User:Wildgoosespeeder/sandbox

This is a guide to get the best possible screenshots for all consoles and handhelds by supplying a basic technical overview of each device. Using emulators, hardware modifications, or HDMI capture provide the sharpest screenshots possible, but it takes some know-how to achieve that level of quality.


 * Things to keep in mind when supplying MarioWiki with images
 * These recommendations apply to screenshots, sprites , and 3D renders of released games and their contents. This doesn't necessarily apply to games that were never released or developer-released screenshots during the game's development cycle.
 * Use PNG. Don't use JPEG or GIF as they represent the content with varying degrees of inaccuracy, such as lossy compression or color loss, unless otherwise stated. Don't covert between these formats. Just resample the image. If you see an image that is unusually high in file size (formerly File:Thwomp Wario's Woods.png), then it is encouraged to upload a clean version of the image.
 * General rule of thumb to tell what requires the PNG format: If you can access a particular object the MarioWiki article is referencing in the game through normal gameplay or through hacking the game data, PNG is required. Otherwise the format the image was released in should stay in its current format (unless BMP or similar formats, then convert to PNG).
 * PNG Monster PNG Monstrous or ExplodePNG are recommended to be applied to the PNGs to reduce file size, but it is optional.
 * Be mindful of emulator glitches, such as missing shadows, glitch renderings, missing effects, etc.. Generally, the older the console, the more accurate the emulator. Use the recommended emulators in this guide. Use their latest versions, not just stable builds.
 * Some older games were rereleased on newer hardware under the label of Virtual Console. It is preferred to take screenshots for the original release.
 * An exception to this rule would be to compare releases if there are changes. Be sure to note that uploads of this kind are Virtual Console.
 * An exception to this exception is hacking the changes into the original release, such as Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 and unreleased e-Reader levels and features.
 * The Nintendo 3DS has a feature that can force original resolution to the games instead of stretching them to fit the screen.
 * Do not use post-processing effects. This includes applying filters after a clean screenshot was taken or using a filter as the game is running in the emulator (against policy anyways).
 * If you are going to take a screenshot of a YouTube video (or equivalent media), save in PNG format (unless it's for a Wii U game so use JPEG instead to make it easier to replace because reasons in its own section) and tag the image immediately with so a more appropriately captured screenshot can be uploaded at a future date. Encoders that were used to create the video or the encoder used to make those videos compatible with YouTube's players use lossy compression and the artifacts will be preserved of the screen capture when saved to the PNG format or intensified if saved in JPEG.

If screenshots don't comply with these standards, tag images with. The screenshots present in this guide are some of the best screenshots MarioWiki have produced.

Why Use Emulators?
Emulators have these benefits:
 * The hassle of getting older consoles to work is gone. The most notorious example of hardware failure is the Nintendo Entertainment System 1985 model.
 * Earlier game cartridges, such as those for Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy and Game Boy Color, use what is known as a to store game data. Many of the stock batteries are now discharged and no longer save properly. The only way to fix this is to do some  and maybe buying special batteries from retro gaming stores. Sometimes you can use . Emulators "battery power" is indefinite.
 * The real hardware will eventually die. Emulation will preserve the past as much as possible so that way it can be enjoyed by future generations.
 * Emulators aren't prone to degradation of image quality. By default, they ignore the process of converting their internal renders into analog output, such as or . However, some emulators try to simulate this degradation to try to keep the experience "authentic".

Legalities
Nintendo is highly against emulation, despite their Virtual Console service being just that. Nintendo has spread fears and misconceptions about emulation. This is a very dated policy. Here's the state of emulation: With that in mind, is not responsible for any actions editors take to emulate their games and will not provide any sources where to find ROMs and ISOs. This section is nothing more than just explaining legalities of emulation.
 * Emulators are legal because it is protected under . No emulator has been ruled illegal in a court of law.
 * Making copies of software you own is legal because US copyright law allows for making personal backups, known as ROM and ISO dumps, regardless of any safeguards in place.
 * Distributing and downloading ROMs/ISOs from unlicensed Nintendo sources are illegal. This is true piracy, but this method is used to make back-ups easier and is the common justification for owning the digital versions of the physical media, if the user has the physical copy.

Consoles
Each console and handheld section has at least one resolution specification. This is the expected output before edits to the screenshots are performed, such as cropping to zoom in on the subject or to follow image use policy.

