Nintendo 64

[vagrant ivy]

new drivers for the N64 were recently added to the Linux

[hasty kayak]

Can you link us to the version so we can try it?

Last time this was mentioned, the drivers made no difference.

[vagrant ivy]

its in Update all

i think its just the unstable made to stable

no changes other than you dont need an unstable linux

[cold pollen]

oh really the updated drivers are officially added now?

[vagrant ivy]

yep

[hasty kayak]

Thanks Tim

Running Update_All now

[cold pollen]

That's awesome, so nothing special needed, just pair an NSO controller and bind the buttons?

[vagrant ivy]

#news message

[cold pollen]

oh, I didn't know that's what that was

it's very non specific lol

[vagrant ivy]

Sorg likes his vague commit messages

[cold pollen]

I noticed lol

[hasty kayak]

Anyone with the 8bitdo Modkit, Unfortunately it STILL doesn't work correctly with S Mode even with this update. You will still have to keep re-pairing the Controller upon Boot / Reboot of the MiSTer.

So it may have sorted the NSO controller but regrettably the 8BitDo Modkit is still not working properly.

[chrome quest]

Was it @lament escarp tested the same WiFi adapter as Robert for verification on some NSO fix responses being tied to the adapter hardware? I think even then NSO can work with the right hardware, but 8BitDo Modkit remained having issues. Is that correct? Just been reading along with interest

Are 8BitDo Modkit issues somehow tied to the mod itself? Sounds like loads of people have problems with that one

[wind lark]

With the NSO N64 controller I needed to use a separate BT and separate Wi-Fi adapter (instead of combo) in order to prevent having to re-pair after every reboot. iirc with 8BitDo SNES modkit believe I had to use an 8BitDo USB bluetooth brick (orange, black, or grey) instead of a standard BT dongle in order not to have to re-pair each time.

Not very sure I remember correctly about that modkit scenario though, no guarantees.

[orchid nimbus]

what's going on here?

[mild ether]

Nothing.

[elfin depot]

Snac/Snax has it's advantages. It's nice to just plug in the controllers you already have and in the case of the N64 the analog joystick is in range because it's original. And in games that require to you swap the rumble pack and memory pack it just works, no need to open the menu and switch it in there. The great thing about MiSTer is you can play however you like, Snac, Daemonbite, Reflex, NSO, 8BitDo. Important thing is we're frickin' playing N64 ON MiSTer! That's just cool regardless what controller you decide is best for you.

[chilly ember]

Being able to swap memory card to rumble is cool without going into the menu but i think i'd rather go into the menu 😅. Has anyone tried a tremor pak on mister so they can just use the switch on the back?

That would actually be more convenient

I have one but no snac

[weary palm]

86iıtyиot makes the best adaptors, everyone knows that.

[native mesa]

Binding the switch to a button combos would be neato

[latent hatch]

That switch just mimics swapping it manually, so it should work.

[chilly ember]

Yea i would imagine so

[elfin depot]

Would have been really neat if in Perfect Dark (I think it was PD, maybe it was Goldeneye?) they were able to implment reloading like they wanted, the original idea was to have you eject the rumble pack and re-insert it to reload I belive. Like dropping the magazing and putting a new one in.

Edit: It was Goldeneye: ""The developers considered having players reload weapons by unplugging and re-inserting the Rumble Pak on the controller, but Nintendo opposed the idea.""

[latent hatch]

Are Performance/Interact products still holding up these days?

[chilly ember]

Yea that was an idea for goldeneye as far as i know. PD had a gameboy camera thing where you could put faces on characters that was scrapped

[latent hatch]

Inserting and removing cartridges while the power is on is just a bad idea in general. I think the only thing that used that was the GameShark.

[elfin depot]

It was the rumble pack though, some games have you swap it and the memory card/reader.

[latent hatch]

Not as frequently as you reload though.

[native mesa]

Gee I wonder why that wasn't implemented haha.

[chilly ember]

Some footage of the perfect dark gameboy camera stuff at E3 1999

[elfin depot]

Wild!

[chilly ember]

Someone's gotta patch it back in 😂

Wonder with the decomp if that's possible to happen now

[orchid nimbus]

"save face" - we need a "foot in mouth" option before that

[chilly ember]

I don't have a foot fetish so i'd want the save face option first 😉

[orchid nimbus]

me neither.... feet are disgusting

[cold pollen]

mmmmm

[chilly ember]

The Glover spinoff

[cold pollen]

Special foot controller included

[quaint copper]

https://github.com/mysterypaint/MiSTer-N64-Save-Utility

I have written a Python script to inject and dump GB saves to/from N64 TransferPak save files!

Usage instructions are in the description of this page, too.

---

Would love to get some help integrating this script to work directly within MisterFPGA if anyone has time/suggestions for how to accomplish that!

@vapid hawk @daring meteor

Would also love to test this script on other save files: I was relying on the instructions provided in this post: https://misterfpga.org/viewtopic.php?p=79803&sid=7e35cee31df3d1156f280f14af8968ef#p79803

but it seems to work well with the Pokemon Stadium save I tested with, at least

[chilly ember]

Nice!!

[fair stump]

#dev-talk might be helpful

[cold pollen]

That's badass

[chilly ember]

I wish i knew where i put my gameboy everdrive to test 😔

[random portal]

trying it now

[vapid moat]

I'll check this out too

[quaint copper]

thank you both for testing! please remember to make a backup before testing, in case anything goes wrong (I'm hoping it doesn't 🙏 )

[random portal]

yeah of course I backed it up, my brother painstakingly sat down to grind out blue.

and it looks like it loaded his save

[quaint copper]

Woo!! that's great to hear!

thank you for testing it out!

[vapid moat]

I'm trying something bit different, namely testing if I can inject a complete save picked from the internets

[quaint copper]

as long as the save loads in a GB emulator and is 32kb, should be fine!

[vapid moat]

Had an injection done to me while back by @chrome quest

[random portal]

alright

waiting to see what the big deal is but I'm excited

he's trying to figure out how to transfer his GB pokemon into stadium

so saves work and everything, thanks @quaint copper for the scripts<3!

In order to actually use them, if they are over level 50, you can only use them in Prime Cup.

the fact that the saves work is awesome. the anti-climatic part is that Pokemon Stadium seems to merely be a 3D showcase for your progress in the GB games. The mini-games alone more than make up for it though if someone were to have bought it without owning the GB games.

[quaint copper]

ahhh okay, thank you for the information, and thank you again for testing!

[past mango]

Isn't it more about elimination of the occasional polling mismatch between the console and USB? I.e., you're holding down a button, console polls for it but USB hasn't polled and seen it yet, and an extra frame of input delay is introduced because the console then has to poll again?

I think it's less about latency, and more about consistency. Can make a big difference when you're playing games with frame perfect tricks.

[quaint copper]

that's a shame to hear about pokemon stadium... i'm curious if this will also work for games like Mario Golf? although I haven't gotten that running on my Mister yet (not supported by the Core atm, afaik?)

[random portal]

yeah, without the TransferPak, you're strictly limited to rental pokemon.

I guess that's cool? but the only progression you get is beat the leagues with stock pokemon.

He's gonna do Gold and Silver next just cause lol

[vapid moat]

Goes through~!

[random portal]

EYYYYY

[orchid nimbus]

Damn parodius 🙂 Tako saves earth!!

[quaint copper]

nice!!!!

[random portal]

my brother says thanks and is the real appreciator of the scripts by the way!

[vapid moat]

[quaint copper]

in theory, you should be able to make progress on the N64, dump the save, and continue from where you left off on a GB emulator

[vapid moat]

The plush was a nice surprise to come by a year or so ago~

[vapid moat]

This save's said to have full Pokedex too

[quaint copper]

oh dang!! i hope the information you see in the save is correct

i assume that was a pass 👀

[vapid moat]

It is~!

https://projectpokemon.org/home/files/file/4898-my-old-pokémon-red-save-file/

[quaint copper]

heck yeah!!!!

that's super cool that they archived their 1998 save file~

[cold pollen]

Doesn't that literally happen with an original console on a CRT though, if you press at the wrong time it has to draw the next frame

That's why they always say a CRT has like a net average of like 8 ms?

[vapid moat]

So far this script's working as intended for Gen 1 but gotta see if Gen 2 + Pokemon Stadium works

Atm since Gen2-games can't play on GB Tower for Pokemon Stadium 2 we can at least check if it works on other modes

[past mango]

I'm sure it depends on the console, but if I recall correctly each input poll that happens on something like NES/SNES pulls in the buttons that are pressed down from a shift register. It's true your input doesn't get picked up until the console polls for it, but the best part about it is it happens with the same timing every time.

The issue with the console+USB double polling is they don't poll at the same rate. This leads to unpredictable input frame consistency. When USB is polling at 125hz this happens often. You can increase to 1,000hz to lessen the likelihood of that polling mismatch happening, but it doesn't eliminate it. When the mismatch happens, boom, your buttons don't get picked up for an additional frame (i.e. 16ms~ on a 60fps game) or maybe two frames in some cases. If you have frame perfect inputs in some speed running trick, you could do everything right and still "drop" the trick. 99.9% of games/users aren't playing at that level, so it's definitely an enthusiast thing lol

[vapid moat]

One thing I'm hoping is being able to play Shin Blue at least from Pokemon Stadium directly - though I'm hunching the hack's not compatible. Shame as that has reusable TMs and other QoL-improvements without changing the original game, so building Mons for Stadium's modes would be much accessible

Right now I'd have to settle in just saves getting transferred and live with that for now

[orchid nimbus]

@vapid moat see DM

[quaint copper]

is that gold/silver/crystal?

