Homebrew Hack/plugin for stretching top screen to fill screen in DS mode?

[wad11656]

UPDATE: This became possible (for some games) 4 months after I made this post using TWiLight Menu++ (which allows you to run standard DS games off your internal Micro SD!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Ctrl+F and look for "3DS/2DS: Playing in Widescreen".
FYI, a compatibility list .txt of games that can run widescreen is included in the TWiLight Menu++ download when you go to install it. If you want quick access to a list, This compatibility list was last updated Jul '19

I am aware of the 1:1 "pixel-perfect" mode you can activate when holding down Start/Select on boot for DS apps (and maybe Virtual Console too).

But I want what most people find blasphemous: Get the top screen stretched to fill the entirety of the top screen. Like this (taken from a GameFAQs(?) forum discussing the topic):

I want the Stretched to fill screen (Blasphemy before the laws of God and Man) on my top screen in DS mode.

Back when I played GBA in GameBoy/GBColor mode, I always had it stretched, so I became accustomed to stretched resolutions and find it painful to have any black bars on my screen.

I spent a while Googling yesterday, but it looked like no one had made a hack or plugin to get the top screen to stretch full screen in DS mode. I knew I was in the minority in preferring stretched screens, but I didn't know I was so much in the minority that no one would make a plugin to support it. Emulators support stretching to fill the screen, so I'm bummed no one added support for it in DS mode (which of course would be much more difficult to implement).

I just want to 100% confirm that there's no way to stretch the top screen in DS mode

 

[Nemos59]

I don't really think it's possible to stretch the top screen in DS mode as it's built in the 3DS itself (not as a software).

 

[ThoD]

There's literally no way to do it on the 3DS, it's not because of the code, it's because the hardware itself is effectively the same as that of the NDS, meaning there are no upscaling/stretching capabilities. Also, since it's in TWL mode, it's impossible to use plugins/mods/etc. anyway, so if you REALLY want to stretch the screen to fill a screen bigger than the intended one, you have only one option, to try and rework the entire TWL mode from scratch by rewriting all the code, so that it's possible to stretch without anything else being affected. Adding such a thing to a completed code is impossible since you will break it by adding to it, as you pretty much will cause unintentional bugs, so good luck making your own version of it without bricking

PS: One little note though, if you run NDS games through things like TWiLightMenu, then there is a VERY slight possibility of making it so games play stretched without having to do a complete rewrite (still takes far too much work for what's worth). I hate black bars as well, it's not that people don't mind them, it's that it's next to impossible to do that people learned to play with games in original aspect ratio.

 

[Rahkeesh]

If there weren't ANY upscaling abilities DS/GBA would always run in native resolution all the time.

3DS does not handle absolutely everything identical to a DS/GBA when running those games. There is software interpreting the circle pad into 8-way dpad equivalent for example. But its true that you would need some pretty impressive hacking to have any shot at changing it.

 

[FAST6191]

While code may have let you down physics might not.

In days of old when screens were high voltage electron pushers there used to be magnifying devices.
https://abledata.acl.gov/product/tv-screen-enlarger-models-107092-107095-107098

Such concepts did also make it to the handheld world
https://www.thevintagegamers.com/2013/11/game-boy-screen-magnifiers/

You could do such a thing but stretch it if you were so inclined.

If you were further so inclined you could even do a greater abomination and recreate the increasing stretch method favoured by some late stage CRTs where they would progressively stretch things more and more as things went outwards. As most games do not see people reach our their arms for a hug it should be less terrifying than the TVs. Methods would include a fancy varying lens grind, possible some fun with fresnels and material selection of varying refractive indices to create greater and greater bends.

That said if the only reason to do this is some OCD about the screen not being filled it would probably be easier to make a little slip/fold over cover sized such that the lines look like normal plastic. Might need some kind of rubber if you are especially bothered by light seeping out the sides. Some people have even been known to just cover the offending informationless parts of the screen with electrical tape.

It also occurs at this juncture that the 3ds bezel is gigantic so you could make a lens that extends the light upwards and retains the correct aspect ratio, or possibly hack some DS games to add a black bar to top and bottom and thus allow some further fun.

 

[SCOTT0852]

tl;dr to do this in software would require reverse engineering a good chunk of TWL_FIRM, which nobody is willing to do since, as you said above, most people find it blasphemous (and I'd assume the only people willing to RE TWL_FIRM fall under "most people").