NES/Famicom/Famicom Disk System/SNES/Satellaview
256 × 224 (NTSC) or 256 × 240 (PAL)
 * FCEUX for NES/Famicom/Famicom Disk System
 * Mesen if FCEUX fails to emulate a game properly.
 * puNES if FCEUX fails to emulate a game properly.
 * Nestopia UE if FCEUX fails to emulate a game properly.
 * Snes9x for SNES/Satellaview
 * BSNES 073/0.73 if Snes9x fails to emulate a game properly. Great for emulating Super Game Boy. It is recommended to not use Higan because it uses unconventional emulation practices and risks being too confusing to setup. You can use BSNES-classic, an unofficial build which branches off starting from BSNES 0.73 to incorporate the latest accuracy fixes in the latest Higan builds.

FCEUX has inaccurate code emulating the color of NTSC NES, Famicom, and Famicom Disk System games correctly. It is recommended you use the correct palette. Go here for the download and instructions how to use it.

Despite being the most popular SNES emulator, it should be worth noting that you shouldn't use ZSNES in most cases because screenshots end up having a solid black line 256 × 1 at the very bottom, reducing the visible resolution to 256 × 223. The emulator is plagued with accuracy problems, which might make screenshots look wrong (like File:Slime Climb.png with the water). The emulator is years out-of-date (v1.51 was released January 24, 2007) compared to Snes9x, which is leaps and bounds more accurate and had its last update in late 2016. Snes9x is second to BSNES.

NES/SNES Further Reading

 * NES on Emulation General
 * SNES on Emulation General

N64/64DD
320 × 237 (more common)

640 × 474 (less common)
 * Project64 - Press  to take a screenshot.
 * Graphics (ranked from best to worst)
 * angrylion's RDP graphics plug-in (recommended plug-in to use, most accurate, automatic resolution adjustment, fewest glitches, and screenshots are in the BMP file format, which is best as PNG instead)
 * set to DP frame buffer,  set to checked, and   set to unchecked.
 * You might notice slight dithering artifacts with screenshots, especially during 3D rendering. This is normal. Real hardware did this too. Sometimes this doesn't happen at all.
 * GLideN64 graphics plug-in (only recommended if angrylion fails, can be glitchy, can set to automatic resolution adjustment, more accurate with some games, screenshots tend to be 320 × 240 or 640 × 480 in the BMP file format, newer)
 * set to N64-style 3 point,  set to checked, and   set to Original N64 resolution.
 * This plugin is great for dumping textures and sprites.
 * Glide64 graphics plug-in (only recommended if angrylion or GLideN64 fails, slightly more glitchy than the previous, manual resolution adjustment, less accurate with some games, screenshots tend to be 320 × 240 with the option for PNG, older)
 * See guide below for settings
 * RSP
 * HatCat's RSP Interpreter
 * Primary
 * RSP Plugin 1.7.0.13
 * Try switching RSP plug-ins before switching graphics plug-ins if glitches occur.
 * Mupen64Plus (untested but noteworthy)
 * GUI recommended


 * These games behave quite oddly under the angrylion plug-in :
 * Mario Tennis: The output is often 306 × 222 in the menus or 386 × 222 in-game (check file histories), leaving most or all of the black surrounding border cropped out automatically. Is this a glitch of the angrylion plug-in or does real hardware do this as well?
 * Donkey Kong 64 - N64 logo before DK Rap displays as 640 × 237. Then it displays normally after that.
 * Mario Artist: Communication Kit - Title screen displays as 640 × 237. Then it displays normally after that.

Glide64 settings to more closely match real N64 hardware internal resolution
It is common to take poor N64 screenshots in an emulator. There are ways to fix that.

N64 Further Reading

 * N64 on Emulation General

GCN/Wii
Fullscreen is 4:3 and widescreen is 16:9.
 * Dolphin
 * GCN
 * Minimum 640 × 480 fullscreen.
 * Super Mario Strikers can support widescreen natively. Screenshots can then be 854 × 480 minimum.
 * The game controls the aspect ratio during rendering.
 * Wii
 * Minimum 854 × 480 widescreen (recommended) or 640 × 480 fullscreen (not recommended but acceptable).
 * The console controls the aspect ratio and the game takes this setting into consideration during rendering.

GCN and Wii games have varying internal resolutions, which is quite strange considering expected screenshot resolution outputs of other sections in this guide are fairly consistent. For example, Super Mario Sunshine is suspected to have an internal resolution of 596 × 448. It gets even more complicated with Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door as another example because, for some reason, it is suspected to have an internal resolution of 608 × 480, but real hardware enlarges the width to be approximately 640px (keeping it to scale) and crops that to fit a 640 × 480 screen. Taking good quality screenshots in Dolphin just further complicates this issue. This is due to amateur programming that has yet to be fixed been improved since 5.0-1374 by having the option to turn on full resolution frame dumps in the advanced tab in the graphical settings but still isn't satisfactory because the images are still slightly too big and slightly blurry so it is best to keep this feature turned off. Until that is fully resolved, it is often better and easier to take screenshots above 1× native. If you are displaying a 1× native image in full screen mode, such as a monitor that can display up to 1920 × 1080p, make sure that you adjust graphical settings. Otherwise blurriness due to stretching occurs. Just set the Internal Resolution of the graphical settings to Auto (Window Size). Then enter full screen mode (alt + enter). This internal resolution mode makes it easy to apply transparency to 3D objects, such as this image.

