/vr/ - Retro Games

N64 emulation is absolute shit. Dont even bother unless you get the console.

>>724243
Really? I've been playing it on my laptop, and the only thing I notice is a bit of sound lag...

>>724254
Still loads of games that don't even start. None of them emulate Pokemon Snap correctly.

Project 64 and Mupen64 had their last big releases in around 2004 or so. N64 emulation hasn't improved a great deal since then. There are a few other projects going on that look promising though.

>>724263
What? Project 64 just had a big release. Agreed that it wasn't a huge improvement, though.

Also, Mupen64 has been effectively superseded by Mupen64plus.

>>724254
Well, it depends. If you're only playing games like Mario 64 and OoT, you won't have many issues if any. But try deviating from the usual suspects, and you're very likely to run into problems. DK64 still has graphical glitches out the ass.

>>724312
Well put it this way:

Project 64 1.6 was released on April 1st 2004. 2.0 wasn't released until nine whole years later. In the mean time the project only had minor incremental updates that were for paying supporters only. From what I hear 2.0 is more of a rewrite than a series of improvements.

I don't really know what the deal with Mupen64Plus is. Those devs are very secretive and I've never been totally convinced it's better than Mupen64. It's been a while since I looked at it, but I remember it having lots of issues. I don't think it was possible to switch between windowed and fullscreen, and I think it was fairly tricky to configure.

All are plugin based as well, so a large part of the experience is dependent on said plugins.

>>724375
2.0 sucks dick. It's in many ways a step back. If they feel it's nessecary to make more progress, cool. As it stands, using 1.7.9 is better overall. Plus the old interface was better.

>>724405
Is 1.7.9 freely available somewhere?

>>724375
>I don't think it was possible to switch between windowed and fullscreen,
PJ64 can definitely switch between the two without issue. I do it from time to time.

>>724410
yes, on the internet.

>>724413
Almost all emulators can. It's Mupen64Plus in particular I was talking about.

>>724405
It's Jabo's plugins on 2.0/2.1 that suck, really. There were some improvements, but there were also several regressions.

Thankfully, there's work underway for new plugins that will be much better and more accurate.

>>724561
>plugins

This is a terrible blight on emulators that needlessly increases complexity.

Plugins should only be used a per emulator basis, this whole setup where every plugin works in every emulator doesn't work, especially when the plugin API is deficient and not cross platform friendly.

>>725193
hell it actively encourages writing hacky emulator components instead of accurate ones, since you can fall back on the "just switch plugins" excuse when games don't work right. At least there's stuff like CEN64 to look forward to

>>725193
It's notoriously bad with N64 emulators where some random plugin might only work in a certain emulators. Project64, Mupen64 and 1964 all follow the insufficient Zilmar plugin specification, whereas Mupen64Plus has an entirely different spec.

The best PSX emulators were plugin based for a long time and managed to do it better than the N64 equivalents. Now the best PSX emulators are those that don't use plugins.

>>724237
Saturn is not hard because it's complex, but just because there is TONS of functions to add. Just one of the video chips alone has thousands of functions to implement. But it can also do some wizard things, like move a 4096x4096 textured playfield around in full 3d (two of them on the same screen, even). For a low-cost 1994 hardware, that shit is balls.

Genesis emulators have shit sounds because most of them have sample accurate emulation turned off by default. In Kega Fusion it is called SuperHQ, Gens calls it High Quality YM2612, I think. Other emulators might not implement it at all because it used to be a seriously taxing task, for the time.

>>725193
Plugin system is not inherently bad, it's just that most emulators do it badly, and most plugins are worthless shit. The emulation core itself might not be accurate enough even with proper plugins, and if it is upgraded, it might break plugin compatibility, etc. So you need a good core that allows for high accuracy.
And then you need a plugin that is also accurate.

