This is the video I didn’t know I was looking for in life.
I’ve been very into Zelda rando stuff lately, but the mod support shown here just seems above and beyond what I’ve seen so far from my limited experience with Ship/2Ship.
Not really. The Ship of Harkinian ports are based on decompilations, which is where you reverse engineer some equivalent source code using the final binary as a reference point. Then, you can port that source code to anything else you can build for, like a PC, phone, Wii U or Dreamcast.
Recompilation, which is what this project is, is closer to (and some have gone as far as to say that it is) emulation. It's taking the final binary and then, without actually working backward to get source code, translating the raw instructions directly into code that compiles for a different platform.
It's kind of difficult to get across the difference without being familiar with what both are doing behind the scenes, because the result is obviously similar. Both require human intervention, but decompilation is the more labor-intensive approach, while recompilation is somewhat more automated.
The advantage of former is that you end up with a relatively human-readable codebase to work with, while the latter doesn't bring you any closer to understanding how the game works internally. Both ultimately allow for porting the game to new platforms. Decompilation will almost certainly result in a more optimized final game, because it avoids the overhead of "emulating" the original architecture. However, for the same reason, recompilation can be generalized to other games that originally ran on the same hardware.
Thank you for the detailed explanation! I had thought Ship was decompiling and recompiling it into its own package, but what you describe makes more sense.
Ship of Harkinian does indeed get recompiled but the steps before recompilation are more accurately described as decompiling.
The Majoras Mask recomp might be better described as “automated recompilation”, implying there was no/limited human involvement in the _de_compilation step first.
So similar to how WINE works then? This is taking the MM binary and building a wrapper around it that translates it’s system calls into something generic?
That's closer but rather than being a wrapper, it takes the original architecture's instructions (MIPS in the case of N64) and generates a C/C++ function which implements that instruction. Then you call those functions in the same sequence as the original compiled machine code ran instructions.
That's a relatively inefficient way to make a port, because you're basically reimplementing the original CPU in software, hence why some have described it as emulation. At the same time though, most recompiled games are like 15-20 years old, so a bit of overhead on a modern PC isn't going to hurt you too much.
But anyway, unlike WINE, the original binary is not used any more after recompilation. Instead, you have a native binary for the target platform, the translation having occurred at the time of recompilation (when you built the port binary).
At first I was like “Why would anyone want to change OoT’s art and mess with perfection?”, but I do have to admit that I have really been craving a modern Zelda game in the vein of the N64 releases, which is a formula they haven’t touched since Skyward Sword in 2011. And Oblivion just recently showed me that sometimes a new coat of paint really is all you need.
Wind Waker at least is a game that (visually) aged very gracefully and I think can still stand against newer games even now, but I’ve played it to death and just wish we had something new.
Also not to discredit BotW/TotK or anything, I think they are still great games and I also really enjoyed them, but they’re just built different. Zelda is now a franchise of 3 distinct styles, but only two of them (2D and open world) are still getting new releases.
Playtron can keep their GameOS, anything associated with Cryptocurrency is a hard pass. I remember a lot of cryptobros were financing the fuck out of Playtron. Naturally, this is a product I consider dead to me. I will buy a Steam Deck from Valve, as they aren’t actively trying to scam their potential user base with Crypto nonsense.
I’m probably going to get the middle tier of Steam Deck as it does provide a decent value; as I play a lot of farming sims and cozy games, the Steam Deck fills this purpose well for me. Better than my Switch ever could. I was also considering the Lenovo Legion Go S, but waiting for hardware and software reviews for that device is a smart move. As it could be an amazing device, or it could be fucking shit on launch.
OLED made some minor improvements, but $150 more for the next step up is a huge ask. You act as if there are plenty of easily available cheaper handheld PCs out there. Not that I’ve found. Prices for old technology are going up, not down.
3.5 years old isn’t that old lol. My desktop CPU was almost 10 years old before I noticed any bottleneck in AAA games.
And speaking of AAA games from the last few years, all like, 2 of them, probably won’t be missed by most people.
