• ramirezmike@programming.dev
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    5 months ago

    a comment on that site really condescendingly claims this is how he would have handled it and that a script could be written in half a day to do the work.

    my understanding is that an emulator effectively recreates the hardware’s different components in software so that from the game’s “perspective” it’s running on a real machine more or less.

    This process instead decompiles the game code and recompiles for a new target machine.

    I suspect one can’t just pump out a script in an afternoon to do this, but I am curious what is the complexity here?

  • HollowNaught@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    This might be a hot take, but i prefer the compressed graphics of the original in most games over the 4k rerenders

  • buzz86us@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Damn perfect dark would be amazing with online play it was such a good game, and Microsoft pretty much killed it on Xbox

    • Simon Müller@sopuli.xyz
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      5 months ago

      Just so you know, the actual source code for this project mentions both Jamulator and another project that did this for the N64.

    • Socsa@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      This is very similar to something we did in engineering school in like 2008. For a reconfigurable computing project we translated machine code into HDL.

      This is something you could have done for a while if you had a few million dollars to pay a team of computer engineers to do it. The new part is the classic “some dude figured out an efficient way to do it in his garage over the summer.”

      • refalo@programming.dev
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        5 months ago

        I wonder how much talent is wasted because of jaded programmers that think it’s dumb (to them) to make something simple even if it would become very popular and maybe profitable

  • whotookkarl@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Didn’t read the article, did Nintendo pay to develop this to be able to preserve the games history and release them for free so they can get some new fans for these retro games and IPs to maybe encourage them to buy some newer released games in the same series?

  • SeaJ@lemm.eeOP
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    5 months ago

    I’m wondering how much this will help the handheld scene. N64 emulation is pretty notoriously shitty on many handhelds.

  • Petter1@lemm.ee
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    5 months ago

    I need 60fps upscaled Pokémon Stadion with raytracing now 😌where?

  • You999@sh.itjust.works
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    5 months ago

    Would the recompiled games effect how ACE works in some games? I’d assume since the machine code is different the exploits used to trick the pointers would be different.

    • BradleyUffner@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Most likely. The documentation says it can change what was a single instruction on the N64 into multiple instructions, so those values will potentially be very different. It will probably close off some exploits, change others, and even introduce new ones.

    • ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml
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      5 months ago

      You’re not wrong and I’m shocked this hasn’t been shut down yet. Not to mention, the Nintendo 64 has been discontinued for years, but I have a feeling that won’t stop Nintendo.

      • insomniac_lemon@kbin.social
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        5 months ago

        When that older DX game port was released, I think it took like 3 or 4 days for them to take it down. Probably even like a patch stomp tuesday situation when the interns hand off the script detections off to the lawyers.

        It might take a bit longer if people stopped using sites like Youtube and Github, and tried not to include trademarked terms (or super-identifiable audiovisual content) anywhere.

  • FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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    5 months ago

    When I saw this post yesterday I just thought “Ha, suck it dumb corporations who don’t know how to make their own IP work.”

    But now that I’m seeing it again I just had the realization “HOL UP, raytracing? N64 Raytracing?”

  • Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    5 months ago

    Nintendo could have raked in millions by doing it themselves, but they prefer their closed ecosystem.

    • Max-P@lemmy.max-p.me
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      5 months ago

      The quality of what the community is doing vs what they shipped with NSO especially on launch is laughable.

      Native OoT and MM on the switch would have been really sick. Instead they went with 90s level of emulator quality.

      • SeaJ@lemm.eeOP
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        5 months ago

        I was actually going to pay for NSO solely to be able to play OoT on the Switch. Then I saw that it was a pile of emulated muddied crap.

    • DacoTaco@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Has nothing to do with their closed eco system. They basically did similar stuff with some of the stuff in the sm3d collection thingy.
      Nintendo is a company that only wants make new stuff, innovations.
      For example, they ( mostly miyomoto ) has been quoted to not understand that people want another f-zero, as the game’s principals and ideas have been fully flushed out and no new ideas could make it feel like something new.
      They also usually dont do remakes/remasters unless its so new/different it can be considered a new game ( see metroid 2 on 3ds ).

      If that is a smart business position to have, i will leave for you to decide, but do get your facts a bit straight :)

      • wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        5 months ago

        They basically did similar stuff with some of the stuff in the sm3d collection thingy.

        They did not.

        For Super Mario 64, they emulated it. They increased the resolution the game renders at (trivial with emulation of 3D systems) and they used basic LUA patches in the emulator to override HUD textures with higher resolution ones adjusted for the Switch controller.

        They did not add any further enhancements in any way. Compared to even 64 DS, it was extremely sophomoric. Compared to the Super Mario 64 decomp project, and what its native switch port is capable of (more on that later), it’s an incredibly lazy port. They didn’t even fix the slowdown with Bowser’s Sub that is as simple as adjusting a single compiler flag when you build the ROM from the N64 game source code.

        For Sunshine, it’s an admittedly impressive solution of mostly emulation with some sections of the game engine ported (I think it’s the audio processing?). Once again, the game is rendered at a higher resolution, but they did not redo ot improve further any textures (besides some of the HUD again), graphical effects, or game content. Wind Waker HD this ain’t.

