# Sono releases TWL patcher with DS(i) Widescreen support



## MarkDarkness (Aug 12, 2019)

Interesting to see these developments at this point of the DS brand lifecycle... always good to see the scene advance.


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## Jiehfeng (Aug 12, 2019)

Go Sono! 
Also I haven't been keeping up with the 3DS scene for quite some time now. Is it now possible to play DS games installed to the menu and run at full speed, not using a flashcart? If so I might want to try this out on that.


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## Sono (Aug 12, 2019)

RattletraPM said:


> @Sono's second TWL patcher is now public



It isn't >_> This is just an intermediate debug exe I use to analyze the patched binary without having to FTP the data back and forth the 3DS. This exe is NOT supposed to be public at all, I just got fed up with the wait for a better weather and decided to release the debug exe so nobody would have to muck around with HxD scanning a 1.6Meg file MANUALLY for BIT patterns.

The second patcher will be released as soon as the weather calms down and I can do the GUI rewrite.


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## RattletraPM (Aug 12, 2019)

Sono said:


> It isn't >_> This is just an intermediate debug exe I use to analyze the patched binary without having to FTP the data back and forth the 3DS. This exe is NOT supposed to be public at all, I just got fed up with the wait for a better weather and decided to release the debug exe so nobody would have to muck around with HxD scanning a 1.6Meg file MANUALLY for BIT patterns.
> 
> The second patcher will be released as soon as the weather calms down and I can do the GUI rewrite.


Alright then, I just assumed as that's what it had been called around. Want me to edit the title to something else?


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## Sono (Aug 12, 2019)

RattletraPM said:


> Alright then, I just assumed as that's what it had been called around. Want me to edit the title to something else?



Nah, the title is accurate (sort of, the patcher also includes AGB_FIRM support for a retarded widescreen support fully stretched to 400x240). It's just that this isn't the second patcher, this is just a patch tester exe to analyze FAST if I broke a patch.

Edit: thanks for the edit! You worded the edit really great


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## x65943 (Aug 12, 2019)

Nifty, nice work Sono

Will have to try this out later


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## DinohScene (Aug 12, 2019)

Nice!

Reminds me of the widescreen hacks for PS2.


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## RattletraPM (Aug 12, 2019)

Sono said:


> Nah, the title is accurate (sort of, the patcher also includes AGB_FIRM support for a retarded widescreen support fully stretched to 400x240). It's just that this isn't the second patcher, this is just a patch tester exe to analyze FAST if I broke a patch.


Okay, I quickly edited the article to reflect that then. I hope that didn't cause any issues ^^"


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## Reynardine (Aug 12, 2019)

Oh yes, today's a good day! I haven't had the time to try it yet, but I will this evening! Can't wait to finally play ol' Mario 64 in widescreen with the 3DS analog nub!

Thank you for your hard work, Sono!


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## duwen (Aug 12, 2019)

Playing stuff in the wrong aspect ratio should be a criminal offence  lol
How long before the "vertical video" mode is implemented? 

Seriously though - impressive work, regardless of my stance on correct AR.


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## Sono (Aug 12, 2019)

duwen said:


> How long before the "vertical video" mode is implemented?



I already did that once by accident, but it's cursed. It's not possible to get a good image because the image is transferred 8 lines at a time, and the GPU can only draw tiled output.


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## Raylight (Aug 12, 2019)

will the next TWLPatcher do the widescreen patch automaticly instead of the manual work?


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## Sono (Aug 12, 2019)

Raylight said:


> will the next TWLPatcher do the widescreen patch automaticly instead of the manual work?



Well obviousy, it already can, it's just inaccessible due to no GUI associated to it. Same with CTR_Redshift, except that's the earliest patch.


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## aykay55 (Aug 12, 2019)

Am I the only one who read it as “Sonic releases...”


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## CeeDee (Aug 12, 2019)

I can't tell well enough from the screenshot, is this just stretching, or is it hacks that display it full screen without stretching it out?


