Is it possible to disable anti-aliasing in N64 games via GameShark cheats?

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posted by DoctorPain99 on Feb 26, 2016:

Found a couple of codes that I would like to share:

Majora's Mask (USA):
8109806C 0000
8109806E 3216
8109809C 0000
8109809E 3216

Ocarina of Time 1.1 (USA/JP):
8100646C 0000
8100646E 3216
8100649C 0000
8100649E 3216

Donkey Kong 64 (USA):
8101013C 0000
8101013E 3216
8101016C 0000
8101016E 3216

I'm not a big fan of how DK64 looks with the code on; it just seems to make the kongs have more jagged edges, as would make sense with disabling anti-aliasing. Majora's Mask certainly looks somewhat clearer with the code on, imo it has a bit of a washed out look with the code off. Enabling the code highlights flaws in the graphics more prominently though, so pick your poison. I couldn't even notice a difference with the OoT code. I'm not convinced it's working, but it should be the right code. Maybe someone else will have more luck.
 

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posted by Try4ce on Feb 26, 2016:

Thanks for the additional info! While I don't think I'll be making my own codes anytime soon, it helps me understand what the process is.

Is the main thing going on here just turning off anti-aliasing and dither? Are there other graphics features that the codes are disabling? Do those functions need to be turned off together to work correctly? What if someone wanted to turn off dithering, but keep anti-aliasing, for example, or vice-versa?
 

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posted by xdaniel on Feb 27, 2016:

Try4ce said:






Thanks for the additional info! While I don't think I'll be making my own codes anytime soon, it helps me understand what the process is.

Is the main thing going on here just turning off anti-aliasing and dither? Are there other graphics features that the codes are disabling? Do those functions need to be turned off together to work correctly? What if someone wanted to turn off dithering, but keep anti-aliasing, for example, or vice-versa?

Yep, the main thing the codes do is disable anti-aliasing and disable the dither filter, i.e. we basically "enable" the dithering that appears in 16bpp display modes (which is was the majority(?) of games run in) by disabling the filter that otherwise removes it. These are the only two features the codes in the thread toggle, but there's a few other bits in the register that one could experiment with, although I'm not sure if they'd change the image dramatically.

The features can be toggled separately, although you probably won't see much of an effect if you just disable the dither filter. Also, I have run into some visual glitches before if I just change the AA mode and leave dithering untouched, but YMMV. So, the order of importance would in my opinion be, first the anti-aliasing, second the dither filter. To disable only one of the two, you just have to leave off the corresponding codes, which is easy in this case, as it just so happens that one of the two codes (the one with the lower address) toggles the dither filter, while the other (with the higher address) changes the AA mode.

Let's have another look at the Mario Kart 64 (US) codes:
810EB3DC 0000 and 810EB40C 0000 = disable the dither filter (original value was 0001, filter enabled)
810EB3DE 3216 and 810EB40E 3216 = change the AA mode to resample only (original value was 3016, AA and resample)

Thus, if you only activate the first two codes above, it'll only disable the dither filter, and if you only activate the last two, it'll only disable AA.
 

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posted by SonicIce1 on Jul 6, 2017:

Here's a bunch of old Vram dumps from the Gameshark I had.
http://jord.altervista.org/n64.zip
I guess the image is captured before the filtering/AA is applied. Weird how some of them like Goldeneye's menus are cropped off.
Also did anyone ever notice that when pausing Mario Kart 64, the AA becomes disabled?

Here's a shot of regular, and with the Gameshark codes posted. Taken through S-video into a capture card. You can clearly see how much sharper the rocks are, and also the Mario sprite.


You know what's funny. The devs put so much work into adding this AA/filtering, and here we are trying to get rid of it.
 

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posted by rso on Feb 29, 2016:

"The devs" also put much work in not having RGB output (at least not for long)... Not all decisions made are necessarily good decisions.
 

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posted by xadox on Mar 1, 2016:

After testing some games with AA/dithering disabled I must say that I prefere the muddy AA look
 

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posted by rso on Mar 1, 2016:

If you don't mind me asking, what signal are you using? Composhite, S-Video, RGB, HDMI?
 

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posted by Poregon on Mar 1, 2016:

From personal experience using RGB (all just opinions):
- All Rare games look better with it off.
- Zelda titles look better off.
- Mario games with blocky simplistic polygons and textures look fantastic. You can see more detail on Mario Kart/SM64/Golf.
- If you add scanlines, it really adds to the benefit.
- Gauntlet Legends looks much much better.
- All 2D games like Magical Tetris/Dr. Mario look much much better.
- Duke Nukem 3D is the best representative of this feature -- It clears the screen up significantly.
 

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posted by brainpann on Mar 2, 2016:

Has anyone tried Starfox 64? I feel like the AA was cranked up to 11 on tgat game.
 

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posted by xadox on Mar 2, 2016:

rso said:






If you don't mind me asking, what signal are you using? Composhite, S-Video, RGB, HDMI?

RGB on 20" Sony PVM.