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Emulation for the N64 is not very good. The system is very complex and confounded with almost no documentation available to emulator developers, leading to it being difficult to create an emulator with a high degree of compatibility with games. Many games require specific plugin set ups with specific emulators. It's a mess.
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*Sixtyforce ==Emulation issues==Emulation for the N64 is Mac-only, closed-sourcenot very good. The system is very complex and confounded with almost no documentation available to emulator developers, and asks you leading to pay for it being difficult to use all its featurescreate an emulator with a high degree of compatibility with games. Many games require specific plugin set ups with specific emulators. It was once one of the only choices for Mac users (particularly those with older Macs, since it's the only emulator with a PPC dynarec), but with the switch to x86, and Mupen64Plus improving beyond its peers, it has now become utterly irrelevantmess.
==Emulation issues==
Moved some info to emulation issues. Dropping MESS, it has 1900 systems, no reason to list it if it is non-functional for this system. Formatting fixes.
[[File:Original-Nintendo-64.jpg|thumb|The Nintendo 64 (N64) console]]The '''[[gametech:Nintendo 64|Nintendo 64]]''' is a 64-bit, 5th generation console released by Nintendo in 1996.
==Emulators==
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N64 emulation is a complete mess. There are many good reasons for this, but they'd take too long to state. Every emulator has its own unique compatibility issues. The compatibility varies significantly, even within one emulator if using different plugins. Refer to [http://bmgcl.atspace.cc/n64mgcl/N64ConfigList.htm this link] for optimal emulator settings based on the game you want to play.
*[[Mupen64Plus]], based on Hacktarux's Mupen64, is currently the best overall N64 emulator, but you still need PJ64 for certain games. It lacks a native GUI, and instead is ran by dragging and dropping roms and editing the config with Notepad++. There are third-party GUIs made for it, but many are problematic and glitchy. It is actively developed, and has been ported to a number of different platforms.
*[[Project64 ]] is still a decent choice for emulating most of the popular games, though it has been supplanted by Mupen64Plus in terms of general compatibility. It is capable of using a wide variety of plugins, and has a relatively user-friendly interface. However, it has not seen an update in some time, and remains confined to Windows. Version 2.1 fixed some games, but introduced some regressions as well, so it may be handy to keep version 1.6 alongside it.
*RetroArch has incorporated a heavily modified fork of Mupen64Plus as its N64 core, it is still a WIP and may have issues but should be fine for most games now. It is constantly being worked on, and has features not present in mainline, such as Project64-style overclocking for faster framerates and 3-point texture filtering, as well as those features that RetroArch itself brings.
*[[Bizhawk ]] has a port of Mupen64Plus, which seems to work well enough. Bizhawk lacks portability however, and is only for Windows and OSX.
*Daedalus is an N64 emulator for the PSP, which has been ported to Windows, but results are even more hit-and-miss than on other emulators due to being made for PSP first and foremost. On PSP, most games are unplayable, but there's a [http://forums.daedalusx64.com/compat.php small amount of them that work really well] with the right settings (Quest 64, for example).
*Wii64 and Not64 are both based on Mupen64, with Not64 being a fork of Wii64. Not64 claims to be better optimized, as well as having higher compatibility and more frequent updates. N64 emulation on Wii is not very good, and it is recommended to stick with the Virtual Console N64 releases.
*MESS's N64 core is [[Accuracy|cycle-accurateCEN64]]. It's veryis an up-and-coming simulator that aims for cycle accuracy, very slow, so it's hardly while at the same time aiming to eventually be usable on most current modern PC hardware. The core It currently lacks sound and a whole host of other features, and its compatibility is also still very unstable and prone to crashingspotty but it is improving at a rapid pace; it already plays many of the most popular games (albeit slowly).
*CEN64 is an up-1964, along with its various versions and-coming simulator that aims for cycle accuracyforks, was once a decent, while at the same time aiming speedy alternative to eventually be usable on modern PC hardware. It currently lacks sound Project64 and a whole host of other featuresMupen64, and its though it usually lagged behind the two in compatibility is still very spotty but . Nowadays, it has completely fallen off the radar, and there is improving at a rapid pace; little reason to use it already plays many outside of some of its forks' overclocking function, which allows for smoother framerates. Even this feature, however, has been supplanted by both Project64 2.1 and RetroArch's VI Refresh Rate setting, which effectively does the most popular games (albeit slowly)same thing.
*1964[[Sixtyforce]] is Mac-only, along with closed-source, and asks you to pay for it to use all its various versions and forks, features. It was once a decent, speedy alternative to Project64 and Mupen64one of the only choices for Mac users (particularly those with older Macs, though since it usually lagged behind 's the two in compatibility. Nowadaysonly emulator with a PPC dynarec), it has completely fallen off but with the radarswitch to x86, and there is little reason to use it outside of some of Mupen64Plus improving beyond its forks' overclocking function, which allows for smoother framerates. Even this feature, howeverpeers, it has been supplanted by both Project64 2.1 and RetroArch's VI Refresh Rate setting, which effectively does the same thingnow become utterly irrelevant.
The N64 was an overly complex machine that was difficult to program for. The N64's RDP was pretty much the first real 3D accelerator GPU on consoles. In fact, at the time it came out, it was the most powerful consumer-grade GPU in the world (came out a few months before the Voodoo). It is very hard to emulate all of its functions accurately due to the lack of publicly available documentation for emulator developers. Many RDP functions have to be reproduced in software for accuracy, which takes a lot of power. Especially if you also reproduce the coverage filters, which are a nuisance because they make the image look blurry, and at the same time necessary for pixel-perfect graphics. For this reason, emulating it with a high degree of accuracy and compatibility has proven to be no simple task.
===High-level vs. low-level graphics===
Project64 2013-07-26 14-20-17-55.png|Majora's Mask, with high-level graphics (using Jabo's Direct3D)
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===Texture filtering===
The N64 was the first console to feature texture filtering of any kind. However, unlike PC graphics hardware and every console after the N64, its implementation of bilinear texture filtering was unique in that in order to reduce strain on the system, it only used three samples as opposed to four, resulting in slightly jagged textures. Instead of faithfully applying this "imperfect" version of bilinear, HLE plugins instead apply conventional bilinear filtering, interpolating straight from the source texture up to the output resolution, much like on PC games. While technically this method of bilinear filtering is superior to the N64's, it can also result in textures that look even blurrier than on real hardware.
Mupen64plus_2013-08-18_20-35-50-08.png|Ocarina of Time's menu subscreen, displaying issues with filtering. Note how the Quest Status screen appears to be divided into a grid.
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===64DD Emulation===
The 64DD (an abbreviation for "64 Disk Drive") was a Japan-exclusive peripheral that allowed a proprietary disk format to be used with the N64. This allowed for more space at a cheaper manufacturing cost. The peripheral was a commercial failure. There are currently no emulators that can emulate the 64DD. The peripheral is almost completely undocumented, which would make emulation very hard. Numerous attempts were made to emulate the 64DD, but none of them really went anywhere beyond proof-of-concept stages. Don't expect a 64DD emulator anytime soon, if ever.
[[Category: Consoles]]
