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Star fox 64 VC patch apparently breaks the game
deadonthestreet
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Word on the internets is the SF64 patch breaks the 30 fps framerate lock, and causes the game to slowdown at the same points that the original cart did. So the patch apparently makes the game worse.
Can anyone confirm this?
Can anyone confirm this?
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I imagine it does.
Unless it was already broken. Which it was.
That is to say, there's slow down, but wasn't there always slow down?
No, that would make it a bugfix.
Are you high?
Well I guess the patch "breaks" the game, then, because there's some slow down in places with lots of explosions and a little on the main map screen.
Wii Code: 1040-1320-0724-3613 :!!:
*goes to patch right now and check*
haha, neogaf. every time.
Wii Code: 1040-1320-0724-3613 :!!:
Anywhere in particular I should check?
Yes.
I saw this very same thread at GAF this morning whilst looking for news.
But I did notice that some parts of the game ran a little faster than the original cartridge, so if they put back in those original slowdowns somehow then I'm not sure I want to update.
The patch fixes joystick problems with the classic pad.
The Wii refuses to copy the old Star Fox 64 on to the system memory, even after deleting the new one and the save file. It either still knows somehow or it refuses to copy such a huge file (I'm not sure why that would be).
So, framerate issues in Shadow of the Colossus are a game-breaking flaw, but framerate issues in Starfox 64 is a faithful reproduction?
The attitudes on this board are a conundrum sometimes. Me, I'd prefer the VC doesn't recreate the hardware limitations in the games it's emulating.
SotC sometimes drops to 5fps in the middle of gameplay. Starfox 64 sometimes drops to 15fps during certain cut scenes. So, yeah.... I'd say there's a difference.
Granted I haven't played the VC copy, I only know about the original ... does the VC still come to a grinding halt when Fox flies out of the exploding base at the end?
I haven't played SotC (and haven't the faintest desire to), so I can't say whether or not that the slowdown would be "game-breaking". In the case of Star Fox 64, ensuring that the emulator is able to reproduce the exact same slowdown that is present in the game being played on the hardware it was designed for is fine. I can't fathom how you can believe that your comparison is valid.
Because on a hypothetical emulation of a PS2 running Shadow of the Colossus, the "game breaking" slowdown now, would by your example, be preserving the original experience, rather than fixing the limitations of the time. It's nothing but nostalgia making us look at flaws as if they were benefits.
I don't know if it's true, but if the game ran at a locked 30 FPS before the patch and now it has slowdown postpatch, that sucks. There's no defending that.
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I dunno, I wouldn't call it a fix or a break. It's more like: While refining our N64 emulation, we inadvertently caused Starfox 64 to run at its original framerate, which we left since it's technically accurate and relied on for a slowmo effect in some cutscenes. If Nintendo ever sells Goldeneye on VC (Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo would all need to agree to a license to put it up :P ), I'd be interested to see how they emulate it. The original game has a great deal of hacks that give it a dynamic yet fairly even framerate on actual N64 hardware and most emulators these days play it really erratically because the speed-check code doesn't behave properly in emulation.
According to user accounts, it used to be locked at 30FPS, now it goes slower when the N64 would have. If that's true, then I'm indifferent. If it's more slowdown at inappropriate times, then it's no good.
What is funny is that the actual cause for the patch at this point still remains a little fuzzy. Was it just in an effort to make the emulation more faithful? What's this about classic controller optimization? I didn't notice a problem on it.
Post back more soon...
Edit: One major improvement here you can actually see in aquas
The slowdown that happens in Star Fox 64 isn't a benefit. It's also something that I don't recall ever impairing my ability to play the game.
Even though Shadow of the Colossus can drop to 5fps, I would still say that the problem should not be fixed by the emulator. If the developer wanted to fix the slowdown, then they can patch the game and/or use whatever facilities are provided through the emulator API to compensate for the bottleneck that causes the slowdown.
If Nintendo decided that they could fix the slowdown that occured in the orignal and have no side effect on the gameplay then I don't see a problem. However, I wouldn't be surprised if there are some oddities that could crop up in some old NES/SNES games if they were to do some voodoo that could automagically fix framerate problems via the emulator.
Original Starfox 64 had slowdown
The new release on Virtual Console didn't have slowdown
a patch caused the new VC version to act in the same way as the original Starfox 64 did on the original hardware
In my eyes, this is a good thing because it is faithfully reproducing the original. This is not without precedent. For anyone familiar with SHMUPS, one should know that it is a common occurrence for them to have slowdown. And not only that, for shmups released online, this slowdown is usually locked at a standard level so everyone who plays, regardless of how weak or strong there machine is, will experience the same amount of slowdown.
Indeed it is a built in handicap for the game. And certain SHMUPS would be unplayable without it.
I wonder if they fixed the fog discrepancy that they had in the OoT demo disc's emulator. The N64 computed fog based on the z-buffer depth, whereas the GCN computed it based off radius from origin. The GCN method can make things look more foggy (so to speak) in large open areas and around the edges of the screen (but is technically more correct).
It made some differences in Hyrule field, but the fog was set never to totally obscure the geometry. I'd imagine in a game like Star Fox it could be more of an issue.
Thank goodness, I thought I was just going crazy! I definitely noticed the draw distance/fog distance in the Ganondorf battle (top of the tower) was MUCH smaller. I could hardly see Ganondorf when he was floating around.
Wasn't there some hubbub about Ikaruga having more slowdown in the Gamecube version than in the Dreamcast version or something?
I wish they would patch Punch-Out!! On the VC, Mac's gloves and shorts turn white when he's doing his victory dance. I don't recall that happening in the original.
Switch - SW-3699-5063-5018
You might be thinking of the PAL version. The PAL port was handled horribly (although if it's the only way someone can play the game then I still recommend it)