Using overlays as borders

RetroArch Nintendo consoles
#16

OK, so it’s not insane assuming you don’t have any knowledge at all of what you’re asking for and have assumed that it’s an easy and automated process. I’m not aware of any automated tools for this functionality, so yeah, it does mean loading up the game and taking one or more screenshots. Many games switch between multiple borders as you play, which means you’d need to get at least that far in the game to capture the border, e.g. Pokemon Trading Card Game actually shows your current badges (or something; I’ve never played it) in the border, so there’s borders for every possible badge combination.

There’s a total of somewhere over 650 games with Super Game Boy support, counting all region duplicates. Obviously, that’s less if you strip out games released in US/Europe/Japan/etc., but that’s not always going to be correct as a number of games have different borders based on region–e.g. probably every Pokemon game, weird conversions like Bomberman GB (Japan) -> Wario Blast (USA, Europe), etc. Then there’s games that are Super Game Boy compatible but don’t actually provide borders, which you probably won’t know anyway until you test them, so they take almost as much effort for no results.

If you do decide to organize for a group of people to start releasing borders, then that’s admirable, and clearly a lot more reasonable than asking SuperrSonic to do all 650+. Most emulators with Super Game Boy support should be fine for capturing screenshots. BGB, bsnes/higan and VBA-M should all do the job, among others. (Make sure to set your colors to their uncorrected versions in emulators that attempt to duplicate the original color output).

I think this would be cool too, although I’m not sure if the RetroArch authors would want to take on the potential legal burden of distributing tens or even hundreds of copyrighted border artworks. But who knows; it’s unlikely anyone’s going to create legal trouble over some old Super Game Boy borders, so they might consider it a non-issue. Still, given the trouble they had over on Android, they may be wary. Even if it’s not possible to distribute these with RetroArch, a single package here on the boards would certainly be sensible.

#17

I think I’d prefer borders to be a separate download. Maybe a fan pack or something here on the boards. Including all those borders in retroarch is just going to balloon the size of the .zip file, and for me personally, it’s just another thing I’ll have to delete.

#18

Using the borders that Seam made as an example ( I hope you don’t get upset for it and Thank you for sharing it with us), I made 25 more borders from Games Between letters A and H. I excluded some because they were Japanese Only Titles without that much interest in their borders, or they were a little… bland ( Just the name of the game, for example, although I let Tsubasa pass to show one of those kind of borders).

In any case, I’ll try to make more but I don’t know when that will be.

What you will find in this “Pack”:

A Bug’s Life (Just for kicks, lol) Adventures of Lolo Aladdin (Again, just because it has one xD) Animaniacs Aqualife Arcade Classic 1, 2 and 3 (Have the same border) Arcade Classic 4 Battle Arena Toshinden Blaster Master: Enemy Below Bomberman Collection (There are two for this game, the normal one, and one it was unused) Bonk/Gengin Collection Captain Tsubasa Castlevania Legends Centipede (Actually the border was for Millipede) Chase H.Q. Secret Police Desert Strike Donkey Kong GB Donkey Kong Land 1 Doneky Kong Land 2 From TV Animation: One Piece 1 (I knew about this one, and since the look kind of cool, I added to the list) From TV Animation: One Piece 2 (Same as above) Harvest Moon Galaga Hercules

https://anonfiles.com/file/d2af47b1f17b3d0c16f7407fdc8bbdc6

I tested them in Retroarch WIi and they worked fine, I hope nobody has problems with them. Something I would like to try is custom borders.

------------ If by any means this cause problems please tell me and I’ll delete this post. ------------

#19

Here’s borders for another 10 games, plus one from the Super Game Boy itself:

[ol] [li]Beauty and the Beast[/:m:1vbahbzp][/li][li]Cross Country Racing[/:m:1vbahbzp][/li][li]Dragon Dance[/:m:1vbahbzp][/li][li]Dragon Quest Monsters[/:m:1vbahbzp][/li][li]Hello Kitty no Sweet Adventure[/:m:1vbahbzp][/li][li]Loppi Puzzle Magazine (this is actually a series of games, but they all use the same border)[/:m:1vbahbzp][/li][li]Pocket Bomberman (2 borders)[/:m:1vbahbzp][/li][li]Pro Mahjong Tsuwamono GB[/:m:1vbahbzp][/li][li]Super Game Boy (2 borders, these are the Game Boy-looking border/s when running normal, non-SGB games)[/:m:1vbahbzp][/li][li]TNN Outdoor Fishing Champ[/:m:1vbahbzp][/li][li]Wetrix GB[/*:m:1vbahbzp][/ol][/li]Isn’t Aladdin a weird case? That game came out on GB and GBC, as two separate, essentially unrelated ports of the console version. Anyway, there’s actually two borders in that Centipede/Millipede game, one for each.

#20

Thanks for doing this. Does the pack contain the config files aswell as the pngs?

