RetroPie forum home
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Home
    • Docs
    • Register
    • Login

    Getting the best N64 experience on a Pi 4

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General Discussion and Gaming
    mupen64pluspi4 bnintendo 64
    365 Posts 41 Posters 243.1k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • dankcushionsD
      dankcushions Global Moderator @George Spiggott
      last edited by

      @George-Spiggott said in Getting the best N64 experience on a Pi 4:

      GlideN64 seems more accurate (it puts in the moving billboard on Mario Cart)

      i recently fixed this in lr-mupen64plus-next: https://github.com/libretro/mupen64plus-libretro-nx/pull/160 - it will take some time to be accepted, though.

      I can't seem to bring up any retroarch options with it though and it defaults to 3:4 aspect ratio.

      mupen64plus-gliden64 is not retroarch so you won't get any options. all n64 emus should default to 4:3 (assume you meant this), since that's what they were normally. it's possible to change it in the config of gliden64, though.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • George SpiggottG
        George Spiggott
        last edited by

        I look forward to seeing that.

        Does anyone know why the graphics on worms: Armageddon look so blurry on the N64 compared to say the Ps1.

        Currently running:
        Retropie 4.8.9 on a Pi Zero 2W (Overclock Settings: CPU 1400Mhz)
        ES-DE on a GMKtec K6 (Windows 11, 32GB RAM)

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • George SpiggottG
          George Spiggott
          last edited by

          Is it ever worth using the 16:9 screen resolutions and the two settings for it? Do any games actually make use of it?

          Currently running:
          Retropie 4.8.9 on a Pi Zero 2W (Overclock Settings: CPU 1400Mhz)
          ES-DE on a GMKtec K6 (Windows 11, 32GB RAM)

          dankcushionsD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • dankcushionsD
            dankcushions Global Moderator @George Spiggott
            last edited by

            @George-Spiggott said in Getting the best N64 experience on a Pi 4:

            Is it ever worth using the 16:9 screen resolutions and the two settings for it? Do any games actually make use of it?

            some games had anamorphic widescreen modes, so i guess it would be worth it for that: https://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=41744

            George SpiggottG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • George SpiggottG
              George Spiggott
              last edited by

              @quicksilver said in Good news regarding tearing and low EmulationStation performance on Pi 4:

              @George-Spiggott Without getting too far off topic. Try mupen64plus-gliden64. It seems to run full speed for me. Generally it is faster than lr-mupen64plus-next.

              Thanks @quicksilver. I hope you don't mind me replying here instead. I tried mupen64plus-gliden64 but the game seems sluggish and the sound is distorted. IMO lr-mupen64plus-next definitely plays SotE better as only the sound is affected.

              As an aside I tried running SotE with the CPU overclock turned off. It made no difference to the game speed whatsoever.

              Currently running:
              Retropie 4.8.9 on a Pi Zero 2W (Overclock Settings: CPU 1400Mhz)
              ES-DE on a GMKtec K6 (Windows 11, 32GB RAM)

              quicksilverQ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • quicksilverQ
                quicksilver @George Spiggott
                last edited by quicksilver

                @George-Spiggott Yes this seems a better place for this conversation. It plays full speed for me with gliden64. Can you post the contents of /opt/retropie/configs/n64/mupen64plus.cfg and /opt/retropie/configs/all/autoconf.cfg? Perhaps our settings are different?

                George SpiggottG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • George SpiggottG
                  George Spiggott @quicksilver
                  last edited by George Spiggott

                  Thanks @quicksilver. Here they are.

                  mupen64plus.cfg

                  <iframe src="https://pastebin.com/embed_iframe/Ph5wcRp4" style="border:none;width:100%"></iframe>

                  [edit] new link

                  autoconf.cfg

                  "8bitdo_hack = "0"
                  es_swap_a_b = "0"
                  disable = "0"
                  mupen64plus_audio = "0"
                  mupen64plus_compatibility_check = "0"
                  mupen64plus_hotkeys = "1"
                  mupen64plus_texture_packs = "1""

                  Currently running:
                  Retropie 4.8.9 on a Pi Zero 2W (Overclock Settings: CPU 1400Mhz)
                  ES-DE on a GMKtec K6 (Windows 11, 32GB RAM)

                  quicksilverQ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • quicksilverQ
                    quicksilver @George Spiggott
                    last edited by

                    @George-Spiggott are you sure that is your mupen64plus.cfg? It's not fully populated. That looks more like mupen64plus.cfg.rp-dist.

                    George SpiggottG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • George SpiggottG
                      George Spiggott @quicksilver
                      last edited by

                      @quicksilver Oops yes it is. Fixed the link above.

                      Currently running:
                      Retropie 4.8.9 on a Pi Zero 2W (Overclock Settings: CPU 1400Mhz)
                      ES-DE on a GMKtec K6 (Windows 11, 32GB RAM)

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • quicksilverQ
                        quicksilver
                        last edited by

                        In the audio-sdl section change resample to "trivial" that should help with the audio issues.

                        Are you running in 4k mode?

                        George SpiggottG 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
                        • George SpiggottG
                          George Spiggott @quicksilver
                          last edited by George Spiggott

                          @quicksilver Will check the audio settings. TV is 1080p. Mupen is running in 320x240.

