Homebrew Cover Collections for Emulators With Cover Support

mastershoes · Mar 3, 2015

So... I am working on a big update/full revamp of the Atari 2600 set, and would like some input.

First, I typically use "No-intro" format romsets to name the covers, and for the Atari 2600, there is not an existing "No-Intro" set. There are a few "goodsets" and another called the "harmony" set that I have come across in my travels.

Currently I have Good2600 v1.00, Good2600 v3.14, and the harmony set, and the current set is named to 3.14 i believe, and typically look something like this.

Air-Sea Battle (1977) (Atari)

However, there are a lot of inconsistencies between the goodsets naming... here is one example.

from 1.00 - Saboteur (Atari) (Prototype)
from 3.14 - Saboteur (Sept 02) (1983) (Atari) (Prototype)

What I would LIKE to go with, is simply the format of GAMENAME (COMPANY NAME) and eliminate the dates/years from the equation, as i've also noticed a lot of inconsistencies with the years between sets. Lemme know your thoughts!

Second, what cover style format is preferred by most? Would you guys be more inclined to use the matching TCP template style covers, or do you prefer the retail even though the box designs can vary quite a bit? Think about it and lemme know!

ModdingBird · Mar 4, 2015

the matching TCP for sure.

mightymuffy · Mar 4, 2015

Personally I'd say go for the GAMENAME (COMPANY NAME) like you say, some of that 3.14 looks horrific to name more than anything else

But I'm gonna disagree with ModdingBird on the style format, retail for me (says the man that followed the TCP format with the Amiga covers hehe!) ...Is the format in question the grey coloured template though? I'd have no problems with that, in fact if only me or moddingbird do reply then go with his, or whatever's easiest/best for you really

....

Edit: New Super Bomberman 4 & 5 covers done, kind of embarrassed with the last ones so had to do something..... colours are the same as the ones found on the actual SFC boxes .....hilariously I've noticed I used a section of the back cover of Bomberman 4 on Bomberman 5 instead on my old ones!! What was I thinking (and let's not even talk about that back cover on my old Bomberman 4 in the first place *hangs head in shame* )

Edit2: Got a Brucie Bonus while I'm on the Bomberman theme, big fan of the arcade game so had to do this SFC port... Panic Bomber (World):

There's still another SFC Bomberman after this, B-Daman, which I'm looking at doing, but as the box for that is horizontal, and breaking it up looks problematic anyway.... and if I remember I tried it once and thought it was shite anyway

. MAY do it just for completion sake though....

Haiksan · Mar 4, 2015

mightymuffy said:
Personally I'd say go for the GAMENAME (COMPANY NAME) like you say, some of that 3.14 looks horrific to name more than anything else

But I'm gonna disagree with ModdingBird on the style format, retail for me (says the man that followed the TCP format with the Amiga covers hehe!) ...Is the format in question the grey coloured template though? I'd have no problems with that, in fact if only me or moddingbird do reply then go with his, or whatever's easiest/best for you really

....

Edit: New Super Bomberman 4 & 5 covers done, kind of embarrassed with that last ones so had to do something..... colours the same as the ones found on the actual SFC boxes .....hilariously I've noticed I used a section of the back cover of Bomberman 4 on Bomberman 5 instead on my old ones!! What was I thinking (and let's not even talk about that back cover on my old Bomberman 4 in the first place *hangs head in shame* )

View attachment 16534 View attachment 16541

Thank you so much! You are the best

Vans1 · Mar 4, 2015

Hello all,

Maybe a stupid question but...

Wiiflow asks boxcovers and flat covers.
How do i know what boxcovers are and what flat covers?

Drak0rex · Mar 5, 2015

mastershoes said:
So... I am working on a big update/full revamp of the Atari 2600 set, and would like some input.

First, I typically use "No-intro" format romsets to name the covers, and for the Atari 2600, there is not an existing "No-Intro" set. There are a few "goodsets" and another called the "harmony" set that I have come across in my travels.

Currently I have Good2600 v1.00, Good2600 v3.14, and the harmony set, and the current set is named to 3.14 i believe, and typically look something like this.

