Back on topic, I've been messing around a lot with Project64 2.1 and Mupen64Plus. The former did fix a few games previously broken in 1.6, but for the most part these gains are offset by regressions in other games, mostly due to default game settings that break games that should not be broken, especially pertaining to timing, games running too fast or too slow, etc. The ROM Database it ships with is hilariously outdated, and needs serious work to bring it up to speed to 1.6's latest unofficial RDB.
As for Mupen64Plus, it's coming along quite nicely. It largely does not suffer from Project64 2.1's timing issues, and its core is quite advanced and plays some games better and faster than Project64, but some games are broken on it, and it suffers from some audio sync issues. On the plus side (hehe), it's getting a RetroArch port soon, which will hopefully help with those sync issues thanks to its Dynamic Rate Control, as well as give it a good user interface other than command line.
One other thing I'd like to bring attention to: we're finally getting plugins that are accurate to the N64's actual video output, rather than all the HLE slop we've been putting up with for years. Glide64 is good, mind you, but it's not perfect, and it's also not pixel-accurate, especially when it comes to textures. There's one implementation called SoftGraphic that would be amazing, were it not so slow. But as I understand it, the N64's RDP is a seriously complex beast, so replicating its functions accurately takes a LOT of horsepower. Here's a picture:
Yeah, it looks kinda ugly, but that's how the real console looks like. 😎 I personally find the so-called HD look from current emulators pretty crap, anyway, since models tend to be so low in polygon count and textures are really low-res.
Hopefully the day when you can fire up an emulator, open up any N64 game, and have it work like it should without messing with plugins and settings is not too far off. SNES and PS1 are already there. It's time for the N64 to join the club.