        For Galaxy they cannibalized the existing port of it to Android on the NVidia Shield. The Switch shares most of the important internals with it (CPU, GPU). It’s a combo of emulation with certain key code ported, like Sunshine. Again, besides resolution and HUD, no improvements.

        Beyond that, Nintendo has been content to sell straight up emulation through the Virtual Console service since the Wii. They’ve had multiple instances of straight ports over the years, and some of the most popular Switch games are straight ports with DLC bundled in.


        There are numerous impressive remakes they have done over the years, but that is absolutely not the norm.


        The Super Mario 64 decomp on the Switch supports (not available in Nintendo’s official port in 3D All Stars):

        • Effectively infinite render distance for objects (coins, enemies, stars, etc)
        • 60 fps (compared to the original/all stars 30fps at best)
        • True analog camera control using the right stick (All Stars is just the original’s clunky button based control mapped to the stick)
        • All sorts of QoL options like collecting stars not kicking you out of a level, options for streamlined/faster message boxes
        • Optional bugfixes
        • Optional cheats
        • Variety of HD texture packs to choose from
        • Variety of higher quality 3D model packs to choose from
        • Support for an astounding variety of mods. Levels, entire new games, new characters, new movement and control options (Odyssey Mario in 64 with full cappy and enemy capture mechanics anyone?)
        • Support for many more languages
        • Nearly all of the above is toggleable mid-game from the pause menu.

        I don’t think anyone was expecting something amazing out of 3D All Stars, but they absolutely fucking phoned it in.

        • DacoTaco@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Ye, the sm64 was just a jit emulation, you are correct there. Not gonna deny that either. The sms and smg emulations are interesting and impressive though. They basically use a combination of jit compilation and aot compilation to basically take in the rom and adjust code as they go, but its technically running +/- natively, if i read the switchbrew wiki page correctly, thanks to the aot compilation. I find that impressive, from a technical standpoint.
          Could they have added more and do more changes? Yes, ofcourse. Im not saying the fan made stuff isnt impressive, it is and i love it!
          But for nintendo, who strives to create new experiences and things, not rehashing older stuff, is why they kept it basic. For them adding that stuff doesnt make sense as the game doesnt add new enough experiences. They dont care if a bug is fixed or graphics are improved. Those dont get you new experiences or gameplay mechanics. Thats what nintendo strives for.

          Again, if that is a good stance to have as a company i leave up to others to make opinions on, thats not up to me to decide or voice my opinion on ^^

          Fyi, since you seem to know what youre talking about, nintendo’s r&d have used open source projects before internally and we assume it is done to look at older games and see how they worked or if they could be used to make projects like sm3d ( without doing what the license doesnt permit )

      • xkforce@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Nintendo is a company that only wants make new stuff

        They’ve been digging mario out of the dumpster for the last 40 years wtf are you dementia-ing on about?

      • TachyonTele@lemm.ee
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        5 months ago

        Damn you got mob downvoted for explaining exactly how Nintendo thinks. You’re absolutely right. People don’t seem to want to accept that Nintendo operates as an idea toy company. Once they’ve explored a new idea/gimmick they consider it completed and move on.

        • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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          5 months ago

          Except they don’t? What about Odyssey was new? It’s just a new version of SM64. Sure, it’s got a few different mechanics than SM64, Sunshine, and Galaxy, but those are all the same game at the core, right? This isn’t the only series they do like this.

          • TachyonTele@lemm.ee
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            5 months ago

            The game mechanics and gimmicks are different in everyone of the games you just listed.

            • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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              5 months ago

              Barely. Odyssey even specifically references most of the older games to point out how it’s very similar. They all add a small movement mechanic, but other than that jumping has been the same since SM64.

              • TachyonTele@lemm.ee
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                5 months ago

                Ok. Let me know after you’ve actually played any of those games.

                Have a good one.

                • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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                  5 months ago

                  See my edit above.

                  Also, check out this video. It has a lot of side-by-side comparisons of SM64 and Odyssey.

                  The developers wouldn’t argue it isn’t treading the same ground. In some cases, they literally have you tread the same ground. They send you back to Peach’s castle, just like we’re back in SM64. They know they’re running off of nostalgia.

                  Every game repeats stuff from older games. The 3D Super Mario games do this more than most. Call of Duty has changed more than these games have.

                  I can’t think of another series that repeats the same things, tell you explicitly as part of the game that it’s repeating the same things, and then has fans argue it isn’t repeating things again. Of course it is. We all know if is, and that’s part of why it sells. There’s so much nostalgia bait because they know the nostalgia is what sells a lot of their games.

                  I haven’t owned a Nintendo console since the SNES, but I’ve played a bit of SM64, a good chunk of Sunshine, and most of Odyssey (all when they were new, not since). I can tell how much they all share and I’m not even a fan of the games. An honest fan would agree.

        • DacoTaco@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Haha, i kinda expected it tbh. The internet hates nintendo and doesnt know how they operate internally. Still wanted to make the comment, as it is needed.

      • Furbag@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        For example, they ( mostly miyomoto ) has been quoted to not understand that people want another f-zero, as the game’s principals and ideas have been fully flushed out and no new ideas could make it feel like something new.

        This is also why we’ll never get another Star Fox.

        sad furry noises 😿