N64 emulator + rom + PII class system = ???

Not that I would ever use a rom ILLEGALLY, but I have been searching for the best N64 emulator for my PII 266mhz system. I have tried Corn and UltraHLE, but one rom I'd really like to play - Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine - doesn't work on either. Is this a function of my system not being powerful enough for the emulator, or an emulator that can't handle the rom, or both? Either way, what is the best route for me to take in determining which emulators will work on my system, and then which roms will work on that emulator? (please don't say "trial and error").

Try Project64. You can find it at emuparadise. and just to let you know, with emulation, trial and error=inevidable. Sorry, and good luck.

pj64 might be too slow on your machine.

PJ64 is definately too much for your machine. :frown: It's too much for mine and mine is a 433mHz. Try SupaHLE instead of UltraHLE. If you have some kind of 3Dfx based video card (such as Voodoo) you may have better luck. If not, you may need a glide plugin from this site.
Supra and UltraHLE are the only emulators other than Corn that will run on slower systems.

The other possible problem remains that Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine may not be compatable with those emulators, though.

It doesn't look too good for you, unfortunately...but good luck.

Oh, one more thing...especially if you plan on using UltraHLE or SupraHLE. Make sure your ROM filename is only ONE word with no spaces. Example, if it says Indiana Jones Infernal.v64 it will not work. You must rename it without the spaces to something like IndianaJones.v64. Otherwise, the UltraHLE based emulators at least will not recognize it.

WARNING!!! This may bust your system!

If you have a fair amount of knowledge about computers and hardware, you can try overclocking your pc... it is risky, because if you do something wrong, you may burn your pc... if you have access to your motherboard, start increasing the multiplied speed. The problem is, that your motherboard can only be tweaked by the jumpers. Your pc is probably configured like this: 66 mHz(bus) x 4.0(multiplier)...if you find the jumper in your motherboard (or the option in the bios, you can access the bios screen when you turn on your pc and you press the 'Del' key in your keyboard, look for the option "voltage and clock frequencies") that allows you to increase the multiplier,and move it to 5.0x. The speed of your pc should increase to 333 mHz. A little faster, no?

Also, you should install Direct X 8.1, the latest drivers for your video card, and an utility for overclocking your video card, Rivatuner, which lets you mess with your Direct X settings and your video card's clock & memory speed(depending of your video card) . After following these, you should notice a slight improvement in your game's speed...

Or, as a last resort, buy a new motherboard & processor, in pages like tigerdirect.com or eBay... there are always good options there.

Just options... it may improve general performance in all games.

Alas, my system is so antiquated, I'd probably be better off buying a N64 and games off of Ebay or at a pawn shop. Even if I overclocked it, I can't hope to get to 400+ mhz that most of these emulators require. And if I settle for the Supra or Ultra, well, most of the newer N64 games won't have compatible ROMs. So you're right - I'm outta luck here until I upgrade.

Still it's curious to me that, based on what I'm reading, so many ROMs are still not even emulated yet, even for the more recent emulators. So it seems silly to make these ROMs available for download if there is no known emulator that can run them. What's up with that?

That's a good question. But the way I figure, they are available if someone wants to actually do coding work on an emulator to make them work.
I think they are there for someone to hopefully use them in development of better emulators. Remember, these ROMs are not SUPPOSED to be your free ticket to games. *wink wink*
Also, with the right equipment, sometimes you can load them onto a cartridge. Don't ask me what the equipment is, cuz I don't know. :chill:

Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine is not supported on 'any' emulator that is available at the moment.

As for your machine, the only emulators that will run acceptably are Corn and SupraHLE.

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Still it's curious to me that, based on what I'm reading, so many ROMs are still not even emulated yet, even for the more recent emulators. So it seems silly to make these ROMs available for download if there is no known emulator that can run them. What's up with that?

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Simply because those Roms can be downloaded and used via a 'backup device' - the backup device plugs into a normal N64 and runs the games through that. Thus no emulation is required.

the "return" of Del_Boy ;)

Thanks for noticing my return Davemc :biggrin:

lol, i see u on quite a bit, but u dont post anymore :D

A 266Mhz would find it tough to emulate, especially if you have a crappy gfx card to go with it. Other than that, corn should be able to give you some decent n64 emulation, nothing apart from that would work right.

I'd have to agree with you, MasJ. But Corn is quite unstable.

Anyways, many of the less popular ROMs aren't supported by any emulators.

I'm still running on a PII 333mhz which your can overclock your cpu to that speed easly, but you don't have too. I got a website that has tweaking articles on emu-tweaking that will make games run fine. I run zeldamm with average 26 fps on pj64. The best emu for you if you don't have your rig tweaked is supra-hle which you can run games like mario and zelda64 at full speed.