16 or 32 bit?

[seh]

The help files (nice btw), say choose a 32 bit, and the author, says he/she uses a 32 bit mode. Well I run my desktop at 16 bit, due to other games I run (for speed) and would prefer to keep it that way...but if 32 bit mode for pj64 is better, then I might change.

I can't really tell much difference, but maybe my eyes are getting old



Which is best?

My gfx card can handle both.

[iq_132]

Try both; just choose the one that runs faster on your system.

[RPGlover12]

am always running on 32 its better though

[Eagle]

Actually it is theoretically possible that 32 bit can run faster than 16 bit depending on what your doing. Ususally the speed change isnt noticed, but its kind of like if you switched your desktop colors to 16 colors (not bits) then it will boot much slower. The same applies to 32 bit and 16 bit where 32 bit can actually be faster but the speed increase is minimal.

[RaverX]

with the n 64 you probley wont see any diffrance really using 16 bit color over 32 bit color. Reason i dont think the games were in 32 bit color to begin with.

[Smiff]

short answer: use 32bpp
long answer: n64 used max 16bit textures afaik, but after rendering gave an effective resolution (with dithering) of about 21bit colour, hence 16bpp is not enough to avoid banding in pj64. remember also pj is using hle so the game is effectively reconstructed from its parts hence we are not limited to what the original hardware could manage. the video plugin only uses 32bpp textures when it detects that 16bpp won't be enough, also this is automatic now on cards that support 32bpp textures. the difference in image quality can be dramatic in places

1st pic shows zelda file select screen with 16bpp textures:

[Smiff]

2nd pic shows zelda file select screen in with 32bpp textures:

[Smiff]

(you better be on 32bpp desktop now before looking at those!)

[hotshitu]

Originally posted by Eagle
Actually it is theoretically possible that 32 bit can run faster than 16 bit depending on what your doing. Ususally the speed change isnt noticed, but its kind of like if you switched your desktop colors to 16 colors (not bits) then it will boot much slower. The same applies to 32 bit and 16 bit where 32 bit can actually be faster but the speed increase is minimal.

Sorry to contradict, 16 colors (aka 4bpp) is slow because it uses the default *vga.drv or similar (depending on your OS). I don't think my GF2 lets me even boot into 4bpp, let alone switch to it on the fly, so nothing to do with the 16-32bpp thingie.
For applications using 3D hardware acceleration 16bpp should _always_ be faster or as fast as 32 bpp unless the drivers are very crappy.

[Smiff]

yeah but the difference in speed between 16 and 32bpp on any halfway decent system should be negligible, but in 16bit you never know when the graphics could look better, hence i'd use 32bit unless you are desperate for speed and find 16bit faster.