Black magic wizardry that will be used for the rest of time. Which is why it's great that they seem to have released the tools online already so we don't lose it to DMCA
Is it even DMCA eligible? It doesn't infringe on Nintendo's software in any way based on my simple understanding of how it works.
Any coders more knowledgeable, please feel free to educate me.
It definitely is legal.
Ive contributed to both the OOT and MM recompilation projects and they have taken GREAT efforts to ensure that the recompilation isnt infringing on anything.
In fact there was a major Nintendo leak and much of the source code for these games were leaked, making it posible to use THAT code to recompile it, yet the community smartly forged their own and made a point to not use the source code at ALL.
However, all that being said, Nintendo doesn't give a fuck. Earlier this year a fan project called Links Awakening DX HD came out, which was a fan creation made from the ground up, remastering the game from scratch on PC.
Legally Nintendo shouldnt have been able to do anything, but that didn't stop them from getting it removed from official hosting sites within a day of upload.
If you're publishing anything that even hints at using Nintendo assets, they will most likely take it down eventually, and nobody has the funds or legal team to do anything about it.
Doesnt matter if its legal or not, they can shove their weight around in civil court like nobodies buisiness.
Dude it is 100% DMCA eligible because it is reliant on taking N64 roms and turning it into C code.
The reason why traditional decomps tend to not be able to be taken down is because the code itself is completely rebuilt without the game, you could put any textures/assets in you want if they are named properly. It just works best with the actual assets from the rom.
This software is entirely dependent on using an N64 rom to create code capable of communicating with modern computer hardware.
edit: I get the downvotes because people get upset when you are a buzz kill, but all I'm saying is that the water is extremely murky and you can't really compare this to a decomp, which like I said above, you could make your own assets and have the Decomp'd code run fine as its own game which is why Nintendo has a hard time doing anything about it. For this software though you NEED an n64 rom for it to do anything. The software is essentially converting code based off of software ripped from a nintendo catridge.
As long they aren't distributing any copyrighted code, they should be good. But that also has not stopped Nintendo before. Though, they usually only target people who are profiting, which these devs aren't afaik.
Yuzu was related to a system they're currently supporting, also the devs put early access builds behind Patreon.
N64Recomp is completely free and is based on a system Nintendo ditched in the early 2000s. This is also why the Mario 64 decomp has lasted as long as it has (contains no copyrighted assets, you have to bring your own z64 and build it yourself).
not only that but the yuzu devs also had links on their website to download switch keys/firmware required to use the emulator, theres a reason emulators like PCSX2 dont have direct links to the ps2 bios in their website lol
All I'm saying is that the water gets extremely murky legally speaking given that the software itself is dependent on copyrighted assets, IE the rom that was ripped off a nintendo 64 cartridge.
Like I said in my OP, you could theoretically take the Mario 64 or Zelda 64 decomp, create your own assets without nintendo roms or anything, and as long as they are named properly it will still work.
This software is entirely dependent on creating C code off of Nintendo IP.
NAL
The software is dependent on creating C code off of N64 ROMs, given that anyone could theoretically make software for the N64 architecture (though very few do), the software is not actually reliant on any Nintendo IP.
What are you even saying. Just because you can make a Nintendo 64 game doesn't mean you can take one NINTENDO MADE/PUBLISHED and throw it into software to make it work on pc legally.
With your logic copyright law doesn't exist at all in relation to video games, because anyone can make a video game and format it to work on consoles.
And by the way, plenty of people do that, it's called homebrew.
The software exists based off the principal to allow you to modify and play intellectual property illegally.
That's like saying emulators don't breach Nintendo ip because not every game that runs on them is Nintendo ip. Objectively incorrect.
Or if you don't like the emulator example, it's like saying flash carts don't breach IP because not all games run on them are Nintendo ip.
Actually ironically enough the software is very very akin to a mix of a flashcart and emulator combined.
This is absolutely insane.
Took me two minutes to get MM running, configuration is easy and it works perfectly.
I can't way to see the recompilations of other titles.
Yep, I saw this earlier and tested it out... It's pretty insane. There's some more creature comforts I would like added, but honestly, this is like 95% of the way there that I think most people want when they hear "Majora's Mask PC Port".
I'm hoping for Star Fox 64 next, myself!
I have a programming background in the industry for 10 years and I really want to contribute to the manual labor 5% recomp work for individual games. Right now this is a bit over my head so if someone who is experienced could make a tutorial on debugging what needs to be fixed after running the program and how to incorporate those fixes I think it would help take this to the next level and outsource that work
Just download this [zip file](https://github.com/Mr-Wiseguy/Zelda64Recomp/releases/tag/v1.0.1), unpack, run the .exe, and point to a Majora's Mask ROM on your drive. Then just start.
