Homebrew Wii Emulation on PC?

[Skelletonike]

Well, like the tittle says, it's about the Wii Emulation on the PC, I dunno if this is the right place to post this or not... =S
Anyway, I'm a bit sceptical about even thinking of emulating a current gen console, but there seem to be some interesting games that came out for it and well... Dunno...

From what I recall, Dolphin was also able to emulate the wii, but how good is it?
Is there any rpg that fully works on it?
And the setting up and all that, I'm no good at it, I always confuse myself with builds, best settings, etc, etc..
The point is, what's the best wii emulator and is there any that actually works with games? (not just partially but mostly like ePSX, project 64, among others...)

I was thinking about buying a wii, but since the wii u will come out next year and it should have backwards compability, I guess I'll wait until it comes out.

 

[obcd]

I think you better buy a (second hand) wii. Dolphin requires a powerfull pc to run at decent speeds. Even than, you probably won't be satisfied with the result.
You will need a wii controller for a good wii playing experience. (I don't think your keyboard has a motion sensor buildin)

 

[Skelletonike]

Meh, the pc is powerful enough, I was just wondering about it since I have nothing else to do atm.

 

[Hadrian]

Dolphin is the only Wii emulator worth trying, its very simple to use so grab the latest build, grab Xenoblade Chronciles (the best RPG of this gen...fuck you Skyrim) and see how it goes for you. Only problems there are emulating that game is the sound stutters.

All you need to know to get that game running.
http://wiki.dolphin-emulator.com/index.php?title=Xenoblade_Chronicles

Personally buying a Wii is the best option (plus they're so cheap to by used). With Dolphin sure you can emulate the wiimote with mouse but its not very good so you absolutely need to buy a wiimote and then a nunchuck and also you do need a bluetooth device for Dolphin to receive the motions...and not all are compatible. Some games do work well with a proper controller. Then not all games run as well, some stutter etc.

As for actual power, if your PC can run the latest titles on high settings then you're good to go, if you're stuck on medium then forget it unless all you're going to play is wiiware and New Super Mario Bros.

 

[Rydian]

Well good news, most of the "current-gen" consoles are about five years old or even older. And even then, the Wii was the weak/simple one. Dolphin runs fine, modern computers (with a powerful processor and low-mid GPU) can play many/most games at fullspeed in HD... but yeah, getting a Wiimote is recommended.

As for actual power, if your PC can run the latest titles on high settings then you're good to go, if you're stuck on medium then forget it unless all you're going to play is wiiware and New Super Mario Bros.

New games are GPU-dependent whereas emulation is CPU-dependent.

 

[Skelletonike]

Nah, I always play recent gams on max settings, the thing about buying a wii now is that the wii u is comming out soon, and it seems kinda a waste of money seeing as I'll most likely buy a wii u on launch. .-."

Well good news, most of the "current-gen" consoles are about five years old or even older. And even then, the Wii was the weak/simple one. Dolphin runs fine, modern computers (with a powerful processor and low-mid GPU) can play many/most games at fullspeed in HD... but yeah, getting a Wiimote is recommended.

As for actual power, if your PC can run the latest titles on high settings then you're good to go, if you're stuck on medium then forget it unless all you're going to play is wiiware and New Super Mario Bros.

New games are GPU-dependent whereas emulation is CPU-dependent.

But wasn't the compability list really low or something?
Like, most games not starting or getting crashes and stuff..

 

[Rydian]

Maybe a while back, but not now.

 

[Skelletonike]

Hmk, thats good to know. =3
And what's the best build to use?
I always get confused if I should use an official aproved build or a more recent unofficial one. =S

 

[Rydian]

Try the official 3.0 just to get a feel for it, then once you're used to configuring it and such (you still need to tweak configs with these recent emulators) try whatever the latest at any given time is to see how it fares.

 

[sindrik]

But wasn't the compability list really low or something?
Like, most games not starting or getting crashes and stuff..

it has always been a high compatibility emulator starting with the gamecube games, unless u are talking about the waaaaaay old 1.0 era

use 3.0 official

 

[Deleted-236924]

I would still recommend getting a Wii.
If anything, a second-hand one could do the job.
You might be able to find a cheap one online.

 

[Vigilante]

Well there is Dolphin but it requires a powerful computer to play games at a good speed.
Powerful computer equals allot of money so best to just buy a Wii.

 

[Deleted-236924]

Well he did mention already having a powerful computer.

 

[estebangh]

You said computer power isn't a problem, so I'd suggest just try it, I recently tested it on a low spec MacBook Pro 13'' and worked pretty well even with Intel chipset...

So buy a Wiimote and a wireless sensor bar and you're good to go. BTW, I tried Dolphin 3 on Mac OS X Lion.

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

It is not the computer power when dealing with the dolphin emulator. It is the video card and it's ability to render specific graphic modes in general.

You will need a wii motion plus if your going to play any of the games that use that controller. You only need the sensor bar if you got a game that uses the pointer. If you get one that is battery powered, I suggest soldering a usb cable to the power contacts and save yourself some money on batteries. A lot of the sensor bar hacks tell you to desolder several of the IR. On a battery powered sensor bar, it operates between 1-6V DC meaning a constant 5V from the usb is the same as having slightly depleted batteries, means you don't have to desolder anything, just wire in the usb cable correctly.

As for using the latest version, is not recommended for certain games like zelda skyward sword. Using r7689M or r7719 are more stable than the current 3.0, things like render speed is noticeable and the amount of fps you get. Other than that, a good number of games run fine on the current build.

Spoiler

 

[Hielkenator]

It is not the computer power when dealing with the dolphin emulator. It is the video card and it's ability to render specific graphic modes in general.

You will need a wii motion plus if your going to play any of the games that use that controller. You only need the sensor bar if you got a game that uses the pointer. If you get one that is battery powered, I suggest soldering a usb cable to the power contacts and save yourself some money on batteries. A lot of the sensor bar hacks tell you to desolder several of the IR. On a battery powered sensor bar, it operates between 1-6V DC meaning a constant 5V from the usb is the same as having slightly depleted batteries, means you don't have to desolder anything, just wire in the usb cable correctly.

As for using the latest version, is not recommended for certain games like zelda skyward sword. Using r7689M or r7719 are more stable than the current 3.0, things like render speed is noticeable and the amount of fps you get. Other than that, a good number of games run fine on the current build.

Spoiler

Emulation is NOT done through GPU. Where did you get such info?
The processor needs to emulate a WII. It takes processing power in the calculation departement, visuals come later.

 

[tueidj]

Emulation is NOT done through GPU. Where did you get such info?
The processor needs to emulate a WII. It takes processing power in the calculation departement, visuals come later.

Emulating the wii's PowerPC CPU is not very hard, it has a very basic instruction set (barely no SIMD and virtual paging is rarely used) and the original clock speed is less than 800MHz. A 5 year old Core2 machine can emulate the wii's CPU faster than an actual wii. The emulation of GX can be handled almost directly by the video card and hence it has a much greater influence over the speed of games.

 

[Rydian]

For the average person with a half-decent GPU though, the CPU is still the limiting factor.

 

[tueidj]

Only if you're using the crappy interpreter core.

 

[Hielkenator]

For the average person with a half-decent GPU though, the CPU is still the limiting factor.

Only if you're using the crappy interpreter core.

Okay, I have dual core 2.2 Ghz, 2 gigs of ram, and a ati 5700 DX11 GPU.

Emulation is so, so.

Also have same GPU with same ram bit with icore 3, 2.8 GHZ.
Performance is blistering compared to first rig.

So for me the faster processor IS better. for other this could differ....