Thoughts on the recent trend of decomps and recomps? Stuff like Super Mario 64 decomp, Star Fox 64 decomp, OoT decomp, Unleashed Recomp, Twilight Princess' two decomps, etc. Do you think they're doing things that there's a market for that the actual publishers aren't interested in doing?
I mean, it's cool. I like how so many of them have such high compatibility with their target game. Like it took a really long time to emulate Sonic Unleashed, right, but so much about the Unleashed Recomp just works flawlessly. I know there's tons of logistics around that, it wasn't easy, but from a purely end-user perspective it's great how painless these things tend to be and how accurate the end product is.
I think studios and publishers will eventually look into it. It wouldn't surprise me if some already are. And technically some already have -- the first Mega Man Legacy Collection was using a series of static recompilations, I believe.
But you gotta see some of these guys as these, like, big hulking behemoths. It takes forever for them to change direction. It's like Sega getting into generative AI, right. They're kind late to that party and the tide is turning on it right as they're going all-in. Because it took them a while to steer the boat in this direction. Big corporations are not nimble creatures.
Recomp/decomps are still a little "bleeding edge" right now. Sonic Unleashed was the big wake-up call I think and that's barely a year old. Adoption outside of this space is going to take a while.
But then again, maybe not. The benefit of an emulator is that you make one piece of software that runs many games, whereas these recomp and decomp projects only exist on a game-by-game basis. When you consider retro game collections are often very budget things, doing game-by-game projects like this is probably more expensive.
Zelda 64: Recompiled is a project that uses N64: Recompiled to statically recompile Majora's Mask (and soon Ocarina of Time) into a native port with many new features and enhancements. This project uses RT64 as the rendering engine to provide some of these enhancements.
Play Majora's Mask natively on PC! Download here for Windows or Linux:
Static recompilation of Majora's Mask (and soon Ocarina of Time) for PC (Windows/Linux) - Mr-Wiseguy/Zelda64Recomp
Note: Project does not include game assets. Original game is required to play.
Features:
Plug and Play
Simply provide your copy of the North American version of the game in the main menu and start playing! This project will automatically load assets from the provided copy, so there is no need to go through a separate extraction step or build the game yourself. Other versions of the game may be supported in the future.
Fully Intact N64 Effects
A lot of care was put into RT64 to make sure all graphical effects were rendered exactly as they did originally on the N64. No workarounds or "hacks" were made to replicate these effects, with the only modifications to them being made for enhancement purposes such as widescreen support. This includes framebuffer effects like the grayscale cutscenes and the Deku bubble projectile, depth effects like the lens of truth, decals such as shadows or impact textures, accurate lighting, shading effects like the fire arrows and bomb explosions, and various textures that are often rendered incorrectly.
Easy-to-Use Menus
Gameplay settings, graphics settings, input mappings, and audio settings can all be configured with the in-game config menu. The menus can all be used with mouse, controller, or keyboard for maximum convenience.
High Framerate Support
Play at any framerate you want thanks to functionality provided by RT64! Game objects and terrain, texture scrolling, screen effects, and most HUD elements are all rendered at high framerates. By default, this project is configured to run at your monitor's refresh rate. You can also play at the original framerate of the game if you prefer. Changing framerate has no effect on gameplay.
Note: External framerate limiters (such as the NVIDIA Control Panel) are known to potentially cause problems, so if you notice any stuttering then turn them off and use the manual framerate slider in the in-game graphics menu instead.
Widescreen and Ultrawide Support
Any aspect ratio is supported, with most effects modded to work correctly in widescreen. The HUD can also be positioned at 16:9 when using ultrawide aspect ratios if preferred.
Note: Some animation quirks can be seen at the edges of the screen in certain cutscenes when using very wide aspect ratios.
Gyro Aim
When playing with a supported controller, first-person items such as the bow can be aimed with your controller's gyro sensor. This includes (but is not limited to) controllers such as the Dualshock 4, Dualsense, Switch Pro, and most third party Switch controllers (such as the 8BitDo Pro 2 in Switch mode).
Note: Gamepad mappers such as BetterJoy or DS4Windows may intercept gyro data and prevent the game from receiving it. Most controllers are natively supported, so turning gamepad mappers off is recommended if you want to use gyro.
Autosaving
Never worry about losing progress if your power goes out thanks to autosaving! The autosave system is designed to respect Majora's Mask's original save system and maintain the intention of owl saves by triggering automatically and replacing the previous autosave or owl save. However, if you'd still rather play with the untouched save system, simply turn off autosaving in the ingame menu.
Low Input Lag
This project has been optimized to have as little input lag as possible, making the game feel more responsive than ever!
Instant Load Times
Saving and loading files, going from place to place, and pausing all happen in the blink of an eye thanks to the game running natively on modern hardware.
Linux and Steam Deck Support
A Linux binary is available for playing on most up-to-date distros, including on the Steam Deck.
To play on Steam Deck, extract the Linux build onto your deck. Then, in desktop mode, right click the Zelda64Recompiled executable file and select "Add to Steam" as shown. From there, you can return to Gaming mode and configure the controls as needed. See the Steam Deck gyro aim FAQ section for more detailed instructions.
System Requirements:
A GPU supporting Direct3D 12.0 (Shader Model 6) or Vulkan 1.2 is required to run this project (GeForce GT 630, Radeon HD 7750, or Intel HD 510 (Skylake) and newer).
A CPU supporting the AVX instruction set is also required (Intel Core 2000 series or AMD Bulldozer and newer).
Planned Features:
Dual analog control scheme (with analog camera)
Configurable deadzone and analog stick sensitivity