Title Screens and Cutscenes
DON'T use above 1× native for certain title screens and cutscenes because it displays a static image or pre-render video instead of live 3D models. It just pixelates the image or makes encoder artifacts more apparent. For cutscenes, it is better to try to extract these videos from the game itself than to use an emulator. If that is not possible, use 1× native and scale the emulator window appropriately in these cases. Here's examples of these cases below:

Sample Images
Dolphin may not produce exactly 4:3 or 16:9 images, such as outputs of 1,208 × 900 or 1,600 × 876 if you are using 2.5× native going fullscreen on a 1600 × 900 monitor. This is perfectly normal. Not all GameCube and Wii games utilize the entire 640 × 480 or 854 × 480 frame on real hardware. DON'T force stretching to fit the entire display. Keep the fullscreen resolution and aspect ratio settings to auto.

When running the game, you may need to adjust the aspect ratio graphics setting in the emulator so that way images are stretched properly, or else distortion occurs. DON'T use the widescreen hack. DON'T edit the screenshot to accommodate the aspect ratio. Below are examples of properly stretched screenshots when set in a certain aspect ratio mode.

Alternative Screen Capture
You could use software rendering instead of OpenGL/Direct3D/Vulkan, but it is recommended that you save state first before switching to it because it is EXTREMELY SLOW! Testing it reveals that it may be producing pixel accurate screenshots. Any games with a widescreen capability will not be rendered roughly to 16:9 but rather stay roughly at 4:3 because widescreen is faked on real hardware. You could use these dimensions to fiddle around with the emulator window for some trial and error on the other backends, because no direct way to set the resolution exists, but make sure that you follow the instructions about getting screenshots higher than 1x native, minus going full screen, but also enabling aspect ratio settings to stretch to window. Using games covered by MarioWiki, these are known resolutions:

GCN/Wii Further Reading

 * GCN on Emulation General
 * Wii on Emulation General

Wii U
An emulator exists, but it is highly alpha and isn't nearly accurate enough to be considered good for screenshot taking. It is better to use an HDMI capture device for the Wii U console and hardmod a Wii U GamePad.


 * TV
 * 1280 × 720 or 1920 × 1080
 * GamePad
 * 854 × 480

This solution is not very favorable for most people and no homebrew exists like it does for the 3DS so it will probably be easier to use the following methods instead.

Wii U Direct Upload
If you use the built-in web browser for the Wii U, you can upload screenshots directly to MarioWiki! Images are limited to 1280 × 720 for TV and 854 × 480 for the GamePad, but in the JPEG format. This feature is only allowed if the Wii U or software permits it.

Miiverse
Screenshots uploaded to Miiverse and then uploaded to MarioWiki are acceptable but are limited to JPEG and a considerable amount of detail is lost because the image is 800 × 450.

Wii U Image Share
Some games may not have dedicated Miiverse pages. The Wii U Image Share may be the only way to get images uploaded to MarioWiki:
 * Wii U Image Share

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U has an Album mode that can store 1920 × 1080 JPEGs, but only if you have a compatible SD card inserted into the Wii U. Don't use the edit tools provided by the game.

Press Images
Nintendo Press uploads BMPs of the games they are promoting. Convert the BMPs to PNG.

Wii U Further Reading

 * Wii U on Emulation General

Nintendo Switch
No details at this time but expect specs to be similar or better to the Wii U.

Nintendo Switch Further Reading

 * Nintendo Switch on Emulation General

Virtual Boy
384 × 224 Make sure the coloring is set to redscale, splitting mode</tt> is set to side by side</tt>, and side by side separation</tt> is set to 0 pixels</tt>. Screenshot taking default key is F12</tt>.
 * VBjin SVN103

Virtual Boy Further Reading

 * Virtual Boy on Emulation General

GB/GBC
160 × 144
 * BGB
 * Gambette if BGB fails to emulate a game properly.

BGB uses right-clicking to bring up menus. Under the Graphics tab, SGB colors and GBC LCD colors should be disabled or else wrong colors are displayed. In the GB Colors tab, the scheme should be greys high contrast. In the System tab, you can do interesting things:

However, it is recommended to take "normal" screenshots in most cases.

