Config Guides
Graphics Plugin Configuration Settings
This document is to briefly explain the options found within a graphics plugin's configuration settings. It's not a complete documentation on the technical aspects of what each setting does (because I'm not even 100% sure on some it). It's more of a reference sheet with a small description of each setting and it's possible effect in games. I am including this to help those to understand what the settings do in each plugin and how to configure them.
Text Color Codes:
Plugin - Section/Tab - Sub-section - >Sub-sub-section - Setting
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Configuring Jabo's Direct3D6 v1.5 Revisions:
This applies for v1.5, v1.5.1, and v1.5.2. Make sure to uncheck "Hide Advanced Settings" and exit/enter plugin config to unlock all of the plugin's options.
Settings:
Rendering Device - Use Direct3D Hal, period! RGB Emulation is software emulation and is much slower because it does not utilize your graphics card's hardware acceleration. RGB Emulation may be required on old or weaker systems, but will mostly likely show graphics errors or missing textures.
Anistropic Filtering - Enhances the quality across textures, at a small cost to performance. If enabled, AF is used in Force filtered rendering.
Sort independent anti-aliasing - Sharpens the edges around objects, at a greater cost of performance.
Full Screen Resolution - Sets the resolution to display while in full screen mode.
Buffer display mode - Transfer memory uses no RAM on the graphics card, this option is best for systems with limited graphics memory. Double buffer and Triple buffer uses graphics card RAM for buffering. Triple buffering should offer better speed. Double buffer and Triple buffer Vsync is the same as above but enables vertical sync.
Windowed Resolution - Sets the resolution to display while in window mode.
Hide Advanced Settings - Hides the other options. When unchecked, the graphics config window must be closed and reopened to see the new options.
Advanced:
Force Normal Blending - This setting may or may not help with transparency issues, garbled text, missing backgrounds, or problems with object shadows.
Force filtered rendering - Forces filtering of all visible objects and text (AF if enabled, bilinear if not). This should enhance overall graphics, but may blur text.
Wireframe Rasterization - Attempts to eliminate surface textures and render the game using colorful wireframes. This does not work for all games, wireframes may trail causing an unclear picture.
Disable internal geometry - Uses the Direct3D geometry engine instead of the plugin's. This option may improve speed and fix graphical drawing errors, but graphics will smear around the border.
Force Depth Enable - May fix issues with texture visibility or object depth, things overlapping in areas they shouldn't.
Force Depth Compare - This option has similar effects as the one above.
Emulate Primary - Use this setting to properly emulate games that use framebuffer effects, but it may decrease performance.
Update Less frequently - When emulate primary is enabled, this can provide a speed-up but cause graphics issues with frame buffer effects. This option could also make emulate primary not function at all.
Use low resolution updates - Displays frame buffer effects with a lower resolution. This provides a speed-up, but frame buffer effects will have less detail.
Rom Settings:
Emulated Width - This is the native horizontal resolution. This does not usually ever have to be altered.
Emulated Height - This is the native vertical resolution. This does not usually ever have to be altered.
Direct3D Clear Mode - Default is of course, the default setting where everything is handled normally. Only per frame may fix issues where the game suffers from a black screen, but the game is still running (you can hear your character move and other sounds). Always may fix issues where the video appears to freeze, but the game is still running (you can hear your character move and other sounds).
Self-rendered textures - Enables pre-rendered frame buffer effects for games that use it, but may cause a decrease in performance.
Primary Buffer textures - Emulates frame-buffer effects that use the screen as a texture in the game. This has a huge impact on performance.
Emulate Clear - Emulates smaller frame-buffer effects such as coronas in certain games, which may have a slight impact on performance.
Disable Culling - If disabled, my increase performance but there may be missing objects or textures. Best to leave it enabled.
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Configuring Jabo's Direct3D8 v1.6 Revisions:
This applies for v1.6 and v1.6.1. Make sure to uncheck "Hide Advanced Settings" and exit/enter plugin config to unlock all of the plugin's options.
Settings:
Windowed Resolution - Sets the resolution to display while in window mode.
Full Screen Resolution - Sets the resolution to display while in full screen mode. Combine with "Adjust game aspect ratio" setting for widescreen resolutions, but may not always work.
Full Screen Sync - Transfer memory uses no RAM on the graphics card. This option is best for systems with limited graphics memory. Double buffer and Triple buffer Vsync uses graphics card RAM for buffering. Triple buffering should offer better speed.
Anistropic Filtering - Enhances the quality across textures, at a small cost to performance.
Full Scene Antialiasing - Sharpens the edges around objects, at a greater cost of performance.
Super2xSal textures - Filters textures to look much smoother, at a small cost to performance.
Always use texture filter - May help with transparency or edges. It usually causes problems, and is almost never needed.
Hide Advanced Settings - Hides the other options. When unchecked, the graphics config window must be closed and reopened to see the new options.
Advanced:
Adjust game aspect ratio to match yours - For wide-screen resolutions, this hack will attempt to extend the viewport so there is no stretching. Selecting this option may cause the video to go black.
Use legacy pixel pipeline - May or may not fix issues with blending, missing textures, and/or texture alignment. This fixes certain games where textures seem to repeat or display incorrectly (such as some Turok games). This option may not work on integrated graphics chipsets.
Force alpha blending - This setting may or may not help with transparency issues, garbled text, missing backgrounds, or problems with object shadows.
Wireframe rendering - Attempts to eliminate surface textures and render the game using colorful wireframes. This does not work for all games, wireframes may trail causing an unclear picture.
Use Direct3D transformation pipeline - Uses the Direct3D geometry engine instead of the plugin's. This option may improve speed and fix graphical drawing errors, but graphics will smear around the border.
Force Z compare - May fix issues with texture visibility, object depth, or things overlapping in areas they shouldn't.
Copy framebuffer to RDRAM - Use this setting to properly emulate games that use framebuffer effects (such as Banjo Kazooie puzzle piece effect), but it may decrease performance.
Rom Settings:
Emulated Width - This is the native horizontal resolution. This does not usually ever have to be altered.
Emulated Height - This is the native vertical resolution. This does not usually ever have to be altered.
Direct3D Clear Mode - Default is of course, the default setting where everything is handled normally. Only per frame may fix issues where the game suffers from a black screen, but the game is still running (you can hear your character move and other sounds). Always may fix issues where the video appears to freeze, but the game is still running (you can hear your character move and other sounds).
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Configuring Glide64 Final:
Check "Show advanced emulation options" + "Show texture enhancement options" and exit/enter plugin config to unlock all of the plugin's options.
Basic Settings:
Rendering:
Windowed or 3dfx card resolution - On modern systems, this is your windowed resolution. On systems with an actual Voodoo card, this is your fullscreen resolution.
Vertical Sync - Enables vertical sync which will prevent screen tearing but may impact performance.
>OpenGL settings:
Full screen resolution - On modern systems, this is your full screen resolution.
