An update on Project64

posted by Jabo Blog
I've decided to release a patch to 1.6 that includes the majority of the plugin fixes from Project64 1.7 beta, and take a step away from the project.

I began actively working on Project64 again earlier this year, and was disappointed at the state of things. After going over 5 years, with no end in sight, the beta project became a bit silly to many. Most of the original team has left for different reasons over the years, and the community on the site has faded.

At the same time, I felt it would be irresponsible to the legacy of the project to keep important bug fixes in the beta permanently; the donations seem to go into a black hole now anyway.

Looking back it's been longer than I would care to admit, so many great memories and new friends. First, I want to thank the people who donated over the years, this emulator was a decade of ambitious work, knowing that people appreciated it and showed it really did matter to the team. There are too many people to thank individually, but special thanks to Gent, RadeonUser, Witten, and Smiff - you guys pushed the project forward in too many ways to mention, and truly defined my experience working on the project with zilmar.

I am doing this independently of the project, it is not an official release.

Click here to download

I've started a forum thread at emutalk.net please use that for any discussion.
Comments 68 Show Hidden

mangamuscle 1316030196000 #1

IS there any chance of an x64 compile of both the emu and the plugins?

Gir 1316054499000 #2

Since you Not Working on this, Why Not Open Source?

Sulicadiz 1316060577000 #3

The same, if it were released opensource the community will continue the project like in nullDc.

Furthermore, is the only way to do something that serves to the future of the project you have worked a lot. What happens when Windows 9 is released? Other core, and the emu doesnt work and in a few years it is forgotten (if not yet, with 5 years without a major update).

Sulicadiz 1316060753000 #4

One more thing, I understand that you are leaving the project and the only one that "continue" is zilmar.

Since you are the audio, video and stuff programmer...The project is definitely dead, it is a pitty not to release the source to continue with it and or to help other emus progress faster

squall_leonhart 1316101359000 #5

The PJ64 core has ALWAYS been isolated from the plugins, the video and input plugins have been far succeeded by nrage and glide64's capabilities for some time now, leaving jabo's audio the more common used plugin

Its sad jabo might not make updates anymore, but pj64 isn't dead by any means.

Now that the devs are older and have more pressing issues, development has slowed, and changes come in random, unscheduled bursts. but i doubt zilmar will be done with it just because jabo is. The beta core still needs a few timing fixes, and even with jabo's microcode fixes - body harvest still has the clipping issue.

Jabo 1316116587000 #6

Furthermore, is the only way to do something that serves to the future of the project you have worked a lot...

I appreciate your passion, but things did not end on the best terms which is part of the reason I decided I want to move onto other things, so I'm less concerned about the project. I'm confident I'll find other uses for my work in the future.

I'd rather not get into whether the emulator will be dead or not, it really didn't cross my mind, there may still be some activity, but looking at the past few years you should draw your own conclusions from that and not focus so much on me.

As far as the future and things like Windows 9, I do not share the same concerns. Microsoft puts a lot of effort into compatibility, and I would probably try to fix anything serious that came up since I use my own emulators. I am bit worried about something coming up with the application, there's risk there as well.

I think my plugins are competitive in quality, the patch addresses quite a few key issues that have been tied up in beta for years. There will always be more to do, and other software that gets a few extra things, I try to look at the big picture more than the details I guess. The community efforts around other plugins and emulators have yielded some great results and new features, so if someone were looking for ways to get involved there is certainly no shortage of opportunities.
REPLY updated 1316796190000

Maverick_Hunter_X 1316138180000 #7

I can't tell you how happy I am for this update.
Unofficial or not it official for me and it works great.

Thank you very much Jabo!

Felipe 1316190057000 #8

Indeed, thank you for all you did Jabo and good luck with what you are going to do next.

Anonymous 1316258484000 #9

Thank you Jabo for the plugin update and all your work on PJ64,it is much appreciated.Good luck to you in all your future endeavours!

squall_leonhart 1316268594000 #10

As far as the future and things like Windows 9, I do not share the same concerns. Microsoft puts a lot of effort into compatibility, and I would probably try to fix anything serious that came up since I use my own emulators. I am bit worried about something coming up with the application, there's risk there as well.



some places have it in their heads that x86 will be dropped with windows 9, i personally don't see WoW64 being dropped though.

gDrive 1316341500000 #11

Thank you very much for the contributions you have made for the emulator Jabo!

However, it is sad that you will be taking a break from this!

Good luck for your future plans pal!

PS: For those that are calling out for this emulator "to be open-source", I personally would think that would be the best option as well (some may disagree with me on this), as it would allow the emulator to improve (in most cases) at a faster rate and the workload for the developers that havew started this project off will be reduced significantly.

gDrive 1316341602000 #12

Damn my typos/errors - "havew" is supposed to be "have", and "to be open-source" is supposed to be "to become an open-source project".