GB/GBC Further Reading

 * GB/GBC on Emulation General

GBA
240 × 160 NO$GBA needs to have GBA Mode/Colors</tt> set to NDS-Lite in GBA mode (poppy)</tt> for correct GBA colors or else the screenshot will be dull-looking.
 * mGBA (great for getting screenshots for games in Game Link Cable multi pak mode)
 * NO$GBA (great for getting screenshots for games in Game Link Cable single pak mode)
 * VisualBoyAdvance 1.8.0-beta3 if mGBA fails to emulate a game properly.
 * VBA-M if mGBA fails to emulate a game properly.

GBA Further Reading

 * GBA on Emulation General

DS/DSi
256 × 192 Each screen
 * DeSmuME
 * Medusa (maker of mGBA) is an upcoming DS emulator. Don't use yet.
 * melonDS is an upcoming DS emulator. Don't use yet.
 * NO$GBA is not recommended but noteworthy for emulating the DS and DSi firmware.

In order for DeSmuME to emulate the graphics correctly, the 3D Settings need to be set to SoftRasterizer. Else some effects could be missing or wrong.

NO$GBA has many issues and is not recommended for DS. The only advantage that NO$GBA has is DSi emulation. Here's some issues:
 * Missing fog effects (such as Tick Tock Clock roaming around or Dire Dire Docks when the camera is underwater).
 * Shadows are incorrect.
 * Other effects are missing in NO$GBA, such as the transition effect when Yoshi puts on Mario's Cap to fake being Mario.

DS/DSi Further Reading

 * DS on Emulation General
 * DSi on Emulation General

3DS

 * 400 × 240 Top screen
 * 320 × 240 Bottom screen

Emulators exist, but they are highly alpha and aren't nearly accurate enough to be considered good for screenshot taking. It is better to use The Homebrew Launcher on a 3DS and some of its screenshot tools. Notice how the homebrew overrides the system's ability to suspend system software running as the button now takes a raw screenshot instead. Be sure to have the 3D slider turned off.


 * Tools used (included in the starter pack) :
 * HANS - Loads games from Homebrew Launcher. Holding +  +  +  goes back to Homebrew Launcher while running a game.
 * Screenshot tool - Converts raw screenshots to PNG.
 * Super ftpd II Turbo - This saves yourself time needing to turn off the 3DS to eject the SD card safely. This turns your 3DS into a temporary FTP server for as long as the app is running. Pay attention to the IP and port number (should be in light blue text on the top screen, separated by a colon). Use your favorite FTP client to download/upload files to your 3DS, such as FileZilla.

Some games crash when attempted to be loaded through HANS. This is caused by using certain exploits. If you can, try to have as many working exploits as possible. List of games that could be problematic:


 * Yoshi's New Island
 * New Super Mario Bros. 2
 * Mario Kart 7
 * Paper Mario: Sticker Star
 * Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (likely)
 * Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

Some games boot fine in HANS but don't load DLC or patches:


 * Mario Kart 7 (see update history)
 * Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (see update history)
 * Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

11.4.0-37
 * Latest version (as of April 13, 2017)

Keep in mind that Nintendo releases patches for the 3DS firmware/games and methods to run homebrew will sometimes be circumvented. At this time, it is recommended to stay on 11.3.0-36 or below to retain or obtain full control of your 3DS. If and when exploits have been made compatible with newer firmwares, you may need to update them with a payload compatible with the firmware you are using before updating to newer firmwares. See documentation of each exploit you use. Homebrew developers are always trying to find new ways for people running the latest 3DS firmware to start using homebrew. There are two kinds of exploits:


 * Primary - These will work on systems that have not been exploited before. No prerequisites necessary. Just setup the homebrew launcher on your SD card and execute the exploit. The exploit soundhax falls under this category.
 * Secondary - These will work like primary entry points but the difference is that you need a primary entry point to set these kind of exploits up. The exploits stickerhax and steelhax fall under this category. It is possible to boot these on an unexploited system if the exploit was setup on a different 3DS.

Miiverse
Screenshots uploaded to Miiverse and then uploaded to MarioWiki are acceptable but are limited to JPEG. Unlike the Wii U's Miiverse pages, no shrinking occurs.

Home Menu
For screenshots related to the Home Menu, hold and press  for the top screen or press  for the bottom screen. The screenshot is then stored on your SD card. These screenshots are limited to JPEG.

