PLAY N64 GAMES ON YOUR PC!!!.... in erm glorious technicolour (PJ64)

Member Name: Del_Boy

Product:	PJ64
Date:	07/04/02 (24068 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Plays lots of N64 games, Fast with the right PC setup, Very compatible

Disadvantages: Not 100% compatible, Certain big games don't work, such as Resident Evil 2, Roms are Illegal, PD Demos are fine though

Project 64 is a program for the PC that emulates another machine and enables you to play games that were designed for that machine.


So what machine does it emulate?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It emulates the Nintendo 64, a console that was released a while back and has long since stopped being sold in most outlets. Only a few specialist stores will sell the machine itself, although they are abundant in second hand shops.

With so many brilliant games made for the N64, emulation of the system was inevitable, and was first made possible by an emulator known as UltraHLE.

PJ64, plays more games; games such as Goldeneye, Conkers Bad Fur Day, as well as titles such as Perfect Dark makes this the emulator of choice.


About PJ64 in general
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PJ64 was started as an exercise by the authors to see if they had the ability to be able to program an emulator for the N64. The way PJ64 was created is very technical, and to try to explain it within the confines of an opinion would be both irrelevant and too lengthy.

Next bit is a little technical, so feel free to skip it:

The main parts that needed to be coded for the emulator was something called the Core. The core is the main part of the console, and the part that instructs the machine what it needs to do. Once this was done several other parts were added, including something called RSP (Reality Signal Processor) emulation. This is another major part of the N64, and it is testament to the skills of the programmers that virtually every game will run using the core and the RSP they have made.

So how come I said that all games weren't playable if the Core and the RSP emulation are so good. The problem lies in the system this emulator uses. Basically it is made in such a way so that other coders can make plug-ins for it. These plug-ins control how the sound works, what the graphics look like, and your
controller settings.

Unfortunately non of these plug-ins are perfect for varying reasons, mainly due to the fact that to make these plug-ins they have to code them in incredibly complex ways. The authors have to emulate
specialized hardware chips that were used in the console via software manipulation. This
means that for perfect emulation a very powerful PC would be needed (conservative estimation rates this as around 5ghz or higher!).

So every plug-in has to be highly optimized and efficient, the problem is that optimizations that make one game run faster/more compatible could have adverse effects on other games, and even stop them working completely. Slowly though the quality of the Plug-ins are getting better.


How well does PJ64 emulate the machine in question?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There isn't a hard and fast compatibility list, but around 75-80% of games are compatible and will play almost perfectly. There are around another 10% that work but with problems. Certain games are not emulated yet, these games include Resident Evil 2, but it is hoped that in the near future another Nintendo 64 emulator will be able to emulate this game adequately.


How can I get this thing to work then?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well first of all you need to download the Emulator from http://www.pj64.net, alternatively you can download it from htpp://www.emulation64.com. As the program itself can be quite complex it would be silly for me to try to list all of it's modes and functions in this review. Instead the emulator includes a very comprehensive readme file with almost everything you could ever need to know about the emulator.

In addition to the readme file, comprehensive support is available from other users via the Emulation64 forum, which is obtainable from this address, http://www.emutalk.net


What other things do I need to g
et this to work then?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~

First of all you need a PC of these specifications minimum (although a few games will work with slightly less high specifications):

"
· Intel Pentium 3 700Mhz or AMD Athlon 800Mhz CPU*
· 128MB system RAM
· 200MB free hard drive space
· additional 20MB-100MB free hard drive space per game, depending on game and number of saves you make
· 100% Microsoft DirectX7 compatible video, sound and input devices**.
· Microsoft Windows 98


The recommended specification is:
· Intel Pentium 3/4 or AMD Athlon 1.2 GHz
· 256MB RAM
· nVidia GeForce3, ATI Radeon
· 1GB free hard drive space
· Creative Soundblaster Live
· Adaptoid and original Nintendo controller for each player
· Microsoft Windows XP

*the plugins contain SSE optimisations, early Athlons did not have SSE.

**The video device must be a primary device, have at least 16MB local memory and two texture units. Depending on the features supported by your video card some content may not be displayed correctly and thus some games marked as compatible may suffer glitches or not be playable on your system. The exact features required vary from game to game. nVidia GeForce256 and ATI Radeon (early models) are suggested as realistic minimum video hardware."

I am running the emulator on a 900mhz Athlon, with 384 megs of ram, and Windows XP. Most games run at full speed, with great sound and graphics.


Other things you will need to run this emulator
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~

In order to play games, you will need the rom file images. These can usually be found on many internet sites (download sizes vary). However downloading roms is illegal, and thus I can't condone their usage nor can I give pointers to any rom sites in this review.

There is some Public Domain demo
s available though that are freely downloadable from:

http://www.zophar.net/index.phtml


Features of this emulator:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An easy to use frontend
=======================

This can be used to select what rom you wish to load. If a game is compatible then the frontend will add a compatible note next to the games name. If their are any issues with the games, then the frontend will also tell you exactly what the issue is, and if their are any resolutions to it.

Save states
===========

Save states, can be used to save a game at any point during play, and not just at designated points. This is very handy, and can also avoid frustration when you are forced to play a certain section time and time again. It can also be used to save the game, at the favourite sections of your games, for replay time and time again.

Full plug-in support
====================

As mentioned earlier this emulator supports plug-ins to add, sound, graphics and control.

The best of the plug-ins are generally:

Jabos D3D 1.4
Jabos Directsound, Zilmars, or Azimers audio (these are all excellent for certain games)
Nrage Input plug-in
(supports Rumble Packs, Memory packs as well as a whole plethora of input devices)

Zip compression support
=======================

Ability to load games from .Zip packages, without having to unzip them. Thus this ability can save you an immense amount of storage space on your HD - especially if you have a lot of roms.

Very Stable
===========

Although the Emulator can crash, it has never led to a system stopping crash for me. Not even when I used Windows98, which was very prone to crashing anyways (imho)

The End
~~~~~~~

PJ64 is no longer being developed, though the source for the Emulator has been opened up and is freely downloadable for anyone knowledgable enough
to take over the project. However, the only things that really need small improvement are the plug-ins, these are for the most part still in development. Although Jabo developer of the best graphics plug-in has stopped working on it for an indefinate period of time.



I hope that this review has been of some use to some of you, if you need to ask any further questions then feel free to email me on: kevinliversage@btinternet.com, alternatively leave a message in the guestbook.

Kev

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