Sorry about the delay, but <a href=http://www.ngemu.com>Kirby</a> has let us know that a new version of the popular <a href=http://www.emuxhaven.net/~glide64/>Glide64</a> has been released, and here are the release notes:
<font class=post_quote><B>October, Saturday 9, 2004 - Glide64 ME Service Pack 7. Mega bugfix release! </B><BR>
The last bugfix release for Glide64 ME is ready. This time I have squashed many
nasty bugs which lived in Glide64 from the begining. All remaining problems require
a lot of investigations and/or serious modifications of source code. So, what is fixed
in this release:</P>
<LI><B>New texture checksum calculation algorithm.</B> Old algorithm was
developed yet by Dave2001 and worked untouched until now. This algorithm is pretty
fast, but not 100% reliable. In some rare cases it generates the same checksum for
different textures. In this case new texture will not be loaded and the old texture
with this checksum will be used. Sometime this problem has fatal consequences, e.g.
life meter in Shadowman is not updated when you take damages. To fix this problem, I
decided to use well known crc32 calculation algorithm for texture checksum. It works,
all known texture checksum problems are fixed now. However, nothing is for free.
New algorithm is generally 4 times more slow then the old one. If you have slow PC, you
may notice that. In this case, you may enable old texture checksum calculation algorithm in
the configuration dialog. List of fixed games includes Destruction Derby 64, Dual Heroes,
Knife Edge - Nose Gunner, Shadow Man, Tigger's Honey Hunt and others.
<LI><B>The automatic generation of the texture coordinates is fixed.</B>
The automatic generation of the texture coordinates is used for reflecting surfaces in many games.
This feature was also implemented by Dave2001,
and was not touched since that times. In many cases it did not work properly due to
use of wrong matrix. Only one identifier was changed, and now all reflecting surfaces look
much better on the run. Most noticeable changes are in Banjo-Tooie, Beetle Adventure Racing,
Spacestation Silicon Valley.
<LI><B>Vertex coordinates modification algorithm is improved.</B> Many games use vertex
modification command to modify already loaded vertices. Vertex coordinates modification
worked improprly for some games. I have replaced old algorithm by more simple, and what is
more important, more correct one. Now all games which use this command work perfectly
without any hacks. List of fixed games includes Disney's Tarzan, Dual Heroes, LEGO Racers
and others.
<LI><B>Texture stretch problem workaround.</B> Several games suffer from strange problem,
when some of texture coordinates have values which are two times larger then they must be. This causes
various texture stretch glitches. Well known example is Ready 2 Rumble Boxing. I believe that it's not
video plugin's problem, since texture coordinates are passed from emulator. Hovewer, it's unlikely that
this problem will be fixed soon. In previous versions I added several hacks to avoid this problem.
Now I have replaced them all by one mega hack, which can be easily removed when problem will be fixed.
I've also added new heuristics for CyberTiger, Polaris SnoCross, South Park - Chef's Luv Shack,
and Yoshi Story (Bone Dragon level) - these games are looking fine now.
<LI><B>Wrong blender usage is fixed.</B> I have changed alpha blend mode usage, missing geometry
problem in NBA Live 99 is fixed.
<LI><B>Alpha compare problem is fixed.</B> A very old problem in alpha compare mode is fixed,
and tokens in Disney's Tarzan are visible now.
<LI><B>Another alpha compare problem is fixed.</B> The second very old problem in alpha compare mode is fixed,
and all missing stuff in Choro Q games (wheels, walls) is visible now.
<LI><B>Yet another alpha compare problem is fixed.</B> Alpha compare in sprite microcode is fixed,
speedometer in V-Rally 99 looks correct again.
<LI><B>Depth compare problem in sprite microcode is fixed.</B> This fixes menus in Bomberman 64-The Second Attack.
<LI><B>Coordinate calculation in sprite microcode is fixed.</B> This fixes moving backgrounds in Flying Dragon.
<LI><B>4bit texture size calculation in sprite microcode is fixed.</B> This fixes text problems in Flying Dragon.
