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EmuDeck guide Dolphin Tips and Tricks

How to Verify ROMs

If you have a ROM that is not launching, you can verify your ROM directly in Dolphin. Verifying your ROM confirms whether you have a good dump or a bad dump. If you have a bad dump, your issue may be that your ROM either transferred incorrectly or that you have a bad dump.

If your ROM transferred incorrectly, see How to Transfer Files to a Steam Deck for a few methods.

If you have a bad dump, re-dump your GameCube or Wii ROM, following Dolphin's guide. For the dumping guide, see https://dolphin-emu.org/docs/guides/ripping-games/.

If you have a good dump, your issue lies elsewhere. Make sure Dolphin is up to date. If neither of these resolve your issue, make sure to either check Google or retrieve a log so you can share it with the Dolphin team.

How to Verify ROMs

  1. In Desktop Mode, open the Dolphin emulator
  2. Right click a game
  3. Click Properties
  4. Click the Verify tab at the top
  5. Click Verify Integrity at the bottom
  6. In the text box in the middle of the screen, you will see a message stating if your ROM is a good or a bad dump

How to Configure Gyro

Gyro for Dolphin requires SteamDeckGyroDSU. SteamDeckGyroDSU can be installed via EmuDeck, or it can be installed manually.

Visit SteamDeckGyroDSU to learn how to install and utilize SteamDeckGyroDSU.

IMPORTANT

Gyro for Dolphin is not mapped out of the box. You will need to open the Dolphin emulator and configure gyro controls after installing SteamDeckGyroDSU.

After installing SteamDeckGyroDSU, you may either choose to create your own profile in Dolphin or you may choose to download a community created profile from the Community Creations page.

Select one of the two options below.

Option 1: Downloading a Community Creations profile

Visit the Community Creations page. You may want to start with the How to Download Dolphin Profiles section.

Option 2: Creating your own profile

If you are choosing to create your own profile:

  1. Install and configure SteamDeckGyroDSU
  2. Add the Dolphin emulator to Steam
  3. You may add the Dolphin emulator to Steam by using the Emulators parser in Steam ROM Manager
  4. In Game Mode, enable gyro for the Dolphin emulator
  5. For instructions, see SteamDeckGyroDSU
  6. In Game Mode, open the Dolphin emulator
  7. Open the Controllers menu
  8. Select Configure to the right of Wii Remote 1
  9. Make sure Wii Remote 1 is set to Emulated Wii Remote
  10. Make sure SDL/0/Virtual Steam Gamepad 1 is set in the top left
  11. Select the Motion Input tab
  12. Hover over any of the buttons under the Accelerometer or Gyroscope sections and press STEAM + L2
  13. Make sure DSUClient/0/steamdeckgyro is selected in the drop-down menu at the top
  14. Scroll down to the bottom of the list until you see Accel and Gyro direction inputs
  15. Select the matching input to the button you clicked in Step 7
  16. Press Clear in the bottom right
  17. Press Select in the top right
    • Dolphin Gyro Example 1
  18. Press OK in the bottom right
  19. Repeat for each button under the Accelerometer and Gyroscope sections
  20. (Optional) To use the Steam Deck gyro as a pointer (moving the Steam Deck itself), check Enable under the Pointer section on the left on the Motion Input tab
    • Consider clicking Recenter and tinkering with the settings here to calibrate the pointer
  21. After you are finished, give your profile a name in the top right and save it as a new profile
  22. Refer to the Dolphin Hotkeys to learn how to switch profiles mid-game

Note: If you are having issues with the gyro pointer/cursor not appearing or behaving erratically, you may also want to consider disabling Auto-hide under the Point section on the Motion simulation tab.

For more information, read Dolphin's wiki page on gyro: https://wiki.dolphin-emu.org/index.php?title=Motion_evdev.

