View source for UltraHLE

{{Short description|1999 Nintendo 64 emulator}}
{{redirect|Functional simulator|Functional simulators for other hardware architectures|Functional simulation}}
{{Infobox software
|name = UltraHLE
|screenshot =<!-- Deleted image removed:  [[Image:Ultrahle.png|center|265px]] -->
|caption = UltraHLE 1.0.0 with some games found.
|developer = RealityMan and Epsilon
|latest_release_version = 1.0.0
|latest_release_date={{start date and age|1999|1|28}}
|operating_system = [[Microsoft Windows]]
|genre = [[Video game console emulator]]
|license = [[Freeware]]
|website = {{webarchive |title=www.emuunlim.com/UltraHLE |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031104120312/http://www.emuunlim.com/UltraHLE/index.htm |date=2003-11-04}}
|discontinued = yes
}}

'''UltraHLE''' is a discontinued [[emulator]] for the [[Nintendo 64]]. [[Emulating]] the [[Nintendo 64]] (which was only three years old at the time) made it the first of the [[N64 emulators]] to run commercial titles at a playable [[frame rate]] on the hardware of the time,<ref name="HaddenLuce1999">{{cite book|last1=Hadden|first1=Briton|last2=Luce|first2=Henry Robinson|title=Time|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-0zuAAAAMAAJ|access-date=26 April 2017|year=1999|publisher=Time Inc.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Bulletin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LrYxAQAAIAAJ|year=2000|publisher=J. Haynes and J.F. Archibald}}</ref> and the first emulator for a currently-sold console system, which drew Nintendo to seek legal action against the developers.<ref name="game over white paper">{{cite journal | title = Use of a Game Over: Emulation and the Video Game Industry, A White Paper  | first1= James | last1 = Conley | first2 = Ed |last2 = Andros | first3= Priti | last3= Chinai | first4 =  Elise | last4= Lipkowitz | first5=David |last5 = Perez |journal  = Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property | volume =2 | issue =2 | date = Spring 2004 | url = https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/njtip/vol2/iss2/3/ | access-date=  September 2, 2020 }}</ref>

==The Ultra High-level (UHLE) technique==
Earlier emulators had sought to accurately emulate all low-level operations of a target machine; this worked well for consoles such as the [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|Super NES]] and [[Sega Genesis|Genesis]] that were substantially simpler than the computer running the emulator.

HLE was done even before the UltraHLE emulator (to emulate the BIOS, and the SNES enhancement chips). But UltraHLE introduced aggressive optimization and time-savers which go beyond traditional HLE.

Co-authors Epsilon and RealityMan realized that since N64 games were programmed in [[C (programming language)|C]], they could intercept (the far fewer) C library calls rather than machine-level operations, and simply reimplement the libraries. Thus UltraHLE is an emulator that is partly implemented as a [[simulation|simulator]], in contrast to projects such as [[MAME]]. However it paved the way for playable emulators of recent consoles that require considerable graphical computational power which could be simulated easily with available PC graphic cards.

The final implementation was written in C and used the [[Glide API]], specific to [[3dfx]] adapters. Due to the emulator's popularity, several Glide to [[DirectX]] translation utilities were made specifically for UltraHLE for non-3dfx video cards.

UltraHLE's high-level emulation had its drawbacks; at the time of its release it was able to emulate only approximately 20 games to a playable standard<ref name="everything2">{{cite web |title=UltraHLE |url=https://everything2.com/title/UltraHLE |access-date=15 August 2012}}</ref> as it emulated and simulated only those calls required by those specific games; it was necessary to adapt the emulator for games that used different parts of the N64 hardware. Nevertheless it supported many more titles than other contemporaneous N64 emulation projects such as [[Project Unreality]].

Emulators other than UltraHLE eventually adopted variants of high-level emulation as well. For example, the [[Dolphin (emulator)|Dolphin emulator]], which emulates the [[GameCube]] and [[Wii]], uses HLE to reimplement the Wii's IOS operating system, and it also has an option for HLE of the GameCube's audio [[Digital signal processor|DSP]].<ref name="phoronixdolphin">{{cite web|author=Michael Larabel|url=https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTQ2NzE|title=Dolphin Emulator 4.0 Released For GameCube, Wii|website=Phoronix|date=23 September 2013|access-date=14 July 2019}}</ref>

==Nintendo's response and UltraHLE's discontinuation==
Also notable for its time, UltraHLE was capable of playing commercial games while the console was still commercially viable, a feat which was ultimately noticed by [[Nintendo]]. In February 1999, Nintendo began the process of filing a lawsuit against the emulator's authors, along with the website hosting the emulator.<ref name="techweb">{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990502230434/http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19990202S0009|url=http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19990202S000|title=Nintendo May Sue Emulator Makers|first=Malcolm|last=Maclachlan|date=February 2, 1999|archive-date=May 2, 1999|website=techweb.com|access-date=January 26, 2018}}</ref> Speaking to ''[[PC Zone]]'', Nintendo representative Beth Llewellwyn commented: "Nintendo is very disturbed that RealityMan and Epsilon have widely distributed a product designed solely to play infringing copies of copyrighted works developed by Nintendo and its third-party licensees. We are taking measures to further protect and enforce our intellectual property rights which, of course, includes the bringing of legal action."<ref name=PCZone>{{cite magazine |date= April 1999|title= Mario Goes to War|url= https://archive.org/stream/PC_Zone_75_April_1999#page/n17/mode/2up/search/%22UltraHLE%22|magazine= [[PC Zone]]|access-date= January 26, 2018|via= Internet Archive}}</ref> Despite this, UltraHLE had grown beyond either its authors' or Nintendo's control. Subsequently, Epsilon and RealityMan abandoned their pseudonyms and went silent.<ref name="EmulatingMario">{{cite web|title=Emulating Mario|url=http://ign64.ign.com/articles/066/066650p1.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020223045811/http://ign64.ign.com/articles/066/066650p1.html|archive-date=2002-02-23|access-date=15 August 2012|website=IGN}}</ref>

After the source code was leaked in 2002,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.emulation64.com/freeflow-page.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020812020546/http://www.emulation64.com/freeflow-page.html |archive-date=2002-08-12 |title=UltraHLE Source Code 1.0.0 |access-date=2012-08-15 }}</ref> an [[OpenGL]] version of UltraHLE called '''UltraHLE 2064''' was released, though it garnered little acclaim, as several more powerful emulators had subsequently been released. UltraHLE 2064 was available at its official site until the site was de-registered.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ngemu.com/n64/uhle2064.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204004848/http://www.ngemu.com/n64/uhle2064.php |archive-date=2008-12-04 |title=UltraHLE 2064 |access-date=2012-08-15 }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[List of video game emulators]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*[https://www.zophar.net/n64/UltraHLE.html UltraHLE Resources on Zophar's Domain]

{{Nintendo emulators}}
{{Nintendo 64}}
{{Portal bar|Video games}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ultrahle}}
[[Category:Nintendo 64 emulators]]
[[Category:Windows emulation software]]
[[Category:Proprietary video game console emulators]]
[[Category:Discontinued emulators]]