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## Dartz150 (Aug 12, 2019)

@Sono you must feel so flattened haha, congratulations again!



CeeDee said:


> I can't tell well enough from the screenshot, is this just stretching, or is it hacks that display it full screen without stretching it out?



Yep, the second thing you said, but the game has to be supported, or better said, have a cheat made and enabled to modify the aspect ratio correctly, is something similar as the widescreen cheats that the PS2 has.


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## Sono (Aug 12, 2019)

CeeDee said:


> I can't tell well enough from the screenshot, is this just stretching, or is it hacks that display it full screen without stretching it out?



Sadly it's anamorphic, AND stretching because it's not possible to change the DS "GPU"'s output resolution to anything higher than 256x192 :/


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## Vague Rant (Aug 12, 2019)

duwen said:


> Playing stuff in the wrong aspect ratio should be a criminal offence  lol
> How long before the "vertical video" mode is implemented?
> 
> Seriously though - impressive work, regardless of my stance on correct AR.


I'd argue that, once the widescreen hacks for 200+ games are factored in, these aren't being played in the "wrong" aspect ratio so much as "an aspect ratio that wasn't intended by the developers". Given that we're on a community centered around hacking and homebrew, we do lots of things that aren't the way the developers intended.


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## Chopsuey (Aug 12, 2019)

finally !
I asked for that yeas ago


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## NoNAND (Aug 12, 2019)

Jiehfeng said:


> Go Sono!
> Also I haven't been keeping up with the 3DS scene for quite some time now. Is it now possible to play DS games installed to the menu and run at full speed, not using a flashcart? If so I might want to try this out on that.


Depends on the game what you're trying to run.
I can't say for forwarded games redirected to the SD but thus far flashcard forwarders have been doing great for me.
Have a look at this guide here
https://gbatemp.net/threads/nds-forwarder-cias-for-your-home-menu.426174/


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## Jiehfeng (Aug 12, 2019)

NoNAND said:


> Depends on the game what you're trying to run.
> I can't say for forwarded games redirected to the SD but thus far flashcard forwarders have been doing great for me.
> Have a look at this guide here
> https://gbatemp.net/threads/nds-forwarder-cias-for-your-home-menu.426174/



Cool, I would like SD forwarding though, I guess performance is still probably not up to par with flashcarts.


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## NoNAND (Aug 12, 2019)

Jiehfeng said:


> Cool, I would like SD forwarding though, I guess performance is still probably not up to par with flashcarts.


It's not there..quite yet but remarkably better. Leagues better than the old twloader.


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## Viorlu (Aug 12, 2019)

Hello @Sono 
I hope you don’t mind my question. But i’m a fan of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon explorers of sky (best pkm game ever) and wanted to know how i can make this game widescreen since it’s not supported in the list.


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## Vague Rant (Aug 12, 2019)

Viorlu said:


> Hello @Sono
> I hope you don’t mind my question. But i’m a fan of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon explorers of sky (best pkm game ever) and wanted to know how i can make this game widescreen since it’s not supported in the list.


I'm not Sono, but I've done a few of the widescreen cheats for the games on that list. Unfortunately, 2D games are somewhere between extremely difficult and impossible to hack to add widescreen support. They're generally designed around displaying a specific number of tiles, so the "extra" tiles for widescreen just aren't sitting in memory waiting to be displayed. For 3D games it's a different matter, because the 3D world still exists in memory even in the parts that you can't see, so we can adjust the camera to show more of the game. For 2D games, you'll basically just have to keep playing in 4:3.


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## Sono (Aug 12, 2019)

Viorlu said:


> Hello @Sono
> I hope you don’t mind my question. But i’m a fan of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon explorers of sky (best pkm game ever) and wanted to know how i can make this game widescreen since it’s not supported in the list.



I'm not a romhacker, sorry :/

Also, 2D is afaik a different display mode in the DS "GPU", so it's impossible to do anamorphic 2D


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## Zyvyn (Aug 12, 2019)

Jiehfeng said:


> Go Sono!
> Also I haven't been keeping up with the 3DS scene for quite some time now. Is it now possible to play DS games installed to the menu and run at full speed, not using a flashcart? If so I might want to try this out on that.


