Homebrew Question High-res N64 texture importing to Retroarch?

[magelof]

Hi, I'm trying to import high-res n64 textures into Retroarch-- namely this Dijipi cell-shaded Ocarina pack.

Per this Reddit thread, I named the texture pack and the Ocarina rom the same file name and put the .htc texture pack into retroarch/cores/system/Mupen64plus/cache/. I flipped "Use high res textures/Alpha channel" to true in the game settings, restarted Retroarch, and the texture pack just will not take. For reference, the texture pack is called "OCARINA OF TIME_HIRESTEXTURES.htc" and the rom is called "OCARINA OF TIME.z64".

I cannot figure out how to get this working- can my gbatempers please help me?! Thank you in advance.

 

[CameronCataclysm]

Interested as well!!!

 

[Sm0k3r83]

try naming it THE LEGEND OF ZELDA_HIRESTEXTURES

 

[Old-Skool]

Any luck?

 

[ganons]

The ROM and texture file need to have the same name. So rename the texture file to: OCARINA OF TIME

 

[magelof]

No luck -- I tried renaming both to THE LEGEND OF ZELDA, tried renaming both to OCARINA OF TIME and erased the ".htc" extension on the texture file to match the rom. Any other ideas? It would be so great to get high-res textures working for retroarch mupen64plus!

 

[a9lh-1user]

Okay here we go:

VERY important ! I use the configs form the Master himselfe @m4xw provided here: https://m4xw.net/nextcloud/index.php/s/g663mit7LA3RwcW

1. DL the nightly build here: http://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/nintendo/switch/libnx/
You NEED the one from 14.01.2019 (yes that IS the right format to write a date!)
NOT the one from 13.01.2019 or the one from 15.01.2019! ONLY TESTET with the one from 14.01.2019!

2. Then DL those textures:
https://emulationking.com/djipis-2016-cellshade-oot/
https://emulationking.com/djipis-2016-celda-majoras-mask-texture-pack/

3. The names have to be:
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA_HIRESTEXTURES.htc
and
ZELDA MAJORA'S MASK_HIRESTEXTURES.htc

NOTHING ELSE!!! THAT IS IMPORTANT!!!

4. Now put them into:
\retroarch\cores\system\mupen64plus\cache\
"cores" was missing Thanks to @magelof

THATS on the "root" of your SD card from the Switch!
If there is no "cache" folder ..... make on!

(One at a time not more than one! You have to decide what you want to play)

5. Now the last part:

You NEED to use this How To:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/use-atmosphere-to-access-full-ram-with-homebrews-without-nsp.521240/

Otherwise you will have RAM problems by loading RetroArch from the HB menu!

When RetroArch is running:
Start up Zelda (not important which one first! Remeber what *.htc you put into the "cache" folder!) and let it load ....... be patient!
Let it load!
Can you see the intro? Let it RUN! Patient! Now (IF you use the configs from m4xw) press booth sticks and you are in the menu.

Now look for the "Options" menu and press A

(We are ALMOST there!)

Look for "Use High-Res textures" and "Use High-Res Full Alpha Channel" and set both to TRUE

(We are ALMOST there)

Now get back with B and click A on "Close Content".

(We are ALLMOST there!)

Now load the Zelda game again ..... Looks better now does it

I hope it works for you it does for me and i'am happy with it!


P.S THANKS to all the BIG and little helpers who made the "Emulation" on th Switch possible! (From Hacking stuff to the Homebrew Dev's! You are the heroes of the Switch scene )


A last word of advice:
If you use the configs from m4xw take a look at the CPU overclock and set it to 1581MHZ it is enough i think.
You don't need the 1785MHZ ...... even if there will be no harm to your Switch! (It's a personal meaning .... so don't bite me ..... or yeah "Bit Me" )

 

[KTroopA]

Thank you so much for this guide, will give it a go

Does the rom name need to match the .htc file. I read on reddit it does but replies here say no. Which is it please?

