GoldenEye 007 Nintendo 64 Community, GoldenEye X, Nintendo 64 Games Discussion

[PaRaDoX]

Hey guys, I've had this problem about the campsy on emulator.I can't seem to see anything with it(while in the camspy mode).This can get kinda annoying when you need it for a mission.Is there anyway to fix this?Thanks in regard

[CharAznable0]

I would probably say whats responsible for that is the graphics plugin your using, I would use a different one, but beware, I used one before that shows great gfx, but demands a lot from your pc, well mine anyway.

[00Dark]

That's because emulation isn't perfectly done for the N64. Sometimes it should be called simulation not emulation because it can be inaccurate compared to real hardware. However emulation's got so many advantages over the console that it's sometimes truly better to emulate unless you have a good reason to pull out you're dusty Nintendo 64 from your closet or from underneath your bed.

[PacmanPlush]

00Dark wrote:

However emulation's got so many advantages over the console that it's sometimes truly better to emulate unless you have a good reason to pull out you're dusty Nintendo 64 from your closet or from underneath your bed.

Eh, nothing beats using the original console, but being able to play Perfect Dark at a solid framerate is a wonderful thing!

BGS, what version of PJ64 are you using, and what video plugin? With the latest version of PJ64 (1.6) and the default video plugin (Jabo's Direct3D8 1.6), the CamSpy works fine for me. If you're using the same setup, it's possible that the plugin doesn't play well with your graphics card.

Personally, I use the Glide64 plugin- it's better all around and it correctly displays the skies and blood in GoldenEye, and the corruption artifacts in the A51: Infiltration intro. Needs a somewhat beefier system, though. Might work better for you, probably worth a try.
_________________

[acceptable67]

i used to get the same thing
_________________

Rare wrote:

Perfect Dark Forever.

[Wreck]

I think, in most situations, you can kind of get away with using the CamSpy while not being able to see. In dD Investigation, you can just deploy it with the door into the radioactive area open while looking completely straight. Just move it forward slowly and keep taking pictures. Eventually, the objective will be completed. It's also possible to leave your CamSpy up on the overhead platform in the G5 Building, and simply send it forward whenever you need to (usually just after setting the door decoder on the safe controls, but before the alarm is triggered). I can't seem to recall any other place where you need the CamSpy, but even those should be possible. I was even able to take a snap of the computer terminal in CI Training blindly.
_________________

YOUTUBE | TWITTER/X | FACEBOOK | VAULT | MOD DB | RHDN

[acceptable67]

Wreck wrote:

I think, in most situations, you can kind of get away with using the CamSpy while not being able to see. In dD Investigation, you can just deploy it with the door into the radioactive area open while looking completely straight. Just move it forward slowly and keep taking pictures. Eventually, the objective will be completed. It's also possible to leave your CamSpy up on the overhead platform in the G5 Building, and simply send it forward whenever you need to (usually just after setting the door decoder on the safe controls, but before the alarm is triggered). I can't seem to recall any other place where you need the CamSpy, but even those should be possible. I was even able to take a snap of the computer terminal in CI Training blindly.

Yeah, just memorize how you would beat the level ^^
_________________

Rare wrote:

Perfect Dark Forever.

[Dragonsbrethren]

I think Glide64 is the only plugin that can do the CamSpy.

[radorn]

00Dark wrote:

That's because emulation isn't perfectly done for the N64. Sometimes it should be called simulation not emulation because it can be inaccurate compared to real hardware.

Actually, simulation would be a more accurate method to reach perfect emulation.
Emulation aims at getting the same work done as the original, while simulation in this case would imply that they are trying to recreate the exact same process the original hardware does: that is, an N64 simulator would have a recreation of the electronic circuitry of the real hardware and running it would imply having the PC recreate the workings of every single transistor inside the CPU, among many other things... which is nuts...

The case of the n64 is not just inaccuracies in emulation, but a matter of approach.
While there's now an effort to LLE the RCP coprocessor in the n64, the current approach is to HLE it.
N64 libs from the nintendo devkit use some small programs that run on the RCP called microcode.
These microcodes run every frame and process display list data calculated by the CPU from the current scene and render it to a 2d image to be displayed on your screen.

Technically these microcodes can be made different for each game (or even have more than 1 microcode per game, to be used for different aspects of the game, but in practice nintendo only gave the microcode development tools to a few select companies and even those found the task so complex that there are only a handful of games with custom microcodes. The vast majorty of games only use the official set of microcodes (don't really know how many they are but it's not even 10).

