Future directions for Mupen64-amd64

February 22nd, 2008, 23:05 Posted By: JKKDARK

This is what Richard42, the author, said:

Hello N64 fans. Now that v1.2 is out, and the major contribution that I wanted to make is done (64-bit dynamic recompiler), I wanted to start a thread here to discuss the future of this emulator project a little bit.

First, the potential new features. Günther has done some great work in porting the Glide64-wonder-plus video plugin to amd64. This is very valuable in adding a 3rd video output option (and a very good one) to the project, so I'll integrate this. I played with it a bit today and it shouldn't take too much work.

Another thing is OSX/PPC integration. I looked over the ported code in lamer0's repository, and I while I didn't check it out in depth, it looked like sort of a mess at first glance. Since I don't actually own a Mac, there's no way I can make this work by myself. If a developer (preferred) or tester who has a PPC mac and/or an x86 mac would step forward, then we could tackle this as well.

A couple of the other developers who have recently submitted code have also expressed a desire for their own new features, so there may be other changes and additions as well.

Finally, I would like to solicit ideas for a new project name. There are 2 main reasons for this. For one thing, a lot of people read the name "Mupen64-amd64" and don't realize that the project is backwards-compatible and still runs on 32-bit machines as well. Secondly, the project is growing to encompass more than just Mupen64: it also includes Rice Video and soon the Glide64 plugins. So it would be nice to have a new inclusive name for the project. Some possible things to consider:

* The project is multi-platform, but it's really geared towards Unix. I tried not to do anything to break Win32 compatibility, but since no-one is testing and building on this platform, it's probably becoming less compatible.
* The thing that really sets this project apart from all other N64 emulators is native support for 64-bit (AMD64/EMT64) processors. But it builds and runs under 32-bit as well.
* The name can be anything - it doesn't have to include "Mupen64" or "Rice Video" or anything like that. When I make releases I'll pay proper tribute to these projects, but it's really a collection and extension of these other projects.

So, I'd like to hear ideas from you. Anybody got a good idea for a cool name for a unix N64 emulator compilation?

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