 

[a9lh-1user]

Nope thats the trick it doesn't.
It is a "cache" file that will be loaded during runtime of the game.
Thats why there could be only ONE in the cache folder

 

[Csmrcc]

Okay here we go:

VERY important ! I use the configs form the Master himselfe @m4xw provided here: https://m4xw.net/nextcloud/index.php/s/g663mit7LA3RwcW

1. DL the nightly build here: http://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/nintendo/switch/libnx/
You NEED the one from 14.01.2019 (yes that IS the right format to write a date!)
NOT the one from 13.01.2019 or the one from 15.01.2019! ONLY TESTET with the one from 14.01.2019!

2. Then DL those textures:
https://emulationking.com/djipis-2016-cellshade-oot/
https://emulationking.com/djipis-2016-celda-majoras-mask-texture-pack/

3. The names have to be:
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA_HIRESTEXTURES.htc
and
ZELDA MAJORA'S MASK_HIRESTEXTURES.htc

NOTHING ELSE!!! THAT IS IMPORTANT!!!

4. Now put them into:
\retroarch\system\mupen64plus\cache\
THATS on the "root" of your SD card from the Switch!
If there is no "cache" folder ..... make on!

(One at a time not more than one! You have to decide what you want to play)

5. Now the last part:

You NEED to use this How To:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/use-atmosphere-to-access-full-ram-with-homebrews-without-nsp.521240/

Otherwise you will have RAM problems by loading RetroArch from the HB menu!

When RetroArch is running:
Start up Zelda (not important which one first! Remeber what *.htc you put into the "cache" folder!) and let it load ....... be patient!
Let it load!
Can you see the intro? Let it RUN! Patient! Now (IF you use the configs from m4xw) press booth sticks and you are in the menu.

Now look for the "Options" menu and press A

(We are ALMOST there!)

Look for "Use High-Res textures" and "Use High-Res Full Alpha Channel" and set both to TRUE

(We are ALMOST there)

Now get back with B and click A on "Close Content".

(We are ALLMOST there!)

Now load the Zelda game again ..... Looks better now does it

I hope it works for you it does for me and i'am happy with it!


P.S THANKS to all the BIG and little helpers who made the "Emulation" on th Switch possible! (From Hacking stuff to the Homebrew Dev's! You are the heroes of the Switch scene )


A last word of advice:
If you use the configs from m4xw take a look at the CPU overclock and set it to 1581MHZ it is enough i think.
You don't need the 1785MHZ ...... even if there will be no harm to your Switch! (It's a personal meaning .... so don't bite me ..... or yeah "Bit Me" )

This worked for me, thanks for the tutorial man!

 

[magelof]

Okay here we go:

VERY important ! I use the configs form the Master himselfe @m4xw provided here: https://m4xw.net/nextcloud/index.php/s/g663mit7LA3RwcW

1. DL the nightly build here: http://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/nintendo/switch/libnx/
You NEED the one from 14.01.2019 (yes that IS the right format to write a date!)
NOT the one from 13.01.2019 or the one from 15.01.2019! ONLY TESTET with the one from 14.01.2019!

2. Then DL those textures:
https://emulationking.com/djipis-2016-cellshade-oot/
https://emulationking.com/djipis-2016-celda-majoras-mask-texture-pack/

3. The names have to be:
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA_HIRESTEXTURES.htc
and
ZELDA MAJORA'S MASK_HIRESTEXTURES.htc

NOTHING ELSE!!! THAT IS IMPORTANT!!!

4. Now put them into:
\retroarch\system\mupen64plus\cache\
THATS on the "root" of your SD card from the Switch!
If there is no "cache" folder ..... make on!

(One at a time not more than one! You have to decide what you want to play)

5. Now the last part:

You NEED to use this How To:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/use-atmosphere-to-access-full-ram-with-homebrews-without-nsp.521240/

Otherwise you will have RAM problems by loading RetroArch from the HB menu!

When RetroArch is running:
Start up Zelda (not important which one first! Remeber what *.htc you put into the "cache" folder!) and let it load ....... be patient!
Let it load!
Can you see the intro? Let it RUN! Patient! Now (IF you use the configs from m4xw) press booth sticks and you are in the menu.

Now look for the "Options" menu and press A

(We are ALMOST there!)

Look for "Use High-Res textures" and "Use High-Res Full Alpha Channel" and set both to TRUE

(We are ALMOST there)

Now get back with B and click A on "Close Content".