[vapid moat]

Silver

[quaint copper]

am actually testing crystal right now b/c i learned it can sometimes be 33kb

[vapid moat]

Huh - hopefully doesn't break the process

[quaint copper]

fingers crossed--i'm loading in right now!

https://gbatemp.net/threads/save-fix-pokemon-gen-2-emulator-save-to-virtual-console-fix.471057/ but i found instructions (and a tool by a later poster) to fix the issue. if this doesn't work, i will update the script to account for this too

[zinc dew]

TAKO

[vapid moat]

[quaint copper]

Okay! Pokemon Crystal save injection confirmed working: there is no need to update the script

[cold pollen]

yeah I can appreciate that, and I agree lol

[random portal]

I wish I understood the context of Shin Blue. My only exposure to Pokemon was the first season of the anime and some time with Red haha.

[vapid moat]

It's a romhack that pretty much QoL's RBG-games

https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=427398

[random portal]

Have you tried the saves from that romhack yet?

[vapid moat]

Might go test quick, though the hack's homepage says it'll work (GB Tower 2 is only one compatible for GB-play) though I hope to see a script inside MiSTer

[stiff condor]

I'm still finding the 8bitdo stick is too sensitive in the Majora's Mask menus

[river shale]

You might have the d pad and analog stick mapped together.

Try using the analog/dpad swap option. I always need to map my controls twice.

Once with the stick, then turn on the swap, then map with dpad.

[stiff condor]

I think that might have helped

When I try to move over to the deku nut, it swaps pages

[chilly ember]

How bout when you moved over to deez?

[stiff condor]

Deez nuts?

[stiff condor]

It seems they are, I don't even know how

It fixed the issues I was having in the menu though so thanks for the suggestion

[wanton sun]

no, analog stick is not mapped in the core but in the menu core before you start the n64 core. Also the swap option has no influence on your button mapping.

[weary palm]

does silicon valley crash

[chilly ember]

First revision can crash on real hardware if a expansion pack is used but was later fixed as far as I know in a later revision

[weary palm]

very weird game haha

Aleck64 games (patched for ED64 or whatever) seems to misread the area in ROM between 0xc00 and 0x1000. This is where DIP settings are read from on patched Aleck ROMs. You can hex edit these areas to alter difficulty and such, and it works as intended in software emulators. On MiSTer64 you get TEST menus and other weirdness, as if these DIPs are set. Perhaps reading from this IPL3 ROM area isn't implemented.

[ebon oyster]

Just a testing FYI: Batman Beyond still runs at warp speed on the latest core.

[lament escarp]

Yes that was me. Roberts nso controller works fine with it, but the issue that the n64 modkit will connect but then be unresponsive remains. According to the investigation I did with @hearty oar the driver fails to get calibration data from the controller and stops working. I've also sent a mail to 8bitdo itself with feedback that they should make their controller xinput compatible with a firmware update, but no response.

[hearty oar]

Well it fails to get any kind of info out of the controller and can’t properly init, but yeah, not great

[hasty kayak]

I am using a separate BT Adapter.

I have NO issues with other 8BitDo Modkits (NES, SNES) they work perfectly. Just the N64 Mod Kit.

[daring meteor]

Does this include the test switches too

[mild ether]

The service menu is mapped to a controller button press for the hack. Are you sure that it's misreading the dip switch settings and it's not a controller issue?

I suppose I could try removing the binding for the test menu and find out.

[lament escarp]

That's because the nso controller has a unique driver even on switch. I really don't get why the n64 modkit only uses dinput as a fallback, most other (if not literally every) 8bitdo controller/modkit also offers xinput mode, which would enable rumble and work with pretty much everything.

[compact lark]

I have patched Aleck64 games, but a message pops up saying CIC not recognized

[quick arch]

you need to use the last unstable main mister

[compact lark]

I'm on the latest unstable main mister.

[quick arch]

maybe the patch you applied is not generated a rom with the CIC "cic5101" but I don't know how to check it on the rom

[knotty zealot]

so is doom eternal

[vagrant ivy]

yours is

[wanton sun]

most (of the non-working) Aleck games need TLB anyway

we can find out the reason once TLB is there

[knotty zealot]

tlb tomorrow

[wanton sun]

if you wonder what the forced dedither is for:

some games don't apply dedither and then you have the dither pattern allover the image

[mild ether]

This is why I was holding off on working on figuring it out more. Thanks for keeping in mind though because I am really looking forward to having these arcade games on MiSTer.

[wanton sun]

as they work in my emu, it shouldn't be so hard to find out, but the last time i tried i always ran into some TLB breakpoint so i stopped

or better: the 3 i tried seemed to work

[mild ether]

Some of them work already on MiSTer like Star Soldier but I haven't looked at the work Zoinkity did specifically to that one vs the none working games.

[thorn flax]

this will be very noticeable with Portal 64. that homebrew is heavily divered over anything not composite

[mild ether]

He left notes with the patches which is great though.

[vapid hawk]

is mouse as analog stick actually good?

oh is the idea to use a keyboard as controller 1 and then the mouse on top?

[crisp monolith]

Weird issue with F Zero X - if I change controller type to RumblePak, the game stops recognising the controller. Switching back to just N64pad doesn't fix it. I'm using an NSO N64 controller, latest core version. Haven't seen that happen with other games from testing a few others.

[wanton sun]

yes, keyboard + mouse or pad + mouse. I played the first two missions of TWINE and the first two Zerg mission of starcraft with keyboard and mouse. Of course the PC version of starcraft still controls better by far, but i would prefer it over pure gamepad

[vapid hawk]

neat

[wanton sun]

TWINE is great with WSAD + mouse, you barely need any additional buttons

my main issue is that the mouse aiming is not as accurate as a mouse on a PC would be

[mortal panther]

I got a bit excited to try that Force setting with Dire, Dire Docks in SM64, but that wall area above the water still retains the dither pattern. That was probably expected behavior, but I was hopeful.

[mild ether]

Can't wait to play GoldenEye with a keyboard and mouse.

[zenith orchid]

could it be because of the analog stick range?

[wanton sun]

one reason is that the games have a build-in deadzone

so if the movement is small, the game will not react. I tried to work around it by accumulating the mouse values until they are huge enough, which works better, but not perfect

[wanton sun]

yes, the wall received AA and Divot due to not full coverage, but never dedither

[remote hatch]

Episode I racer looks cool with force dedither

[stiff condor]

I'll have to see if force dedither helps in Majora's Mask.

[knotty zealot]

what are you, a jedi?

[zinc dew]

Any negative with running force dedither on all the time?

[mossy vector]

Maybe with dedither, Vigilante 8 2nd offense won't be so offensive to the eye.

[wanton sun]

Don't use force dedither in some 2D games. For example in Starcraft it only blurs the image

but i think it's really worth it in Fzero and Episode 1 racer. It just removed the dither pattern and reduces banding further

[solemn marlin]

Is it something they did originally or is it an added feature?

Very noticeable in portal 64 but that is homebrew, figured he just hadn't implemented dedithering

[cerulean elk]

well now I know what to capture lol

[mossy vector]

There is this assumption that dedither lowers frame rate on the real hardware.

[zinc dew]

why would it

[marble cargo]

Is there any performance impacts to forcing the dedither?

[mortal panther]

F-Zero X still runs at 60 FPS... so I'm guessing no.

[river bison]

Can you tell me if the rumble works on the Saffun when it is used with the USB Receiver? I tried it on my pc and it didn't work.

[elfin depot]

It works on the MiSTer for sure, but you have to set it to X-input (Start+B for 3 seconds), thanks to @zinc dew for helping me out with that when I had the same issue

[river bison]

Thanks, then I will try that first before returning it!

[wanton sun]

AA, Divot and Dedither need additional lines fetched. in 240p however (Fzero), each line is fetched anyway, just the first and last line would fetch one additional. So the peformance hit is 2/240, so about 1% more Bandwidth for VI(not system performance!). On interlaced it is much more severe, costing about 100% more VI bandwidth. So it could lower framerate for Episode 1 racer. However, we have more memory bandwidth anyway, especially in such high burst modes like VI line reads, so i doubt this can be noticed at all

[languid dune]

Another excuse for F-Zero on the channel!

[cerulean elk]

You literally were the first person I thought about 🤣

[balmy carbon]

Sorry if this been covered tons of times before. I just ran update_all and picked up latest n64 core from today. I connected newly arrived brawler64, everything works in OSD. Stick navigates fine in all directions. But in the core only left and right is registered on the stick. Have anyone encountered this before?

[vagrant ivy]

you havent mapped the stick

[balmy carbon]

It's the brawler 64 NSO edition

[vagrant ivy]

go all the way through in Main Mister

[balmy carbon]

I have

Ah

[vagrant ivy]

past the mouse setup

[balmy carbon]

In mister, not in n64

[vagrant ivy]

yes

[modern sleet]

Yeah, set everything you can before starting the n64 core

You're missing the analog stick setup after the mouse setup (Mouse setup that can be skipped)

[random portal]

@cerulean elk Do you take requests? No? well I am requesting you cover some N64 romhacks. There's many you can find on the romantic.

[modern sleet]

@cerulean elk still has not put NHL 99 on the channel

[cerulean elk]

I am going to capture today for tomorrow

[balmy carbon]

Thanks all, works fine now ☺️

[cerulean elk]

but I am knocking out Steam Deck tutorials and arcade hardware teardowns first

[random portal]

I love your channel

[cerulean elk]

appreciate it 🙂

right now no Nintendo rom hacks...they are being spicy pricks about it

but non-Nintendo properties perhaps

DM me some recommendations @random portal

[random portal]

perfect, they are non-Nintendo :D

it's a very versatile channel and isn't just my favorite MiSTer roundup channel (along with Lu's and PixelCherry's).

[stiff condor]

Nintendo giving you trouble Bacon?

They aren't very nice are they?

[brisk drum]

I AM THE ULTIMATE GAMER!

[cerulean elk]

no but they are to others so I am just avoiding it for now

no first party Nintendo rom hacks for a bit til I see how it shakes out

[elfin depot]

switch on steamdeck video when?

