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SNES Mini Classic Hacking | More games, more borders, more gooder.

inner-G

Banned
something about the red background and the green of the enix logo is clashing for me.
That’s just bad graphic design.

We call that color vibration, and it’s caused by putting colors that are generally opposite on the color wheel on top of each other. (Red/green, blue/orange, etc.)

7d28bbb3-5f84-4c3f-b11p1m.jpeg



(Lol damn! Sorry for putting such an annoying image at the top of the page 😂)
 
The scaling is great for any fullscreen SNES game (256x224), but what about the couple of games that only used 256x200 pixels? They had 256x16 pixels of blackness on top and 256x8 pixels at the bottom.

Games like Street Fighter II Turbo or Final Fight 2:

30653403aw.png
30653404jd.png


Could we get them to upscale to fit the whole screen height while maintaining aspect ratio (even if that means no integer scaling)?
That should be no problem with Retroarch, right?
Is it also possible to do with Canoe?
 

Mcdohl

Member
Q: About the stuff that doesn't work properly... are the games possible to be fixed? Or are they screwed forever since it depends on the internal emulator of the SNES classic?
 
Completely arm chairing it.

I’m hoping it gets fixed, but I’m more than happy using Retroarch for Gaia and Terranigma.

I’m a few hours into Gaia now and I’ve noticed absolutely no emulation issues or input lag.

We got Gaia working fine a few days ago aside from the opening menu having a black bar due to Canoe's incorrect handling of a certain color addition/subtraction.

I'll admit, Terranigma I'm stumped on. Even more so I'm not sure how the Illusion of Gaia patch actually ended up working! I was prepared for the long fight for all of the games, and the first tentative step I took towards it worked which was beyond my expectation.

Admittedly I'm over my head. I can't directly debug canoe since there is no way to interface with it aside from maybe soldering some connectors to the board and watching the ram via serial (way way out of my league). So the best I can do is look at the following:

Change logs/source codes for existing emulators (Snes9x, PocketSNES, etc) to look where they had struggles (found a couple clues here, was able to get Terranigma 100% playable in canoe.... without sound)

Try to figure out what exactly the Slowrom patch for IoG does that somehow fixes this very similar issue by the same developers (have had zero luck here).

Trying to simulate the same issue in Bishawk (Snes emulator with advanced debugging tools) and then working from there on how to fix it. (I can't replicate the issue, and modifying the ROM to try and get it leads to it not working at all in Bishawk at all, but still be loading and 'working' in Canoe, makes me wonder if it refuses to run anything if the checksum is bad)

There are a few people who I know would have a greater idea of what's going on, but I haven't heard back from any of them, and I don't plan on harassing them or bombarding them if they can't or don't want to reply. So I'm stuck in a holding pattern.

And when I say I'm over my head, I mean it. I've tried every solution I can come up with after pouring over documents relating to the SNES hardware (specifically; NMI, Slowrom/fastrom, the SPC700 and how it interfaces with the system, as somewhere in that tangle is the problem and likely solution). I went as far back as documents dating to the mid 90's (holy crap! There are some great archives of this stuff kept from over the years!)

I still believe there is probably a workaround, and maybe even a super simple one I'm missing. I'm just not well versed enough in the SNES or assembly. Even during my hayday with the system I did little more than some simple rom translations and create some hacks to bypass lockups in things like PocketSNES for GBA. And for the latter, I at least had proper tools and dev support via Loopy and Sephiroth2k to help when I got stuck :)
 
The scaling is great for any fullscreen SNES game (256x224), but what about the couple of games that only used 256x200 pixels? They had 256x16 pixels of blackness on top and 256x8 pixels at the bottom.

Games like Street Fighter II Turbo or Final Fight 2:

30653403aw.png
30653404jd.png


Could we get them to upscale to fit the whole screen height while maintaining aspect ratio (even if that means no integer scaling)?
That should be no problem with Retroarch, right?
Is it also possible to do with Canoe?

There is no 256x200 video mode, the games are still running in 256x224, just with those 24 pixels being black. The emulator would have to know specifically to apply a cropping filter to only specific games. It should be possible in retroarch, but I wouldn't know the details. Definitely isn't a thing with canoe.

Q: About the stuff that doesn't work properly... are the games possible to be fixed? Or are they screwed forever since it depends on the internal emulator of the SNES classic?

See my post above. It's possible, but it's going to depend on the game and motivation from people interested (and with the knowledge). Canoe isn't going to be updated, but many of the crashes in non-special chip games are the result of minor issues that could possibly be patched on the ROM end, same way people used to do it for copiers on real hardware. Retroarch exists for those that don't want to deal with all the extra work, though it does have higher input latency.

(edit) Sorry for the DP, I took so long to write and edit, I forgot I had just posted.
 
There is no 256x200 video mode, the games are still running in 256x224, just with those 24 pixels being black. The emulator would have to know specifically to apply a cropping filter to only specific games. It should be possible in retroarch, but I wouldn't know the details. Definitely isn't a thing with canoe.
Now that I see both games side by side I notice that SF2T has an even bigger back border on top so its playfield is probably 256x192.

