Pause Menu Freezing or Appearing Behind the Emulator when using Dolphin

Written By launchbox

Last updated 29 days ago

If you use Dolphin with LaunchBox or Big Box, the Pause Menu may become unreliable if Dolphin is using older command-line parameters.

This can happen when opening and closing the Pause Menu repeatedly during a GameCube or Wii game. Refreshing Dolphin's LaunchBox emulator profile so it uses the latest default parameters can help prevent the issue.

Quick fix: Refresh the Dolphin emulator profile in LaunchBox so it pulls in the latest recommended command-line parameters, including borderless fullscreen.

How the issue may appear

You may notice that:

  • The Pause Menu works at first, then stops appearing correctly.

  • The Pause Menu appears behind Dolphin.

  • Dolphin freezes after opening and closing the Pause Menu several times.

  • You need to force close Dolphin to recover.

This is most likely to affect Dolphin when launching GameCube or Wii games.

Why this happens

Older Dolphin command-line parameters may launch Dolphin in a fullscreen mode that does not work well with the LaunchBox or Big Box Pause Menu.

The updated Dolphin profile launches Dolphin in fullscreen and borderless fullscreen mode, which allows the Pause Menu to appear more reliably over the emulator.

Important: The key part of the updated command is borderless fullscreen:

-C Graphics.Settings.BorderlessFullscreen=True

Updated Dolphin command-line parameters

The current recommended Dolphin command-line parameters are:

-b -C Dolphin.Display.Fullscreen=True -C Graphics.Settings.BorderlessFullscreen=True -C Dolphin.Interface.ConfirmStop=False -C Dolphin.Analytics.PermissionAsked=True -C Dolphin.Analytics.Enabled=False -e

You do not normally need to type these manually. Refreshing the Dolphin profile is the best way to make sure LaunchBox uses the latest recommended parameters.

How to refresh the Dolphin profile

To update Dolphin to the latest LaunchBox default parameters:

  1. Go to Tools > Manage > Emulators.

  2. Select Dolphin.

  3. Click Edit.

  4. Use the emulator profile or dropdown to temporarily switch to another emulator.

  5. Switch it back to Dolphin.

  6. Re-select your dolphin.exe file if needed.

  7. Save the emulator settings.

Note: Re-selecting Dolphin refreshes the profile and pulls in the latest recommended command-line parameters.

After updating

Launch a GameCube or Wii game with Dolphin and try opening and closing the Pause Menu again.

The Pause Menu should now appear more reliably, and Dolphin should be less likely to freeze when returning to gameplay.