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Mupen64Plus AE - RetroBIOS
Type standalone
Classification Community forks
Source https://github.com/mupen64plus-ae/mupen64plus-ae
Version 3.0.249 (beta)
Profiled 2026-08-12
Cores mupen64plus-ae, MUPEN64PLUS-AE, org.mupen64plusae.v3.alpha
Systems nintendo-64, nintendo-64dd
Technical notes

Android front end under the paulscode.android.mupen64plusae namespace, published as org.mupen64plusae.v3.alpha (app/build.gradle:24). Everything it runs is vendored in tree rather than pulled as a submodule: mupen64plus-core, the hle, cxd4 and parallel RSP plugins, the GLideN64, glide64mk2, gln64, rice, angrylion-plus and parallel video plugins, its own audio, touchscreen and raphnet input plugins, and a miniupnp bridge for netplay (settings.gradle:1). ES-DE launches it for both n64 and n64dd with an ACTION_VIEW intent carrying a storage access uri, which the splash screen forwards to the gallery (AndroidManifest.xml:80-101, SplashActivity.java:134).

Cartridge boot needs no boot ROM. The PIF boot sequence is simulated (device/pif/bootrom_hle.c:48, entered from device/r4300/interrupt.c:445,496 and main/main.c:1875) and the CIC-NUS-6105 challenge is answered by an algorithm rather than a stored table (device/pif/n64_cic_nus_6105.c:93). Nothing fills the PIF ROM window from a file.

Which 64DD IPL is used is not decided by the code. Two settings hold a path and both end up as the same working file dd_rom.n64: the global one, titled 64DD IPL (J), read when the launched file is itself a disk, and a per game one, titled 64DD IPL, read when a cartridge is launched with a disk attached and only while the support64dd toggle is on (CoreService.java:606-620, GlobalPrefs.java:421,727, GamePrefs.java:579-599, CoreInterface.java:144,231,459-488). The core offers a callback that would name the image per disk region and the front end leaves it null (CoreInterface.java:223, main/main.c:1082-1086), so whichever image sits in the slot is the one loaded. A disk is recognised only when its system data header matches and carries one of three region words, 0xe848d316 for Japan, 0x2263ee56 for the United States and 0x00000000 for development (RomHeader.java:180-220); the word sets a country code used for the ROM database and cheat lookup, never for picking the IPL. Launching a bare disk with the global slot empty stops before the core starts (CoreService.java:638-639), and since disk only games still need a cartridge image the application feeds the m64p_test_rom.v64 asset in its place (CoreService.java:643-644). Disk content inside a .zip or .7z is unpacked to the working directory first (CoreInterface.java:490-522).

Transfer Pak carts come from four per player path settings copied into the working directory as playerN_gb_rom.gb and playerN_gb_ram.gb (CoreService.java:566-575, GamePrefs.java:933-960, CoreInterface.java:142-143,175-189,235-236,420-457). The core rejects a cart under 32 KiB and an unknown type byte at 0x147 (device/gb/gb_cart.c:996-1009) and fixes no name, size or hash, so neither the cart nor its save carries an entry here.

Seven data files ship inside the package, each keyed to a version number and unpacked on first start into the private files directory, which is also what the core is told is SharedDataPath (ExtractAssetsOrCleanupTask.java:63-73, SplashActivity.java:90,399-402, AppData.java:391-403, NativeConfigFiles.java:111). mupen64plus.ini is the ROM database, read by the core (main/rom.c:473-490 from api/frontend.c:106) and by the gallery (SplashActivity.java:447). mupencheat.default is copied over Profiles/customCheats.txt into mupencheat.txt and parsed in Java (SplashActivity.java:443, CheatUtils.java:88-96, GamePrefsActivity.java:548); the core's own cheat.c opens no file. font.ttf is reached by GLideN64 only after /system/fonts/DroidSans.ttf fails, that name being what the front end writes as the configured font (TextDrawer.cpp:209-210,222-228, NativeConfigFiles.java:291); the core's OSD, the other upstream reader of that name (osd/osd.c:40), is absent from the Android source list (mupen64plus-core.mk:24-101). RiceVideoLinux.ini holds rice's per ROM settings (rice Config.cpp:38,933-953), Glide64mk2.ini glide64mk2's (glide64mk2 Main.cpp:1581-1586), and gln64.conf with gln64rom.conf gln64's global and per ROM settings (gln64 Config.cpp:245-252,296-302).

Two more assets are read straight out of the package and never unpacked: m64p_test_rom.v64, and GLideN64.custom.ini, whose per ROM overrides the front end reads itself and writes into mupen64plus.cfg (AppData.java:396-397, ConfigFile.java:225-229, NativeConfigFiles.java:223,227). GLideN64 also asks the core for GLideN64.custom.ini in SharedDataPath, where it was never placed, so that native lookup finds nothing (mupenplus/Config_mupenplus.cpp:332-344). The touchscreen skins, the shader sources and the controller, touchscreen and emulation profile templates are used from the package the same way (AppData.java:392,401-403, GlobalPrefs.java:530, ShaderLoader.java:85).

Optional content with no canonical artifact: hi-res texture packs under the user data directory, imported from a user archive (GlobalPrefs.java:469, ExtractTexturesFragment.java), the _HIRESTEXTURES.htc and .hts caches the plugin builds from them, read back for their storage flag (NativeConfigFiles.java:365-376), customCheats.txt, custom touchscreen skins and cover art (GlobalPrefs.java:481,486-487), and alp_screen.vert with alp_screen.frag, which angrylion-plus opens as working directory relative paths before falling back to its embedded shaders (angrylion-plus output/vdac.c:119-127,167-174,246-247).

Written rather than obtained: mupen64plus.cfg and the plugin sections in it, the mempak, eeprom, flashram and sram saves given default content when absent (main/main.c:1015-1078,1619-1622) and the 64DD disk save in whichever of the two formats SaveDiskFormat selects (main/main.c:365,1176-1235), savestates with the rcheevos progress file written beside them (CoreService.java:335,407-413), screenshots, the texture dump and cache directories, the GLideN64 shader cache and romInfoCache.cfg (GlobalPrefs.java:466-487, NativeConfigFiles.java:108-111).

Two files in the tree this build never reads. cxd4's rsp_conf.bin: its reader is the zilmar variant of update_conf behind #if !defined(M64P_PLUGIN_API), and the build defines that macro (mupen64plus-rsp-cxd4.mk:8), so the variant compiled takes its settings from the core config API and ignores the filename it is handed (mupen64plus-rsp-cxd4 module.c:83-93,239,637-659). And parallel-rdp's shader directory, registered as a filesystem protocol only under PARALLEL_RDP_SHADER_DIR, which the Android build leaves undefined, so the SPIR-V compiled into the plugin is what runs (parallel-rdp rdp_renderer.cpp:74-78).

3 files | 3 required, 0 optional | 3 in repo, 0 missing

64DD_IPL_JP.n64 required in repo
64DD IPL ROM (Japanese retail)

64DD_IPL_US.n64 required in repo
64DD IPL ROM (American retail)

64DD_IPL_DEV.n64 required in repo
64DD IPL ROM (development)

Generated on 2026-08-23T16:12:06Z