Beta Mupen64Plus

[PokeParadox]

Can some of the tweaks... be tweaked automatically either per game or via a hackList or something?

Not yet, At some point yes. Its just that all this usability programming distracts me from the bigger problems.... like improving performance.

Yeah I know what that's like, focus on what you want to focus on.

 

[God Ginrai]

EDIT: Only one complaint. It doesn't reset the nubs to mouse mode on exit.

I don't understand this, was it like this in the previous release? I'm doing it basically the same.

Well, after some more testing, I've found that normally it does set it back. Just the first couple of times I ran it it was giving me those problems. :\ (Haven't changed anything since.)

Is there any particular game that i should work on getting rendering well?

Well, you should take a look at Tony Hawk Pro Skater. The game looks great until you actually start a level. Then it looks like you are watching the game through some really buggy thermovision goggles.
Also, could you take a look into Bomberman 64: Second Attack's GUI? It seems to be gone most of the time, but sometimes appear. The game is almost perfect aside from that.
Mario Tennis also has a lot of graphical problems.
You might want to look into that error I posted about Star Wars: Shadow of the Empire. The error seemed to suggest that the problem might be caused by one of the plugins, so it could be worth it to make sure it does not reside in the graphics or control code.
Oh, and Vigilante 8 and Vigilante 8: Second Offense might be worth looking into. (Noticed lots of graphical problems when trying them out.)

How's sound on OOT, smooth like on Mario 64, or stuttery like in videos from a month or so ago?

Thanks

A mix of both. More often stuttery than not, but at certain times it is very good. (Like when Navi is flying through the forest to find Link)

-God Ginrai

 

[DaveC]

I tried this now and sound seems more stuttery than before. The nubs work better though and the missing graphics are now there, that is great.

I changed the resolution to 640 x 480.

Also will there be a way to change clock speed directly from these emus in the future? Now you have to load CPU speed app, pull out stylus, play with settings, exit, load emu, after playing you have to then load CPU speed again, change to default then exit and load next app. It is kind of allot of steps and is a PITA. It is not just this emu (it is early) but most all are like that.

 

[Adventus]

Well, you should take a look at Tony Hawk Pro Skater. The game looks great until you actually start a level. Then it looks like you are watching the game through some really buggy thermovision goggles.

Yeah, i think this is a texture loading problem again, i think it was after gln64 stopped development that they figured out how to do it exactly. Its either not loading the palette properly or its not converting them using the right format. Will have to see if my changes based on Glide64 fix it.

Also will there be a way to change clock speed directly from these emus in the future? Now you have to load CPU speed app, pull out stylus, play with settings, exit, load emu, after playing you have to then load CPU speed again, change to default then exit and load next app. It is kind of allot of steps and is a PITA. It is not just this emu (it is early) but most all are like that.

Hmmm, You should be able to just minimise the program and set it with the CPU speed app. By default you can press ALT + F9 in X11 to minimise a window.

 

[Tokiopop]

A mix of both. More often stuttery than not, but at certain times it is very good. (Like when Navi is flying through the forest to find Link)

-God Ginrai

Thanks! I do hope it becomes smoother over time and work because the music etc in OOT really make the game, especially since it's named after an instrument

 

[fusion_power]

It is funny, that these Games all act different onto the same Hardware. Once I thought, a gaming Console handles each game the same way so if one game runs, all game run but this seems to be completely wrong. ^^
I guess the N64 has many different methods and techniques to handle a game, not all games use the same "method" so in Emulation, you have to cover all methods if you want to play all games accurate. I find this very interesting, seems that there were no unique Standard of how the coders had to code their games for the N64.

 

[Jumpman]

It is funny, that these Games all act different onto the same Hardware. Once I thought, a gaming Console handles each game the same way so if one game runs, all game run but this seems to be completely wrong. ^^
I guess the N64 has many different methods and techniques to handle a game, not all games use the same "method" so in Emulation, you have to cover all methods if you want to play all games accurate. I find this very interesting, seems that there were no unique Standard of how the coders had to code their games for the N64.