[cerulean elk]

lol not worth the views

I went to Wii U

[random portal]

I like how Sega embraces it's Sonic community which is why the series is all over the place while Nintendo has played the Mario franchise very safely. They're super protective of their image and even their minor IPs.

[stiff condor]

Are there any good N64 ROM hacks that aren't first party?

[thorn flax]

portal 64?

[zenith orchid]

we really need a widescreen patch for F-Zero X DD

[stiff condor]

I played f-zero the other day, I didn't know N64 could look so smooth

[zenith orchid]

I usually disable dithering when playing f-zero. now I can force dedither

[thorn flax]

widescreen was a mistake, how I wish we lived in a world of 65" 4x3 oled

[zenith orchid]

I always thought the perfect f-zero patch would allow widescreen in the game menu, and disabled dither. I never noticed color banding in f-zero

but I'll have to try it now with forced dedither

[native mesa]

Sorrow to hear about your narrow eyes

[random portal]

I can only point to Virtual Pro Wrestling.

out of the pre-patched ROMs I found, it's mostly mario

or just Nintendo stuff

There is also a hack that allows for Duke Nukem to be played in 4 player co-op

[mild ether]

GoldenEye X

Could try patching it on to the no TLB version of PD.

[random portal]

I was gonna ask, isn't GoldenEye first party? but RareWare just happened to make Donkey Kong which is first party (well, the IP is Nintendo's).

[crisp monolith]

Anyone know what the issue might be with this?

[compact depot]

Does it work with a rumble pack in OG?

[crisp monolith]

OG?

[lament escarp]

Are you changing packs while the game is running? You weren't supposed to on real hardware (except when certain games told you to). Try first setting the controller to rumble and then loading the game.

[wanton sun]

the problem is that you switched to "none" in between

[toxic pumice]

I don't think F-Zero X even had rumble support did it?

[wanton sun]

only switching between cpak and rpak works fine

fzero has rumble

[toxic pumice]

Huh, ook!

I didn't realise 🙂

[quaint rune]

Original hardware

[wanton sun]

i would assume fzero also refuses on hardware when you unplug the controller in between

it's annoying however that the core does it without closing the osd

i should really block that

[crisp monolith]

Yeah setting it to rumble before booting the game is fine.

[compact depot]

Oh, was he changing that while game is running then? Why would one do that?

Geez

[chrome quest]

Would also help the San Francisco Rush 2049 issues acceptng the Rumble Pak. Some games are more sensitive to Pak changes

[crisp monolith]

Because I forgot to do it before starting the game duh

[compact depot]

lol

[wanton sun]

changing pak should mostly work

i mean, it does in fzero, just disabling the controller kills it

[crisp monolith]

Yeah this is the first game I’ve seen where switching that option does that. Some explicitly require it if they have rumble and controller pak saving.

[wanton sun]

if you go back and forth with L+R it works

i will block changes to be active until the OSD is closed with the next build

[worn delta]

Just seeing the update with the expanded SNAC support covering VRU, that's ace, many thanks for that! Does this mean in theory the N64 keyboard should be supported? (Emphasis on "in theory" as we have no ROM that uses it)

[chrome quest]

Minor addition, but that wouldn't solve the issue for Buck Bumble. Going direct from CPak to Rumble refuses to be detected. It needs to see a N64Pad alone first, as in real life for the swap out. Most games don't seem so sensitive.
Could you also add a No Pak briefly before a swap after closing OSD to get around that?

[cerulean elk]

am I blind? where is force dedithering hiding?

nvm I am blind

I was looking for a new heading...not a third option in the core itself

[wanton sun]

i thought it would be better to not have 1 additional line

[wanton sun]

i can test what is really required, maybe it only needs the status bit for "something was swapped"

[cerulean elk]

hmm auto detect failed on F Zero...thats new

[wanton sun]

database? mister main? normal game or dd?

[cerulean elk]

yes/main/normal

[wanton sun]

there was no database change in the last 2 weeks

[cerulean elk]

I will write the file over again. I had to change microSD readers because my old one was having address issues. Might be a faulty file

once I capture Biohazard 2 I will rewrite it and see

[wanton sun]

a "it works until it doesn't" game

[cerulean elk]

wanted to showcase better cutscenes

lotta viewer request test stuff

cutscenes look 10/10

[wanton sun]

Very good. They use some weird VI tricks, so i'm glad i don't have to dig into and it just works

[cerulean elk]

got it. Time to recopy F zero

[quick arch]

@wanton sun with this rom (test rom) the text seems not OK

[cerulean elk]

Bingo. I had some random write errors on my MicroSD card reader last time I added some files. Must have been that. New reader, same file, all good. I dont think it was closing the write

getting you your F Zero @languid dune

to be entirely honest dunno if YT compression will let me show the diff but oh well

ok I THINK it will in pause if I just jack the piss out of the bitrate on export from a variable to a constant that is foolishly large

[uncut gyro]

Can someone verify if the shadows under the trees on Diddy Kong Racing also flicker like this on original hardware?

you can see individual triangles that make up the circle of the shadow flicker in an out. Took a 60fps video it’d be easier to catch h.

I first noticed it in the opening attract mode before the level select as well

[languid dune]

Don't forget that FMV fix in Resident Evil 2 as well!

[cerulean elk]

I should figure someone from Wisconsin wouldnt read the posts above 🤣

(already got it)

[river bison]

Yes, that worked, thanks again! Weird that I couldn't get it to work on windows.

[brisk drum]

https://tenor.com/view/vermont-white-christmas-bing-crosby-gif-24021488

[cerulean elk]

I just commented about Vermont, to @languid dune on YT like 3 min ago

cause better cheddar obv. All around better cheese state

[languid dune]

You take that back!

[brisk drum]

There’s more cows in Vermont than people because of reasons I dare not mention in this solemn place

[cerulean elk]

but I am not known to be a liar?

[cerulean elk]

so whats why your mom moved there? Be with her bovine brethren?

[brisk drum]

Ooofff … nailed me

@languid dune I need backup

[cerulean elk]

yeah you set that up on the tee and I hit it out of the park

[brisk drum]

Wisconsinites ASSEMBLE!

[brisk drum]

The joke was so low it’s seen more balls than a midget hooker

[languid dune]

At least we beat his football team every time! And our team sucks this year!

[cerulean elk]

so a backwoods Captain Planet with a 6th grade education and a less teeth than a baby?

[brisk drum]

Puh puh puh please ! Vermont people are the most hippiish in the world

[cerulean elk]

now I know why @languid dune loves F-Zero. It represents his GPA AND his tooth count all in one game 🤣

[languid dune]

Nobody is more hip than Wisconsinites.

[brisk drum]

Vermont people are all dirty hippies !

[cerulean elk]

Ill delete this F Zero content from the video...ILL DO IT

[brisk drum]

Goddang packers are down by 3

[brisk drum]

Do it bisch! Give me your puter and I’ll effin do it for ya !

[cerulean elk]

Pats play tonight. I am prepared for more disappointment

[languid dune]

I'll have you know that my dentist said that I had the cleanest teeth they'd seen in over a month when I was there recently!

[brisk drum]

Worse than the Steelers lol

[cerulean elk]

they said cleanest TOOTH

singluar

[cerulean elk]

the one you saved to open beer bottles with

[uncut gyro]

@wanton sun The 30fps camera recording I did a few weeks ago doesn’t appear to have this, so I’m not sure if this is a side-effect of the opcode latency improvements.

[short trellis]

Feels like Bangai-O regressed a bit? More sprite flickering than I remember from last time I tried to reach the second level.

[fair stump]

You mean this morning? 😆

[cerulean elk]

wait arent they the sunday night game?

[fair stump]

They were the Germany game

[cerulean elk]

fucking Alexa...why do I listen to her

[fair stump]

And it was uh horrible 😆

[languid dune]

You should have asked Siri.

[cerulean elk]

10-6...yeah sounds bad

[languid dune]

🍎

[cerulean elk]

@wanton sun sorry my fav NFL team brought shit gameplay to your country. Just remember the Brady years. Those were the REAL Patriots

is slowdown in Biohazard 2 normal anyone?

[fair stump]

we will always hold on to the brady years. Like the cowboys and steelers do with their glory days

[brisk drum]

“Hooray he has thrown the ball”

I was not aware nfl games were played in Alemania

[stiff condor]

Anxiously awaiting to see when the game that I requested will appear in the next video game Esoteric video

😄

[languid dune]

Do tell!

[stiff condor]

Hot Wheels Tuuuurbo Racing

Finding the hidden cars was so fun

[empty cliff]

question, has anyone else run into anti piracy measures on mister?

like mario part 3 (U) [!] for me tells me no controller is in

I have mid game run into another game telling me that about an hour in, I forget which now off the top of my head, and I've seen it on a third game

[chrome quest]

Wondering if anyone else playing Animal Forest would mind sharing a save file. Trying to work out how to visit other towns, would save me replaying the starting section again myself if someone has a save file handy

[empty cliff]

I can't at the minute because my mister is somewhere else but I believe you need a free memory card in both slots

then go to the train station

then you need a separate save file and both your original memory card files

2 slots I mean not "both slots"

[chrome quest]

This is where I'm experimenting. I can't tell what 2 slots, 2 controllers pluged in each with their on CPAK would do.
It seems like I export my character to the CPAK (a single one in Player 1), and the town remains on the cartridge.
I want to test putting that CPAK data onto another SAV file, so swapping out the N64 cart in effect, with my player travelling via the CPAK.
I could be wrong, but I've also seen some places mention 2 CPAKs, and I can't really understand how that would help.

[weary perch]

the shadows do occasionally flicker on hardware, but only on specific shadows (seemingly always ones on curved ground) and much more rarely than currently happens on the core. i only see a flicker maybe once every few laps on a single tree on hardware, whereas the core seems to get a little flicker on every lap

the little lines that appear sometimes in the flicker seem similar to some other texture issues in a few games where the edges of textures don't line up

those lines don't appear to occur at all on hardware

[random portal]

I've been curious about this for a while and forgot to ask. Don't a handful of Rare Ware games produce anti-piracy locks or something way later in the game?

