Silva Saga II Romhack Request: Freeze Intro Image

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Jedi QuestMaster
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Silva Saga II Romhack Request: Freeze Intro Image

Post by Jedi QuestMaster »

Here's a simple request: I'd like a romhack that freezes this screenshot from the intro of Silva Saga II:
ragon.PNG
ragon.PNG (17.87 KiB) Viewed 1277 times
That way I can adjust my TV video settings and take a picture in order to recreate this cover of Super Famicom Magazine August (1993) for a custom album artwork:
front (custom) - Copy.JPG
(this CD for some reason didn't have one: https://vgmdb.net/album/5282)

I need the CRT filter so I can't just use a PNG.

Here's an example of a magazine issue that included album art: https://vgmdb.net/album/5332 The artwork is basically just the magazine cover without all the text, and they added white space to the left to make it a square (you can see that issue's magazine cover in the right tab).

Here's my progress so far:
front (custom).jpg
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jeffythedragonslayer
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Re: Silva Saga II Romhack Request: Freeze Intro Image

Post by jeffythedragonslayer »

Ah, finally an application for the STP opcode :mrgreen:
creaothceann
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Re: Silva Saga II Romhack Request: Freeze Intro Image

Post by creaothceann »

Jedi QuestMaster wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2023 11:35 pm I need the CRT filter so I can't just use a PNG
What about emulators with CRT shaders?
My current setup:
Super Famicom ("2/1/3" SNS-CPU-GPM-02) → SCART → OSSC → StarTech USB3HDCAP → AmaRecTV 3.10
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tokumaru
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Re: Silva Saga II Romhack Request: Freeze Intro Image

Post by tokumaru »

Magazines from back in the day (the good ones, at least) didn't usually take pictures of TV screens, as that would capture several unwanted artifacts, such as scanlines, distorted edges, glow and reflections. AFAIK, they had devices that could freeze and print frames from composite video sources. This meant that you got the NTSC artifacts and maybe some noise from the analog signal, but that was it.

You'd get a more authentic result if you used a composite video capture device, in which case you wouldn't need a ROM hack, you could just extract the needed frame from the captured video.

If you don't have a composite video capture device, an emulator filter will probably still look more authentic (and be much more convenient) than taking a picture of your TV screen.

EDIT: after taking a better look, that image does look pretty noisy... but I'm still not convinced that photographing a TV screen is the best way to recreate it.
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Individualised
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Re: Silva Saga II Romhack Request: Freeze Intro Image

Post by Individualised »

I can see why they might want to go all in on the authenticity. I've never been fully satisfied by digital recreations of composite and VHS effects for example, so I imagine it's a similar situation here with recreating a CRT capture.
Oziphantom
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Re: Silva Saga II Romhack Request: Freeze Intro Image

Post by Oziphantom »

the traditional way was to photo a crt in a dark room for magazines. Then they got a capture card for their macs.

The easy way to do this is just to write a program that displays that png in a snes cart. Assuming you don't have a PS3/Xbox 360 that you can just do composite out on and view a "photo".
calima
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Re: Silva Saga II Romhack Request: Freeze Intro Image

Post by calima »

jeffythedragonslayer wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2023 11:40 pm Ah, finally an application for the STP opcode :mrgreen:
Wouldn't that only last til the next NMI?
Oziphantom
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Re: Silva Saga II Romhack Request: Freeze Intro Image

Post by Oziphantom »

calima wrote: Wed Mar 08, 2023 12:48 am
jeffythedragonslayer wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2023 11:40 pm Ah, finally an application for the STP opcode :mrgreen:
Wouldn't that only last til the next NMI?
no that is WAI, STP halts until a RESET
Markfrizb
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Re: Silva Saga II Romhack Request: Freeze Intro Image

Post by Markfrizb »

Don’t most emulators have a screen capture feature?
I know the Zsnes has a frame by frame and screen capture function. If all you need is that image…. why not get a perfect 256x224 pixel picture of it?
creaothceann
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Re: Silva Saga II Romhack Request: Freeze Intro Image

Post by creaothceann »

Markfrizb wrote: Wed Mar 08, 2023 7:47 am why not get a perfect 256x224 pixel picture
Jedi QuestMaster wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2023 11:35 pm I need the CRT filter so I can't just use a PNG.
My current setup:
Super Famicom ("2/1/3" SNS-CPU-GPM-02) → SCART → OSSC → StarTech USB3HDCAP → AmaRecTV 3.10
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tokumaru
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Re: Silva Saga II Romhack Request: Freeze Intro Image

Post by tokumaru »

Oziphantom wrote: Wed Mar 08, 2023 12:31 amThe easy way to do this is just to write a program that displays that png in a snes cart.
If there's a tool out there that takes PNGs and spits out ROMs, then yeah, that sounds easy enough. If you have to do any coding yourself though, it might be simpler to just hack an infinite loop into the original ROM.
Assuming you don't have a PS3/Xbox 360 that you can just do composite out on and view a "photo".
The encoding of the video signal would be very different from what an actual SNES would output though, and the artifacts wouldn't look authentic at all.
Markfrizb wrote: Wed Mar 08, 2023 7:47 amwhy not get a perfect 256x224 pixel picture of it?
He already has a pixel-perfect picture of it, as evidenced in the first post, but he wants to replicate the aesthetic of magazine screenshots from back in the day.

Anyway, I'm still not convinced that photographing a CRT in the dark is the best way to replicate the look of the original picture in this particular case.
tepples
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Re: Silva Saga II Romhack Request: Freeze Intro Image

Post by tepples »

I have a tool that takes a PNG and spits out a save file for use in a ROM, provided it's only a background and aligned to 16x16 pixels. See nesbgeditor.
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Jedi QuestMaster
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Re: Silva Saga II Romhack Request: Freeze Intro Image

Post by Jedi QuestMaster »

Hmm... I was under the impression my capture card wouldn't be suitable enough quality for this recreation, but then I realized this was 1993.

So here's what I got:
silvasaga2avout.PNG
This one's straight from the SNES AV out.

silvasaga2crtout.PNG
This one's taken from my CRT's AV out (yes, it has one of those). The exposure here is too high.
tepples wrote: Wed Mar 08, 2023 6:45 pmI have a tool that takes a PNG and spits out a save file for use in a ROM, provided it's only a background and aligned to 16x16 pixels. See nesbgeditor.
I hope you realize this is Silva Saga II not I.
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