N64 emulator for XP?

[krauzer]

Is there any N64 emulator for XP?

I've been using Project64 2.3.2.202, but it lacks many features and some ROMs that gotten translated from japanese won't work on it properly.

Maybe there's another emulator I'm unaware about or even a modified up-to-date Project64 for XP.

 

[tekkaman]

I found this site but I don't know if it's official or not. Maybe try it and see if it works better.

https://www.project64-legacy.com/

 

[krauzer]

Hi, that looks interesting, but whenever I try running Project64_1.6.2_XP.exe nothing happens(software won't start), it doesn't give me any error or anything, it's like the process just shuts itself.

 

[tekkaman]

I'll have to try during weekend. I don't have much experience with n64 emulation. Plus I don't have any translated games. Did you patch them yourself or you got them pre-patched ?

 

[ClippyBeer]

Try Retroarch.

https://www.retroarch.com/?page=platforms

 

[krauzer]

I'll have to try during weekend. I don't have much experience with n64 emulation. Plus I don't have any translated games. Did you patch them yourself or you got them pre-patched ?

I get them pre-patched from Archive.org.

Try Retroarch.

https://www.retroarch.com/?page=platforms

I'll have a go on Retroarch when I find sometime, but I'm afraid it might be too much for my XP machine.

I need an emulator for Dreamcast as well.

I know Retroarch is multi but I think most definitively it won't run Dreamcast games at all with Retroarch.

 

[krauzer]

I must be in a bad luck streak or something.

When I try opening Retroarch for XP it loads up a window but nothing loads inside of it. I left it open for like 10 minutes and nothing.

From the task manager, it's like the Windows isn't even trying to load it(CPU usage is 00 and memory usage gets stuck at 41.216 K).

EDIT: my problem is exactly the same as this: https://www.reddit.com/r/windowsxp/comments/10bvtze/retroarch_stays_blank_after_installation_does/

 

[ClippyBeer]

The latest version of Retroarch that will run on XP is 1.9.4.

http://buildbot.libretro.com/stable/1.9.4/windows-msvc2005/x86/

Unfortunately that build doesn't have Nintendo 64 or Dreamcast cores. You will need a more recent build (1.9.13) but that requires Windows 7 and higher.

I tried Project 64 (latest and older builds) but that wouldn't run on XP so it looks like you're out of luck for Nintendo 64 emulation on XP

 

[ClippyBeer]

I did some more research and was able to find a version of Project 64 emulator (1.6) on Archive.org that would run on XP SP3.

https://archive.org/details/project64_old

I was also able to locate a Sega Dreamcast emulator (nullDC 1.0.4 r136) that would run on XP SP3:

https://code.google.com/archive/p/nulldc/downloads

Requirements: Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package

https://gist.github.com/ChuckMichael/7366c38f27e524add3c54f710678c98b

A processor with SSE2 and the Dreamcast BIOS (I can't post a link to that because it's copyrighted and against forum rules). Once you meet all the requirements you should be able to play your favorite Dreamcast games.

 

[krauzer]

Hi ClippyBeer.

I've been running Project64 v.2.3.2.202 for N64 and been running nullDC v.1.0.3 for Dreamcast as I found it to run faster and more stable on Windows XP(changing the Z-Buffer on nullDC v.1.0.4 will make the program stop working properly for some reason, forcing me to delete the whole folder and download/extract a clean v.1.0.4 package in order for it to work back again).

