Egad! A pixel-accurate plugin has been released for N64 emus
Mar 27, 2014 18:57:24 GMT -5
Post by ReyVGM on Mar 27, 2014 18:57:24 GMT -5
Finally, someone has released a pixel-accurate plugin for N64 emus. By pixel accurate I mean that emulated games look exactly like N64 games did (yes, fog, antialias and all). This has been verified by the MESS team to be 100% accurate.
Some might say "why do you want to play games in a blurry mess?".
Well for starters, it lets you play games as they were originally intended, and secondly, now we can take screenshots and make videos of how the games actually looked, instead of using screens that do not represent at all the original graphics. This is important for accuracy purposes.
Anyway, the plugin is not really new, but the guy that did it chose to use some awful sub-high definition resolution to display the games (1024x768) which meant that they looked even worse than they really do. I had the chance to talk to HatCat, one of the guys that worked on that plugin, and he graciously agreed to modify it to display in the proper N64 resolution (320x237 or usually rounded to 320x240). There's a second option to make the res be 640x480 for those games that are high res (like Turok 2). It also apparently fixes some long-time issues with games like Smash Bros, Banjo-Tooie, and makes Pokémon Snap playable.
Be warned, once you try the plugin, you'll think that there must be some mistake and that is just TOO blurry. But after a few minutes, if you played N64 a lot, you'll remember that this is how N64 games really looked. I remember playing games like Ogre Battle 64 and Goldeneye and thinking that they looked really blurry, even back then. The N64 used bilinear filtering and anti-alias a lot, so that's why games looked like that. If you have been spoiled by playing N64 emus with high resolution graphics or texture packs or even SoftGraphics plugins (which offer no enhancements, but don't use filters either), then you'll probably find this pixel-accurate one very very strange.
Some might say "why do you want to play games in a blurry mess?".
Well for starters, it lets you play games as they were originally intended, and secondly, now we can take screenshots and make videos of how the games actually looked, instead of using screens that do not represent at all the original graphics. This is important for accuracy purposes.
Anyway, the plugin is not really new, but the guy that did it chose to use some awful sub-high definition resolution to display the games (1024x768) which meant that they looked even worse than they really do. I had the chance to talk to HatCat, one of the guys that worked on that plugin, and he graciously agreed to modify it to display in the proper N64 resolution (320x237 or usually rounded to 320x240). There's a second option to make the res be 640x480 for those games that are high res (like Turok 2). It also apparently fixes some long-time issues with games like Smash Bros, Banjo-Tooie, and makes Pokémon Snap playable.
Be warned, once you try the plugin, you'll think that there must be some mistake and that is just TOO blurry. But after a few minutes, if you played N64 a lot, you'll remember that this is how N64 games really looked. I remember playing games like Ogre Battle 64 and Goldeneye and thinking that they looked really blurry, even back then. The N64 used bilinear filtering and anti-alias a lot, so that's why games looked like that. If you have been spoiled by playing N64 emus with high resolution graphics or texture packs or even SoftGraphics plugins (which offer no enhancements, but don't use filters either), then you'll probably find this pixel-accurate one very very strange.
Threads with the download and information
Pixel-accurate plugin:
forum.pj64-emu.com/showthread.php?t=4422
Or here for the latest version:
www.emutalk.net/threads/55481-angrylion-s-Per-Pixel-RDP-with-OpenGL
RSP (recommended):
forum.pj64-emu.com/showthread.php?t=3618
Apparently you have to join the forums to be able to download attachments, but here's an outside upload. It is advisable to additionally use his RSP plugin to make sure the plugin works at its best.
Plugin version 5 and the RSP:
www.sendspace.com/file/m26cum
*Additions for V5*
Version 5 has many improvements. The configuration option now has a GUI (graphic user interface). Let me explain what each option does, because they can be cryptic.
-VI register Layout (it will play games at 640x480 resolution)
-DP Frame Buffer (It will play games with the native resolution AND the screen automatically resizes itself whenever the resolution changes)
-User Defined (Set your own window size)
-Disable VI DAC Filters (the "VI" are the trademark N64 filters, what everyone refers to the "smudged blurry look". If you want "clean" sharp graphics, then turn this on. If you want accurate N64 graphics, leave it off)
-GPU Accelerated scaling (the only thing I've seen this do is add more filtering to the games)
-Pause after each screen update (this is supposed to be some kind of slow motion?)
However, I do have to mention that the auto screen-resizing option doesn't work like it should. I mean, the screen does resize to the correct native resolution, but the graphics still look like they are being downscaled or upscaled incorrectly. For polygonal games, this is barely noticeable. But for sprite-based games, or scenes with text, it is very noticeable. This will be fixed on version 6.
You can still press F3 to take a native screenshot with the native resolution, but the screenshot will not have any filters. Version 6 will let you take filtered and non-filtered screens.