How to Configure Gyro With External Controllers

Desktop Mode

  1. Switch to Desktop Mode
  2. Exit out of Steam
  3. You may exit out of Steam a couple of different ways:
    • Right click the Steam icon in your taskbar and click Exit Steam
    • Open Steam, click the Steam button in the top left, click Exit
    • Open a terminal (Konsole) and enter killall -9 steam
    • Do note that clicking the the X button in the top right of the Steam window will not exit out of Steam
  4. Your controls will switch to Lizard Mode. Use L2 to right click, R2 to left click, and the Right Trackpad to move the mouse
  5. You may also connect an external keyboard and mouse
  6. Click the bluetooth icon in the bottom right of your taskbar and connect your controller
  7. Open Dolphin
  8. Open the Controllers menu
  9. Select Configure to the right of Wii Remote 1
  10. Make sure Wii Remote 1 is set to Emulated Wii Remote
  11. On the Profile drop-down, select Wii_base_nunchuck_with_touchpad if you are using a Nunchuk or Wii_no_attachment_with_touchpad if you are not using a Nunchuk
  12. Under Device, select SDL/0/yourexternalcontrollername
  13. Some external controllers may show up as Wireless Controller
  14. For example: SDL/0/Nintendo Switch Controller or SDL/0/Dualsense Wireless Controller
  15. Select the Motion Input tab
  16. Hover over any of the buttons under the Accelerometer or Gyroscope sections and press L2
  17. Select SDL/0/yourexternalcontrollername in the drop-down menu at the top
    • For example: SDL/0/Nintendo Switch Controller
    • For some controllers, it may be under SDL/0/Wireless Controller Motion Sensors
  18. Scroll down to the bottom of the list until you see Accel and Gyro direction inputs
  19. Select the matching input to the button you clicked in Step 10
    • How to Configure Gyro With External Controllers
  20. Press Clear in the bottom right
  21. Press Select in the top right
  22. Press OK in the bottom right
  23. Repeat for each button under the Accelerometer and Gyroscope sections
  24. (Optional) To use the controller gyro as a pointer (moving the controller itself), check Enable under the Pointer section on the left on the Motion Input tab
    • Make sure to click Recenter and tinker with the settings here to calibrate the pointer
    • You may also want to consider disabling Auto-hide under the Point section on the Motion simulation tab
  25. After you are finished, give your profile a name in the top right and save it as a new profile
  26. To select this profile, open the controller menu, select the profile name in the drop-down menu and click Load

Note: Different games have different preferences for Nunchuk and Motionplus support. Under the General and Options tab, you may uncheck Attach MotionPlus or select the appropriate extension in the drop-down menu. Be sure to create and save a new profile for each circumstance to quickly load the different profiles as needed.

Game Mode

  1. In Game Mode, connect your controller
  2. Select your Wii game
  3. On the Play screen, select the Controller icon to the right of the screen
  4. Select your controller tab at the top
  5. Click the Gear icon to the right, and click Disable Steam Input
  6. You may need to restart first for this setting to properly apply
  7. Your controller's gyro will now work for this selected game, repeat as needed for your other games

Post-Configuration

To restore the default Steam Deck controls:

  1. Open Dolphin
  2. Open the Controllers menu
  3. Select Configure to the right of Wii Remote 1
  4. Make sure Wii Remote 1 is set to Emulated Wii Remote
  5. Select SDL/0/Virtual Steam Gamepad 1 under Devices
  6. Select Wii_base_nunchuck under Profile and click Load
  7. Click Close and exit out of Dolphin

(Optional) To restore Steam Input:

  1. Select your Wii game
  2. On the Play screen, select the Controller icon to the right of the screen
  3. Select your controller tab at the top
  4. Click the Gear icon to the right, and click Enable Steam Input
  5. You may need to restart first for this setting to properly apply
  6. The controls will be reverted to Steam Input and the Steam Deck controls will be restored

How to Optimize Performance (Power Tools)

Visit Power Tools to learn how to optimize performance using Power Tools.