I made a list of games that Project64 v.2.3.2.202 doesn't support(I've tested all USA roms and Japan-translated roms, didn't test the European counterparts):

Aleck Bordon Adventure - 4th Story - Tower & Shaft (Japan) (Aleck 64) [T-En by Zoinkity v1.0] << game crashes at start

Doshin the Giant 1 (Japan) (64DD) [Hack by Zoinkity v1.1] [T-En by Ozidual v2018-06] << couldn't get past black screen

FIFA 99 (USA) (En,Fr,De,Es,It,Nl,Pt,Sv) << couldn't get past black screen in the beginning of a field game

Gauntlet Legends (USA) << couldn't get past black screen after Main Menu

Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine (USA) << couldn't get past black screen

Knife Edge - Nose Gunner (USA) << game runs too fast

J.League Live 64 << graphics missing

Last Legion UX (Japan) [T-En by Zoinkity v1.0] << couldn't get past black screen

Magical Tetris Challenge (Japan) (Aleck 64) [T-En by Zoinkity v1.1] [n] << crashes at start

Major League Baseball Featuring Ken Griffey Jr. (USA) << intense graphical glitches

Mario Artist - Talent Studio (Japan) (64DD) [T-En by LuigiBlood v2.1] << bad cursor input (pressing down goes up)

Mario's Photo Studio (Japan) [T-En by Zoinkity v1.0] [n] << couldn't get past black screen

Mario Tennis (USA) << intense graphical glitches

Mia Hamm Soccer 64 (USA) (En,Es) << can't get past RSP/memory error at start

Michael Owen's WLS 2000 (Europe) << can't get past RSP/memory error at start

Namco Museum 64 (USA) << freezes after selecting a game from the compilation

NBA Courtside 2 featuring Kobe Bryant (USA) << intense graphical glitches

NBA in the Zone 2000 (USA) << game crashes at the start

NBA Live 99 (USA) (En,Fr,De,Es,It) << game is displayed upside-down, super weird

NFL Quarterback Club 98 (USA) << can't get past black screen

NHL 99 (USA) << graphics disappear in field game

Nintama Rantarou 64 Game Gallery (Ninja Boy Rantarou 64 Game Gallery) [Translated v.1.0] << too many graphics missing

Resident Evil 2 (USA) (Rev 1) << character overlaps objects, it looks ugly as hell

PGA European Tour (USA) << missing HUD textures like strength bar, not allowing you to take a shot, but the European version of the game runs just fine

Pokémon Snap (USA) << can't move camera, and other soft-locking issues

Star Wars - Rogue Squadron (USA) (Rev 1) << intense graphical glitches

Star Wars Episode I - Battle for Naboo (USA) << black screen with some plugins and intense graphical glitches with other plugins

Stunt Racer 64 (USA) << black screen with some pluging and intense graphical glitches with other plugins

Super Bowling (USA) << intense graphical glitches

Top Gear Hyper-Bike (USA) << textures won't load properly

Vigilante 8 - 2nd Offense (USA) << intense graphical glitches

Vigilante 8 (USA) << intense graphical glitches

Waialae Country Club - True Golf Classics (USA) (Rev 1) << intense graphical glitches

World Driver Championship (USA) << intense graphical glitches

WCW Backstage Assault (USA) << can't get past black screen after Main Menu

WCW vs. nWo - World Tour (USA) (Rev 1) << can't get past black screen

WWF War Zone (USA) << crashes at start


Other games should run about fine if you try the correct plugins. Also bear in mind that I might have missed some video plugins while testing.

 

[ClippyBeer]

That's a pretty comprehensive list. Admittedly, I don't have much experience with N64/DC emulation since I never owned those consoles. It's possible that those games work properly in more recent builds of Project64 or Retroarch. The only emulators I've ever used since my Windows 98 days are SNES, Sega Genesis, MAME, Epsxe, WinVice, WinUAE and STEEM.

 

[krauzer]

Unfortunately emulators for NDS, N64 and Dreamcast "came too late" so these emulators were left in pretty early stages for Windows XP.

