31st May 2011
With the release of one of my most loved games, Ocarina of Time, coming to the 3DS in updated glory I thought I'd take a look at some screenshots and compare them to what is available on the Nintendo 64. Project64 has the nice luxury of rendering things in high definition but for the most part we will are limited by the original source material, unless you count the fantastic re-texturing projects, many that look superb. For those wondering the screenshots available here were taken from the extended trailer on IGN
Image 1:
418
I've seen a lot of screenshots, but this one in particular stands out, the sky texture is brilliantly done, mixing in a hint of clouds in the night sky with better depth. Other things to note here include the glowing effect in the moon, similarly used in the sun perhaps on the N64 version, again nice touch. Lastly the flowers rendered in the foreground, have been redone. On the N64 they used billboard textures to render these, it's not easy to tell but it would seem they are finally real objects, at least we can hope.
One bit of disappointment here is the grass, while it looks slightly better, I am always hoping for more than flat geometry, I doubt the 3DS has the graphics horse power, but individual patches of grass blades would be a nice touch.
Image 2:
419
You can see a few things in this as well that are enhanced, first the magic effect being shot has significantly more objects being rendered, and the individual objects are much larger. Notice also in the background that the textures for the paintings look much more detailed as well.
Image 3:
420
You'll notice the textures that make up link are much more detailed and and a bit more vibrant, the developer has completely redone his facial texture which gives him a more modern feel. Also at an object level link's model has been updated significantly, there's no question overall that Nintendo has put those extra triangles to good use in making him look less blocky, after all he is the main character.
Just looking at the graphics, it seems to be more of a port and update than a remake. Bill-boarded objects have been given new life, existing objects have better models and crisp modern textures. Nintendo had to walk a very tight rope in staying true to the original since this may be their most beloved game ever. With Ocarina of Time for Nintendo 3DS coming in June, they have accomplished porting a successful title to the Nintendo 3DS with significant updates. I am a fan of Ocarina of Time both for it's technical achievements and game play, it was a real treat to take a deep look at what they've changed as I've spent countless hours playing and debugging it.
Any die hard fans buying this when it comes out? Check out the video and leave your comments.
Image 1:
418
I've seen a lot of screenshots, but this one in particular stands out, the sky texture is brilliantly done, mixing in a hint of clouds in the night sky with better depth. Other things to note here include the glowing effect in the moon, similarly used in the sun perhaps on the N64 version, again nice touch. Lastly the flowers rendered in the foreground, have been redone. On the N64 they used billboard textures to render these, it's not easy to tell but it would seem they are finally real objects, at least we can hope.
One bit of disappointment here is the grass, while it looks slightly better, I am always hoping for more than flat geometry, I doubt the 3DS has the graphics horse power, but individual patches of grass blades would be a nice touch.
Image 2:
419
You can see a few things in this as well that are enhanced, first the magic effect being shot has significantly more objects being rendered, and the individual objects are much larger. Notice also in the background that the textures for the paintings look much more detailed as well.
Image 3:
420
You'll notice the textures that make up link are much more detailed and and a bit more vibrant, the developer has completely redone his facial texture which gives him a more modern feel. Also at an object level link's model has been updated significantly, there's no question overall that Nintendo has put those extra triangles to good use in making him look less blocky, after all he is the main character.
Just looking at the graphics, it seems to be more of a port and update than a remake. Bill-boarded objects have been given new life, existing objects have better models and crisp modern textures. Nintendo had to walk a very tight rope in staying true to the original since this may be their most beloved game ever. With Ocarina of Time for Nintendo 3DS coming in June, they have accomplished porting a successful title to the Nintendo 3DS with significant updates. I am a fan of Ocarina of Time both for it's technical achievements and game play, it was a real treat to take a deep look at what they've changed as I've spent countless hours playing and debugging it.
Any die hard fans buying this when it comes out? Check out the video and leave your comments.
11th October 2010
Upgrade current alpha to allow beta users access.
conatins:
conatins:
4th October 2010
I upgraded parts of the site. Still more needs to be done in finish cleaning up, but if something is not working correctly reply to this thread.
If you have any suggestions as well.
If you have any suggestions as well.
19th September 2010
I know this site seems dead .. it is not .. more goes on the forum at times then on the blog.
