GameCube

Nintendo

Game Console - Lifespan: 2001 - 2007

Information

Features

BIOS

The BIOS files are not mandatory to launch games but some require at least one of their region for better graphic effects and font support.

Folders

Saves

By default, Dolphin stores saves as GCI folders in the following location:

saves\dolphin\User\GC\EUR

The region subfolder can be amended with the following RetroBat setting:

It is possible to use classic memcard SRAM files instead of CGI folders by enabling the following option:

In that case, the save file will be located in the following folder:

saves\dolphin\User\GC\

Controls

The following controllers can be autoconfigured from RetroBat to Dolphin:

XInput controllers
Dualshock 4 and Dualsense controllers
Nintendo Switch Pro controller
Original Gamecube controller through Gamecube Adapter

Control layouts

RetroBat offers multiple control layouts, they can be switched in advanced system options > controls:

Rumble can be activated in the advanced options.

Using a Gamecube adapter

Dolphin can be set to use a genuine GameCube controller, to do so, it is necessary to install "Zadig" drivers for the adapter used to connect the GameCube pad:

1. Download Zadig here: https://zadig.akeo.ie/

2. Run Zadig. Go to Options, select List All Devices.

3. Find the relevant device in the device list (e.g. GC adapter - WUP-028, Bluetooth adapter - CSR-XXXX).

4. Select the correct driver to replace. libusbK is recommended.

5. Use the down and up arrows in the right-hand section to select a driver.

6. Click Replace Driver. This can take a bit, at most 5 minutes. Be patient!

7. Configure RetroBat to use the Adapter:

If the adapter does not work, it might mean that Dolphin does not currently support the model.

RetroBat is also able to automatically detect the Raphnet and Mayflash adapters.

They should ideally be configured with the procedure described above.

However, they can be configured by RetroBat without updating the Zadig drivers, in such case, the feature "USE GAMECUBE ADAPTER" should not be switched ON.

Creating a game-specific control profile

It is possible to create a custom controller profile in Dolphin and assign it to a specific game, follow this guide if required.

Specific system information

Multi-disc games

To automatically load the next disc of a game, you can use a .m3u playlist file.

In the m3u file, list all game discs from your game:

Within that text file, write the names of the game files for your game discs:

Finally save the file as a .m3u file.

Custom Textures

It is possible to launch Custom Texture packs with the Dolphin Emulator.

The texture pack needs to be placed in the \saves\dolphin\User\Load\Textures folder.

The name of the custom texture folder must be strictly identical to the Game ID that can be found in the game properties inside Dolphin.

Once the custom texture pack is correctly named and placed, activate the CUSTOM TEXTURES setting.

Adding cheevos trophy indicator when missing (retroachievements)

For some file extensions (like .gcz or .rvz), RetroBat does not recognize games as compatible with retroachievements, whereas Dolphin displays a prompt saying that you got achievement available for this game.

As a result, the trophy indicator is missing in RetroBat in the system view for this particular game.

If you want to force the display of the trophy indicator, you can edit the file gamelist.xml available in the roms\<system> folder, and add the following line :

<cheevosId>XXXXX</cheevosId>

The ID XXXXX above must be replaced by the corresponding game ID that you can retrieve on https://retroachievements.org, while browsing the game. It appears in the address bar of the browser.

In our exemple :

Example of the gamelist.xml file after editing it to add the correct cheevos ID :

The trophy icon will now appear next to the name of the game :

The gamelist.xml file is a sensible document. Don't hesitate to create a backup before doing some change on it.