sudden hangs with black screen

[ciruZ]

You can find the precompiled binaries in this forum as well. Maybe you should try them, this might reduce the problems .

 

[juwb]

You can find the precompiled binaries in this forum as well. Maybe you should try them, this might reduce the problems .

Okay, tested with binary plugins downloaded from this forum:

tr64: is newer version than I had installed, looks better than before, but not nearly as nice as glN64.
glN64: same version I had, looks the same
glide64: couldn't find a linux binary in the forum. Point me?

any other plugins available for linux?

 

[Hacktarux]

donwload the precompiled binary of mupen64 on mupen64 web site : http://mupen64.emulation64.com

Uncompress it in a user folder and run it from there (i know that it could be better, but i'm working on that for the next release). The archive contains most available plugins.

 

[juwb]

Glide64 worked with the binary version. Now it also works with the version Gentoo compiled for me. I copied the configuration from them binary version... don't know which setting actually caused the error message described earlier. Anyway, Glide64 works now, thanks.

First the good stuff: With Glide64, the sun's showing up the way it should :bouncy:, and there seem to be no weird polygons blocking the view when using the bow. So that's very good.

Now the bad stuff: Glide64 seems to have problems elsewhere. There are disappearing roads and stuff (see screenshot), the GUI map looks weird, and in general, it looks more pixelish than glN64. It's hard to catch in a screenshot, don't know if you can see the difference (look at sky in the first shot or the floor and walls in the second shot). Both Glide64 and glN64 use 2xSAI, I also tried Bilinear and Point filtering with Glide64.

Also, Glide64 freezes extremely often (image gets stuck while sound continues playing). glN64 had that at first too until I fiddled a bit with the settings... maybe something similar will work for Glide64 as well, I don't know.

I'll use glN64 now for everyday use, and switch to Glide64 when I have to use the bow a lot Thanks for helping me out so far.

 

[ciruZ]

Your screenshots look good. That with the way is normal, but it's only on Hyrule Field and I think it doesn't hurt that much .
The map looks strange? Can you please try to screenshot this or discribe it more in detail?

 

[juwb]

That with the way is normal, but it's only on Hyrule Field and I think it doesn't hurt that much .

Of course, we are talking about minor details here. It doesn't hurt when the sun looks a little weird, the equipment menu doesn't work or even when a road goes missing. :happy: The very fact that we're going all nitpicky over these minor details is proof that GFX is already extremely close to perfection.

Another flaw I found in Glide64: Lightning is bad in general. Shadows tend to flicker on and off. In the first shot above, the kid doesn't even have a shadow. And the second shot shows how the map is different in Glide64 (it doesn't have the bluish shape). Plus there is a weird grey triangular spot in it that won't go away.

I guess I'll have to go read an OpenGL book and see if I can do anything about the glN64 flaws. But I guess it's hard to find out where these weird sight blockers come from, huh? aperbag:

 

[ciruZ]

The map looks normal for me? Maybe because I always play with Glide64 and I don't notice it anymore .
I don't think an OpenGL book will help you out here. It are issues with the GFX emulation, not with OpenGL usage .
// Edit:
I just tested the new glN64 and I'm amazed. The ingame menu even looks better than with Glide64. Glide64 took a snapshot of the screen in the real N64 resolution and took that as background. That's why it's that unsharp. And it even does that with the link in the menu. glN64 renders it 3D and that looks much better on a resolution of 1280x1024 .
// Edit: But sometimes the ingame link is simply not there.

 

[juwb]

// Edit: But sometimes the ingame link is simply not there.

Yeah, sometimes it also breaks completely (weird black&white background instead of rendered image). This feature is still flagged experimental after all.

It seems that the glN64 plugin is pretty much dead... it was a port from windows in the first place and the original author seems to have moved to Microsoft DirectX.

It's a shame because glN64 really works best for me in Linux. I hope that someone will pick it up someday to straighten out some of the glitches.

 

[Illissius]

Any idea how to get rid of the freezes? Usually some minutes into a game it just randomly locks up (image stops where it was) -- sound sometimes keeps playing, sometimes not, sometimes goes berserk. It makes actually getting anywhere in the games quite impossible. I have the 'no audio delay' option checked.
Also... does the ALSA2 sound plugin work for anyone? It segfaults as soon as any sound would be needed (ie, it shows only the very first bit of mario 64, before the 'bling').

 

[juwb]

Any idea how to get rid of the freezes? Usually some minutes into a game it just randomly locks up (image stops where it was) -- sound sometimes keeps playing, sometimes not, sometimes goes berserk.

I had that at first with glN64, but after some changes it went away. Unfortunately, I'm not sure which change was responsible. I thought it was the audio delay / compiled jump options, but if changing these doesn't help, then it's probably something else. I can send you my config files if you like, PM me...

Oh yeah, and I'm using the Gentoo version... Gentoo seems to apply several patches to the mupen64 stuff, don't know if any of these are responsible for (in)stabilities.

Also... does the ALSA2 sound plugin work for anyone? It segfaults as soon as any sound would be needed (ie, it shows only the very first bit of mario 64, before the 'bling').

No. The only sound plugin that works for me is the SDL plugin. Others will either crash, not play sound at all, or let the game run way too fast. There is another plugin with ALSA support included with the binary version (forgot the name though, it was an abbreviation with three letters). This plugin worked, but not very well (it was stuttering). The sound output produced by the SDL plugin is flawless, except for half a second of noise when restarting the emulation, which sounds like an uninitialized buffer somewhere in the emulator or in the plugin.

 

[juwb]

Oookay, doesn't really belong into this thread, but because I gave a lot of praise to glN64 already, I have to add another downside: The plugin seems to be old and unmaintained, so while it works nearly flawlessly in Zelda: OoT, there are a lot of errors to be seen in Zelda: MM. (For example, Zelda flashback can't be watched at all, you just get a black screen). It's really a pity that the original author switched to DirectX...

Now I'm using glN64 and switching to Glide64 and back whenever there are errors.