Project64

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Revision as of 21:40, 28 August 2013 by SonofUgly (talk | contribs)
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Project64 is an open source, plugin-based Nintendo 64 emulator.

Project 64 logo.png
Current version: 2.1
Active: Yes
OS: Windows
Authors: Project64 team
Official website: http://www.pj64-emu.com/
Source code: Unknown

Downloads

Review

Projec64 sees updates only once in a while when zilmar feels like it. Also, Project64 2.x has a LOT of issues and regressions from 1.6 and even the leaked 1.7 betas, mostly dealing with timing issues and such. It's clearly half-finished.

Plugins

See the Recommended N64 Plugins page.

NetPlay

Uses Kaillera or AQZ.

Downloads

Review (Kaillera)
PROS
  • Support for up to 4 simultaneous people playing
  • No fiddling with router settings and port forwarding
  • Netplay traffic is handled by a central dedicated server that helps keep things synched
  • Private game chat support and public chat to speak people outside your game room
  • Being able to drop out of a game at any time without disrupting (much) your teammate(s).
  • Kicking/banning/muting people from your room
  • It's a matchmaking service where you can join other people's rooms, too
CONS
  • Disables Transfer, Rumble and Memory Pack emulation (AFAIK, not 100% sure about Memory Pack)
  • It sometimes fails to properly initialize Glide64 video plugins, giving them a black screen when the game starts
  • It also seems to hate certain older video plugins, causing massive FPS drops
  • It's slightly (significantly still) prone to freezing/crashing/BSOD (in that order)
  • Random, inconsistent FPS drops due to the server trying to keep everyone synched, sometimes stuttering. It's annoying, but rarely does it make it unplayable
  • Everyone needs to have the exact same ROM version or Netplay won't work (if it somehow does, it'll desynch rather quickly)
  • Everyone needs to have the exact same save file, or no save file at all. Else, it desynchs
  • You need to constantly switch focus back and forth between chat and emulator window in order to chat.
  • You will hear no sound while the window is unfocused.
Review (AQZ)
PROS
  • Allows for unlimited (???) connections (4 players only, the rest are spectators)
  • Unusually low bandwidth usage
  • Can change latency on the fly to smooth out netplay experience at the expense of input lag
  • Works very well with 2-3 Players, even with +200ms
  • Only the host needs to open a port
CONS
  • Definitely disables Transfer, Rumble and Memory Pack emulation
  • If a client drops while a game is in session, the entire server stops automatically
  • The server seems to work reliably smooth with 3 people, but might stutter and lag with 4, regardless of latency
  • It sometimes fails to properly initialize Glide64 video plugins, giving them a black screen
  • It also seems to hate certain older video plugins, causing massive FPS drops
  • It's sometimes troublesome to get it to properly synch during the first few minutes, but works flawlessly after you get it working
  • Randomly freezes the emulator with no warning
  • VERY rarely produces a BSOD

Source Code

http://www.pj64-emu.com:8090/project64.development/