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[TheMoon]

I think by DKC3 all of Europe had said ‘f this' to Super NES business and ran with the US style NOE cover. Even SCN, the most consistently NCL styled region after AUS, went with the NOE box:

Australia is the only NCL style cover I have been able to find:

Nintendo Australia absolutely lost their minds in 1996. That's when they also released this atrocity.

I mean, what were they thinking.

btw, now I'm noticing for the first time where BGBW got this bottom border style from with the angle and stuff. I had never noticed this before on AU boxes (barely seen any, tbf).

 

[john tv]

didn't like the FFV options out there, so customized my own:

 

[Robin64]

Decided to go back through my now vast collection of borders and put a 2px black box around the screen area. Initially liked the idea of not having that, but in practice it's not so good. This is going to be a good day's work now.. Ah well.

Compare:

 

[TheMoon]

Decided to go back through my now vast collection of borders and put a 2px black box around the screen area. Initially liked the idea of not having that, but in practice it's not so good. This is going to be a good day's work now.. Ah well.

Compare:

Robin discovering the wonders of frames.

 

[Robin64]

Robin discovering the wonders of frames.

I was arrogant and thought it would work without because the game area, when moving, should be distinct. But it didn't work out. I was a fool, but one who learns!

 

[beelzebozo]

does anyone else's tmnt turtles in time seem fast, or strange? i noticed some audio hiccups, and it seems speedy in-game.

 

[Acidote]

Decided to go back through my now vast collection of borders and put a 2px black box around the screen area. Initially liked the idea of not having that, but in practice it's not so good. This is going to be a good day's work now.. Ah well.

Compare:

If you're using photoshop just make a script to do the whole batch. The border is supposed to be in the same place for every screen, isn't it? You can "record" your actions and then apply the same process to a batch of pictures.

 

[Robin64]

If you're using photoshop just make a script to do the whole batch. The border is supposed to be in the same place for every screen, isn't it? You can "record" your actions and then apply the same process to a batch of pictures.

I'm not very good with scripting.

But I have made two images for the border, one for the 4:3s and one for the pixel perfects, so I can just open the images, paste the one it needs, then save it off.

 

[mr. grape]

For anyone using the "Switch style" icons on the SNES classic, I have been trying to compile all the icons I could find. Here is a link to a Google Drive album including all of them I have found (or created myself) so far:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4xpbJ0f0oEKcGljWFBQZXhNM1E

Here's another you can add that I made based on the Clock Tower reproduction box art.

 

[AtomicShroom]

does anyone else's tmnt turtles in time seem fast, or strange? i noticed some audio hiccups, and it seems speedy in-game.

That’s what happens when you use PAL roms. Only use NTSC roms.

 

[beelzebozo]

That’s what happens when you use PAL roms. Only use NTSC roms.

ah!! thank you.

 

[LOUD915]

Not one to thread complain, but shouldn’t there be a separate thread for borders and box art?

I can imagine a person who needs help hacking or with settings getting frustrated scrolling through pages of (amazing) custom box art and borders.

Is there a full archive for all of the border art and box art that people have made?

 

[Robin64]

Not one to thread complain, but shouldn’t there be a separate thread for borders and box art?

I can imagine a person who needs help hacking or with settings getting frustrated scrolling through pages of (amazing) custom box art and borders.

Is there a full archive for all of the border art and box art that people have made?

Anyone with a problem that posts tend to gets answered quickly, if someone knows the answer. I don't think there's too much broder/box posting that help requests get hidden.

Furthermore, as people get the initial hack done, what's left is customisation and that's exactly what these things offer. Regulars in the thread need something to continue talking about too, or we'll die very quickly and only become a support page. And I do not want to become a support page.

Anyone who wishes to contribute box art and borders should dedicate a post to showing off all their stuff, linking to their album etc, so that I can link to that post in the OP and the link always goes to their latest stuff. But of course, new posts can be made to show off new things too.

