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State of N64 emulation?

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archagon

New member
So, I've been hearing a lot about how wonderful N64 emulation is, but so far I've been disappointed: Zelda: OoT exhibits some pretty horrible graphics problems in the menus, Mario Tennis doesn't really work, and I still have to mess around with plugins and custom configs.

My question is: how perfect is the default Project64 (1.6) emulation? What features are missing (i.e., framebuffer issues - are they caused by my hardware or because they're too slow to fix by default?) and what requires fiddling to enable?
 
M

mudlord88

Banned
N64 emulation in general is shit:

* Default 1.6 config only works for a certain amount of games
* MAME/MESS is dead slow, but that is to be expected, since LLE is used
* Project64 1.7 emulation is even worse. Issues in LLE are prevalent.
* We need to mess around with shitty plugin configurations


Most importantly, there is a lack of a N64 emu like pSX (for now.......:shifty: ). Right now, N64 emulation is just as bad as PS2 emulation, with hacks used everywhere. And lets not forget the HLE bullshit.
 
R

!REVENGE!

New member
archagon said:
So, I've been hearing a lot about how wonderful N64 emulation is, but so far I've been disappointed: Zelda: OoT exhibits some pretty horrible graphics problems in the menus, Mario Tennis doesn't really work, and I still have to mess around with plugins and custom configs.

My question is: how perfect is the default Project64 (1.6) emulation? What features are missing (i.e., framebuffer issues - are they caused by my hardware or because they're too slow to fix by default?) and what requires fiddling to enable?
Click to expand...

Basically, you bitch about N64 emulation just because the OoT start menu takes a couple more seconds to load?

N64 emulation is still a long way from perfect, but all bugs are minor and irrelevant to its playability. Every game worth playing works, and Mario Tennis doesn't pass this standard to being a game I would whine about.

Also, PJ64 is the ONLY emulator where I didn't have to screw around with the settings all the time. I just activated the N-Rage input plugin so I could use the modifier and it was the first and last time I had to do any configuration.
 
OP
A

archagon

New member
Sorry, I didn't mean to come off as bitchy. I know it takes a lot of work to make an emulator, and I'm happy that we have something that works well.

My question still stands, however: how authentic is P64 emulation? In what ways is it different?
 
R

!REVENGE!

New member
Oh my bad, that's different. Your post just sounded like one of those annoying kidiot "ZOMG WHY IS THE 3-SECOND GAME OVER THEME MISSING ONE NOTE! THIS EMULATOR SUCKS!" rants.

'Didn't mean to come across as a dick.

Anyway, how authentic is N64 emulation? To my best knowledge, it will never be exactly like on the real console because the executable code has to be translated to x86 code, and the graphics aren't rendered the same way, which is why we have to resort to hacks, to get really close where the differences aren't significant.

But, I'm not an expert so, in short: I dunno.
 
OP
A

archagon

New member
The reason I'm asking is that I really want to play Ocarina of Time, and I'm wondering whether I should emulate it or go for the Gamecube version. (I'd get it on VC, but it doesn't have rumble.) Surely Nintendo's emulator is more accurate?
 
Agozer

Agozer

16-bit Corpse | Moderator
Project64 is not Nintendo's emulator. Nothing beats the real thing, but Ocarina of Time is very playable on Project64.
 
Clements

Clements

Active member
Moderator
Zelda menus should be fine with Jabo's D3D8 1.6 if you have a good graphics card with appropriate drivers.

Most games work well enough to play fine (~90%+ playable to the end, roughly), but most have at least one glitch somewhere (with Jabo's plugin anyway) due to HLE being used, which similates the N64 rather than emulating it fully at a low level (which would be pretty slow in comparison). If it bothers you, buy it for the Virtual Console, Gamecube Bonus Disc or the real N64.
 
squall_leonhart

squall_leonhart

The Great Gunblade Wielder
OoT menu FBE broken on Geforce 6+, has been since release (can still repro on 6600GT)

Mario Tennis works fine with force alpha blending, and TLB Unmapping disabled (just use the latest unofficial RDB)
 
Noobnugget

Noobnugget

blah.
archagon said:
My question is: how perfect is the default Project64 (1.6) emulation? What features are missing (i.e., framebuffer issues - are they caused by my hardware or because they're too slow to fix by default?) and what requires fiddling to enable?
Click to expand...
You've pretty much said one huge thing that is missing yourself, the framebuffer effects. And they're not broken because of your hardware, they're broken cause none of the emu devs seem to be able to figure out a way to either: A. Get them to even work to begin with, or B. get them to work without cutting framerates significantly. Why they can't get decent speed out of them(when they do work) i don't know. It's not like the modern pc is limited in power...
 
OP
A

archagon

New member
Noobnugget said:
You've pretty much said one huge thing that is missing yourself, the framebuffer effects. And they're not broken because of your hardware, they're broken cause none of the emu devs seem to be able to figure out a way to either: A. Get them to even work to begin with, or B. get them to work without cutting framerates significantly. Why they can't get decent speed out of them(when they do work) i don't know. It's not like the modern pc is limited in power...
Click to expand...
Thank you! Do you know if that's the only "huge thing" missing?
 
Allnatural

Allnatural

New member
Moderator
Noobnugget said:
You've pretty much said one huge thing that is missing yourself, the framebuffer effects. And they're not broken because of your hardware, they're broken cause none of the emu devs seem to be able to figure out a way to either: A. Get them to even work to begin with, or B. get them to work without cutting framerates significantly. Why they can't get decent speed out of them(when they do work) i don't know. It's not like the modern pc is limited in power...
Click to expand...
It's not a matter of power; it's the fundamental differences in architecture. I can't explain it as well as a programmer (obviously) but my rough understanding is that FB effects require multiple read-writes across the graphics bus, which PCIe (and especially AGP) weren't designed for. Some plugins use tricks to speed things up (don't know the technical details), and a pure software plugin would *possibly* make FB effects faster, but that would bring slowdown of a different sort.
 
squall_leonhart

squall_leonhart

The Great Gunblade Wielder
Biggest limitation right now is microcode support, for all intents, most of the framebuffer effects are implemented and working at fullspeed,
 
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