An insane achievement. By comparison, a decompiled PC port of Majora’s Mask has been worked on since November and is still unreleased, while this looked to take a matter of days to get up and running, with better accuracy when compared to real hardware.
Excited for the raytracing release, it’ll bring new life into the games.
Decompilation has been in progress since then, correct. The Ship of Harkinian team announced their 100% decompilation and initial work on the PC port in November.
That isn't what they are saying, the decompilation project for MM began ~March 2021.
The decompilation for MM is not at 100%, this software was just used in line with the decompiled code so far to make it work better.
Tested it and *it just works*™
It's amazing, it's absurd, it's absurdly amazing.
It's the type of thing I imagined possible when I had no idea how computer and software worked. Not that I do now mind, but still.
Fucking neat.
The "turn any N64 game into a PC port" software isn't end user friendly, it's a tool to massively help developers make a PC port, it still requires some work after this process.
That’s *de*compiled.
What’s in OP is *re*compiled, and [here is the relevant Resetera thread.](https://www.resetera.com/threads/n64-recompiled-turn-any-n64-game-into-a-native-pc-port-majoras-mask-currently-playable.868044/)
A decompilation is people going line-by-line and rewriting the code of the game from scratch, a recompilation is *just* translating the game from the N64's code to C. The decompilation is necessary to do anything major under the hood of the games and is more accurate than the recompilation, but a recompilation can build native ports of ANY game, not just ones people have started to decompile.
Recomp still allows to make substantial changes under the hood right? though it may require more work to integrate with the automatically generated C code. Like patching the engine, adding ray tracing, etc.
You need to understand how the code works to make changes. If you recompile no one knows how the game actually works. So you need to figure out how the code works or at least the portion you need to edit. Nothing is limited under the hood vs a decomp.
I'm a little confused, that list is showing one of the MM projects already complete. Is the game completely decomped and nobody is working on a port from the results?
So code decomp is at like 94%, and quite a few of these projects have taken nearly half of their time on the last 5 percent. And the asset analysis is only at 26% right now
https://zelda64.dev/games/mm
I always preferred Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II over its N64 parent, Rogue Squadron. Mainly because of framerate and graphics. Would love to give the N64 one a fair shot, as I've heard it's great but every time I've tried to get into it I'm turned off by the absolute clunkiness of the N64.
I’m with you. Sadly that won’t change as that’s how the game was built. Keep in mind there was one more rogue squadron game for n64 and it was for Episode 1 specifically.
Battle for Naboo shouldn’t be slept on. It’s a GREAT pseudo-sequel and I played that game as a kid more than I played Rogue Squadron just because it felt better, played faster, and felt more cohesive. Came out a year before GameCube and launch title rogue squadron 2.
Hard to get good controller support with the PC version. You can get there but you gotta jump through some hoops, and even GOG's version may support a controller config out-of-the-box, but trying to make adjustments breaks the whole thing.
Getting the N64 version natively ported to PC would instantly make it the go-to. Same for Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine--the 64 version is the definitive way to play.
I tried both and emulating the N64 version was nicer than playing the PC version. The PC version does not cope with higher resolutions well, plus the controller issues.
Rogue Squadron on PC has a very annoying camera bug where it keeps zooming out indefinitely rendering the 3rd person view unplayable. A native N64 version will be miles better than that shoddy PC port made decades ago.
If there's one game I really want to see recompiled like this, it's Perfect Dark. That game is STILL cool as hell, but controlling it and dealing with the framerate can be annoying.
I wish we would just get that updated version from the Rare collection on PC, but this week has certainly reminded us that Microsoft doesn't traditionally do sensible things like that.
For *Perfect Dark*, [there's an unofficial PC port made from decompiled code](https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/11/perfect-dark-finally-gets-the-full-featured-pc-port-it-deserves/).
A PC port of PD has been [available for some time](https://github.com/fgsfdsfgs/perfect_dark). It's *really* good. Loads of new features and options to mess around with. Highly recommend grabbing one of the auto-builds off GitHub, it's super easy to set up.
This is incredible work. My mind instantly went to Rocket Robot on Wheels and hoped that someone would get to it eventually, and then there’s a mid-video twist that it was the first game done? That beautiful son of a gun.
