Plugin explaination for dummies?

[Terranigma]

I've been using tons of N64 plugins, but I've noticed a problem with all of them. There's no documentation on what some of the features do. Is there any kind of info out there for plugins like RiceVideo, or Jarbo, or whatever? I have no idea what is frame buffering (this is just an example). Sometimes I run into problem that I don't even know if it IS a problem. I've been running OpenGL, and I have no freaking clue what it means other than the fact that it's better than Directx.

What the heck is TMEM Emulation? What the heck are Vertex clippers? What is this OpenGL thing that I'm using? These are just some of the examples. If there is full documentations, can someone link me, cause they weren't in the plugins when I downloaded them. I guess I'm mainly more confused with RiceVideo and Jarbo, but it wouldn't hurt to find out what some of the other plugins' features.

I mean, not knowing what they do is frustrating; especially when the emulator says this game runs perfectly, yet I'm encountering problems with graphics that I don't know how to fix. I spent hours fiddling with the options and sometimes I end up making it worst.

 

[Agozer]

I'll explain a OpenGL very briefly.

OpenGL, like DirectX (Direct3D actually), is an application programming interface that is used to create computer graphics (3D and 2D, but mainly for 3D work). For some, OpenGL-based plugins work better than plugins that use Direct3D, and vice versa.

Applications that solely use DirectX functions only work on Microsoft Windows platforms, while OpenGL is quite portable.

AFAIK, Jabo's graphics plugin (at least the one that is bundled with PJ64) uses Direct3D to render graphics, while Rice's let's you chooce whether to use OpenGL or DirectX rendering.

For your information, you can get detailed explanations about most options in Rice's Video plugin simply by moving the mouse on top of checkboxes and such.

 

[Terranigma]

For your information, you can get detailed explanations about mot options in Rice's Video plugin simply by moving the mouse on top of checkboxes and such.

Really? I just tried it and sat there for an entire minute waiting for some kind of text to appear, but I got nothing. I even tried pressing the question mark icon and then clicking on the boxes.

 

[Agozer]

Really? I just tried it and sat there for an entire minute waiting for some kind of text to appear, but I got nothing. I even tried pressing the question mark icon and then clicking on the boxes.

Yes. At least Rice's Video plugin 6.1.1 Beta10 has these quickhelp balloons.

 

[Terranigma]

That's what I'm using. I don't see any help balloons. I'll try again.

 

[Trotterwatch]

Remember to check the box "Enable Tooltips" or something to that effect.

 

[Terranigma]

Oh, that explains why they won't appear. Thanks for your help.

Oh, but can someone explain Frame Buffering to me. I still don't get what it does. Or perhaps you can give me examples of what problems it can fix by having it on?

 

[Agozer]

Frame buffer is used extensively in some special effects like motion blur and such.

Smarter people may correct me if I go wrong in what I'm about to say now...

A frame buffer is a memory storage area that the graphics chip in the console uses to store fully rendered frames or certain parts of a frame. The frames can them be used at any time without taking the time to render these frames again, because the console can just fetch the rendered frame from the buffer and display it.

Motion blur for example, uses several iterations of the same frame. Doing something like this by rendering each frame separately after one another right then and there would be extremely taxing for the graphics chip to handle.

 

[Allnatural]

Oh, but can someone explain Frame Buffering to me. I still don't get what it does. Or perhaps you can give me examples of what problems it can fix by having it on?

The most obvious example of a framebuffer effect is the jumbotron in Mario Kart (Luigi Raceway and Wario Stadium). Can't see it without the framebuffer enabled, which tends to slow emulation, so it's disabled by default in Jabo's plugin. The whole scene (or at least part of it) is being re-drawn within the jumbotron. Effects like this are easy on the console because memory is shared. When emulated, rendering is done in video memory, which means a scene must be copied back into system memory every frame to be re-rendered within the jumbotron. The AGP bus doesn't handle back and forth transfers very well, so framebuffer emulation is generally quite slow.

I've always wondered if PCIe cards would change all that. Are there immediate benefits compared to AGP, or are there coding tweaks that must be done to take advantage of the better bi-directional bandwidth?

 

[Clements]

I noticed marked improvements with hqXx filters and PCIe when testing it versus AGP, and they rely heavily on the speed of transfers between system and video memory. I would test the Framebuffer too but it's broken for me with ATi's drivers right now.