I always thought the same way early on in my emulator usages as well. And for the most part it is true for the earlier consoles. The more custom chips and processors, the more differant things the emu will have to do to cover a greater amount of games. That's why will will probably never see a good working Saturn emulator, as it was filled with a ton of custom chips, and was a pain to program for when it was actually available.

Having used Mupen64, I must say it is very good for such an early emulator. I strongly believe many games will run full speed with sound at some point, but sadly, I also think there will be many games that will never run full speed, but there is always room for improvement I guess. Great work to all those involved in this project, it is a wonderful show piece to the Pandora.

Chris

 

[Exophase]

It is funny, that these Games all act different onto the same Hardware. Once I thought, a gaming Console handles each game the same way so if one game runs, all game run but this seems to be completely wrong. ^^
I guess the N64 has many different methods and techniques to handle a game, not all games use the same "method" so in Emulation, you have to cover all methods if you want to play all games accurate. I find this very interesting, seems that there were no unique Standard of how the coders had to code their games for the N64.

There's a lot of variability in what a game can do, even if it's using the same pieces of hardware. For instance, two different games may use the CPU very different amounts of time, something which is caught through idle loop detection. Even if they use the same number of instructions, many facets of the code can change emulation performance dramatically; memory instructions will take longer to emulate than ALU instructions, indirect branches longer than direct branches, etc. Cache access patterns play a huge role too.

Then there are the more pathological cases. Emulators tend to make some concessions for common code in the way they cache things, where really unusual scenarios can make things much much slower. For instance, very aggressive self-modifying code will bring down a recompiler. Not necessarily a big deal for N64 games, but on GBA for instance it's a major problem for a few titles.

It seems there's a lot of variability with the graphics right now too. Things that are cheap on N64, like changing combiner modes, are currently very expensive in emulation.

When you get down to it, performance for every piece of software has to be tuned for the type of hardware you're running it on. When you start emulating that software the rules for what performs best can change completely and all bets are off.

 

[gibberish]

f zero x now wont run. black screen, but you can hear the game in the background (though it is very stuttery).

 

[HackModford]

I've noticed that Link's feet "sink" into the paths... not the ground but the paths textures...

 

[Bofosho]

Don't know if it has been mentioned but Pokemon stadium does not work glitches after title screen.
Golden eye is ok for where the emulator is at.
Paper Mario flashes in and out and the sprites get scrambled every flash.
Mario64 I have had no problems with even at regular settings except for the feet sinking error.

Only problem I really hate is the nubs have to be reset after using the emulator and some times while using the emulator the nub will be come less reactive (I have noticed this being due to the Pandora's software not the emulators because this occasionally happens in the GUI.

Great work So far, keep it up please.

 

[Tokiopop]

Is there somewhere we can donate?

 

[MDave]

How do I map the Pandora D-Pad to the N64 analog stick?

 

[DaveC]

Well, you should take a look at Tony Hawk Pro Skater. The game looks great until you actually start a level. Then it looks like you are watching the game through some really buggy thermovision goggles.

Yeah, i think this is a texture loading problem again, i think it was after gln64 stopped development that they figured out how to do it exactly. Its either not loading the palette properly or its not converting them using the right format. Will have to see if my changes based on Glide64 fix it.

Also will there be a way to change clock speed directly from these emus in the future? Now you have to load CPU speed app, pull out stylus, play with settings, exit, load emu, after playing you have to then load CPU speed again, change to default then exit and load next app. It is kind of allot of steps and is a PITA. It is not just this emu (it is early) but most all are like that.

Hmmm, You should be able to just minimise the program and set it with the CPU speed app. By default you can press ALT + F9 in X11 to minimise a window.

I don't run it through XFCE, I am using Minimenu.

