So I updated my graphics card drivers to the latest (32.0.101.7026) and now N64 games in emulators like Retroarch and Ares display broken textures. I tried fiddling with everything in the emulators to fix it, but the problem remains. I tried dozens of emulation settings changes, tried new versions of the emulators, tried old versions I have that I know worked before that I haven't updated, tried different games and everything on different hard drives. Nothing changed.
The one thing that I did notice that if you change the RDP Plugin in Retroarch to a different one that isn't ParaLLEl-RDP, this problem does not occur. ParaLLEL-RDP only works with Vulkan, so maybe it's something related to Vulkan that is the issue.
I used DDU in safe mode to do a clean uninstall and then reinstalled the latest version of the drivers. No change there.
I then switched to the older 32.0.101.6913 driver and everything is normal with that. So I'm thinking there must have been something with the newer drivers that is broken for this.
Reproduction steps:
1. Download Retroarch (https://www.retroarch.com/?page=platforms) or Ares (https://ares-emu.net/).
2a. In Retroarch only, install the core (Online Updater > Core Downloader> "Nintendo - N64 - Mupen64plus-next")
3. Load a homebrew game such as https://github.com/jsdf/n64-sdk-demo or https://n64squid.com/homebrew/roms/dexanoid/ (download password is dexanoitrose)
In Ares, click "Load" in the top left, then down to "Nintendo", then "Nintendo 64..." and load the unzipped .z64 or .n64 file.
In Retroarch, click "Load Content" and navigate to the unzipped .z64 or .n64 file and load it with the Mupen64plus-next core.
4a. In Retroarch only, press F1 to open the menu. Go to Core Options, and select "ParaLLEl-RDP" for the RDP Plugin setting if not already set. If it was not already set, close Retroarch, reopen it, and load the homebrew game again, checking to see that the setting is correct this time.
5. The textures of the game should be very broken. Here's an example image:
And here's what it is supposed to look like without errors:
I'm assuming Mario looks mostly fine because he is made of solid colours and not actual textures. But all textures are wonky. I have attached my Intel SSU report.
Thank you.
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Thank you for looking into it. I can confirm that the other 2 plugins in Retroarch do work properly and it is only the ParaLLEl-RDP plugin that displays broken textures.
This is how it appears with the GlideN64 plugin, and it looks how it should.
And here's a screenshot with the other plugin, Angrylion, that also looks correct. (It's blurry but that is intended, as this core does not have enhancements like internal resolution scaling).
I also recorded some videos comparing the output of ParaLLEl-RDP and Angrylion.
ParaLLEl-RDP game 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFxHDvVcnE4
Angrylion game 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSyYtsMUlnA
ParaLLEl-RDP game 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t02fMGxFGMM
Angrylion game 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLFhcfXiR7Q
I dunno much about fixing this stuff or the cause but I do find it interesting that it doesn't affect every texture, and also that it sometimes seems like a graphic will display properly and then break a second later. Or vice versa. Like in game 1, when they are in the file select screen (after the title screen, with the character in the bed in the house) it seems fine except for the broken fade-in and the text (which looks like it switches between breaking and not breaking to me).
Thank you.
