The only reason for dropping XP support is because the latest Microsoft Visual Studio Compiler doesn't support Windows XP. With a little under 10% of our users still using the OS, Windows XP was a significant share of our users, but at the same time the team made a decision not to let any particular OS hold us back. Windows XP has been unsupported for monthsĭolphin has already dropped Windows XP support. But the past few months have seen a reoccurring theme: 32-bit builds break, and many of the developers question its worth. From the insane to the mundane, hundreds of ideas will come and go every year as for how to make things better. The Dolphin Emulator team is constantly searching for ways to improve the development pipeline. Despite that, we still find ourselves at a crossroads just a few months later. Well over one third of our Windows downloads for Dolphin 4.0 were the 32-bit variant a huge share of our userbase.

The cost being development time, maintenance, debugging, bandwidth, money and more, with the reward being a better, cleaner experience for our users. Maintaining features is a balance between cost and reward. Some choices require months of preparation, discussion, examination, while others are inevitable. The emulator has become much more robust over time with support added for 64-bit Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, and even Android phones and tablets! A lot of things have changed since then as Dolphin has expanded its goals. It was a 32-bit Windows application that required Direct3D 9 with no alternatives. Ten years ago Dolphin was a very limited program designed to run in only one environment.

Gamecube emulator 32bit