Dolphin adds support for Wii MotionPlus emulation

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We've seen some notable improvements made to Dolphin lately, from the rewrite and unification of its video back ends to the addition of a Netplay server browser; yet the news doesn't seem to stop there. Thanks to the efforts of a developer known as Billiard, the ever so popular Gamecube and Wii emulator is finally able to add a long sought after feature to its list of capabilities: Wii MotionPlus emulation!

The peripheral was originally released by Nintendo in 2009 as a small dongle that could be connected to the Wii Remote's extension port. Thanks to it, supported games could make use of its integrated gyroscope, allowing for better and more precise motion controls. The company also released the Wii Remote Plus around a year later, which integrated the MotionPlus' features inside the remote itself, thus removing the need of an external dongle. Some popular games which require the MotionPlus in order to be played are The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Wii Sports Resort, and Red Steel 2. Emulating the device proved to be a challenge for Dolphin's developers, meaning the only possible solution to play said games was to connect a real Wii Remote and MotionPlus to the PC. However, this is no longer the case, as MotionPlus emulation is now available starting from build 5.0-10056! The dev team has uploaded a video demostrating the feature in action:



A technical explaination has also been posted on Dolphin's blog, documenting everything from understanding the device's encryption to getting precise motion controls to work, which is linked in the sources below.

:arrow: Source
:arrow: Download
 
Last edited by RattletraPM,

Taleweaver

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I'm...not sure if it's a stupid question, but...how?
(note: I'm unable to watch the video right now...I'm at work)

No, really: if not a (real or cloned) wiimote (plus), then what else will you use that comes close? Can you mimmick the same motions with a smartphone now? Would somehow mapping everything to keyboard and mouse somehow feel smoothly? :wacko:
 

The Real Jdbye

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MotionPlus has been supported unofficially for years. There are still parts of Skyward Sword that are unplayable without a real MotionPlus or some other motion controller mapped to simulate it though.
BUT HOW you connect the wii's sensor bar to pc??
Technically Skyward Sword doesn't really need the sensor bar. But I bought a USB one from eBay for about 2 bucks. Skyward Sword needs the sensor bar only when starting up the game to calibrate the Wiimote (you could just use a real Wii/Wii U for this step or a couple of candles or maybe even a couple of IR remote controls), but the Wiimote loses track of its position quickly without it meaning you have to tilt the Wiimote in weird ways to get certain things to work as expected, like steering the beetle up or down can be way oversensitive or respond at weird angles if the Wiimote doesn't have a Sensor Bar to help it track its position.
 

leon315

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Technically Skyward Sword doesn't really need the sensor bar. But I bought a USB one from eBay for about 2 bucks. Skyward Sword needs the sensor bar only when starting up the game to calibrate the Wiimote (you could just use a real Wii/Wii U for this step or a couple of candles or maybe even a couple of IR remote controls), but the Wiimote loses track of its position quickly without it meaning you have to tilt the Wiimote in weird ways to get certain things to work as expected, like steering the beetle up or down can be way oversensitive or respond at weird angles if the Wiimote doesn't have a Sensor Bar to help it track its position.
thanks for explanation mate :P guess i still have both game and the console, i'll just finish it as it was originally intended.
 

The Real Jdbye

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thanks for explanation mate :P guess i still have both game and the console, i'll just finish it as it was originally intended.
I made do with a wireless sensor bar I happened to have since it came free with something I ordered once. But the damn thing drains the batteries in a few hours, and if I forget to turn it off 100% guaranteed the batteries will be drained the next time I play.
Since I didn't have more batteries, and it was in the middle of the holidays and stores were closed, I had to make do by just turning on the sensor bar when I start up the game (since there was just enough battery to power it on for a few seconds) and the game was playable but incredibly frustrating to play certain sections of once the Wiimote lost track of its position.

The game looks great in Dolphin though. Especially with the AR code that disables the DoF "painting" effect (because it makes stuff in the distance look blurry and low res which is espeially noticable in HD), so if you can play it in Dolphin I recommend doing so. $3 for a USB sensor bar is not much to spend for a better experience :)
I bought this one, in black: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sensor-Bar...hash=item2f2ad54ae3:m:mx81Eso2PuxWv9hz4---5vw
There is also a partial HD texture pack for the game, which looks great as well, only a small part of the game is retextured but the textures fit in with the original style so well that it doesn't bother me that i can tell that some textures are HD and some are not. It's still an improvements for things like the GUI.
 
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tatumanu

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I really thought this already was implemented like 8 years ago ...
As for the sensor bar i just turn on the Wii after pairing the controllers with the PC and you are good to go.

Thank you team Dolphin!
 

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Wii sensor bar doesn't need to be connected to software. Basically just some IR lights. You could use one of those wireless battery powered ones or even the actual Wii one plugged into a Wii if you really wanted to.

this is exactly what I did! works like a charm and free since I already had the parts.
 

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