Dolphin's emulation of the GameCube GPU is going to the next level.

The GameCube GPU is a complex, tight-knit piece of hardware with impressive features for its time. It is so powerful and so flexible, it was used unmodified within the Wii architecture. For a comparison, just imagine a SNES running with an NES's graphics system. This is completely unheard of, before or since. The GameCube is a remarkable achievement of hardware engineering! With its impressive capabilities, emulating the GameCube's GPU has been one of the most challenging tasks Dolphin has ever faced.

As well as games work, developing proper emulation of the GC/Wii GPU continues to be an ongoing and difficult process. Dolphin has had long standing issues with a bunch of its features, and many graphics glitches have been around for years and years. With the merger of the tev_fixes_new branch (tev = Texture EnVironment, a major component of the GameCube's pixel processing pipeline), Dolphin's emulation of the GameCube GPU is going to the next level.

[Cussing]

Looks fantastic!

[SteamPowered]

I am way too bad at math to understand a lot of the article, but needless to say Gamecube emulation is a ways away. Which is a shame. It was a great console but it had Fantastic games.

[Bengaroo]

Umm... ways away? It's damn fine at the moment.

[SteamPowered]

The dolphin emulator I use doesn't play rogue squadron or bounty hunter at all.

[LAWSON72]

You realize both GC and even Wii have a pretty solid emulator which has been out for quite sometime.

[lilbroRx]

Dolphin was originally just a GC emulator, but they switched focus to the Wii when it went open source because most people wanted to bootleg what was most current(I'm not going to pretend that the majority of people who use it actually rip and play only their own games like the makers claim they make it for), and the GC was a lot of harder to emulate do to the software being so different per game(it was more uniform with the Wii making it easy to get Wii games up and running compared to the GC).

They also only really focused on getting big name games working like Zelda, Metroid and Mario. Go outside of the big budget game range and you will find huge compatibility issues. Most GC games won't work on Dolphin and most of the ones that do have tons of problems. I wouldn't call that solid at all.

Seriously, if it was anywhere near solid then this article wouldn't even exist.

[ChickeyCantor]

" Most GC games won't work on Dolphin and most of the ones that do have tons of problems. I wouldn't call that solid at all. "

Those problems can be fixed with tweaks in your settings.

"Seriously, if it was anywhere near solid then this article wouldn't even exist."

Since when does refactoring/optimizing code means it WAS broken? They simply boosted the GPU performance in some regards and fixing a lot of other bugs along with it.

You also missed the part where the article talks about the issues in the earlier stages of the emulator.

[Ittoryu]

The play metroid and super mario galaxy 2 just fine on my 4yr old laptop with my GC/wii emulator.

[Chard]

Hopefully this leads to the Rogue Squadron games being playable.

[Stringerbell]

Tell me about it. Last time I checked the original N64 version still doesn't run 100 percent on Project 64...

[webeblazing]

so how is he using the wiimote on PC.

[LAWSON72]

Simple
1. Dolphin has support for it
2. Bluetooth
3. Candles or sensor bar powered by USB.

[Snookies12]

I'm actually quite curious about that as well... I suppose some sort of PC adapter for the Wii sensor?

[lilmetal]

The Wiimote can work with any makeshift IR receiver. There are plenty of cheap alternatives for PC that Dolphin supports natively.

[gprime]

The wii sensor bar is actually just an infrared emitter, so it can easily be replaced (for example, as lawson pointed out, with a couple candles). No adapter necessary. It would actually be more accurate to call the wii remote the sensor, since it has an infrared camera in it to figure out where the sensor bar is placed.

[LKHGFDSA]

you could an an actual wii sensor bar, the cable it has is only for power. you can get battery powered ones.

with that said though, when I tried to set up the emulator with the controller I couldn't figure it out.

[HighResHero]

He said he is using mouse and keyboard.

[Mikefizzled]

That Super Mario Galaxy demo is absolutely beautiful

[Spurg]

I tried Xenoblade...wasn't working too well on the previous dolphin emulator.

[gprime]

I've been playing xenoblade on my laptop. Runs flawlessly and looks way better than on the wii. It even runs well with a high res texture pack set up

[Geekman]

Me: Police, do something! Cops: Be quiet, Geek. *Goes back to playing emulator.*

[Geekman]

This video makes me wish that the Wii was a traditional video game console. The gameplay looks much better. Then again, I did enjoy the NES style control of holding the Wiimote sideways.

[Are_The_MaDNess]

Dolphin is always a great choice

[MNGamer-N]

Cool read. Never realized it could be this complicated.

[adonisisfree]

The GameCube's gpu is as powerful as the Xbox one's

[ChickeyCantor]

Galaxy 2 looks great and it's almost like they simply used the same shaders in new super mario 3D world.

[Tzuno]

Pc power.