N64 game patches to increase N64 Core compatibility

[breiztiger]

for all games ? conker bug is corrected no ?

[FPGA64]

Conker doesnt need it

[MrsBison]

No patch works for me. Always receive the error checksum

Okay got it ... wrong rom sets...

Mission accomplished

[Retro-Nerd]

For Conker's Bad fur day and Gauntlet Legends you don't need the patches aynmore (exception for now is when you want to use the Turbo Core). The rest of games still need the patches.

[meauxdal]

yxkalle on the MiSTer Discord has submitted a PR to integrate the compatibility patches into MiSTer main

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_MiSTer/pull/916

[meauxdal]

I've updated my compatibility sheet since all this patching work by Ruleset and the recent core updates to indicate which problematic games have workarounds and what they are. The second page on the sheet is more specific about workarounds. Effectively every game* is playable with patches / turbo / regional variants now.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

*There are some minor quibbles to be had still, but the statement is largely true

[Retro-Nerd]

Manually patching is gone as it seems. Everything is handled with the new Mister main unstable. Jet Force Gemini e.g. runs fine now without a patched rom (just tried it).

[Rikard Bengtsson 2024-09-04 2618e6c]
N64

Add in-memory patching to the few remaining games that still don't work property, like Jet Force Gemeni and Resident Evil 2.
Removed unused tag.

[sev48lora]

I can't find the patches for the games that remain to be patched

[Retro-Nerd]

Patches are applied automatically. Update to the latest offical Mister Main, make sure N64-database.txt get's updated too.

[Primeira_Fase]

Patches are applied automatically. Update to the latest offical Mister Main, make sure N64-database.txt get's updated too.

Will it apply patches to fan-translated games as well?

[jordi]

Patches are applied automatically. Update to the latest offical Mister Main, make sure N64-database.txt get's updated too.

Will it apply patches to fan-translated games as well?

As it goes by hash, I doubt it

[Primeira_Fase]

I made some patches for Jet Force Gemini, Resident Evil 2 and others to circumvent some of the limitations of the DE-10 nano that the N64 core suffers from. These are .BPS patches, you can use software like "beat" to patch your original .z64 files. I included patches for both NTSC and PAL.

We have been testing these games in the mister discord and so far I haven't had any crash reports yet but it is very possible there are still some issues.

For those curious what I changed:

Conker's bad fur day / Gauntlet legends:
These games are fixed in the latest N64 Core release.

Jet Force Gemini:
This one is pretty simple, there is a RSP timing check that the game does, which is documented here: https://github.com/ares-emulator/ares/issues/129
I just removed any conditionals in this check so it always passes. So far the patch seems pretty stable with multiple people finishing the game.

Resident Evil 2:
I added a 16k cycle wait for the main CPU every time the RSP is resumed. This gives the RSP more time to do its thing, including DMA's which might suffer from random latency due to DE-10 Nano DDR3.

Polaris Snocross:
Essentially same fix as RE2.

Batman Beyond:
It looks like the devs just forgot to enable a 30 fps framecap for the main game and never noticed because a real n64 isn't fast enough for 60 fps. Luckily the autorun demo does have the cap enabled so I was able to find that and use it for the regular game.

Knife Edge:
theboy181 on github https://github.com/mupen64plus/mupen64p ... 1989025250 had previously made some cheat codes to slow down the game on emulator but they weren't really suited for the mister core. It did send me in the right direction, there is a framerate limiter that sets the limit to 20fps when there is text displayed. I modified this to also limit the framerate to 30 fps during normal gameplay. I got pretty far into the game and the speed seemed normal compared to real n64 footage I found.

Rugrats in Paris:
This game needed a delay before RSP resume but also after a PI DMA starts.

Mario Kart 64 (for Turbo core):
In certain multiplayer modes the game speeds up the gameplay to compensate for low framerates. In the turbo core (and Project 64 where these changes are always enabled) the game can run full speed making the game run too fast, so these patches revert this speedup. In the regular core the game can also run a little too fast but not always, so these patches may not be appropriate in that case. I added them in a "Turbo Core" folder in the archive.