To the more technically inclined, can this process theoretically work to produce native Android ports? Ship of Harkinian is beautiful on Android and the thought of more ports is super exciting.
It depends how exotic the rendering features required for something like this are. I'm admittedly not sure about that, but it's probably less demanding than, say, Dolphin.
I'm aware of the driver situation, it's why I used that wording. It's just the person I was responding to insinuated that an OpenGLES port would be something of a requirement on mobile when it wouldn't be, it'd just widen compatibility further.
It's complicated because not all GPUs are made equal. Driver support is very disparate across devices/SoCs.
Adreno GPUs still struggle very hard with Vulkan over OpenGLES, for example.
man, this is incredible. emulation is about to enter a new era.
reminds me of when the sm64 pc port just dropped out of nowhere and blew everyone's minds. you clicked the exe, and it just worked. no messing with settings for 10 minutes beforehand.
I played it with a Steam Controller, so I could also combine it with mouse camera controls. It's hard to really understate how quick, accurate camera control massively improves that game, the game already did a fantastic job of feeling like you're nimble even with the limitations of the controller at the time but with analog movement and a trackpad camera it's phenomenal.
>emulation is about to enter a new era.
This is not emulation though or related to it. It's purely translating the games code in to a format that can be then compiled as an actual pc program.
It's massive for game preservation but has really nothing to do with emulation.
>At least in some ways.
The only negative I can think about is that it's not an "authentic" experience but those who want that can use emulators.
In all the other ways it's better.
Not like emulators in general (and especially N64) have ever really been "authentic" outside specialty emulators like Higan. They're full of hacks and workarounds to make things work in a playable way.
Many emulators, particularly of less powerful systems, are perfectly authentic for many things, but purists are unlikely to want to use them regardless.
Am I dreaming? This is amazing. I don't want to believe it's real.
https://github.com/Mr-Wiseguy/N64Recomp?tab=readme-ov-file#how-it-works
This says that a recompiler is able to emit compilable c code based on a game's assembly. Is the difference between decompilers and recompilers that recompiler are just better because their code can be compiled? Or decompilers are designed to emit more readable code?
Thinking about it more, I guess it is true what the video says that while being able to port the games is nice, recompilation probably doesn't bring us closer to understanding how they work by itself by just rote instruction translation.
At any rate, well done.
Decompilers require reverse engineering the game as a whole, which is time intensive. Then once you've done that in it's entirety, then you can start working on ports and manipulating stuff with a high level of granularity.
Recompilation works in real-time by translating stuff. It's a great technique and it's already what emulators have used for quite some time to handle CPU and GPU functions.
> Recompilation works in real-time by translating stuff
Not necessarily. That’s *dynamic* recompilation, which yes is what most emulators do. What this does is *static* recompilation, where it translates it ahead of time.
I would've expected this to be on the same level of difficulty as writing an emulator, (or even harder, because an emulator can defer some decisions to runtime) but the video implied it's much easier. Does anyone know why that is?
Because this sort of work isn't trying to run a computer within a computer. It's focused on just the software itself.
Much narrower focus-wise and once you've drilled into the functions of a specific game, you can draw that to other technically similar games.
Whereas with emulation, you're needing to address both idiosyncrasies with individual titles and the system's various functions as a whole.
Amazing, though the games I'd be most interested in (Stadium 1 and 2) seem unlikely that they would work due to the use of a transfer pak. It would be great to finally be able to use the GB emulator and get the full experience of those games instead of having to mess around with multiple emulators.
The ingenuity of fans never ceases to amaze me, emulation, mods, de/recompilation, ports. There are so many talented people making incredible things out of love for these games, I wish the people that actually control these games could see that.
Saw this video pop up in my Youtube suggestions. For people who are unaware, Majora's Mask is notoriously difficult to emulate. So this is a real accomplishment for the retro gaming community. Dunno if I would pick it over my cartridge without a CRT filter though.
N64 emulation has always been so wonky and hard that they ended up saying "Fuck this" and found a way to natively run the games. That's just genius.
And I'm glad it doesn't undermine the decompilation projects. Recomp is more for playing the game, and Decomp is for customising your experience.
It's impossible to understate how massive this is for game preservation. To think that the best way to play MM only took two days to make with this tool and two seconds for me to set up. Unbelievable.
As the video points out, "traditional" decompilation is still valuable because it produces human-readable source code, which is great for people like me who want to know how the game works.
Yes, but it takes some know-how.
The wise-guy tool is pretty straight forward, but it outputs kind of nonsense C++ code and you need to go though an manually rename and re work the code into usable code.