Anistropic filtering - Enhances the quality across textures, at a small cost to performance.
Autodetect VRAM size - Autodetects how much RAM your graphics card has. If it does not work correctly, you can manually specify the value.
Frame buffer emulation>Use frame buffer objects - Something to do with OpenGL framebuffer objects. Author suggests off for nvidia cards and on for ATi cards, but not in all cases as this setting is also game specific. You can try experimenting with it at your own leisure.
On screen display:
Transparent text background - Removes the black background for the OSD display.
>Speed:
FPS counter - On screen display of the current frames per second.
VI/s counter - On screen display of the vertical interrupts per second.
%speed - On screen display of the overall emulation speed in a percentage format.
>Time:
Clock enabled - On screen display to show the current time from your PC's clock.
Clock is 24-hour - Displays the clock in 24 hour format.
Other:
Show advanced emulation options - Unhides all of the plugin's options.
Show texture enhancement options - Unhides the options that allows high resolution textures.
Screenshot format - The image format to save screenshots as: BMP, PNG, or JPEG.
Language - I think you can figure it out.
Emulation Settings:
General Options:
Filtering mode - Change the way textures are filtered. Automatic is how the N64 filters, Force Bilinear causes textures to be more square and sharp, and Force Point-sampled interpolates textures causing them to appear more smooth.
Buffer swapping method - This option should be set to "New" in most cases, except for Paper Mario which uses "Hybrid".
LOD calculation - Enables emulation of mip-mapping which is necessary for certain effects in some games. If you have an older system, I would suggest keeping this setting off. Modern systems can take advantage of "fast" and "precise" settings. There should be no compatibility loss with this setting, only speed.
Aspect ratio - Sets the aspect ratio of the screen.
Fog - Enables or disables fog emulation in games. Should never really need to disable unless you have a really old system that is stuttering from fog effects.
Buffer clear on every frame - Clears the data stored in RAM between rendering each frame. While it is not needed for every game, it does no harm keeping it enabled at all times.
General Options:
Enable frame buffer emulation - Use this setting to properly emulate games that use framebuffer effects (such as Banjo Kazooie puzzle piece effect).
Hardware frame buffer emulation - This option should always be enabled when the computer has a dedicated graphics card, for it provides a HUGE speedup when emulating frame buffer effects. Users with laptops and integrated chipsets may need to disable this setting.
Get frame buffer info - Compatibility setting. This option needs to be checked for Mupen64 and unchecked for 1964 and Project64.
Read every frame (slow!) - This option enables frame buffer effects in some games where the previous options fail. However, it is very slow and will take a powerful system to emulate.
Render N64 frame buffer as texture - Renders the frame buffer effect as a texture over the current frame. Try this option if frame buffer effects appear to be missing. In most cases, this setting is not needed.
Detect CPU write to the N64 frame buffer - This option detects only renders frame buffers when they are written from the CPU. This option can be used to attempt to correct framebuffer effects which hang on the screen or do not show up at all.
General Options:
Software depth buffer rendering - This option fully emulates the N64 depth buffer. Author suggest a CPU of 1GHz or more which shouldn't be a problem with today's computers. So always leave this option enabled.
Texture Enhancement:
Texture enhancement:
Filter - Attempts to sharpen or smooth textures. You will have to play with this setting to find what you like.
Enhancement - Applies a texture filter method which can extraordinarily enhance the graphics. Store mode does not enhance textures, it loads them exactly how they are which can heavily increase the performance in games that use massive amounts of textures.
Texture Cache - This setting enables how much RAM you can set aside for caching of textures for a performance boost. If you have large amounts of RAM, you can go crazy with the value. I wouldn't suggest anything over 2GB though, and nothing above at least 30% of your total RAM.
Compress texture cache - Compresses the data in RAM to allow more textures to be loaded into the cache.
>Performance tweaks:
Apply texture compression - This will compress textures before being loaded into RAM to allow more textures to be cached, but may decrease the image quality of the textures. I wouldn't reccomend this option unless you are that concerned over the size of the texture cache.
Ignore Backgrounds - Skips adding very large textures (usually used for backgrounds) to the texture cache. In most cases this setting should be checked for it can greatly reduce the size of the texture cache which provides a speedup. If using "Store" mode in "Enhancement" setting, this needs to be unchecked.
Hi-resolution textures:
Format - If you are loading a high-rez texture pack, "Rice format" is your only option.
Alternative CRC calculation - Change this option if some textures are not loading.
Texture dumping/editing mode - Allows you to dump textures yourself by pressing 'D', and reload them instantly to see how they look in the game by pressing 'R'.
Use alpha channel fully - Mostly on, it allows texture packs to use alpha channels. If it creates issues such as black borders, then try disabling it.
Compress texture cache - When the game is loaded, compresses all textures stored in RAM to allow more textures to be loaded into the cache. Textures are decompressed on the fly.
>Performance tweaks:
Apply texture compression - This will compress textures from the texture pack before being loaded into RAM to allow more textures to be cached, but may decrease the image quality of the textures. I wouldn't reccomend this option unless you are that concerned over the size of the texture cache.
Force 16bpp textures - Can further reduce the size of the size of the texture cache. Not reccomended for it can really decrease the quality of a large texture.
Tile textures - Can increase performance by splitting and reassembling large textures. Not reccomended for it can cause lines when textures are reassembled.
Common:
Texture compression method - S3TC is your only option here.
Save texture cache to hard disk - Saves the texture cache to the hard drive, so that loading times are heavily decreased. Highly reccomended if you have the space.
Presets:
Best performance - A preset for the best performance.
Best texture quality - A preset for the best quality.
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Configuring glN64 v0.4.1:
Display:
Full Screen Mode - Allows you to set the color depth, resolution, and refresh rate when in full screen mode.
Windows Resolution - The screen resolution when in window mode.
Enable 2xSaI texture scaling - Apply a texture filter to enhance the graphics.
Force Bilinear Filtering - More texture filtering, makes textures look sharper.
Enable Dithered Alpha Testing - No clue what this means.
Enable Fog - Enables or disables fog effects in games.
Textures:
Texture Bit Depth - Allows you to change the color depth for textures.
Texture Cache Size - Can manually increase the size of the texture cache.
Hardware Frame Buffer Textures (Experimental) - Partially enables frame buffer effects for some games that use them.
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Configuring Rice Video Plugins:
This applies for v5.5.0 - v6.1.1, Mudlord's Rice Video 6.1.3 - 6.1.4, Aristotle's Mudlord & Rice Video v6.1.8, and 1964 Video (community versions).
* This option may not be in every version of Rice's plugins.
General Options:
Render Engine - Chooses the API to render graphics, OpenGL or Direct-3D.
Window Mode Resolution - Sets the resolution to display while in window mode.
Full Screen Resolution - Sets the resolution to display while in full screen mode.
Full Screen Color Quality - Adjusts between 16-bit and 32-bit color depth while in full screen mode.