3DS Image Share
Some games may not have dedicated Miiverse pages, such as Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (Nintendo 3DS) (a search for "Mario & Sonic" doesn't turn up the London entry to the series). The 3DS Image Share may be the only way to get images uploaded to MarioWiki:
 * 3DS Image Share

Press Images
Nintendo Press uploads BMPs of the games they are promoting. Convert the BMPs to PNG.

3DS Further Reading

 * 3DS on Emulation General

CD-i
384 × 280
 * MESSUI

The screenshot feature of MESS stretches the native resolution of the CD-i slightly vertically and adds the LCD information of the console above the captured image to produce a 384 × 310 image. It is better to take a picture of the window and crop it instead for the time being. First thing to do is make sure MESS isn't in fullscreen mode. Then set the video mode to 48:35. Then shrink the window until the emulator window doesn't want to shrink any more. Then use your preferred method to take a screenshot of the window or screen, such as Windows Snipping Tool. Then crop the picture to the native resolution (FastStone Image Viewer works well). The end result should be like the sample images in this section.

CD-i Further Reading

 * CD-i on Emulation General

MS-DOS
320 × 200

320 × 240

640 × 480
 * DOSBox

Use DOSBox for maximum accuracy because Windows has accuracy issues running DOS programs. Press CTRL+F5 to take a screenshot. Check with DOSBox documentation where the screenshot was saved.

MS-DOS Further Reading

 * MS-DOS on Emulation General

Saves, Cheating, and Passwords
Emulation is all fine and good but there is a catch to this method. You would need to play the game again to obtain these high quality images. That's time-consuming, especially for RPGs such as the Paper Mario (series). This explains why it is more appealing to upload a YouTube video screenshot than an emulator screenshot. Fortunately enough, there are resources to aid in getting a better quality screenshot by supplying saves that unlock everything:


 * Zophar's Domain - This site hosts "native saves" for NES, SNES, N64, GB, GBC, and GBA. These are the same thing as saving on the cartridge itself and its method for saving, such as battery back-up or flash memory chip. Check your emulator's documentation how to properly set up this kind of feature, where to store the file download, and how to name the downloaded file. This may take some experimentation for the game to read save files.
 * Furthermore, Project64 has even more N64 saves that sometimes Zophar's Domain lacks.
 * GBAtemp has saves for use with JK Save Manager. It is a 3DS homebrew app for backing up and restoring saves of 3DS game packs (unsure if there is support for download versions of those game packs). Soon, a dedicated website will host them.
 * GameFAQs - This site hosts "backup saves" for GCN, Wii, GBA, and DS games. These saves are not "native saves" as these need the import dialog of the emulator to convert them into native saves.
 * GameFAQs hosts Wii Power Saves by Datel. It needs sq-dps to convert them to be used on regular Wiis or Dolphin emulator.
 * Dolphin emulator specifically:
 * GameCube real memory card saves require GCMM for import/export so they can be imported into the emulator. It bypasses any copy or move protection.
 * The Wii specifically can copy saves stored on its internal NAND to an SD card and then be imported into the emulator.
 * Some Wii saves cannot be copied to the SD card, such as Mario Kart Wii and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. These need SaveGame Manager GX to copy them. These extracted saves are not the same as the saves that the Wii puts on SD cards. This requires right-clicking the game in the Dolphin list and selecting Open Wii save folder.
 * Both VisualBoyAdvance and VBA-M have issues with GBA gamepak saves only, especially with importing saves, although VBA-M has better detection. It tries to detect the correct type but is often incorrect. It is recommended you download a file called vba-over.ini and put it in the same directory as the emulator executable. This acts as a manual override to the auto-detection. It doesn't include all games though. Mario vs. Donkey Kong, for example, needs to be added to the file and then it will work properly. A game like Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, the import won't take effect. The right configuration for that game has not been found yet.
 * DeSmuME has a weird issue where you need to use the import dialog twice for the import to take effect.
 * GameFAQs also hosts passwords (such as for the game Tetris Attack).
 * TAS Videos - This site is great for downloading special movie files that an emulator can understand that contain input sequences if you don't feel like playing the game yourself. Could be useful in a few cases.
 * Use these acceptable formats for playback to obtain screenshots. Don't use these unacceptable formats for playback. The rule of thumb here is if it requires an emulator to read the file data, you can use that format. If it can be played back in a standard media player, don't use that format.
 * Game Genie - For cheating devices under the Game Genie brand. Generally great for "Start in World X" codes (such as Super Mario Bros.).
 * BSFree - For cheating devices under the GameShark brand. Generally great for games with pre-release and unused content.
 * The Cutting Room Floor for more cheats related to accessing otherwise unobtainable game content.
 * Action Replay - For cheating devices under the Action Replay brand.