Homebrew Ripping the NES Virtual Console palette

[SuperrSonic]

EDIT: Thanks to user Daxtsu for getting the gecko captures, I was able to finish the palette. I'll soon start adding the palette as an option to all the Wii emus.


I've been wanting to do this for a while for collection reasons.

It took me three different palette homebrews to get the colors showing, Loopy's Paltest and one simply called Colors would not work right with VC, must be due to the incomplete emulation. Then I tried Quietust's Color Bars and that one finally worked.


The palette:

Spoiler

0x494949, 0x00006a, 0x090063, 0x290059,
0x42004a, 0x490000, 0x420000, 0x291100,
0x182700, 0x003010, 0x003000, 0x002910,
0x012043, 0x000000, 0x000000, 0x000000,
0x747174, 0x003084, 0x3101ac, 0x4b0194,
0x64007b, 0x6b0039, 0x6b2101, 0x5a2f00,
0x424900, 0x185901, 0x105901, 0x015932,
0x01495a, 0x101010, 0x000000, 0x000000,
0xadadad, 0x4a71b6, 0x6458d5, 0x8450e6,
0xa451ad, 0xad4984, 0xb5624a, 0x947132,
0x7b722a, 0x5a8601, 0x388e31, 0x318e5a,
0x398e8d, 0x383838, 0x000000, 0x000000,
0xb6b6b6, 0x8c9db5, 0x8d8eae, 0x9c8ebc,
0xa687bc, 0xad8d9d, 0xae968c, 0x9c8f7c,
0x9c9e72, 0x94a67c, 0x84a77b, 0x7c9d84,
0x73968d, 0xdedede, 0x000000, 0x000000

Screenshots:

Spoiler

3DS VC palette (without dark enabled):

Spoiler

0x737373, 0x21188c, 0x0000ad, 0x42009c,
0x8c0073, 0xad0010, 0xa50000, 0x7b0800,
0x422900, 0x004200, 0x005200, 0x003910,
0x18395a, 0x000000, 0x000000, 0x000000,
0xbdbdbd, 0x0073ef, 0x2139ef, 0x8400f7,
0xbd00bd, 0xe7005a, 0xde2900, 0xce4a08,
0x8c7300, 0x009400, 0x00ad00, 0x009439,
0x00848c, 0x101010, 0x000000, 0x000000,
0xffffff, 0x39bdff, 0x5a94ff, 0xa58cff,
0xf77bff, 0xff73b5, 0xff7363, 0xff9c39,
0xf7bd39, 0x84d610, 0x4ade4a, 0x5aff9c,
0x00efde, 0x393939, 0x000000, 0x000000,
0xffffff, 0xade7ff, 0xc6d6ff, 0xd6ceff,
0xffc6ff, 0xffc6de, 0xffbdb5, 0xffdead,
0xffe7a5, 0xe7ffa5, 0xadf7bd, 0xb5ffce,
0x9cfff7, 0x8c8c8c, 0x000000, 0x000000

Screenshots:

Spoiler

Restored Wii palette screenshots

Spoiler

For FCE Ultra GX - Has FIX94's libwupc implementation.(Outdated)
Wii
GC

Updated RetroArch(based on 1.0.0.2)+cores(based on latest source):
/NOTE: fceu and nestopia have both palettes under core options.
The 'restored-wii' option removes 30% black from every color.

In .pal format
Animal Crossing version
Restored Wii version
Wii version
3DS version without dark enabled

 

[Friedslick6]

Ah, good! I received your note on COLOURlovers.
I also initially wanted to copy the colours from the Virtual Console NES emulator.
I went through roughly the same process that you did, only my USBGecko has a broken USB port that needs re-soldering, and I don't own a capture device.
I believe I also used Quietust's Color Bars to capture the GBA-NES palette, haha.

USBGecko's capture ability works for anything that can be paused with the Home button, I think.

I assume you made sure to disable any colour filtering in your television's settings before the capture?

 

[SuperrSonic]

I assume you made sure to disable any colour filtering in your television's settings before the capture?

I plugged the composite cable directly into the capture card, so there was no TV involved in the process.

Either way the poor composite signal made each bar use a bunch of versions of each color, the difference might be minimal but it would still be great to have the precise exact colors. Thanks for the input.

 

[driverdis]

I plugged the composite cable directly into the capture card, so there was no TV involved in the process.

Either way the poor composite signal made each bar use a bunch of versions of each color, the difference might be minimal but it would still be great to have the precise exact colors. Thanks for the input.

there is a reason NTSC is known as "Never Twice the Same Color"
I would try component and see how that works. component will be better than composite, but I am not sure how big of a difference it will make.

 

[SuperrSonic]

there is a reason NTSC is known as "Never Twice the Same Color"
I would try component and see how that works. component will be better than composite, but I am not sure how big of a difference it will make.

Color-wise I wouldn't know how much of a difference it would make but I don't have a component capture card so I can't test.

