PS1 emulation on Nintendo 64

[Segataritensoftii]

I was just thinking about the N64's system specifications, and it got me to thinking, "What if there was a Playstation 1 emulator on the good ol' N64? N64 games haven't gotten any less blocky since the 2nd generation titles! I think that a PS1 emu would be a great showcase of the system's power.". Daedalus is an N64 emulator for the PSP, A system which typically runs at a little under 300 Mhz. That emulator is capable of emulating Mario 64 and a number of other games at full speed. Corn can do it in 233 Mhz, Which is less than twice as fast as the N64 itself. As for PSX emulators, Bleem can run at full speed on 133 Mhz pentium machines. Bleem also has relatively good compatibility with the majority of PSX titles. To give you a little comparison, here are the system specs of both machines:

 

PSX:

CPU: 32-bit RISC (33.9MHz)

RAM: 2MB, 1MB Video RAM

Graphics: 3D Geometry Engine, with 2D rotation, scaling, transparency and fading and 3D texture mapping and shading

Colors: 16.7 million

Sprites: 4,000

Polygons: 360,000 per second

Resolution: 640x480

Sound: 16-bit 24 channel PCM

 

N64:

CPU: 64-bit R4300i RISC (93.75MHz) / 64-bit data paths, registers with 5-stage pipelining

Co-processor: 64-bit RISC (62.5MHz)

RAM: 4MB (36Mb) upgradeable

Graphics: Pixel Drawing Processor (RDP) built into co-processor

Colors: 16.7 million (32,000 on screen)

Polygons: 150,000 per second

Resolution: 640x480 pixels

Sound: 16 to 24-channel 16-bit stereo (up to 100 PCM channels possible)

 

I think the only limitations for this emulator would be the lack of a CD-ROM drive for the 64, and a lack of flash carts for the system in general, which would make it very hard to test this on a real unit.

 

PS: Should this topic be in classic gaming or homebrew?

[Video]

Er...well, the N 64 has higher specs in a lot of ways to the PSX, but it's not enough greater to emulate a PSX though. You might get the Gamecube to emulate a PSX, though you'd have to have a new drive, or special discs for it to work.

 

The deal is, while most of the 64 specs are higher than the PSX, it's just not enough to handle translations and emulations.

 

Of course, I wouldn't put it past someone at some point making a custom PSX adaptor for the 64, though it'd be like the Atari adaptors for the Coleco and Intv, just a full system piping graphics and sound through the other systems cart slot.

[Bruce Tomlin]

The problem is that CPU emulation is the easy part. It's emulating the specific hardware that takes all the horsepower.

[JB]

Not enough power.

And there's nowhere to stick a 650 MB disk image. The cartridge bus isn't large enough even if you DID get a suitable flash cart.

[Segataritensoftii]

Ah.

 

What about HLE & bank switching?

Edited April 20, 2007 by Segataritensoftii

[Classic Pac]

My question is how do you get the disc image on a N64 cart in the first place.

[Segataritensoftii]

My question is how do you get the disc image on a N64 cart in the first place.

I dunno, compression, split it into parts. Here's how I see it working: there are CD modules for the N64 called the CD64 (from UFO enterprises) and the Doctor V64(from Bung). The emulator (called PS64 or RealityStation, or whatever) could load into the N64's internal RAM (that said, an expansion pak would probably be required to fit it all in). Then, you would be asked to swap discs. Then, required data from the PS disc would be loaded into the CD64 or Doctor V64's internal memory, which would then be accessed by the N64's RAM. Then it would load up extra memory from the disc as needed into a separate cache on the CD64 or V64's internal memory, which would be transferred into the main cache to speed up loading times.

Edited April 20, 2007 by Segataritensoftii

[Segataritensoftii]

You know what? This has made me really want to code this emulator, if only to prove you guys wrong. I'll get right on learning R4300i assembly right away! I'm also gonna scour eBay for a CD64 or something like that.

[Video]

Well, any PSX chip could just about be emulated on the 64, but the architectuer's going to pose a problem.

 

If you can get it to work, even half way decently, I'll eat my shirt (right after getting all the crap to make my 64 run this game)

 

Oh, don't forget Joyboxes, thos little boxes for the 64 to let you hook PSX controllers to it.

[Malc74]

This is the best thread ever!

[JB]

You know what? This has made me really want to code this emulator, if only to prove you guys wrong. I'll get right on learning R4300i assembly right away!

Sweet! Be sure to keep us posted on your progress!

[Segataritensoftii]

You know what? This has made me really want to code this emulator, if only to prove you guys wrong. I'll get right on learning R4300i assembly right away!

Sweet! Be sure to keep us posted on your progress!

 

Well, don't expect anything anytime soon. I'm a bit of a procrastinator when it comes to coding stuff. Heck, I don't even KNOW any programming outside of BASIC, and my skills in that language are pretty poor. Maybe I'll buy a Gameshark or Action Replay for my 64 so I can practice R4300i Assembly.

 

As for compatibility, don't expect this to play everything. All I want It to do is play Crash Bandicoot 1-3 and the Jumping Flash games. This emulator is not aimed at compatibility. I just want to show that it can be done.

 

Expect the first build in mid to late 2009. Maybe earlier if I stop procrastinating!

Edited April 23, 2007 by Segataritensoftii