(We are ALLMOST there!)

Now load the Zelda game again ..... Looks better now does it

I hope it works for you it does for me and i'am happy with it!


P.S THANKS to all the BIG and little helpers who made the "Emulation" on th Switch possible! (From Hacking stuff to the Homebrew Dev's! You are the heroes of the Switch scene )


A last word of advice:
If you use the configs from m4xw take a look at the CPU overclock and set it to 1581MHZ it is enough i think.
You don't need the 1785MHZ ...... even if there will be no harm to your Switch! (It's a personal meaning .... so don't bite me ..... or yeah "Bit Me" )

I cannot WAIT to try this when I get home. You are a legend- thank you so much! I will confirm once I get it going.

 

[coffinbirth]

I cant get pj64 to save changes on win10, so i cant dump my packs to .htc.
Anyone have an alternate method?

 

[m4xw]

I cant get pj64 to save changes on win10, so i cant dump my packs to .htc.
Anyone have an alternate method?

Start as admin

 

[coffinbirth]

Well, that certainly allowed the changes to stick...but pj64 isnt playing nice. It's not seeing my packs. I have the molly Super Mario 64 pack, both parts extracted to a directory titled Super Mario 64, placed in pj642.3/plugins/hires_texture(i set it to this in config) but when i load the rom, it doesnt go through the files with yellow letters,just to the menu.
I chose this particular pack as it was used in a tutorial, as was the suggestion of the directory change. Any suggestions?

EDIT:
DOH! The answer was right in front of me pj642.3/plugins/***GFX***hires_texture LOL sleep deprivation

 

[mattyxarope]

1. Setting Up Textures:

• A) There are two different texture pack formats for modern texture packs:
  • a folder of raw PNG files that are usually separated into subfolders.
  • an HTC file which is essentially a cached version of PNG files that are combined into one file - This is the file type that is going to be used by Mupen64Plus on the Switch.

• B) Sources for Textures:
  • Sources for texture packs (with some projects being raw PNGs, and others having precompiled HTC files): EmulationKing, Textures.Emulation64, Emutalk, and Emulation64.

• C) Converting PNG Textures to HTC Files
  • If you decide to use a texture pack that has no precompiled HTC file you will need to convert it so that it is usable on Mupen64Plus. Here is great tutorial that shows how to convert PNG texture packs into HTC files. Essentially, this requires a computer running Project64 with the GlideN64 graphic plugin which reads the textures and caches them into the HTC file which allows it to run the ROM with the textures faster. This is the file we will be using on Mupen64Plus. The process is basically:
    • Download Project64.
    • Download the GlideN64 plugin.
    • Put the plugin in the GFX folder of Project64
    • Within the menu of the program manually select GlideN64 to be used
    • Direct the plugin to the 'hires_texture', 'cache', and 'texture_dump' folders
    • Make sure that 'Save enhanced texture cache to hard disk' is checked!.
      
    • Run the ROM.
    • Allow the textures to load, you should see yellow text loading each one.
    • Once the rom is running, close the program and wait a moment, as some of the larger texture packs take a few seconds to compile to the HTC file.
    • In the folder you set for 'cache', you will see an HTC file named after your ROM - note that this does NOT have to match the filename of the rom!.

2. Transferring the Texture Pack to Retroarch on the Switch:

• A) Transferring the HTC file to Mupen64Plus:
  • Access your Switch's microSD card by either a card reader or an FTP program.
  • Take the HTC file you created in the 'cache' folder and transfer it to the folder 'cache' in Retroarch>cores>system>Mupen64Plus>cache (and if that folder does not exist, create it).