Thanks for the info - would be nice to know how to crop with Retroarch.
 
Has anyone gotten Disk System games to run on the SNES Classic yet? I know they worked on the NES Classic but I have not been successful getting them to boot on the SNES unit. I even installed the Nestopia hmod and no dice.
 
I noticed when I add a new games it now knows the publisher and other details. Is there anyway to have Hakchi scan all the existing games or do I need to readd them?
 
How can I add custom borders?

Download this file.

Now FTP in, copy the backgrounds folder to your PC from /usr/share/ and reupload it to /var/lib/hakchi/rootfs/usr/share/

The file you downloaded a moment ago, p8173_ownbgs, needs to go into /etc/preinit.d

Restart your SNES Mini and if all went well, it will be using the new folder, which is writable.

So on the PC, just create new folders following the examples set by what you see. Best way is to copy a folder, rename the files, and edit them with your favourite Photoshop version. Here's what my SNES Background folder looks like:

hb1pUwQ.png

I'm having trouble with this. I've followed the instructions and added back the originals + about 30 frames listed in the OP. All the originals show up but only like 5 of the ones I've added. Had zero trouble FTPing and adding them. And it's completely random which ones are working. They're all the ones from Robin's google drive, so they were already numbered and organized.

Any ideas what's going on?
 

Linkhero1

Member
My new minimalistic design. Still in progress.


Actual screenshot per hakchi. Looks better on tv. Trying to mimic the Switch menu.
I also reconsidered and chose borderless icons (like the switch).
If you can move the icons from the top to the bottom like the Switch, that would be amazing.
 

Robin64

Member
I'm having trouble with this. I've followed the instructions and added back the originals + about 30 frames listed in the OP. All the originals show up but only like 5 of the ones I've added. Had zero trouble FTPing and adding them. And it's completely random which ones are working. They're all the ones from Robin's google drive, so they were already numbered and organized.

Any ideas what's going on?

Do you have your FTP client set to do one at a time? I've found that it can picky with FTPing of lots of images, and a single corrupt .png will stop a border from appearing. Pick one that isn't appearing, delete the files from the SNES Mini, and upload again by itself. See if that does anything.
 
Admittedly I'm over my head. I can't directly debug canoe since there is no way to interface with it aside from maybe soldering some connectors to the board and watching the ram via serial (way way out of my league).

I'm 95% likely to be about to say something utterly stupid, but has anybody had any success at all retrieving the Canoe emulator from the Mini and running it on any other Linux machine? Is it even possible, or is there something embarrassingly obvious why it's not?
 
Do you have your FTP client set to do one at a time? I've found that it can picky with FTPing of lots of images, and a single corrupt .png will stop a border from appearing. Pick one that isn't appearing, delete the files from the SNES Mini, and upload again by itself. See if that does anything.

Cool, I’ll try that. 2 follow up questions:

1) Is there a limit to the number of frames? I want one for every game, so that’d be 30 + the originals.

2) I know the files need to be named just so, but do the folder names matter?
 
can you do cheats on this yet? I mainly want infinent lives. I hate cheating with save states.

Having to go back on the menu constantly to no get game overs on Donkey King Country sucks
 
I'm 95% likely to be about to say something utterly stupid, but has anybody had any success at all retrieving the Canoe emulator from the Mini and running it on any other Linux machine? Is it even possible, or is there something embarrassingly obvious why it's not?

It's compiled for a custom ARM linux kernel. Depending on how much so, it may be bootable on a properly configured raspberry pi. It may be easier to create a 'virtual' SNES mini via virtualization software but that's again outside my area of expertise.

can you do cheats on this yet? I mainly want infinent lives. I hate cheating with save states.

Having to go back on the menu constantly to no get game overs on Donkey King Country sucks

Pretty much since the beginning. When you add roms, you have the option to add game genie codes.
 
Do you have your FTP client set to do one at a time? I've found that it can picky with FTPing of lots of images, and a single corrupt .png will stop a border from appearing. Pick one that isn't appearing, delete the files from the SNES Mini, and upload again by itself. See if that does anything.

Yeah, I've had a lot of issues downloading the 21 original games from the Mini. One thing that worked like a charm was setting a speed limit within the FTP client!
 
Not for SNES games just yet.

What? really? I was sure I saw the box for them. Was I just hallucinating? Or was that in an early release when it was still focused on the NES?

Damn, either way there are tools that apply Game Genie codes directly to a game if you want to go through that effort.
 

SOLDIER

Member
A few more questions, if I may:

1. If I use the controller hack tool to change the reset combination while using the 8bitdo wireless controller, will that interfere with the 8bitdo's built-in shortcut (which is also the default of Down+Select)?

2. I'm a bit confused about the difference between Retroarch and Canoe. If I just want to get the games that currently run correctly to work, am I supposed to use both of those programs working together?

3. Furthermore, is it verified that having Retroarch and Canoe working together causes the system to boot slower? I tried installing them and everything took an extra few seconds to load (such as opening the home screen).

4. Is there any progress being made on the hi-res text bug for Treasure of Rudras and Secret of Mana?

5. Do I need to keep using FTR to add more custom borders?

6. If so, then how do I save the FTR address/login on Filezilla, so I don't have to type it down every time I want to access the SNES?
 