                          I don't understand why the audio cuts out when there is so much spare processing time. I assumed that audio is processed by the CPU.

                          Currently running:
                          Retropie 4.8.9 on a Pi Zero 2W (Overclock Settings: CPU 1400Mhz)
                          ES-DE on a GMKtec K6 (Windows 11, 32GB RAM)

                          dankcushionsD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • dankcushionsD
                            dankcushions Global Moderator @George Spiggott
                            last edited by

                            @George-Spiggott said in Getting the best N64 experience on a Pi 4:

                            @quicksilver Will check the audio settings. TV is 1080p. Mupen is running in 320x240.

                            I don't understand why the audio cuts out when there is so much spare processing time. I assumed that audio is processed by the CPU.

                            if the gpu can't deliver frames in time, it bottlenecks everything else. cpu power is mostly irrelevant with n64 on raspberry pi. even the rpi 2 has enough grunt most of the time.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                            • George SpiggottG
                              George Spiggott @quicksilver
                              last edited by

                              @quicksilver I went for a variation on your suggestion, I had a look at the audio settings for lr-mupen64plus-next and increased Audio Latency (ms) to 512 (from 64). It seems to have smoothed out most of the audio issues I have. The game still doesn't run at 100% speed but it is well playable.

                              I have also pretty much completely turned off my CPU overclock. I am tempted to see how far I can push the GPU to iron out the frame rate issues on N64 and PSP.

                              @dankcushions thanks for the explanation.

                              Currently running:
                              Retropie 4.8.9 on a Pi Zero 2W (Overclock Settings: CPU 1400Mhz)
                              ES-DE on a GMKtec K6 (Windows 11, 32GB RAM)

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • George SpiggottG
                                George Spiggott @dankcushions
                                last edited by George Spiggott

                                @dankcushions I found a list of the games that dk benefit from 16:9. There seems to be about half a dozen of them.

                                https://www.google.com/amp/gametyrant.com/news/n64-games-that-had-widescreen-support-part-1-anamorphic-widescreen%3Fformat=amp

                                The only one I have is Perfect Dark. It will take advantage of 16:9 adjusted. You have to have a fairly sharp eye to notice the difference e.g the moon is actually a cirle at the start of level 1. Nice to find a game with that option though.

                                Currently running:
                                Retropie 4.8.9 on a Pi Zero 2W (Overclock Settings: CPU 1400Mhz)
                                ES-DE on a GMKtec K6 (Windows 11, 32GB RAM)

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • George SpiggottG
                                  George Spiggott
                                  last edited by

                                  Does anyone know how to gwt Mario Cart 64 to run in 640x480 without the graphics breaking up on the character select screen?

                                  Currently running:
                                  Retropie 4.8.9 on a Pi Zero 2W (Overclock Settings: CPU 1400Mhz)
                                  ES-DE on a GMKtec K6 (Windows 11, 32GB RAM)

                                  quicksilverQ dankcushionsD 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • quicksilverQ
                                    quicksilver @George Spiggott
                                    last edited by

                                    @George-Spiggott can you post a screenshot? Often times there are issues with 2D objects having lines in them when you increase the resolution beyond the original render resolution of that system. This happens with a number of emulators, not just mupen64plus.

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                    • dankcushionsD
                                      dankcushions Global Moderator @George Spiggott
                                      last edited by

                                      @George-Spiggott i belive:

                                      # Render 2D texrects in native resolution to fix misalignment between parts of 2D image. (0=Off, 1=Optimized, 2=Unoptimized)
                                      EnableNativeResTexrects = 0
                                      

                                      to

                                      # Render 2D texrects in native resolution to fix misalignment between parts of 2D image. (0=Off, 1=Optimized, 2=Unoptimized)
                                      EnableNativeResTexrects = 1
                                      

                                      in /opt/retropie/configs/n64/mupen64plus.cfg

                                      or the equiv core option in lr-mupen.

                                      quicksilverQ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                      • quicksilverQ
                                        quicksilver @dankcushions
                                        last edited by

                                        @dankcushions I had not noticed that option before. Do you know if there a performance hit for using it?

                                        dankcushionsD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • dankcushionsD
                                          dankcushions Global Moderator @quicksilver
                                          last edited by

                                          @quicksilver there presumably will be otherwise it would default on.

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                          • George SpiggottG
                                            George Spiggott
                                            last edited by George Spiggott

                                            @dankcushions Thanks that solved it. There were a few N64 games that ran well on a stock Pi3B+ I think most of these will be good candidates to run at 640x480 on a Pi4. So far Mario Cart 64 and Donkey Kong Racing are the only ones I have tried. I also managed to fix my Worms Armageddon problem by running the game in Mupen64plus in 640x480.

                                            This is the graphical error in Mario Cart 64 so people know what to look out for.

                                            Mario Kart 64 (U)-200426-182759.png

                                            Currently running:
                                            Retropie 4.8.9 on a Pi Zero 2W (Overclock Settings: CPU 1400Mhz)
                                            ES-DE on a GMKtec K6 (Windows 11, 32GB RAM)

                                            R 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • First post
                                              Last post

                                            Contributions to the project are always appreciated, so if you would like to support us with a donation you can do so here.

                                            Hosting provided by Mythic-Beasts. See the Hosting Information page for more information.