Full Screen Refresh Rate Hz - Adjusts the refresh rate while in full screen mode. This value should match your monitor's refresh rate or be left at Default Hz.
Display Tooltipls - Enables tooltips that display when hovering the mouse cursor over an option.
Enable SSE - Enables CPU SSE instructions. All modern day processors should support this. AMD Athlon XP chips and Intel Pentium II processors and older will not support this option.
WinFrame Mode - Attempts to eliminate surface textures and render the game using colorful wireframes.
Hide Advanced Options - Hides the other options. When unchecked, the graphics config window must be closed and reopened to see some of the new options.
Skip Frame - Enables frame skipping which will give a huge speed up but introduce choppiness and possibly flicker.
Enable Fog - Enable or disables the fog effects in games that use them. Disabling may improve speed for games with fog.
DirectX:
*Combiner Type - This option is specific to the graphics card. Modern graphics card owners may want to try out either of the two "Pixel Shader" options, although "To Fit Your Video Card" should work for anyone. If you have an ancient system, you may try "For Low End Video Cards" option. Older systems with high-end AGP cards may want to try "For High End Video Cards".
Swap Effect - Defines the buffer swap effect. Copy option will copy new frames over older ones with a hit to performance. Flip (def) should provide better performance.
Depth Buffer Type - Uses 16-bit (default) or 32-bit z-buffer; not entirely sure of the effect from changing this option. Increasing to 32-bit may help with depth issues or issues with artifacts (theory)?
OnScreenDisplay - Displays miscellaneous info while in full screen mode, such as the current FPS or debugging information.
OnScreen Text Color - Changes the alpha and color of the text for the OSD mode chosen. A simple HTML color chooser can be found by clicking here. The first two digits controls the alpha, ranging from 00-FF, followed by the 6 digit color code. (Example: Green - 26FF00. Input value FF26FF00).
Force Software Transforming & Lighting - Uses software to emulate these effects, which may correct issues with black textures, backgrounds, or other errors. This option should generally be enabled, but may decrease performance.
Use Software Vertex Clipper - This option should be enabled with modern day graphics cards. This option corrects many small glitches, and should usually be enabled. It may decrease performance on systems with slow processors.
* Full Screen Anti-Aliasing - Sharpens the edges around objects, at a greater cost of performance
Anistropic Filtering - Enhances the quality across textures, at a small cost to performance.
OpenGL:
*Combiner Type - This option is specific to the graphics card. "To Fit Your Video Card" should work for anyone, although modern graphics cards may favor "OpenGL Fragment Program Extension". This setting should only be altered for very old cards that do not support newer versions of OpenGL.
Depth Buffer - Uses 16-bit (default) or 32-bit z-buffer; not entirely sure of the effect from changing this option. Increasing to 32-bit may help with depth issues or issues with artifacts (theory)?
Texture Filters:
Texture Quality - Quality for textures. Default uses the value from Depth Buffer Type, or you can manually set 16-bit or 32-bit.
Force Texture Filter - Forces filtering of all visible objects and text. Nearest is faster with less quality, Linear is slower with better quality.
Full TMEM Emulation - Loads textures from N64 texture cache instead of directly from RDRAM. This option may fix texture issues in certain games.
Texture Enhancement & Filters
Texture Enhancement - Applies a texture filter which enhances the visual quality of graphics. HQ settings will yield the highest quality but greatest impact on performance.
Enhancement Control - This option adds further control over texture filters. Normal gives no enhancement, Smooth and Less smooth filters the graphics further, and the 2xSaI options are there for when 2xSaI is chosen as a texture enhancement.
For TexRect Only - Only filters TexRect objects.
For Small Textures Only - If enabled, texture enhancement will only be applied to textures with a scale of 128x128 pixels.
*Load hi-res textures if available - This option will load custom texture packs if found in the Plugin/hires_texture folder.
*Dump textures to files - This will dump the game's textures into image files. These can be editted or referenced to create a new texture pack.
*Cache hi-res textures - Loads all textures into RAM which will provide a speed-up (textures will be loaded before the game instead of during the game). Systems that lack RAM may lose performance using this option. The amount of RAM consumed is relevant to the size of the texture pack.
Game Default Options:
Normal Blender - This setting may or may not help with transparency issues, garbled text, missing backgrounds, or problems with object shadows.
Normal Combiner - May help with transparency issues, texture colors, and missing or black textures.
Accurate Texture Mapping - This option may reduce thin black lines in most games. This should usually be enabled.
Faster Texture Loading - Textures load faster and may increase performance, but may also cause glitches.
N64 Frame Buffer Effect Emulation Options
*N64 Frame Buffer Emulation - Enables framebuffer effects. The more framebuffer effects enabled, the bigger the hit on performance. This setting is game specific and will need to be experimented with to aquire the desired effect / performance.
*Rendering to Texture Emulation - Enables framebuffer rendering-to-texture effects. This option can properly display the textures that are rendered in the buffer then mapped onto a surface. Experimentation will probably be needed if the game is missing (most likely animated) textures.
*Frame Buffer Write back - Controls how often frames are written to the N64's RDRAM. The more frames that are skipped, the faster it can become but may cause frame buffer effects to look flickery.
*In N64 Native Resolution - Emulates frame buffer effects in N64 standard resolution, instead of your monitors resolution. This can provide a huge speed-up with frame buffer effects enabled.
*Try to save VRAM - Attempts to clear old textures from graphics card RAM. This option may speed up or slow things down, depending on the game, cpu, and graphics card.
*Automatic Write Back Overlapped Texture - Preserves render-to-textures that may be reused from being completely overwritten by new textures.
*Double the Resolution for Small Render-to-Textures - Increases the resolution of render-to-textures, but uses more graphics card RAM.
Current Game Options:
Basic Options
Frame Update at - This tells when to display the next frame, and changing it has limited uses. Keep it at default.
N64 Frame Buffer - See the option "N64 Frame Buffer Emulation" above. Same setting, it being here is just a game override.
Rendering To Texture - See the option "Rendering to Texture Emulation" above. Same setting, it being here is just a game override.
Normal Blender - This setting may or may not help with transparency issues, garbled text, missing backgrounds, or problems with object shadows.
Normal Combiner - May help with transparency issues, texture colors, and missing or black textures.
Force Buffer Clear - Hack to get certain games working, such as Killer Instinct Gold.
Emulate Clear - Not entirely sure, but supposedly makes Donkey Kong 64 work better.
Fine Texture Mapping - This option may reduce thin black lines in most games. This should usually be enabled.
Fast Texture - Textures load faster and may increase performance, but may also cause glitches.
Disable Blender - Disables alpha blending which will remove all transparency effects.
Force Depth Compare - May fix issues with texture visibility or object depth, things overlapping in areas they shouldn't.
Advanced and Less Useful Options
Disable Big Textures - Not entirely sure what it does technically, but I read it is needed for Zelda Majora's Mask.