<LI><B>Matrix stack size problem is fixed.</B> This fixes intro in Spacestation Silicon Valley.
<LI><B>Weird fillrect removed.</B> There was a black rectangle in Cruis'n Exotica car selection screen, which spoiled all picture.
I removed it. Now this screen looks exactly as on real N64.
<LI><B>Too large tiles loading is fixed.</B> N64 games sometime uses tiles which are larger then N64 texture memory.
Example- trees in Zelda MM. Special fix was used to load such tiles correctly. However, this fix had a bug
which corrupted other textures. This bug is fixed.
<LI><B>Old bug in Sprite2D microcode is fixed.</B> No more missing gauges in Wipeout vehicle selection.
<LI><B>Old bug in fillrect is fixed.</B> Old, but rare becomes apparent bug in fillrect is found and fixed.
Now logo in Quake II and car selection screen in Roadsters Trophy looks correct.
<LI><B>Fix for depth problem in NFL Quarterback Club 99.</B> Depth compare is forced for shadows in this game.
<LI><B>New hack for Space Invaders.</B> I have added new hack to fix shield mode in this game.
<LI><B>Doraemon 2 backgrounds scale fix.</B> Logo is fixed in this game.
<LI><B>Earthworm Jim 3D depth fix.</B> This game had depth problem, which required special fix to be solved.
<LI><B>New ini settings.</B> I have added or changed special settings for many games.
<LI><B>Missing combiners implemented.</B> I have implemented many missing combiner modes. Now Glide64
supports <B>more then 1000 combiners</B>. That is, N64 games use thousands ways to draw polygons. And after
that people asking, why this system is so hard to emulate!
</LI>
Thanks to Federelli, gab, olivieryuyu and other active members of our message board, who just overloaded me with bug reports this time. Glide64 would never be so great without their help.</font>
Great job Gonetz, sounds like a smashing release! I just noticed the previous version of Glide64 (0.7 ME SP6) has had nearly 11000 downloads at Emulation64, which just proves how popular this plugin is. :inlove:
The download is available at our <a href=http://www.emulation64.com/downloads.php?section=gpu>GPU plugins section</a>, as always.
<font class=post_quote><B>October, Saturday 9, 2004 - Glide64 ME Service Pack 7. Mega bugfix release! </B><BR>
The last bugfix release for Glide64 ME is ready. This time I have squashed many
nasty bugs which lived in Glide64 from the begining. All remaining problems require
a lot of investigations and/or serious modifications of source code. So, what is fixed
in this release:</P>
<LI><B>New texture checksum calculation algorithm.</B> Old algorithm was
developed yet by Dave2001 and worked untouched until now. This algorithm is pretty
fast, but not 100% reliable. In some rare cases it generates the same checksum for
different textures. In this case new texture will not be loaded and the old texture
with this checksum will be used. Sometime this problem has fatal consequences, e.g.
life meter in Shadowman is not updated when you take damages. To fix this problem, I
decided to use well known crc32 calculation algorithm for texture checksum. It works,
all known texture checksum problems are fixed now. However, nothing is for free.
New algorithm is generally 4 times more slow then the old one. If you have slow PC, you
may notice that. In this case, you may enable old texture checksum calculation algorithm in
the configuration dialog. List of fixed games includes Destruction Derby 64, Dual Heroes,
Knife Edge - Nose Gunner, Shadow Man, Tigger's Honey Hunt and others.
<LI><B>The automatic generation of the texture coordinates is fixed.</B>
The automatic generation of the texture coordinates is used for reflecting surfaces in many games.
This feature was also implemented by Dave2001,
and was not touched since that times. In many cases it did not work properly due to
use of wrong matrix. Only one identifier was changed, and now all reflecting surfaces look
much better on the run. Most noticeable changes are in Banjo-Tooie, Beetle Adventure Racing,
Spacestation Silicon Valley.