Air-Sea Battle (1977) (Atari)

However, there are a lot of inconsistencies between the goodsets naming... here is one example.

from 1.00 - Saboteur (Atari) (Prototype)
from 3.14 - Saboteur (Sept 02) (1983) (Atari) (Prototype)

What I would LIKE to go with, is simply the format of GAMENAME (COMPANY NAME) and eliminate the dates/years from the equation, as i've also noticed a lot of inconsistencies with the years between sets. Lemme know your thoughts!

Second, what cover style format is preferred by most? Would you guys be more inclined to use the matching TCP template style covers, or do you prefer the retail even though the box designs can vary quite a bit? Think about it and lemme know!

Personally, I'm torn between the two. On one hand, matching covers do look nice, and having never seen the original boxart, I would lean towards that. On the other hand, it's kind of nice to know what the original covers looked like back in the day, and know that what's being shown is just like the authentic covers. This goes for TG16, ATARI, AND PS1covers. It's also why I'm against the vertical SNES and N64 covers, as well as the 'gameboyetization' of the PS1 covers. It kinda takes some of the nostalgia out of it.

So in short, umm, I dunno.

crimental · Mar 5, 2015

hi, here covers of openbor:

download here:
https://mega.co.nz/#fm/I8tTGQ5Z

Vans1 · Mar 5, 2015

Are these covers boxcovers or flat covers?

Can someone show me the difference so i don't mess them up in my maps?

crimental · Mar 5, 2015

Vans1 said:
Are these covers boxcovers or flat covers?

Can someone show me the difference so i don't mess them up in my maps?

boxcovers:

flattcovers:

Update openbor:

openbor covers:
https://mega.co.nz/#fm/BwtV2CzZ

others covers (Amiga, gameboy/color, gamecube, gamegear, nintendo64, psx, turbografx, virtualboy, wii:
https://mega.co.nz/#fm/I8tTGQ5Z

ModdingBird · Mar 7, 2015

crimental said:
boxcovers:

flattcovers:

Update openbor:

openbor covers:
https://mega.co.nz/#fm/BwtV2CzZ

others covers (Amiga, gameboy/color, gamecube, gamegear, nintendo64, psx, turbografx, virtualboy, wii:
https://mega.co.nz/#fm/I8tTGQ5Z

did you make these ?

Dogway · Mar 7, 2015

Hello, great work mastershoes, one question, has there been or there will be 3DO and super famicom sets as well? I see a lot of talk about SFC but no links.

mightymuffy · Mar 7, 2015

Dogway said:
Hello, great work mastershoes, one question, has there been or there will be 3DO and super famicom sets as well? I see a lot of talk about SFC but no links.

I'm really surprised about the SFC talk actually, they're my creation, and I've had lots of good feedback too... mastershoes won't add them as I made them only with shrunken spines....
LINK - Includes my PAL creations too**, but not the recent ones I've done further up (Panic Bomber, Mickey 3, Bomberman 4 & 5 remakes)
Anyway, I'm making more, and as many members seem to be adding them into a SFC only section too I'm even gonna do a few choice SFC versions of big SNES games:in the link there's already Akumajou Dracula (Castlevania IV) and Super Mario RPG.... Will also look into making all my covers in the Standard format so mastershoes will maybe add them (though fukk me will that take some work.... :wtf:

), but if people like em that much I don't mind.

** - Turns out there's a couple of PAL covers that mastershoes hosts in there too, I'd just touched them up a bit - previously did that link privately for another member, and I think there's a couple more of mine missing... will hopefully do for the time being though.

Dogway · Mar 7, 2015

Yeah, I think standard spine has more value as being the original one. From there you can go "easily" one way or another I guess. Can't you set some action scripts for that?
I wonder why mastershoes didn't include them, I would understand if he didn't have shrunken spine sets but he has so...

mightymuffy · Mar 7, 2015

Dogway said:
Yeah, I think standard spine has more value as being the original one. From there you can go "easily" one way or another I guess. Can't you set some action scripts for that?
I wonder why mastershoes didn't include them, I would understand if he didn't have shrunken spine sets but he has so...