3. Enabling the Hi-Res Textures in Mupen64Plus:

• A) Enable the Setting to Allow Texture Replacement in Mupen64Plus:
  • Start Retroarch by either using the NSP provided by Retroarch, The NSP forwarding method, or by using selecting it from the Homebrew Launcher while holding the R trigger (in SXOS) - this allows the program to use all available memory.
  • Load your N64 ROM
  • While the ROM is loaded, select the Quick Menu and go the Options tab for the core
  • Enable Use High-Res textures and Use High-Res Full Alpha Channel - note that I personally had to toggle these a few times after quitting Retroarch but they eventually worked.
  • Quit Retroarch and restart the program and rom

4. F.A.Q:

• A) Larger Texture Pack Incompatibility
  • Some texture packs larger than 1 gigabyte, such as the Majora's Mask N64HD Project, seem to approach the 1.5 gigabyte texture cache memory limit for Mupen64Plus. As such they seem to freeze (for me, at least). For this particular pack I have personally downsized some of the larger environmental texture folders by 33% and left other elements such as the UI, characters, effects, and other smaller folders untouched. This reduced the size to around 750 megabytes which works on the Switch, albeit with a long initial load time. Here is my reduced size version.

• B) Does My Texture Pack File Name Have to Match my ROM File Name?
  • NO!, if Project 64 loads the textures and you use the identical ROM on your switch that you used to cache those textures into the HTC file, it will work regardless.

• C) Do Dolphin Textures Work on Mupen64Plus?
  • NO!, only HTC files can be used. I don't believe that you can convert a PNG texture pack made for Dolphin's Virtual Console games to HTC without considerable effort.

 

[grabman]

This is a great post kudos i wish this was available when i tried figuring this out

 

[solidsnake2]

It’s only for Zeldas - Ocarina of time and Majora’s mask? And that’s all?
Any another game?

 

[mattyxarope]

It’s only for Zeldas - Ocarina of time and Majora’s mask? And that’s all?
Any another game?

Any game with a texture pack in HTC format (or PNG converted to HTC) will work, Zelda is just super popular and has many texture packs available which is why it comes up so often.

 

[arianadark]

theres one for mario kart 64 too

 

[magelof]

Okay here we go:

VERY important ! I use the configs form the Master himselfe @m4xw provided here: https://m4xw.net/nextcloud/index.php/s/g663mit7LA3RwcW

1. DL the nightly build here: http://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/nintendo/switch/libnx/
You NEED the one from 14.01.2019 (yes that IS the right format to write a date!)
NOT the one from 13.01.2019 or the one from 15.01.2019! ONLY TESTET with the one from 14.01.2019!

2. Then DL those textures:
https://emulationking.com/djipis-2016-cellshade-oot/
https://emulationking.com/djipis-2016-celda-majoras-mask-texture-pack/

3. The names have to be:
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA_HIRESTEXTURES.htc
and
ZELDA MAJORA'S MASK_HIRESTEXTURES.htc

NOTHING ELSE!!! THAT IS IMPORTANT!!!

4. Now put them into:
\retroarch\system\mupen64plus\cache\
THATS on the "root" of your SD card from the Switch!
If there is no "cache" folder ..... make on!

(One at a time not more than one! You have to decide what you want to play)

5. Now the last part:

You NEED to use this How To:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/use-atmosphere-to-access-full-ram-with-homebrews-without-nsp.521240/

Otherwise you will have RAM problems by loading RetroArch from the HB menu!

When RetroArch is running:
Start up Zelda (not important which one first! Remeber what *.htc you put into the "cache" folder!) and let it load ....... be patient!
Let it load!
Can you see the intro? Let it RUN! Patient! Now (IF you use the configs from m4xw) press booth sticks and you are in the menu.

Now look for the "Options" menu and press A

(We are ALMOST there!)

Look for "Use High-Res textures" and "Use High-Res Full Alpha Channel" and set both to TRUE

(We are ALMOST there)

Now get back with B and click A on "Close Content".

(We are ALLMOST there!)

Now load the Zelda game again ..... Looks better now does it

I hope it works for you it does for me and i'am happy with it!


P.S THANKS to all the BIG and little helpers who made the "Emulation" on th Switch possible! (From Hacking stuff to the Homebrew Dev's! You are the heroes of the Switch scene )


A last word of advice:
If you use the configs from m4xw take a look at the CPU overclock and set it to 1581MHZ it is enough i think.
You don't need the 1785MHZ ...... even if there will be no harm to your Switch! (It's a personal meaning .... so don't bite me ..... or yeah "Bit Me" )

You say "Now put them into:
\retroarch\system\mupen64plus\cache\"

But shouldnt the htc file go into \retroarch\cores\system\Mupen64plus\cache\ ?