<LI><B>Vertex coordinates modification algorithm is improved.</B> Many games use vertex
modification command to modify already loaded vertices. Vertex coordinates modification
worked improprly for some games. I have replaced old algorithm by more simple, and what is
more important, more correct one. Now all games which use this command work perfectly
without any hacks. List of fixed games includes Disney's Tarzan, Dual Heroes, LEGO Racers
and others.
<LI><B>Texture stretch problem workaround.</B> Several games suffer from strange problem,
when some of texture coordinates have values which are two times larger then they must be. This causes
various texture stretch glitches. Well known example is Ready 2 Rumble Boxing. I believe that it's not
video plugin's problem, since texture coordinates are passed from emulator. Hovewer, it's unlikely that
this problem will be fixed soon. In previous versions I added several hacks to avoid this problem.
Now I have replaced them all by one mega hack, which can be easily removed when problem will be fixed.
I've also added new heuristics for CyberTiger, Polaris SnoCross, South Park - Chef's Luv Shack,
and Yoshi Story (Bone Dragon level) - these games are looking fine now.
<LI><B>Wrong blender usage is fixed.</B> I have changed alpha blend mode usage, missing geometry
problem in NBA Live 99 is fixed.
<LI><B>Alpha compare problem is fixed.</B> A very old problem in alpha compare mode is fixed,
and tokens in Disney's Tarzan are visible now.
<LI><B>Another alpha compare problem is fixed.</B> The second very old problem in alpha compare mode is fixed,
and all missing stuff in Choro Q games (wheels, walls) is visible now.
<LI><B>Yet another alpha compare problem is fixed.</B> Alpha compare in sprite microcode is fixed,
speedometer in V-Rally 99 looks correct again.
<LI><B>Depth compare problem in sprite microcode is fixed.</B> This fixes menus in Bomberman 64-The Second Attack.
<LI><B>Coordinate calculation in sprite microcode is fixed.</B> This fixes moving backgrounds in Flying Dragon.
<LI><B>4bit texture size calculation in sprite microcode is fixed.</B> This fixes text problems in Flying Dragon.
<LI><B>Matrix stack size problem is fixed.</B> This fixes intro in Spacestation Silicon Valley.
<LI><B>Weird fillrect removed.</B> There was a black rectangle in Cruis'n Exotica car selection screen, which spoiled all picture.
I removed it. Now this screen looks exactly as on real N64.
<LI><B>Too large tiles loading is fixed.</B> N64 games sometime uses tiles which are larger then N64 texture memory.
Example- trees in Zelda MM. Special fix was used to load such tiles correctly. However, this fix had a bug
which corrupted other textures. This bug is fixed.
<LI><B>Old bug in Sprite2D microcode is fixed.</B> No more missing gauges in Wipeout vehicle selection.
<LI><B>Old bug in fillrect is fixed.</B> Old, but rare becomes apparent bug in fillrect is found and fixed.
Now logo in Quake II and car selection screen in Roadsters Trophy looks correct.
<LI><B>Fix for depth problem in NFL Quarterback Club 99.</B> Depth compare is forced for shadows in this game.
<LI><B>New hack for Space Invaders.</B> I have added new hack to fix shield mode in this game.
<LI><B>Doraemon 2 backgrounds scale fix.</B> Logo is fixed in this game.
<LI><B>Earthworm Jim 3D depth fix.</B> This game had depth problem, which required special fix to be solved.
<LI><B>New ini settings.</B> I have added or changed special settings for many games.
<LI><B>Missing combiners implemented.</B> I have implemented many missing combiner modes. Now Glide64
supports <B>more then 1000 combiners</B>. That is, N64 games use thousands ways to draw polygons. And after
that people asking, why this system is so hard to emulate!
</LI>
Thanks to Federelli, gab, olivieryuyu and other active members of our message board, who just overloaded me with bug reports this time. Glide64 would never be so great without their help.</font>
Great job Gonetz, sounds like a smashing release! I just noticed the previous version of Glide64 (0.7 ME SP6) has had nearly 11000 downloads at Emulation64, which just proves how popular this plugin is. :inlove:
The download is available at our <a href=http://www.emulation64.com/downloads.php?section=gpu>GPU plugins section</a>, as always.