Oh damn I love seeing these kind of hacks where they backport modern content or features to the original or older game.
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/7897/

[oblique remnant]

I don't think so its neither pro- or regression. I test this game regularly

[cerulean elk]

@languid dune tomorrow's video is JUST for you

[random portal]

Gonna be patching some N64 ROMs for research. Anyone interested in the results of this research, send me a PM. 😉

[chrome quest]

@wanton sun Unaware of anyone else checking the NES game emulation within Doubutsu no Mori, aka Animal Forest, aka Animal Crossing N64.
E0000040 as the NES game attempts to boot. Figure this is a difficult one to see on your emulator too, so here is the SAV file should it be helpful.
Saves are for Doubutsu no Mori, and the most common translated version I'm aware of. Identical contents, just renamed SAV files which work on both ROMs.

Got that Ocarina of Time underscore in the corner for whatever reason

[languid dune]

Naturally!

[delicate hearth]

Does the new core allow for mouse support in games like Mario Artist?

[elfin depot]

There is also a Wolfenstein 3D 64

[random portal]

currently scrolling through the romhacking database. might skip to it.

[uncut gyro]

Yea, it was consistent across every run. Hopefully that means it’s easier to debug and fix.

[vapid hawk]

does anyone know what the latest build is with Y/C enabled ?

[weary perch]

here's an image of the same type of flickering occurring on hardware. it seems pretty rare, though.

it always happens eventually on hardware too, but not on every lap

i've never seen it occur on any shadow that isn't on a curved surface on hardware, either

so there are only a few places where you can consistently see it

[main dirge]

Add Mike’s YC core downloader in the update_all options

[vapid hawk]

oh does that get an n64 build? awesome thanks i didn't know

[main dirge]

Yeah it gets updated regularly

[main dirge]

But make sure you have the n64 dev downloader added to downloader.ini as well if you haven’t because that will also get you the latest database

[manic thicket]

Oops

[random portal]

I know it's too soon to discuss this but I came across info on the Aleck 64 arcade board after finding a romhack for one of it's games.
https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/Aleck_64

https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/5062/

[uncut gyro]

It really pops out to me on those ice levels. Not sure if it’s just more obvious, or if there’s some GPU load specific on those that heighten its occurrence

[dusty tusk]

Do aleck64 roms require aleck64 bios?

[random portal]

i dont know but im about to test this

https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/2328/

[quaint copper]

hey guys! am looking to add more support for my n64 save utility (https://github.com/mysterypaint/MiSTer-N64-Save-Utility)

does anyone understand how save files in the n64 core are merged together? I'm looking into CPak data for Mario Kart 64, and I am discovering a few (possibly inaccurate?) things... would love to get verification/correction on the following observations:

1. Without running the core directly, it is practically impossible to read the save structure without relying on N64-database.txt

2. Mario Kart 64 (NKT___) uses eeprom512 + cpak. From what I understand, the N64 core places the eeprom/sram/etc saves at the very beginning of the singular .sav and then appends the cpak data immediately afterward

3. Attempting to inject all 256 bytes from an existing .mpk by appending the data immediately after offset 0x200 / byte 512 does not seem to work, or I am doing something wrong in the injection process (I also made sure to set Controller #1 to ControllerPak in the core before launching the ROM)

4. CPak format on the N64 Core might be a different format from .mpk...?

[chrome quest]

I think the CPAK might always be 32KB, at the end of the 00020000 location from a base 128KB base N64 save. That being the case for Stadium (before space for TPAK in that case), I don't know about CPAK added onto other N64 saves that would default to being smaller than 128KB. I think it might be padded to 256KB in those instances, not sure. Maybe some of that is helpful to investigate. If you have a few MiSTer generated examples across a few games it might be clear.
The CPAK 32KB is endian swapped too I think, as for the Transfer PAK GB saves.
Not very confident on CPAK data though, hopefully others can clarify

[quaint copper]

ahh, thank you for the information! that sounds a lot like what the TPak script already does... i'll have to try injecting an mpk with the same script and see if it works.

thank you again for the insight!

[fair stump]

Robert is always happy to answer questions like that if you tag him as well

[quaint copper]

(good to know, although, who is robert? the core developer? 👀 )

[fair stump]

Yep! @wanton sun maybe you can answer any remaining questions from the above

Sometimes there are too many messages in here during off hours for him to scrub through so pinging him for technical stuff helps

[quaint copper]

Thank you, I've figured it out (at least for Mario Kart 64):

2) Put mpk data directly after the EEPROM (e.g. Mario Kart 64 EEPROM is 0x200 (512) bytes long; mpk data gets written immediately after starting from offset 0x200)
3) Pad the file to 128kb (256kb seems to work too. .mpks are 32kb each, so it is [unknown, untested] possible that these .mpks can be written immediately after each other, to emulate cpaks for the other ports```

this is slightly different from gb saves, which get written starting from 0x20000 and then padded to 0x40000

[orchid nimbus]

The only padded thing I have had lately was a padded cell

https://tenor.com/view/family-guy-stewie-griffin-gone-crazy-insane-letter-l-gif-17135412

[mortal panther]

You can never have too much padding.

[random portal]

this romhack changed my life
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tquuirULN8U

[kind solar]

the force dedither looks great thank you!

[dense wagon]

Wait wait... emulated stick using a mouse... keyboard an mouse for golden eye and perfect dark?

[kind solar]

what a time to be alive

[wanton sun]

tpak and cpak are handled the same. The save structure is always: main save memory (eeprom,sram,flash) and then 128kbyte of cpak/tpak if a game uses it. By the file size you can typically tell if cpak/tpak is there: if it's > 128kbyte, the game uses them. There is one edge case: you cannot tell with a 128kbyte file if it's cpak or flash memory. Probably need to look into the data

every additional byte is optional when loading on mister, so for example you could have a game with sram and cpak, but only provide 32kbyte -> totally fine. You could even make the file only 64kbyte for sram+1cpak and leave the others unused

[weary palm]

how are multiple cpaks handled

[wanton sun]

128kbyte, 32kbyte for each

the save game created by the core always contains 4 cpaks

[weary palm]

ah

[wanton sun]

If you want to create a mister file from existing cpak, i would either duplicate the cpak 4 times or init the other 3 with "format" data, otherwise some games will refuse to use those if they just contain zeros

the format data is really simple. It's the first 512byte only, i have it ready in the "pif_cpakinit" file

[wanton sun]

thank you, i put it on the todo list. But it will probably take a while until I look at it

[wanton sun]

unfortunatly no. To really debug that, i would need a static image that is wrong, which is hard to create without savestates and no chance with a fly-through. But i think i have seen the same in Ocarina of Time sometimes where i wondered if it can be a bug. It looks like Z-fighting. Maybe the z-buffer has some issues. I will take a look when i'm done with the cpu stuff, but probably with a game where it's easier to reproduce

[wanton sun]

The game uses some weird way to do interlacing, with the swap option it works, so only the fields are swapped, but i currently don't know why. Haven't seen that in any game

[uncut gyro]

Let me try driving around the track and taking saves to see if I can nail it down better. Thanks for responding!

I was thinking something something alpha coverage

[wanton sun]

can you save at a spot in this game?

i thought you would always start at the beginning

[quick arch]

Yes I didn't see it on any game also

[uncut gyro]

oh, does this core not have save states?

[wanton sun]

no 😦

[uncut gyro]

Ah. Let me see if I can make a repro case on video

Maybe there’s a specific spot you can drive to

[wanton sun]

you can try, but i probably rather use the spots i already identified in OoT, those are easy to reach

maybe it's not the same bug, but as both are flickering shadows, it's very likely

[uncut gyro]

fair enough 🙂

[kind solar]

does the gamma option in video processing not apply to this core or is that just being held off on until it's more mature? it's greyed out for me

[modern sleet]

Looks good on a CRT 😉... I had to make sure haha

[wanton sun]

strange, that means the output works and only the logic in the core on how to determine fields for scaler is wrong

well, i assume the second field starts with a higher line number, maybe the game for some reasons reverses the field internally

[mossy vector]

When does the N64 OSD save the settings? There was a SAVE option before the display settings were reorganized into their own menu. But now I noticed when I set BILINEAR to off for example, after a power cycle it is back to what was before.

[wanton sun]

gamma is currently not implemented for ressource reasons

[wanton sun]

the save option is still there, but in the second menu:

[mossy vector]

Thanks!

[dusty tusk]

Would having separate extensions based on the makeup of a sav file be worth considering?

.sav = standard
.csav = standard + controller pak
.tsav = standard + transfer pak
.ctsav = standard + controller pak + transfer pak

That way at a glance it's more obvious what the contents of a save file actually are

[weary palm]

Improved ROM detection and fully implemented "ED" homebrew header. Added some more CIC checksums. Displays some info about the ROM if detected. Also improved Aleck64 detection.

[dusty tusk]

Do you need an aleck64 bios to run aleck64 games?

[weary palm]

No

But you need the patched ROMs

[dusty tusk]

I'm guessing unpatched roms work with the aleck64 bios then?

[weary palm]

Perhaps, I haven't tried that 🙂

Will submit a PR if everything goes well

[mild ether]

The Aleck 64 bios is the same as the NTSC bios. The games have to be patched to work with a N64.

The patches set the dip switches and bind the buttons for use with N64 hardware.

[dusty tusk]

Ahh okay. Good to know

[weary palm]

@mild ether is it bit-wise identical?

[mild ether]

It's just a padded NTSC bios.

[mild ether]

I was repeating what I was told without checking. Here is what I came up with when I checked.

[weary palm]

Doesn't seem like any code

[mild ether]

No doesn't look like it but those 4 bytes could be used for something.

[weary palm]

I wonder why there's any difference at all. Perhaps Aleck roms check this area for piracy reasons.

