Help talk:Contents/Taking Screenshots

Screenshot Homebrew

Cap64 (a homebrew software for taking screenshots)
http://hcs64.com/files/cap64.zip --Hiccup (talk) 11:43, 17 February 2014 (EST)

Doubling height of screenshots

Why does TCRF require height doubling of wide images (such as resizing a 512x240 screenshot to 512x480)?

We prefer images be as close to 4:3 as possible, using only integral scaling factors (as resampling to exactly 4:3 usually adds unwanted blurring). 512x240 is just ridiculously squashed, and this would have been doubled to 480px by a TV anyway. --BMF54123 (talk) 17:52, 24 March 2014 (EDT)

Thank you! Ncovert (talk) 16:40, 25 March 2014 (EDT)

About PSX Screenshots

pSX might not work for some games, due to its compatibility. Is it fine if I take a PS1 screenshot in ePSXe, and if so, Which video plugin do I use? — The preceding unsigned comment was added by The Magnifying Glass (talk • contribs)

NES colors in screenshots

It's been noted to me that MESS actually calculates the correct NES colors in real time rather than applying more or less accurate palettes, so... shouldn't it be the emulator of choice when taking screenshots?--ICEknight (talk) 20:15, 13 June 2014 (EDT)

The palette file we provide is based on Nestopia's NTSC simulation, which--although not 100% perfect--is a pretty good representation of the NES's output, and I'd rather not require everyone to switch to a single emulator that is kind of a pain to use compared to most others.

Also, I'm not sure what you mean by "real time" here; the range of colors the NES can generate is fixed (54 base colors + the various combinations of deemphasis bits), so using a pre-generated palette file should be as accurate as doing it in "real-time". Care to elaborate? --BMF54123 (talk) 21:10, 13 June 2014 (EDT)

I really can't remember the specific details, but some related posts have just been made that mention how "the NES colors in MESS when you enable HLSL's NTSC filtering are as perfect as science can prove"... So I guess that would always be an improvement. =|

Then again, I guess somebody could just capture each color from MESS and make a "perfect palette" out of it. --ICEknight (talk) 00:50, 14 June 2014 (EDT)

These pictures show what the HLSL filtering adds. In times like these, just trust BMF on this and leave it as that. -Einstein95 (talk) 03:05, 14 June 2014 (EDT)

Yeah, uh, we're not going to base our NES colors on the simulated output of a 1954 CRT. Nestopia is close enough. --BMF54123 (talk) 04:13, 14 June 2014 (EDT)

Questions

• Is 664x500 an acceptable resolution for WiiWare games? Or should I fiddle with the Dolphin settings to get something else out? The game is the US version of Dr. Mario Online Rx.
• Shouldn't the DeSmuME bullet point be changed to say "* DeSmuME: OpenGL is more accurate in most cases."?

--Hiccup (talk) 15:55, 10 December 2014 (EST)

3DS/Wii U shots using Miiverse screenshot functionality

As is well known, 3DS and Wii U games that have Miiverse communities can upload screenshots, that can then be viewed on a web browser and saved here. Would these be acceptable for this site?

Possible problems:

1) The images are .jpegs.

2) 3DS shots only include 1 screen at a time, but I'm sure I could just piece the two together manually.

2) Wii U shots seem locked at 800x400, the Gamepad resolution. Are those still acceptable or are HD shots required? WhoIAm (talk) 19:55, 4 August 2015 (EDT)

All of that sounds unacceptable, however, IF there's no other way to capture a screenshot from 3DS/WiiU, and you really want to show off some unused content, then I guess using the official means (even if it sucks) would be accepted until a suitable replacement appears. As for the JPG format, just convert it to PNG. When it comes to modern games with true color, the visual quality between a high quality JPG and a PNG is negligible. But, it's best to just avoid using those images when possible. ReyVGM (talk) 00:01, 17 August 2015 (EDT)

At least for the 3DS, there's two(?) more ways to take screenshots. For one, there's a video capture mod for the original 3DS which is, however, currently sold out, costs over 200 USD and requires you to send in your 3DS for installation. The second possibility is using some exploits and homebrew to take screenshots that get saved to the SD card, but that has certain hardware and software requirements, i.e. an exploitable firmware version (ex. 9.2), and a way to install and boot NTR CFW, which provides the screenshot functionality. I'm running the exploit/homebrew way on my system; works fairly well and I've taken ex. the Etrian Odyssey 4 title screenshot that way (technical stuff: original Euro 3DS on 9.2, ReiNAND via Ninjhax to boot into 9.9 EmuNAND, then run NTR CFW 3.0 from Home menu). --Xdaniel (talk) 08:35, 17 August 2015 (EDT)

If Youhax and Ironhax can do the same things Ninjhax did, wouldn't that mean you wouldn't need a specific firmware? --AquaBat (talk) 11:48, 17 August 2015 (EDT)

At least one important kernel exploit (memchunkhax?) has been fixed post-9.2, which is needed to get as much access to the system as needed by ex. NTR CFW. Ninjhax and co. alone only give basic userland access, i.e. enough for most homebrew and region-free, but not enough to patch the system menu or anything like that. For that, another exploit needs to be run after running Ninjhax, which in turn performs things like patching signature checks, redirecting NAND access to the SD card (EmuNAND), or starting threads that will allow you to take screenshots while in-game. I'm not too well versed in the exact inner workings of these exploits tho, so I'm not sure about which exploit gives which level of access to the system, etc., but I am quite sure that Ninjhax - and in turn Ironhax and Tubehax - alone are comparatively limited and probably won't allow for ex. screenshots. --Xdaniel (talk) 13:07, 17 August 2015 (EDT)

iOS screenshots

Am I missing something here? All of the screenshots I take are saved as jpgs. --AquaBat (talk) 22:31, 16 August 2015 (EDT)