 

[ParityBit]

Not one to thread complain, but shouldn’t there be a separate thread for borders and box art?

I can imagine a person who needs help hacking or with settings getting frustrated scrolling through pages of (amazing) custom box art and borders.

Is there a full archive for all of the border art and box art that people have made?

I kind of like it all in this thread. It is hard keeping up with so many and people hacking it start simple and move forward slower than others. It is nice to see the options!

That being said, having a centralized place to actually get the art is a must! (And people have been doing here). I think I have like 100 tabs saved on my browser at home for when I get to the point of needing the stuff

 

[LOUD915]

Some people have done some amazing stuff.

Such incredibly talented people out there.

 

[DOT DASH DOT]

Is adding filters going to be an option do you think? Like a CRT sharp for example?

 

[Robin64]

Is adding filters going to be an option do you think? Like a CRT sharp for example?

The latest version of hakchi has a module which adds filter controls. Just have a poke around with it, it tells you the commands to use too. You'll find it in "Modules -> Install extra modules"

 

[gingerbeardman]

It would be great if hakchi2 ran on a raspberry pie so could automate the swapping of games without needing a PC.

 

[Robin64]

If you're familiar with running Python scripts, cheese-demon of Reddit has made one that converts .srm files to the SNES Mini save format.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4bT-QRGhIHNcXhPVXhjSWZtRHc

It's called srm2clover and it's pretty simple to use - only one parameter is mandatory, and that's the *.srm file. However, if you don't provide a ROM filename, or if you provide an invalid filename, you'll have to copy the resulting files over yourself.

Without a ROM: this will take any file (but only a SNES battery save will actually work, mind you) and append a hash and write out the appended cartridge.sram and write the hash to cartridge.sram.hash - from there it's up to you to FTP to your SNES Mini in the correct place.Edit: Turns out I did this the hard way all along. *NEW FLAG ADDED: -g *GAMEID **

Specify the five-letter gameID that Hakchi gives and this will spit out a CLVS for that game.

With a ROM: This is the somewhat deprecated good stuff. It will generate the same code that Hakchi would, and do the SRAM appending and hashing, and then it'll tar it up for you in a CLVS file that is ready to import to hakchi via save state manager

Important caveats

This won't import with SFROMs. I didn't do any ROM parsing, just a quick check to see if there's a SMC header to skip. SFROMs will therefore generate incorrect game codes and folder names
This won't work with 7zipped ROMs. I didn't feel like making any dependencies. Zip, tar, and gzip support all come with python, but 7z does not. Only feed this uncompressed ROMs, or a zip with a single SFC or SMC in it (other kinds of ROMs in zips won't work, and it'll only look at the first ROM in any given zip file). The zip can have any other files tbh, it only looks for SFC or SMC extensions.
If you're nuts you can specify a ROM and then also put -n to disable CLVS archiving. I put this in and at the end realized there was no reason to, since you could just... not specify a ROM really. But it's there.
This will not delete your savestates - since the only thing that gets added to the CLVS is the cartridge save, that's also the only thing it overwrites.

Update*
As detailed above I made a new version that doesn't need to checksum the ROM (though if you want you can still do that). You can look in Hakchi for the game ID, right above the name of the game. Just use the last 5 digits.

 

[Dimentios]

Trying to figure that out. It should be a case of

--use-decorative-frame /var/lib/hakchi/rootfs/usr/share/backgrounds/[border]/

in the arguments, but it doesn't seem to trigger.

https://www.reddit.com/r/miniSNESmods/comments/75xxpi/custom_borders_for_each_game/

I didn't test it. But it seems to work based on his video.

 

[Robin64]

I didn't test it. But it seems to work based on his video.

I figured out the problem. You need to have previously selected the blank first frame so there’s no global variable overwriting your command line.

 

[ParityBit]

I figured out the problem. You need to have previously selected the blank first frame so there’s no global variable overwriting your command line.