Sorry about that.

the_randomizer 1316344012000 #13

Open source is a viable option...let's just hope it doesn't end up being another no$gba. Oh, wait....Jabo isn't a jerk like Martin and just leaves everyone guessing what happened to his emulator. No, Jabo was very considerate to let us know. Martin is a coward. I couldn't care less if people distribute no$gba without paying.

StarFox 1316376095000 #14

Thanks for this great project, Jabo!
Please make it OpenSource to keep it alive!

squall_leonhart 1316378557000 #15

jabo does not need to opensource his code, the capabilities of his plugin are matched if not exceeded elsewhere (not referring to crap based on rice video)

Maverick_Hunter_X 1316421866000 #16

This is SICK!
Doom 64, GoldenEye, Super Mario 64, Super Smash Bros., The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Perfect Dark, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, Mario Kart 64, Paper Mario and Yoshi's Story is almost as perfect as it get's now in Project64 1.6 both with this update and the official 1.6.016 RDB update

Haha who needs the Project64 1.7 release or that they make it opensource.
For me Project64 1.6 is all I need now and I can even ditch the Glide64 'Napalm WX' gfx plugin along with the unofficial rdb by Nekokabu & Masa that I have used for some time now to achieve similar results.

I know I already said thanks earlier, but I'll say it again: THANKS for this update!

anon 1316437487000 #17

@maverick hunter

I think the unofficial rdb by neko is better,but i could be wrong

Maverick_Hunter_X 1316471189000 #18

You're probably right anon, there might be a few changes made here an there but nothing really major for me to notice any huge differences in gameplay.

But this update package gave me an excuse to finally use only official released material again.

the_randomizer 1316675588000 #19

Still doesn't have the pixel/alpha blending effects emulated, so why are people abandoning Glide64?

Maverick_Hunter_X 1316690656000 #20

The reason I abandoned Glide64 now is well...while it fix some things it causes several other graphical errors.

Take Mario Kart for example, now Jabo's updated plugin properly shows the video on Luigi's Circuit and Wario's Circuit while Glide's don't.

Also no need for Glide anymore when Jabo's plugin shows the sky in GoldenEye.
Yoshi's Story no longer flickers.
Shadows of the Empire don't flicker as much as it did.

Well there might be other things but Glide had to go.

ExtremeDude2 1316696416000 #21

This is awesome.

Also: Hi Maverick_Hunter_X

the_randomizer 1316706575000 #22

I was just saying Jabo's D3D doesn't emulate the dissolve effects (in Mario Kart 64, when you fall off course, and during the transition back to the track, you're supposed to "dissolve" and not just end up being transparent), but whatever.

squall_leonhart 1316718076000 #23

that video was emulated in glide64 a long time ago.

the_randomizer 1316727338000 #24

Doesn't change the fact it's not implemented. And Killer Instinct Gold still has black skies instead of the greenish-blue ones.

Maverick_Hunter_X 1316732474000 #25

@ ExtremeDude2
Hello dude, so you're also here lurking I see hehe


@the_randomizer
Those effects you're talking about... Hmm I don't even think I have paid attention to it.
When you fall off the track everythings happen so quickly that the only thing I can think of is getting back and kicking some ass.

I know Jabo's Plugin might not fix every little problem out there and truth is Glide64 can't too.
For me and the 11 games I play Jabo's Plugin works great but I'm not sure if there ever gonna be a time when perfect video without gfx glitches will exist.
But this is as good as it get's without playing it on the real hardware.

Jabo 1316796308000 #26

Thanks for the feedback Maverick! Glad it's working well, I share the same feelings.

Anyway please keep the feedback to Emutalk, I think we've covered some people prefer other plugins, really not interested in discussing that further, nothing to be gained here.
REPLY updated 1316796554000

Maverick_Hunter_X 1316818884000 #27

Hey thanks Jabo.

Sorry for all the posts here though but I got a little carried away.
What started as a comment growed to a quite good discussion it seems.
Too bad I don't have an EmuTalk account so I could continue there.

ViRuS-MaN 1317092343000 #28

Project 64 it s the best emulator of N64 i very like the emulator and i hope you put the source to open for many peoples continous this project...

Stranger 1319013166000 #29

Zelda OOT still presents the same issue of crashing after going into the lost woods, standing on the tree stump in front of the skull kid and exiting the forest afterwards, it is fixable with protect memory, but protect memory now presents a new issue, not mattering what kind of processor your computer has, or if you enable/disable sync/vsync/frame limiters/ABL it still gives a microstutter which really gets on the way of the game since it basically affects sound as well.