With that in mind, instead of reverse engineering the RCP so it can run microcodes, emulator authors reversed the microcodes themselves, trying to deduce what commands in them did what on screen. that is, they deciphered the "language" in which the display lists are written so they could translate them into something your Direct-X, OpenGL or Glide based PC video card can render on your screen.
This is faster than the LLE approach and also has the advantage of allowing stuff like higher resolutions, run-time texture replacement, etc but still microcode emulation is not perfect.... AND, even with that, there are games that send raw commands to the RCP in parallel to microcode usage.
One example of this that everyone in this forum knows about are the skies in GE, which are black or garbled in most emulators.
This is because the sky in GE is drawn using RCP commands directly instead of submitting it through a displaylist, and this requires a certain LLE support that most emus/videoplugins don't offer.
(credit goes to zoinkity for this bit of info)

About the camspy, I don't know what exactly is the problem, but the fisheye+scanlines effect is probably the cause.

notes:
LLE = Low Level Emulation
HLE = High Level Emulaion

[PaRaDoX]

Wreck wrote:

I think, in most situations, you can kind of get away with using the CamSpy while not being able to see. In dD Investigation, you can just deploy it with the door into the radioactive area open while looking completely straight. Just move it forward slowly and keep taking pictures. Eventually, the objective will be completed. It's also possible to leave your CamSpy up on the overhead platform in the G5 Building, and simply send it forward whenever you need to (usually just after setting the door decoder on the safe controls, but before the alarm is triggered). I can't seem to recall any other place where you need the CamSpy, but even those should be possible. I was even able to take a snap of the computer terminal in CI Training blindly.

Yeah this is what I do to but I just wanted to see if I can fix it.I am using the latest version of PJ64 and the default plugins that came with it

[HackBond]

Yeah this is what I do to but I just wanted to see if I can fix it.I am using the latest version of PJ64 and the default plugins that came with it


Get Glide64's latest plugin.

Google Glide64, the dl link will be a small thing to the left.
_________________
Also known as Spyster or Nyxem
[Youtube]

[Decoy] Antenna | Control | Silo | Escape

[CharAznable0]

Hmm I think there is the same problem with the IR Scanner? If I remember right it just appears all red, not showing the hostiles that are red.

[PacmanPlush]

Dragonsbrethren wrote:

I think Glide64 is the only plugin that can do the CamSpy.

Yeah, it seems to be the only one that does it correctly, but I'm still wondering about the black screen... I never had that problem! (Not to imply that I don't believe you, BGS- I do- but it seems the problem isn't just with the plugin.)

I've downloaded a fresh copy of PJ64, and ensured all the settings were at their default state.

With the default video plugin (Jabo's Direct3D8 1.6), the CamSpy looks like this:



The scanlines work, but not the fisheye effect.

With the older included plugin, Jabo's Direct3D6 1.5.2, I get this:



No scanlines, no fisheye effect.

Glide64 Napalm WX, with the latest update, gives me this:



Looks perfect, though it's probably not 100% accurate to the N64- microcodes and all that.

Everything I can find indicates that with the latest default plugins, the CamSpy works, but not perfectly. I'm wondering whether the effects vary depending on the user's hardware. A quick Google search shows many different problems with the CamSpy, using the same emulator and plugins. The game crashes for one guy, another gets a solid black screen, yet another gets the border and the scanlines, but the image is white.

The Project64 site lists these as known issues for PD:

Issues (plugin) Jabo Direct3D
■resolution detection issue in v1.6, NTSC versions (U/J) only - black border at bottom. Can force resolution to fix but not recomended as game changes res. Game has numerous in game res/screen options, some are supported better than others.
■IR scanner not working.

■Camspy is functional but imperfect (missing fisheye FOV lens effect?)
■Xray is functional but has issues with character/textures (see below)
■Sky missing (general problem)

■Coronas/lens flares missing (e.g. in Lobby)

Q: Why does the campsy, night vision etc not work?
Most effects work in v1.6 (see Known Issues for the remaining that don't).
Other problems you see are a result of your graphics card not meetin the minimum {ln:requirements}.


As far as simulation vs. emulation goes, I think Jabo attempts to emulate the N64's video hardware exactly, which is to say it uses the original code. The emulation isn't perfect yet, hence the glitches. Glide64 simulates the effects with game specific hacks, essentially recreating the original effect- GE's sky or PD's fisheye lens, for instance. Neither is 100% accurate, but the differences are pretty much indistinguishable. Radorn probably knows more about the different approaches.

Merkieman wrote:

Hmm I think there is the same problem with the IR Scanner? If I remember right it just appears all red, not showing the hostiles that are red.

Yeah, IR is completely broken in Jabo 1.6:



The older version, 1.5.2 doesn't even try:



Glide64 is near perfect:



BGS, I still recommend trying Glide64. There's a chance it'll play nicer with your hardware, plus it supports many features in PD (besides the fisheye lens and IR) that Jabo does not- light coronas, cloaking devices, blur, proper skies, dynamic resolution.
_________________

[PaRaDoX]

Well I downloaded Glide64 and put everything in the plugin folder but it says" the program can't open because glide3x.dll is missing from your computer"
IDK why it;s saying this since I have it in the folder.Help?
*EDIT* nevermind It works, I just had to load the game.so stupid of me xD
Well the IR scanner still doesn't work for me

[HackBond]

BGS wrote:

Well I downloaded Glide64 and put everything in the plugin folder but it says" the program can't open because glide3x.dll is missing from your computer" IDK why it;s saying this since I have it in the folder.Help? *EDIT* nevermind It works, I just had to load the game.so stupid of me xD Well the IR scanner still doesn't work for me

The Wrapper goes in the PJ64 main directory, not plugins.
The Wrapper is glide3x.dll I think.
_________________
Also known as Spyster or Nyxem
[Youtube]

[Decoy] Antenna | Control | Silo | Escape