Project64 Blog

Off Topic: Congratulation Jabo

zilmar — 2010-05-07T20:25:38+01:00

Just wanted to say congratulations to Jabo, he is now engaged to his lovely girl.

Features: Where should saves go?

zilmar — 2008-11-26T19:10:06+01:00

When we started Project64 the operating system generally used was Windows98. We designed Project64 so that it would work in a self contained folder. We still use this design now; everything works from that one directory without needing an install. This also works great if you want to put the emulator onto a memory stick and run it from there...

With the current design of Windows (2000, XP, Vista onwards) being for multiple users and security around which users can modify files, this design of PJ64 does cause some problems. One of the problems is that limited users are not allowed to modify files in the Program Files directory. And if one user modifies settings, then this affects other users on the same system that also use this program.

Vista gets around this issues by virtual mapping writes to the program files directory, to the user directory.

So where should saves, settings, etc be stored in PJ64 v1.7 - user directory, application directory? Should we determine by the location of the .exe? Should it work differently on different OS's etc... ?? Your thoughts please.

Site News: New Forum

zilmar — 2008-10-04T00:07:01+01:00

Most of the work I wanted to do on the site is now done. One of the main changes that I have now implemented is a new forum for public and beta users. All the blog comments now will go through the forum as well ...

if you notice any problems please tell me and I will try to fix them.

** Note: This does mean now to comment you need to create an account first. To create an account is free ***

Features: Project64 Settings

zilmar — 2008-09-17T11:57:50+01:00

I am redoing all the internals and the UI around settings. One thing I think should be dropped is the shell integration. Unless I am wrong and please tell me if I am this is a feature that is basically never used? What do people think about the simple/advanced settings .. Any new settings people would like? Suggestions on layout, etc .. if you have any thoughts this is the best time to give a suggestion since I am working on it.

Some of the things planned:

When updating some configuration for a game, it will update the cfg file instead of the rdb. That way I can always do a reset back to original settings.
Being able to set plugins for individual games
Removal of shell integration (see comments for more details)
Change the settings configuration UI to a tree list of pages instead of a tab list as it currently is (to be able to offer more pages and better organized) - current version is running out of space.
Bold the setting that have been changed so you can easily see what is different.

Hopefully I will be able to achieve what is above, but happy to hear any other suggestions.

Developer Diaries: Quick Update - 8 September 2008

zilmar — 2008-09-08T22:39:02+01:00

Just to let you know my wife had a beautiful boy the other week, just in time for Fathers day. I am still working on the site. The updates to the site now are more functional based/content based then they are design. I am happy with the design. Some of the new changes that I will upload soon is related to the beta download section and the way user join the site.

I was curious if people use RSS reader to keep up to date with things that go on, or do you continually just check out the sites you know and love?

Developer Diaries: Working on the site

zilmar — 2008-07-31T08:00:40+01:00

I do all my web development work offline (on my laptop). At the moment I am doing some upgrades to the site. At some point I will sync those up and you will see (or not see them) then. I want to do this round of working on the site, so I do not have to touch the site for another 12 months (excluding updating content). I have talked to Jabo about some of the improvements I want to make, but I was curious about what other people thought I could do to improve the site?

Developer Diaries: Project Update

zilmar — 2008-07-25T06:14:54+01:00

The project has been on hiatus for a little bit, well probably about a year! With the payments, I have found another company to try. I have re-enabled the donation page to see how they work out. The account creation process is not automatic so I will have to create the accounts by hand. I still have a busy life, things have not slowed down. My wife is now currently 8 months pregnant. If this payment method works, then I will over the next few months look at doing some work on improving the site. Then I will get back to the actual coding of the emu, where I am sure everyone of you would like me to be.

Off Topic: Mupen64 gets a new lease on life

zilmar — 2008-05-07T08:04:11+01:00

It is good to see the n64 scene still active. If you want to try emulation on Linux then give Mupen64Plus a try. Mupen64 is an Open Source n64 emulator that does not just run on Linux, but all the common OS these days (Windows, Mac OSX, FreeBSD, and Linux). Well it is not Mupen64 directly, this was developed by hacktarux with the last release being Mupen64 0.5. A new group of developers have decided to make a fork of the original Mupen and called it Mupen64Plus. This fork is project aimed primarily at Linux users with a handful of enhancements. They have release a window version today. Check it out and see what you think.

If you interested in contributing to this project they are more then open to it, so if you a code or just want to test feel free to offer your service to them.

Official Website:
http://code.google.com/p/mupen64plus/

Discussion about the new windows version:
Emutalk thread

Developer Diaries: We need an update!

Jabo — 2008-02-03T10:16:02+01:00

I realized a few weeks ago that I haven't filled out a blog for a while, even about things that aren't related necessarily to PJ. The comments section of the last blog is a mess, but there seems to be a mix of people that still believe in the project and others who think it's dead. So I thought I'd just drop a note on the blog to say hello and fill you in on some of the things I've been up to. If you haven't heard by now over the Christmas holiday I released a new version of Jnes, so that kept me busy for a few months working with the beta team for a few months to get that out the door.

Prior to that I was deeply involved in Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess, and more recently I just finished Phantom Hourglass. These games were great I can honestly say Phantom Hourglass is my favorite handheld zelda, better than Link's Awakening if not just for the graphics. Twilight Princess was insanely fun as well, definitely my favorite zelda game since Ocarina of Time dare I say it.

I've also enjoyed Guitar Hero 3 as well on occasion, playing Poison on Medium is addictive. Anyway that's all I have for now, life is busy and hopefully we'll have more updates in 2008, there is always active discussions behind the scenes but not always blogs like this. Please be respectful of us, and each other if you choose to leave a comment, we welcome feedback. Also like to wish everyone a happy new year!

Off Topic: Lack of updates recently

zilmar — 2007-08-22T05:35:31+01:00

Is the lack of updates, just because the donation page is down? No!

I have been distracted by another non emulator project, it was meant to take a couple of months to do, but me I kept wanting to improve it so it has taken longer then I originally expected. Now I am in the process of changing jobs. I am going to be doing a short term contact job. It might be a little while before I get back in to developing pj64. I have a have a list of things I want to do with project64. I hope I will be able to give pj64 some good attention in 2-3 months time, put it might be another 6 months.

I have been distracted by work and other projects before. This is one of the main reasons we are doing the beta program the way we are. This way we can release parts and not a complete version when we work on them. I hope when this contract is done I can spend a decent amount of time on this project getting it to run a lot better. I have been on this project on/off again for nearly 10 years. I want to get it to a point where I can say it is done someday.