Super Mario 64 16-Player Co-Op Mod Adds HD Textures and Ray Tracing

Image: IGDB

A fan-made Mario 64 upgrade has stopped making players choose

The latest breakthrough around the unofficial Super Mario 64 PC port is simple, but substantial: the 16-player co-op mod, the Render96 HD Texture Pack, and a ray tracing mod can now be used together. DSOGaming reports that Super Mario 64 Co-Op Deluxe now supports ray tracing, while egamers.io frames the news as the first time the port’s three headline mods have been compatible at once.

That matters because these projects previously pulled the 1996 platformer in different directions. One modernized the lighting. One rebuilt the game’s look around higher-definition assets. One turned Nintendo’s solitary castle adventure into an online multiplayer playground. The new appeal is that players no longer have to pick between visual overhaul and multiplayer chaos, provided they are willing to deal with the unofficial PC-port setup that makes it possible.

This is not a Nintendo release, and none of the source material presents it as one. The underlying PC version is described by DSOGaming, ScreenRant, and egamers.io as an unofficial port that arrived in May 2020. Wikipedia describes Super Mario 64 Co-Op Deluxe, also known as sm64coopdx, as a source-available mod for the fan-made Super Mario 64 PC port, built on reverse-engineering work by the community. The result sits in that familiar fan-project tension: technically impressive, widely shareable in concept, but separate from Nintendo’s official catalog and storefronts.

What the combined project actually adds

The combined setup has three pieces, each with a different job. According to DSOGaming, the ray tracing mod adds real-time ray tracing to Super Mario 64 on PC. That is a dramatic technological mismatch by design, since the Nintendo 64 original could not have supported anything close to modern ray-traced lighting.

Render96 is the more craft-driven visual piece. DSOGaming says the Render96 HD Texture Pack attempts to match Super Mario 64’s late-1990s promotional artwork, with its team recreating models and assets using images from the Nintendo 64 era. Egamers.io similarly describes the pack as chasing the look of the game’s original promotional material rather than a generic modern polish. For a game whose chunky in-game models often lived next to much smoother marketing art, that goal gives the Super Mario 64 HD texture pack a clearer identity than a simple resolution bump.

The third piece is Super Mario 64 Co-Op Deluxe. DSOGaming says the mod syncs every level and every object so multiple players can play together smoothly, with support for up to 16 players at once. Wikipedia adds that the mod restructures the original game to support online cooperative play through the campaign and includes playable characters with unique abilities, modern features, and extensive customization options. DSOGaming also notes a growing Lua modding system, which gives players and modders room to build easier or more creative variations on top of the co-op framework.

Sixteen players changes the shape of Peach’s Castle

Super Mario 64 was designed around one player reading a 3D space, learning a jump arc, and solving each star’s small physical problem. A Super Mario 64 16 player co-op setup bends that rhythm. The castle stops being a quiet hub and becomes a staging area, while levels that once revolved around one person’s timing suddenly have to account for several players moving through the same geometry, touching the same objects, and chasing objectives at the same time.

The crucial technical claim from the reports is synchronization. Egamers.io says the co-op mod keeps every level and every object in sync for as many as 16 players. DSOGaming uses similar language, saying Super Mario 64 Co-Op Deluxe syncs levels and objects so multiple people can play together smoothly. In practical platformer terms, that is the difference between a novelty connection and a campaign that can survive several players interacting with moving platforms, caps, enemies, stars, and level triggers.

The design consequence is messier and more interesting than a simple difficulty drop. Yes, extra players can make some goals easier by spreading out or recovering from mistakes as a group. But Mario 64’s movement is already expressive and collision-heavy, and a 16-player lobby introduces performance, visibility, and coordination questions that the original designers never had to solve. The sources do not provide netcode benchmarks, latency data, or recommended player counts, so the safest expectation is that this is a community multiplayer experiment first and a preservation-grade replacement second.

Render96’s HD look is nostalgia with a specific target

The visual side works because Render96 is not trying to erase the game’s identity. Both DSOGaming and egamers.io say the HD texture work aims toward Super Mario 64’s original promotional artwork. That is a sharp choice for a game remembered through two lenses: the actual Nintendo 64 polygons players controlled, and the glossy Mario art that sold the fantasy of 3D before home hardware could fully render it.