How to Optimize Storage (Compression Tool)

To optimize storage, you can use the EmuDeck Compressor within EmuDeck.

The EmuDeck Compressor will compress your GameCube and Wii ROMs from ISO to RVZ.

After running the EmuDeck Compression Tool, re-run Steam ROM Manager to update your ROM shortcuts to the newly compressed ROM.

Visual Reference:

How to Manage Multiple Discs

M3U files can be used to manage multiple discs for Dolphin. With the Change Discs Automatically option toggled (turned on by default with EmuDeck), Dolphin will automatically switch discs in combination with an M3U file.

Learn how to create an M3U File

How to Configure Multiplayer

EmuDeck configures multiplayer out of the box. You do not need to configure the controls. However, to properly set up multiplayer, you will need to enable the additional ports.

Tutorial

  1. Open the Dolphin emulator
  2. Open the Controller settings
  3. For each controller you are using, including Player 1:
  4. GameCube: To the right of each Port # under GameCube Controllers, enable Standard Controller
  5. Wii: To the right of each Port # under Wii Remotes, enable Emulated Wii Remote
  6. (Optional) You may need to re-arrange the controller order in Game Mode for your controllers to function as expected. See How to Re-Arrange the Controller Order to learn how

Keep in Mind

  • The Steam Deck profile is automatically set to Port 1
  • For example, if you are using a Steam Deck and two external controllers, you will need to have a total of three ports enabled. However, the first port is enabled by default so you will need to enable two additional ports
  • If you are using an external controller as Port 1, you do not need to re-configure any settings in Dolphin. However, you may need to re-arrange the controller order in Game Mode. See How to Re-Arrange the Controller Order to learn how
  • If you are facing difficulty with matching controllers to their expected ports in Game Mode, you may need to re-arrange the controller order. See How to Re-Arrange the Controller Order to learn how
  • If you are playing Wii games with GameCube controller support, and would like to use the GameCube controllers, you may need to disable the Wii profiles. See How to Configure Wii Games To Use A GameCube Controller to learn how

How to Configure Multiplayer Controls

IMPORTANT: Multiplayer controllers are fully configured by EmuDeck. If you simply would like to set up multiplayer, see How to Configure Multiplayer. You do not need this section if you are satisfied with the default control layout. This section covers how to reconfigure the controls for Players 2-4 if you would rather use a custom configuration.

How to Create Multiplayer Profiles

  1. In Game Mode, connect your controller(s)
  2. In Game Mode, open the Dolphin emulator
  3. You may need to add the Dolphin emulator to Steam first using the Emulators parser in Steam ROM Manager
  4. Click Options at the top, click Controller Settings
  5. Select a system:
  6. For GameCube: Click Configure to the right of Port 1/2/3/4 Standard Controller
  7. For Wii: Click Configure to the right of Wii Remote 1/2/3/4 Emulated Wii Remote
  8. On this screen, configure your controllers however you like
  9. Saving settings:
  10. If you would like to save these settings globally, make sure the profile dropdown is blank, and press the Save button in the top right
    • Do note that when you update EmuDeck, any global changes will be reset to EmuDeck defaults
  11. If you would like to save these settings for a specific game, in the top right under Profile, enter the profile name you would like to use, and click Save to the right

How to Use Your Newly Created Controller Profile

If you chose to save your settings globally and you have enabled your multiplayer ports as described in How to Configure Multiplayer, multiplayer should now work with your custom controls.

If you would rather save these settings for a specific game:

Here's How

How to Apply Multiplayer Profiles On A Per Game Basis

  1. In Desktop Mode, Open the Dolphin emulator
  2. Right click the game you would like to use this controller profile for, and click Properties
  3. On the Game Config tab, press the Editor sub-tab

  4. Under User Config, enter a controller profile using the following template:

    • For SelectedProfileName, only type the name of the profile, not the file path to the profile
    • Replace the 2 at the end of WiiMoteProfile2 with the number you would like to apply the profile to. If all the profiles are using the same controller layout, you may simply copy and paste, and only replace the 2 with a 3 and so on.