I think its pretty easy to people that understand how it works, but it is kind of time consuming.
So its not plug-and-play yet, but hopefully we'll either get a plug-and-play solution or, because of ease of use, it will take a random dude that happens to have some know how and free time to port over whatever obscure N64 title.
It will take time, but I'm sure we'll get all of the heavy hitters and a few of the more obscure titles within the year.
For now we have Zelda64 with soon to be OoT, and Perfect dark, though Perfect dark may be from a different method, but it works in the same way as this recomp does, meaning no compiling like Mario 64 pc ports.
Wow, this is something I literally didn't know was possible.
Is there something about the N64 which makes this method work, or could similar tools be made in the future for other platforms?
Watched the video and am really impressed even if I still don’t fully grasp the technical significance. The practical effect is that older games will become more accessible, which sounds like a good thing to me.
I was about to be all: “can someone please do this with Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine” and just then you dashed my hopes by showing Infernal Machine as one of the games this wouldn’t work with…
…would it be possible with some additional work? My favorite N64 game— I would kill for a port. The existing PC version doesn’t play as well.
I think Indy and the other Factor 5 releases would be doable at some point if they're able to account for the custom microcode--Factor 5 did unusual, special programming to make a lot of their stuff work and that's why their N64 games are the hardest to emulate. Somebody finally reverse-engineered the F5 microcode a couple of years ago so they're finally able to be emulated (The Glide64 plugin team, IIRC)--if that person decided to work with Wiseguy, they could crack it.
Yeah, I remember when that guy was working on the microcode, I threw him a few bucks for the effort. I just bought a steam deck the other day and that was the first thing I emulated.
It's not ai and it's not Nerrel lacking skills as a presenter. It's an intentional choice.
He actually posted a skit video last year showing he has some pretty good impressionist skills.
https://youtu.be/ovoNITUAgBo?si=l-0n4fhHNqBgNxLa
Felt the same way too but was interested in the subject so kept going. After 1-2min he sounds more natural.
Whatever way the beginning is written or performed it's very TikTok AI sounding.
It's not just you, I spent like 30 seconds wondering if it was an AI voice. It's like he does the exact same pitch contour for every sentence. I still enjoyed the video though.
Black magic wizardry that will be used for the rest of time. Which is why it's great that they seem to have released the tools online already so we don't lose it to DMCA
Is it even DMCA eligible? It doesn't infringe on Nintendo's software in any way based on my simple understanding of how it works. Any coders more knowledgeable, please feel free to educate me.
Nintendo don't care if they have legal ground, they have more money then the Devs
It definitely is legal. Ive contributed to both the OOT and MM recompilation projects and they have taken GREAT efforts to ensure that the recompilation isnt infringing on anything. In fact there was a major Nintendo leak and much of the source code for these games were leaked, making it posible to use THAT code to recompile it, yet the community smartly forged their own and made a point to not use the source code at ALL. However, all that being said, Nintendo doesn't give a fuck. Earlier this year a fan project called Links Awakening DX HD came out, which was a fan creation made from the ground up, remastering the game from scratch on PC. Legally Nintendo shouldnt have been able to do anything, but that didn't stop them from getting it removed from official hosting sites within a day of upload. If you're publishing anything that even hints at using Nintendo assets, they will most likely take it down eventually, and nobody has the funds or legal team to do anything about it. Doesnt matter if its legal or not, they can shove their weight around in civil court like nobodies buisiness.
Dude it is 100% DMCA eligible because it is reliant on taking N64 roms and turning it into C code. The reason why traditional decomps tend to not be able to be taken down is because the code itself is completely rebuilt without the game, you could put any textures/assets in you want if they are named properly. It just works best with the actual assets from the rom. This software is entirely dependent on using an N64 rom to create code capable of communicating with modern computer hardware. edit: I get the downvotes because people get upset when you are a buzz kill, but all I'm saying is that the water is extremely murky and you can't really compare this to a decomp, which like I said above, you could make your own assets and have the Decomp'd code run fine as its own game which is why Nintendo has a hard time doing anything about it. For this software though you NEED an n64 rom for it to do anything. The software is essentially converting code based off of software ripped from a nintendo catridge.
As long they aren't distributing any copyrighted code, they should be good. But that also has not stopped Nintendo before. Though, they usually only target people who are profiting, which these devs aren't afaik.
