Iconoclast
05-27-2006, 10:09 PM
Project64, if not all Nintendo 64 emulators, have two emulation glitches with the most simplisticly programmed Nintendo 64 ROM:
There is crust around the extra life, coin, and star indicators.
The dissolve effect, used when Bowser disintegrates, Mario teleports, and when Mario is wearing the invisibility cap, is missing.There is only one available graphics plugin that can fix both of these problems. The plugin is called Direct64, and you can get it here (http://ngemu.com/download.php?action=plugin&id=135). Note that you must have DirectX 9 to use this plugin. Simply copy Direct64.dll from the ZIP archive to the plugins subdirectory of your emulator.
Now apply the new plugin. In Project64, use the Options/Settings command. In 1964, you can use the Ctrl+P shortcut to change your plugins. I am not explaining how to do it with other Nintendo 64 emulators; you should not be using Nintendo 64 a emulator other than Project64 and 1964. There are exceptions, but none that apply to the few ROMs, if not only Super Mario 64, optimal with this plugin. Change your graphics plugin to the Direct64 v0.5 ALPHA setting. Apply the settings, and exit the configuration prompt.
Now, on the same menu that you used to configure which plugins to use, there should be another command on that menu used to configure the graphics plugin Direct64. Execute that command. Make sure that the plugin settings match these:
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j112/rswedlo/Help%20Images/Direct64Configuration.gif
The following Direct64 plugin options have no universally good setting:
Resolution (Full Screen): Basically, you should pick your current monitor resoultion (typically 1024 by 768 pixels). It could be anything, so I can't tell you the best choice. Unless you like old MS-DOS resolutions in a pixelated arcade soft of way, I don't think you'll like 320 by 200 pixel resolution. Not only is this not one of the 4:3 ratio resolutions, (It's really 8:5.) but it's very small and leads to object aliasing. To summarize, you want to pick the highest resolution possible in this option. If your game runs slow, try decreasing the resolution.
Refresh Rate: I would pick the highest refresh rate available, but I honestly don't know what refresh rate is. I only know that it's another monitor setting measured in Hz (hertz). Rather than decreasing the resolution to improve emulation speed, try decreasing this. No matter what I set it to, the game always looks the same to me.
N64 Depth Image: I leave it at the "Ignore" setting. I'm not even going to bother to check to see if it slows down your emulation speed because it's completely unnecessary with ROMs like Super Mario 64. The N64 Color Image setting, however, will result in your emulator's termination if it's set to anything other than the "Ignore" setting.And that's about it. Here's what some of the other options do:
Enable Fog: This doesn't seem to make any difference in Super Mario 64. But in the Majora's Mask final boss room, it changes the lumination of the vertex connectors of the room. I don't recommend this plugin with other ROMs, but should you use it with other ROMs for whatever reason, many plugins come with the "Enable Fog" option already checked. Therefore, I assume that this is a recommended setting for most games. Although, I sincerely doubt it has any effect on Super Mario 64.
Simulate Overscan: Try emulating Super Mario 64 with and without this option on, and you will see the difference. I think Direct64 is bad at positioning the ROM screen for all Nintendo 64 ROMs, but in full screen mode, this is quite tolerable. In full screen mode, the edges of the game screen may go outside your monitor a little bit, but that's nothing like flickering. You see, with this option off, the game flickers in full screen mode. Besides, a little bit of the game running out of the monitor doesn't hurt. In fact, it honestly increases the resolution of the part you can see in your monitor when in full screen mode. You can still see all of the important parts of the ROM edges fine, so I would suggest that you keep this option on.
Force Bilinear Filtering: All I know is that this gives the File Select menu text bad anti-aliasing, and that it should not be enabled for games like Super Mario 64.
Increase Culling Distance: I know nothing about this option. It seems to make no difference in the game. It may or may not deduct your emulation speed. I see it as an unecessary option, and you should, too. Or at least so long as you use the plugin to emulate Super Mario 64. Anyone care to tell me what this option does? I'd like to know. Post your answer in this thread if you know.
Noise at PC Resolution: Fortunately, the only effect this has on Super Mario 64 that I know of is a positive effect. Direct64 is not the only plugins that will emulate the missing dissolve effect in Super Mario 64. It is one of the very few, but it is the only one to emulate the dissolve effect at a much, much higher resolution. The resolution that the actual Nintendo 64 emulates the effect in. Without this option on, the dissolve effect, in action, will look quite pixilated.
OrkinSkin Sampling: Really slows down your emulation speed for some reason. It may be for screen captures, but I don't see a difference. You can try screen capturing with this option on if you like, but again, I don't see a difference. It doesn't seem necessary.
Advanced Texture Filer: Texture enchancement is not good for Super Mario 64, as it takes away the classic intentional pixilation of the white text you see in the game (in the File Select menu, when you're talking to characters, or when you're reading signs, for example).As for the only other disadvantage of using this plugin, no full screen anti-aliasing, increase your ROM resolution to the max. Anti-aliasing is when partially transparent pixels are emulated next to pixelated edges of drawn objects in any Nintendo 64 ROM to make the edges look smoother. This is usually good for Mario. Anyway, there doesn't seem to be an option like that here. The best you can do is increase your ROM resolution. This inability to anti-alias occurs when playing the game on the actual Nintendo 64 console as well, so you're in little loss.