No that sadly will most likely never be a thing due to how the DS operates Though flashcarts are quite cheap you could get a good r4i for $20


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## Jiehfeng (Aug 12, 2019)

Zyvyn said:


> No that sadly will most likely never be a thing due to how the DS operates Though flashcarts are quite cheap you could get a good r4i for $20



Yeah I have a DSTWO so I'm fine, it's almost pointless for me but it would be really cool to do it without a flashcart and have the games on the home screen. Is this all because the flashcart has some special emulating hardware the 3DS doesn't or something?


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## Dartz150 (Aug 12, 2019)

Zyvyn said:


> No that sadly will most likely never be a thing due to how the DS operates Though flashcarts are quite cheap you could get a good r4i for $20



Wait what? I can already play NDS games at full speed through the SD, and yeah, the compatibility hasn't made to the 100% yet, but it has improved greatly and the already supported games are the most popular, not to mention that this let's you enhance some things like the sound frequency (only with the 3DS/DSi) and clock speeds.


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## Jiehfeng (Aug 12, 2019)

Dartz150 said:


> Wait what? I can already play NDS games at full speed through the SD, and yeah, the compatibility hasn't made to the 100% yet, but it has improved greatly and the already supported games are the most popular, not to mention that this let's you enhance some things like the sound frequency (only with the 3DS/DSi) and clock speeds.



Welp, differing answers here, guess I'll have to see for myself.


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## Dartz150 (Aug 12, 2019)

Jiehfeng said:


> Welp, differing answers here, guess I'll have to see for myself.



Yeah you should try it out, I'm still amazed that a concept like this that was believed to be completely impossible, is progressing as time goes and will likely reach 100% compatibility with the DS library.


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## Flame (Aug 12, 2019)

Zyvyn said:


> No that sadly will most likely never be a thing due to how the DS operates Though flashcarts are quite cheap you could get a good r4i for $20





Jiehfeng said:


> Welp, differing answers here, guess I'll have to see for myself.



check the compatibility list.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LRTkXOUXraTMjg1eedz_f7b5jiuyMv2x6e_jY_nyHSc/edit#gid=0

its always improving now and loads of games run at full speed too.

i would rather back this project then spend money on a DS flashcart these days.

now all the new ones have timebombs. which make the flashcarts stop working after a while.


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## Jiehfeng (Aug 12, 2019)

Flame said:


> check the compatibility list.
> 
> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LRTkXOUXraTMjg1eedz_f7b5jiuyMv2x6e_jY_nyHSc/edit#gid=0
> 
> ...



I like how Bee Movie is the first entry, got priorities straight.


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## Viorlu (Aug 12, 2019)

Vague Rant said:


> I'm not Sono, but I've done a few of the widescreen cheats for the games on that list. Unfortunately, 2D games are somewhere between extremely difficult and impossible to hack to add widescreen support. They're generally designed around displaying a specific number of tiles, so the "extra" tiles for widescreen just aren't sitting in memory waiting to be displayed. For 3D games it's a different matter, because the 3D world still exists in memory even in the parts that you can't see, so we can adjust the camera to show more of the game. For 2D games, you'll basically just have to keep playing in 4:3.


Aah ok thanks for the explaining!! 

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------



Sono said:


> I'm not a romhacker, sorry :/
> 
> Also, 2D is afaik a different display mode in the DS "GPU", so it's impossible to do anamorphic 2D


No problem still thanks thought!!


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## Zyvyn (Aug 12, 2019)

Flame said:


> check the compatibility list.
> 
> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LRTkXOUXraTMjg1eedz_f7b5jiuyMv2x6e_jY_nyHSc/edit#gid=0
> 
> ...


