shonumi Wrote:@garrlker - Nice Big Grin Which games do you plan on playing first?
@NV - Here are the results of my testing N64 emulation on Linux with Mupen64Plus and Project64 via WINE. First, PJ64. WINE runs the program as if it were a native application (except for the apparent OS theme clashing). I tried 2.1, and everything worked as I had tested on Windows. The plugins were fully usable, and it didn't have any trouble configuring my joystick either. In the games I tested, I had no trouble running the actual program during emulation, no crashing or hangs. There was some slowdown on my laptop that I did not observe on Mupen64Plus, but it's not going to be a problem for either CPU you're looking at for your HTPC (or any other recent computer you have for that matter). I don't know what else there is to say; if you wanted to run PJ64 without running Windows, you won't find yourself having a difficult time doing it through WINE.
Now for the rest of the stuff, the Mupen64Plus testing. Fwiw, I enjoyed this, since I managed to get a number of games working perfectly (or nearly so) that previously I had thought were utterly broken. I attribute this to using Glide64 over RICE (until recently, last January thereabouts, I really didn't consider using anything other than RICE). I tested both on 1.5 (which has a GUI, which you want) and 1.99.5 (which doesn't have a GUI, but has access to more plugins, bugfixes, etc). Most of the time, there isn't a difference between the two, except for the z64 LLE plugins or Glide64mk2 is needed. Glide64mk2 is the enhanced version of the default Glide64 included in the Mupen64Plus bundle. It's essentially GlideHQ+Glitch64 for Mupen64plus. You need to compile this yourself, but I happen to have 32-bit and 64-bit versions compiled (that is, if you're still even reading this part, having seen that PJ64 is flawless on WINE Tongue).
For the results, please note that I did not have enough time, games available, or friends with games to test every entry on your list. I nailed most of them. As far as I know, no one else has bothered to even categorize Mupen64plus' compatibility extensively except for an outdated wiki entry on their Google Code page. Who knows, perhaps this will be of some use to others (if they manage to stumble upon this post). Further note, except for Glide64mk2, I used the default settings. Unless explicitly stated, use Glide64 instead of Glide64mk2 (the latter has some issues in games, whereas the former does not). Additionally, Perfect, Very Good, Good, and Playable are equivalent to the Dolphin wiki's stars.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Perfect. RICE has some trouble emulating the fog (noticeable in Kikori) and texture issues in the pause menu. Glide64 has none of these problems.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - Perfect. Use Glide64 to see certain cutscenes, RICE shows these as black screens.
Super Mario 64 - Perfect. RICE or Glide64 is fine.
Banjo Kazooie - Very Good. Intro before the "Press Start" is slightly off. Either RICE or Glide64 is fine.
Banjo Tooie - Very Good. RICE has some text issues when you go to an area and the name is displayed on-screen (sometimes the letters are white where they should be yellow). Glide64 solves this issue. During some cutscenes, Glide64 may overlay minor artifacts across the screen for a second before disappearing. This game needs to use Mupen64Plus' Interpreter for the CPU to avoid freezes.
Donkey Kong 64 - Unplayable. Now, some people have gotten this to work, there are even videos of it online, however, I could not get to play significantly after booting it. I haven't tried the latest revisions, but it seems like a core error (division by zero).
Mario Kart 64 - Perfect. use Glide64mk2, enable Read Every Frame (fb_read_always) and Detect CPU Writes (detect_cpu_write) to get the monitor working in Luigi's Raceway.
Paper Mario - Perfect. use Glide64mk2, enable Read Every Frame (fb_read_always), Detect CPU Writes (detect_cpu_write), and Get Frame Buffer Info (fb_get_info). Some of those might not be necessary, but I didn't have time to test. The only issues with the regular Glide64 are the white shadows and the minor distortions in the "Paper Mario" logo after your 1st fight w/Bowser. Glide64mk2 doesn't have those problems. With RICE, some characters and sprites appear black.
Rayman 2: The Great Escape - Very Good. Use Glide64. RICE has flickering issues. Glide64 doesn't always display the transparency for in-game dialog text box (appears as a solid color), also has slight momentary garbage when starting a cutscene (very brief).
Star Fox 64 - Perfect. RICE or Glide64 is fine.
Star Wars Episode I Battle for Naboo - Playable. Thank Factor 5 for the custom ucode :/ Will not boot with RICE or Glide64. Needs LLE to start (z64 plugins). Sometimes speedy, sometimes slow under LLE. Minor flickering of objects during cinematics.
007: Goldeneye - Perfect. Use RICE. Glide64 has issues rendering the sky and other problems (the truck in the 1st mission gets stuck in the doors you're supposed to open).
007: The World is Not Enough - Playable. Glide64 works the best, but it still has glitches like displaying solid colors where textures should be for a split-second and not showing your gun. This game also requires the z64 plugin to LLE the RSP for any sound output, and even then it's slow. Personal note, I played this game thoroughly on the N64. If you played Goldeneye, you will be disappointed with this game. It's aged badly too Tongue
Super Smash Bros. - Perfect. Use Glide64mk2. RICE has numerous issues with textures (items are "floppy", certain backgrounds slant, garbage displayed on the single-player "Congradulations" screen). Regular Glide64 would be perfect, but it has texture stretching issues with the right side of character models.
Perfect Dark - Very Good. Only issues involve using Night Vision/CamSpy; Glide64 is required for this, and the game runs a bit slow when using those items. Minor graphical glitches with Glide64 during loading. RICE has no apparent issues other than the aforementioned NV/CamSpy.
Glover - Perfect. Use Glide64mk2. A line appears in the sky frequently (probably where the textures are supposed to fit together), present in both RICE and Glide64. Glide64's line is less noticeable and it's a solid color instead of glowing. That said, this is a horrible game! Testing this game only brought up memories I had long assumed were dead and buried. Please don't play it.
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter - Perfect. Use Glide64mk2. The regular Glide64 has white shadows (like Paper Mario). RICE has issues with draw distance and fog emulation.
Mario Party 2 - Perfect. Use RICE or Glide64.
Wow......thanks.
Shonumi Wrote:That said, this is a horrible game! Testing this game only brought up memories I had long assumed were dead and buried. Please don't play it.
This made my day. Yes I remember those dark days too.
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-Ron Swanson
"I shall be a good politician, even if it kills me. Or if it kills anyone else for that matter. "
-Mark Antony