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Zelda: Ocarina of Time’s PC port now supports 60fps, save states, Linux and more (VGC)

kingfey

Banned

The fan-made PC port of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, ‘Ship of Harkinian’ now supports 60fps, Linux and more.

As part of the fan development team’s latest “Ship of Harkinian Direct”, Habour Masters unveiled the frame-rate boost as well as a host of new features.

In addition to 60fps, the port now runs on Linux, and new features such as save states, Gameshark-style cheats and accessibility features such as voice descriptions have been added to the game.

The next release of the port, named Roy Alfa, is now available on the team’s official Discord. The new features were unveiled via a video published on Friday:

Ship of Harkinian brought Zelda: Ocarina of Time to PC earlier this year with many new features such as HD graphics, ultra-widescreen resolution, keyboard support, modding support, force feedback and gyroscope aiming.

The PC port was made possible thanks to a two-year fan project which successfully reverse-engineered a version of Ocarina of Time into compilable C code.

A similar decompilation project led to a Super Mario 64 PC port in 2019. Mario 64’s PC port was quickly modded with new graphics and modern effects such as ray-tracing, and it looks likely Ocarina will receive even more modding support.

This kind of reverse engineering is made legal because the fans involved did not use any leaked content, nor use any of Nintendo’s original copyrighted assets. Players will have to provide their own version of the game ROM in order to play the port.

Speaking to VGC in January, Harbour Masters developer ‘Kenix’ said that the group started work on its PC port virtually as soon as Ocarina of Time’s code was fully reverse-engineered.

The group is calling its port ‘Ship of Harkinian’, which is a reference to a line of dialogue in the infamous Zelda CDI spin-offs.
 

Sophist

Member
the article says
This kind of reverse engineering is made legal because the fans involved did not use any leaked content, nor use any of Nintendo’s original copyrighted assets. Players will have to provide their own version of the game ROM in order to play the port.
This is not true. I took a look at the github repository; they definitively copy/pasted code from a decompiler. In the USA, to make a legal implementation of a proprietary software, one guy does the reverse engineering using a decompiler/disassembler to write a specification
then another guy implements that specification without ever looking at the original proprietary implementation . Then it should be legal but not necessary because you may have implemented a patented algorithm.
 
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GreatnessRD

Member
the article says

This is not true. I took a look at the github repository; they definitively copy/pasted code from a decompiler. In the USA, to make a legal implementation of a proprietary software, one guy does the reverse engineering using a decompiler/disassembler to write a specification
then another guy implements that specification without ever looking at the original proprietary implementation . Then it should be legal but not necessary because you may have implemented a patented algorithm.
Snitches get stitches.
 

NahaNago

Member
Snitches get stitches.
nicki minaj 6ix9ine GIF
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Fan Devs overview.


Why doesn't any of the footage look 60fps? Or is it a situation where it's technically 60 but all animations including camera movement are still 20 or 30 or whatever they were made for so it doesn't look any different visually? It did seem quite smooth in the last cut scene bits shown but I'm not sure.
 
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Thaedolus

Member
Why doesn't any of the footage look 60fps? Or is it a situation where it's technically 60 but all animations including camera movement are still 20 or 30 or whatever they were made for so it doesn't look any different visually? It did seem quite smooth in the last cut scene bits shown but I'm not sure.
You’re probably right that the animations are still at the lower frame rate, but I haven’t seen any footage to tell myself. I just know that seems to be a limitation with some of these older games that get emulated or ported to run better.

And bring on my fuckin Steam Deck already, I’m so ready for stuff like this
 

nkarafo

Member
Tested this a bit and it has a lot of pontential.

One more thing that these games can use to look better is extended draw distance. There are even Gameshark codes in OOT that can increase it but it's unstable. Maybe a port such as this can make it work?

A game like F-Zero X looks pretty interesting with extended draw distance, you can see the huge, twisty tracks better:

 

nkarafo

Member
You’re probably right that the animations are still at the lower frame rate, but I haven’t seen any footage to tell myself. I just know that seems to be a limitation with some of these older games that get emulated or ported to run better.

