FIXING the ENTIRE SM64 Source Code (INSANE N64 performance)

There's an amazing video about refactoring Mario 64 to reach 30 FPS and render 6x faster on N64: [VIDEO] The changes were much more extensive than just removing the debug flags. They were also able to get local coop and a 4 player split screen working which were features originally intended for the game but cut for performance reasons.

Not always, though it might depend on what platform you mean with retro. Kaze Emanuar on YT does a lot of development for the N64 and it feels like half the time he talks about how the memory bus affects all kinds of optimizations. In Mario 64 he replaced the original lookup table for the sine function because an approximation was faster and accurate enough (or rather two approximations for two different purposes). I love that channel, he reworked the entire Mario 64 code [0] to make it run at stable 60FPS...because he wanted his mods to run faster. [0] [VIDEO]

On a related note, Kaze has done a deep dive into optimizing the Super Mario 64 source code for his ROM hacks. Here’s one of his more popular videos on the subject: [VIDEO]

If you like this stuff Kaze Emanuar does loads of neat work with the super mario 64 decompiled code. [VIDEO] Loads of interesting quirks of the N64 to do with slow bus.

Excellent..more of this please. Super Mario 64 has also had stupendous rewrites from decompiled code I believe. [VIDEO] His videos on the Sine function in sm64 is a fun watch as the limitations make nearly all optimizations justifiable.

If anyone is interested in new projects for N64 hardware, Kaze Emanuar has an amazing series about optimizing Super Mario 64 to run incredibly complex romhacks on original hardware. Interestingly, SM64 is usually throttled by memory speed. This means that using 'inline' is detrimental to performance, since making the program larger can cause another read from memory. Here's an overview video, he has many more specific videos about specific topics: [VIDEO]

I've recently been enjoying watching this young modder on YouTube optimize all of the original SM64 source code, doubling frame rate, and modding his own Return To Yoshi's Island [VIDEO]

If you found the video on Super Mario 64 being published with debug symbols interesting, check this out: After finding out about the debug symbols, a developer took a deeper dive through the codebase and optimized the ever living hell out of to get 60fps+. FIXING the ENTIRE SM64 Source Code (INSANE N64 performance) [VIDEO]