[mild ether]

Would be somewhere in the boot code if it does since the PIF is locked after boot.

[weary palm]

Yeah, you're right. Strange. Perhaps a bad dump even.

0x7c0 is a bit of a weird ROM length...

[mild ether]

It could be.

[chrome quest]

I saw another 0x7c0 file length yesterday, an online CPAK save of Animal Forest seemingly. Couldn't get it to work at all.

[odd vector]

What an edge case, these Aleck64 games are xD But oh well, the more games the better I guess

[mild ether]

They aren't very good games but they're rare so it will be nice to have them working for MiSTer arcade setups.

Vivid Dolls is funny being a semi adult game licensed by Nintendo.

[quaint copper]

thank you for the information! I think it may be a good idea for me to have the user provide N64-database.txt from the usual spot as input for the script.... but I wonder, is there a reliable way to know what game the save file comes from? or will i need to have the user input the Cart ID/name the save file after the game's Cart ID?

Would love to make the process as reasonably simple as possible, so that anyone can use it!

[quaint copper]

i love this idea too. this would (if it really is necessary) make detection for my previous message a lot easier to detect without relying on the database txt/requiring user input 🙏

[quaint copper]

can you post that save file (preferably the source page too)? I'd love to take a look at it/experiment with it!

Doubutsu no Mori should be flash128k|cpak|rtc

[chrome quest]

This was the source;
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/n64/579007-doubutsu-no-mori/saves
Found lots of complaints online getting save files to work as I experimented yesterday.
My impression is across various pieces of cart dumpers, software emulators, etc. N64 saves in general don't seem to have been historically consistent at all.

[quaint copper]

thank you! will have to look at this tomorrow, but will let you know if anything comes up 👍

at first glance though

seems to be valid?

https://savefileconverter.com/#/n64/dexdrive

gotta convert it from dexdrive to mpk first though

in any case, i will continue playing around w/this tomorrow 👍

[chrome quest]

Ahh, didn't try that conversion, that might be it.

[quaint copper]

np! but you will also need to append the mpk data (4-byte-endian-fixed) at the end of your 128kb save file, using this method: https://misterfpga.org/viewtopic.php?p=79803&sid=1e3fcc40a8f9f0b87108f1cf2104a676#p79803

(My pokemon stadium script would probably work for specifically this scenario too tbh, as long as the save file pre-injection is 128kb. just treat the .mpk like a GB save and it should do the correct thing to get it running)

but i will make a proper method sometime this week (and also confirm if this actually works tomorrow, too)

#1096015979055697940 message (it is also possible that padding might not be necessary at all, if i'm understanding this correctly. still may need to fix the 4-byte-endian thing though)

[wanton sun]

mister main code would know which save types exist and could even auto split the files. But someone would need to program it

the core itself cannot change the file ending

e.g. core sends 130kbyte for mario kart -> lookup that mario kart uses eeprom+cpak, then main would save the data as mariokart.eep and mariokart_1.cpak ... mariokart_4.cpak

[vapid hawk]

incase anyone else was wondering - in hindsight maybe this was a bit brave to even try, but if you 've got rumble paks modded so they don't need batteries, those work just fine on snax

[weary palm]

I could probably implement such a thing. But the core itself would need the original file, right?

[lament escarp]

How many? Iirc og hardware can only handle 2 at once.

[vapid hawk]

i only tried one

[weary palm]

Trying to understand where saves are created in main hehe

[wanton sun]

yes, when loading the savegame data from sdcard and transferring it to the core, it would need the reverse process

i would assume that it's possible, but serious effort

[zinc dawn]

Same I want to get rid of mine too. I use borti N64advanced board.

[native mesa]

Voultar's is the one I used

[wanton sun]

made some TLB tests today with Conker in my emulator: the game is switching the used TLB entry about 30.000 times per second. However, it rarely uses more than 2 entries at the same time. When i give it a maximum set of 2 mappings(instead of 32), i only get around 100 mismatches per second on average, worst case was around 600. If such a mismatch would cost 32 cycles in the core(completly unoptimized), we may lose up to 32*600 = 19.200 cycles per second. That is 0.02% CPU performance in worst case and 0.003% on average 😅 So i can just go that way, have low ressource cost and we should be fine

[odd vector]

TLB, let's go!

[native mesa]

Sick. Awesome to hear you're proving it out

[zinc dew]

and with the best game too!

[weary palm]

Is 2 entries what you will go for?

[wanton sun]

I only tested 2 games with it so far....the second was a total disappointment: Mario64 doesn't even use the TLB for the face, it just needs it to load the face. As soon as the face is visible and you can pull it, there is no TLB needed

so i couldn't use it for test 😅

[weary palm]

ha, sloppy programming?

[native mesa]

Classic nintendo

[odd vector]

So does the face not load via TLB?

[native mesa]

Goldeneye or PD are probably similar to conker

[wanton sun]

TLB is used while the screen is black for loading, but not afterwards

[odd vector]

so weird, like: We have TLB, let's just use it even if it's not really needed

[weary palm]

Can't wait to yank Mario

[wanton sun]

if you cannot wait...

[marble cargo]

I like pulling the mustache over Mario's eyes, so it looks like he's wearing a pair of big sunglasses.

[native mesa]

I can wait lol

[cerulean elk]

so TLB for christmas then? lol

[mild ether]

100% of games loading by Christmas if we are lucky?

[cerulean elk]

no he will break the core and then one game only will work...its what we were promised!

[mild ether]

That would be a good troll.

[elfin depot]

Robby's Xmas gift, only working game will be Quest 64

[cerulean elk]

if this was me Id release a core on 12/25 and force only one game to boot and have a contest for people to find it first...and award a prize lol

[zinc dew]

So uhhhh, why wasn’t it working before?

[wanton sun]

it needs TLB to load that screen

[marble cargo]

Finally, the Iggys Recking Balls core.

[wanton sun]

savestate is taken from my emulator after the load is finished

[zinc dew]

Ohhh TLB is needed to load but once it’s loaded it’s no longer used. Got it, thank you.

[native mesa]

Obviously it would be Vivid Dolls

[cerulean elk]

you are all fools

THE BOMBERMAN HERO CORE

[zinc dew]

Game is alright, I see why you like it

[mild ether]

That would be the best.

[cerulean elk]

Its no Quest 64 ill give you that

[zinc dew]

Thankfully lol

[fair stump]

So tlb test build today?

[wanton sun]

Not a single line of code was written

[fair stump]

Oh that's right 😆

I forgot

[mild ether]

The day is still young.

[wanton sun]

also i'm on vacation for the next 3 days, i was just interested if i could start soon

[native mesa]

Nice! Gets some poolside mojitos and soak up the sun

[balmy carbon]

Is the conclusion that you will start with 2 entries, and then we see if we run into problems?

[safe robin]

Wünsche dir einen schönen Urlaub!

[cerulean elk]

clearly German for "one game by christmas"

[native mesa]

Is Deutsch

[cerulean elk]

dutch for "one game by christmas"

[mild ether]

Save something is all I got.

[native mesa]

Deutsch is German for german

[zinc dew]

“Have a great vacation!”

[cerulean elk]

"get back to work FPGA robot"

[mild ether]

Do they just call German shepherds just shepherds in Germany? 🤔

[native mesa]

Robby already had 3 TLBs ready to go he's just hoarding then

[cerulean elk]

"From Here Shepherds"

[mild ether]

Indigenous shepherds.

[native mesa]

What exactly is a pig dog

[cerulean elk]

@brisk drum mom's nickname?

(love you Taco)

[native mesa]

Damn

[cerulean elk]

I only make fun because I love

we are midwestern brethren. Taco @languid dune and I

@woeful beacon too

[mild ether]

I am from Wisconsin too.

[cerulean elk]

Midwestern takeover of the server lol

[wanton sun]

it's not as exciting as it might sound. First, weather in germany is bad. 8°C and rain. Second, my wife also has vacation, which could be great, but unfortunatly will lead to things like prepare the flowers for winter or buying christmas presents for the family

[cerulean elk]

we have that on our schedule tomorrow. Put garden plot to bed for the winter and then plant over winter bulbs in the back yard

I find it fun but I also drink a lot during it so

[wanton sun]

maybe i should try that, too 😉

[cerulean elk]

its a lot more fun with a buzz I can promise you that

[zinc dew]

I don’t prepare flowers for winter, I only let the strong ones survive.

Which is why I have a badass rose bush that can’t ever be killed

[cerulean elk]

apparently some things you can plant in fall for spring? I know nothing of plants outside what my wife tells me. Secret knowledge passed down from her mother and grandmother. Her family has a green thumb. I have deaths touch

[native mesa]

I plant garlic before winter

Then harvest in summer

[cerulean elk]

explains why we have garlic then lol

[zinc dew]

My rose bush has survived -23C to 46C, nothing will kill it.

[native mesa]

Assuming the squirrels don't dig it all uo

[zinc dew]

true

[cerulean elk]

a Texan speaking celsius? Do they even allow that?

[cerulean elk]

I feed them. Keeps em away from the vegetables

peanuts and sunflower seeds

[thorn flax]

what is the most Christmas n64 game/level

[zinc dew]

no, but it’s early and the Yurops are here so I’m being nice

[cerulean elk]

yeah rose bushes would survive a nuclear blast. Things dont have any quit in them

[native mesa]

I think southpark fps game has Christmas stuff

[woeful beacon]

Midwest FPGA gang, we need matching motorcycle jackets...

[thorn flax]

but does it feel like Christmas?

[woeful beacon]

If you roll coal when you say it...

[woeful beacon]

You can piss on snowballs and throw them, you tell me.

[quasi storm]

The Living Room in Army Men: Sarge's Heroes.