That would be so awesome. This thing can have so much magic done to it. Will you put this info in the OP when you get it all squared away? I ask because I am not near doing that yet and I hope to have more directed questions when I first try it myself if needed.

 

[LordRaptor]

Oh goddamit, I thought I was pretty much 'done' outside of some major new compatibility release, but if you can set specific borders on a per game basis I'm going to get sucked into customised borders too

 

[SOLDIER]

We still need to use FTP to add the custom borders, right?

Will Tixaxi work?

 

[jayr281]

Wait, the borders are working now in Retroarch?

Yes, they are! Just update to the newest Retroarch 1.0

 

[Hamlet Machine]

We still need to use FTP to add the custom borders, right?

Will Tixaxi work?

Tixati as in the torrent client ? Don't think it does FTP protocol.
You need something like Filezilla.

 

[DOT DASH DOT]

The latest version of hakchi has a module which adds filter controls. Just have a poke around with it, it tells you the commands to use too. You'll find it in "Modules -> Install extra modules"

Oh wow great! So you could possibly make it look like a quality Sony CRT do you think?

 

[Chittagong]

Nintendo Australia absolutely lost their minds in 1996. That's when they also released this atrocity.

I mean, what were they thinking.

btw, now I'm noticing for the first time where BGBW got this bottom border style from with the angle and stuff. I had never noticed this before on AU boxes (barely seen any, tbf).

I've been fascinated by this, and done some further research.

I believe it's actually not a Nintendo Australia design, but rather it's a NCL (Japan) design, since SCN and UKV used that format a lot in the late years, as well.

NOE style box - first party games only

Markets
- Germany
- Rest of PAL markets, sporadically

Games
- First party games only

Used
- 1992-1997 (Germany)
- 1994 (other markets, sporadically)

Designed by
NOA, modified by NOE

Old NCL style box
Markets
- Germany (third party games only)
- Rest of PAL markets

Games
- First party games 1992-1994 (except for Germany)
- Third party games

Used
- 1992-1997 (third party games)
- 1992-1994 (first party games, except for Germany)

Designed by
NCL

New NCL style box

Markets
- AUS, UKV, SCN

Games
- First party games 1995-1997

Used
- 1994-1997

Designed by
NCL

Post 1995, Nintendo released games in PAL regions in both old NCL style and new NCL style for a while, before fully settling on the new style. All games were also released in the NOE style.

Nintendo Australia was the first to adopt the new NCL style, and was most consitent in using it, however, probably because they didn't have NOE close by to mess things up with US-like NOE style boxes.

Here are some examples of the new NCL box in UK and Scandinavia, note lack of Australia rating symbol:

The first ever new NCL style box seems to be Wario's Woods in late 1994, where UKV used old NCL style, and Australia used new NCL style.

The Australian version seems to be incredibly rare, I haven't even been able to find a picture of the AUS box, but the new label shows it's the new NCL style.

According to my calculation, only 14 games were ever shipped in the new NCL style box.

1995+ games with old style NCL box only (+NOE style)
- Tetris & Dr Mario

1995+ games with new NCL style box only (+ NOE style)
- Arkanoid
- Donkey Kong Country 2
- Donkey Kong Country 3
- Harvest Moon
- Kirby's Fun Pak
- Secret of Evermore
- Space Invaders
- Terranigma
- Tetris Attack
- Yoshi's Island

1995+ games with both old and new NCL style boxes (+ NOE style)
- Super Mario World (late SCN re-release)
- Wario's Woods
- Kirby's Dream Course
- Kirby's Avalanche

 

[Kyzer]

Yes, they are! Just update to the newest Retroarch 1.0

Is there an easy way to update?

 

[ibrahima]

I've had this on both 2.0 and the more recent release of Hakchi. Every once in a while, usually when using save states, the system crashes into boot loops. I only have 45 or so games on it with folders disabled. Why does this keep happening?

