N64 Emulation Revolution! Holy crap!!!

[Lordmonkus]

Meh. Like I said, my opinion. I just remember back then thinking those games looked like shit and being very underwhelmed by the PS1 when it came out. Games like Toshinden and that Demolition Derby games just really turned me off of the system. I bought a PS1 and played Symphony of the Night (awesome and still looks awesome) and Gran Tourismo and sold the system again only a couple months later. Like I said I was into the PC scene by the time the PS1 and N64 came out. I'm not judging those games compared today, I am comparing them to the high quality 2D games of the day. Foggy draw distances, blurred textures and awful aliasing on the low polygon models looked like shit compared to high quality sprites. To me those early 3D games looked like simple 3D versions Atari 2600 games. I grew up using my imagination for what those graphics were supposed to represent, I did not want to relive that with 3D games when 2D games were so detailed I did not have to do that.

[fromlostdays]

So is anyone actually able to download RA 1.3.5? Article says its release: http://www.libretro.com/index.php/retroarch-1-3-5-released/ Not in the downloads section on the site tho. Also, am I the only one that absolutely loved the N64 controller?

[SentaiBrad]

I have 1.3.5, but it doesn't have the new core in there. Soon. I also like the N64 controller just fine. Like I said, I bought one so I could specifically play N64 games.

[fromlostdays]

Hmmm. It's not available to download as a stable release. Is it still in nightlies? Yeah, I have 2 pc adapters for real n64 controllers. All of mine are basically crumbling to dust at this point, though.

[Lordmonkus]

I thought it was in the "experimental" section. "When RetroArch 1.3.5 gets released Download the new RetroArch 1.3.5, go to ‘Online Updater’, go to ‘Core Updater’. From there, go to ‘Experimental’, and download Mupen64plus HW. This will download the Vulkan-enabled Mupen64plus core." Quoted from their website, I haven't tried it yet myself.

[Zombeaver]

Beatlemaniac19 I think that's the right approach. I try to keep things in a historical context but also keeping in mind what preceded and followed it and seeing the lasting (or not) legacy of that game. Part of the reason I really like PSX is because it's kindof a treasure trove of experimental titles given that 3D was so new. A lot of what we take for granted today hadn't been established at that point and developers tried things that might leave some people scratching their heads. Some of it worked and, of course, some of it didn't. But I appreciate it when games do (or at least attempt) something unique and take chances. Take the game Sentient, for example. The game, even by the standards of the time, is completely hideous. It's also extremely unique, with one of the most expansive conversation/interaction systems I've ever seen in a game (you can even choose your facial expression for conveying your dialogue) and some really interesting storytelling methods. It's an outer-space-social-sim-survival-game...thing... It's by no stretch of the imagination a perfect game, in fact, it tries a number of things that simply don't work well, but I appreciate how much it just does its own thing in its own way, conventions be damned. I feel like outside of the indie scene so many of today's games are just so formulaic; scrambled and regurgitated stories and gameplay tropes. It all just seems too safe these days. I guess that's to be expected when you have shareholders to report to. There are exceptions, sure, but by and large most of my hopes for the future of gaming are in the quirky, off-kilter indie games we've seen explode over the last 5 years or so.

[SentaiBrad]

I just double checked and I've got it. It's not under anything special, but I am on a nightly.

[Zombeaver]

Yeah all I'm seeing in their download section is 1.3.4 currently.

[Beatlemaniac19]

Zombeaver I agree. Video games are way too safe now. I also respect games that take risk. Either take risk or add your own spin to a popular genre that makes your game standout. I haven't bought a console since Xbox 360. Don't get me wrong, there's great games out there, but the video game industry has gotten too mainstream for its own good now. Maybe you can blame the Nintendo Wii for that. I don't want to sound like an old man complaining though (I'm 24 so not really old). The main reason I'm a big fan of retro games was because people took risks and games were made for gamers, not families. I'm a huge fan of the first person shooter genre, but all of the Call of Duty games and clones ruined that genre for me. Every single FPS has the same engine as Call of Duty. The same concept goes with sports games now and so on. Lastly, I love the N64 because I'm a social gamer. I have parties all the time and invite my friends over to play Super Smash Bros, Mario Kart, Perfect Dark, GoldenEye, Mario Party etc., but now Xbox One doesn't even have local multiplayer. You need to two Xbox Ones, two copies of Halo 5, and two Xbox Live accounts in order to play co-op. That's over $700 to play one game.

[Bedwyr]

I'm going to tag this out of interest. N64 has long been the redheaded stepchild in its quirkiness. I thought about trying to clean up a copy of Project64 2.x and using it, but finally decided it wasn't worth the hassle. This intrigues me.

[Beatlemaniac19]

SentaiBrad let us know how the emulator runs once you get it going. I can't wait to see what the improvements are

[Zombeaver]

bundangdon said

SentaiBrad said This right here: http://www.libretro.com/index.php/first-ever-revolutionary-n64-vulkan-emulator-coming-soon-only-for-libretro-parallei/ I am excited!

If you go to the retroarch nightly builds webpage, you can download the latest (nightly) version and in the latest cores you can find this new n64 'parallel' core. However, when I tried loading the core and loading a game, the program crashes on me every time. I'm not sure if it's just me, but perhaps this is an unstable build or I need to make some adjustments to my original settings. Anyone else tried this out yet?

Do your video card and current drivers support Vulkan? Nvidia page AMD page

[SentaiBrad]

No it totally crashes right now. I'll try updating it in a bit, or when they get a new version.

[Zombeaver]

I would assume it's just because it's not 1.3.5 official yet. I'm looking through their forums but I don't even see any mention of the missing 1.3.5 download. Weird... Surely to god I'm not the only guy who spends a Friday night working on emulators...right?

[SentaiBrad]

Yea I'm sure it just needs to get pushed to the latest git or something.

[Beatlemaniac19]

Haha Zombeaver. I hear you. I'm transitioning between jobs right now so I have TOO MUCH free time now. Speaking of RetroArch, they barely even mentioned 1.3.5 in their last newsfeed on Libretro. It's the most passive release of all time.

[SentaiBrad]

No, they made a big post about it, it's just not on the front page for some reason. http://www.libretro.com/index.php/retroarch-1-3-5-released/

[Beatlemaniac19]

Rejoice! RetroArch is finally going to make YouTube tutorials! This makes your life a lot easier now Brad. By the way @Jason and @SentaiBrad, that blog post says that RetroArch only has five developers and they'd love to get more developers on the project. If you know anyone who has an interest, they're hiring, but no paying lol. They're looking for C/C++ developers if you know any.

[SentaiBrad]

Yea I saw that, but I don't know anyone off the top of my head. Also, the tutorials will help a bit, but wont explain how it works within LaunchBox (not that a lot of features need to), but I will still probably make feature specific tutorials for it in the future. LaunchBox does take precedence though.

[DOS76]

Instant crash for me too.