Dolphin Emulator

Dolphin is a Wii and GameCube emulator with high compatibility across the majority of titles for both platforms. It was first developed as closed source in 2003, and as open source since 2008.

It allows PC gamers to enjoy games for these two consoles in full HD (1080p) with several enhancements: compatibility with all PC controllers, turbo speed, networked multiplayer, among other things.

Setting up Dolphin
Main article: Installation Guide (on wiki.dolphin-emu.org)

Basic steps

 * Download Dolphin emulator from here: Stable, Beta, Developer.

Please read about the differences in Dolphin versions below.
 * Extract the contents of the .zip file you just downloaded to a folder of your choice.
 * Run Dolphin.exe

Differences in Dolphin Versions
Those differences are specific to NSMBW and irrelevant to other games. It is recommended to use a development version.

=Dolphin Game Management= Dolphin emulator can open Wii ISO files, WBFS files, and Nkit ISO files.

Another method is to play the extracted contents of such files. The setup procedure is more complex, but allows to edit levels on-the-fly while the emulator is running. Please consider that it's very time-consuming to create a new ISO/WBFS archive each time something has changed in your game. See Extracted Game.

And finally, with the latest Dolphin version there is now a way to launch Riivolution-style game patches directly. See Riivolution Patches.



To populate the list of available games, it's needed to to setup the Game Folders where Dolphin will look for games. Click on Config, then select the tab Paths and add directories with ISO/WBFS files in them to the list. Proceed by pressing Ok. The list in the main window should now show your games.

It's also possible to add paths to .dol files from extracted games to this list. This will be explained later in the tutorial.

Extracted Game
Dolphin is capable to play the extracted contents of a Wii ISO or WBFS file. This makes it very easy to edit files without having to rebuild an ISO/WBFS each time.

It is advised to use this or the Riivolution Patches method for extensive testing.

Requirements:
 * Wii ISO/WBFS of the game you want to extract
 * Dolphin 5.0 Development Version (Dolphin 5.0 stable doesn't have the option to extract the entire disc).

First we need to obtain the game files. The steps are similar compared to this tutorial (Obtain Original Game Files), with the exception that we need to extract the entire disc instead of just Partition 1. You can follow the steps in the above tutorial, or read on for the precise steps.


 * Open Dolphin Emulator with your game populated in the Games List. Select it in the main window pane, right-click it and select the entry Properties.
 * In the window that opens, go to the Filesystem tab.
 * Once there, right-click on Disc and select the entry Extract Entire Disc.... Choose a folder for your files and click on Ok.




 * You should now have a DATA folder. Inside that folder are 3 more folders, disc, files, and sys, along with the files cert.bin, h3.bin, ticket.bin, and tmd.bin. This folder is also called a Dolphin Game Patch.


 * The final step is to point Dolphin to the sys directory. This can be done, by clicking on Config, navigating to the Paths tab, and adding the path to the sys folder to the Game Folders list.

If you wanted to play the game from an extracted game, you can stop here. However, continue reading to learn how to use more than one extracted game patch in parallel.

Dolphin Game Patches
It is possible to use multiple extracted games in parallel. Useful if you have to supervise more than one project.

How to create multiple custom Game Patches based on Newer
\NewerDolphin\Games Games is the Dolphin Game Patches folder. You can choose any folder name you like of course.
 * Create a folder for your Dolphin game patches. As an example, we'll be using:


 * Extract the entire disc of Newer Super Mario Bros. Wii as shown in the Extracted Game tutorial.
 * Rename the DATA folder to Newer and move the entire folder to the Games directory created above.
 * This is now your Newer Super Mario Bros. Wii Dolphin Game Patch. It is recommended to keep one such patch untouched.
 * Now copy the entire Newer folder (it's around 350MB) and paste it into the Games directory again. Choose anything you want as a folder name, but it's recommended to use your project name. In the example image it's just called YourGamePatch.



You should now have an entire copy of the game in both folders.


 * Last step is to add the directory with the game patches to your Game Folders list in ->Preferences ->Paths, and select the checkbox Search Subfolders.