The deck is a solid computer and it’s a good product that’s built well and is pleasant to handle and use and playing desktop games on that OLED with HDR support is a joy and on top of a decently polished UX (as polished as you can get in PC gaming really), the tinker potential is endless, you can do with it as you please because it’s yours and you own it - and it certainly feels like it. No adware, no enshittification etc.
I think there is a “graphical plateau” to gaming; a universal constant a bit like Moore’s Law. And while it’s not certain, it’s very possible the Steam Deck has mostly moved beyond it.
I definitely don’t think there’s an infinite bound to the detail games can add, especially within the resolution displayed on the Deck. Plus, many formats of games have not been well-served by that sort of extra detail. When a fringe hit like Liar’s Bar, REPO, or Lethal Company comes along, it never really needs the extra horsepower of top consoles. There’s a few rare PS5 exclusives that may struggle on it, but given Cyberpunk 2077 runs on it, I don’t even think we need be too worried.
I understand what you are trying to say, I feel like it’s not that old of a device in comparison to a Switch or Switch OLED. It’s still going to be a decent buy at the price point; I’m not overly worried about spending that much on a Steam Deck OLED. It wouldn’t take but a month of casual saving to afford a Steam Deck and given a lot of the games I buy are Deck Verified…It’s not a bad deal. This thing will likely be good enough for a few more years of play, particularly with indie games. Given that there is plenty of time for further consideration, I am leaning towards waiting for reviews of the Legion device I mentioned…On the off chance it is the better buy.
Just an anecdote, but I have a much smoother experience playing with the original steam deck than I did on my desktop. I mean the frames aren’t as high, the screen is small and resolution is low, but for whatever backwards reason, it just feels so smooth to look at and play with. I guess you see and feel the graphical artifacts better on a large screen with large resolution, and everything feels so uncanny somehow with high refresh rates and 100+ fps. Can’t really explain it though. Weird stuff.
Just finished the last of us 1 remake and 2 remaster with the deck. It just looks so gorgeous, I ran both with mixed medium-high settings, and it was an amazing experience. Before those I played cyberpunk with some crazy 500+ mods, and it was just excellent to play. Same with Witcher 3, though that’s getting old by now, so less surprising it runs so well.
In fact, I’m yet to play any lightweight games on this thing. Or even indie ones. These graphically intensive games have been such a joy to play, I haven’t even had the time or motivation to attempt anything else. I’m finally getting through my dusty, cobwebbed library, especially these more expensive games, and that’s been almost miraculous! A desktop requires sitting down, dedicated time and focus, but I can bring this thing with me pretty much anywhere and play a checkpoint or two or whatever while on a bus, a train, waiting for an appointment… anything. And it fucking runs all these games I’ve dreaded to play on the gaming rig because it just never felt good because I couldn’t hit ultra settings on everything, and the artifacts just were too noticeable and things weren’t as immersive as I’d have liked.
But this small little thing? So enjoyable, it’s so weird.
This is something I want to yell so loud every time I see anyone underestimating this thing talking about playing less demanding, smaller or older, indie, or otherwise more basic games. Thanks to some black magic I can’t make any sense of, the exact opposite is what you’ll want to do I bet!
They were sued in 2019 by a Native American tribe over that, I haven’t heard much about the issue since. It’s likely they are merely being neutral in the situation now, as no one is throwing up a fuss. Still, it’s not cool behavior on the part of Valve.
Me before the comma: Good luck to them, more options can’t be a bad thing.
Me after the comma: I intend to wipe the existence of your useless company from my memory entirely, so I’m just going to point and laugh at your failure in advance and immediately move on with my life.
Even giving them the benefit of the doubt, is there any game dev or gamer currently dissatisfied with existing payment systems? Are people in certain countries struggling with the mechanics of paymernt? Like, there are tons of ways to shoehorn in random charges or in-game ownership systems, and I don’t see what crypto brings other than moving the purse-holder.
Again, devil’s avocate: one could argue current platform fees (30%) are very high, but this is more of a monopolization issue than a fundamental payment system one,
Through this lens it became clear: stablecoins will become a financial backbone for the $500B global gaming economy.
The people interested in alternatives to SteamOS for Linux gaming probably aren’t going to be the sort of people who are interested in cryptocurrency or more micro transactions. I don’t think they have much of a clue what their target audience likes.
gamingonlinux.com
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