Password: HXMSTR

[thorn flax]

I used to play a lot of double dash at that time of year but, I never had that experience with n64

[cerulean elk]

just replace the tiger with something midwestern like a football or cheese

[thorn flax]

literally me

fr

[zinc dew]

There’s a Banjo Kazooie level called Freezeezy Peak that’s Christmas themed

[native mesa]

Idk it has snow and this guy did a Christmas review of it. https://youtu.be/dH07BMfJW-M?si=O095JB2SxfbvCFJq

[zinc dew]

Gex Enter the Gecko’s first level is Christmas themed with an elf village and a Santa you need to kill

[cerulean elk]

That’s Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko

I do love me some Gex 🤣

[thorn flax]

the sound of Ryo crunching the show on the streets of 山の瀬 is my happy place

[zinc dew]

gif_police.gif 🚨

[thorn flax]

no

[zinc dew]

[thorn flax]

I want wholesome

[zinc dew]

[cerulean elk]

I tried to get my wife to let me name the kitten she found Ryo because it looks just like the kitten in Shenmue

[thorn flax]

sad the n64 doesn't have seem to have its own Phendrana Drift moment

[zinc dew]

Wat

[native mesa]

https://youtu.be/qeqJ3TX_9tE?si=FopjgpBWOJXlHj16

[thorn flax]

it's this amazing moment in Metroid Prime when you step out into a snowy field, and a beautiful melody hits you

[zinc dew]

Oh, yeah the song is neat

Amazing game ❤️

[mild ether]

That whole rifle round casing and all coming from a pistol is pretty funny.

[cerulean elk]

Best Christmas game is still Blue Stinger

[native mesa]

When the phendrana depths track drops

[thorn flax]

[elfin depot]

That's actually caliber in texas, -23Caliber to 46caliber

[cerulean elk]

So a bullet smaller than existence? Lol

[elfin depot]

Nah, it's like gauge in shotgun speak, actually bigger. Cause everything in Texas is bigger.

[quasi storm]

So a living room with a bunch of little army men plinking each other off of presents in a living room isn't your cup of tea, either?

[woeful beacon]

How about "Hell is Real"

With an field of corn

[cerulean elk]

Nah that’s the Gary, Indiana jacket

[woeful beacon]

Boss move

[woeful beacon]

Put like a crane on back of that

So anyway what channel am I in?

Oh yeah N64

The core that gets an update like once a week minimum, once a day average lol

[cerulean elk]

Haha yep. New update video at 4 today

[thorn flax]

my winter playlist was all the snowy sonic & mario levels, mario race tracks and such

[compact depot]

OMG! Brace ourselves! TLB is coming! 😱❤️

[thorn flax]

always was

[quasi storm]

After some week deserved R&R, of course.

[daring meteor]

TLB = Turok Legecy of Darkness Battletanx

[quasi storm]

Conker will be my first test game, but Legacy of Darkness will definitely be my slow burn, for sure!

[compact depot]

Goldeneye for sure as the second here

[quasi storm]

Goldeneye would have been on my list, but Ive already played it to DEATH. 😆

I've got 3 007 saves on my old cart for crying out loud... And no, I didn't just copy them.

...

Okay, I did. But that one save took forever, y'all!

God, Legacy of Darkness was so much better than Castlevania. Why couldn't we have gotten THAT game instead? I swear the only thing Castlevania got right was the intro. Legacy trumps everything else.

[zinc dew]

Because the original Castlevania was rushed to market.

[quasi storm]

Even the reused music sounds better.

[quasi storm]

Just looked it up. January 26th???

They were probably rushing to meet the holiday deadline, and missed it anyway. What a waste!

[zinc dew]

Publishers make really shitty decisions sometimes.

[quasi storm]

But NOOO. "just double dip. See, we salvaged it!"

Fuggin a-holes

Haha. What's my problem this morning?

[zinc dew]

The game was really over scoped to begin with.

[quasi storm]

How so?

[zinc dew]

Four playable characters and a fighting mode?

Very ambitious!

The studio’s first game too and a Castlevania one no less with high level of expectations.

[quasi storm]

Cornell was a blast to play, and Henrys pistol was really cool. Reinhardt and Carrie I could take or leave.

A fighting mode?!

[zinc dew]

Yah that’s what Wikipedia says anyways

I’m guessing it was one of their first games since Konami Kobe was formed in ‘96

Oh wait nevermind

I was thinking of Konami Nagoya

[quasi storm]

I was gonna say...

[plush summit]

why is nobody talking about how amazing Majora's Mask is? Im like halfway into it and its the best Zelda ever

[quasi storm]

That WOULD have been out of scope 😆

[zinc dew]

I’m not a big fan but I’m glad people love it

It’s real cool

[quasi storm]

Im in the small camp of people who dislike it.

I just... You play Zelda, you beat dungeons.

[plush summit]

you're the only Latino on this planet who said something negative about it

[quasi storm]

In Majora's Mask, you beat dungeons, then rewind time to do it again. And again. And again.

Or, wait. Maybe youll do the kafei quest, to the exclusion to all else.

[oblique remnant]

Bugfree so far? I haven bootet it once but like to complete it over xmas

[quasi storm]

It's such a weird one for me. I love and hate it all at once.

[plush summit]

some graphics pop in/out momentarily, but flawless so far, they happen mostly out of view, so you'll have troubles catching it

[plush summit]

depends, if you're constantly warping back to Day 1, then you're not using your time wisely, you could always find something to do

[weary perch]

MM time system is both its greatest asset and intolerable for some players

i love it personally, it has stakes that other zelda games don't have. you get pressured

[quasi storm]

Im deep in the latter category.

[plush summit]

The time limit never really bothered me, you'll always have enough time to clear a dungeon

[weary perch]

i was recently going through the ice dungeon and getting all the fairies and it was nearing the end of day 3 and i had to find the last few before the mooncrash and it was absolutely sublime (also terrifying lol)

you don't get that feeling in any other zelda

[plush summit]

my favorite part is planning ahead

[weary perch]

i also love Pikmin 1 for similar reasons

the other ones feel lacking without that timer

[plush summit]

I do love how after you travel back, its a great time to pause and wind down for the day

So you get all your work in, and you feel pretty accomplished

[quasi storm]

Let me just say, they went dark for MM, and I love it. I really like the mood. The moon looming overhead, the encroaching doomsday, terminal illness... It's fantastic, and I wish other games would follow suit, maybe even take it further. But to me it just feels too samey at the same time. I don't know, it's so weird for me, like I said.

[weary perch]

it's a very confident game

[quasi storm]

The turn around for MM was... What... A year?

[plush summit]

I think MM did a better job at being a sequel than TotK

TotK is just BotW part 2

exact coreloop with not so great mechanics

[zinc dew]

I didn’t say anything negative!

[quasi storm]

I think my issue is that nearly everyone champions MM as the Zelda game to play on the 64. To that I say, "Ha!"

[plush summit]

that Meso-American theme of MM is a big hit with my Latino friends, they all love it the most 😛

[plush summit]

OoT is the better traditional Zelda, but MM changes it up

[zinc dew]

Ohhh, well I’m from Spain so that would maybe explain it haha

[fair stump]

I haven't even played MM and I can tell it's a better follow up than TotK

[zinc dew]

Got zero connection to the Meso-American stuff

[quasi storm]

Look, you like MM, and that's cool. I'm just not a part of that consensus. Everywhere I go, people are all like, "Dude, MM is da gr8est. No contest"

Every

Dang

Where

Even here, it seems 😆

No... It's not!

Grargg

We're all entitled to our opinions...

[plush summit]

MM was definitely a cry for help from the development team, there's plenty of hints sprinkled throughout

[quasi storm]

Phew, sorry. Nerd Rant over

[zinc dew]

Majora’s Mask is loved by a small but extremely vocal community. It’s a really cool game and great, I enjoyed it when it came out and I’m glad a lot of themes and plain weirdness got transplanted to future games in the series.

They did something different that didn’t really click with me but it’s important they did something different imo.

[plush summit]

I think what made MM great is that the deadline was so tight, they Nintendo approved a lot of weird things they usually wouldn't to get it out on time

[quasi storm]

Okay, that's interesting. Do tell. I know there are a lot of references to some very dark themes.

[plush summit]

I think the obvious one is the moon crashing within a deadline, but there's construction workers mouthing off about being overworked 😄

[quasi storm]

Where can we draw from... There's suicide, self mutilation, being unable to save someone from death, suffering, doomsday, abandonment, heartbreak...

Oh, limbo. Don't forget limbo. There's a theory that Link was dead the whole time.

[weary palm]

@wanton sun should a (cartridge save size + 4 * 128KB) save file be made if you have 4 controller paks mounted?

[quasi storm]

I can put that in a spoiler or something if it triggers anyone. I don't want to upset anybody (Serious)

[plush summit]

The most believable theory to me is that Termina doesn't exist and its only a world created by Skull Kid with the Mask, hence, why everyone is a carbon copy of Hyrule

[rich warren]

Long read but good insights into the madness that is MM, straight from the developers
https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/3ds/majoras-mask-3d/0/0/

[thorn flax]

I miss that man something terrible

[quasi storm]

I will say that I like how Nintendo were creative with the use of the expansion pack, instead of just graphical improvements. In fact, I believe Nintendo were strongly against using it in this way initially.

[quasi storm]

We all do.😔

[plush summit]

Nintendo did Dual RAM before MiSTer

[thorn flax]

but not before Saturn

[plush summit]

damn lol

[quasi storm]

Saturn had a memory upgrade besides the save cartridge? I plead ignorance here...

[vapid hawk]

as far as i can tell the vast majority of games are actually downgraded by the expansion pak

only MM and PD actually benefit

[quasi storm]

because they run even shittier?

[vapid hawk]

yeah it usually tanks the framerate

if you're lucky you can turn it off ingame

also depending on your display, 480i can look worse than 240p

[quasi storm]

If it's any consolation, mister seems to run slightly better that the ol 64. High res is only slightly more tolerable.

Although I played some sarges heroes today, and the game dipped down to 10 fps in the living room level at one point.