It seems like there an is an issue with the pj64 account with paymate. I was looking at the user guide of pay pal. It use to ban nintendo64 emulators which is why we stopped using it. It was also the reason we stopped working so much on pj64 when they killed us using it.
I will look at restoring the code to use paypal again. It might take me a few days .. it might take me a few months just depends on how much time I get.
It seems like there an is an issue with the pj64 account with paymate. I was looking at the user guide of pay pal. It use to ban nintendo64 emulators which is why we stopped using it. It was also the reason we stopped working so much on pj64 when they killed us using it.
I will look at restoring the code to use paypal again. It might take me a few days .. it might take me a few months just depends on how much time I get.
7th May 2010
Just wanted to say congratulations to Jabo, he is now engaged to his lovely girl.
26th November 2008
When we started Project64 the operating system generally used was Windows98. We designed Project64 so that it would work in a self contained folder. We still use this design now; everything works from that one directory without needing an install. This also works great if you want to put the emulator onto a memory stick and run it from there...
With the current design of Windows (2000, XP, Vista onwards) being for multiple users and security around which users can modify files, this design of PJ64 does cause some problems. One of the problems is that limited users are not allowed to modify files in the Program Files directory. And if one user modifies settings, then this affects other users on the same system that also use this program.
Vista gets around this issues by virtual mapping writes to the program files directory, to the user directory.
So where should saves, settings, etc be stored in PJ64 v1.7 - user directory, application directory? Should we determine by the location of the .exe? Should it work differently on different OS's etc... ?? Your thoughts please.
With the current design of Windows (2000, XP, Vista onwards) being for multiple users and security around which users can modify files, this design of PJ64 does cause some problems. One of the problems is that limited users are not allowed to modify files in the Program Files directory. And if one user modifies settings, then this affects other users on the same system that also use this program.
Vista gets around this issues by virtual mapping writes to the program files directory, to the user directory.
So where should saves, settings, etc be stored in PJ64 v1.7 - user directory, application directory? Should we determine by the location of the .exe? Should it work differently on different OS's etc... ?? Your thoughts please.
4th October 2008
Most of the work I wanted to do on the site is now done. One of the main changes that I have now implemented is a new forum for public and beta users. All the blog comments now will go through the forum as well ...
if you notice any problems please tell me and I will try to fix them.
** Note: This does mean now to comment you need to create an account first. To create an account is free ***
if you notice any problems please tell me and I will try to fix them.
** Note: This does mean now to comment you need to create an account first. To create an account is free ***
17th September 2008
I am redoing all the internals and the UI around settings. One thing I think should be dropped is the shell integration. Unless I am wrong and please tell me if I am this is a feature that is basically never used? What do people think about the simple/advanced settings .. Any new settings people would like? Suggestions on layout, etc .. if you have any thoughts this is the best time to give a suggestion since I am working on it.
Some of the things planned:
Hopefully I will be able to achieve what is above, but happy to hear any other suggestions.
Some of the things planned:
- When updating some configuration for a game, it will update the cfg file instead of the rdb. That way I can always often a reset back to original settings.
- Being able to set plugins for individual
- Removal of shell integration
- Change the settings configuration UI to a tree list of pages instead of a tab list as it currently is (to be able to offer more pages and better organized) current version is running out of space.
- Bold the setting that have been changed so you can easily see what is different.
Hopefully I will be able to achieve what is above, but happy to hear any other suggestions.
8th September 2008
Just to let you know my wife had a beautiful boy the other week, just in time for Fathers day. I am still working on the site. The updates to the site now are more functional based/content based then they are design. I am happy with the design. Some of the new changes that I will upload soon is related to the beta download section and the way user join the site.
I was curious if people use RSS reader to keep up to date with things that go on, or do you continually just check out the sites you know and love?
I was curious if people use RSS reader to keep up to date with things that go on, or do you continually just check out the sites you know and love?
31st July 2008
I do all my web development work offline (on my laptop). At the moment I am doing some upgrades to the site. At some point I will sync those up and you will see (or not see them) then. I want to do this round of working on the site, so I do not have to touch the site for another 12 months (excluding updating content). I have talked to Jabo about some of the improvements I want to make, but I was curious about what other people thought I could do to improve the site?