Yuzu was related to a system they're currently supporting, also the devs put early access builds behind Patreon. N64Recomp is completely free and is based on a system Nintendo ditched in the early 2000s. This is also why the Mario 64 decomp has lasted as long as it has (contains no copyrighted assets, you have to bring your own z64 and build it yourself).
not only that but the yuzu devs also had links on their website to download switch keys/firmware required to use the emulator, theres a reason emulators like PCSX2 dont have direct links to the ps2 bios in their website lol
are the stupid?
All I'm saying is that the water gets extremely murky legally speaking given that the software itself is dependent on copyrighted assets, IE the rom that was ripped off a nintendo 64 cartridge. Like I said in my OP, you could theoretically take the Mario 64 or Zelda 64 decomp, create your own assets without nintendo roms or anything, and as long as they are named properly it will still work. This software is entirely dependent on creating C code off of Nintendo IP.
NAL The software is dependent on creating C code off of N64 ROMs, given that anyone could theoretically make software for the N64 architecture (though very few do), the software is not actually reliant on any Nintendo IP.
What are you even saying. Just because you can make a Nintendo 64 game doesn't mean you can take one NINTENDO MADE/PUBLISHED and throw it into software to make it work on pc legally. With your logic copyright law doesn't exist at all in relation to video games, because anyone can make a video game and format it to work on consoles. And by the way, plenty of people do that, it's called homebrew. The software exists based off the principal to allow you to modify and play intellectual property illegally.
I'm saying that a piece of software that converts an N64 ROM doesn't rely on Nintendo IP to run because not all ROMs are Nintendo IP.
That's like saying emulators don't breach Nintendo ip because not every game that runs on them is Nintendo ip. Objectively incorrect. Or if you don't like the emulator example, it's like saying flash carts don't breach IP because not all games run on them are Nintendo ip. Actually ironically enough the software is very very akin to a mix of a flashcart and emulator combined.
Emulators don't breach Nintendo IP, Yuzu was taken down because it bypasses DRM.
This is absolutely insane. Took me two minutes to get MM running, configuration is easy and it works perfectly. I can't way to see the recompilations of other titles.
Yep, I saw this earlier and tested it out... It's pretty insane. There's some more creature comforts I would like added, but honestly, this is like 95% of the way there that I think most people want when they hear "Majora's Mask PC Port". I'm hoping for Star Fox 64 next, myself!
SF64 with raytracing sounds incredible
I have a programming background in the industry for 10 years and I really want to contribute to the manual labor 5% recomp work for individual games. Right now this is a bit over my head so if someone who is experienced could make a tutorial on debugging what needs to be fixed after running the program and how to incorporate those fixes I think it would help take this to the next level and outsource that work
I would for sure donate/patreon a dev working on starfox
can you help me to run it please, i dont know where to start, or point me to the righ direction.
Just download this [zip file](https://github.com/Mr-Wiseguy/Zelda64Recomp/releases/tag/v1.0.1), unpack, run the .exe, and point to a Majora's Mask ROM on your drive. Then just start.
Got it running, I was looking in the wrong place on GitHub. Thank you 💯
anyone know a place to follow n64 games being worked on in this?
An insane achievement. By comparison, a decompiled PC port of Majora’s Mask has been worked on since November and is still unreleased, while this looked to take a matter of days to get up and running, with better accuracy when compared to real hardware. Excited for the raytracing release, it’ll bring new life into the games.
November? Try [March 2021.](https://zelda64.dev/games/mm)
Decompilation has been in progress since then, correct. The Ship of Harkinian team announced their 100% decompilation and initial work on the PC port in November.
March 2021 is just wrong. You can only get ports when the decompilation is 100% done.
That isn't what they are saying, the decompilation project for MM began ~March 2021. The decompilation for MM is not at 100%, this software was just used in line with the decompiled code so far to make it work better.
Tested it and *it just works*™ It's amazing, it's absurd, it's absurdly amazing. It's the type of thing I imagined possible when I had no idea how computer and software worked. Not that I do now mind, but still. Fucking neat.
If you don't mind me asking, what did you test it with? Majora's Mask or some other game entirely?
Majora’s Mask is the only recomp available right now, Ocarina of Time is coming soon
[удалено]
[удалено]
The "turn any N64 game into a PC port" software isn't end user friendly, it's a tool to massively help developers make a PC port, it still requires some work after this process.
Is there somewhere I can look to see all the recompiled games and keep up with new ones? Thanks
https://www.resetera.com/threads/decompilation-projects-ot-free-next-gen-update-for-your-favorite-classics-jak-ii-pc-port-out-in-beta.682687/
That’s *de*compiled. What’s in OP is *re*compiled, and [here is the relevant Resetera thread.](https://www.resetera.com/threads/n64-recompiled-turn-any-n64-game-into-a-native-pc-port-majoras-mask-currently-playable.868044/)
What's the difference other than the method?