That also gives the ray tracing support a stranger, flashier role. The ray tracing mod supplies modern lighting technology, while Render96 supplies a period-aware character and asset direction. Used together, the sources describe a version of Super Mario 64 that looks cleaner and more elaborate while still pointing back to the late-90s material that surrounded the original launch.

There is an obvious artistic risk here. Ray tracing can make old geometry feel newly theatrical, but it can also call attention to spaces built for a very different renderer. The reports provided do not include side-by-side technical analysis or performance testing, so readers should treat the footage and screenshots circulating around the project as showcases rather than guaranteed results for every PC. DSOGaming’s setup notes include RT64 as the graphics backend and mention DLSS configuration, which suggests the experience is aimed at players comfortable with PC graphics settings rather than a one-click console-style remaster.

Setup is free in reporting, but it is not official or frictionless

Egamers.io and Headtopics describe the combined fan setup as free to recreate. That should not be confused with official availability. Wikipedia’s legal-status section says sm64coopdx exists in a legal gray area because it is a mod for a reverse-engineered PC port. It also says the PC port’s source code does not contain Nintendo’s original copyrighted assets, and that users must legally obtain a ROM image of the original Super Mario 64 and use it to compile the game themselves. Wikipedia adds that the sm64coopdx developers do not distribute the ROM or compiled versions containing Nintendo assets.

DSOGaming’s practical notes point players toward separate downloads for a ray tracing version of Super Mario 64 Co-Op Deluxe, a ray tracing version of Render96, and the latest Render96 Texture Pack. The outlet also says users need to be logged into GitHub to download one of the listed files. To enable ray tracing, DSOGaming says players must choose RT64 as the graphics backend under Options and Display, restart the game, then use F2 to configure ray tracing and DLSS through the View Params Inspector.

That makes this a project for tinkerers. It is closer to assembling a modded PC build than downloading an official remaster. The sources do not confirm a packaged installer, console support, Nintendo Switch release, store listing, paid version, or official support channel. If you are searching for a Mario 64 co-op mod that works like a commercial release, the available reporting does not support that expectation.

Nintendo has not announced this, and readers should treat it accordingly

The official Super Mario 64 history in the source material is straightforward. The game launched as a Nintendo 64 platformer in 1996, was the first Super Mario title with 3D graphics, and later received a Nintendo DS remake in 2004. ScreenRant and Headtopics describe it as critically acclaimed, praised for its level design, ambition, visuals, and gameplay, and the best-selling Nintendo 64 game of all time. The provided sources do not identify a modern Nintendo remake or remaster of Super Mario 64.

They also do not include a Nintendo statement about Super Mario 64 Co-Op Deluxe, Render96, the ray tracing build, or the newly compatible combined setup. That absence is important. The project is described throughout the sources as unofficial, fan-made, and based on the community PC port. Wikipedia’s legal-gray-area language is the clearest signal readers have from the provided material about risk and legitimacy.

So the practical guidance is cautious: do not treat this as an endorsed Nintendo product, do not expect it to remain available in the same form forever, and do not assume every video you see reflects a simple consumer path. As a fan effort, the Super Mario 64 multiplayer mod is a remarkable act of platformer obsession. As a way to play, it requires comfort with unofficial tools, legal responsibility around original game files, and the understanding that Nintendo’s official stance has not been provided in the available reporting.

A classic platformer becomes a community workshop

The most interesting part of this compatibility milestone is how neatly the three mods divide the work of reimagining Super Mario 64. Co-Op Deluxe changes the social structure by opening the campaign to up to 16 players. Render96 changes the surface by chasing the cleaner look of Nintendo 64-era promotional material. Ray tracing changes the lighting language with a modern PC rendering feature. Together, they turn Mario’s first 3D adventure into a living workshop for people who know the original well enough to want it bent in several directions at once.

For platformer fans, that is the hook and the warning. A 16-player castle run will not preserve the careful loneliness of learning Bob-omb Battlefield for the first time. It will create pileups, shortcuts, shared discoveries, and probably some nonsense. The HD texture work and ray tracing can make familiar spaces feel newly staged, but they also move the game away from the exact limitations that shaped it.

If you want an official, stable, modern Super Mario 64 product, this is not that. If you are comfortable with PC modding and the legal boundaries described by the project’s public documentation, the new compatibility between Super Mario 64 Co-Op Deluxe, Render96 HD Texture Pack, and ray tracing is one of the most ambitious community revisions the game has received in years.