[vapid hawk]

like i have one in my real n64 but i disable it in a bunch of games via cheatcode

[quasi storm]

The N64 was the first to have a unified memory architecture, wasn't it?

Could you imagine? 4 (or 8) MBs for EVERYTHING.

Textures, models, sound fonts, code...

I think (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

[vapid hawk]

no i think you're right

maybe amiga? not sure

[quasi storm]

And then... And THEN...

4 KB texture cache.

Being a developer back in the day had to suck...

How rare was able to pull off the detailed textures (Evidently with a whole boatload of clamping, from what I've read) is nothing short of a miracle. No expansion pack required, no less. Or even supported for that matter.

[stiff condor]

Majora's Mask is my favorite game

[quasi storm]

GRARGH!

See what I mean? 😆

Why did the 64 US Library have to be so dang small?!

[zinc dew]

Cause it cost a lot to manufacture and sell a game

[quasi storm]

It was RHETORICAL!

Someone posted an old toys r us catalogue. ~80 bucks for a new 64 game... Woof.

35 for PlayStation. 19 roughly for previous gen.

[zinc dew]

yeah, games were expensive back then and everyone forgot that

Not all games of course, PS1 really brought prices down

[plush summit]

Competition?1?1

[zinc dew]

my parents definitely paid $80 for Turok 1 when it came out

I remember them complaining about it lol

[mossy vector]

It was $3 to rent a game for the weekend.

[plush summit]

now I feel bad for begging my dad for games 😭

[stiff condor]

I got Turok 2 on sale for $20 from Toys R Us

[quasi storm]

"I'll brb, guys. Imma go buy a new stick of memory for my 64 that just so happens to have a game slapped on it"

That has me curious about ram prices of the time. Comparable?

[plush summit]

@zinc dew on the flip side, I give my dad so much free PC stuff now I think I'm paying it back? lol

Last gen PC components are overkill for parents

[quasi storm]

Ah, Turok 2. Fond memory of getting that one. My uncle got it for me for Christmas one year. He knew nothing about video games, and I was so happy when I unwrapped it.

When I asked how he knew I liked Turok, he said.

"I went to target, back to the game aisle. I pulled an associate aside and said, 'Give me the bloodiest, goriest, nastiest game you got for the Nintendo 64" and without hesitation the associate plucked that one from the shelf and said, 'Here you go.'"

[stiff condor]

Cerebral Bore

[zinc dew]

I still reference the ceberal bore in weapon design docs lmao

[quasi storm]

I still remember the first time I shot one of those yellow lizard guys with an explosive shotgun shell...

[zinc dew]

What an awesome weapon

[quasi storm]

The way he blew up, and flopped around on the floor, I seriously had to look over to confirm the system I was playing on.

[stiff condor]

BEWAREOBLIVIONISATHAND

[quasi storm]

Big cheat activated!

[stiff condor]

The master cheat code will never be forgotten

[quasi storm]

And then it went all downhill from there...

That isn't to say Turok 2 was perfect... What a mess.

You can crash the game by falling down the holes in river of souls while riding the triceratops.

[last scarab]

i wish I collected these flyers

[quasi storm]

Now see? These seem reasonable. Must have been later.

[woeful beacon]

fuckin ALWAYS

as a kid I used to do an impression of being bored

my parents thought it was boring

[last scarab]

sundays newspaper was the best day. It was exciting to browse the kb toys and bestbuy/circuit city sections

[woeful beacon]

(I'll be here all night)

[quasi storm]

I honestly don't think there has been a weapon like it before or since.

I mean... How do you top THAT?

You don't...

[zinc dew]

My original design for the Microwave Mod would’ve been pretty good lol

DOOM Eternal’s Plasma Gun mod

[woeful beacon]

how about a weapon where you throw out a small robotic pigeon and the pigeon pecks your crotch until it gets in

[zinc dew]

Oh 100%, it referenced big trouble little China

And fist of the North Star

[woeful beacon]

and then goes up through your head

cerebral crotch pigeon I call it

[quasi storm]

Well... My roommate was playing the newest update of postal 4, and it had this weapon called the dilbow. You could pin people to walls with it.

Honestly, though. Turok had some of the best weapons.

[zinc dew]

Yeah I did both Ballista mods and set up all the slicing gore

It was great

[quasi storm]

In the first one, just pulling out the morphing ones was fun to hear them deploy.

That bit was lost somewhat in 2.

It was there, but not quite as prominent. And the weapon you spend the whole game putting together doesn't even work on the final boss.

[zinc dew]

Huh

Oh right

[quasi storm]

The Nuke.

Sounds cool. Kinda blows.

[last scarab]

hey robby, have you attended PAX?

theres one in boston coming up for March 2024

[orchid nimbus]

for those who missed this earlier

[zinc dew]

I have been, both PAX East and PAX South

[lament escarp]

Have you ever been to gamescom?

[mild ether]

It's funny when I hear people complain about games costing too much today. They hardly went up in price and inflation is nearly doubled

[lament escarp]

The audience also grew a lot and it's not like most of the money actually reaches the developers, who live in a entrenched crunch culture.

[plush summit]

Yeah, back when, the user base was smaller and less competitive than it is today

PS1 brought the game prices back down

[nova grotto]

Do we have TLB now ?

[mild ether]

Games are cheap for the amount of entertainment you get out of them but I would still like my 70 dollars back for Starfield.

[native mesa]

I spent 100 😖

[plush summit]

Well the reality is that the majority of games aren't just one price

[native mesa]

No that's a save state Robert made after the TLB check

[mild ether]

It's really disappointing.

[zinc dew]

Nah, the only major conference I haven’t been to. Even been to TGS several times but never Gamescom.

[plush summit]

If I have to pay extra in DLC or microtransactions, then the game isn't 60-70 bucks

[mild ether]

BG3 is cool though so there is that.

[plush summit]

Yeah BG3 is the definition of value

Most Nintendo games are

but Nintendo shouldn't be charging the same as XB/PS5 games

[native mesa]

Games should be 115 dollars today if they matched 97 prices

[lean spruce]

does the core have save states now? How do you use the state?

[native mesa]

Uh only loading I think not saving

[mild ether]

Yeah, no saving

[lean spruce]

Oh, didnt know we had loading hehe

or I forgot

[lament escarp]

Grab @cerulean elk if you ever go there, we can get blackout drunk and arrested by security 😋

[zinc dew]

Haha I’ll definitely take you up on that 🍻

[languid dune]

More like Wisconsin takeover! Get back in your hole you...you...Illinoiser!

[cerulean elk]

Wait till the video today cheesehead. You’ll get yours

[languid dune]

I fully expect to get everything I deserve. ||I'm scared! ||

[quasi storm]

I take it you already heard the news? @cerulean elk

[cerulean elk]

Eh?

Robert poking at TLB in software?

[quasi storm]

#1096015979055697940 message

Er...yeah...

[cerulean elk]

I saw. For Mario yeah?

I haven’t really been doom scrolling the channel

[quasi storm]

Yeah!
It's exciting, what with breaking first ground.

I only wish I hadn't missed the ceremony, as it were.

[cerulean elk]

yeah I will briefly mention next vid. Since its not really "out" I dont usually show it yet. I like to share what everyone wtching can go experience

[mild ether]

It's really good news it will hardly hurt performance.

[languid dune]

Still probably a bit off though. Robert specified that he hasn't written a single line of code yet for the TLB implementation in the core. Just testing in his emulator.

[cerulean elk]

Yes. I need to do up a video on it being "upcoming". Maybe tomorrow. Maybe Weds. Still early days

[languid dune]

Plus he is on a much deserved vacation right now!

[cerulean elk]

deserved? he barely even works

[quasi storm]

I'm just looking forward to snuffing out those last 30 odd no boots in the list.

[cerulean elk]

we all know he is just ChatGPT'ing this core into existence

[modern sleet]

Was anyone able to open that ss from Robert?

[lament escarp]

He's like a cat. Looking at it before pouncing on it in a flash!

[quasi storm]

I haven't yet tried, but Robert said the TLB was just to load the thing, and then it's not ever used again.

[mild ether]

Really want to dig into the Aleck 64 roms but they liked TLB for them.

Even the fan favorite Vivid Dolls.

[quasi storm]

Vivid...Dolls?

[lament escarp]

Vivid dolls is gonna be great

[mild ether]

Best Qix clone on N64 hardware.

[quasi storm]

Never heard of that, and my imagination is running wild.

[languid dune]

NSFW by the way!

[lament escarp]

It's a game for the cold and lonly winter nights ahead.

[quasi storm]

Yeah, I thought so...

[weary perch]

Vivi DDolls

[quasi storm]

Emphasis on the double D.

[languid dune]

I assume that @cerulean elk won't be covering Vivid Dolls any time soon in his N64 update videos.

[quasi storm]

Good to know my instincts haven't failed me.

[fair stump]

He ain't man enough

[stuck summit]

Holy moly, it's happening!

[quasi storm]

I dunno. He seemed pretty fed up with the big N, he might just...

[lament escarp]

He will, uncensored. He's not a coward!

[languid dune]

We got a betting war here! Will he or won't he!?

[mild ether]

First two levels of each girl is SFW.

It's really not that NSFW.

[quasi storm]

Wait. SERIOUSLY?! Nintendo allowed this?

[languid dune]

It was an arcade game.

[mild ether]

The licensed it.

[cerulean elk]

lol no I will leave that as is

last thing I need is a vid getting flagged for 18+. YT gets angry over ONE thing and then the next three months is just shit stats for no reason

and half the time I think about taking the channel out back and old yellering it as is...I dont need more reasons!

[worn delta]

Are Vivid Dolls and the other Aleck 64 games playable now or do they still boot into debug style menus?

[mild ether]

It's Aleck 64 so not exactly N64 but they still licensed.

[languid dune]

You could create a brand new channel just for Vivid Dolls!

[lament escarp]

Make a vid and make it a discord only thing for download. As a Christmas present!

[languid dune]

Star Soldier definitely works.

