Dolphin 5.0-19266+ on Windows 7

[K4sum1]

Edit: As of 04/20/2023 the latest developer build, 5.0-19266 has been confirmed working, I have modified the post to reflect this.

I've gotten the latest development build of Dolphin (as of making this post) running on Windows 7.

I've had to make a tweaked QT6 replacement for Dolphin. Later QT6 versions also request api-ms-win-devices-config-l1-1-1.dll, which I've added to the attached zip. To run any QT6 build of Dolphin, the fix here is required.

Versions after 5.0-16709 request functions missing from Windows 7 (but are included in 8.0), they could probably be replaced with dummy functions (due to them being used to detect if the native x64 application is running on arm64 hardware), but I've found that VxKex works to satisfy the requirement.

Get VxKex from here: https://github.com/vxiiduu/VxKex/releases

To run Dolphin, there are three (or five versions) that you can go for

5.0-16380 or 5.0-16391:
These require no mods, just unzip Dolphin and run. 16380 is the last beta build with QT5, 16391 is the last development build with QT5.
https://dl-mirror.dolphin-emu.org/builds/dolphin-master-5.0-16380-x64.7z
https://dl.dolphin-emu.org/builds/67/df/dolphin-master-5.0-16391-x64.7z

5.0-16709:
This is the last development build to require just QT6 dll replacement. No VxKex needed.
https://dl.dolphin-emu.org/builds/a1/cf/dolphin-master-5.0-16709-x64.7z

5.0-16710 and later:
On top of needing QT6 dll replacement, these require VxKex to be installed and enabled for Dolphin.
Latest beta as of edit: https://dl.dolphin-emu.org/builds/40/56/dolphin-master-5.0-18498-x64.7z
Latest dev as of edit: https://dl.dolphin-emu.org/builds/c4/49/dolphin-master-5.0-19266-x64.7z
Screenshot is outdated, but 19266 was tested and works.

[VictorTheVictor]

What specific error did you get while running it without VxKex? If it's something as stupid as CreateFile2 not found, why would the developers of Dolphin go out of their way to make sure Dolphin doesn't run on 7. Usually it's people being dumb and switching to Python 3.9, but what's the problem here? Is it deliberate?

[K4sum1]

I don't remember, but I think they use a new memory thing and that doesn't work after redirecting to an older function. Not sure if it even gives an error.

[luk3Z]

it is sad that development of VxKex was stalled.

[watski_]

Hey. I have been greeted with these results while scanning the VxKex file on VirusTotal:


Is this ok? I downloaded the file from the link that you provided, my OS and chrome browser also seem to be worried about it. Thanks in advance.

[K4sum1]

Maybe it fits some heuristic characteristics of malware, but it should be fine. If you're really worried, you can just analyze the code and compile it yourself.

[watski_]

Yeah, I've already looked through it, and there aren't any issues i guess. Thanks though.

[watski_]

As of 04/22/2024 the latest beta build, this gives me an entry point error:

The procedure entry point ??0QDateTime@@QEAA@VQDate@@VQTime@@@Z could not be located in the dynamic link library DLL C:\Users\User\Desktop\Dolphin-x64\Dolphin.exe.

5.0-19266 works perfectly, both on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.

[K4sum1]

Maybe it uses a later QT6 version. I would need to investigate, but don't want to install VxKex on my only 7 VM.

[watski_]

Maybe. I'll just stick to the older versions i guess

[K4sum1]

I had to install VxKex to do some testing for something else, so I guess I could do this now. Not sure when I will get to it though.

[K4sum1]

Newer VxKex has a bug where 18498 now crashes on exit and doesn't seem to save settings. I will only look further if this gets fixed. If you use like 0.0.0.3 or whatever the last pre 1.x release was, 19368 should work. Not sure about 19870+, nor am I really willing to test.

[Jevil7452]

In my experience, using latest VxKex and Dolphin works, it needs one DLL from Windows 8.1 though, api-ms-win-devices-config-l1-1-1.dll. It still crashes on exit, but settings are saved.