For N64 and Playstation, most early plugins just used your video card to draw graphics because 1. it was faster on the average sub-ghz machines of the day, and 2. it could bump up the resolution.
However this way you couldn't emulate tons of shit the consoles did to have accurate graphics. But it didn't matter because Final Fantasy 7-8-9 and Metal Gear Solid and Mario 64 and Zelda and Goldenye played fine, so development essentially ceased right then and there...

It IS possible to do plugins correctly, PCSX2 is pretty damn good, and Exodus is shaping up to be the best one yet.

>>725281
FF8 & FF9 are well known for having tricky framebuffer effects during the battle transitions that weren't correctly emulated for a long time.

I want to write a saturn emulator but I don't know how to do it

>>725324
howtowriteasegasaturnemulator.com

>>725324
Go read up on computer architecture, and learn C/C++ programming and learn proper coding practices.

Also, read up on other emulation projects, like this one:
http://www.noxa.org/blog/category/projects/xenia/

>>725281
Funnily enough, a super accurate video plugin for the N64 was JUST released today. It's based on the MESS N64 driver's RDP code.

http://forum.pj64-emu.com/showthread.php?t=3739

Problem is, it's SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOW. Even top of the line hardware can't run it well. Apparently a huge part of the performance drop is due to the accurate emulation of the N64's anti-aliasing and filtering.

That said, it might have room for improvement and optimizations. Keep an eye out for it.

>>725878
Anyone mirrored the zip yet? I can't fucking stand forums that make you register to open attachments.

>>725919
http://www.mediafire.com/download/m2x099iqscxbsbo/SoftGraphic.rar

Got you covered.

>>725878
I'm averaging 13fps at the SM64 title screen, so it's obviously a step in the right direction.

I have a modded wii with virtual console games on it, and it does this weird thing where it ups the native resolution... it looks awesome on 2d games like yoshis story but it looks terrible on 3d games because staircases become completely smooth flat inclines with shitty textures painted on them. No joke.

>>726050
>staircases become completely smooth flat inclines with shitty textures painted on them.
>become
they were always that, anon

>>726095
oh no, on my n64 it is blurry in a way that looks natural and good. Making n64 games high-res is bad.

>>724237
>>725281

I wish there were advanced Saturn emulators out there. I feel like this is the one system many of us haven't got to experience in its fullest form. A lot of the Japanese gaming on this platform still remains an undiscovered frontier to this day.

>>726146
you are a men who knows what he is speaking about

>>726146
SSF is miles ahead in emulating the Saturn than any of the N64 emulators.

>>725878
>accurate emulation of the N64's anti-aliasing and filtering.
God damn it...
I'm all for accuracy, but I emulate N64 so I don't have to put up with a blurry mess, and I'm sure many others can say the same.

I wish there were a saturn-usb adapter that had multitap support.

>>726254
why wouldn't you just buy multiple adapters

>>726254
>having to buy 10 Saturn-to-USB adapters to play Bomberman.

>>724237

>implying SSF doesn't run almost every game nearly perfectly

>>726490
Although I've only tried one game, I was super impressed with how well Virtual Hydlide ran.

I use Kega Fusion to emulate Genesis, SCD, etc. and I have no issues with sound or frames or anything.

>>724263
>Pokemon Snap
The only reason I bought that game.
I would have bought the N64 too, but I found it dumpster diving one day.
Does that make me a pirate?

Has anybody tried SSF on an original Xbox? Results?

>>726265
Most are twin adapters, so you'd just need 5.

It's weird as shit playing Metal Slug with a Virtua stick on my Saturn, with my Neo Geo sitting gameless on my shelf.

>>726537
Kega Fusion has better sound than my actual model 2 Genesis does. But I prefer the TV picture to monitor, and the Genesis controller absolutely kills the d-pad on the 360 controller for windows.

I emulate anything SNES/Genesis and lower.

Once I get into N64/PS1 area I much prefer the original hardware.

>>726227
There's talk of making it optional or something so as to gain speed.