Emulator

And of course I made my mockup screenshots wrong and stuck the “Game” menu to the left of the “Emulation” menu instead of to the right of it, between “Emulation” and “Movie”.

Are you asking for a way to access game-specific options that pertain to the currently-running game, not the currently-selected game?

Yes, that would be very helpful.

Users who want to fiddle with settings amid the great sea of banners can do so at their leisure, but it would be very helpful to be able to access the settings for the currently running game in situations in which it’s not currently possible to do so.

Like, for example, if a game is acting up, it would be very useful to be able to always have instant access to (1) the game’s wiki page, for troubleshooting tips, and (2) the game’s INI file, to check against settings tweaks described in the wiki.

This came up for me a lot when testing issues with the Vulkan backend.

Huginn I'd like to understand your use-case better: what are you using to launch Dolphin in the first place? If one of your complaints is to many titles in the list, would making it easier to search/filter your list work?

I launch games from shortcuts hierarchized in my start menu. They point straight to *.gcz and *.gcm files, which Windows runs using the command

"G:\applications\Dolphin\Dolphin.exe" "--exec=%l"

So I never see Dolphin, or hardly at all: it launches straight to game.

For me there’s the added issue of being unable to access game properties while rendering to main window, but regardless, it would be helpful to be able to easily and instantly check the contents of an INI file while the game was still running, without having to locate the game in the list. Even filtering wouldn’t be as to-the-point as a simple always-accessible menu dedicated to whatever game was selected (or, if a game was currently running, that game).

When using Xmouse (windows receive focus and come to front when moused over), rendering to a separate window is very inconvenient—it’s very useful to me to be able to render to the main window. But that renders game context menus wholly inaccessible.

Sorry, I should say that renders the currently running game’s context menu wholly inaccessible.

but regardless, it would be helpful to be able to easily and instantly check the contents of an INI file while the game was still running, without having to locate the game in the list.

That wouldn't be possible even with what you are requesting, as the UI only displays a tiny fraction of the possible options.

Honestly, this request comes down to you wanting us to support your nonstandard use case (aka never showing the UI). However, we already have support of that through the command line. Not to mention you can just edit the files themselves. Or use the UI in the first place as Dolphin is designed. But meh, someone might do it if they care I guess.

I’m sorry, I wasn’t clear: all I mean is that I would like to be able to have instant access to the current INI file for the game, to see its current contents, whatever they are.

That allows me to compare what I have in there with recommendations made in the wiki, allowing me to see instantly, without having to close the game first, whether I need to add, update, or remove anything in the INI file or whether I’ve got the INI file set up correctly already.

My barrier to use is that either one of (a) rendering to main window and (b) not having ISO folder paths set up prevents all access to the per-game context menu, including the wiki link and the properties dialog with all its tabs ().

I actually have a moderately good reason for not having fixed ISO folder paths set up: I’m sometimes very short on hard disk space, so files change locations among my drives depending on where I need to squeeze things.

So I just launch files directly instead of pointing Dolphin to a folder whose location may change—or, in my case, to multiple ISO folders in different places. Windows updates my start menu shortcuts automatically to point to files’ new locations if I move them, but I would have to do that manually in Dolphin.

So I simply don’t set ISO folder paths in Dolphin. But then I can’t access game properties at all.

all I mean is that I would like to be able to have instant access to the current INI file for the game, to see its current contents, whatever they are.

As I said earlier, what is shown in the UI is only a tiny fraction of the possible options. Seeing all of the options in the UI is currently not possible. And the config system rewrite hasn't been completed so it wouldn't be possible to see and edit GameINI options during play anyway! I do have a document outlining a UI design for GameINI access, and the config system rewrite is well under way, so they are solvable problems.

But even then, you're still asking for us to support your usecase of not using the command line or our UI. Feel free to make a pull request.

[q="Maylmilae"]Honestly, this request comes down to you wanting us to support your nonstandard use case (aka never showing the UI).[/q]
Sorry, I just noticed this.

