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Disclaimer: Yes, I have written a very similar tutorial to this one in the past. However, many changes have been made since then, and a complete rewrite is necessary to document them all without errors. Also, this is not a beginner project! If you do not have experience using boards such as the Arduino or Teensy, as well as the Windows command line, this may not be for you. A lot of debugging and troubleshooting will likely be necessary. With that in mind, let's get started!
5 years later update: This does work with Splatoon 3! It requires some minor changes though. Continue to "Programming your board" for details.
There's also a new RP2040 based project that seems to work much more reliably with Splatoon 3 that can be found here. Build instructions are in the README - I unfortunately don't have time to keep updating this guide. Big thanks to everyone still posting replies and keeping things up to date after all these years!
For those of you who may not know what this is all about, this is what I'm talking about:
This allows you to use any atmega32u4 or at90usb1286 board (as well as the Arduino Uno R3) to draw Splatoon 2 posts automatically. You can take images off the internat and convert them for use, or you can draw your own material on the PC itself and convert it to be drawn on the Switch automatically.
You'll need:
- One of the following:
- An atmega32u4 board such as the Teensy 2.0 or Arduono Lenardo
- An at90usb1286 board such as the Teensy 2.0++
- An Arduino Uno R3
- LightningStalker's Splatmeme Printer repo
- LUFA (Lightweight USB Framework for AVRs)
- Gimp
- MinGW for Windows
- Python 2.7
- A USB C to USB A adapter to plug the Teensy into the Switch while in handheld mode (using the dock's ports can cause issues)
Here are a few boards to choose from. All the following should work:
Setting up the repository for use
First off, you'll want to acually get the stuff up and running. Here's how you do that.
Converting your image
Here we'll actually convert the image to a format you can use with the printer. This is where Gimp comes in.
Programming your board
This part actually varies between boards. Select the one based on which board you have.
Splatoon 3 players:
atmega32u4:
at90usb1286:
Arduino Uno R3:
Troubleshooting / Common Issues
Edit: Please excuse the formatting with the code windows, I expected them to be inline text and not separate boxes haha
5 years later update: This does work with Splatoon 3! It requires some minor changes though. Continue to "Programming your board" for details.
There's also a new RP2040 based project that seems to work much more reliably with Splatoon 3 that can be found here. Build instructions are in the README - I unfortunately don't have time to keep updating this guide. Big thanks to everyone still posting replies and keeping things up to date after all these years!
For those of you who may not know what this is all about, this is what I'm talking about:
This allows you to use any atmega32u4 or at90usb1286 board (as well as the Arduino Uno R3) to draw Splatoon 2 posts automatically. You can take images off the internat and convert them for use, or you can draw your own material on the PC itself and convert it to be drawn on the Switch automatically.
You'll need:
- One of the following:
- An atmega32u4 board such as the Teensy 2.0 or Arduono Lenardo
- An at90usb1286 board such as the Teensy 2.0++
- An Arduino Uno R3
- LightningStalker's Splatmeme Printer repo
- LUFA (Lightweight USB Framework for AVRs)
- Gimp
- MinGW for Windows
- Python 2.7
- A USB C to USB A adapter to plug the Teensy into the Switch while in handheld mode (using the dock's ports can cause issues)
Here are a few boards to choose from. All the following should work:
Remember, you're not limited to just the boards you find on here. Any board you find out in the wild that uses an atmega32u4, at90usb1286, or atmega16u2 should work. These are just some that I found that are on the cheaper side, but should work just fine.
Canada:
Xcsource Teensy 2.0++ from Amazon (I'm using this one currently)
Sodial Teensy 2.0 from Amazon
Xcsource Pro Micro from Amazon
no-name Pro Micro from AliExpress
Beetle atmega32u4 mini dev board from AliExpress
USA: (I'm in Canada and don't usually order from US-based sites so I apologize for inaccuracies)
HiLetgo Pro Micro from Amazon
OSOYOO Pro Micro from Amazon
TENSTAR ROBOT Pro Micro from AliExpress
Beetle atmega32u4 mini dev board from AliExpress
Canada:
Xcsource Teensy 2.0++ from Amazon (I'm using this one currently)
Sodial Teensy 2.0 from Amazon
Xcsource Pro Micro from Amazon
no-name Pro Micro from AliExpress
Beetle atmega32u4 mini dev board from AliExpress
USA: (I'm in Canada and don't usually order from US-based sites so I apologize for inaccuracies)
HiLetgo Pro Micro from Amazon
OSOYOO Pro Micro from Amazon
TENSTAR ROBOT Pro Micro from AliExpress
Beetle atmega32u4 mini dev board from AliExpress
Setting up the repository for use
First off, you'll want to acually get the stuff up and running. Here's how you do that.
