GameCube Emulation Lessons


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Linux-SWAT

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"The GameCube GPU is a complex, tight-knit piece of hardware with impressive features for its time. It is so powerful and so flexible, it was used unmodified within the Wii architecture. For a comparison, just imagine a SNES running with an NES's graphics system. This is completely unheard of, before or since. The GameCube is a remarkable achievement of hardware engineering! With its impressive capabilities, emulating the GameCube's GPU has been one of the most challenging tasks Dolphin has ever faced."

http://fr.dolphin-emu.org/blog/2014/03/15/pixel-processing-problems/
 
Interesting read, thanks.


It's curious that integer maths is so hard to do with floating points. I guess addition and multiplication are safe, but everything else can introduce fractions. I don't understand even their updated code to normalise fractions though. Why not int(val+0.5)?
 
"it was used unmodified within the Wii architecture. For a comparison, just imagine a SNES running with an NES's graphics system."


Stupid comparison in this article. Games on the Wii dont look much better than on the Gamecube, and Ii games were notorious to be ugly looking versus xbox360 and ps3 games. Of course there was a wide generation gap.
 
ekianjo said:
"it was used unmodified within the Wii architecture. For a comparison, just imagine a SNES running with an NES's graphics system."


Stupid comparison in this article. Games on the Wii dont look much better than on the Gamecube, and Ii games were notorious to be ugly looking versus xbox360 and ps3 games. Of course there was a wide generation gap.
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Stupid comparison maybe, but the GPU was ahead of its time, even if it only output to a max of 640x480...
 
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TrashyMG said:
Those don't seem to be links for the official dolphin page.. Linux version and sources are still available on the real page.

https://dolphin-emu.org/download/?ref=btn
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Yeah, looking at those other pages the "latest" is 10 months old, the wiki is years old with the most recent update saying "moved to github". When was Linux support added because my guess is these pages are just outdated from before then.
 
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Phew. Hopefully ... someday... there'll be a faster Linux version, because right now, even my WinXP32bit Dolphin runs WAY faster than the 64bit Linux one.
 
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IIRC the wide interconnect and fast RAM was what gave the GC its main advantage over the PCs of the day, at least when it came to texture loading.  Though of course you needed that more as it didn't have the oddles of graphics RAM that PCs could have.

It's certainly a more efficient design than similar era PCs though, and you got an impressive amount of graphics on a relatively cheap system.
 
Levi said:
IIRC the wide interconnect and fast RAM was what gave the GC its main advantage over the PCs of the day, at least when it came to texture loading. Though of course you needed that more as it didn't have the oddles of graphics RAM that PCs could have.
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I had a gaming PC at the time when the GC came out (and I did buy the GC, but certainly not for the graphics!) and I remember it felt very out powered versus what I could play on my rig. Consoles have ALWAYS been behind PC performance at least since the early 90s, and this has never changed since.
 
ekianjo said:
I had a gaming PC at the time when the GC came out (and I did buy the GC, but certainly not for the graphics!) and I remember it felt very out powered versus what I could play on my rig. Consoles have ALWAYS been behind PC performance at least since the early 90s, and this has never changed since.
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Well the N64 had 3D acceleration that was leaps and bounds ahead of anything regular PC consumers could get at the time. that was until the 3DFX introduced their voodoo cards shortly afterward. Although we're talking only months here.
 
I'll concede the point if Ekianjo's PC cost less than the Gamecube RRP, and ran within the GC's power envelope.  Since the advent of performance 3D graphics on the PC, you've always been able to put more and more expensive RAM on there to counter the inefficiencies built into the system of the time.
 
The only thing pc's had over consoles of the time was resolution but you generally paid for the extras with actual money :)
 
milkshake said:
The only thing pc's had over consoles of the time was resolution but you generally paid for the extras with actual money :)
Click to expand...
Yeah for sure, my 1998 PC Gaming machine build ( a bit fuzzy, but remembered most of the prices )..

Pentium II 400Mhz: $1200 USD

Asus P2B: $350 USD

128MB SDRAM: $300 USD

8X CDROM: $150 USD

Some 2D Graphics card long forgotten: $150 USD

Voodoo2 12MB: $250 USD

10/100 Ethernet card: $60.00

56K modem: $75

Some Soundblaster card: $125

Case and PS: $125.00

$2485.00 which cost me well over two months of pay back then.. Processor alone cost me ~$1200 USD
 
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