[worn delta]

Yeah that one has been playable for a long time but the others weren't when I last looked

[mild ether]

Tower and shaft works and so does Star Soldier

[weary perch]

tower and shaft is a pretty cool game

[fair stump]

For real tower and shaft sounds way worse than vivid dolls

[languid dune]

That also sounds NSFW...

[weary perch]

😄

[cerulean elk]

I barely want to make the videos I need to make

Ive been starting at my computer for an hour and all I have done is chat on here and look at ebay

[mild ether]

The rest seem to have issues. Vivid Dolls for example boots into the service menu and the controls don't work. So there is a bug of some sort making that happen.

Yeah tower and shaft sounds way worse. 😄

[languid dune]

In all seriousness, don't feel bad if you need a break. Burnout can be brutal at times, so take the time you need!

[worn delta]

Hmm, maybe Robert will need to take a look at these Aleck 64 games at some point - hopefully it is an easy fix to get them booting into gameplay if they are confirmed to work fine on emulators

[quasi storm]

You mean your work stuff, right? You enjoy the videogame stuff still, don't you.?

[mild ether]

Vivid Dolls also has TLB and so does Eleven beat.

[lament escarp]

True, take a break from yt, just use the mister to play games you love for yourself, and when you're ready make the most cringe comeback you can with vivid dolls! @cerulean elk

[mild ether]

He said he is waiting for TLB to look into the problem since they use TLB in most of them

[worn delta]

Ah, OK

[quasi storm]

@cerulean elk Yeah man. I mean, far be it from me to tell you your business, but if you're burning out, take a break. You'll be better for it.

[fair stump]

So ps1 had arcade hardware based on it and so did the n64. The n64 one may just work with the core like they just used a plain old console for their machines?

[vagrant ivy]

@cerulean elk keep making videos . Go Postal and I can watch you on the BBC as you go on a rampage through Chicago

[quasi storm]

I'm semi-serious, duder. 😟

[cerulean elk]

Haha just all of it. Having one of those weeks

They happen

So I’m shooting some shit to entertain myself

[mild ether]

They are not same as a n64 console exactly.

[vagrant ivy]

Oh dear you must be very sad now to reduce yourself to a 3DO

[quasi storm]

You see?

[mild ether]

That a M2

[woeful beacon]

enjoy the vacay king!

[vagrant ivy]

Yes another failed console in the 3DO line

[cerulean elk]

It’s three of them

[woeful beacon]

your body needs some TLB... err TLC

[cerulean elk]

I’ve got another 11 in the other room 🤣

[mild ether]

One arcade board.

[vagrant ivy]

Good Video Blending them all !

[mild ether]

I regret not buying one when they were selling them on eBay years ago.

[cerulean elk]

just doing some "game room tours" cause people keep asking

hardware showcases of shit

[mild ether]

What do you use for medium resolution for light gun games? Since you don't have a cabinet.

[cerulean elk]

I only have two medium resolution games...and both sit here unused

I am out of space for monitors at the moment. As is I have a 14" PVM I need to find a new home for

[wanton sun]

the core will save depending on what the system settings say. It doesn't matter how the controller is set up or what the game really does, so mister main could use the system setting for savetype, cpak and tpak setting and already know what will come

[mild ether]

Ah, yeah. I can see how that would be an issue. About the only option would be a trisync arcade monitor. Not exactly small or nice looking outside a cabinet.

[cerulean elk]

yeah thats the deal with my wife...I can have the TVs but I cant have some bare ass chassis and tube chilling in my office

[mild ether]

Seems fair.

[cerulean elk]

but I have a Warzaid I really want to play / capture and cant. So that sucks haha

[mild ether]

They are kinda ugly just sitting around in a house.

[cerulean elk]

We need a bigger place

but not at 8% interest on a home loans we sure as hell dont!

[mild ether]

Well if you do get one you can find trisync in some silver strike bowling and golden tee cabinets. Go pretty cheap on FB marketplace sometimes.

[weary palm]

I couldn't make my mk64 save file bigger than ~130kB

[wanton sun]

it makes sense, as it's using eeprom. If you set the system savetype to flash, you would get 256kbyte (and a broken savegame)

maybe i just got the question wrong?

[chrome quest]

Hey, if you want Battletanx, just play the PAL version 🇪🇺

[daring meteor]

If cpak is on, split end of file into 4 parts of 32kb
Else if tpak is on, do the same but endian swap them
End of file is depedent on save type

[chrome quest]

I got the save state working.
Had to rename to match the NTSC ROM name I had. In my case renamed to "Super Mario 64 (USA)_1.ss"
Couldn't see the load save state item in the OSD, might have just missed it.
Pressing F1 on a keyboard works though.

[vagrant ivy]

it was removed so people didnt think save states were available

[wanton sun]

yes, only F1 for the moment

[wanton sun]

i think cpak also needs to be byteswapped, just like tpak

[daring meteor]

I haven't heard any problems with cpak save importing unlike tpak - Could someone who did so confirm?

[modern sleet]

Ah thats why 🙂 Thanks

[wanton sun]

at least it behaves the same: eeprom/flash/sram is 32bit addressing using big endian, while cpak and tpak are written from pif/gamepad emulation with byte addressing. When saved to sdcard, currently all savetypes are endian swapped

which is good for eeprom/flash/sram, but not for the paks

[daring meteor]

Its not good for the tpak, but I'm not sure about cpak

[wanton sun]

main reason was that i didn't want a mux that can do both byte orders, but maybe that was one optimization step too much

now it's hard to change, as all cpak/tpak would not work anymore

[daring meteor]

Oh, it is swapped, huh

[wanton sun]

if mister main handles conversion for the core, it would not matter in the end

(but would probably still have the issue of supporting old and new save type)

i mean, it's a in-dev-core, but i feel i would still get a lof ot angry messages for making the saves incompatible 😅

[vagrant ivy]

Do it let the hate flow

[daring meteor]

Note to me, or yxkalle, or maybe someone else:
Put https://github.com/mysterypaint/MiSTer-N64-Save-Utility as the commit messege

[prisma ivy]

I turned off a few VI options last night to give it more of a Playstation look. I don't regret it 😄

[dusty tusk]

I love that there are enough options so that PlayStation diehards can stop complaining about texture filtering. Now we just need affine texture warping to really shut them up

[native mesa]

Eh so long as there's a method to extract and convert beta saves to the final save format I don't see an issue

[prisma ivy]

Lol N64 warble

Something something z buffer right

[native mesa]

I'd say the perfect console is a PSX with an FPU and no load times

Maybe throw a z buffer in there

[rich warren]

Found a bug - Mario can fall asleep underwater:

[latent hatch]

I have a question about accuracy, by the way.

Once the core is finished, will the games that run really have 1:1 sound, graphics, and timing with actual hardware? From what I understand, even the Mega Drive core didn't run perfectly despite it being on FPGA hardware. That is, until the Nuked core.

[odd vector]

Thats the attempt but it‘s probably not going to be 100% replicated. Timing is difficult to get right because of silicon lottery. Target is: as close as possible

[latent hatch]

I didn't realize different consoles of the same revision could vary that way.

[lament escarp]

The difference probably won't be perceptible by a human, which should be good enough, right, fellow humans?

[rich warren]

After trying N64 emulation since the early 2000's, it was only recently that low-level PC emulators (ParaLLEl) came on the scene that came anywhere close to real hardware accuracy. Only my recent Ryzen CPUs (3600x and 5600x) can run them smoothly. I've been playing N64 since the console launched and this MiSTer core is just as good as these 6-core CPUs (for the games that work so far) for only ~15 watts of power. Plus it's easy to play on a CRT (which is a must for me)

[dusty tusk]

FPGAs allow you to come the closest in both accuracy and game feel, but it's still ultimately on implementation

Software emulators can also be cycle accurate, but often game feel is sacrificed with delay and whatnot

[orchid nimbus]

Sleeping with the fishes

[viral portal]

That's dire, dire.

[balmy dagger]

beep boop

[vapid moat]

The legend

[chilly ember]

Reminded me of this line in conker's bad fur day

[stuck summit]

It's actually already better in a few areas imo, I find timings to be better in the core already than in software emulators. And it'll only get better and better

[teal oyster]

anyone have a recommendation for an N64 game that is particularly good at utilizing the rumble pak?

[elfin depot]

Pod Racer

Well I mean, it rumbles a lot

[teal oyster]

cool, thanks

[lament escarp]

I always likes the rumble in oot. Rolling into walls is very satisfying

[teal oyster]

how long do the batteries on these things usually last?

[nimble needle]

There’s something depressing about that image.

Mario wants to live no more,
embracing the cold deep blue,
washing an un-lived life’s sores

[fierce girder]

You can mod your rumble pak to use system power instead of batteries, they did this for kiosks.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/N64+Rumble+Pak+(Rumble+WITHOUT+batteries)/123571

I wonder if this will work on SNAX64

[chilly ember]

Does the mod make the rumble weaker?

[fierce girder]

I haven’t modded mine, just putting the info out there. And if you do this, you shouldn’t use more than 2 at a time on real hardware.

I don’t believe it makes the rumble weaker

[cerulean elk]

shouldnt

AAA is 1.5V so unless its pulling that voltage up inside the rumble pak its probably just stealing 5V off the controller port somewhere and lessening it to be in line with expected votlages

[fierce girder]

And to more accurately answer that question, I’ve had the same set of AAA batteries in my rumble pak since I put my real hardware setup together and I’ve finished 30 games with it and it’s still working fine.

[cerulean elk]

that being said I get the no more than 2...who knows what the maximum additional voltage you can pull through the controller ports. Start vampiring power on 4 paks...might be not great

[teal oyster]

cool, this is all uncharted territory for me

going to take my controller apart soon and put new stick guts in there

should be a fun little project

[dusty tusk]

Once conker works I can finally show the world the really odd suicidal villager Easter Egg in the Spooky chapter