Getting started w/ Dolphin, need help

[Nameless Mofo]

Hi, ok so I'm a newcomer to Dolphin but not to emulation (long time epsxe and nulldc user). I have several GC games I want to run, and I read the forum a LOT before I got started. But my results so far have been dismal and I've tried tweaking every option I could think of and/or read about with no improvement. I'd really appreciate some help getting going here. Also there's some contradictory info I'd appreciate resolved.

Dolphin versions tested: 3089, 3099, 3200, 3207. In all cases I tried both the OGL plugin and DX9 plugin.

All games dumped using Rawdump 2.0 on the much-vaunted LG GDR-8164B. All dumps verified against the list at redump (crc32, md5, sha1 all match).

Computer info: IBM Thinkpad T43p
Pentium M 2.26ghz
2GB ram
ATI Firegl V3200 (DX 9.0 / OGL 2.0 capable)

First: the Dolphin FAQ page says OGL 2.0 is good enough, but some posts led me to believe that in fact OGL 2.1+ is required? WTH?

Ok, so the games:

Resident Evil remake: black screen (both plugins), no sound
Resident Evil 0: black screen (both plugins), no sound
Resident Evil 2: black screen (both plugins), sound plays normally
Resident Evil 3: black screen (both plugins), no sound
Skies of Arcadia Legends: black screen (OGL), sound plays normally

The interesting thing on SOAL is that if I switch to DX9 plugin, gfx play but dog slow (~15 fps, maybe the plugin, my comp, or a combination) and I have the red texture issue which I believe is a known problem with the DX9 plugin. (screenshot is from the intro sequence, that's De Loco's face you're looking at).

Things I've tried changing, esp on REmake, to get it working:

- tried both dolphin.exe and dolphinil.exe
- enable/disable dual core (even tho my comp is single core)
- enable/disable idle skipping (read that it was broken for a while recently)
- optimize quants
- lock threads to core
- enable/disable dynarec
- HLE the bios

In the OGL plugin window:
- vsync
- native resolution
- use real xfb
- different levels of AF & AA
- bi/trilinear filtering
- copy efb to system ram (real) / copy efb to gl texture (hack)
- use safe texture cache

In the DX9 plugin window:
- vsync
- different AA settings
- force bi/trilinear
- force 16x AF
- enable overlay

For DSP I use HLE plugin:
- enable HLE audio
- enable DTK music
- enable other audio (throttle)

The console window doesn't show anything bad (all messages are green color).

Please help!! I want to get this working SO BAD!!! Especially REmake, plus I have other games I haven't tried yet. I will appreciate any help VERY MUCH!

Attached Images

skies_redscreen.jpg (25.3 KB, 9 views)

[nosound.97]

Your video card lacks of OpenGL support. Dolphin's OpenGL plugin requires OpenGL 2.1.

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[Nameless Mofo]

Wow that sucks. I'm assuming there's some technical reason for that? Because my desktop machine (nvidia 7800gtx) should be plenty fast to run dolphin but it's also a 2.0 gpu. So it sounds like that won't work either, right?

So, on the DX9 side, I'm assuming that everything I'm seeing (black screens, red textures) is due to the fact that it's not getting as much love as the OGL plugin?

[nosound.97]

Direct3D plugin is outdated, it won't work properly.

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[Nameless Mofo]

Ok, well sounds like I'm SOL for now.

[crhylove]

There are some super cheap gfx cards that will do nicely on newegg. I mean, a reasonable one for Dolphin can be had for <$50! I don't think your lap is powerful enough regardless.

[clarf]

Originally Posted by Nameless Mofo

Dolphin versions tested: 3089, 3099, 3200, 3207. In all cases I tried both the OGL plugin and DX9 plugin.

First: the Dolphin FAQ page says OGL 2.0 is good enough, but some posts led me to believe that in fact OGL 2.1+ is required? WTH?

Ok, so the games:

Resident Evil remake: black screen (both plugins), no sound
Resident Evil 0: black screen (both plugins), no sound
Resident Evil 2: black screen (both plugins), sound plays normally
Resident Evil 3: black screen (both plugins), no sound
Skies of Arcadia Legends: black screen (OGL), sound plays normally

I have the same problem using lastest SVN for Dolphin. It seems a new frog emulation feature added after SVN 2309 that have problems with ATI cards.

You should try older versions, I can play without the black screen problem in SVN 2195 and 2276, with my ATI card.

Please try an report.

[masta.g.86]

Originally Posted by Nameless Mofo

Wow that sucks. I'm assuming there's some technical reason for that? Because my desktop machine (nvidia 7800gtx) should be plenty fast to run dolphin but it's also a 2.0 gpu. So it sounds like that won't work either, right?

So, on the DX9 side, I'm assuming that everything I'm seeing (black screens, red textures) is due to the fact that it's not getting as much love as the OGL plugin?

The nVidia 7800GTX has no problems with the Dolphin OpenGL plugin.

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