Blues Brothers 2000:
Adjusted speed of alligator. There is another chase level later on which will probably need adjusting as well. If anyone ever gets there send me a save file so I can have a look at it.

Nintama Rantarou Game Gallery 64:
This needed a somewhat long delay before RSP resume. Don't really know why this fixes the crash since it is also broken in Ares. Didn't test this for very long, might need some more delay if it still crashes.

Thanks everyone for testing!

edit 01/07/2024: Added Spanish CBFD patch, use the original NTSC ROM.
edit 02/07/2024: Added Portuguese CBFD patch.
edit 04/07/2024: Added Resident Evil 2 NTSC (1.0) and (1.1), PAL and JP (Biohazard 2).
edit 02/08/2024: Added Polaris Snocross.
edit 07/08/2024: Added Gauntlet Legends.
edit 08/08/2024: Added Gauntlet Legends PAL and JP.
edit 12/08/2024: Added Batman Beyond.
edit 13/08/2024: Added Batman Beyond PAL.
edit 15/08/2024: Added Knife Edge.
edit 16/08/2024: Added Star Twins (Jet Force Gemini JP) and Knife Edge JP/PAL .
edit 18/08/2024: Added Rugrats in Paris and Mario Kart 64 (for turbo core) .
edit 23/08/2024: Deleted Conker and Gauntlet Legends since they are fixed on the core now. Added Blues brothers and Nintama Rantarou Game Gallery 64.

IMPORTANT NOTE 05/09/2024: Thanks to yxkalle the patch data is now included in N64-database.txt and the latest unstable main will apply them automatically. So no manual patching is required when using the latest unstable main.

Within your time and possibility, could you make a Patch for Jet Force Gemini, for the version translated into Brazilian Portuguese?

[Ruleset]

Within your time and possibility, could you make a Patch for Jet Force Gemini, for the version translated into Brazilian Portuguese?

Sure, do you have a link to the translation patch?

[meauxdal]

Ruleset, if you are still willing to make any patches, here are the issues still on my wishlist for possible fixes (e.g. ignoring all of "attract mode runs too fast" issues, which are trivial issues, as well as potentially not being fixable on the DE-10 nano).

• Rayman 2 randomly crashes when completing a level, during the save sequence. According to the tester, this occurs more frequently the later in the game you get (or maybe the longer your session is), but can happen on any level end save screen. It's not known yet if this affects the PAL version, and I've not been able to personally test this yet, but it does seem to be the last show-stopping crash left on the core

• Tonic Trouble PAL randomly crashes. This is the only version of the game with languages other than English, so not (entirely) pointless

Other games of lower priority (maybe worth trying an existing patch approach just in case?):

• WipEout 64 PAL also randomly crashes, but it doesn't have any additional languages over NTSC (which I've not seen crash)

• Iggy's Reckin' Balls NTSC (USA + Japan) cannot be completed on the vanilla core. They hang up (music continues) after completing level 9-2 in the main campaign mode. The issue doesn't affect PAL nor when playing on the Turbo core (I've got a save file for this if you need one)

• Wonder Project J2 crashes in the shop menu when scrolling. Turbo core bypasses the issue

I am also planning to set aside some time to actually play through Blues Brothers 2000. Would love to confirm whether or not a potential 2nd chase sequence needs patching for the game to be completable. Maybe I can track down some level select codes or cheats or a save file, we'll see.

[Primeira_Fase]

Within your time and possibility, could you make a Patch for Jet Force Gemini, for the version translated into Brazilian Portuguese?

Sure, do you have a link to the translation patch?

Sure, https://joao13traducoes.com/wp-content/ ... By-FTR.rar

Password: João13

This patch is for American version.

[Ruleset]

Sure, https://joao13traducoes.com/wp-content/ ... By-FTR.rar

Password: João13

This patch is for American version.

