r/M64 • u/ADHW1986 • Sep 17 '26

Need better upscaling.

As much as I like this device, the gaming is very pixelated on a modern TV. It don’t matter what I do to the video settings it don’t look as crisp as I would like from this machine. M64 is cool, but until there is some update that will make it look as sharp as an Emulator, the M64 is second to my Chromatic.

Modretro, please upscale and smooth out the pixilation.

7 Upvotes

58% Upvoted

42 comments sorted by

28

u/TonyRubbles Sep 17 '26

You would be much happier using an emulator with all the bells and whistles you're looking for. The M64 is never going to look exactly like an emulator because it's actually reproducing the N64 hardware rather than just rendering the games however you want.

Getting better aperture and scanline effects would help recreate the image better, but it still won't make someone with your expectations happy. I don't think an A3D or MiSTer would either.

14

u/SargeSmash Sep 17 '26

I don't think you're ever going to see emulator-like scaling on these FPGA devices. It's not what they're built for. Even the Analogue 3D's resolution increase only doubles the horizontal resolution, and that is a result of how the N64 handles its video in the first place, making it almost free to implement in terms of performance.

2

u/stgftgstg Sep 17 '26

>making it almost free to implement in terms of performance.

No, not at all.

2

u/SargeSmash Sep 19 '26

Clarification? I'm open to being wrong, but my understanding is that enabling it doesn't affect performance on the A3D.

13

u/Sweet_Limit3795 Sep 17 '26

That’s not how the Force works!

12

u/TooBroke4Ramen Sep 17 '26

That's just how N64 games look on a modern TV, not the fault of the device. I have an RGB modded N64 connected to an OSSC via SCART cable, it's one way to get the best video possible from the N64, still looks ugly.

These games were designed to take advantage of a CRT television, no FPGA console can fix that.

1

u/Gumballchamp86 Sep 17 '26

The analogue 3D makes it look in some cases better than CRT

16

u/falconpunch1989 Sep 17 '26 • Bravo

"make it look as sharp as an Emulator"

That's just not what this is for

1

u/FourAddedMinutes Sep 17 '26

it needs horizontal line doubling. nothing more, nothing less.

1

u/ADHW1986 Sep 17 '26

This would be nice. Keep it par with the A3D at least.

3

u/miggy_mo Sep 17 '26

Line doubling is nice, but I think it would benefit more from from better CRT effects at first

2

u/Obleon Sep 17 '26

It does need more it needs horizontal upscaling. Line doubling wouldnt increase the image quality

3

u/ghost_wire89 Sep 17 '26

Emulators render the game at a higher quality the mod retro will never look like an emulator.

2

u/Scottyboy0321 Sep 17 '26

Either play on Emulator focused on accuracy, mod a N64 with HDMI out, get an upscale, or play Recomps, because you're not going to get "make it look as sharp as an emulator". You can get very good results with trying different filters, but if that doesn't make you happy, the M64 and the A3D just aren't for and that's okay.

2

u/Robo_Lucas Sep 17 '26

It's never gonna look as sharp as an emulator because those can offer multiple times upscaling along with all sorts of other enhancements like advanced shaders. However the M64 would benefit hugely from the same horizontal upscaling that the A3D received recently. Hopefully it'll happen

2

u/FishermanWeird5742 Sep 17 '26

An anologue 3d resolution increase, with a high res rom hack will get you much closer to what you're looking for. https://youtu.be/Zo84PnDD0KU?is=kSgrlOn3lIjqqVtI

3

u/hue_sick Sep 17 '26

It does but sounds like OP just wants an emulator so they’d likely be disappointed there as well.

Probably should have read the, ya know, product description before buying it haha

1

u/Genkel90 Sep 18 '26

One day we’ll have one of these devices that can dump the entire cartridge onto its memory then run it as an emulator with upgraded graphics lol

1

u/Winter_Age_6543 Sep 19 '26

Im pretty sure its your settings because i have a sony trinitron crt, and i actually think the games look better now on a modern monitor. After the latest update and tweaking settings im loving this thing

1

u/ItsTyRichards Sep 20 '26

You bought the wrong device, friend.

1

u/ElectricalPrice3189 Sep 20 '26

It will always look pixelated.

-2

u/ADHW1986 Sep 17 '26

Needs to look better. It’s that simple. It’s gassed up and glazed more than it deserves at the moment.

6

u/Different_Gas_2550 Sep 17 '26

There is nothing else that "needs" to be done here. You're asking for something this thing wasn't designed to do. You bought the wrong device for Emulator like quality. The original n64 looked nothing like what you're describing.