Also, the game now crashes if you're using change memory & cache while fighting the main boss inside of jabu jabu's belly

Stranger 1319013307000 #30

To add, the microstutter is only present on OOT/OOT Master Quest/Majora's Mask if you have protect memory enabled.

If you have change memory & cache the game crashes in the middle of the main boss in jabu jabu's belly

If you have any of the other modes the emulator crashes or stops if you enter the lost woods and exit after standing on the tree stump in front of the skull kid, draining the well in kakariko town or entering the weapon shop in kakariko town as adult link

squall_leonhart 1319121391000 #31

disabling advanced block linking resolves most LOZ crashes.

ExtremeDude2 1319695872000 #32

So about the plugin spec...

ExtremeDude2 1319696415000 #33

Actually I guess that's up to zilmar...

CTGDH 1321601098000 #34

At last, I can now play goldeneye with the sky, genius,so happy I found this update, Goldeneye is perfect for me now on proj64, you did a great job!!!! thanks man!

Teknik 1321682404000 #35

Nice job ! I really like all of you'r stuff ;o)

I have a question... Can you make a version of plugin " Jabo's Direct Input 1.7.0.11 " compatible with Project64 1.6 ?

Thx for all

daarky 1321706380000 #36

I have a question... Can you make a version of plugin " Jabo's Direct Input 1.7.0.11 " compatible with Project64 1.6 ?


Yes, that would be great. I like the Gamepad picture in the 1.7 input plugin. Such a version for Pj1.6 would be nice

ExtremeDude2 1322976989000 #37

You going to release your texture pack format

frenchfries 1328093110000 #38

bangai-o still has some issues with the sprites. when you look down and to you left for example there is a green line that shows up beside you.

also some of the bigger bosses after a couple stages still dont show properly. invisible but you can still see enough to beat them anyway.

still. very nice work. thank you

Markus 1329784980000 #39

Unfortunately it is still present for me. I have an Intel Core i5-2520M CPU @ 2.50 GHz with integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000. I use the latest graphics driver version 8.15.10.2321 from 06.03.2011 for my Lenovo ThinkPad T420s.

et500 1330063062000 #40

Project64 should be open source

Dolphin and PCSX2 show how drastically the open source development approach can improve existing software. Both offer almost daily builds and bug fixes and the development and support team is constantly growing.

Please stop Project64 from dying and make it open source. A large and well organized team would be able to dramatically improve and speed up development.

You have done a really great job so far but now it is time for the community to bring back life to Project64.

Iconoclast 1330124924000 #41

For those of you that really care so badly and like Project64, it's not "dead" just because you're in love with a product that doesn't get updated in the source code with what you want or as often as you would want. It just means you don't know how to use your time elsewhere.

In spite of it already being open-source at 1.4 you continue to think other emulators have not been using their time exceeding something you've stubbornly remained attached to, due to a simple name and erroneous human intuition, that got updated less and less often. Actually, depending on the guy's attitude, it could very much be alive, but not for the reason that it was open-source enough to be hijacked.

Marylina 1331817872000 #42

Oh you did it again! now you lame coders officially screwed up by releasing this emulator patch!

Iconoclast 1331889296000 #43

dlls aren't patches lmao

"shared library" !

DF 1340007641000 #45

body harvest is broken with the 1.6.1 gfx plugin

squall_leonhart 1340088909000 #46

Body Harvest has ALWAYS had core issues

DF 1340200379000 #47

But now it has gfx issues too (half of the geometry is missing)
1.6 works but 1.6.1 doesn't

squall_leonhart 1340257475000 #48

i fail to see how it matters if an already broken game is broken more.

the game was unplayable past the first mission anyway.

DF 1340349089000 #49

I have more problems with this update
some things are transparent although they shouldn't be (for example Link's clothes in Orcarina of Time)

squall_leonhart 1340472500000 #50

Thats due to your graphic card or its settings

DF 1340547101000 #51

I'm an idiot, I forgot to disable force alpha blending
The update is great work

justinleblanc 1346323137000 #52

Just want to let you know Jabo that I have been following PJ64 since it's initial release and have been thrilled from the outset at your great work. It's a shame to see you finish, but programming is very hard work and I can't even imagine the hours you must have put in to get PJ64 where it is today. Good luck in your future endeavors old chap

Dan 1347941191000 #53

I really wish someone would enable a simple full-screen bilinear filter. It would take care of sprite and text jaggies, and seems like such a simple solution. It makes me cry thinking about how no-one has done this

squall_leonhart 1348079240000 #54

Bilinear and Anisotropic filtering do not go well together.

2xSaI on sprites does what you want

Yoshistar95 1349038104000 #55

I love the emulator!