A few more questions, if I may:

1. If I use the controller hack tool to change the reset combination while using the 8bitdo wireless controller, will that interfere with the 8bitdo's built-in shortcut (which is also the default of Down+Select)? Not sure

2. I'm a bit confused about the difference between Retroarch and Canoe. If I just want to get the games that currently run correctly to work, am I supposed to use both of those programs working together? Retroarch has higher compatibility, but has other issues like higher latency (slower reactions when you press buttons) which makes it unsuitable or less desirable than Canoe for many action games. Unless you game requires Retroarch, don't use it.

3. Furthermore, is it verified that having Retroarch and Canoe working together causes the system to boot slower? I tried installing them and everything took an extra few seconds to load (such as opening the home screen). Not sure, I don't use Retroarch.

4. Is there any progress being made on the hi-res text bug for Treasure of Rudras and Secret of Mana? It's something that Canoe is hard coded to do, I'm not sure if anyone is even looking directly at a fix yet. This obviously isn't an issue in Retroarch

5. Do I need to keep using FTR to add more custom borders? Not sure

6. If so, then how do I save the FTR address/login on Filezilla, so I don't have to type it down every time I want to access the SNES? Not sure

.
 

Robin64

Member
I made a mod for hakchi that adds borders without FTP, but it only functions once. That is, when you "install" it. I am looking into if it can be tweaked.
 

Dimentios

Member
6. If so, then how do I save the FTR address/login on Filezilla, so I don't have to type it down every time I want to access the SNES?

You can just leave Filezilla open the entire time.
But just press CTRL + R to reconnect to the last connected server.

How do. Me want. Much jealous.

Basically you just have to edit the packed.png (FTP server under sprites) and remove all the icons and make the wall.png (FTP server under sprites and wallpaper) white.
 
Thanks. So how do I use Canoe, as well as using a game to boot with it?

And what features do I lose with a game running on Canoe (save states, borders, etc)?

Canoe is the built in emulator in the SnesCE. Unless you install retroarch and add --retroarch to the boot command of the game, you will always launch Canoe.

It's Retroarch where you lose things like the default save state/rewind features, borders, etc. Though you can install different custom ones there as well.
 

SOLDIER

Member
Canoe is the built in emulator in the SnesCE. Unless you install retroarch and add --retroarch to the boot command of the game, you will always launch Canoe.

It's Retroarch where you lose things like the default save state/rewind features, borders, etc. Though you can install different custom ones there as well.

Okay, understood.

Really hope someone can patch those games with the text issue. I really want to try Rudras, and at least with Secret of Mana it only affects the main menu.

Not sure how much SD3 is affected.
 
That's just bad graphic design.

We call that color vibration, and it's caused by putting colors that are generally opposite on the color wheel on top of each other. (Red/green, blue/orange, etc.)

7d28bbb3-5f84-4c3f-b11p1m.jpeg



(Lol damn! Sorry for putting such an annoying image at the top of the page ��)

Lmao wow that makes me feel straaaaange.
 
Can someone please advise as to why horizontal box art like the below is being rotated in the below preview, does the image display correctly one loaded or do I have the sizing incorrect? Currently using 204x110 which is the correct size for the vertically orientated boxes but flipped.

H3gK5At.png
 

bubumiao

Member
I made a mod for hakchi that adds borders without FTP, but it only functions once. That is, when you "install" it. I am looking into if it can be tweaked.

I'm looking forward to this. Don't wanna mess with an FTP program which you have said is picky about 1 file at a time and what not.
 

PMS341

Member
My new minimalistic design. Still in progress.


Actual screenshot per hakchi. Looks better on tv. Trying to mimic the Switch menu.
I also reconsidered and chose borderless icons (like the switch).

Minimalist indeed, but quite nice.

Really wish I knew how to get into the .FONT files and change out the title font.
 
I used Hakchi 2 to add some games and do the controller reset, but after I added Kirby's Dream Land 3 all the original games don't have boxart, and also don't actually work. Does anyone know what I should do to fix this?
 

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
What are the chances of the SNES mouse working on this with an adapter?
Most likely "never", though someone has made it so Mario & Wario can work with the normal SNES controller via patch. Not sure on other games, I didn't see anything on Mario Paint (granted, I don't know if you'd want to play Mario Paint with a regular controller)
 

beelzebozo

Jealous Bastard
successfully ftp'd and changed out all my game art, magically. i did experience some issues downloading "autoplay" files. common? what does it mean?
 

The007JiM

Member
I was editing the thumbnails and only need to replace the thunbnails of the original games.

I assume this are found in /usr/share/games/ via FTP as the "clv-p-" folders but i can´t replace the .png files.

I'm in the right location?
 

Robin64

Member
I was editing the thumbnails and only need to replace the thunbnails of the original games.

I assume this are found in /usr/share/games/ via FTP as the "clv-p-" folders but i can´t replace the .png files.

I'm in the right location?

No, because that's a read only folder. There's a bit in the OP about how to replace art for the OG21.
 
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