All your game patches in that folder should now show up in the list. More custom game patches can be added as well if needed. It's also possible to add NSMBW (original game) as a Dolphin game patch, alongside Newer patches.

To start an extracted game now, simply double-click on it in the list.

Riivolution Patches
This method allows to apply Riivolution-style game patches to any retail game.

It is advised to use this or the Extracted Game method for extensive testing.

Requirements:
 * Wii ISO/WBFS of the game you want to apply Riivolution-style patches to, needs to be in its retail form
 * Dolphin 5.0-15407 or later
 * A Riivolution-style game patch, for example Newer Super Mario Bros Wii

Riivolution style game patches on SD/USB for Wii require a certain folder structure so that everything is recognized. Dolphin closely mimics this folder structure. To make sure Dolphin has created these folders, run Dolphin once before copying your game patches.

Setup

 * Run Dolphin once and quit
 * Navigate to your Dolphin user directory
 * On Windows:
 * For normal Dolphin installations, the directory is  (paste directly into Win+R or Explorer path bar)
 * For portable Dolphin installations (registry key  set to , or   created in Dolphin's install directory), go to Dolphin's install directory, then enter the folder
 * On macOS,  (In Finder, press ⌘+Shift+G, and enter that directory without the quotes).
 * On Linux, it may be either  or
 * Inside this directory you should see a folder named ; enter it.
 * Inside  there should be one or several folders. We're interested in the   folder (please note the capital "R"), but there might also be other folders like  . Enter the   folder.
 * Now we're finally at the place where the game patches need to go.

1. is where all the XML files will go, for example  for Newer,   for Dark Moon, etc.
 * Open the directory with the game patch you want to play (in a second explorer window), and copy the two folders  and the mod's root folder, for example , to this directory. It should now look like this:

2. can be any game patch root folder, for example  for Newer, or   for DarkMoon, etc.

Example of folder structure: C:\Users\%USERNAME%\Dolphin\Load\... ...Riivolution                    <- root directory for game patches DarkMoon                     <- game patch NewerSMBW                    <- game patch riivolution                  <- riivolution XML directory config                     <- config dir inside XML, will be created automatically SMNP.xml DarkMoon.xml               <- game patch XML NewerSMBW.xml              <- game patch XML save                         <- saves directory, will be created automatically SMNP banner.bin NerSMBW.sav OerSMBW.sav ...Textures                       <- This folder, if it exists, is not relevant for the tutorial


 * Open Dolphin, right-click on the retail New Super Mario Bros. Wii entry, and select "Start With Riivolution Patches..."
 * A window will pop up allowing you to configure your Riivolution patches.
 * Enable exactly one game patch, then press Start.

Your Riivolution-style game patch is ready to be played.

The same rules apply as with the Extracted Game method, meaning that levels can be changed on-the-fly. All assets must stay the same size during runtime.

Source: https://newerteam.com/wii/help/dolphinriivo.html

Savestates
Savestates is a feature that saves the exact spot you are in any game. You can use this feature manually by going into the File menu or by quick keyboard shortcuts. Please note that by using savestates, the entire RAM will be restored to a point in time when the savestate was taken.

It's recommended to capture savestates on the world map, play a custom level, then return to the overworld via the savestate, and modify the level further if needed. Savestates can also be used to skip the entire loading procedure and jump directly to the world map. Please note that all of the above only works, if no assets (tilesets, sprites, ...) were changed. Exception: Levels that use the Fixed Level Size feature.

Using save states:
 * Capturing a save state: To capture a save state go to . The keyboard shortcut for saving a save state is.
 * Loading a save state: To load a save state that you previously saved, go to . The keyboard shortcut for loading a save state is.
 * Ten save slots! Dolphin allows you to save up to 10 different save states. By default, it is set to slot “1”. You can change the slot by going to . Then select the desired slot.



Cheats
Main article: Cheats =Gameplay Recording= Main article: Gameplay Recording =HQ Dolphin Screenshots= Main article: Screenshots