Still all of that playing with windows etc stuff you mention is a pain. If there was a saveable setting it would automatically set the clock when you load the emu then set back to default on exit. You wouldn't have to faff about with any of these settings, stylus, and windows(unless you wanted to change the amount of OC) it would just "remember". I would much prefer that. They did it on the GP2X, GP32, Wiz, I am not sure why no one wants to do it like that on the Pandora. Maybe we just like it more complicated here

 

[Dead1nside]

Is there somewhere we can donate?

Here, here. You're all doing a great job on this emulator.

Love seeing the updates and compatibility fixes, even if I don't have a Pandora to test it on.

 

[God Ginrai]

Well, you should take a look at Tony Hawk Pro Skater. The game looks great until you actually start a level. Then it looks like you are watching the game through some really buggy thermovision goggles.

Yeah, i think this is a texture loading problem again, i think it was after gln64 stopped development that they figured out how to do it exactly. Its either not loading the palette properly or its not converting them using the right format. Will have to see if my changes based on Glide64 fix it.

Also will there be a way to change clock speed directly from these emus in the future? Now you have to load CPU speed app, pull out stylus, play with settings, exit, load emu, after playing you have to then load CPU speed again, change to default then exit and load next app. It is kind of allot of steps and is a PITA. It is not just this emu (it is early) but most all are like that.

Hmmm, You should be able to just minimise the program and set it with the CPU speed app. By default you can press ALT + F9 in X11 to minimise a window.

I don't run it through XFCE, I am using Minimenu.

Still all of that playing with windows etc stuff you mention is a pain. If there was a saveable setting it would automatically set the clock when you load the emu then set back to default on exit. You wouldn't have to faff about with any of these settings, stylus, and windows(unless you wanted to change the amount of OC) it would just "remember". I would much prefer that. They did it on the GP2X, GP32, Wiz, I am not sure why no one wants to do it like that on the Pandora. Maybe we just like it more complicated here

I thought that's what .ovr files were for. o.o

-God Ginrai

 

[jaycee900]

I think due to the way some N64 games were coded and the fact we probably won't have 100% compatibility, wouldn't it be better if we have a poll every week requesting a certain game be made to run better, of course not all games will be possible now or even later so obviously the next down will be attempted, of course this is all upto the devs, but I thought it might give them something to aim at one game at a time, and knowing solving one game might fix others to work also, again it's just an idea, Imo the N64 had 50 decent games tops , do we really want Superman 64 running on our Pandoras!?!
Anyway if we did I would vote for Waverace 64 being fixed (menus etc)

 

[vadsamoht]

Just a thought, but wouldn't it be better to have a compatibility list on the Wiki, instead of having to trawl through a thread like this? Or is there already one somewhere?

 

[codemaster]

Just a thought, but wouldn't it be better to have a compatibility list on the Wiki, instead of having to trawl through a thread like this? Or is there already one somewhere?

There is a compatibility list via google spreadsheets. It isn't pinned and slips back the to dark side of the forums as quick as it is bumped.

Mupen64Plus Compatibility List

PSX Compatibility List

The link to the spreadsheets are in the first post.

 

[naples39]

Also will there be a way to change clock speed directly from these emus in the future? Now you have to load CPU speed app, pull out stylus, play with settings, exit, load emu, after playing you have to then load CPU speed again, change to default then exit and load next app. It is kind of allot of steps and is a PITA. It is not just this emu (it is early) but most all are like that.

I thought that's what .ovr files were for. o.o

-God Ginrai

I've tried using .ovr files with psx4pandora and snes9x and the clock speed setting therein didn't seem to have any effect. The frame rates and performance were the same as at pandora default mhz setting, definitely not the FPS boost seen after manually using CPU speed program.

I am currently using Pleng's cpu speed shortcuts. Not as nice as in-emu settings (which could even be set up to set speed per game), but doing the job for now.
Link: http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/54583-quick-change-cpu-speeds/