And bring on my fuckin Steam Deck already, I’m so ready for stuff like this
Why doesn't any of the footage look 60fps? Or is it a situation where it's technically 60 but all animations including camera movement are still 20 or 30 or whatever they were made for so it doesn't look any different visually? It did seem quite smooth in the last cut scene bits shown but I'm not sure.

I tested it at 60fps and it works as it should, though some things like the camera movement may be a bit too fast? Dunno, it feels like for a split second it also runs at a higher game speed other than just frame rate. But maybe that's because i'm so used to the game running at 20 FPS.
 

nkarafo

Member
It's timeless, people got a remake 11 years ago and they still want a new remake because they wanna keep playing it.
You mean the 3DS version?

I think people still want a new port because that remake changed a lot of the game's aesthetics and atmosphere.

A port with the N64 aesthetic but without any of it's technical limitations (resolution, frame rate, LOD) and some extra improvements (more button shortcuts for equipment, original uncompressed music/sound files, UI scaling options, etc) would make it the perfect way to play this game.
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
I think people still want a new port because that remake changed a lot of the game's aesthetics and atmosphere.
It's Majora's Mask 3D that deviated too much (for some), OoT 3D is more faithful (sans like 3 scenes). And no fan remade assets look any more faithful than those games tbh, the high poly assets showcased in the video here don't quite fit either (especially if the environment isn't spiced up equally).

Also one thing they should do for sure is make the boots a c button item like in OoT 3D.
 
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Paulistano

Member
the article says

This is not true. I took a look at the github repository; they definitively copy/pasted code from a decompiler. In the USA, to make a legal implementation of a proprietary software, one guy does the reverse engineering using a decompiler/disassembler to write a specification
then another guy implements that specification without ever looking at the original proprietary implementation . Then it should be legal but not necessary because you may have implemented a patented algorithm.
The USA law doesn't apply to the world.
 

Ezquimacore

Banned
You mean the 3DS version?

I think people still want a new port because that remake changed a lot of the game's aesthetics and atmosphere.

A port with the N64 aesthetic but without any of it's technical limitations (resolution, frame rate, LOD) and some extra improvements (more button shortcuts for equipment, original uncompressed music/sound files, UI scaling options, etc) would make it the perfect way to play this game.
Ocarina of time 3d is a fantastic remake and on citra emulator at 4k+ looks gorgeous. Maybe you're talking about the blurry textures but that was a N64 limitation not an artistic choice. Or maybe you're talking about Majora's mask 3d. Either way and not against it, I can't wait to see what people develop for this port, textures like the promotional art would be a dream come true.
 

Connxtion

Member
A still find it nuts people do this stuff for free, yet Nintendo pay folks to do remasters and it’s the most half arsed remaster ever 😂 and to top it off, these folk reversed the game code. Madness.
 

nkarafo

Member
It's Majora's Mask 3D that deviated too much (for some), OoT 3D is more faithful (sans like 3 scenes). And no fan remade assets look any more faithful than those games tbh, the high poly assets showcased in the video here don't quite fit either (especially if the environment isn't spiced up equally).
Ocarina of Time 3DS deviated enough i think. Like, the whole shadow temple feels completely different with major artistic changes.

I don't think MM deviated too much, other than the stupid Moon face redesign. The N64 version is also a much more colorful game than the original since it tries to give a dark carnival style setting.

Ocarina of time 3d is a fantastic remake and on citra emulator at 4k+ looks gorgeous. Maybe you're talking about the blurry textures but that was a N64 limitation not an artistic choice. Or maybe you're talking about Majora's mask 3d. Either way and not against it, I can't wait to see what people develop for this port, textures like the promotional art would be a dream come true.
No' i'm talking about aesthetics and how some areas feel more cheerful or not as gloomy as the N64 version.
 
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RNG

Member
For those wondering, you have to press F1 in game to bring up a menu and enable it. No idea why they didn't include that in the readme. Also if you're using the Mayflash GC Controller Adapter you have to plug the controller into the 4th port.
 
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PhaseJump

Banned
I look forward to other people putting in the work, so I don't have to; getting this up and running or optimized on Steam Deck.
 
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