You’re absolutely correct. So I don’t want to make a thing out of it, and I’m sorry if I came across as doing so; I was just trying to explain why it would be helpful in certain situations in which the banner context menu is inaccessible. (And I guess I thought it a less nonstandard use case because it arises directly from use of one of Dolphin’s features: render to main window.)

Anyway, that’s why I said that

[q="me"]I know you’ve got lots more to do than this . . . . So if anyone ever adds this feature, you have my thanks in advance![/q]

You do indeed have more important things to do than ponder this suggestion! So now I’ve answered your questions, I won’t press the issue.

Thanks for considering it!

I’m sorry, if I could beg your patience for just a moment, I have a question about something you said that I don’t understand. (I visited your profile to try to PM you, but I guess that isn’t possible; so I don’t know where else to ask than here.)

You said that I’m not using the command line, and I guess I don’t know what you mean by that. I’m running games with the command

"ROOTDIRECTORY\Dolphin.exe" "--exec=FILEPATH"

which I thought was launching via the command line. At least, I can enter that same command in the command window and launch Dolphin directly to a game, which I thought was a designed use.

If it isn’t an intended use, or if I’m using the command line incorrectly, how should I (if you don’t mind) go about doing so in the way I’m intended to? I’m sorry for my ignorance. :(

Also, I must have been horribly unclear, and I’m sorry about that. I wasn’t wanting the UI to expose INI options; I just wanted a consistently available (that is, even when rendering to main window) UI method of accessing the game context menu (Properties, Wiki, etc.) so that I could then access the Properties dialog and then click Edit Config to launch, say,

\User\GameSettings\GQSEAF.ini

in Notepad so that I can quickly check to see what I currently have entered into the INI file (just as I can when I’m running a game but not rendering it to the main window).

But if using Render to Main Window isn’t an intended use case, then I have no reason to be asking for a way to access the game context menu while doing so.

Forgive my fumbling! I’m grateful for all that all of you do, and this was hardly worth your time; I apologize for that.

I initially read through this issue and scoffed at it... but then you mentioned the magic words "render to main window."

I guess it is kinda hard to see what settings are enabled by default when you're using that. I'm having trouble understanding why you'd need to see it, when the graphics menu does highlight settings that are changeable that were forced by INI, and you can edit them while it's running.

There are a ton more settings that you cannot change while a game is running. Editing an INI while a game is running also does nothing... so, I'm not sure what giving easier access will do for ya.

Yeah, it’s mostly so that if a game is acting up, I can see what options I have set in the INI without having to close the game to do so.

I know I can’t alter INI settings while the game is running, I just want to be able to review what I have entered into the INI file for comparison, say, against the wiki’s recommended settings. If I’m not sure whether a problem I’m encountering is because I long ago something entered in the INI that is no longer required (which has happened before), then I could just pop open the INI and check to see what I already have entered into it—and I’ll know right away. But if my INI is good, then I won’t need to close the game (or play to the next save point) just to check the contents of the INI file.

But when rendering to main window, there’s no way to do that short of looking up the game’s ID and searching for the corresponding INI file, then navigating to its location and opening the INI file in Notepad to see what’s in it.

Since the open-INI-in-Notepad option (along with the straight-to-wiki option and a couple others) is available when not rendering to main window, I was hoping it could be made available when rendering to main window as well, just by making context menu accessible as a main menu at the top of Dolphin. And that way the wiki would be instantly accessible as well, even when rendering to main window.

But it’s really fine. I’m not expecting anything!

Thanks, all.

I honestly agree with you that it'd be nice to be able to access it while in render to main window.

Thanks! I don’t want to come across as trying to make it into a big deal, though. If the ability were ever added, I’d be all over it like a shot.

But if nobody ever adds that ability, then I’m hardly in a position to complain, either. :)

G’night, and thanks for listening!