Emulator Developer Brings Ray-Tracing To N64 Games Through Plugin

Many people miss the opportunity to play classic N64 masterpieces just because they aren’t up to graphical fidelity. Most of these games are forgotten as newer players never come across them. Some of these include video game sensations, like Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Paper Mario, and even newer titles.

Well, an emulator developer, Darío, plans to change that with a recently unveiled new project that he had been working on for over a month. “I’d like to reveal that RT64, the path tracer behind sm64rt, is evolving into an N64 emulator plugin,” says the developer. He released some new details, alongside a video to complement them.

I'd like to reveal that RT64, the path tracer behind sm64rt, is evolving into an N64 emulator plugin.

Here's a small reel of footage I've captured from games that are already showing results.

Ray traced lighting, object motion blur, widescreen, DLSS and 60+ FPS. pic.twitter.com/qLJHzGfKUc

— Darío (@dariosamo) June 3, 2022

This project will allow these games to be played from a new perspective. Some of the features revealed are ray-traced lighting, object motion blur, widescreen, DLSS and support for above 60 FPS. Darío stated that this project is a way of optimizing the PC port’s backend as much as possible. He says that it’s possible to extend this into other titles.

The footage revealed in this video is from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. The developer says that he fully intends to emulate other games, too. Though, he also says that the project is “in its infancy.” He further argues that, in order to bring this specific emulation into N64 titles, he needs to work on every title individually, as they all have different requirements.

This project is very much in its infancy and it's several months away from being released, but the results so far are very exciting.

I also realize it's an impossible task to make every N64 game work, as it's still a manual process to create lighting for a particular title.

— Darío (@dariosamo) June 3, 2022

With the work of these skilled emulators, players will finally be able to experience older Nintendo titles in a new light. However, the developer isn’t the only person working on such a thing. TwilightZoney also extended a helping hand in setting up the lighting. The developer states that this is no small task and with the amount of work required, it will take some time.

Although there is no release date, the developer has said that it’s far from completion and in order to complete this project, he needs to work out hundreds of abnormalities. Nevertheless, when this project is complete, it will surely rattle the community for a while.