Which model do you have? If you really want to, there is this Photo Investigator thingy.--From: divingkataetheweirdo (talk) 23:09, 16 August 2015 (EDT)

Hmm, that app does say the screenshots I take are PNGs. I'll have to recheck the files from my computer to make sure I'm not crazy, but I know that uploading directly from the phone somehow identifies it as a jpg. Why it's doing that, I'm not sure, but if that's the case, we should probably make sure that's noted on the page. (iPhone 5S, by the way.) --AquaBat (talk) 02:17, 17 August 2015 (EDT)

I'm not sure if this is related at all, but I had some issues uploading certain PNG's from iOS earlier. Turns out they were using a different format or something. This program will convert them to a PC-friendly format. WhoIAm (talk) 03:20, 17 August 2015 (EDT)

---

Would https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20160607-00/?p=93605 be viable for video? - Andlabs (talk) 21:41, 9 June 2016 (EDT)

PCSX2 Screenshots

When taking screenshots with PCSX2, it seems to be universally more accurate to use software rendering compared to hardware rendering. It's relatively easy to switch between the two by pressing F9. I figured I'd ask if there are any significant exceptions to this before adding it to the page. --Grandta13 (talk) 19:43, 17 October 2017 (EDT)

Project 64 2.3.2 screenshots

Now that Pj64 is updated, how could I take perfect screenshots using the new versions? The method described in this page gives me errors and bad looking images.--Ltlynx (talk) 05:26, 12 January 2018 (EST)

I've just downloaded the new version and created a vanilla portable installation and installed the plugins as described in the page and am having no new issues. I do get the Failed to read config. error, but I got that with old versions as well, and I just press Enter and ignore it. Are you running a vanilla installation, or did you install over the old version/import your configs to the new version? --Grandta13 (talk) 21:25, 12 January 2018 (EST)

I have reinstalled it as portable and now it runs well on 2.3.2. Thanks!--Ltlynx (talk) 15:24, 14 January 2018 (EST)

Wii U screenshots

I tested, and it's possible to upload the JPG screenshots directly to the wiki from the Wii U web browser using the method listed on this page. Works better than Google Drive or Dropbox, too, as the Wii U seems to hate JavaScript. Here's an example
SirYodaJedi (talk) 11:13, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

About taking screenshots in PCSX-R (Windows)

So I'm thinking of uploading some title screens from PS1 games, but I don't know if PCSX-R would have the correct resolution for the screenshot, I know it supports screenshots, but it's not the quality that meets TCRF standards. Since I don't have any other emulators this wiki mentions, I don't know if PCSX-R is reccomended either, I even compare the quality of an existing image from this site too. --TCRFJNPoop (talk) 21:52, 17 January 2022 (BST)

Its probably worth looking into DuckStation, as that's a quite accurate emulator and you can make it output in internal resolution without filters. But I guess the correct graphics settings should be documented on the page first. --Hiccup (talk) 12:30, 19 January 2022 (UTC)

Palatte for monochrome Game Boy games

"Decide best color ratio for monochrome Game Boy games. Tentative one is 0/128/192/255."

I was trying to take some GB screenshots in BGB and came here for guidance and only saw this line. Was a consensus ever reached on this? CleanRoom (talk) 03:59, 13 March 2022 (UTC)

Doubt it could be any time soon, and it's been a good while since that edit. It's outta there. Andrew Rae (talk) 20:29, 11 June 2022 (UTC)

Dolphin's Enable Dual Core (speedup) option not there!

I have the latest development version of Dolphin, but where on earth is the "Enable Dual Core (speedup)" option in General, the other needed options are there for me but not Enable Dual Core (speedup) and I must disable this option in order to have proper TCRF quality screenshots. When I tried to take a screenshot of Mario Party 4's Japanese title screen then compared it to the English screenshot, the quality looks different (and obviously quality is never different per region for the most part). Is the option just gone now in the latest version or does it have a different name I don't know?, need help here. TCRFJNPoop (talk) 00:42, 26 July 2022 (BST)

Dolphin Screenshots Update

I think that GameCube/Wii section needs to be updated. On a different Wiki, I have made a considerable amount of image contributions. I have been battling this issue with how Dolphin takes screenshots at native resolution. Starting with a recent update (5.0-21364) takes screenshots more favorably that I think The Cutting Room Floor should consider for future contributions. --Wildgoosespeeder (talk) 16:12, 25 May 2024 (UTC)

Recommended settings to use for Dolphin screenshot taking:

Setting	Value	Tab
Graphics (requires at least version 5.0-21364)
Internal Resolution	1x native	Enhancements
Force 24-Bit Color	unchecked	Enhancements
Resolution Type	Raw Internal Resolution	Advanced

Win9x Emulator for PC Section

Win9x-based games is an older platform compared to Windows NT-based games. I have had issues getting those games running on new hardware, like The Incredible Machine 3 or LEGO Creator. I think it could make life a lot easier to recommend an emulator, such as PCem for those old PC environments, without requiring using real hardware. Only thing it can't passthrough are those old serial ports. Virtualization software, such as VirtualBox has been hit or miss from my experiences. Same rules apply as if the emulator is a real PC. --Wildgoosespeeder (talk) 04:12, 27 November 2024 (UTC)