Getting the best N64 experience on a Pi 4

dankcushions

@luckyluca the spreadsheet says:

"Core Options & Overrides
NOTE: Framebuffer Emulation is typically ""True/Enabled"" by default. This ensures correct PAL functionality, but causes a significant performance hit. This list is mostly comprised of NTSC ROMs and assumes a ""False/Disabled"" state for the RetroArch emulators, unless otherwise specified."

retroarch emulators use core options, which are explained in my link. if you want to change them, you should change them via the RGUI of the retroarch emulator you are running, as per the link. the appropriate option will be called 'framebuffer emulation' or similar. you don't need to edit any files.

luckyluca

Thanks for your super-fast reply by the way.

Sorry but that specifically was not clear from your link.

After more digging, I assume it refers to EnableFBEmulation and it applies to the mupens lr cores under retroarch-core-options.cfg so it seems.

P.s.
I prefer editing configs directly.

luckyluca

@roslof

Thanks for your fantastic google doc. I was wondering, How up to date is it in regard to the n64?

Asking as I've been told that last year's advancements on mupen64plus-GLideN64 would make it a good candidate for 90% of the roms now?

Also, would it be a bad idea when testing, to assume that if games start, they would work throughout?

thank you again

billymild

Anyone using Vulkan yet?

dankcushions

@billymild said in Getting the best N64 experience on a Pi 4:

Anyone using Vulkan yet?

even if you manually installed latest mesa (vulkan is not included in the version used by current raspberry pi OS), there is no HLE n64 emulator that uses vulkan (ie, GLideN64 does not support vulkan), and the LLE video plugin that does support it (parallel-rdp) needs more than vulkan 1.0 anyway, and is likely very beyond the pi 4's gpu, vulkan or not.

billymild

@dankcushions there were a few tutorials on installing Vulkan on RPi4's. This is why I asked over on the forum.

billymild

When resolutions are referred to in this thread was that in reference to the resolution for the emulator in the Run Command window?

shavecat

Hey any news about that ?
i saw this video

and maybe we can get it working for the pi4 ? :O
And Merry Christmas

hooperre

@shavecat Merry Christmas. The Parallel core is Vulkan based, so there used to be a hang up there. I'm not sure the status in RetroPie currently, as Vulkan was introduced to the Pi 4 in October, but it may not have the muscle to run it even when it's fully integrated.

Maybe with due time and effort.

shavecat

@hooperre
got u
so guess we have to wait...

retropieuser555

I wonder how it runs in desktop raspberry pi? Is it even possible to run retroarch in there with built version of lr-parallel with vulkan? Or it doesn't support that yet anyway even in normal raspberry pi?

dankcushions

@shavecat said in Getting the best N64 experience on a Pi 4:

Hey any news about that ?
i saw this video

and maybe we can get it working for the pi4 ? :O
And Merry Christmas

that video is over a year old. lr-parallel is not new and is available in retropie, but it need a vulkan driver (and/or good CPU) for these fancy LLE features. current raspberry pis will just revert to ancient versions of the HLE plugins, of which better versions appear in the default n64 emulators.

as for the vulkan driver for pi4 - a) i don't believe it's featureset is advanced enough for lr-parallel and b) it's a very weak GPU and wouldn't run it in a usable way even if it could.

quicksilver

I noticed that this past year, mupen64plus's dynarec got some pretty big improvements. Stunt Racer 64, MRC: multi-racing championship, world driver championship, Rally Challenge 2000 and Glover are all playable now. Glover has some pretty severe graphical issues but it no longer crashes. The others all seem to work well. There maybe other games that function properly now too.

Edit: I should add that I'm testing using the gliden64 graphics plugin

roslof

@quicksilver glad to hear. It's funny that I actually checked Glover a night or two ago and noticed it was working, then updated the compatibility sheet. I checked the other unplayables, and they seem to remain unplayable (eg. Donald Duck, cannot collect stars). I cringe at the idea of testing all over again, but minimally, I'm thinking to recheck some of the more problematic games and see how they fair. Good to know that more than Glover was impacted.

Cheers,
Ros

tr3v0r

@roslof firstly roslof, can I say, I have been building a new image largely based on your spreadsheet. What am awesome source that is. Thank you for sharing!

On the N64, it states Star Wars Episode 1 Pod Racer works best using the stand alone mupen64plus-gles2rice emulator with ScreenUpdateSetting = 7. Whilst know how to do per game config using libretro cores, how do I do this for the stand alone emulator? I am assuming inserting a new entry into GLideN64.custom.ini but am unsure what to enter.

Any help would be amazing. Again, thank you for all your hard work

retropieuser555

@tr3v0r it's in the mupen64plus.cfg file. Under [Video-Rice] you should find the setting and can edit it there. You can do per game but honestly only like 3 games use Rice (Mystical ninja, Pilotwings and that star wars game)

ecto

There is a new translation for Wave Race 64 which uses the rumble feature. Naturally, I had to try to get it to work... :D

First of all: It works on mupen64plus standalone. You just have to add these lines to the mupen64plus.ini in the /opt/retropie/configs/n64folder:

[ECC1692D12FDCB0C3F605E44DD54CE8C]
GoodName=Wave Race Rumble Edition
Rumble=Yes
SaveType=Controller Pack

If you want to try getting it to run on lr-mupen64plus-next, you need to do something similar: In the ~/RetroPie/BIOS/Mupen64plus subfolder you find another mupen64plus.ini where the same entry as above has to be made. Next, you need to make mupen64plus.ini read only, so that it doen't get overwritten by the core.

The game now starts with lr-mupen64plus-next, but I only get a black screen as soon as I start a race. If anyone has any idea how to get it to run on the libretro core, please tell me. It has cost me several evenings to get this far, but I have no idea how to proceed. :)

YFZdude

So this thread seems like the place to ask. Are there any good solutions or compromises for the 2x native resolution and missing textures issues?

I'm using x86 so performance in general isn't an issue for me. I'm also using 'lr-mupen64plus-next' since it is supposed to be the future of n64 emulation (or is that in error?). But it seems like using double resolution for the nicer appearance still causes issues with certain games like Mario Kart having graphical issues on the character select screen. I was hoping to not have to run native res or have all my roms scattered over 6 different emulator / plug-in combos.

dankcushions

@YFZdude well mupen64plus-gliden64 is always going to more current than lr-mp64-next, since it's the standalone that eventually gets ported to -next.

however there should be a core option for enable native resolution textures, which i believe will fix that issue

ecto

Does anyone know if there is any shader support from mupen64plus (standalone)? I really like crt shaders for those low-res consoles, but I couldn't find anything...