Mupen64plus-next timing problems

Libretro Cores
#1

Hello!!

Currently, the Mupen64plus-next core still have inaccurate timing issues in some games (tested in dynarec, cached interpreter and pure interpreter with the ParaLLEl GFX and ParaLLEl RSP plugins):

Donkey Kong 64:

  • Introduction scene when starts a new game is out-of-sync with the audio.
  • In the first demo, D.K. don’t use the vines (runs faster than the real N64).

Castlevania 64:

  • Intro runs too fast and is desync with audio
  • The “necronomicon” book closes too fast.
  • Character narration introduction too fast (the text runs faster than the narrator audio).

Castlevania Legacy of Darkness:

  • In the Low Resolution mode, the cutscenes are faster than the original N64 hardware.
  • Cornel’s intro is out-of-sync with the audio (is worst in Low Resolution mode).

Banjo-Kazooie:

  • Banjo-Kazooie swamp big turtle demo is faster than the real N64.

Is any hope to fix this issues in the future?

Thanks!!

#2

I’m no emulator developer, so take what I say here with a grain of salt, but it appears this won’t be easy to resolve in the slightest. These are issues that have plagued pretty much every N64 emulator since the dawn of time. At the moment, the emulators that have made the most headway on this problem are ares and simple64 (a heavily modified fork of Mupen64Plus). At one point simple64 had it so DK64 actually ran with proper timings, but it seems it has since regressed to the older behavior. Additionally, one consequence of simple64’s core timings modifications is that it broke compatibility with the dynarec cores, so it currently only runs a slower, cached interpreter core. I presume this, along with some compatibility regressions, is part of the reason its changes have yet to be ported upstream or to Mupen64Plus-Next.

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