Emulators have kept retro gaming alive and will continue to do so. With companies shutting down support for games and digital stores, the only way to enjoy an unavailable game is through emulation. Game preservation is a major and recurring topic in the gaming industry, and emulators are at the forefront of that. One of the most popular emulators right now is the Dolphin emulator. This one, in particular, is exclusively used for Wii and GameCube emulation. The emulator started its journey back in 2003 and, since then, has advanced a lot. So much so that you can even play many GameCube and Wii titles on your phone. However, a large chunk of its user base is still on PC. Windows, to be exact. Now, like any other emulator, Dolphin too has certain issues. A major and particularly common one happens to be that it crashes on both Windows 11 and 10.
Emulators crashing isn’t something new and is also an issue that you can’t permanently get rid of. There are just too many random factors affecting a crash. At times, the cause could be a simple Windows issue or something to do with your GPU. All in all, finding a sole cause is pretty hard. This is such a common issue. However, because it is so common, there are also some workarounds for it. So, that being said, here are a bunch of workarounds for you to try.
Dolphin Emulator Crashing on Windows 11 & 10: How to fix it?
Restart –
Players can start by restarting both the emulator and their PC itself. By doing so, you will get to know whether this is just a one-time issue or something that will take more effort. As such, if the issue continues to persist, switch to another workaround.
Update –
A very common way to deal with issues like this is to just update everything. Start with the emulator. Then update Windows, and furthermore, if there’s one available for your GPU drivers, install it too.
Check your game’s compatibility –
The cause here could be your game too. Maybe the game you are trying to play isn’t playable at all. This is especially true if your game is categorized under the Broken category in the Dolphin Emulator’s compatibility list. So what we recommend you do is check this compatibility list and see if the game you want to play is playable or not.
Check hardware requirements –
All emulators have a minimum hardware requirement, which, if not met, can result in issues like this one. You can check the Hardware and System Requirements here. If your PC doesn’t even meet the minimum requirements, then the only thing you can do is upgrade.
Switch to another backend –
Players can also try switching to another backend to see if that works. Now there are four main backend options: Vulkan, OpenGL, Direct3D 11, and Direct3D 12. So, switch between these four and use the best one. Generally, Vulkan and OpenGL are what’s recommended most, but you can still try the other two.
Turn off any enhancements –
In the Enhancement section of the emulator, there are options like Anti-Aliasing, Texture Filtering, Post-Processing Effects, and such. If you’ve modified or messed with any one of these, we suggest you turn all of them off. Moreover, for the Internal Resolution option, set it to Native and nothing else.
Clear cache data –
Deleting cache data could possibly help in getting rid of this issue. Now, if you don’t have the know-how for this, just follow the instructions below:
- Open File Explorer and navigate to the following path: “C:\Users\[Username]\Documents\Dolphin”.
- Enter inside the folder, and you will see the Cache folder.
- Right-click on the folder and choose Delete.
Reinstall –
At times, the reinstall method can work wonders. So, if none of the aforementioned workarounds have worked so far, we recommend you try this method.
Well, that’s all you need to fix this issue. Additionally, if you want to know how to play Pikmin 4 on the Yuzu emulator, check out this guide. And as always, keep following DigiStatement. Also read: Zelda Tears of the Kingdom (ToTK) Not Launching on Yuzu Emulator (PC) Issue: How to fix
