The one game I wanted... Pokemon Snap

acraigl

I played a ton of Pokemon Snap with my son years ago, and now that he's home from college, we were excited to re-live old memories. Unfortunately, it has issues making the game unplayable. Specifically pictures aren't saved preventing moving forward in the game.

I tried multiple emulators (some vastly improved performance, but not this issue) and nothing has solved it. Searching revealed a way to fix it on other platforms was to enable "copy to sd framebuffer in the video options", but that does not seem to be an option in RetroPie. I tried looking at modifying the emulator configs, but nothing is obvious in terms of fixing this problem.

I was willing to accept defeat, but figured I post here and see if anyone has actually solved it or has a thought on where to go from here. Running latest version on a Pi3 model B.

A few links as reference:
http://www.emutalk.net/threads/40684-Pokemon-Snap-Pictures-taken-unviewable-Can-this-be-fixed?s=fa29c8079a3205bb2bff2fb6f107ab36
http://forum.pj64-emu.com/showthread.php?t=1102
http://forum.pj64-emu.com/showthread.php?t=584

Thanks in advance!

mediamogul

@acraigl said in The one game I wanted... Pokemon Snap:

Running latest version

Are you sure it's not latest.new? ;)

Your second and third links reference a specific feature built into the 'Project64' emulator, which is not supported on RetroPie. However, in your first link, it mentions that a similar feature can be activated when using GlideN64 by pressing 'alt+v' during gameplay. I don't know if this would carry over to it's implementation in RetroPie, but you could try it. Just make sure that you have one of the 'GlideN64' options as your selected emulator in the runcommand menu.

dankcushions

@mediamogul said in The one game I wanted... Pokemon Snap:

@acraigl said in The one game I wanted... Pokemon Snap:

Running latest version

Are you sure it's not latest.new? ;)

Your second and third links reference a specific feature built into the 'Project64' emulator, which is not supported on RetroPie. However, in your first link, it mentions that a similar feature can be activated when using GlideN64 by pressing 'alt+v' during gameplay. I don't know if this would carry over to it's implementation in RetroPie, but you could try it. Just make sure that you have one of the 'GlideN64' options as your selected emulator in the runcommand menu.

lr-glupen64 (which i think is the current default) uses glideN64 already. i believe it already uses framebuffer emulation for the games that require it. looks like it should work: https://github.com/GLupeN64/GLupeN64/issues/77

making sure you're using glupen and making sure it's been updated is probably wise

mediamogul

Very keen. It's always been a game I wanted to try at some point. I might test it out this evening.

acraigl

@dankcushions Thanks for the reply. That emulator is most performant, unfortunately, it still has the same issue. Moreso, I've lost ability to steer -- the left control stick of my PS3 BT controller no longer works (but assuming I could configure it to do so).

I tried updating (https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/updating-retropie) but no change there either.

Oh, and @mediamogul, alt-v never did anything that I could see. :(

mediamogul

@dankcushions said in The one game I wanted... Pokemon Snap:

lr-glupen64 (which i think is the current default)

Is lr-glupen64 really out-performing the standalone Mupen64Plus currently?

acraigl

FYI, a reboot of the Pi brought the stick control back, but the game issue remains.

maz

@acraigl
While still not perfect it is playable with latest GLideN64 build. It isn't perfect but professor oak can now grade your images. Caveat is you can't see them. So if you take 5 picachu pics you have to remember / guess which one is best. It just shows a placeholder image instead of your picture. But it does let Oak grade now! Not sure when it will be a priority, but since the current binary released version shows you the image, but not Oak, I would hope it means eventually it can be fully working once a developer makes it a priority.

If you are using retropie you need to update N64 from source to get this. It is Work In Progress so it has other issues. Mario has flickering issues, of course you can use another video plugin for SM64, but other Rom could have a regression issue as well. Gonetz blog says he hopes to have a new stable version out by end of year.

Also when it saves your data after picture time, it takes a while. You might think it frozen, but it doesn't, just takes some time.

Here is link to the issue that is listed as closed on GLideN64 github Issue

maz

This post is deleted!

acraigl

@maz Thanks so much! Will update from source -- can't wait to try! :)

mediamogul

@maz

Very interesting progress report, thanks. I always look forward to hearing of advancements in this area and it's always impressive. Whoever said you can't get blood from a stone never met these developers.

acraigl

I'm happy to report that updating from source (that took a while!) and switching to GLideN64 did indeed work as @maz described, and I'm able to continue on with the game. It's littered with artifacts, choppy sound, and there's some transparency in the environments where there shouldn't be, but as stated, playable.

Thanks guys -- new to all this but sponging up all the info I can as I come up to speed.

maz

@acraigl
Good luck with your pester balls and secret areas. The clipping bug helps you know where things are. I wonder if oak will grade pictures properly with clipping or if he will give you points for something he shouldn't.

Also go find pikachu on a stump with lightning!

acraigl

How do I know when the emulators get updated? Is it just try occasionally or are there notifications available as part of retropie?

maz

@acraigl
I don't have a great answer for you. Specifically for GLideN64 there is a source code repository I have been checking since the project lead gonetz said a new version is imminent. It actually was just published as a specific 2.0 release yesterday. Still has some regression issues like Mario64 though.

GLideN64 code repository blog

Not sure how active mupen64plus or glupen is for actual emulators.