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Nintendo is using N64 emulator on GC for Zelda MasterQuest?

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Rice

Emulator Developer
It seems Nintendo is using an N64 emulator for GC to run its Zelda N64 games on GC.

I have obtained an GC iso image of Master Quest. By using GC iso tool, I was able to extract all files from the ISO image.

Something surprised me.

I have seen:

- The WINRAR compressed ISO image is only 45MB.
- Its contains Zelda MQ N64 ROM
- If compressed, the N64 ROM itself is about 25 MB

These facts help to clear a few questions:

- The Zelda MQ N64 ROM was ripped off from GC Zelda disk, not released or leaked from Nintendo developers.
- There are multiple version of the Zelda MQ ROM. The version I had before is a U version. The version I extracted out of the GC image was an E version.

The bigger question is: Is Nintendo using a N64 emulator for GC, or the Zelda game itself is compiled to be run on GC?

If you think about the file size, you may conclude that 45MB-25MB = 20MB is probably not enough for the Zelda compiled specially for GC.

If it is compiled for GC, then there is no need to have a N64 ROM included, and .......

Someone may be able to rip the N64 emulator for GC off the GC Zelda ISO. It could be programmed specially for Zelda game only. But who knows, it may be a general emulator for all N64 games since Nintendo was originally planning to have GC be able to run all N64 games (Am I right?).


It will be really great to have a Nintendo made N64 emulator for GC to run all N64 games.


Rice
 

sheik124

Emutalk Member
yea man, its been around for a reeeeeal long time rice, how did you think the MQ rom originated and how do you think it had a C 2003 copyright date :), i am getting a BBA soon but i dunno where to get PSO Episode 1+2
 
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Rice

Rice

Emulator Developer
Hm, I seems to have missed this.

If there a way to use that emulator without BBA? Say just create a CDR or DVDR with the patched emulator and some game ROMs, then put the disk into the GC and let go?
 

NeTo

Emu_64 HiP Coder
I think that not. I have been reading disscussions about that since ages now. The problem is the bar code that is in the gc disks. The last thing I remember that i read is that along with the code, there are security bits that can be placed in different parts of the disk to ensure it is original.

There is another method i now, but it requieres both PSO, the BBA, a memcard and action replay. It is explained in dextrose. Is a program that writes the necessary data to the memcard, so you can boot games in it using action replay, without using PSO and BBA (you need those only to install the program teh first time, talk about ironical)
 

Clements

Active member
Moderator
Apparently you can insert any rom into the emulator ISO or whatever using a tool, and then stream the ISO to a GC via a BBA. You can play SM64, MK64 etc. using Nintendo's own emulator on a GC.
 

Falcon4ever

Plugin coder / Betatester
Rice said:
Hm, I seems to have missed this.

If there a way to use that emulator without BBA? Say just create a CDR or DVDR with the patched emulator and some game ROMs, then put the disk into the GC and let go?

nope :)
 

Reznor007

New member
There is also a newer version of the emulator available on the Zelda:Collectors Edition bonus disc that plays Majora's Mask perfectly, including full framebuffer effects (with minor audio skipping while loading some rooms).
 

revl8er

That Damn Good
It's a good thing I'm gonna get a gamecube soon. I will make sure I get a bba and pso to test it out for myself.
 

Nighty0

Gentoo n00b
Rice: a present for ya.........

Not sure about legality of this screenshots........ let me know if not, via ICQ, MSN, Yahoo MSG, email......... let me know to get out of problems.. in my country this is not sufficient to proof a crime.......
 

Nighty0

Gentoo n00b
Not tested........ i don't have game cube.........
more one screen........

Not sure about legality of this screenshots........ let me know if not, via ICQ, MSN, Yahoo MSG, email......... let me know to get out of problems.. in my country this is not sufficient to proof a crime.......
 

FAR

First Person Shooter
Zelda 64 games on GC are sometimes skipping audio. Is it because of the emulator used or this happened on N64 as well?
 

Reznor007

New member
It is because it occasionally has to move some of the ROM around in memory because Gamecube doesn't quite have enough RAM to support the emulator properly.

The ROM is 32MB, and since Majoras Mask requires the expansion pak, than is an extra 8MB of RAM eaten up sa the virtual N64 RAM. Gamecube only has 40MB of RAM total(not counting 3MB video RAM), and the emulator itself takes up a little RAM, so it has to read some data off the disc when you enter certain rooms.
 

Reznor007

New member
2MB for framebuffer/zbuffer, 1MB for texture cache, which can hold S3TC compressed textures for effectivly 6MB of texture cache.
 

GogoTheMimic

Pimpin' Red Mage
If you look at the owner's manual for the GCN you'll notice in the memory card section there are pictures of several N64 games including OoT, Mario 64, and DK 64. It was long rumored that Nintendo was planning on making GCN backward compatible somehow. If my scanner worked I'd scan the booklet but for now, take a look for yourself.
 

Alchy

New member
Um, no. It's not terribly compatible.



The Gamecube flipper does only have 3mb video ram embedded. Naturally though it has access to the main 24mb bank of 1T-SRAM, which has a far lower latency than the PS2's main RAMBUS memory. Also the PS2 lacks any hardware texture compression, which means it's stuck with 4Mb. No Hardware FSAA for PS2 either. Gamecube > PS2 graphically.
 

GogoTheMimic

Pimpin' Red Mage
This.Rusty.N said:
so it's possible to play any n64 game on a Cube ???

In theory, yeah. I guess the big N played around with emulating the N64 on the GCN for a bit, like I said, look at your booklet. They could make so much money releasing compilation discs, look how well the Zelda discs sold! @@
 
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