Disable Culling - No clue what this means, but it disables the CullDL ucode.
Texture Scale Hack - Again, no clue.
Faster Loading Tiles - Forces the plugin to load large textures as a whole texture instead of dividing it into smaller textures.
Texture 1 Hack - The only game I know where it's needed is the japanese game Bakaretsu Muteki Bangiaoh.
Primary Depth Hack - We're told not to bother with it, so why is it here.
Increase TextRect Edge - This option may eliminate black lines through tiled texture images such as a game's title screen logo or large objects.
*Disable Texture Caching - This option is only in older version's of Rice's Plugin. I have no idea of how useful it is.
*Near Plane Z Hack - Something to do with the Z plane and not having it being clipped.
*Try to Use Smaller Texture (faster) - Tries to use smaller textures to increase performance. A near useless option on modern systems.
TMEM Emulation - Allows partial emulation of the N64's Texture Memory.
Alternative texture size calculation - A different method for calculating the size of textures.
Enable Texture LOD - LOD usually stands for level of detail, so I'm assuming this is some kind of enhancement. Author suggests that it is not usually needed.
Use CI Width and Ratio - Sets the size of the screen based on NTSC or PAL formats. Selecting 'No' will let the game decide.
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Configuring z64:
Z64 config file is divided into three different sections: global settings, per game settings, and override settings. I will try to cover what these options do to the best of my knowledge. To edit z64 settings, you must edit the z64.conf file found in the Plugin folder. I suggest using Notepad++ so the document's contents display properly.
global settings
windowed resolution - Resolution in window mode. res_x is the width, rex_y is the height. (default 1024, 768)
fullscreen resolution - Resolution in window mode, fs_res_x is the width, fs_rex_y is the height. Do not exceed your monitor's maximum resolution, and use only valid resolutions. (default 1024, 768)
hires_fb - Use higher resolutons when displaying framebuffer effects, enabled may decrease performance. 0 - disabled, 1 - enabled. (default 1)
force_swap - Not exactly sure what this option does, may prevent crashes? 0 - disabled, 1 - enabled. (default 0)
no_npot_fbos - Try to set this to 1 if the plugin crashes, necessary on geforce 5900. (default 0)
fb_info - Enables framebuffer effects for games that use them. 0 - disabled, 1 - enabled. (default 0)
lowres - Setting thIs value to 1 uses the N64's internal resolution. 0 - disabled, 1 - enabled. (default 0)
threaded - Runs the RDP emulator in a separate thread, which is required with Project64 1.6 and below (not with 1.7), or along with the "async" option. 0 - disabled, 1 - enabled. (default 0)
async - Emulates the RDP asynchronously which may provide a speed-up. Needs threaded = 1 option. Might be unstable, and it also forces fb_info=0. 0 - disabled, 1 - enabled. (default 0)
per rom settings
Here you can use any of the settings above to specify options for a certain game. The game's title must match the internal ROM name. You can find this with Project64. Simply right click a ROM file from the Project64 ROM browser, and select "Rom Information". Below you will find an example for adding Super Smash Bros. with settings that would override the default.
[SMASH BROTHERS]
fs_res_x = 1920
fs_res_y = 1080
hires_fb = 0
fb_info = 1
threaded = 1
async = 0
override settings
Any options that you specify here, will override any of the global or per rom settings. This section is perhaps useful to quickly set an option to see how it works across multiple games.
Additional z64 Help:
1964 seems to work better than Mupen64. For some reason the screen may not scale correctly with Mupen64, and text may get blocky for no reason at all. Also, Mupen64 sometimes did not work until I loaded the game in 1964, then tried the game in Mupen64 (very strange bug indeed). So 1964 is probably the choice emulator for this game. Project64 is more difficult to use with z64 because you can not change the RSP plugin. You have to do file replacement and renaming and it just isn't worth the effort, but I will post how to do this later in case you want to try it.
Step 1: Plugins
I recommend copying all plugins from the Plugin folder in my pack into the Plugins folder of the emulators for they should be the most up-to-date versions. Do this for both 1964 and Mupen64 if you plan to use both.
If you only care for the z64 plugin, the only files you need for z64 are: z64gl.dll, z64gl.conf, z64-rsp.dll, RSPcomp-pj64.dll, and z64-rsp2.dll.
z64gl.dll - The plugin z64.
z64gl.conf - Configuration data for the plugin, this can be editted to change certain settings.
RSPcomp-pj64.dll - Modified RSP of Project64, to work for z64. Faster but less compatible than the one below.
z64-rsp.dll - RSP made specifically for z64. Slower but more compatible.
z64-rsp2.dll - Hacked RSP by angrylion that allows World Driver Championship and Stunt Racer 64 to be able to go in-game with PJ64 in interpreter mode.
For Project64, you must rename the RSP you wish to use to RSP.dll, and replace the RSP.dll in the Plugin folder of Project64. If you attempt to do so, you should probably back up the RSP.dll that comes with Project64 so you can replace it again in the future.
Step 2: Required Files
In the plugins pack you will see folder: Required Files. Inside the folder are a bunch of files:
BMGlib.dll, BMGLibPNG.dll, glew32.dll, glide3x.dll, msvcp60d.dll, etc...
These files are needed to make certain plugins work. The glew32.dll is needed for z64. All of these files can go into the directory of your emulator (the folder with the emulator executable). Without glew32.dll, z64 will fail to load and will not show up in the emulator to be selected. The process is the same for 1964 and Project64.
Step 3: Load up an Emulator, Choose z64 and RSP
Now if everything is installed correctly, you can load Mupen64 or 1964 (or PJ64 if you took the trouble). Time to select z64 as your plugin.
For 1964: Go to Plug-ins>Change Plug-ins...
For Mupen64: Go to Options>Settings...
The Video Plugin section you should now be able to choose z64gl if everything was installed correctly (glew32.dll being the important file). Input and Sound Plugins does not matter which you choose, most will work. You must choose the correct RSP Plugin now, you have two choices: RSP emulation Plugin v1.4 (modified PJ64 RSP) or z64 RSP emulation Plugin.
From my tests, both RSP plugins will play the game about the same, but RSP emulation Plugin v1.4 may work just a little bit better. Each picture has a different RSP highlighted, these are the two plugins that z64 can use that work.
If you choose RSP emulation Plugin v1.4, you must send audio lists to the audio plugin. To do so:
For 1964: Go to Plug-ins>RSP Settings...
For Mupen64: Go to Options>RSP Settings...
Now, check the box that says: send Audio Lists to Audio Plugin. You must do this or sound will be very crackly, or you will have no sound at all, or maybe even other problems with audio.
Step 4: Load the Game
Now if everything is installed correctly, games that z64 supports should load in the emulator. You may want to take the time before playing to configue the conf file that comes with z64 in order to get it to function properly or obain the effect you desire. Z64 cannot be configured through the plugin configuration window through emulators, instead you have to edit the z64.conf file. Again I suggest using Notepad++ so the document's contents display properly.
