In May 2020, we informed you about an unofficial native DX12 version of Super Mario 64 for the PC. And today, DarioSamo released a public technical version of Super Mario 64 Ray Tracing. As the name implies, this version adds full path tracing support to the open-source Super Mario 64 port for PC.
According to DarioSamo, all GPUs that support Ray Tracing can run this special version of Super Mario 64 PC. Do note, though, that this mod is in a very early state. Thus, you’ll likely encounter plenty of visual and performance problems.
Going into more technical details, this mod packs a fully path-traced renderer. It also brings custom level lighting for all stages, as well as dynamic sphere lights for objects and particles. Moreover, it features Classic Phong shading and support for Normal Maps. Furthermore, it introduces real-time raytraced shadows, reflections, refractions and global illumination.
In order to showcase the game’s Ray/Path tracing effects, DarioSamo also released the following trailer. Additionally, Digital Foundry shared a video showing 34 minutes of gameplay footage from it.
You can download the Super Mario 64 PC Ray Tracing mod from here.
Lastly, and speaking of Super Mario 64, we also suggest trying some other mods. There is a mod that allows you to play as Luigi and another that allows you to play as Wario. There is also an impressive Doom mod for it. These mods should, theoretically, be compatible with this Ray Tracing mod.
Have fun!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
Contact: Email
Nintendo already sent that guy a special letter
You need the original ROM, plus you have a couple of hoops to jump through to put it all together. Takes ~30mins, I was making dinner while it compiled.
What is impressive about it is that people are putting together open sourced path tracing engines that now run fast enough to play on the correct hardware. I consider anyone who thinks RT is not ready to be in the same boat as the flat earthers.
Got a quick guide on how to compile it? I’d love to get this thing working, but not really sure where to start (I have the rom, obviously) but not sure how to compile from this code on Github
It feels very early in the project, pre Alpha. So don’t expect too much.
https://github.com/sm64pc/sm64ex/wiki/Compiling-on-Windows
You also have to run clang64 to update packages early on. These consoles maybe exited with ‘exit’ and it’s useful to know rightclick and paste works.
The make command builds the project, worth doing to check everything is working, though at this stage it’s the non RT version. You can find the exe within msys64home%username%sm64exbuildus_pc
https://github.com/DarioSamo/sm64rt
You can copy the source over existing before running the new make command with additional paramaters.
Forgot to say, when you run clang64, use pacman -Syuu to update.
Thanks, I appreciate it. I’ve never complied anything before, and totally new to it.
Just tried this and process fails claiming it can't find python despite the fact that its installed. I find it strange that coders do all this work and (a) don't thoroughly test their code and (b) are too lazy to provide complied copies making the task a ball ache for any consumers. Just give us an exe where all we need to do its point to rom and any texture packs.