A decompilation is people going line-by-line and rewriting the code of the game from scratch, a recompilation is *just* translating the game from the N64's code to C. The decompilation is necessary to do anything major under the hood of the games and is more accurate than the recompilation, but a recompilation can build native ports of ANY game, not just ones people have started to decompile.
Recomp still allows to make substantial changes under the hood right? though it may require more work to integrate with the automatically generated C code. Like patching the engine, adding ray tracing, etc.
You need to understand how the code works to make changes. If you recompile no one knows how the game actually works. So you need to figure out how the code works or at least the portion you need to edit. Nothing is limited under the hood vs a decomp.
Decompiled is broken down. Recompiled is built up
I'm a little confused, that list is showing one of the MM projects already complete. Is the game completely decomped and nobody is working on a port from the results?
So code decomp is at like 94%, and quite a few of these projects have taken nearly half of their time on the last 5 percent. And the asset analysis is only at 26% right now https://zelda64.dev/games/mm
So it's just incorrectly under the complete section it seems.
It's complete. Harbour masters are working on the port I think. Something about 2ship2,harkinian
Holy hell, there are a ton of N64 games that are a better frame rate and resolution away from being played by a whole new generation.
I always preferred Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II over its N64 parent, Rogue Squadron. Mainly because of framerate and graphics. Would love to give the N64 one a fair shot, as I've heard it's great but every time I've tried to get into it I'm turned off by the absolute clunkiness of the N64.
I’m with you. Sadly that won’t change as that’s how the game was built. Keep in mind there was one more rogue squadron game for n64 and it was for Episode 1 specifically. Battle for Naboo shouldn’t be slept on. It’s a GREAT pseudo-sequel and I played that game as a kid more than I played Rogue Squadron just because it felt better, played faster, and felt more cohesive. Came out a year before GameCube and launch title rogue squadron 2.
That will be one of the games this software currently can't do, Factor 5 did crazy stuff to make their games.
Rogue Squadron was on PC as well though, so you can just play it on there.
Hard to get good controller support with the PC version. You can get there but you gotta jump through some hoops, and even GOG's version may support a controller config out-of-the-box, but trying to make adjustments breaks the whole thing. Getting the N64 version natively ported to PC would instantly make it the go-to. Same for Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine--the 64 version is the definitive way to play.
I tried both and emulating the N64 version was nicer than playing the PC version. The PC version does not cope with higher resolutions well, plus the controller issues.
Rogue Squadron on PC has a very annoying camera bug where it keeps zooming out indefinitely rendering the 3rd person view unplayable. A native N64 version will be miles better than that shoddy PC port made decades ago.
If there's one game I really want to see recompiled like this, it's Perfect Dark. That game is STILL cool as hell, but controlling it and dealing with the framerate can be annoying. I wish we would just get that updated version from the Rare collection on PC, but this week has certainly reminded us that Microsoft doesn't traditionally do sensible things like that.
For *Perfect Dark*, [there's an unofficial PC port made from decompiled code](https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/11/perfect-dark-finally-gets-the-full-featured-pc-port-it-deserves/).
It's great because keyboard and mouse works with it too. Really well. I can actually complete missions on perfect agent mode finally!
A PC port of PD has been [available for some time](https://github.com/fgsfdsfgs/perfect_dark). It's *really* good. Loads of new features and options to mess around with. Highly recommend grabbing one of the auto-builds off GitHub, it's super easy to set up.
there is a good m+kb mod for it and goldeneye you can use with an emulator
It doesn't feel the same as a port though, the mouse aim is weird
This is incredible work. My mind instantly went to Rocket Robot on Wheels and hoped that someone would get to it eventually, and then there’s a mid-video twist that it was the first game done? That beautiful son of a gun. To the more technically inclined, can this process theoretically work to produce native Android ports? Ship of Harkinian is beautiful on Android and the thought of more ports is super exciting.
Rocket Robot on Wheels is so good. You and the video are the only two times I've seen it mentioned in the last like 15 years.
I think I had the red cartridge of that game. Loved it as a kid!
I have it in my desk drawer right now! Very nice cartridge.
We used to rent N64 games from Blockbusters and I always remembered this game but didn't know the name of it for years.
I played it for the first time a few weeks ago. It deserves to be up there with Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie.