Do you use a HDMI switcher? I had this happen a lot with a NES and when I first received my SNES and became convinced I'd fucked something up. After eliminating every thing else (clean reinstalls, different cables and usb power supplies) it turned out to be my HDMI switcher.

 

[DOT DASH DOT]

Something that I've not seen mentioned about the mini Snes, is how bloody excellent the games feel like to play! Even though the reviews say it's just an emulator which are 10 to a penny, they don't say how low the input lag is.

I've compared the same games on snes9x PC and Robert Broglia's Snes emu on Shield TV, and hands down the Snes mini kicks their arse! Awesome stuff.

 

[PMS341]

I was arrogant and thought it would work without because the game area, when moving, should be distinct. But it didn't work out. I was a fool, but one who learns!

If you haven't done this already, you can set up an Action in Photoshop to batch add those borders for you! Will save some time.

Edit: Saw someone else suggest the same. Another way to make it easier would be to create a 2px black border as a separate later, leave it on top, and then just add each game box as a layer and save.

 

[Robin64]

I'm at work so can't test this, but the procedure for game specific borders should be...

Important first step: Select the first pure black no-border option on the SNES Mini. This is the crucial step I was missing before. What this does is set the global border variable to null. Anything else for that variable will overwrite your custom setting.

If you followed my previous guide on how to add borders, you should have a folder at /var/lib/hakchi/rootfs/usr/share/backgrounds/

Now let's use my SNES background as the example.

This would be located at /var/lib/hakchi/rootfs/usr/share/backgrounds/12_snes/

So you need to decide if you play in 4:3 or Pixel Perfect. At the moment, there doesn't seem to be a way to get that variable and set the border accordingly, so you're going to have to pick the one you use and kinda stick to it. In my case, I play in 4:3, so let's go with that. The game I want this border on is Sim City.

So I find Sim City in hakchi, and add the following to the end of its command line argument, making sure there's a space before the --:

--use-decorative-frame /var/lib/hakchi/rootfs/usr/share/backgrounds/12_snes/12_snes_4_3

Note that this is the filename of the 4:3 sized border without the .png extension.

Simply sync games now, and then next time Sim City is loaded it should also set the SNES border with it.

A word of warning: If you set another border manually, this will become the new global variable and overwrite all your command line custom border settings. Just set back to the black one to fix that.

 

[MrMan2k3]

This URL is broken.

Relink, relink!

Hmm... not sure why it stopped working.

Here's a new link to the "Switch Style" Icon Database:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B4xpbJ0f0oEKcGljWFBQZXhNM1E

I've been searching this thread and Reddit with no luck. Can someone please make icons similar to the Switch-style square icons posted in this thread, for Batman Returns and the three Star Wars games?

I just saw this thread on Reddit. The person who made the previous Super Star Wars icons updated them to remove the black borders. I added them to the Google Drive folder.

Just whipped up this little Yoshi's Island icon (I wanted to do something with the super cute Japanese magazine ad for the GBA version) and figured I'd share it. Feel free to add to the collection.

Thanks! I added this to the Google Drive as well. I added a 2 pixel black border, as that seems to have been established as the standard for these icons.

Here's another you can add that I made based on the Clock Tower reproduction box art.

Thanks! Added!

 

[1up]

I've had this on both 2.0 and the more recent release of Hakchi. Every once in a while, usually when using save states, the system crashes into boot loops. I only have 45 or so games on it with folders disabled. Why does this keep happening?

Are you using the correct voltage power supply?

 

[Raitaro]

I think they might also be able to load up their title screen and do whatever that game originally did, ie, without inputs. But if a game stayed on the title screen and had no built-in demo, that's all it would do.

As for hakchi, grab it now. It is effectively "final", in that it all works, but he never really stops updating it. The NES Mini updates went on for months. If you get the portable version (not the web installer), you can update in future by just dropping the new files in your folder and overwriting whatever it wants. Things like your snes_games folder stay intact, so you lose nothing in the upgrade.

