1.2.4 Game Configuration

Game Configuration

We want to apply the goals, described here. Therefore, we need to configure each game within dolphin.

GameINI

Dolphin has a brilliant way of managing/applying different emulation settings for each single game using a single file for each called GameINI.

When installing dolphin via RetroPie we already have a great directory structure where we can store custom GameINI files for each game. It can be found at: /opt/retropie/configs/gc/GameSettings/. Please keep in mind that dolphin ships with several preconfigured GameINI files that are stored within /opt/retropie. However, dolphin only uses the built in GameINI's if no custom GameINI's are found at: /opt/retropie/configs/gc/GameSettings/.

The official Dolphin wiki page tells us the exact GameINI filename for each game that we want to configure. In this documentation example we want to write a GameINI file for: "Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door". When consulting the dolphin wiki page for this game we can find, that we need to name our GameINI file: G8MP01 for dolphin to recognize it and load it for the correct game.

We now create the GameINI file at the correct location for our example: /opt/retropie/configs/gc/GameSettings/G8MP01.ini. Let’s add the following contents to the file:

# G8MP01 - Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
[Core]
GFXBackend = Vulkan
CPUThread = False
GameCubeLanguage = 1

[Controls]
PadProfile1 = default_p1
PadProfile2 = default_p2
PadProfile3 = default_p3
PadProfile4 = default_p4

[Video_Hardware]
VSync = True

[Video_Settings]
InternalResolution = 3
MSAA = 4
wideScreenHack = False

[Gecko]
$aspecrtratiofix
C202F3F8 00000003
3DC08043 3DE03FD8
91EEC158 4E800020
60000000 00000000
C200F6C4 00000003
3DE08086 3DC0402B
61CE12A2 91CFB0DC
387D015C 00000000
C200F6CC 00000003
3DE08086 3DC04063
61CEE8D3 91CFB0DC
7FC3F378 00000000
0419B274 4E800020
*
[Gecko_Enabled]
$aspecrtratiofix

NOTE: We don’t cover every single setting here. Just the once that are the most important ones! Further information can be found within dolphin official GameINI wiki.

Core

• GFXBackend = Vulkan
  • This is a very vital setting for emulation. We choose how we want to access our GPU. In our case Vulkan should be the perfect choice especially for a Linux based system.
• GameCubeLanguage = 1
  • Sets the system language of the emulated GameCube to "German".

Controls

• PadProfile1 = default_p1
  • Here we tell dolphin which controller profile should be loaded/connected to which emulated GameCube port. In our case the names of our previously created controller profile files for each port/controller.

Video Hardware

• VSync = True
  • This setting is needed to avoid screen tearing. It natively synchronizes monitors/tv's top part of the screen with the bottom part which are usually two different screen panels forming one big screen. (Tearing often shows the "cut" between the two screen panels of a monitor/tv.)

Video Settings

• InternalResolution = 3

  • This tells the emulator to which resolution should the game be upscaled to. In this case the value 3 points to 1080p.

• MSAA = 4

  • This sets the anti-aliasing to the corresponding multiplier. In this case x4.

• wideScreenHack = False

  • This deactivates dolphin's built-in widescreen enhancement which forces/applies a 16:9 aspect ratio to the game (Sometimes even without stretching the picture unnaturally.). This option works for most of the games. However, in some cases it causes graphical bugs. Therefore, community written widescreen enhancements are the sometimes the better choice.

Gecko

This section lists the different cheat codes applied to the game. (Gecko codes and ActionReplay codes are supported.) Lines starting with "$" are titles for the cheat code that follows below. So, in this case $aspectratiofix is the title of the cheat codes lines that follow below. In this section you can specify multiple codes. They are separated by just specifying the next code title in the next line. You have to end this block with an Asterix.(*) (An trailing Asterix is only needed for Gecko.)

Gecko Enabled

In this section we enable the gecko codes that we want to use for the game. We do this by listing the before specified code titles. The codes are only applied on a game when listing them here.

Conclution

If we create a GameINI file for each game, we should be able to use our controller setup. In addition, we should now have a sharp image with widescreen support, anti-aliasing, vsync and in the best case 60 FPS.