Tutorial
Updated
Sourcing/Compiling/Adding Texture Packs to Mupen64Plus on Retroarch Switch
1. Setting Up Textures:
- A) There are two different texture pack formats for modern texture packs:
- a folder of raw PNG files that are usually separated into subfolders.
- an HTC file which is essentially a cached version of PNG files that are combined into one file - This is the file type that is going to be used by Mupen64Plus on the Switch.
- B) Sources for Textures:
- Sources for texture packs (with some projects being raw PNGs, and others having precompiled HTC files): EmulationKing, Textures.Emulation64, Emutalk, and Emulation64.
- C) Converting PNG Textures to HTC Files
- If you decide to use a texture pack that has no precompiled HTC file you will need to convert it so that it is usable on Mupen64Plus. Here is shownthe process of converting PNG texture packs into HTC files.
- NEW METHOD (Directly from Mupen64Plus!):
- Place png files in /retroarch/cores/system/Mupen64plus/hires_texture
- An HTC files will be generated on startup but there will be no indication so it will appear stuck on a black screen and the menu cannot open until done.
- For HTS (File storage) both "Enhanced" HD options need to be on additionally (mupen64plus-EnableEnhancedHighResStorage = "True" and mupen64plus-EnableEnhancedTextureStorage = "True")
- All settings for HTS / HTC must match with the settings it was created otherwise it will not load
- OLD METHOD (Using a PC):
- Download Project64.
- Download the GlideN64 plugin.
- Put the plugin in the GFX folder of Project64.
- Within the menu of the program manually select GlideN64 to be used.
- Direct the plugin to the 'hires_texture', 'cache', and 'texture_dump' folders.
- Make sure that 'Save enhanced texture cache to hard disk' is checked!
- Run the ROM.
- Allow the textures to load, you should see yellow text loading each one.
- Once the rom is running, close the program and wait a moment, as some of the larger texture packs take a few seconds to compile to the HTC file.
- In the folder you set for 'cache', you will see an HTC file named after your ROM - note that this does NOT have to match the filename of the rom!.
2. Transferring the Texture Pack to Retroarch on the Switch:
- A) Transferring the HTC file to Mupen64Plus:
- Access your Switch's microSD card by either a card reader or an FTP program.
- Take the HTC file you created in the 'cache' folder and transfer it to the folder 'cache' in Retroarch>cores>system>Mupen64Plus>cache (and if that folder does not exist, create it).
3. Enabling the Hi-Res Textures in Mupen64Plus:
- A) Enable the Setting to Allow Texture Replacement in Mupen64Plus:
- Start Retroarch by either using the NSP provided by Retroarch, The NSP forwarding method, or by using selecting it from the Homebrew Launcher while holding the R trigger (in SXOS) - this allows the program to use all available memory.
- Load your N64 ROM
- While the ROM is loaded, select the Quick Menu and go the Options tab for the core
- Enable Use High-Res textures and Use High-Res Full Alpha Channel - note that I personally had to toggle these a few times after quitting Retroarch but they eventually worked.
- Quit Retroarch and restart the program and rom
- A) Larger Texture Pack Incompatibility
- OBSOLETE INFORMATION (12/5/19)- Mupen64Plus NO LONGER HAS THIS LIMITATION
Some texture packs larger than 1 gigabyte, such as the Majora's Mask N64HD Project, seem to approach the 1.5 gigabyte texture cache memory limit for Mupen64Plus. As such they seem to freeze (for me, at least). For this particular pack I have personally downsized some of the larger environmental texture folders by 33% and left other elements such as the UI, characters, effects, and other smaller folders untouched. This reduced the size to around 750 megabytes which works on the Switch, albeit with a long initial load time. Here is my reduced size version.
- OBSOLETE INFORMATION (12/5/19)- Mupen64Plus NO LONGER HAS THIS LIMITATION
- B) Does My Texture Pack File Name Have to Match my ROM File Name?
- NO!, if Project 64 loads the textures and you use the identical ROM on your switch that you used to cache those textures into the HTC file, it will work regardless.
- C) Do Dolphin Textures Work on Mupen64Plus?
- NO!, only HTC files can be used. I don't believe that you can convert a PNG texture pack made for Dolphin's Virtual Console games to HTC without considerable effort.
Last edited by mattyxarope,