Instruction Manual ITEC 366 Alex Troue

Table of Contents

• Introduction……………………………………….Page 1
• Required Materials……………………………….Page 1
• Step 1: Downloading Dolphin……………………Page 1
• Step 2: Running the installer…………………….Page 3
• Step 3: First Launch and Game Settings………..Page 4
• Step 4: Controller setup/starting games…………Page 7
• Conclusion…………………………………………Page 11
• Citations……………………………………………Page 11

Page 1
Introduction

Dolphin is an emulator (software designed to replicate a piece of hardware) for both the
Nintendo Wii and GameCube. It allows you to play video games developed for these systems via
disc image files (known as ISOs) on your computer. This tutorial will demonstrate how to install

this program on to your Windows computer, as well as how to make sure that the program is
configured correctly in order to run optimally.

In this manual, we will show you where to download Dolphin, running the installer, and finally
configuring your settings for optimal performance.

Required Materials

• Windows computer, preferably Windows 10, as that is what this tutorial is based off,
otherwise you may have compatibility issues with some configuration.

• Unzipping software on your computer, most used are WinRAR and 7-Zip, although
anything that can open the download from Dolphin’s website is fine.

• (Optional) A controller that can plug in to your computer via a USB port, or a GameCube
controller adapter for use with a PC.

Step 1: Downloading Dolphin

First, we have to acquire the Dolphin software, which can be acquired from their website at
https://dolphin-emu.org/. Upon first loading up the website, this is what you should see:

Dolphin’s main page

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After arriving at this page, you should click on the large blue download button. This should
take you to the build page, where all current and in-development builds of Dolphin are listed.

Dolphin’s Build Download page
Scrolling down, you should see a section labeled “Stable versions”, you should choose the
most recent, which is near the top. You should avoid the Beta and Development versions
unless you are an experienced Dolphin user and aren’t bothered by occasional bugs or other

issues in exchange for newer features.

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List of Stable versions, with an arrow pointing to the spot where the most recent build will
be.

Step 2: Running the installer

Upon downloading the installer, you should have either an executable file, or a zipped folder,
likely the former. Double click and run the executable in order to get the installation started.

The install wizard is pretty straightforward, you must first select your language, which is
defaulted to English. Then you accept the terms of use, and then your installed components.

For most users, it is advisable to make sure all components are checked for installation.
However, if you have previously installed Dolphin or know that you have these libraries

already installed on your machine, then you may uncheck them.

Screenshot of the Components screen for the installer
After this, you will be taken to a screen where you can choose your install location, which is

in your Program Files for your primary C drive. There is no need to change the install
location for Dolphin, unless you have a lack of space on your primary hard drive or simply
wish to have things organized a specific way. If that is the case, you can simply press the
browse button to the side of the location, and choose where on your machine you would like

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the program to be installed. In my case, I chose to install mine on a separate E drive that I
have.

Step 3: First Launch and Game Settings

Now that you have Dolphin installed on your machine, you need to run it and set up the
software to run effectively, and more importantly to detect your games. First type “Dolphin”

into your Start Menu or go into your previously chosen installation location.

Screenshot of my own file location, and what your folder should look like.
At this point, you can click the Dolphin.exe in your folder in order to start the program unless
you have already done so through the Start Menu. When booting up, you should see a main
menu that will be mostly blank, I provide here my own screen, however yours will not have

any games until after we have set your game path and installed some games.

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Dolphin’s main screen
To get started, click on the “Config” button towards the top, next to Graphics and ScrShot.

Clicking this should bring you to a menu with various tabs and settings to choose from.
Going straight to the “Paths” tab, you should select the add option to select your game path.

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Here is what the Paths tab will look like, however you will not have the same paths that I
have, as where you store your games is entirely dependent on each user, I have mine within a

folder on the same drive as my Dolphin. Now as a final note for this section, games can be
acquired by ripping them from a disc you own or downloading them from the Internet,
however no resources will be provided here due to copyright concerns.

Step 4: Controller setup/starting games

Finally, we will do a quick setup of our controls and then start our first game. Click on the
button on the main screen labeled “Controllers”, which should bring you to the following

menu.

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Clicking on the first dropdown labeled “Port 1”, select your means of controlling your
games. While everybody can configure a keyboard, it can be unwieldy for many games, so if
you have a controller plugged in via USB as previously mentioned, you should do so now,
and select “Standard Controller”. After selecting your method of control, next you need to hit
configure in order to map your buttons. In my screenshot I will be showing what it looks like

to map a standard USB controller.

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First, click on the top left drop down and select “XInput/0/Gamepad” as can be seen in the
screenshot. From this point you can go input by input clicking the box and then pressing

whatever button you wish to assign it to on your controller.
Now, going back to the main menu, assuming you have some games downloading and your
path specific correctly as was previously outline, all you should need to do in order to start

playing is double click the listing for a game and a separate window should start with the
game open.

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A sample list of games with the separate game window open

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Conclusion:

After following all of these steps, you should now be able to start Dolphin and play your
emulated games at your leisure. You simply need to download and install Dolphin from their
official website, set your game paths and controllers, and then start playing. Hopefully this
will serve as a good foray into using emulators and you can learn how to effectively operate

them to a more advance degree once you’ve gotten use to the simple applications.

Citations/Links:

• https://dolphin-emu.org/ (link to the emulator itself)
• https://dolphin-emu.org/docs/faq/ (FAQ for Dolphin installation and setup)