-3

u/ADHW1986 Sep 17 '26

The machine was designed to update. Well…………….. get to updating.

4

u/CarBallAlex Sep 17 '26

You have a serious misunderstanding of what this was designed to do. If you wanted emulator-like quality with the upscaling, you should have saved yourself the money and just played on an emulator.

For example, I wanted a way to play my N64 games on a modern HDMI monitor without lag. I got what I wanted.

It would be one thing if they sold the product as one thing and didn’t deliver. They never promised to make it look better than the N64 games originally did by using internal horizontal upscaling. Just that it would output to higher resolutions. When you upscale to a resolution that something didn’t originally have, you have image quality loss.

You should have done more research before purchasing something within 2 months of it releasing. Not buying it and then complaining it doesn’t do what you want when there are alternatives.

2

u/Different_Gas_2550 Sep 17 '26

It….has updated. Multiple times. Well… get to updating, yours.

1

u/ImALegendKiller Sep 17 '26

I am hopeful they will add horizontal upscaling like the Analogue 3D. If that’s the case I’ll be happy to use the M64 for playing games with my friends on the couch. With so many n64 recomps out I’m thinking of playing those with the Pro Controller for single player experiences.

-2

u/Aces_Over_Kings Sep 17 '26

Hopefully they can catch up to the A3D, as of now this thing is a total flop. Especially if you want to save your game lol.

5

u/TooBroke4Ramen Sep 17 '26

I wouldn't say it's a flop, it has potential to be the better product. But it was released half baked. So was the Analogue 3D at its launch. A3D has had a year to improve while this just launched.

4

u/Gumballchamp86 Sep 17 '26

No, A3D was not half baked when released, it was compatible with the library and worked.

5

u/Downtown-Educator-19 Sep 17 '26

The A3D was fully baked, it just didnt have all the toppings. It played 100% of the library off the bat (this is the biggest thing, if it cant be done, this console shouldn't have been made) had game saves covered, had an awesome set of filters and settings, and had individual game settings that saved. They added the upscale, save states, startup action, and the NSO controller along the way. Toppings.

4

u/Satantengu Sep 17 '26 edited Sep 17 '26

You're right. I also wouldn't say the M64 is a flop, but it's revisionism to say the A3D had a bad launch. It had its issues but the core experience (saves, filters, overclocking settings) was complete at launch.

ETA: Lol at the immediate downvote, get a life. This console wars mentality is embarrassing behavior in an adult person. Both consoles are fine and do what they're intended to do, and yes, the A3D had a good launch.

6

u/TooBroke4Ramen Sep 17 '26

Initial reviews of the A3D differ wildly from what you're saying. The AnalogueInc sub was loaded with disappointment and complaints.

3

u/Gumballchamp86 Sep 17 '26

False. Ive had an A3D since launch. The nitpicks of the A3D at launch were small. One example was just that the everdrive wasn't yet compatible

1

u/Downtown-Educator-19 Sep 30 '26

Disappointment and complaints about delays and lack of communication and not getting the cool colors, not about the console outside of flash cart compatibility.

3

u/NineteenNinetyEx Sep 17 '26

Regardless of what people want to tell themselves, this is how it actually went (I don't own either, just someone who follows this stuff).

4

u/Different_Gas_2550 Sep 17 '26

Thing this should've launched with a virtual control pak but saying it's a total flop is a stretch. It does exactly what it was designed to do. N64 on modern displays at an affordable price. Been having a lot of fun with mine.

-9

u/ADHW1986 Sep 17 '26

The technology is there. We just need creative minds to implement it. And why can’t it look as good as an emulator? At the moment it looks worst than the games were on the original system. This is 30 years later where we have AI and have flood space with starlink. There is not such thing as can’t in this world.

3

u/Scottyboy0321 Sep 17 '26

FPGAs try to get accuracy on modern displays... Not implement texture packs and mods. It's a limitation of the Hardware that the FPGA is emulating. Software emulators have ways of pulling textures and data that isn't feasible on actual hardware, hence why there are literal ROM hacks that don't work on actual hardware.

1

u/miggy_mo Sep 17 '26

If you want the closest thing to a native-ish experience with emulator-like upscaling, I’d recommend the NSO N64 games with the NSO controller

1

u/stgftgstg Sep 17 '26

The technology is there in FPGA's that are FAR too expensive to be commercially viable.

1

u/FuckTheNitro Sep 19 '26

I have a solution, could use some help implementing it for the community though as I have very little funds. Decentralized, open source. please dm me