    Wii:

        [Controls]
    WiimoteProfile1 = SelectedProfileName
    WiimoteProfile2 = SelectedProfileName
    WiimoteProfile3 = SelectedProfileName
    WiimoteProfile4 = SelectedProfileName

    GameCube:

        [Controls]
    PadProfile1 = SelectedProfileName
    PadProfile2 = SelectedProfileName
    PadProfile3 = SelectedProfileName
    PadProfile4 = SelectedProfileName

  5. Exit out, and your game should now be using the selected profile(s)

For additional information, see Dolphin's "GameINI (Controller Settings)" Wiki Page.

How to Roll Back Dolphin to an Older Version

If you do not have access to a mouse and keyboard for the below section, use L2 to right click and R2 to left click. Alternatively, remote into your Steam Deck using one of the methods found in the FAQ, How do I remotely control my Steam Deck?.

  1. In Desktop Mode, open Konsole
  2. To see a list of prior versions of the emulator, type:
  3. flatpak remote-info --log flathub org.DolphinEmu.dolphin-emu
  4. If Konsole prompts you to select system or user, enter 2 to select user
  5. Konsole will list a list of previous versions for the flatpak. The important line for each version is the Commit: line. The Commit: line will have a long accompanying alphanumeric string (the “commit” code). Copy the string for the version you want to downgrade to.
  6. Using Citra as an example:
    • How to Roll Back Flatpaks: 1
  7. To downgrade to the version you want:
  8. flatpak update --commit=put_commit_code_here org.DolphinEmu.dolphin-emu
  9. Replace put_commit_code_here with the actual code you located in Step 2.
    • Using Citra as an example:
    • How to Roll Back Flatpaks: 2

If the above steps did not work and you are getting an error message along the lines of Flatpak not installed, your Flatpak is likely installed at the system level instead. Select one of the below solutions:

Solution 1: Open the EmuDeck application, click the Manage Emulators page, select the emulator in question, and click Reinstall / Update.

Solution 2: Add sudo in front of the commands written in Step 2 and Step 5. In Step 2, write sudo flatpak remote-info --log flathub org.DolphinEmu.dolphin-emu and in Step 5, write sudo flatpak update --commit=put_commit_code_here org.DolphinEmu.dolphin-emu.

How to Configure Language Settings

UI

  1. In Desktop Mode, open Dolphin
  2. At the top, click Options, click Configuration
  3. Click the Interface tab
  4. Under User Interface, select your preferred language in the drop-down menu

In-Game

Gamecube
  1. In Desktop Mode, open Dolphin
  2. Right click the game you would like to set the language for
  3. Click Properties
  4. Click the Game Config tab
  5. Click the Editor tab

  6. In the box, type the following:

    [Core]
GameCubeLanguage = 0

  7. Replace the 0 with the language you would like to use:

    • 0 = English/Japanese
    • 1 = German
    • 2 = French
    • 3 = Spanish
    • 4 = Italian
    • 5 = Dutch
Wii
  1. In Desktop Mode, open Dolphin
  2. Right click the game you would like to set the language for
  3. Click Properties
  4. Click the Game Config tab
  5. Click the Editor tab

  6. In the box, type the following:

    [Wii]
Language = 1

  7. Replace the 0 with the language you would like to use:

    • 0 = Japanese
    • 1 = English
    • 2 = German
    • 3 = French
    • 4 = Spanish
    • 5 = Italian
    • 6 = Dutch
    • 7 = Simplified Chinese
    • 8 = Traditional Chinese
    • 9 = Korean

How to Enable HDR

With the latest Dolphin update, HDR can now be used on Steam Deck OLEDs. Here's how to enable it.