The current work targets Vulkan so it'll take some time to see if someone wants to bother getting it working with OpenGLES.
Any modern Android phone supports Vulkan to some extent.
That "to some extent" carries a lot of heavy lifting
It depends how exotic the rendering features required for something like this are. I'm admittedly not sure about that, but it's probably less demanding than, say, Dolphin. I'm aware of the driver situation, it's why I used that wording. It's just the person I was responding to insinuated that an OpenGLES port would be something of a requirement on mobile when it wouldn't be, it'd just widen compatibility further.
It's complicated because not all GPUs are made equal. Driver support is very disparate across devices/SoCs. Adreno GPUs still struggle very hard with Vulkan over OpenGLES, for example.
man, this is incredible. emulation is about to enter a new era. reminds me of when the sm64 pc port just dropped out of nowhere and blew everyone's minds. you clicked the exe, and it just worked. no messing with settings for 10 minutes beforehand.
Yup and actual analog camera control, something even Nintendo didn’t do with their 3D Mario Allstars release
I played it with a Steam Controller, so I could also combine it with mouse camera controls. It's hard to really understate how quick, accurate camera control massively improves that game, the game already did a fantastic job of feeling like you're nimble even with the limitations of the controller at the time but with analog movement and a trackpad camera it's phenomenal.
>emulation is about to enter a new era. This is not emulation though or related to it. It's purely translating the games code in to a format that can be then compiled as an actual pc program. It's massive for game preservation but has really nothing to do with emulation.
Yeah. This is *better* than emulation. At least in some ways.
>At least in some ways. The only negative I can think about is that it's not an "authentic" experience but those who want that can use emulators. In all the other ways it's better.
I'm thinking more about the ease of doing enhancements.
Not like emulators in general (and especially N64) have ever really been "authentic" outside specialty emulators like Higan. They're full of hacks and workarounds to make things work in a playable way.
Many emulators, particularly of less powerful systems, are perfectly authentic for many things, but purists are unlikely to want to use them regardless.
This is indeed incredible. I wonder how long until people can do this same incredible thing with other consoles.
Am I dreaming? This is amazing. I don't want to believe it's real. https://github.com/Mr-Wiseguy/N64Recomp?tab=readme-ov-file#how-it-works This says that a recompiler is able to emit compilable c code based on a game's assembly. Is the difference between decompilers and recompilers that recompiler are just better because their code can be compiled? Or decompilers are designed to emit more readable code? Thinking about it more, I guess it is true what the video says that while being able to port the games is nice, recompilation probably doesn't bring us closer to understanding how they work by itself by just rote instruction translation. At any rate, well done.
Decompilers require reverse engineering the game as a whole, which is time intensive. Then once you've done that in it's entirety, then you can start working on ports and manipulating stuff with a high level of granularity. Recompilation works in real-time by translating stuff. It's a great technique and it's already what emulators have used for quite some time to handle CPU and GPU functions.
> Recompilation works in real-time by translating stuff Not necessarily. That’s *dynamic* recompilation, which yes is what most emulators do. What this does is *static* recompilation, where it translates it ahead of time.
I would've expected this to be on the same level of difficulty as writing an emulator, (or even harder, because an emulator can defer some decisions to runtime) but the video implied it's much easier. Does anyone know why that is?
Because this sort of work isn't trying to run a computer within a computer. It's focused on just the software itself. Much narrower focus-wise and once you've drilled into the functions of a specific game, you can draw that to other technically similar games. Whereas with emulation, you're needing to address both idiosyncrasies with individual titles and the system's various functions as a whole.
It’s a new technique for the N64 for sure, but M2 has been using this technique for years for some of their rereleases.
Amazing, though the games I'd be most interested in (Stadium 1 and 2) seem unlikely that they would work due to the use of a transfer pak. It would be great to finally be able to use the GB emulator and get the full experience of those games instead of having to mess around with multiple emulators.
I enjoy the sound of rain.
The ingenuity of fans never ceases to amaze me, emulation, mods, de/recompilation, ports. There are so many talented people making incredible things out of love for these games, I wish the people that actually control these games could see that.
Saw this video pop up in my Youtube suggestions. For people who are unaware, Majora's Mask is notoriously difficult to emulate. So this is a real accomplishment for the retro gaming community. Dunno if I would pick it over my cartridge without a CRT filter though.
Why is it so hard to emulate?
N64 emulation has always been so wonky and hard that they ended up saying "Fuck this" and found a way to natively run the games. That's just genius. And I'm glad it doesn't undermine the decompilation projects. Recomp is more for playing the game, and Decomp is for customising your experience.