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This document is to briefly explain the options found within a graphics plugin's configuration settings. It's not a complete documentation on the technical aspects of what each setting does (because I'm not even 100% sure on some it). It's more of a reference sheet with a small description of each setting and it's possible effect in games. I am including this to help those to understand what the settings do in each plugin and how to configure them.
Text Color Codes:
Plugin - Section/Tab - Sub-section - >Sub-sub-section - Setting
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Configuring Jabo's Direct3D6 v1.5 Revisions:
This applies for v1.5, v1.5.1, and v1.5.2. Make sure to uncheck "Hide Advanced Settings" and exit/enter plugin config to unlock all of the plugin's options.
Settings:
Rendering Device - Use Direct3D Hal, period! RGB Emulation is software emulation and is much slower because it does not utilize your graphics card's hardware acceleration. RGB Emulation may be required on old or weaker systems, but will mostly likely show graphics errors or missing textures.
Anistropic Filtering - Enhances the quality across textures, at a small cost to performance. If enabled, AF is used in Force filtered rendering.
Sort independent anti-aliasing - Sharpens the edges around objects, at a greater cost of performance.
Full Screen Resolution - Sets the resolution to display while in full screen mode.
Buffer display mode - Transfer memory uses no RAM on the graphics card, this option is best for systems with limited graphics memory. Double buffer and Triple buffer uses graphics card RAM for buffering. Triple buffering should offer better speed. Double buffer and Triple buffer Vsync is the same as above but enables vertical sync.
Windowed Resolution - Sets the resolution to display while in window mode.
Hide Advanced Settings - Hides the other options. When unchecked, the graphics config window must be closed and reopened to see the new options.
Advanced:
Force Normal Blending - This setting may or may not help with transparency issues, garbled text, missing backgrounds, or problems with object shadows.
Force filtered rendering - Forces filtering of all visible objects and text (AF if enabled, bilinear if not). This should enhance overall graphics, but may blur text.
Wireframe Rasterization - Attempts to eliminate surface textures and render the game using colorful wireframes. This does not work for all games, wireframes may trail causing an unclear picture.
Disable internal geometry - Uses the Direct3D geometry engine instead of the plugin's. This option may improve speed and fix graphical drawing errors, but graphics will smear around the border.
Force Depth Enable - May fix issues with texture visibility or object depth, things overlapping in areas they shouldn't.
Force Depth Compare - This option has similar effects as the one above.
Emulate Primary - Use this setting to properly emulate games that use framebuffer effects, but it may decrease performance.
Update Less frequently - When emulate primary is enabled, this can provide a speed-up but cause graphics issues with frame buffer effects. This option could also make emulate primary not function at all.
Use low resolution updates - Displays frame buffer effects with a lower resolution. This provides a speed-up, but frame buffer effects will have less detail.
Rom Settings:
Emulated Width - This is the native horizontal resolution. This does not usually ever have to be altered.
Emulated Height - This is the native vertical resolution. This does not usually ever have to be altered.
Direct3D Clear Mode - Default is of course, the default setting where everything is handled normally. Only per frame may fix issues where the game suffers from a black screen, but the game is still running (you can hear your character move and other sounds). Always may fix issues where the video appears to freeze, but the game is still running (you can hear your character move and other sounds).
Self-rendered textures - Enables pre-rendered frame buffer effects for games that use it, but may cause a decrease in performance.
Primary Buffer textures - Emulates frame-buffer effects that use the screen as a texture in the game. This has a huge impact on performance.
Emulate Clear - Emulates smaller frame-buffer effects such as coronas in certain games, which may have a slight impact on performance.
Disable Culling - If disabled, my increase performance but there may be missing objects or textures. Best to leave it enabled.
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Configuring Jabo's Direct3D8 v1.6 Revisions:
This applies for v1.6 and v1.6.1. Make sure to uncheck "Hide Advanced Settings" and exit/enter plugin config to unlock all of the plugin's options.
Settings:
Windowed Resolution - Sets the resolution to display while in window mode.
Full Screen Resolution - Sets the resolution to display while in full screen mode. Combine with "Adjust game aspect ratio" setting for widescreen resolutions, but may not always work.
Full Screen Sync - Transfer memory uses no RAM on the graphics card. This option is best for systems with limited graphics memory. Double buffer and Triple buffer Vsync uses graphics card RAM for buffering. Triple buffering should offer better speed.
Anistropic Filtering - Enhances the quality across textures, at a small cost to performance.
Full Scene Antialiasing - Sharpens the edges around objects, at a greater cost of performance.
Super2xSal textures - Filters textures to look much smoother, at a small cost to performance.
Always use texture filter - May help with transparency or edges. It usually causes problems, and is almost never needed.
Hide Advanced Settings - Hides the other options. When unchecked, the graphics config window must be closed and reopened to see the new options.
Advanced:
Adjust game aspect ratio to match yours - For wide-screen resolutions, this hack will attempt to extend the viewport so there is no stretching. Selecting this option may cause the video to go black.
Use legacy pixel pipeline - May or may not fix issues with blending, missing textures, and/or texture alignment. This fixes certain games where textures seem to repeat or display incorrectly (such as some Turok games). This option may not work on integrated graphics chipsets.
Force alpha blending - This setting may or may not help with transparency issues, garbled text, missing backgrounds, or problems with object shadows.
Wireframe rendering - Attempts to eliminate surface textures and render the game using colorful wireframes. This does not work for all games, wireframes may trail causing an unclear picture.
Use Direct3D transformation pipeline - Uses the Direct3D geometry engine instead of the plugin's. This option may improve speed and fix graphical drawing errors, but graphics will smear around the border.
Force Z compare - May fix issues with texture visibility, object depth, or things overlapping in areas they shouldn't.
Copy framebuffer to RDRAM - Use this setting to properly emulate games that use framebuffer effects (such as Banjo Kazooie puzzle piece effect), but it may decrease performance.
Rom Settings:
Emulated Width - This is the native horizontal resolution. This does not usually ever have to be altered.
Emulated Height - This is the native vertical resolution. This does not usually ever have to be altered.
Direct3D Clear Mode - Default is of course, the default setting where everything is handled normally. Only per frame may fix issues where the game suffers from a black screen, but the game is still running (you can hear your character move and other sounds). Always may fix issues where the video appears to freeze, but the game is still running (you can hear your character move and other sounds).
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Configuring Glide64 Final:
Check "Show advanced emulation options" + "Show texture enhancement options" and exit/enter plugin config to unlock all of the plugin's options.
Basic Settings:
Rendering:
Windowed or 3dfx card resolution - On modern systems, this is your windowed resolution. On systems with an actual Voodoo card, this is your fullscreen resolution.
Vertical Sync - Enables vertical sync which will prevent screen tearing but may impact performance.
>OpenGL settings:
Full screen resolution - On modern systems, this is your full screen resolution.
Anistropic filtering - Enhances the quality across textures, at a small cost to performance.