Well, any questions or problems with the plugin?
There is crust around the extra life, coin, and star indicators.
The dissolve effect, used when Bowser disintegrates, Mario teleports, and when Mario is wearing the invisibility cap, is missing.There is only one available graphics plugin that can fix both of these problems. The plugin is called Direct64, and you can get it here (http://ngemu.com/download.php?action=plugin&id=135). Note that you must have DirectX 9 to use this plugin. Simply copy Direct64.dll from the ZIP archive to the plugins subdirectory of your emulator.
Now apply the new plugin. In Project64, use the Options/Settings command. In 1964, you can use the Ctrl+P shortcut to change your plugins. I am not explaining how to do it with other Nintendo 64 emulators; you should not be using Nintendo 64 a emulator other than Project64 and 1964. There are exceptions, but none that apply to the few ROMs, if not only Super Mario 64, optimal with this plugin. Change your graphics plugin to the Direct64 v0.5 ALPHA setting. Apply the settings, and exit the configuration prompt.
Now, on the same menu that you used to configure which plugins to use, there should be another command on that menu used to configure the graphics plugin Direct64. Execute that command. Make sure that the plugin settings match these:
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j112/rswedlo/Help%20Images/Direct64Configuration.gif
The following Direct64 plugin options have no universally good setting:
Resolution (Full Screen): Basically, you should pick your current monitor resoultion (typically 1024 by 768 pixels). It could be anything, so I can't tell you the best choice. Unless you like old MS-DOS resolutions in a pixelated arcade soft of way, I don't think you'll like 320 by 200 pixel resolution. Not only is this not one of the 4:3 ratio resolutions, (It's really 8:5.) but it's very small and leads to object aliasing. To summarize, you want to pick the highest resolution possible in this option. If your game runs slow, try decreasing the resolution.
Refresh Rate: I would pick the highest refresh rate available, but I honestly don't know what refresh rate is. I only know that it's another monitor setting measured in Hz (hertz). Rather than decreasing the resolution to improve emulation speed, try decreasing this. No matter what I set it to, the game always looks the same to me.
N64 Depth Image: I leave it at the "Ignore" setting. I'm not even going to bother to check to see if it slows down your emulation speed because it's completely unnecessary with ROMs like Super Mario 64. The N64 Color Image setting, however, will result in your emulator's termination if it's set to anything other than the "Ignore" setting.And that's about it. Here's what some of the other options do:
Enable Fog: This doesn't seem to make any difference in Super Mario 64. But in the Majora's Mask final boss room, it changes the lumination of the vertex connectors of the room. I don't recommend this plugin with other ROMs, but should you use it with other ROMs for whatever reason, many plugins come with the "Enable Fog" option already checked. Therefore, I assume that this is a recommended setting for most games. Although, I sincerely doubt it has any effect on Super Mario 64.
Simulate Overscan: Try emulating Super Mario 64 with and without this option on, and you will see the difference. I think Direct64 is bad at positioning the ROM screen for all Nintendo 64 ROMs, but in full screen mode, this is quite tolerable. In full screen mode, the edges of the game screen may go outside your monitor a little bit, but that's nothing like flickering. You see, with this option off, the game flickers in full screen mode. Besides, a little bit of the game running out of the monitor doesn't hurt. In fact, it honestly increases the resolution of the part you can see in your monitor when in full screen mode. You can still see all of the important parts of the ROM edges fine, so I would suggest that you keep this option on.
Force Bilinear Filtering: All I know is that this gives the File Select menu text bad anti-aliasing, and that it should not be enabled for games like Super Mario 64.
Increase Culling Distance: I know nothing about this option. It seems to make no difference in the game. It may or may not deduct your emulation speed. I see it as an unecessary option, and you should, too. Or at least so long as you use the plugin to emulate Super Mario 64. Anyone care to tell me what this option does? I'd like to know. Post your answer in this thread if you know.
Noise at PC Resolution: Fortunately, the only effect this has on Super Mario 64 that I know of is a positive effect. Direct64 is not the only plugins that will emulate the missing dissolve effect in Super Mario 64. It is one of the very few, but it is the only one to emulate the dissolve effect at a much, much higher resolution. The resolution that the actual Nintendo 64 emulates the effect in. Without this option on, the dissolve effect, in action, will look quite pixilated.
OrkinSkin Sampling: Really slows down your emulation speed for some reason. It may be for screen captures, but I don't see a difference. You can try screen capturing with this option on if you like, but again, I don't see a difference. It doesn't seem necessary.
Advanced Texture Filer: Texture enchancement is not good for Super Mario 64, as it takes away the classic intentional pixilation of the white text you see in the game (in the File Select menu, when you're talking to characters, or when you're reading signs, for example).As for the only other disadvantage of using this plugin, no full screen anti-aliasing, increase your ROM resolution to the max. Anti-aliasing is when partially transparent pixels are emulated next to pixelated edges of drawn objects in any Nintendo 64 ROM to make the edges look smoother. This is usually good for Mario. Anyway, there doesn't seem to be an option like that here. The best you can do is increase your ROM resolution. This inability to anti-alias occurs when playing the game on the actual Nintendo 64 console as well, so you're in little loss.
Well, any questions or problems with the plugin?