For SNES - I use Snes9x v1.61
For Sega Genesis/Master System/Sega CD/32X/Game Gear - I use Fusion 3.64
For Neo Geo CD/Jaguar/ColecoVision - I use Phoenix 2.8.JAG with unofficial english translation
For MSX/MSX2/MSX Turbo R - I use fMSX 6.0, OpenMSX 0.12.0 and blueMSX v.2.8.2 (sometimes I have to use a different one for each game)
For NES/Famicom Disk - I use Nestopia UE.1.52.0
For Game Boy/Color/Advance - I use Visual Boy Advance 1.8.0 and Visual Boy Advance-M 2.1.1 (sometimes I have to use a different one for each game)
For Saturn - I use Yabause 0.9.14 (best stable version for Windows XP) and SSF 011 alpha R1 (best stable version for Windows XP) depending on the game
For WonderSwan/Color - I use Oswan 1.7.3
For NDS - I use No$GBA 2.6a with NO$Zoomer and DeSmuME v0.9.11 (sometimes I have to use a different one for each game)
For Playstation (One) - I use ePSXe 2.0.5
For PC Engine (CD)/TurboGrafx 16/SuperGrafx/Neo Geo Pocket/PC-FX - I use Mednafen 1.27.1.2032 with Mednaffe GUI 0.8.8 which are the last ones to support Windows XP
For N64 - I use Project64 v.2.3.2.202
For Arcade/Multi - I use MAME 0.254 (someone still release new builds for Windows XP here: LINK)
For Dreamcast - I use nullDC v.1.0.3 (best stable version for Windows XP)

It blows my mind that I can't seem to get to find a working version of PCSX2 (emulator for Playstation 2) anymore, all versions I find gives me plugin incompatibility errors and games won't start. I remember I found a working version once, many many years ago, but lost it for some reason.

 

[ClippyBeer]

That's a good list of XP compatible emulators. I've never used any PSX2 emulators so can't comment but for arcade I use MAME 0.112 for XP and higher. Reason being is I have an almost complete ROM set downloaded long time ago from usenet for that version (it was easy back then to find and download complete ROM sets for almost any emulator from newsgroups). I have absolutely ZERO interest in downloading several GBs of ROMs to accomodate newer MAME releases. I've had no success using the various utilities that are supposed to convert/merge romsets for newer versions so I'm staying with 0.112.

 

[ClippyBeer]

It blows my mind that I can't seem to get to find a working version of PCSX2 (emulator for Playstation 2) anymore, all versions I find gives me plugin incompatibility errors and games won't start. I remember I found a working version once, many many years ago, but lost it for some reason.

After much trial and error I was able to find a version of PCSX2 that worked with XP SP3.

https://pcsx2.net/downloads/

Under latest stable click on the button to show previous versions and download version 1.0 (I tried previous versions but couldn't get any to work).

If you want to try other versions knock yourself out - this was tedious. You will need 360Chrome 13 to download, other XP browsers don't work properly with that site.

 

[krauzer]

I really recommend picking up one the most recent MAME versions because it now supports .7z so you can save a whole bunch of space. With that you can reduce the complete BIOS collection to like 300 MBs and as for the rest I only pick the games I want.

If you find problem with recent MAME not recognizing your keyboard etc just open the mame.ini found in the MAME directory with a notepad and change the lines like this:

#
# OSD INPUT OPTIONS
#
keyboardprovider dinput
mouseprovider dinput
lightgunprovider dinput
joystickprovider dinput

Also if you're getting BSOD or other crash when opening recent MAME, change the mame.ini line to this:

#
# OSD VIDEO OPTIONS
#
video opengl

I'll check those PCSX2 for sure, thank you a bunch!

I'm having quite problems with 360Chrome lately(sites not displaying properly), so I'm using Mini Browser version 87.0.4280.66 more.

 

[ClippyBeer]

I can't try a newer version of MAME. I would have to download all my ROMs all over again and that is too much of a hassle from the currently available download repos. Unless I can find a complete ROM set from a high speed download site like I did 20 years ago I'm staying with 0.112.

 

[krauzer]

Just search on Google for "MAME 0.255 Archive.org"

BTW, I found two good emulators for SHARP X68000 as well: XM6 Pro-68k v2.06 and Winx68 High Speed v095-736 (a few games might not work properly on XM6 or vice-versa).