Autodetect VRAM size - Autodetects how much RAM your graphics card has. If it does not work correctly, you can manually specify the value.
Frame buffer emulation>Use frame buffer objects - Something to do with OpenGL framebuffer objects. Author suggests off for nvidia cards and on for ATi cards, but not in all cases as this setting is also game specific. You can try experimenting with it at your own leisure.
On screen display:
Transparent text background - Removes the black background for the OSD display.
>Speed:
FPS counter - On screen display of the current frames per second.
VI/s counter - On screen display of the vertical interrupts per second.
%speed - On screen display of the overall emulation speed in a percentage format.
>Time:
Clock enabled - On screen display to show the current time from your PC's clock.
Clock is 24-hour - Displays the clock in 24 hour format.
Other:
Show advanced emulation options - Unhides all of the plugin's options.
Show texture enhancement options - Unhides the options that allows high resolution textures.
Screenshot format - The image format to save screenshots as: BMP, PNG, or JPEG.
Language - I think you can figure it out.
Emulation Settings:
General Options:
Filtering mode - Change the way textures are filtered. Automatic is how the N64 filters, Force Bilinear causes textures to be more square and sharp, and Force Point-sampled interpolates textures causing them to appear more smooth.
Buffer swapping method - This option should be set to "New" in most cases, except for Paper Mario which uses "Hybrid".
LOD calculation - Enables emulation of mip-mapping which is necessary for certain effects in some games. If you have an older system, I would suggest keeping this setting off. Modern systems can take advantage of "fast" and "precise" settings. There should be no compatibility loss with this setting, only speed.
Aspect ratio - Sets the aspect ratio of the screen.
Fog - Enables or disables fog emulation in games. Should never really need to disable unless you have a really old system that is stuttering from fog effects.
Buffer clear on every frame - Clears the data stored in RAM between rendering each frame. While it is not needed for every game, it does no harm keeping it enabled at all times.
General Options:
Enable frame buffer emulation - Use this setting to properly emulate games that use framebuffer effects (such as Banjo Kazooie puzzle piece effect).
Hardware frame buffer emulation - This option should always be enabled when the computer has a dedicated graphics card, for it provides a HUGE speedup when emulating frame buffer effects. Users with laptops and integrated chipsets may need to disable this setting.
Get frame buffer info - Compatibility setting. This option needs to be checked for Mupen64 and unchecked for 1964 and Project64.
Read every frame (slow!) - This option enables frame buffer effects in some games where the previous options fail. However, it is very slow and will take a powerful system to emulate.
Render N64 frame buffer as texture - Renders the frame buffer effect as a texture over the current frame. Try this option if frame buffer effects appear to be missing. In most cases, this setting is not needed.
Detect CPU write to the N64 frame buffer - This option detects only renders frame buffers when they are written from the CPU. This option can be used to attempt to correct framebuffer effects which hang on the screen or do not show up at all.
General Options:
Software depth buffer rendering - This option fully emulates the N64 depth buffer. Author suggest a CPU of 1GHz or more which shouldn't be a problem with today's computers. So always leave this option enabled.
Texture Enhancement:
Texture enhancement:
Filter - Attempts to sharpen or smooth textures. You will have to play with this setting to find what you like.
Enhancement - Applies a texture filter method which can extraordinarily enhance the graphics. Store mode does not enhance textures, it loads them exactly how they are which can heavily increase the performance in games that use massive amounts of textures.
Texture Cache - This setting enables how much RAM you can set aside for caching of textures for a performance boost. If you have large amounts of RAM, you can go crazy with the value. I wouldn't suggest anything over 2GB though, and nothing above at least 30% of your total RAM.
Compress texture cache - Compresses the data in RAM to allow more textures to be loaded into the cache.
>Performance tweaks:
Apply texture compression - This will compress textures before being loaded into RAM to allow more textures to be cached, but may decrease the image quality of the textures. I wouldn't reccomend this option unless you are that concerned over the size of the texture cache.
Ignore Backgrounds - Skips adding very large textures (usually used for backgrounds) to the texture cache. In most cases this setting should be checked for it can greatly reduce the size of the texture cache which provides a speedup. If using "Store" mode in "Enhancement" setting, this needs to be unchecked.
Hi-resolution textures:
Format - If you are loading a high-rez texture pack, "Rice format" is your only option.
Alternative CRC calculation - Change this option if some textures are not loading.
Texture dumping/editing mode - Allows you to dump textures yourself by pressing 'D', and reload them instantly to see how they look in the game by pressing 'R'.
Use alpha channel fully - Mostly on, it allows texture packs to use alpha channels. If it creates issues such as black borders, then try disabling it.
Compress texture cache - When the game is loaded, compresses all textures stored in RAM to allow more textures to be loaded into the cache. Textures are decompressed on the fly.
>Performance tweaks:
Apply texture compression - This will compress textures from the texture pack before being loaded into RAM to allow more textures to be cached, but may decrease the image quality of the textures. I wouldn't reccomend this option unless you are that concerned over the size of the texture cache.
Force 16bpp textures - Can further reduce the size of the size of the texture cache. Not reccomended for it can really decrease the quality of a large texture.
Tile textures - Can increase performance by splitting and reassembling large textures. Not reccomended for it can cause lines when textures are reassembled.
Common:
Texture compression method - S3TC is your only option here.
Save texture cache to hard disk - Saves the texture cache to the hard drive, so that loading times are heavily decreased. Highly reccomended if you have the space.
Presets:
Best performance - A preset for the best performance.
Best texture quality - A preset for the best quality.
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Configuring glN64 v0.4.1:
Display:
Full Screen Mode - Allows you to set the color depth, resolution, and refresh rate when in full screen mode.
Windows Resolution - The screen resolution when in window mode.
Enable 2xSaI texture scaling - Apply a texture filter to enhance the graphics.
Force Bilinear Filtering - More texture filtering, makes textures look sharper.
Enable Dithered Alpha Testing - No clue what this means.
Enable Fog - Enables or disables fog effects in games.
Textures:
Texture Bit Depth - Allows you to change the color depth for textures.
Texture Cache Size - Can manually increase the size of the texture cache.
Hardware Frame Buffer Textures (Experimental) - Partially enables frame buffer effects for some games that use them.
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Configuring Rice Video Plugins:
This applies for v5.5.0 - v6.1.1, Mudlord's Rice Video 6.1.3 - 6.1.4, Aristotle's Mudlord & Rice Video v6.1.8, and 1964 Video (community versions).
* This option may not be in every version of Rice's plugins.
General Options:
Render Engine - Chooses the API to render graphics, OpenGL or Direct-3D.
Window Mode Resolution - Sets the resolution to display while in window mode.
Full Screen Resolution - Sets the resolution to display while in full screen mode.
Full Screen Color Quality - Adjusts between 16-bit and 32-bit color depth while in full screen mode.
