Published on 30 Sep 2022
So in the past few weeks, I have been busy implementing 64DD in Ares’ N64 core. Now Ares v130 is out, and I’m happy to tell you that it includes my most accurate 64DD emulation code yet.
It is a little rough in terms of timing but a lot of the intricacies are pretty much emulated, and I’m proud of it. It supports Japanese Retail, American Retail and Development 64DD IPLs and Disks and selects accordingly. However, it does not support disk swapping yet, but you can use the N64 Mouse if you want.
The other big change for v130 is that it now includes macOS support for Parallel-RDP which is the Vulkan API based graphics plugin. I had a few people who were on Mac asking about it and since I don’t really deal with N64 emulation much, only 64DD specifics or other weird things (more on that, eventually), but now there’s finally something.
I want to put to your attention on how to play 64DD: The first time you boot up a 64DD game, you have to set up the clock, hold the A button to set it, and then you can play however you want. Do not forget to set the IPL ROMs in the Firmware menu, by the way.
If you deal with micro stutters while playing something 64DD: Disable auto-saves, as it saves 64MB every time and that might stop emulation for a few microseconds every time.
I have also updated the downloads page to include simple64 (previously named “m64p”), which recently added support for cartridge ports, which I’m personally iffy about, because it is definitely less annoying to use, but then you don’t really get much access to everything 64DD can offer in terms of experience…
I always saw Cartridge Ports as a bandaid solution for 64DD when it is definitely doable to play 64DD games now in their disk forms.
But you get more choice, and I think that’s the most important.