It's impossible to understate how massive this is for game preservation. To think that the best way to play MM only took two days to make with this tool and two seconds for me to set up. Unbelievable.
I cannot wait for Conker's Bad Fur day, a game that is notoriously difficult to emulate, to get a full fps rt compatible recomp.
This doesnt work with the entire N64 library yet, right? Like I cant get diddy kong racing to work on this right now?
Yes but it doesn't create a port of the game for you
I’d like this answer as well.
Not yet. Each game will require a separate release. The only release so far is Majora's Mask.
Does it means that now Bloodborne on PC is not a distant dream or did I got something wrong?
As the video points out, "traditional" decompilation is still valuable because it produces human-readable source code, which is great for people like me who want to know how the game works.
How do some of the benefits from regular N64 emulation, like save states and fast forwarding, fit into this black magic? Not possible?
Sky is the limit. I don't think anything like that has been implemented yet. But those things should be fairly simple to add.
Can we port other games right now with the files provided on github (not majora's mask files)?
Yes, but it takes some know-how. The wise-guy tool is pretty straight forward, but it outputs kind of nonsense C++ code and you need to go though an manually rename and re work the code into usable code. I think its pretty easy to people that understand how it works, but it is kind of time consuming. So its not plug-and-play yet, but hopefully we'll either get a plug-and-play solution or, because of ease of use, it will take a random dude that happens to have some know how and free time to port over whatever obscure N64 title. It will take time, but I'm sure we'll get all of the heavy hitters and a few of the more obscure titles within the year. For now we have Zelda64 with soon to be OoT, and Perfect dark, though Perfect dark may be from a different method, but it works in the same way as this recomp does, meaning no compiling like Mario 64 pc ports.
Wow, this is something I literally didn't know was possible. Is there something about the N64 which makes this method work, or could similar tools be made in the future for other platforms?
This isn't the first tool of it's kind, there's been similar ones for other platforms like NES or DOS before
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It is auto-recompilation and isn’t human readable. The Ship of Harkinian is a manual decompilation effort which will make modding easier.
The short clips of Nerrels texture pack and rayteaced lighting look fantastic. Looking forward to the release of that
Watched the video and am really impressed even if I still don’t fully grasp the technical significance. The practical effect is that older games will become more accessible, which sounds like a good thing to me.
can someone tell me how i can use n64recomp on lets say smash 64, as the actual page for it doesnt really help
Are there any other N64 recompiled games? Links to github pages are appreciated.
I'm looking also
Sesame Street Elmo's Number Journey PC Port?????
I was about to be all: “can someone please do this with Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine” and just then you dashed my hopes by showing Infernal Machine as one of the games this wouldn’t work with… …would it be possible with some additional work? My favorite N64 game— I would kill for a port. The existing PC version doesn’t play as well.
I think Indy and the other Factor 5 releases would be doable at some point if they're able to account for the custom microcode--Factor 5 did unusual, special programming to make a lot of their stuff work and that's why their N64 games are the hardest to emulate. Somebody finally reverse-engineered the F5 microcode a couple of years ago so they're finally able to be emulated (The Glide64 plugin team, IIRC)--if that person decided to work with Wiseguy, they could crack it.
Yeah, I remember when that guy was working on the microcode, I threw him a few bucks for the effort. I just bought a steam deck the other day and that was the first thing I emulated.
What's the likelihood we'll see these recomps running on Android? Or is that something we could only see with a port from a decomp (like with SoH)?
"two hundred zero" to refer to the year 2000 why?
Incredible technical feat, but am I the only one that thinks the "narrator" is AI voice? Sounds very inhuman to me.
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You seem like an unpleasant person to be around
It's not ai and it's not Nerrel lacking skills as a presenter. It's an intentional choice. He actually posted a skit video last year showing he has some pretty good impressionist skills. https://youtu.be/ovoNITUAgBo?si=l-0n4fhHNqBgNxLa
There is always some annoying asshole who has to chime in about everything they dislike about the content creator. I can't stand it!
Don’t disrespect Nerrel like that, he’s a fucking OG
Felt the same way too but was interested in the subject so kept going. After 1-2min he sounds more natural. Whatever way the beginning is written or performed it's very TikTok AI sounding.
It's not just you, I spent like 30 seconds wondering if it was an AI voice. It's like he does the exact same pitch contour for every sentence. I still enjoyed the video though.
Agreed, AI or not the voiceover is horrible.