Full Screen Refresh Rate Hz - Adjusts the refresh rate while in full screen mode. This value should match your monitor's refresh rate or be left at Default Hz.
Display Tooltipls - Enables tooltips that display when hovering the mouse cursor over an option.
Enable SSE - Enables CPU SSE instructions. All modern day processors should support this. AMD Athlon XP chips and Intel Pentium II processors and older will not support this option.
WinFrame Mode - Attempts to eliminate surface textures and render the game using colorful wireframes.
Hide Advanced Options - Hides the other options. When unchecked, the graphics config window must be closed and reopened to see some of the new options.
Skip Frame - Enables frame skipping which will give a huge speed up but introduce choppiness and possibly flicker.
Enable Fog - Enable or disables the fog effects in games that use them. Disabling may improve speed for games with fog.
DirectX:
*Combiner Type - This option is specific to the graphics card. Modern graphics card owners may want to try out either of the two "Pixel Shader" options, although "To Fit Your Video Card" should work for anyone. If you have an ancient system, you may try "For Low End Video Cards" option. Older systems with high-end AGP cards may want to try "For High End Video Cards".
Swap Effect - Defines the buffer swap effect. Copy option will copy new frames over older ones with a hit to performance. Flip (def) should provide better performance.
Depth Buffer Type - Uses 16-bit (default) or 32-bit z-buffer; not entirely sure of the effect from changing this option. Increasing to 32-bit may help with depth issues or issues with artifacts (theory)?
OnScreenDisplay - Displays miscellaneous info while in full screen mode, such as the current FPS or debugging information.
OnScreen Text Color - Changes the alpha and color of the text for the OSD mode chosen. A simple HTML color chooser can be found by clicking here. The first two digits controls the alpha, ranging from 00-FF, followed by the 6 digit color code. (Example: Green - 26FF00. Input value FF26FF00).
Force Software Transforming & Lighting - Uses software to emulate these effects, which may correct issues with black textures, backgrounds, or other errors. This option should generally be enabled, but may decrease performance.
Use Software Vertex Clipper - This option should be enabled with modern day graphics cards. This option corrects many small glitches, and should usually be enabled. It may decrease performance on systems with slow processors.
* Full Screen Anti-Aliasing - Sharpens the edges around objects, at a greater cost of performance
Anistropic Filtering - Enhances the quality across textures, at a small cost to performance.
OpenGL:
*Combiner Type - This option is specific to the graphics card. "To Fit Your Video Card" should work for anyone, although modern graphics cards may favor "OpenGL Fragment Program Extension". This setting should only be altered for very old cards that do not support newer versions of OpenGL.
Depth Buffer - Uses 16-bit (default) or 32-bit z-buffer; not entirely sure of the effect from changing this option. Increasing to 32-bit may help with depth issues or issues with artifacts (theory)?
Texture Filters:
Texture Quality - Quality for textures. Default uses the value from Depth Buffer Type, or you can manually set 16-bit or 32-bit.
Force Texture Filter - Forces filtering of all visible objects and text. Nearest is faster with less quality, Linear is slower with better quality.
Full TMEM Emulation - Loads textures from N64 texture cache instead of directly from RDRAM. This option may fix texture issues in certain games.
Texture Enhancement & Filters
Texture Enhancement - Applies a texture filter which enhances the visual quality of graphics. HQ settings will yield the highest quality but greatest impact on performance.
Enhancement Control - This option adds further control over texture filters. Normal gives no enhancement, Smooth and Less smooth filters the graphics further, and the 2xSaI options are there for when 2xSaI is chosen as a texture enhancement.
For TexRect Only - Only filters TexRect objects.
For Small Textures Only - If enabled, texture enhancement will only be applied to textures with a scale of 128x128 pixels.
*Load hi-res textures if available - This option will load custom texture packs if found in the Plugin/hires_texture folder.
*Dump textures to files - This will dump the game's textures into image files. These can be editted or referenced to create a new texture pack.
*Cache hi-res textures - Loads all textures into RAM which will provide a speed-up (textures will be loaded before the game instead of during the game). Systems that lack RAM may lose performance using this option. The amount of RAM consumed is relevant to the size of the texture pack.
Game Default Options:
Normal Blender - This setting may or may not help with transparency issues, garbled text, missing backgrounds, or problems with object shadows.
Normal Combiner - May help with transparency issues, texture colors, and missing or black textures.
Accurate Texture Mapping - This option may reduce thin black lines in most games. This should usually be enabled.
Faster Texture Loading - Textures load faster and may increase performance, but may also cause glitches.
N64 Frame Buffer Effect Emulation Options
*N64 Frame Buffer Emulation - Enables framebuffer effects. The more framebuffer effects enabled, the bigger the hit on performance. This setting is game specific and will need to be experimented with to aquire the desired effect / performance.
*Rendering to Texture Emulation - Enables framebuffer rendering-to-texture effects. This option can properly display the textures that are rendered in the buffer then mapped onto a surface. Experimentation will probably be needed if the game is missing (most likely animated) textures.
*Frame Buffer Write back - Controls how often frames are written to the N64's RDRAM. The more frames that are skipped, the faster it can become but may cause frame buffer effects to look flickery.
*In N64 Native Resolution - Emulates frame buffer effects in N64 standard resolution, instead of your monitors resolution. This can provide a huge speed-up with frame buffer effects enabled.
*Try to save VRAM - Attempts to clear old textures from graphics card RAM. This option may speed up or slow things down, depending on the game, cpu, and graphics card.
*Automatic Write Back Overlapped Texture - Preserves render-to-textures that may be reused from being completely overwritten by new textures.
*Double the Resolution for Small Render-to-Textures - Increases the resolution of render-to-textures, but uses more graphics card RAM.
Current Game Options:
Basic Options
Frame Update at - This tells when to display the next frame, and changing it has limited uses. Keep it at default.
N64 Frame Buffer - See the option "N64 Frame Buffer Emulation" above. Same setting, it being here is just a game override.
Rendering To Texture - See the option "Rendering to Texture Emulation" above. Same setting, it being here is just a game override.
Normal Blender - This setting may or may not help with transparency issues, garbled text, missing backgrounds, or problems with object shadows.
Normal Combiner - May help with transparency issues, texture colors, and missing or black textures.
Force Buffer Clear - Hack to get certain games working, such as Killer Instinct Gold.
Emulate Clear - Not entirely sure, but supposedly makes Donkey Kong 64 work better.
Fine Texture Mapping - This option may reduce thin black lines in most games. This should usually be enabled.
Fast Texture - Textures load faster and may increase performance, but may also cause glitches.
Disable Blender - Disables alpha blending which will remove all transparency effects.
Force Depth Compare - May fix issues with texture visibility or object depth, things overlapping in areas they shouldn't.
Advanced and Less Useful Options
Disable Big Textures - Not entirely sure what it does technically, but I read it is needed for Zelda Majora's Mask.
Disable Culling - No clue what this means, but it disables the CullDL ucode.