Warning

This section uses instructions copied from this link: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/gamescope/issues/1239. The instructions have been converted to a bash script for ease of use (Step 1 in the instructions below). This section is experimental and installing the Gamescope Flatpak may come with unexpected behavior. This section covers how to install a much older version of Gamescope to match the version used on the Steam Deck. If you accidentally install the latest version, you may notice crashing in other applications. There is a chance that even with the older version installed through the instructions below, you may encounter unexpected crashes or glitches. If you run into any of these issues, uninstall the Gamescope Flatpak through the Discover application in Desktop Mode. Alternatively, run flatpak remove org.freedesktop.Platform.VulkanLayer.gamescope -y in Konsole or a terminal of your choice.

  1. Download attached .sh file
  2. flatpak-gamescope-install.sh
  3. For the contents of the script, see https://raw.githubusercontent.com/EmuDeck/emudeck.github.io/main/docs/configuration-files/flatpak-gamescope-install.sh
  4. Place in /home/deck/Downloads or a folder of your choice
  5. Right click flatpak-gamescope-install.sh, click Properties, click Permissions, check Is Executable
  6. Right click flatpak-gamescope-install.sh, click Run in Konsole
  7. Wait for it to finish installing
  8. In Desktop Mode, open the Dolphin emulator
  9. Click the Graphics button
  10. Click the Enhancements tab
  11. Check HDR Post-Processing
  12. Click the Post-Processing Effect drop-down menu and select PerceptualHDR or AutoHDR depending on your preference
  13. HDR will now be enabled

How to Switch Dolphin to the Development Branch

RetroAchievements was recently added to Dolphin but can only be used in the development branch until it has been tested thoroughly for public release.

If you are interested in using the development branch to test RetroAchievements or any other Dolphin feature before it is officially released, you may do so by following the steps in this section.

Warning

Do keep in mind these builds are experimental and may have bugs. If you are using the development build and request support, make sure to include that you are using the development build. If you are using the development build and would like to use netplay, the other individual must be on the identical development build version. It is highly recommended you use the stable builds instead if you would like to use netplay.

How to Switch Dolphin to the Development Branch

  1. In Desktop Mode, open Konsole or a terminal of your choice
  2. Type each bullet point line one at a time and press enter after each line (if the first two commands do nothing or give you an error, you may skip these):
  3. flatpak remote-delete flathub-beta --system
  4. flatpak remote-delete flathub-beta --user
  5. flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub-beta https://flathub.org/beta-repo/flathub-beta.flatpakrepo --user
  6. flatpak install flathub-beta org.DolphinEmu.dolphin-emu --user -y
  7. The development version of Dolphin has now been installed. To switch to the development branch as the primary version of Dolphin, type the following and press enter:
  8. flatpak make-current org.DolphinEmu.dolphin-emu beta --user

To switch back to the "Stable" build ("Releases" on the Dolphin website), type the following and press enter:

flatpak make-current org.DolphinEmu.dolphin-emu stable --user

If you had Dolphin installed at the system level, you will need to type the following instead:

sudo flatpak make-current org.DolphinEmu.dolphin-emu stable

Controls

If the controls are not working, first add Dolphin to Steam. To add Dolphin to Steam, either right click Dolphin (L2) in the "Applications Launcher" in Desktop Mode, click Add to Steam or add Dolphin to Steam using the "Emulators" parser in Steam ROM Manager.

In Game Mode, open Dolphin, at the top, click Options, click Controller Settings. To the right of Port 1: Standard Controller under GameCube Controllers, click Configure and change the Device in the top left to SDL/0/Steam Deck Controller. Close out of this window (click the STEAM button and click the X button on the controller).

Click Configure to the right of Emulatd Wii Remote under Wii Remotes. Change the Device in the top left to SDL/0/Steam Deck Controller. Close out of this window (click the STEAM button and click the X button on the controller).

At the top, click Options, Hotkey Settings. Change the Device in the top left to SDL/0/Steam Deck Controller. Close out of this window (click the STEAM button and click the X button on the controller).

Exit Dolphin and the controls will work again in game.