emulator: Parallel Launcher
type: standalone
core_classification: launcher
source: "https://gitlab.com/parallel-launcher/parallel-launcher"
upstream: "https://gitlab.com/parallel-launcher/parallel-n64"
profiled_date: "2026-08-08"
source_commit: "8dc2a83770c57bc00e1b1fae0aed71f2120cc875"
upstream_commit: "11574ac28d27faaaef4b5bc3c1ca50fb2ed98b83"
core_version: "9.0.5"
display_name: "Nintendo - Nintendo 64 (Parallel Launcher)"
cores:
  - parallel-launcher
  - ca.parallel_launcher.ParallelLauncher
systems:
  - nintendo-64
  - nintendo-64dd

notes: |
  Qt front end that installs and drives its own RetroArch and its own fork of
  ParaLLEl N64. RetroArch is fetched from buildbot.libretro.com as a stable
  release archive (src/updaters/retroarch-updater.cpp:24-30). The core,
  parallel_n64_next_libretro, is fetched from parallel-launcher.ca
  (src/core/updates.cpp:190-213) into retro-data/cores. Core version at this profiling
  is 2.28.

  Neither lands in a user RetroArch install. The system directory the core
  reads from is retro-data/system under the launcher's own data directory,
  written into a private retroarch.cfg on every launch (src/core/retroarch.cpp:100-129).
  RetroArch is spawned as `-L <core> --config <cfg> <rom>`
  (src/core/retroarch.cpp:760-781). The launcher also rewrites the core's .info into
  retro-data/info at every startup (src/main.cpp:149-156), which is how RetroArch
  learns of the 64DD firmware entry.

  Content is restricted to cartridge formats at every entry point: command line
  and file associations take .z64 .n64 .v64 .bps (src/main.cpp:65-94), the add-ROM
  dialog the same (src/ui/main-window.cpp:607-616), the library scanner *.[nvz]64
  (src/core/rom-finder.cpp:271-278), romhacking.com downloads .z64 (src/rhdc/core/sync.cpp:238). A .bps
  is patched to a cartridge ROM before launch (src/ui/play.cpp:721-757). No --subsystem
  argument is passed either, so neither route into the core's disk path opens:
  the header check at libretro/libretro.c:545-548 and the cart-and-disk subsystem at
  libretro/libretro.c:104-114.

  Graphics plugin is chosen per ROM among ParaLLEl-RDP, Glide64, angrylion,
  GLideN64, Rice, glN64 and OGRE (src/core/settings.hpp:13-22, src/core/retroarch.cpp:55-64).

  Selecting glN64 also reads gles2n64.conf from the system directory root at
  plugin init, and writes it out with defaults when it is absent
  (gles2n64/src/glN64Config.c:246-254, Config_WriteConfig at gles2n64/src/glN64Config.c:95).

  Three paths the fork computes but never reads. GLideN64 builds without
  FreeType here, so the font file name it resolves for on-screen text is
  assigned and dropped (mupen64plus-video-gliden64/src/TextDrawer.cpp:145-188). Its per-game ini is compiled in
  as a header and the external copy is skipped because the launcher writes INI
  Behaviour as disabled on every launch (src/core/retroarch.cpp:468,
  mupen64plus-video-gliden64/src/mupenplus/Config_mupenplus.cpp:170-241, libretro/libretro.c:2030-2040). Rice's ini reader and
  writer sit behind #if 0 (gles2rice/src/RiceConfig.cpp:453-463, gles2rice/src/Video.cpp:327-333).

files:
  - name: "64DD_IPL.bin"
    system: nintendo-64dd
    required: false
    description: "64DD IPL ROM"
    note: "Read from the system directory root when disk content is loaded, with no size or hash check. The core drops into its dead-emulator loop when it is absent. Content counts as disk when its header carries a 64DD magic word, or when it arrives on the second slot of the cart-and-disk subsystem."
    source_ref: "libretro/libretro.c:622-666"

  - name: "gles2n64rom.conf"
    system: nintendo-64
    required: false
    description: "glN64 per-ROM settings database"
    note: "Read at plugin init when the glN64 graphics plugin is selected, keyed on the name in the ROM header. Global settings stand when absent."
    source_ref: "gles2n64/src/glN64Config.c:185-228"