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+--- Thread: New N64 Hack Gives System Bad Graphics (/showthread.php?tid=6948)
New N64 Hack Gives System Bad Graphics - A Black Falcon - 21st March 2016
http://www.retrocollect.com/News/nintendo-64-games-hacked-to-remove-blurry-graphics-via-action-replay-or-flash-cartridges.html
Now, some people (mostly people who dislike the N64) think this hack that removes anti-aliasing improves N64 graphics. I strongly disagree, all those horrible jaggies in N64 screenshots and videos are so painful to look at! Graphics are about far more than just N64 haters' obsession with bashing its blurred textures, and disabling the anti-aliasing is good evidence for that. Blurred textures are a far less bad thing than screens full of jaggies.
New N64 Hack Gives System Bad Graphics - Dark Jaguar - 23rd March 2016
The problem is that the N64 implemented bilinear filtering rather badly. Even modern consoles usually still use bilinear, or rarely trilinear filtering for their anti-aliasing, so it's clear it can look far better than what the N64 did. Further, it applied it to the entire image in an absolute way that affected 2D sections, such as a game's UI. The 2D sections certainly didn't need such filtering.
Antialiasing does improve the look, and when I compare Super Mario 64 to it's DS port, the lack of antialiasing stands out pretty clear. I wouldn't want to go without the effect entirely. However, it's application of the effect washes a lot out. It's a pretty harsh tradeoff, so I can understand a group wanting to find a good balance. Modern emulators just substitute superior antialiasing so it isn't an issue on them, generally.
I don't know all the details, but lately I've read that the later run (colored) N64 consoles actually had a superior implementation of bilinear filtering and games tend to look a lot less blurry on those later revisions, while still sporting antialiasing.
New N64 Hack Gives System Bad Graphics - A Black Falcon - 23rd March 2016
Good point about Mario 64 DS, that's a great example of how removing the filtering makes the graphics look worse. The jaggies in DS games were so, so disappointing to see compared to their N64 predecessors! This is one reason why I never bought the DS versions of Mario 64, Rayman 2, or Ridge Racer 64... not only because I had them already on other systems by the time I got a DS, but also because from everything I've seen the DS versions are visually downgraded compared to the originals. Yes, N64 texture filtering results in blurred textures, but if the options are that or jaggies and pixelated textures, I'd rather see the blurring than the pixels.
Quote: I don't know all the details, but lately I've read that the later run (colored) N64 consoles actually had a superior implementation of bilinear filtering and games tend to look a lot less blurry on those later revisions, while still sporting antialiasing.That seems very unlikely...
New N64 Hack Gives System Bad Graphics - Dark Jaguar - 24th March 2016
All I can say for sure is later run N64s use newer RAM modules that don't "keep" their memory for 10 seconds when the power to the system is cut. While bilinear filtering is a hardware driven feature, the N64 games themselves determined how intense the filtering was. That link you provided indicates that along with Gameshark codes for each game to disable the filtering completely are codes that just lower the level of filtering.
For all I've said about Mario 64 DS, don't misunderstand. The graphics in the DS version, other than the antialiasing issues, have been improved. Mario, for example, has more polygons and more detailed textures. The biggest upgrade, however, is all the additional stars and areas, and playable characters. It's a worthy enhancement over the N64 original.
The biggest downside isn't the lack of antialiasing, though that is lamentable, it's the lack of an analog stick. Controlling Mario and friends with a d-pad just doesn't work as well in the game, and using the "soft controls" with the touch screen is also very awkward, though sometimes necessary to navigate certain sections. For my part, I'd love to see the DS version properly ported to 3DS, sporting both features added back in.
If you want some details on what I've heard about the application of bilinear filtering on later revisions, check this thread:
http://s9.zetaboards.com/Nintendo_64_Forever/topic/7363768/1/
It's entirely possible that Nintendo just remapped the instructions for filtering so game requests for one level returned a lower level.