The problem with setting a script from shrunken to standard, rather than the other way round (and the reason why mastershoes didn't add them) is the image of said spine will end up poor quality.... As I wasn't expecting much reaction from these covers I just made them shrunken as they were intended for personal use, made for me/family/friends... now I've found out plenty people like 'em I'm kicking myself for not making them standard spine: ms would've took those and ran his own script to shrink.... now I've got a bit of work to do!!

Dogway · Mar 7, 2015

I just downloaded your pack, great work on PAL SNES. But the SFC boxes are "westernized"... I wonder if anyone got an original scan set, I'm not too worried about it though.

mightymuffy · Mar 7, 2015

Dogway said:
I just downloaded your pack, great work on PAL SNES. But the SFC boxes are "westernized"... I wonder if anyone got an original scan set, I'm not too worried about it though.

The reason I westernized them I'll show here: SFC boxes came in both Horizontal and Vertical flavours - for example:

Mostly they were vertical but Squaresoft especially (though not exclusively) did horizontal... not only is that a problem in itself, but look at how wide and thin respectively the box fronts are. I myself did a couple of horizontal ones by simply removing the edges (if possible) - Dark Half, Psycho Dream and a few others.... but it's impossible to do an 'original' SFC set without some major editing...
Also note with the 2 vertical ones that they were quite different, SFC boxes just didn't follow the same format. This is why mastershoes doesn't have a SFC set per se, instead giving you the odd title (like Bahamut Lagoon, Treasure Hunter G)

Being a fellow Euro I went for a PAL style of box for my SFC ones, and kept the back covers as close to the SFC ones as possible by usually cutting both them in half and placing side by side.

Dogway · Mar 7, 2015

I'm thinking on these sets more like master sets (no pun intended). So you can grab to create your flat 2D covers, or build your 3D boxes for whatever front-end you play on.

So in that regard I don't see a problem on orientation. Cover size can be a problem for automation. But what one can do is after everything is cropped, sort by dimensions, and group boxes by these dimensions, probably there won't be more than a few size variations. Then adjust automation in these groups. SFC boxes are badass, so I'm already searching online.

crimental · Mar 7, 2015

ModdingBird said:
did you make these ?

of course!
you do not believe me?
which cover you need?

sorry for my bad english, i am sudamerican, i speak spanish.

mightymuffy · Mar 8, 2015

Dogway said:
I'm thinking on these sets more like master sets (no pun intended). So you can grab to create your flat 2D covers, or build your 3D boxes for whatever front-end you play on.

So in that regard I don't see a problem on orientation. Cover size can be a problem for automation. But what one can do is after everything is cropped, sort by dimensions, and group boxes by these dimensions, probably there won't be more than a few size variations. Then adjust automation in these groups. SFC boxes are badass, so I'm already searching online.

- Would love to see 'untouched' SFC covers myself too!

Anyway, asked over on the Wiiflow thread if there was an answer to fix the ratio for SFC covers and no reply as of yet, then had a bit of a dick about looking for the settings to edit on both my comp and on Wiiflow itself - no luck (but as there's a different size for Game Boy etc it must be possible)
Finally, decided to create a SFC cover myself, using the correct ratio of the boxes (went for 376/50/376x680 as the height of 680 seems the norm, also tested a higher size of 498/80/498x902) - defaults to the normal, non-GB ratio .......HOWEVER!! Really the end result, despite obviously looking a bit squished, isn't that bad at all! I've certainly seen worse, and it seems a small price to pay for having proper SFC boxes...
The only other problem would be the horizontal ones, but there's comparatively few of them, and we could just have them sideways, again it's not a deal breaker if you ask me.

Sooo, mastershoes, would you be interested in some Super Famicom covers, with a standard sized spine, leaving you to fix them up for Wiiflow? (the shrunken sizes I made/posted above were a bit off) OR, at everyone, should I carry on making these custom ones as they fit better with the preferred (?!?) horizontal set?

EDIT: Will chuck up the 'standard' variant of my first test cover, this one having a ~correct spine aspect ratio of 100x680:

....would of course touch up the images if I were to make a batch!

ModdingBird · Mar 10, 2015

crimental said:
of course!
you do not believe me?
which cover you need?

sorry for my bad english, i am sudamerican, i speak spanish.

lol... I believe you

and I dont need any but good job on these covers.

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