Thanks! I'll look into to it more this weekend. Already have my list of games ready to go.

 

[Dimentios]

something something borders

Very nice. 4:3 is also the to-go option for me.
And since the snes mini's border menu is not necessary anymore, there is no need for all those preview-pictures and stuff.
Just one single file. Beautiful.

 

[Robin64]

Very nice. 4:3 is also the to-go option for me.
And since the snes mini's border menu is not necessary anymore, there is no need for all those preview-pictures and stuff.
Just one single file. Beautiful.

Indeed, for personal use. Though I would suggest the full package for distribution.

So what I'll do is just hammer down the games list in hakchi and paste this at the end of every game's argument:

 --use-decorative-frame /var/lib/hakchi/rootfs/usr/share/backgrounds/01_ambient/01_ambient_4_3

And then alter the ones I want to have a custom border. This way it will be custom or ambient, rather than custom or black.

 

[Wet Bloodfart]

How does one put NES/GB/GBA/etc games on here? I got RetroArch installed along with all its cores based on ClusterM's guide, but about getting actual ROMs of my GBA games on the system? Does it work just like the SNES games do?

 

[Mr. Hyde]

Yes, they are! Just update to the newest Retroarch 1.0

Holy crap. That changes things. Thanks! Now I want more borders. I've only made one crt border so far.

 

[soundtest]

So my games aren't in alphabetical order anymore? They seem to be all sort of mixed up now and I can't figure out how to fix it. Anyone have any good ideas?

 

[Black Republican]

never played FF3/6 snes before, is the original translation that bad?

 

[Robin64]

So my games aren't in alphabetical order anymore? They seem to be all sort of mixed up now and I can't figure out how to fix it. Anyone have any good ideas?

Press Select.

 

[Dimentios]

So my games aren't in alphabetical order anymore? They seem to be all sort of mixed up now and I can't figure out how to fix it. Anyone have any good ideas?

Press select.

 

[LordRaptor]

So my games aren't in alphabetical order anymore? They seem to be all sort of mixed up now and I can't figure out how to fix it. Anyone have any good ideas?

Did you hit select (I think it is) in the menu screen?
It sorts games by name / release date / number of players / probably some other toggles

 

[1up]

never played FF3/6 snes before, is the original translation that bad?

It really isnt that bad at all. Some things are because of constraints IE:Fenix down but overall its decent. Its nothing like a Breath of Fire 2.

 

[Robin64]

It's a bit weird if you're used to modern Final Fantasy games, with their Potions and Ethers and Firaga and whatnot, but the actual script is fine.

 

[Chucker]

Not one to thread complain, but shouldn’t there be a separate thread for borders and box art?

I can imagine a person who needs help hacking or with settings getting frustrated scrolling through pages of (amazing) custom box art and borders.

Is there a full archive for all of the border art and box art that people have made?

Honestly, the only bit of housekeeping I can think of (and it'd be a pain TBH) would be to just update the OP with whatever Border/Box Art/Square Icon/Patch that we've had.

We don't need separate threads. Modding/Hacking could be for aesthetics or for improvement so it all fits the bill.

 

[PMS341]

Honestly, the only bit of housekeeping I can think of (and it'd be a pain TBH) would be to just update the OP with whatever Border/Box Art/Square Icon/Patch that we've had.

We don't need separate threads. Modding/Hacking could be for aesthetics or for improvement so it all fits the bill.

Agreed. Linking to Drives with full collections in the OP is pretty great, we just have to get the rest of them I suppose. I'm going to consolidate all of my work into a Drive folder myself later today.

 

[Robin64]

Can anyone give the per-game background thing a go? Stuck at work but eager to know if it functions properly.

Agreed. Linking to Drives with full collections in the OP is pretty great, we just have to get the rest of them I suppose. I'm going to consolidate all of my work into a Drive folder myself later today.

Amusingly, since I asked for consolidated posts with art, the only people to step forward have been with the Switch style ones! Ah well.