Homebrew Add many more screen layout options in DS virtual console games

Vague Rant · Sep 23, 2020

MikaDubbz said:
I thought someone might point out pixel-perfect setups. They are certainly doable, but if I went after all of them and all the variations each one could take, then that would add a lot more options I could possibly make configurations for; and perhaps I'm alone on this, but I'm more interested in playing with the largest real estate taken up than going after the pixel perfect options.

Yeah, for a lot of setups, pixel perfect doesn't make a whole lot of sense, e.g. for vertical games, you can only fit a 1x perfect-pixel scale, which is way too small on a lot of TVs. The one-screen-focus setups though do make pretty good use of the screen real estate available. 3x (768 wide) plus 2x (512 wide) equals 5x (1280 wide), or the exact horizontal width of the DS VC (1280*720). You can't get a much better fit than that.

MikaDubbz said:
Plus the games as we played them originally weren't even in the pixel-perfect display, it may be how the games looked while they were being developed, but the scaled resolutions included (widescreen and stretched screens not-withstanding) are how we remember the games looking (scaled) on the original hardware, not the pixel-perfect versions.

You might be thinking of old analog home consoles here. What you're saying is true for things like the NES, SNES, etc., but all of Nintendo's handhelds from the original Game Boy right up to the 3DS very much did have pixel-perfect displays--they specifically are built with displays which match their internal resolution and display with perfect 1:1 pixel accuracy, e.g. the DS LCD screens are exactly 256*192, the exact same resolution as their framebuffers.

tfocosta · Sep 23, 2020

That's a cool feature! Thank you for sharing!

Flame · Sep 24, 2020

can you re-upload the files please.

kineticUk · Sep 24, 2020

Nice. Integer scaled/pixel perfect versions with preserved aspect ratio would be great additions too.

Lostbhoy · Sep 24, 2020

Very cool, there a few DS games where the layout sucks so i didn't play them much... ..that's about to change!
Lovin your work @MikaDubbz.. Keep it up!

MikaDubbz · Sep 24, 2020

Flame said:
can you re-upload the files please.

Link is still up in my end, does Zippyshare not work in some places?

Flame · Sep 24, 2020

MikaDubbz said:
Link is still up in my end, does Zippyshare not work in some places?

403 Forbidden is what i get.

cant you upload to gbatemp download center.

https://gbatemp.net/download/

MikaDubbz · Sep 24, 2020

Flame said:
403 Forbidden is what i get.

cant you upload to gbatemp download center.

https://gbatemp.net/download/

Yeah, for whatever reason I thought hosting something like this on GBAtemp wasn't ok. Seems like it is though.

Vague Rant · Sep 25, 2020

kineticUk said:
This is superb stuff @MikaDubbz... if you do make more in the future I would love integer scaled/pixel perfect versions with preserved aspect ratios, would be especially nice for the Top Screen Tv/Bottom Screen Gamepad etc.

Unfortunately, this sounds better than it really is. DS Virtual Console runs at 1280*720, so for an integer scale, you can only fit 3x on the TV (768*576), because 4x (1024*768) is too tall to fit on screen. This leaves you with a lot of empty space: 512 empty horizontally and 144 empty vertically.

Running the numbers, you're quite literally only filling 52% of the screen. With all that extra space, you can actually fit a 2x scale of the second screen, so it seems a bit pointless to do an integer-scaled single-screen setup. In theory you could do something like having both screens (3x/2x) on the TV and then a single 2x (512*384) screen on the GamePad, which would still be equally as sharp as it would be if you used a single-screen setup, without wasting an entire 48% of your screen real estate on black pixels.

The real shame is that we can't have filtering enabled on the TV but disabled on the GamePad. In theory, a half-decent setup would be 3.75x (960*720) on the TV, and 2x (512*384) on the GamePad, but the GamePad will look awful because of the filtering.

godreborn · Sep 25, 2020

I took a photo of the gamepad and the tv to show a friend. here's a fairly good example of full screen on both:

Lostbhoy · Sep 25, 2020

Think you got a spider problem behind your tv @godreborn :rofl2:

godreborn · Sep 25, 2020

Lostbhoy said:
Think you got a spider problem behind your tv @godreborn

I must have 100 cables back there. my room is overloaded with stuff. there's stuff sitting neatly on the floor in front that all use the same power and hdmi cable. I just have to unplug and replug them in. the nvidia shield, for example, is what's currently plugged in right now. I like to have stargate atlantis playing while I try to fall asleep. I did that last night actually. watch a little, then fall asleep with it on.

kineticUk · Sep 25, 2020

Vague Rant said:
With all that extra space, you can actually fit a 2x scale of the second screen, so it seems a bit pointless to do an integer-scaled single-screen setup.

I don’t think it would be pointless but I understand what you’re saying.
I think games which use the top screen for video and only use the second for menus/inventory etc are better suited to TV/Gamepad.

godreborn · Sep 25, 2020

kineticUk said:
I don’t think it would be pointless but I understand what you’re saying.
I think games which use the top screen for video and only use the second for menus/inventory etc are better suited to TV/Gamepad.

etrian odyssey might be interesting. it's my favorite series on the ds/3ds. I actually bought part 3 or 4, because the ap wasn't cracked fast enough. I know how to import my save, so I might try it.

kineticUk · Sep 25, 2020

Used to sacrificing screen space anyway (old consoles, 4:3, pixel perfect modes etc) and the space costs nothing when there are alt. options and a second screen available. Sharp, square pixels and seperate screens.

MikaDubbz · Sep 26, 2020

Yeah, I'll add a few pixel-perfect options in the next few days. It's on my to-do list, not high priority, but I see enough of a demand for it to get it added in.

Marcus777 · Sep 26, 2020

Wow this is amazing! Nice Discovery and thank you!

666nyan666 · Sep 26, 2020

This is fantastic! I've been searching for a way to invert the screens on VC injects since the DS Castlevania games only have the map on the top screen and this did the trick!

N7Kopper · Sep 27, 2020

Vague Rant said:
You might be thinking of old analog home consoles here. What you're saying is true for things like the NES, SNES, etc., but all of Nintendo's handhelds from the original Game Boy right up to the 3DS very much did have pixel-perfect displays--they specifically are built with displays which match their internal resolution and display with perfect 1:1 pixel accuracy, e.g. the DS LCD screens are exactly 256*192, the exact same resolution as their framebuffers

Even a lot of old systems had graphics designed for the framebuffer without taking the squash/stretch into account, such as Super Metroid or A Link to the Past. Seeing the crispy unscaled pixel art of these games on modern displays is like night and day. (I am very much not a CRT fan, even for pre-HD 3D retro games, so if you like CRTs maybe you see it differently - even PVMs are a bit flickery for my liking at the best of times.)

I wonder if any other Virtual Console emulators (or Wii VC mode!) hide any more useful secrets. So much untapped potential in this underappreciated little twin-screened box.

Tur7L3 · Sep 30, 2020

Ah, yes, I've done this before but only added some 2 or 3 configs mostly for widescreen cause', I mean some games look good with it, just some. Never really thought it was indocumented, and now I don't have to worry about finishing the layouts I had pre-planned because you did em all and more, and they're really accesible and organized, thx.

Homebrew Add many more screen layout options in DS virtual console games

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