Nerrel
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Which version of the MM texture pack are you more interested in?
🕑 Added 2018-10-31 20:40:11 +0000 UTC Thanks to everyone who has offered support and happy Halloween! After seeing people struggle with the tutorial I posted a while ago, I wanted to ask which emulation option people want to use. Before voting, please consider this brief(ish) summary of the options:N64 version advantages-
On the surface, this makes the most sense- the N64 is the best version of the original and you're emulating it with a program designed specifically for N64 games. Majora's Mask emulates very well at this point without any major issues- the only problems arise when trying to force optional enhancements, like ReShade or custom textures (only one area, the Deku shrine racetrack, is broken). Those issues could be fixed by the time the pack is done and in the mean time this option provides the most accurate "vanilla" emulation of the game.
N64 Disadvantages-
N64 emulation relies on plugins, which complicate the installation process and make it harder to troubleshoot when something goes wrong. I've had to direct a lot of people to the Dolphin version just because I don't have an answer for the issues they're experiencing with Project64.
The N64 emulation community is also not as active as others. There aren't as many developers and the ones that are active are split between different programs and plugins- as an example, Gonetz has made the GlideN64 video plugin the best option by far, getting a lot of notoriously hard to run games to finally emulate smoothly over the past few years.
Instead of making that plugin the default, the Project64 team is creating their own new plugin from scratch. This is part of the reason why N64 emulation is slow to advance, because developers are still competing with different plugins and programs after all of these years.
There are also currently no real options for 30fps codes and other enhancement cheats and no one seems particularly interested in finding them. I don't know how to create them and have my hands full with the textures as it is... This version is very likely always going to be 20fps only.
GlideN64 loads all textures at startup and even with compression on the pack is currently using over 1gb of RAM. Project64, being a 32-bit program, needs to be patched to use more than 2gb and this will almost certainly be required by the time the pack is done, adding another complication to the process.
In summary- N64 emulation has a running start with the better version of the game, but is more complicated, slower to get bug fixes, and has less hope for enhancements.
The Dolphin versions-
The GC Collector's Edition of MM used the exact same ROM as the original and tried to emulate it on the GC hardware. This means that when you play it in Dolphin, you're emulating the emulator that's emulating the original game. The GC emulation wasn't very good to begin with, with a lot of slowdowns, audio glitching, and outright crashing. Because Dolphin is such an accurate emulator, you have to expect some of the same issues there.
But some of the major problems, like crashing, seem tied to slowdowns and the weak performance of the GC. By raising the emulated clock speed in Dolphin, you can reduce the frequency of glitches somewhat.
The much better Virtual Console version can now also be emulated- it's still a case of emulating an emulator, but this time the emulation has no major problems. The only real downside to the N64 original in terms of how it runs is that it lacks rumble support.
Dolphin advantages-
Dolphin is a hugely popular and very mature emulator. Although the versions of MM available here aren't as good as the original, the emulator itself is far better and simpler to set up.
The community is also much more active, and at this moment there are people actively working on getting a fully playable 30fps code to work. One of the most requested things in the comments of the tutorial was moving the HUD to the edges of the screen, and there's already a code for that underway in Dolphin!
These same enhancements should theoretically be possible in Project64 using Gameshark codes, but again, there's no community there working towards it.
Dolphin also doesn't load all the textures at once (unless you choose to prefetch), meaning that it should use up much less memory. That makes things faster for me since it allows me to instantly load new textures to see what they look like in-game (I have to wait two minutes every time I load new textures in GlideN64).
Dolphin disadvantages-
The better VC version of the game is much less common and harder to dump than the GC disc version, and a lot of the AR codes for the GC disc are not compatible with it (a 30fps code isn't even possible due to way the VC version works). This means that you'll have to stick with the inferior GC version to get the best enhancements.
Some of the most exciting features Ishiiruka Dolphin offers, like material maps, aren't compatible with the N64 Zeldas (I've tried), and although effects like SSAO can be injected the results just aren't as good as ReShade's MXAO (but MXAO only works in GlideN64 2.0 with framebuffer emulation disabled, so it's not really a viable option anyway).
In summary- Dolphin has a worse version to work with, but much more potential for enhancement.
I'm interested in seeing which version people are using most. It's possible that either emulation option could make a big advancement that would shake things up, but I don't expect it on the N64 side given how busy the developers are just fixing basic bugs. I also don't expect much change from Dolphin other than the AR codes maturing and reducing bugs one by one.
Thanks again for all the comments and support!
Comments
Kaleb Lawrence
My only experience with the original Majora's Mask is on Project 64, but I'm totally open to the possibilities that Dolphin can offer. It's awesome that we have more than one option to play a great game.
silflay
I voted Dolphin. I like how easy to use and accurate the emulator is.