#21

Cool ! I’ll try those borders later. I didn’t knew Dragon Warrior Monsters had a border, it’s awesome.

Both, the Vague Rant pack and mine come with the .PNG and CFG for each border. They are ready to use as long as you put them in your SD/USB xD.

#22

Great!

#23

I’ve been “collecting” more borders this afternoon (Well, arternoon in Spain at least) and now I have a little more than a hundred counting the others that I did before.

I still have to apply transparency, and create the config files, so expect to have a Link in a day or two (Two if I can’t take the free time to do it).

For example I have what I think are all of the Wario Land 2 borders (Very detailed, each one shows the world you’re in. I love them), Classic Konami borders with series like Gradius or Castlevania, a few from Dragon Quest too, and more of course.

The most interesting thing was to discover that there are animated borders for several games or by doing secret things. IT’S FREAKIN’ CRAZY. Things like a drive-in Theater with it’s very own Day-Night cycle, another indoor Theater where the public suddenly fall asleep, or grab a newspapper and starts to read, or even two guys playing their GBs… Others are really weird like the Mario Paint thing or the “My game is Birds, your argument is invalid” kind of effect.

Now that I think about it, between this and the GB Camera… Nintendo was weird man. I love it, but weird nonetheless xD.

#24

Ok, here it is: https://anonfiles.com/file/eb16598707ca88845f30d3191a5d9f0f

105 borders from Super Game Boy.

The list goes like this:

A Bugs Life Adventures of Lolo Aladdin Animaniacs Aqualife Arcade Classics Arcade Classics 4 Blaster Master Bomberman Collection (2, Normal and Unused) Bonk/Genjin Collection Captain Tsubasa Castlevania Legends Chase HQ Desert Strike Detective Conan Donkey Kong (Game & Watch Style border) Donkey Kong Land 1 Donkey Kong Land 2 Dragon Quest (4 Borders with different styles) Galaga & Galaxian Game&Watch Gallery 2 GB Donkey Kong GB Toshinden Goemon Harvest Moon Hercules Killer Instinct (It’s quite cool) Kindaichi King Of Fighters ‘96 (4 Borders, different colors) Kirby 2 (2 Borders, Japanese and International) Koguru Konami Collection (6 Borders, Antartic Adventure, Castlevania, Contra, Frogger, Gradius, VicViper) Lil’ Monsters Lodoss War Mach GoGoGo! Mario Picross 1 Mario Picross 2 Mega Man V Mickey Mouse Magic Wand Millipede Mini4Boy (2 Borders, Normal and Unused) Molemania Money Idol Mulan Nettou Real Bout Nettou Samurai Spirits Nettou World Heroes One Piece 1 One Piece 2 Pac-In-Time Page Master ( I find it really ugly, but whatever) Pocahontas (Ugly too) Pokemon Red Pokemon Blue Pokemon TCG (3 Borders, Japanese with “Pocket Monsters” in the border, the US/EUR one without text, and one unused) PuyoPuyo 2 Quest : Fantasy Challenge/ Quest RPG: Brian’s Journey (I didn’t knew that there was a GBC version, I hope it’s any good!) Revelations: The Demon Slayer Rock’n Monsters (Cool title xD) Same Game Small Soldiers Space Invaders Street Fighters 2 (9 Borders, based on the stages of each of the playable characters) Tetris Attack Toy Story Urban Strike Wario Land 2 (9 Borders, from each of the worlds of the game) Yu-Gi-Oh Capsule Monsters

I added others that I can’t relate to any game: Handheld (The border is like a handheld console or some kind of Pokedex) Unknown (It’s a border with fossils) Spaceship (It’s quite nice)

I tested every one of those in my Wii and I didn’t have any problems, I hope everything is correct for all of you and.

Well, that’s it. And of course, the borders are ready to be used so no worries, and enjoy them.

By the way I tried to not include any border that was previously made by Seam or Vague Rant because I didn’t want to disrespect their efforts , although I have the impression that one of the Pokemon TCG borders may be already done…

Sorry for that if it’s the case, I hope it doesn’t presents any problem.

PD: I really don’t know if “Presents a problem” it’s correct, but whatever, it’s not like my english is good to begin with xD.

#25

Awesome job, thanks to everyone!!

#26

Thanks very much guys, these are lovely!

#27

No need for any concern, I don’t make any claims over the borders I ripped, they of course belong to the original authors and/or whoever they were contracted to at the time of their original creation. This is a lot of work you’ve put in, very admirable and will certainly go some way toward making Super Game Boy games more enjoyable in RetroArch. Thanks for the Herculean effort!

