[HN Gopher] How I optimized Portal to run on the Nintendo 64 [vi...
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       How I optimized Portal to run on the Nintendo 64 [video]
        
       Author : skibz
       Score  : 98 points
       Date   : 2023-11-17 06:55 UTC (16 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.youtube.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.youtube.com)
        
       | lifthrasiir wrote:
       | A link to the actual repository if you don't like videos:
       | https://github.com/lambertjamesd/portal64
       | 
       | Previously on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37381407
       | (2023-09-04, 385 points)
       | 
       | That demake does seem more like an (unofficial) port that
       | preserves much of the original game play and style than most
       | other demakes. (Disclaimer: I haven't actually played the game, I
       | only watched videos.) How much would be achievable in the theory?
       | Would it be only limited by the cartridge storage?
        
         | Cthulhu_ wrote:
         | The N64 cartridges officially go up to 64 GB, whereas the
         | original Portal looks to be about 5 GB in size, but that
         | probably includes the Source engine; other sources say it's
         | about 2 GB if you already have the engine installed.
         | 
         | But the N64 version's assets will take up a lot less space,
         | audio quality (if anything) can be dropped, etc. I'm sure they
         | can make it fit.
        
           | ageitgey wrote:
           | N64 carts only go up to 64 megabytes, not gigabytes.
        
             | tivert wrote:
             | > N64 carts only go up to 64 megabytes, not gigabytes.
             | 
             | I don't know anything specific about it, but given the
             | cartridges were hardware, couldn't you theoretically bank
             | switch to get any size you want?
        
               | anthk wrote:
               | And bankrupt yourself with 64 GB of banks because they
               | were really expensive compared to just some CD's.
        
           | leoc wrote:
           | Quake (1) is probably a useful comparison, especially since
           | Source's actual game engine is directly descended from it.
           | There was an N64 Quake port, and apparently https://www.reddi
           | t.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/5x0ziv/c...
           | https://www.quaddicted.com/quake/installation a full PC
           | install was a bit over 50MiB, overwhelmingly the PAK files.
        
       | rightbyte wrote:
       | That is really impressive. But then again Goldeneye had more
       | animated objects and longer draw distance?
       | 
       | It has to be annoying to play with only one joystick though.
       | Maybe he should add support for using two.
        
         | skibz wrote:
         | Not only is using two controllers simultaneously already
         | supported, but there is also support for using a mouse:
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KibcE-qg_rg
        
         | qup wrote:
         | ... Which GoldenEye also had
        
           | rightbyte wrote:
           | No way I didn't know that ... I have try it. Is it better
           | then a single one?
        
         | estebank wrote:
         | Note that the companion cubes have full physics interactions
         | with the world, something that I don't think was ever done on
         | the N64.
         | 
         | Also, looking at the video, the framerate is significantly
         | smoother than the famously choppy GoldenEye.
        
       | slowhadoken wrote:
       | Spatial partitioning is deceptively simple.
        
         | djmips wrote:
         | What do you mean by "deceptively simple".?
        
           | spoiler wrote:
           | not OP, but I think this usually means it's simple to get
           | something naive working, but to get something production
           | ready it can get tricky.
           | 
           | Eg stuff like quad/oct trees
        
       | k2xl wrote:
       | Can you imagine if this came out back in the Nintendo 64 days?
       | Kind of incredible that it was technically possible...
        
       | eska wrote:
       | I find the project and title very intriguing, but the
       | presentation really turned me off. The script for the video is
       | all over the place and most of it doesn't have to do with the
       | topic at hand.
        
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       (page generated 2023-11-17 23:02 UTC)