laptop? Specs are RTX 3050 8GB,i5-10500-H 6 cores 12 threads,16 GB ram, 1TB SSD. Thank you.
@@bigbadaboomcz3551 yeah that sounds good to me
@@warpedpolygon can i run some games in 60 fps?
@@bigbadaboomcz3551 you have good specs. 8gb of vram is awesome and cpu is more than capable.
60fps is entirely attainable with what you have. I'd say use vulkan and aim for 1080p if you are Upscaling.
Your laptop specs are pretty much the equivalent (maybe better) to my desktop pc that I made this video on.
@@warpedpolygon Thanks so much for help,have a nice day.😊✋
Bring me the bread, please.
You makin a sammich?
@@warpedpolygon I am, I need bread and cheese.
No Android settings 😔😔
@@maciejsulikowski7038 as in I didn't cover the android version?