N64 Majora's Mask model rips

[BossGengar]

Does someone know how to rip n64 (Nintendo 64) models? I'm not going to post these rips, I just need them for reference for some new models i'm making. I need the Majora's Incarnation and Wrath model specifically from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.

If someone knows how to do this it would be appreciated.

 

[Dr Super Good]

One should be able to dump the N64 or 3DS render instructions from an emulator. Included in those will be the meshes for rendering in some form or another. Such functionality should be available from good emulators in the form of debug or developers tools.

Additionally one might be able to decompile the N64 or 3DS ROMs and then from the file system (if there is one, possibly only 3DS) remove the model files containing the meshes. The format of these models may be known to some modders however I would imagine them being unencrypted with meshes contained as arrays of appropriate precision float or fixed points.

As far as I am aware the GameCube release is nothing more than the N64 ROM packaged with a Nintendo proprietary N64 on GameCube emulator. This is different from the 3DS version which is a port and upgrade of the game engine to run natively on the 3DS hardware. Hence why there are only 2 possible versions to extract from.

The 3DS meshes are recommended over the N64 ones as they were remade at a higher quality to take advantage of the superior technical capabilities of the 3DS. However I do not know how advanced 3DS emulation is or if one can easily extract files from 3DS roms.

Be aware that using the meshes may be subject to copyright problems. Although it should be fine to use them as reference material, copying or reusing parts of the meshes is not and might invoke a response from Nintendo's lawyers if the result is ever made public. It is not alright to steal parts of stuff.

 

[BossGengar]

One should be able to dump the N64 or 3DS render instructions from an emulator. Included in those will be the meshes for rendering in some form or another. Such functionality should be available from good emulators in the form of debug or developers tools.

Additionally one might be able to decompile the N64 or 3DS ROMs and then from the file system (if there is one, possibly only 3DS) remove the model files containing the meshes. The format of these models may be known to some modders however I would imagine them being unencrypted with meshes contained as arrays of appropriate precision float or fixed points.

As far as I am aware the GameCube release is nothing more than the N64 ROM packaged with a Nintendo proprietary N64 on GameCube emulator. This is different from the 3DS version which is a port and upgrade of the game engine to run natively on the 3DS hardware. Hence why there are only 2 possible versions to extract from.

The 3DS meshes are recommended over the N64 ones as they were remade at a higher quality to take advantage of the superior technical capabilities of the 3DS. However I do not know how advanced 3DS emulation is or if one can easily extract files from 3DS roms.

Be aware that using the meshes may be subject to copyright problems. Although it should be fine to use them as reference material, copying or reusing parts of the meshes is not and might invoke a response from Nintendo's lawyers if the result is ever made public. It is not alright to steal parts of stuff.

Alright, thanks for the advice. I'm promise not to use the mesh, I just want to recreate it.

 

[BossGengar]

Still can't get any of the models I need for reference. Does someone know a good way how?

 

[Dr Super Good]

I would suggest asking N64 emulator developers. Modern emulators might have graphic dump functionality built in that would allow the meshes to be dumped in standardized and easy to use containers.

Like mentioned before, it may be possible to directly export model files from the 3DS rom as, like most modern Nintendo platforms, it should be its own file system with named file content once mounted in the appropriate file system software.

This really is not an appropriate site to ask such a question. Not that people are not willing to help you, just it is unlikely anyone can as this is highly specialized knowledge.

Apparently one way of dumping N64 models involves tricking Emulators into using a logging graphics API. That way the meshes get logged and can be used externally. However since this involves the use of a third party DLL I am sceptical that it is not a rouse for malware. Additionally it may not work with modern emulators or emulators that have software graphics only.

If one can get a graphic debugger and attach it to the used API of an emulator one should also be able to dump textures and meshes. This only works well on modern APIs such as programmable shader pipelines in D3D8/OpenGL or later so some old emulators will likely not work.

 

[BossGengar]

I would suggest asking N64 emulator developers. Modern emulators might have graphic dump functionality built in that would allow the meshes to be dumped in standardized and easy to use containers.

Like mentioned before, it may be possible to directly export model files from the 3DS rom as, like most modern Nintendo platforms, it should be its own file system with named file content once mounted in the appropriate file system software.

This really is not an appropriate site to ask such a question. Not that people are not willing to help you, just it is unlikely anyone can as this is highly specialized knowledge.

Apparently one way of dumping N64 models involves tricking Emulators into using a logging graphics API. That way the meshes get logged and can be used externally. However since this involves the use of a third party DLL I am sceptical that it is not a rouse for malware. Additionally it may not work with modern emulators or emulators that have software graphics only.

If one can get a graphic debugger and attach it to the used API of an emulator one should also be able to dump textures and meshes. This only works well on modern APIs such as programmable shader pipelines in D3D8/OpenGL or later so some old emulators will likely not work.

Do you know any good emulators for a task like this?

 

[Dr Super Good]

Do you know any good emulators for a task like this?

Not from personal experience as it has been around 10 years since I last used a N64 emulator.

TASVideos, which uses emulators to produce their content, recommends BizHawk. In fact they recommend it for just about every platform except modern or really complex ones.

Being a tool assisting emulator it should have basic debug features such as memory inspection, interrupts etc. In worst case you could possibly find the model meshes in memory somewhere and export the vertices. It might have features to easily inspect or manipulate meshes as well, I do not know.