 

[zerofalcon]

Maybe you can test with this branch that fixes NES wad files with dolphin.

http://code.google.com/p/dolphin-emu/issues/detail?id=4103#c48

Past year I was trying to do the same.. I made a palette for Nestopia but not exactly as the Nintendo VC.

 

[SuperrSonic]

Maybe you can test with this branch that fixes NES wad files with dolphin.

I actually did search for that issue and it is fixed in the latest builds, the tool does run but the colors specifically didn't show, only the text with the number of each color. A usb gecko seems like the only solution; output cables give too many inconsistencies.

 

[SuperrSonic]

*Updated the op with the proper palette. Thanks again [user]daxtsu[/user]!

 

[zerofalcon]

*Updated the op with the proper palette. Thanks again [user]daxtsu[/user]!

Great! can you share the screen captures? thanks in advance

 

[SuperrSonic]

Great! can you share the screen captures? thanks in advance

No sure why you'd want them, all the colors are already in the op. link

 

[Chaos Rush]

Thank God, I've been waiting for something like this. Most people that say the VC colors are "too dark" don't realize that Nintendo made it like that because that's what it actually looked like when playing on a real NES, and Nintendo is big on making sure games play exactly like the originals.

 

[Lumstar]

Thank God, I've been waiting for something like this. Most people that say the VC colors are "too dark" don't realize that Nintendo made it like that because that's what it actually looked like when playing on a real NES, and Nintendo is big on making sure games play exactly like the originals.

At least on a TV you have real brightness control. GBA ambassador games look lifeless at times.

 

[Hakaisha]

Thanks for this, SuperrSonic.

I've been using it this past week on FCEUGX, and being a longtime user of the original NES; I can say this is the most accurate NES color palette I've ever used.

 

[Galivan]

This palette is awesome, with the most accurate emulation of the real NES hardware EVER.

But the retroarch core it's wrong. Don't load savestates and the FDS roms doesn't seems to work, no matter when you place the disksys.rom in the system directory. The FCE Ultra GX it's perfect. But i prefer use Retroarch for NES and SNES emulation because of the trap filter option. With trap filter, the colors are more accurated in a CRT TV using 240p resolutions.

Please, can you fix this problem in the Retroarch core?

 

[zerofalcon]

You can use Nestopia for FDS roms. I managed to add the Nintendo Virtual Console NES palette in the nestopia retroarch core, but some roms (Felix The Cat and maybe other games) starts only with a white screen. It's not an official build, it's a mod, but if you want it send me a PM.

 

[Galivan]

Thanks, Zerofalcon. I'm interested in the Nestopia core, i send you my email in a PM.

 

[soniccomcisbr]

Any chance to add this pallete to the cover modversion?

 

[soniccomcisbr]

@zerofalcon I sent a P.M. to you. I need the Nestopia core mod, please :3

 

[iwasaperson]

Have you verified this in Dolphin? Theoretically, if Dolphin emulates VC well enough, you would get a perfect picture.

 

[soniccomcisbr]

EDIT: Thanks to user Daxtsu for getting the gecko captures, I was able to finish the palette. I'll soon start adding the palette as an option to all the Wii emus.


I've been wanting to do this for a while for collection reasons.

It took me three different palette homebrews to get the colors showing, Loopy's Paltest and one simply called Colors would not work right with VC, must be due to the incomplete emulation. Then I tried Quietust's Color Bars and that one finally worked.


The palette:

Spoiler

0x494949, 0x00006a, 0x090063, 0x290059,
0x42004a, 0x490000, 0x420000, 0x291100,
0x182700, 0x003010, 0x003000, 0x002910,
0x012043, 0x000000, 0x000000, 0x000000,
0x747174, 0x003084, 0x3101ac, 0x4b0194,
0x64007b, 0x6b0039, 0x6b2101, 0x5a2f00,
0x424900, 0x185901, 0x105901, 0x015932,
0x01495a, 0x101010, 0x000000, 0x000000,
0xadadad, 0x4a71b6, 0x6458d5, 0x8450e6,
0xa451ad, 0xad4984, 0xb5624a, 0x947132,
0x7b722a, 0x5a8601, 0x388e31, 0x318e5a,
0x398e8d, 0x383838, 0x000000, 0x000000,
0xb6b6b6, 0x8c9db5, 0x8d8eae, 0x9c8ebc,
0xa687bc, 0xad8d9d, 0xae968c, 0x9c8f7c,
0x9c9e72, 0x94a67c, 0x84a77b, 0x7c9d84,
0x73968d, 0xdedede, 0x000000, 0x000000

Screenshots:

Spoiler

For FCE Ultra GX - Has FIX94's libwupc implementation.
Wii
GC

For RetroArch - The RA version is 1.0.0.2
fceumm - This core is getting it officially, for the next release.
I'm not adding it to QuickNES or NEStopia.

In .pal format: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9qk2cs5fer1jsk5/Wii_VC.pal?dl=0

@Zopenko