Homebrew Hi-Resolution DS Emulation

[loco365]

So I was going around on the Google Machine last night, and found out some awesome bootleg games and eventually, this. Some user of Desmume decided to make a modified build that renders high resolution versions of your favorite DS games. Here's one screenshot to show you the stark difference:

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Want the build of Desmume that includes hi-res? Go nuts:
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32-bit and 64-bit builds: http://shikaver01.webcrow.jp/desmume_x432r/index.html


However, SoftRasterizer is the best option to use at the moment. OpenGL is currently semi-broken with this and seems to only work with some games.

To enable Hi-Res:
1. Start Desmume
2. Go to Config -> High Resolution 3D Renderer, then choose from X2, X3, or X4, you can play with the other settings to your liking
3. ???
4. Profit!

 

[Harsky]

Tried it out and yes, it does look much nicer but be warned that even with a core i7, using x4 option will cause the game to slow down considerably.

 

[Clydefrosch]

well, i knew that most games were somewhat getting downgraded due to the limits in resolution, but thats quite the difference.

 

[Deleted User]

it is pretty awesome, only problem i have is a little bit of a sound glitch but nothing major

 

[cearp]

wow, i thought this might be something like n64 emulators, where you have to provide the textures, but this is simply from the existing resources? very cool!

 

[porkiewpyne]

This is certainly impressive.

That said, I think this will put my poor computer under quite a bit of stress ;O; LOL

 

[Fishaman P]

You guys should know that the provided screenshot is a best-case scenario. Very few games will see that much improvement.
These are more realistic.

 

[porkiewpyne]

^Still looks pretty damn good to me tbh

 

[FAST6191]

I saw some theoretical discussion a while back, I did not know someone had pushed forward with it.

You guys should know that the provided screenshot is a best-case scenario. Very few games will see that much improvement.
These are more realistic.

Not bad, I did not realise how much the devs had abused the lower res/muddy nature of things in textures. That said some of the 2d overlay stuff looks to have been somewhat improved so I am still going to be a bit hesitant.

I suppose now we have to adapt this to allow for better textures.

 

[Starry Windy]

This is a nice find Team Fail, now the images in the game are crisper, kudos to you

it is pretty awesome, only problem i have is a little bit of a sound glitch but nothing major

I got that sound glitch too, but that's no big deal, I can get rid of that glitch by using Synchronous (sometimes needed in streams) instead of Dual SPU Synch/Asynch in the Sound Settings. (it might become slower on some old PCs though)

EDIT: I make a picture of comparison as well.

 

[Hydrazine]

It runs really slow on software rendering though. Running the intro of Spirit Tracks to test. On 4x rendering, it doesn't even go half of full speed. On 3x, it goes two-thirds full speed, still unplayable. On 2x, it runs full speed mostly, but 2x doesn't improve the look too much, and is not as drastic as those screenshots you posted. Running on an overclocked i5-2550k 4.5 GHz too.

 

[Foxi4]

Higher native resolution makes a substantial difference, it looks great. Some games will probably run into issues with texture stretching and whatnot, but nevertheless, the quality on the presented screenshots speaks for itself.

 

[tofast4u]

I want to see one with Pokemon Black

 

[guard]

Pokemon White 2 - Off/On 4x (unplayable). Not worth it for this game IMO.

 

[Deleted-236924]

I think it's not worth it for any of the Pokémon gaems, given the amount of 2D sprites they use.

Either way, eventually we'll have affordable computers which will be able to handle this, so it'll be pretty good once we get there.


By the way, OpenGL renderer works pretty damn well with Phantom Hourglass; constant 60FPS on x4 internal resolution should be easily achievable if you have a higher end machine (I have a mobile i5 at 2.6GHz with nvidia 660M and x4 runs at almost 60FPS with OpenGL renderer, nearly constant 60FPS with x3; imagine with a high-end desktop i7 and a high-end gpu.)

But yeah, it's nice and all but it doesn't increase the resolution of 2D sprite objects, so you have semi-high res 3D environment and then you have low-res 2D barrels and bushes everywhere.

 

[emmanu888]

I think it's not worth it for any of the Pokémon gaems, given the amount of 2D sprites they use.

Either way, eventually we'll have affordable computers which will be able to handle this, so it'll be pretty good once we get there.


By the way, OpenGL renderer works pretty damn well with Phantom Hourglass; constant 60FPS on x4 internal resolution should be easily achievable if you have a higher end machine (I have a mobile i5 at 2.6GHz with nvidia 660M and x4 runs at almost 60FPS with OpenGL renderer, nearly constant 60FPS with x3; imagine with a high-end desktop i7 and a high-end gpu.)

But yeah, it's nice and all but it doesn't increase the resolution of 2D sprite objects, so you have semi-high res 3D environment and then you have low-res 2D barrels and bushes everywhere.

Guess my Phenom II X6 and my Geforce GTX450 can't keep up with the X4 resolution. Games are painfully slow on my rig

 

[vayanui8]

I've been wanting to be able to amp the graphics on DS games to a high resolution for ages. My main gripe with the system is the way the 3d models look, and this completely fixes them. Absolutely amazing how well this works. I'm getting great performance from it as well

 

[Deleted-236924]

Do you have this option enabled?

Spoiler

("Use dynamic recompiler")

 

[BORTZ]

Can anyone be assed to show me what Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 1 or 2 looks like?

 

[loco365]

Do you have this option enabled?

Spoiler

("Use dynamic recompiler")

+1 for Dynamic Recompiler. It lets the regular Desmume run nicely on my laptop. Unfortunately, I only have an i3 dual-core, so I'd have to stick to 2X in order to even be playable. I tried 4X, and while CoreTemp did register my computer at about 63 degrees Celsius, it only ran at about 50%. Even with Dynamic Recompiler.