I was more saying that theres no way everything will be compatible at 100%


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## gohan123 (Aug 13, 2019)

Vague Rant said:


> I'm not Sono, but I've done a few of the widescreen cheats for the games on that list. Unfortunately, 2D games are somewhere between extremely difficult and impossible to hack to add widescreen support. They're generally designed around displaying a specific number of tiles, so the "extra" tiles for widescreen just aren't sitting in memory waiting to be displayed. For 3D games it's a different matter, because the 3D world still exists in memory even in the parts that you can't see, so we can adjust the camera to show more of the game. For 2D games, you'll basically just have to keep playing in 4:3.



did you try metroid prime hunters and both zelda touch games? zelda with widescreen and analog stick patch would a great opportunity to retry those games.

edit: I didn't realized zelda is played mostly by the bottom screen, so it's useless.


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## gothicall (Aug 13, 2019)

RattletraPM said:


> View attachment 176179​
> Shortly after @Sono released TWPatch, work started on a few other possible modifications for the 3DS's TWL_FIRM, aka the DS/DSi mode firmware. One of those in particular caught several people's attention: the widescreen patch, which allows you to play DS games in 16:10 resolution instead of the usual 4:3. Support for it was added in @Robz8's TWiLight Menu ++ since version 9.0.0, however, it couldn't be enabled properly as the new patcher wasn't out at the time. This all changed not too long ago though, as @Sono shared a preliminary TWL patcher with widescreen support for everyone to enjoy!
> 
> Unlike the first, this one comes as a standard Windows command-line application and its usage can be a little tricky for inexperienced users: you will first have to extract TWL_FIRM's exefs.bin using GodMode9, then run the program with your desired arguments and copy the output CXI to the correct location on your microSD card. Luckily, detailed step-by-step tutorials have already been posted, so don't panic! The patcher's usage and functions can be found its original post, while a guide specific to TWiLight Menu ++ has been added to its official GBAtemp thread (both linked in the sources).
> ...



I followed all steps in the Twilight menu tab, but not a single game works in widescreen.


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## raxadian (Aug 13, 2019)

Does this work on Luma 3DS?


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## Dartz150 (Aug 13, 2019)

gothicall said:


> I followed all steps in the Twilight menu tab, but not a single game works in widescreen.



Did you use the manual method or the Updater method? If you used the second, then is because that at the moment is needed to do the manual installation as there is some issue with latest TwilightMenu++ ver. to download through the updater.


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## ertaboy356b (Aug 13, 2019)

Finally, I can now play High School Musical in WIDESCREEN!!!!!

On the other hand, I don't see Super Princess Peach. I'd like to replay that game and complete it once again.


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## Foxi4 (Aug 13, 2019)

Vague Rant said:


> I'm not Sono, but I've done a few of the widescreen cheats for the games on that list. Unfortunately, 2D games are somewhere between extremely difficult and impossible to hack to add widescreen support. They're generally designed around displaying a specific number of tiles, so the "extra" tiles for widescreen just aren't sitting in memory waiting to be displayed. For 3D games it's a different matter, because the 3D world still exists in memory even in the parts that you can't see, so we can adjust the camera to show more of the game. For 2D games, you'll basically just have to keep playing in 4:3.


That's not necessarily correct depending on the engine. By default things that are considered to be off-screen or not visible by the camera are clipped in order to reduce the load, you don't have to bother rendering faces of objects that the user can't see anyway. If they are within the camera's view, they will be rendered correctly, but it's entirely a matter of the implementation of the camera AFAIK. As for tiles, they necessarily have to be stretched because the DS's tile system is hardware-based and very rigid. The tiles and the map are in memory, the tileset and tile map have to be loaded in order for the DS to display anything at all _(unless the background is streamed, I suppose)_, but the DS itself doesn't have enough "room" between the main memory and the screen that it could send them to - the layers are very specific in terms of height and width.


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## Reploid (Aug 13, 2019)

>Son*y* releases TWL patcher with DS(i) Widescreen support


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## Vague Rant (Aug 13, 2019)

@Foxi4 Yeah, I was speaking in general terms, obviously 3D games cull objects outside of the area that's expected to be on-screen, but 4:3-->16:10 is only a 20% jump, so we don't encounter much of an issue there. For our purposes, culling isn't a major concern.