- Make a directory where you'll store everything. Something simple is fine, but I have mine in
Code:
C:\SwitchFightstick
- Open up the Splatmeme Printer .zip and go into the splatmeme-printer-master folder. Select everything inside that and extract it to the directory you made in step 1.
- Open up the LUFA zip and rename the "lufa-LUFA-170418" folder to "LUFA", then extract it to the directory you made in step 1.
- Install Python 2.7, then go to the directory it was installed to (should be C:\Python27) and find python.exe. Rename it to python2.exe and copy it to the directory you made in step 1.
- Install MinGW, and if it asks for packes to install alongside it, select the "basic" package (name may very, but it's something like that).
- Open up the Start menu on Windows and search for "path"; one of the results should be "Edit the system environment variables". Select that.
- At the bottom, press the "Environment variables" button.
- Under "System variables" (the bottom window), find "Path" and click Edit.
- Press "New" and add MinGW's bin directory, which should be
Code:
C:\MinGW\bin
Converting your image
Here we'll actually convert the image to a format you can use with the printer. This is where Gimp comes in.
- Open up Gimp and press Ctrl+N to make a new canvas. Make it 320 pixels wide and 120 pixels tall.
- Paste your image onto the canvas and use the resize and move tools to make it fit, or draw something entirely of your own if you like. As long as it fits on the canvas.
- Go to the "Image" menu on the top bar, hit "Mode" and select "Indexed"
- On the window that pops up, make sure you select "Use black and white (1-bit) palette" and set dithering to normal. Don't change anything else. If it doesn't look good, hit undo and mess with the contrast and stuff until it looks the way you want it.
- Once the image is as you want it, hit File > Export as... and navigate to the folder you made at the beginning of this guide.
- Set the image format as "Raw image data (.data)" and name it "image.data" (really, you can name it whatever you want as long as it ends in .data)
- Open up a command line and navigate to the directory you saved it to (should be the same as the one you made at the beginning of this guide)
- Run the command
Code:
python2 bin2c.py image.data
Code:image.data
Code:image.c
Programming your board
This part actually varies between boards. Select the one based on which board you have.
Splatoon 3 players:
- Open joystick.c in your favourite text editor.
- Look for the line that says
Code:
ReportData->Button |= SWITCH_MINUS;
Code:SWITCH_MINUS
Code:SWITCH_LCLICK
- If you have issues with printing, open the makefile in your favourite text editor and try removing
Code:
-DZIG_ZAG_PRINTING
atmega32u4:
You'll need:
- Arduino IDE
Steps:
- Arduino IDE
Steps:
- In the directory you made, find the file simply called "makefile" and open it up in your favorite text editor.
- Find the line that says
Code:
at90usb1286
Code:atmega32u4
- Open up the Arduino IDE after plugging in your board and go to File > Preferences and select
Code:
Show verbose output during: upload
- Upload any sketch; doesn't matter which. You'll need part of the output shown in the command line for the next step.
- Find the line with the
Code:
avrdude
- Replace the parts of the command that point to the directory and files and stuff with the directory you made as well as "Joystick.hex" as the target.
- Make sure the
Code:
-P/dev/xx
- Quickly double tap the reset button on the board and press enter on the command line. Might take a couple tries to get the right timing, but it'll work.
at90usb1286:
You'll need:
- The Teensy Loader program
- The Teensy Loader program
- Unzip teensy_loader_cli.exe into the repo directory.
- Open a command line and navigate to the repo directory.
- You should already have the image.c file you made in the last portion of this guide. Run the command
Code:
make
- Run the command
Code:
teensy_loader_cli -mmcu=at90usb1286 -w Joystick.hex
Arduino Uno R3:
You'll need:
- Set the Arduino to DFU mode (note that to get the original Arduino functionality back, you'll need to re-flash the original firmware)
- Set the Arduino to DFU mode (note that to get the original Arduino functionality back, you'll need to re-flash the original firmware)
- Open up the makefile in your favorite text editor and replace
Code:
at90usb1286
Code:atmega16u2
- Open up a command line and navigate to the folder, then run the command
Code:
make
- Follow these instructions to flash the .hex file to the Uno while it's in DFU mode
Troubleshooting / Common Issues
Image is inverted:
- Go back into the image in GIMP: Colors > Map > Rearrange Colormap
- (drag/drop) swap positions of black & white.
- export, build, make, transfer, print!
Edit: Please excuse the formatting with the code windows, I expected them to be inline text and not separate boxes haha
Last edited by dj505,