#28

No need for any concern, I don’t make any claims over the borders I ripped, they of course belong to the original authors and/or whoever they were contracted to at the time of their original creation. This is a lot of work you’ve put in, very admirable and will certainly go some way toward making Super Game Boy games more enjoyable in RetroArch. Thanks for the Herculean effort![/quote]

Of course, but you put time into making those, and is the least I can do : respect what was already done. Besides, you people created the configs, did the research needed and made them first. I just came and repeated the process beyond boredoom, lol.

Anyway, let’s not get corny. I’ve looked at the GBA borders and I must say that a few of them are quite ugly or just painful to look at (That black one with flowers, my god). So I tried to make a couple of them to test when my stupidity decided to show up once more.

I spent about 8 minutes comparing the borders that you have in your DropBox link and the screenshots I made for testing, and I didn’t understan why they couldn’t fit. Until I rememberd that you and SuperrSonic explained all just below, AND the correct borders were two clicks away from me.

I have to give myself a Promotion for such incompetence.

After reading again those posts I made three, and they work wonderfully. But now i’m pondering about the idea to make one border for each core in case someone don’t want the infamous black borders in their Tv’s. But i need to look for the correct resolutions of each system, and even then I have my doubts ( For example Snes uses both 256x224 and 256x240, maybe just doing one for each will be the best fix). Maybe a Retroarch styled border, with the Space Invader. But for now it’s just an idea.

For now I’ll put this here: 3 GBA Borders for Retroarch (Stone, GCNON & Planets). All credit goes to you all, I did literally nothing but copypaste… https://anonfiles.com/file/173d3fdae25baa8b5d0554d95796ea79

#29

Hi, I’ve been looking to use many of the great overlays that have been shared in these boards, but I can’t seem to understand exactly how to acquire a smaller picture that stays at the center of the screen and fits inside the borders themselves.

Specifically, I’m using a CRT TV for Retroarch and I’d like to achieve a picture that doesn’t feature any pixel-warping whatsoever and keeps proper proportions. Could anyone please give me some accurate indication in order to do so, namely what settings I have to change? I’ve tried messing around with the custom aspect ratio option, but to no avail: the picture doesn’t get centered within the border.

Thanks in advance for any help. This emulator is truly wonderful, but sometimes it’s really hard to grasp which option produces which result.

#30

Generally, you just need to enable integer scaling and then choose your overlay. However, if you are playing on a CRT, integer scaling at native resolution for most home consoles–such as SNES, Genesis/Mega Drive, etc.–will probably still fill your screen unless you are emulating a handheld device, such as NeoGeo Pocket, which has a lower native resolution than a 480i TV.

#31

Hello, i wanted to give Gameboy Classic and Game Boy Color borders a shot. I tried to download the packs from the anonfiles links provided in the previous posts but they are down. Does anyone have a border for GB Classic and one for GB Color? Not game specific, but something like this and this:

Those two are all i need. I use a CRT TV btw, 4.3PAL Wii connected with SCART if it makes any difference.

#32

You could try the dropbox link in the op, there you’ll see a folder named /misc gfx/RA ready/ and you’ll see the borders for GB, GBC and Game Gear VC. In the root folder are the originals, which you can use to fit your screen’s needs. The already made ones are 456 lines long without filtering and fit the GB© display iirc as 320x288(2x). It’s all ripped either from the game data or raw screenshots.

You should use the build of gambatte in this folder: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pleveuq50h3lub5/u8uJI-qmqF I replaced the grayscale palette for nicer looking colors much alike to the image of Kid Icarus you posted.

Try it with this config: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ev25vk9lvugzxfb/GameBoy.cfg

Right now using overlays as borders for the Wii/GC version is not properly implemented(because of the multiple resolutions) so it needs a lot of fiddling to get right which is why I stopped using it, but the borders are still useful for whatever else you need; the GBA ones are GC/Wii specific so it might be a bit weird to use elsewhere without editing.

#33

Thank you very much SuperrSonic! I’ll try them ASAP and report back.

=EDIT= After tinkering with .cfg and the png files i now have borders for GBA, GB, GBC & GG. Thanks once again man! I have a little space (vertical line on the right) in the blank center of the overlays but i know it is due to me using CRT and the overscanning it. Still, it looks much better now!

#34

I’m curious about that, could you explain in more detail? Does it happen with every overlay? If the blank space is inside and the game display is not filling out then it’s an issue with either the wide resolution(GB, GBC and GBA should be using 608x480) or “overlay0_rect” was not set properly which wouldn’t be an issue if “overlay0_full_screen” worked.

EDIT: I just checked that config, it seems I forgot that I never got overlay rect to look right with Game Boy borders, sorry that’s the reason you see a blank space.

#35

Really? I thought those links would live a little longer. Wait and I’ll re-upload the big pack.

-Edit- Here it is, DropBox link:

And the 3 borders of GBA:

…And I even managed to recover some weird borders I made back then, with Nes, Super Nintendo and Genesis/Mega Drive controllers:

They’re not that great, but maybe someone gives them use.