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## Foxi4 (Aug 13, 2019)

Vague Rant said:


> @Foxi4 Yeah, I was speaking in general terms, obviously 3D games cull objects outside of the area that's expected to be on-screen, but 4:3-->16:10 is only a 20% jump, so we don't encounter much of an issue there. For our purposes, culling isn't a major concern.


Oh, I was merely posting an addendum to what you've said, I don't think anyone would be particularly bothered by very minor glitching at the edges of the screen in select few games if what you get in return is proper widescreen support.


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## Alex4nder001 (Aug 13, 2019)

That’s fucking amazing, I’ll definitely try it today! Although I must ask, would this work if I played games from a flashcart? In particular I have an r4i gold 3DS RTS. Shows up as qmaterial on 3DS home screen.

I wonder what comes next... maybe DS(i) games at native resolution (or even better, DSi enhanced ROMs). I seriously hope that happens soon, the 3DS hacking scene amazes me even today.


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## Vague Rant (Aug 13, 2019)

@Alex4nder001 Replacing TwlBg with a widescreen patched one will affect how everything that runs in DS mode looks--retail cards, flash cards, DSiWare, DSi homebrew, etc. So it will stretch your DS mode stuff out to 384*240, but if you want to actually run games in widescreen (rather than stretched 4:3), you'll have to put in a bit more work. Using an app like R4CCE (R4 Cheat Code Editor) you'll need to add the widescreen cheats from the link in the first post to your usrcheat.dat file on the R4, then enable them in the flash card's menu.


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## Sono (Aug 13, 2019)

ertaboy356b said:


> Finally, I can now play High School Musical in WIDESCREEN!!!!!
> 
> On the other hand, I don't see Super Princess Peach. I'd like to replay that game and complete it once again.



Only 3D data can be squished, 2D squishing is almost impossible due to the DS "GPU"'s limited support of 2D transition.


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## Deleted-481927 (Aug 13, 2019)

Jiehfeng said:


> Go Sono!
> Also I haven't been keeping up with the 3DS scene for quite some time now. Is it now possible to play DS games installed to the menu and run at full speed, not using a flashcart? If so I might want to try this out on that.


YUP

most games at least


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## Lazyt (Aug 13, 2019)

Incredible! I might buy 3ds again just for this


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## Alex4nder001 (Aug 13, 2019)

I've tried it, works pretty well but when I hold START/SELECT the screen gets really derped and a lot of the screen is missing.


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## Sono (Aug 13, 2019)

Alex4nder001 said:


> I've tried it, works pretty well but when I hold START/SELECT the screen gets really derped and a lot of the screen is missing.
> View attachment 176325



lol, VSYnc fail... I have no idea what causes it


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## JimPlayz912 (Aug 14, 2019)

Whoa, my favourite games, now in widescreen?
I'm in for a good time!


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## DarthDub (Aug 14, 2019)

Sono back at it again!


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## MRJPGames (Aug 14, 2019)

Cool!


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## xXPVTSnowBallXx (Aug 16, 2019)

Any way to get forwarder cias to run in fullscreen?


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## Dartz150 (Aug 16, 2019)

xXPVTSnowBallXx said:


> Any way to get forwarder cias to run in fullscreen?



You would need to put the resulting file in \luma\sysmodules, but it will stretch every game, making the games without the widescreen cheat support look stretched only.


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## YuseiFD (Aug 31, 2019)

Yeah this feature doesn't work at all, pokémon platinum is still stretched, even with cheat code on, and stock backup from my cartridge, upfated to latest version even, well it was a great idea anyways, keep up the good work buddy


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## AvocadoToast (Sep 27, 2020)

Hi so recently I was setting up widescreen, and the setup guide on github is different now with the gui, and basically twilight menu and all my ds games are gltiched and I dont know how to fix them. Please help. Now TWL .cxi file appeared in the folders either. Im using the new super mario black n3ds.


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