I make blooper videos of Super Mario 64 on that emulator and it's great! Only graphics miss some things, so I need a better plugin...

Until now, no problems with the games except Mario Kart 64 is a bit pixelized...

Alkmaster 1349721004000 #56

You won't find a better plugin...

Ambient_Malice 1357993496000 #57

Jabo's 1.6.1 video plugin is a good fallback. It's tough and reliable. And Jabo needs to be applauded for his contributions to N64 emulation. However, in terms of technical capability, Glide64 beats Jabo by a long shot. Take a game like Perfect Dark. While Jabo emulates it smoothly and reliably, something I can't say for Glide64, it lacks the following which Glide64 is perfectly capable of:

Odd:
Dynamic lighting doesn't work on NPC and player weapons.

Framebuffer Related:
Coronas are missing.
Motion blur effects are missing.

That said, Jabo is still reliable. And Glide64 is not.

wayne 1360115205000 #58

I cannot get the plugins to work if i DL it they work first time then if i close it they are gone and i cannot get them back the scroll down is blank and so i have to uninstall and redo it just to play that one time please help me

wayne 1360117254000 #59

somehow i dont think im going to get a answer i cant find one on google or even youtube but since its been a while since anyone posted here i prolly wont get a response even this comment is a waste of time lol but if im wrong and you can help me ill love you forever

speedy-a 1364990878000 #60

Awesome that Project 64 is now continued by zilmar and ?... Is there a change that you also continue with the plugin now or are you totally out of the project? Thanks all for all the great work you all made on N64 Emulation

Joel Colosimo 1375562719000 #61

This weekend I had a reunion with my best friend from HS. After a few false starts with mupen64 and PJ 2.1, this PJ 1.6.1 came to the rescue and played Perfect Dark and Mario Kart like a champ. Even though 15 years have passed, after we got into it, it felt like yesterday.

Before ultraHLE, I remember them saying it couldn’t be done. How far N64 emulation has come! You, Zilmar, and all the other guys should be proud, some remarkable hackers. My only concern is bit rot. If you really are done with N64 emulation, do you have a plan to have someone else carry the torch? mupen64 doesn’t support your plugin anymore and 1964 has some issues. I hope all your hard work won’t be lost so we can do this again in another 10 years.

Thanks so much for making it possible!

Jabo 1375650137000 #62

Cool that's why I released updates for 1.6.1, it's my favorite version. Unfortunately as time changes so has this project, so I felt it was best if I moved on. I'm not entirely sure what the future holds, I'd like to do something with N64 emulation again, stay tuned!

Iconoclast 1377993921000 #63

I must say it seems you don't have much competition since you left.

Even though Project64 has gone open-source this has as one might expect left a minimal impact. There are still a few "plugins" being introduced in the wishes of overthrowing your own, but there are a lot of cheap deficiencies about them, primarily weighed against just the simulation of completeness.

So, if you do decide you're interested to do something else N64-related, whatever it is I'm just satisfied if it sinks the contempt of future generations.
Either way engineering for the N64 is a rather agitating thing to my conscious. I can't wait to try something simpler sometime.

squall_leonhart 1380868885000 #64

"Cool that's why I released updates for 1.6.1, it's my favorite version. Unfortunately as time changes so has this project, so I felt it was best if I moved on. I'm not entirely sure what the future holds, I'd like to do something with N64 emulation again, stay tuned!"

Just a shame you didn't get to fixing the broken graphics introduced in 1.7.0.57

Iconoclast 1381137176000 #65

ye , pretty sure 1.6.1 is supposed to be more stable/accurate

I only still use 1.7.0.57 for executing the RDP so I can debug the RSP better.
Even if, to begin with, a bit ugly, I think the LLE version is more attractive.

Anything HLE, I would say there is no point to it. Just use 1.6.1 to fix things.

Billy 1437007431000 #66

Hello! Sorry for bothering. Can someone help me? Is there any possibility of a day, Pokémon Snap game work perfectly on Emulator? The Doctor V64 unit could make a copy without error? Thanks.

chris 1475371681000 #67

Reading the last few old comments here i was wondering what version i should be using in 2016 to play some n64 games.
I haven't used Project64 in a while ,any advice would be appreciated ,thanks.

joselo 1476115175000 #68

Ya se que llego un poco tarde, pero queria agradecerte por tu duro trabajo con las actualizaciones, cuando pequeño tuve la consola pero no tuve muchos juegos y ahora gracias a ti puedo por fin jugar a la mayoria del catalogo de nintendo 64 en una pc vieja que tengo conectada a un viejo tv y que apenas tiene una tarjeta de video directx 8 muy barata y funciona excelente.

Gracias por todo y saludos desde Venezuela.