[Parallel-RDP] Color gradients not smooth

[antoniodesousa]

All the games that I have tested have the same issue. It's like the dithering options are not doing anything. Here is a screenshot of what I mean:

Only the Parallel-RDP plugin seems to have the issue.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 6900HX
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6600M
OS: Windows 11 Pro

[Tasosgemah]

Tried the game in Ares at 2x upscale and it looks the same as in your pic (i think Ares uses a more recent build of Parallel RDP). The color banding is a bit more subtle at native resolution but it's still there, in both Parallel and Angrylion.

That tells me it's most likely how the game looks on real hardware too.

[antoniodesousa]

That's not how it looks on real hardware:

And on Project64:

So, which one looks more accurate?

[Tasosgemah]

The first picture in your second post is not from the real N64 hardware, that's obvious. It's higher-res and too clean.

The second picture you say is from Project 64 but that's just the emulator core, you don't specify which graphics plugin you are using to take the picture.

I did test GlideN64 to see how the game looks and that does fix all the color banding, just like your last picture. That doesn't mean it looks hardware accurate though since GlideN64 is not an accurate graphics plugin. It can make the graphics look better in some games but better doesn't mean accurate, which is what Parallel RDP is supposed to be.

Anyway, there's no point using upscaled graphics to see how the game accurately looks, so here's how the game actually looks at native resolution with either Angrylion or Parallel RDP, in both RetroArch or Ares:

Starting line:

Random spot:

You can see it looks cleaner compared to the pic in your first post but the banding is still there, though not as bad. The walls look clean from a distance. The banding on the road is still noticeable but that also looks like the case in a few videos i found that are supposedly from real hardware. However, i can't find a clean enough capture to see the details on the walls. All videos i saw look way too blurry and the details look too smeared to be able to see if there's the small amount of color banding there or not.

I don't have the real game right now so i still can't prove anything and i could still be wrong. Maybe someone could help by posting some clean captures.

Also, when we say real hardware we mean the N64, not the Wii/WiiU/Switch. Just because these are official Nintendo releases on "real hardware" doesn't mean they are accurate to the N64 original. It's still emulation and not nearly as good as what you get in homebrew emulators.

[Tasosgemah]

I just noticed, in your original post you said "All the games that I have tested have the same issue" Could you post more examples? Make sure you are using native resolution to determine accuracy.

[antoniodesousa]

The first picture in your second post is not from the real N64 hardware, that's obvious. It's higher-res and too clean.

It is real hardware... and yes, I mean N64. You can believe it or not. I don't really care either way.

The second picture you say is from Project 64 but that's just the emulator core, you don't specify which graphics plugin you are using to take the picture.

I use the default plugin which is GlideN64.

Here's a video of the game running in real hardware: Mario Kart 64
And yes, there's some banding but it's smooth out. Not like the first picture I posted. Which lacks any form of dithering or aliasing whatsoever.

Anyways, I'm done with emulator/core. I moved to Project64 since months ago.

[Tasosgemah]

It is real hardware... and yes, I mean N64. You can believe it or not. I don't really care either way.

It's not a matter of what i believe my friend. You uploaded an upscaled, high-res capture. That's not how the real N64 renders this game. You can even clearly see the difference in the very video you just posted.

And yes, there's some banding but it's smooth out. Not like the first picture I posted.

The first picture you posted is upscaled. At native resolution it's smoothed out, just like the video footage you posted.

I would like to see some other examples of this issue since you mentioned it happens in every game for you, i'm actually interested to see if there's indeed some bug because i don't see it in my setup. But i'm gonna guess you aren't interested in the topic anymore.