I added the patch for the .z64 version of the patched rom, I also included a patch that applies the translation to a .z64 rom ("Translations Only" folder) because the original patch was for a .n64 rom.

So to get this to work you will have to first patch a .z64 rom with the translation patch and then patch it with the fix for the N64 Core. Once yxkalle updates the n64 database only the first step is needed.

Ruleset, if you are still willing to make any patches, here are the issues still on my wishlist for possible fixes (e.g. ignoring all of "attract mode runs too fast" issues, which are trivial issues, as well as potentially not being fixable on the DE-10 nano).

• Rayman 2 randomly crashes when completing a level, during the save sequence. According to the tester, this occurs more frequently the later in the game you get (or maybe the longer your session is), but can happen on any level end save screen. It's not known yet if this affects the PAL version, and I've not been able to personally test this yet, but it does seem to be the last show-stopping crash left on the core

• Tonic Trouble PAL randomly crashes. This is the only version of the game with languages other than English, so not (entirely) pointless

Other games of lower priority (maybe worth trying an existing patch approach just in case?):

• WipEout 64 PAL also randomly crashes, but it doesn't have any additional languages over NTSC (which I've not seen crash)

• Iggy's Reckin' Balls NTSC (USA + Japan) cannot be completed on the vanilla core. They hang up (music continues) after completing level 9-2 in the main campaign mode. The issue doesn't affect PAL nor when playing on the Turbo core (I've got a save file for this if you need one)

• Wonder Project J2 crashes in the shop menu when scrolling. Turbo core bypasses the issue

I am also planning to set aside some time to actually play through Blues Brothers 2000. Would love to confirm whether or not a potential 2nd chase sequence needs patching for the game to be completable. Maybe I can track down some level select codes or cheats or a save file, we'll see.

As long as there is a version of the game that works without crashing then it is good enough for me personally. As you said I think there will always be something left to fix considering the limitations of the de-10 nano, even it is just a speed discrepancy. I can have a look at Rayman 2 if it also crashes on the turbo core, although if it requires me to finish a level multiple times to test it out then I probably won't spend much time on it.

With Blues Brothers the most useful thing for me would be a project 64 save state right before the chase. I was able to find one for the alligator chase but not the other one. (only in the case that the second chase is also unbeatable of course)

[sev48lora]

Sure, https://joao13traducoes.com/wp-content/ ... By-FTR.rar

Password: João13

This patch is for American version.

I added the patch for the .z64 version of the patched rom, I also included a patch that applies the translation to a .z64 rom ("Translations Only" folder) because the original patch was for a .n64 rom.

So to get this to work you will have to first patch a .z64 rom with the translation patch and then patch it with the fix for the N64 Core. Once yxkalle updates the n64 database only the first step is needed.

Ruleset, if you are still willing to make any patches, here are the issues still on my wishlist for possible fixes (e.g. ignoring all of "attract mode runs too fast" issues, which are trivial issues, as well as potentially not being fixable on the DE-10 nano).

• Rayman 2 randomly crashes when completing a level, during the save sequence. According to the tester, this occurs more frequently the later in the game you get (or maybe the longer your session is), but can happen on any level end save screen. It's not known yet if this affects the PAL version, and I've not been able to personally test this yet, but it does seem to be the last show-stopping crash left on the core

• Tonic Trouble PAL randomly crashes. This is the only version of the game with languages other than English, so not (entirely) pointless

Other games of lower priority (maybe worth trying an existing patch approach just in case?):

• WipEout 64 PAL also randomly crashes, but it doesn't have any additional languages over NTSC (which I've not seen crash)

• Iggy's Reckin' Balls NTSC (USA + Japan) cannot be completed on the vanilla core. They hang up (music continues) after completing level 9-2 in the main campaign mode. The issue doesn't affect PAL nor when playing on the Turbo core (I've got a save file for this if you need one)

• Wonder Project J2 crashes in the shop menu when scrolling. Turbo core bypasses the issue

I am also planning to set aside some time to actually play through Blues Brothers 2000. Would love to confirm whether or not a potential 2nd chase sequence needs patching for the game to be completable. Maybe I can track down some level select codes or cheats or a save file, we'll see.

