Kaze Emanuar went over 30 thousand lines of Mario 64 code to optimize it and remove any bugs he could find. The result is a Mario 64 engine that can run the game up to 6 times faster on native N64 hardware. Mad respect for this guy.
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Making Mario 64 run up to 6 times faster on native hardware.
- Thread starter Alucardx23
- Start date
Incredible. Wow. I'm still watching the video but this is incredible.
Imagine a Sonic Mania-style project where someone who understands Super Mario 64 so deeply got a shot at making a special title.
Imagine a Sonic Mania-style project where someone who understands Super Mario 64 so deeply got a shot at making a special title.
Didn't watch the entire video, but at one point he says he removed code that his mod didn't use. Does that mean that the improvements he's made are specific to his mod (which I assume are custom levels?), so you can't play the base game with these improvements?
Well, no. It's still a compiled language. The optimizations he goes over make a lot of sense though.
It is, but I think anyone who has invested 100s of hours into optimizing thousands and thousands of lines of code in an effort to support their own mod of the game probably has a really strong understanding of the source material.
You could argue his knowledge is technical versus creative, sure. But I would like to fantasize about a game that looks exactly like Super Mario 64 but plays as good as this does. Please allow me this opportunity. I have so little. 😭
His video from a few months back on optimizing the code is also a really great watch, and IMO more approachable and easier to understand. (He also goes into the code in more detail at the end in a "bonus" section):
I usually look down on people crapping all over old code and whatnot (you just don't know the limitations the original had in every category) but this is a fantastic video while also not crapping all over it. Fantastic stuff.
As far as I've seen Kaze hasn't committed to doing a reoptimzied Mario 64 so these are exclusive to his hacks so far
Really hope he commits to this. After all of this work he's done it would be tremendously impactful for people to be able to play an optimized version of the original game on original hardware. People all over would stream it, speedrun it, review it, rave about it... that just won't if it's only for a mod of the game. Even if the mod is really good, you'd need people to be able to play the OG game first to get them excited about mods.
To be fair, a lot of his code optimizations could be seen as "more to the metal" than C code would generally be. He made several changes that look messy, but specifically target the N64's MIPS processor to the point where some of the code he wrote won't work when compiled on other platforms. (e.g. it exploits its big endian nature.)
Considering Mario 64 was one of the first games made for the system, one has to wonder any of the later published games for the system was developed with the same optimizations the modder did.
Considering what his mod is pulling off, one can't help but wonder.
Considering what his mod is pulling off, one can't help but wonder.
Only if they released a new version with the RAM expansion pack and took lessons on C from the future.
Kaze is the Super Mario 64 whisperer. His own dreams must be rendered in low-poly for all the tens of thousands of hours he's spent staring at this one game.
Probably not. I see numbers as high as 40fps though. Probably best to just cap it at 30.
Nintendo should hire him to compile new ROMs for the N64 emulator. Games like Zelda and GoldenEye run like shit by modern standards... Mario 64 has always felt slick but this is even slicker!
Last time I expressed excitement for one of his releases, someone showed me some evidence from his Discord that he's a total bigot. I can't remember exactly what it was, but just cautioning.
edit: Found it
https://imgur.com/a/zWf7NIv (CW: racism, transphobia)
edit: Found it
https://imgur.com/a/zWf7NIv (CW: racism, transphobia)
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The code for one of the most groundbreaking launch titles being a hot mess really isn't that surprising. They probably just barely managed to finish in time for launch.
Very cool project to analyse old code and optimising it.
Very cool project to analyse old code and optimising it.
i wish more time was spent on exactly what changes resulted in what speed ups. there's a lot of "this made it go faster", and in some cases it's like "by a measurable amount, or...?". especially when he'd mention a specific giant optimisation and it's like "oh, so it was mostly from this?".
looking at the final numbers (for the ram layout section iirc) and seeing one of the metrics go up rather than down is game optimisation in a nut-shell, lol.
looking at the final numbers (for the ram layout section iirc) and seeing one of the metrics go up rather than down is game optimisation in a nut-shell, lol.
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People joking / lamenting they can't be non-PC and make jokes at others expense. What he's been caught saying is wrong but others in there look to be actively worse. I get that it's his server. Discord can be a real cesspit when people use it to say things they wouldn't say elsewhere, people really seem to show themselves when they think they're in a walled garden clique. It's baffling how people who are otherwise talented / bright can be this way. People don't just laugh at racism on games done quick anymore... er.. good?
Ah come on. Why does everyone has to be a terrible human being. :(
I'm not very good with Discord. I see the comments he made directly, but what's up with the extra two or so sections where he isn't commenting? Did he like those comments, or just showing his fan base is garbage?
Seems like it's just a state of the community and how none of it is pushed back by the mods, especially when he was just actively in there.
This is the first I had heard of this channel but it'll be easy to ignore them. Sucks! How hard is it to not be an asshole!
I dont know the context it was collected in, but I think it was about general toxicity in the SM64 modding scene. I think it's his server.
It's his discord community where it's all happening. He not only fosters that behaviour, he encourages and participates in it.
He may be good at programming, but he's also a piece of shit.