Texture Scale Hack - Again, no clue.
Faster Loading Tiles - Forces the plugin to load large textures as a whole texture instead of dividing it into smaller textures.
Texture 1 Hack - The only game I know where it's needed is the japanese game Bakaretsu Muteki Bangiaoh.
Primary Depth Hack - We're told not to bother with it, so why is it here.
Increase TextRect Edge - This option may eliminate black lines through tiled texture images such as a game's title screen logo or large objects.
*Disable Texture Caching - This option is only in older version's of Rice's Plugin. I have no idea of how useful it is.
*Near Plane Z Hack - Something to do with the Z plane and not having it being clipped.
*Try to Use Smaller Texture (faster) - Tries to use smaller textures to increase performance. A near useless option on modern systems.
TMEM Emulation - Allows partial emulation of the N64's Texture Memory.
Alternative texture size calculation - A different method for calculating the size of textures.
Enable Texture LOD - LOD usually stands for level of detail, so I'm assuming this is some kind of enhancement. Author suggests that it is not usually needed.
Use CI Width and Ratio - Sets the size of the screen based on NTSC or PAL formats. Selecting 'No' will let the game decide.
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Configuring z64:
Z64 config file is divided into three different sections: global settings, per game settings, and override settings. I will try to cover what these options do to the best of my knowledge. To edit z64 settings, you must edit the z64.conf file found in the Plugin folder. I suggest using Notepad++ so the document's contents display properly.
global settings
windowed resolution - Resolution in window mode. res_x is the width, rex_y is the height. (default 1024, 768)
fullscreen resolution - Resolution in window mode, fs_res_x is the width, fs_rex_y is the height. Do not exceed your monitor's maximum resolution, and use only valid resolutions. (default 1024, 768)
hires_fb - Use higher resolutons when displaying framebuffer effects, enabled may decrease performance. 0 - disabled, 1 - enabled. (default 1)
force_swap - Not exactly sure what this option does, may prevent crashes? 0 - disabled, 1 - enabled. (default 0)
no_npot_fbos - Try to set this to 1 if the plugin crashes, necessary on geforce 5900. (default 0)
fb_info - Enables framebuffer effects for games that use them. 0 - disabled, 1 - enabled. (default 0)
lowres - Setting thIs value to 1 uses the N64's internal resolution. 0 - disabled, 1 - enabled. (default 0)
threaded - Runs the RDP emulator in a separate thread, which is required with Project64 1.6 and below (not with 1.7), or along with the "async" option. 0 - disabled, 1 - enabled. (default 0)
async - Emulates the RDP asynchronously which may provide a speed-up. Needs threaded = 1 option. Might be unstable, and it also forces fb_info=0. 0 - disabled, 1 - enabled. (default 0)
per rom settings
Here you can use any of the settings above to specify options for a certain game. The game's title must match the internal ROM name. You can find this with Project64. Simply right click a ROM file from the Project64 ROM browser, and select "Rom Information". Below you will find an example for adding Super Smash Bros. with settings that would override the default.
[SMASH BROTHERS]
fs_res_x = 1920
fs_res_y = 1080
hires_fb = 0
fb_info = 1
threaded = 1
async = 0
override settings
Any options that you specify here, will override any of the global or per rom settings. This section is perhaps useful to quickly set an option to see how it works across multiple games.
Additional z64 Help:
1964 seems to work better than Mupen64. For some reason the screen may not scale correctly with Mupen64, and text may get blocky for no reason at all. Also, Mupen64 sometimes did not work until I loaded the game in 1964, then tried the game in Mupen64 (very strange bug indeed). So 1964 is probably the choice emulator for this game. Project64 is more difficult to use with z64 because you can not change the RSP plugin. You have to do file replacement and renaming and it just isn't worth the effort, but I will post how to do this later in case you want to try it.
Step 1: Plugins
I recommend copying all plugins from the Plugin folder in my pack into the Plugins folder of the emulators for they should be the most up-to-date versions. Do this for both 1964 and Mupen64 if you plan to use both.
If you only care for the z64 plugin, the only files you need for z64 are: z64gl.dll, z64gl.conf, z64-rsp.dll, RSPcomp-pj64.dll, and z64-rsp2.dll.
z64gl.dll - The plugin z64.
z64gl.conf - Configuration data for the plugin, this can be editted to change certain settings.
RSPcomp-pj64.dll - Modified RSP of Project64, to work for z64. Faster but less compatible than the one below.
z64-rsp.dll - RSP made specifically for z64. Slower but more compatible.
z64-rsp2.dll - Hacked RSP by angrylion that allows World Driver Championship and Stunt Racer 64 to be able to go in-game with PJ64 in interpreter mode.
For Project64, you must rename the RSP you wish to use to RSP.dll, and replace the RSP.dll in the Plugin folder of Project64. If you attempt to do so, you should probably back up the RSP.dll that comes with Project64 so you can replace it again in the future.
Step 2: Required Files
In the plugins pack you will see folder: Required Files. Inside the folder are a bunch of files:
BMGlib.dll, BMGLibPNG.dll, glew32.dll, glide3x.dll, msvcp60d.dll, etc...
These files are needed to make certain plugins work. The glew32.dll is needed for z64. All of these files can go into the directory of your emulator (the folder with the emulator executable). Without glew32.dll, z64 will fail to load and will not show up in the emulator to be selected. The process is the same for 1964 and Project64.
Step 3: Load up an Emulator, Choose z64 and RSP
Now if everything is installed correctly, you can load Mupen64 or 1964 (or PJ64 if you took the trouble). Time to select z64 as your plugin.
For 1964: Go to Plug-ins>Change Plug-ins...
For Mupen64: Go to Options>Settings...
The Video Plugin section you should now be able to choose z64gl if everything was installed correctly (glew32.dll being the important file). Input and Sound Plugins does not matter which you choose, most will work. You must choose the correct RSP Plugin now, you have two choices: RSP emulation Plugin v1.4 (modified PJ64 RSP) or z64 RSP emulation Plugin.
From my tests, both RSP plugins will play the game about the same, but RSP emulation Plugin v1.4 may work just a little bit better. Each picture has a different RSP highlighted, these are the two plugins that z64 can use that work.
If you choose RSP emulation Plugin v1.4, you must send audio lists to the audio plugin. To do so:
For 1964: Go to Plug-ins>RSP Settings...
For Mupen64: Go to Options>RSP Settings...
Now, check the box that says: send Audio Lists to Audio Plugin. You must do this or sound will be very crackly, or you will have no sound at all, or maybe even other problems with audio.
Step 4: Load the Game
Now if everything is installed correctly, games that z64 supports should load in the emulator. You may want to take the time before playing to configue the conf file that comes with z64 in order to get it to function properly or obain the effect you desire. Z64 cannot be configured through the plugin configuration window through emulators, instead you have to edit the z64.conf file. Again I suggest using Notepad++ so the document's contents display properly.
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