As long as there is a version of the game that works without crashing then it is good enough for me personally. As you said I think there will always be something left to fix considering the limitations of the de-10 nano, even it is just a speed discrepancy. I can have a look at Rayman 2 if it also crashes on the turbo core, although if it requires me to finish a level multiple times to test it out then I probably won't spend much time on it.

With Blues Brothers the most useful thing for me would be a project 64 save state right before the chase. I was able to find one for the alligator chase but not the other one. (only in the case that the second chase is also unbeatable of course)

If I want to patch a translated rom so that the core runs it, how would it be? I would be the Zelda and Conquer version translated into Spanish.

[Primeira_Fase]

Sure, https://joao13traducoes.com/wp-content/ ... By-FTR.rar

Password: João13

This patch is for American version.

I added the patch for the .z64 version of the patched rom, I also included a patch that applies the translation to a .z64 rom ("Translations Only" folder) because the original patch was for a .n64 rom.

So to get this to work you will have to first patch a .z64 rom with the translation patch and then patch it with the fix for the N64 Core. Once yxkalle updates the n64 database only the first step is needed.

Ruleset, if you are still willing to make any patches, here are the issues still on my wishlist for possible fixes (e.g. ignoring all of "attract mode runs too fast" issues, which are trivial issues, as well as potentially not being fixable on the DE-10 nano).

• Rayman 2 randomly crashes when completing a level, during the save sequence. According to the tester, this occurs more frequently the later in the game you get (or maybe the longer your session is), but can happen on any level end save screen. It's not known yet if this affects the PAL version, and I've not been able to personally test this yet, but it does seem to be the last show-stopping crash left on the core

• Tonic Trouble PAL randomly crashes. This is the only version of the game with languages other than English, so not (entirely) pointless

Other games of lower priority (maybe worth trying an existing patch approach just in case?):

• WipEout 64 PAL also randomly crashes, but it doesn't have any additional languages over NTSC (which I've not seen crash)

• Iggy's Reckin' Balls NTSC (USA + Japan) cannot be completed on the vanilla core. They hang up (music continues) after completing level 9-2 in the main campaign mode. The issue doesn't affect PAL nor when playing on the Turbo core (I've got a save file for this if you need one)

• Wonder Project J2 crashes in the shop menu when scrolling. Turbo core bypasses the issue

I am also planning to set aside some time to actually play through Blues Brothers 2000. Would love to confirm whether or not a potential 2nd chase sequence needs patching for the game to be completable. Maybe I can track down some level select codes or cheats or a save file, we'll see.

As long as there is a version of the game that works without crashing then it is good enough for me personally. As you said I think there will always be something left to fix considering the limitations of the de-10 nano, even it is just a speed discrepancy. I can have a look at Rayman 2 if it also crashes on the turbo core, although if it requires me to finish a level multiple times to test it out then I probably won't spend much time on it.

With Blues Brothers the most useful thing for me would be a project 64 save state right before the chase. I was able to find one for the alligator chase but not the other one. (only in the case that the second chase is also unbeatable of course)

If I want to patch a translated rom so that the core runs it, how would it be? I would be the Zelda and Conquer version translated into Spanish.

These games dont need patch.

[PhDTenma]

IMPORTANT NOTE 05/09/2024: Thanks to yxkalle the patch data is now included in N64-database.txt and the latest mister main will apply them automatically. So no manual patching is required when using the latest mister main.

This is great! Do we need to store the .bps files somewhere or update all also downloads the files and apply them?

[Retro-Nerd]

No, the patches are directly included inside the "N64-database.txt" file.

[sev48lora]

What date is the latest Nintendo 64 core?