N64, Genesis, Gamegear - Snaps available!

[stuzza]

I finally got some new webspace!    So here are some more Screenshots for ya in Goodtools names.  They are not "full" sets yet, but should provide snaps for a large percentage of most peoples sets.

Nintendo 64 (USA set, but not fully complete) - 348 screens, 315 titles - 9.4MB.  (A combination of screenshots from various websites, plus a few of Demon-Seeds original N64 snaps,  They are in 320x240 res.)

Sega Genesis - 3482 Screens, 1462 Screens - 16MB. (Syxx's original set plus a whole stack of others done by Lustar)

Sega Gamegear - 307 Screens, 267 Titles - 3MB.  (Provided by Lustar)

Thanks to Lustar and Syxx for their help with these.

Grab them before they disappear!!!

More to come soon....  

[Howard_Casto]

Can I give a tip on these snaps? (which I've been following btw and are a great resource.)  


Don't make them any bigger than 256 by 256.  Even gdi based front ends have trouble rapidly switching texture that are bigger than 256 by 256.  Just forget about getting smooth loading on a dx or opengl based fe.  

[Lustar]

i think it's better to offer the best reasonable quality since computers are getting more powerful everyday. this way you can always mass resize the pics with acdsee or a similar tool if you feel the need, and keep the originals to use them later

[Odonadon]

Can I give a tip on these snaps? (which I've been following btw and are a great resource.)  


Don't make them any bigger than 256 by 256.  Even gdi based front ends have trouble rapidly switching texture that are bigger than 256 by 256.  Just forget about getting smooth loading on a dx or opengl based fe.  

I agree with HC.  When my FE (MameWAH) is displaying both marquee's and screencaps, there is definetely a delay when switching between games.  Plus, you shouldn't notice any quality degredation if the FE needs to resize the pic to something larger, unless you're using a PC monitor in your cab.

Odonadon

[CM]

i think it's better to offer the best reasonable quality since computers are getting more powerful everyday. this way you can always mass resize the pics with acdsee or a similar tool if you feel the need, and keep the originals to use them later

I agree with this logic.  Learn to use batch resizers, but let's not dumb-down the resolutions being offered just for FE loading considerations.

[Howard_Casto]

i think it's better to offer the best reasonable quality since computers are getting more powerful everyday. this way you can always mass resize the pics with acdsee or a similar tool if you feel the need, and keep the originals to use them later

I agree with this logic.  Learn to use batch resizers, but let's not dumb-down the resolutions being offered just for FE loading considerations.

What else would you use them for but a fe?  Do you have a $300 video card?  If you don't then it will have trouble with textures over 256 by 256.  And I can tell you right now, this is sort of a bottleneck on the current mbs and agp port speeds.  There are several cards that can handle more, but that's because they pre-buffer.  Doesn't help for on the fly loading though.    Also as it's been mentioned before, the resolution in an arcade cab should be very low unless you are using a computer monitor.  When in doubt go by the mame standards.... mame snaps aren't any bigger than 256 by 256.  

[stuzza]

I havn't experienced any slow loading issues myself with any of the screenshots yet - although my cab runs Mamewah on a P3 1gig with 512MB of RAM and I use a 19" computer monitor

Normally I keep the resolution of the snaps in whatever they were created in - ie. whatever the emulator saves them as.  This gives the best quality snaps in my opinion, which people can then resize from there themselves as you guys suggested above.

As for the latest snaps, I only did the N64 ones, so I'll only comment on those, but I found most of the snaps were in 320x240 so I just kept them that way.  They weren't all the best quality, but it was easier downloading them than creating them!  I may however go back and do these myself (like my other sets) if I get the time later on.

Oh, and Howard, I'd like to thank you again for the artwork renamer, it has come in very handy!  Especially with snaps grabbed from the net   - although it seems to have an issue with sequal games, ie. named "mortal kombat", "mortal kombat 2", "mortal kombat 3" the snaps will just use the shot of "mortal kombat" for all??

[Odonadon]

I may however go back and do these myself (like my other sets) if I get the time later on.

Which reminds me - how about some in-game snaps?  I've got a ton for TG16 that I made for my primary site (see my site: http://turbo2k.8k.com).  I hate snapshots of just the title screen.  Doesn't give me any hint at all of what the game is like  But yeah, I'd be willing to contribute my TG16 snaps collection of in-game snaps.  Just say the word

Odonadon

[stuzza]

I may however go back and do these myself (like my other sets) if I get the time later on.

Which reminds me - how about some in-game snaps?  I've got a ton for TG16 that I made for my primary site (see my site: http://turbo2k.8k.com).  I hate snapshots of just the title screen.  Doesn't give me any hint at all of what the game is like  But yeah, I'd be willing to contribute my TG16 snaps collection of in-game snaps.  Just say the word

Odonadon

Sure I'll have em.  How many do you have, and are they different from the ones I already have??  Lustar has already added a huge amount of TG16 snaps to the original set - there are now about 1066 ingame screens and a bunch of title screens (not sure how many, can't remember at the moment).

PM or email Me and we can maybe work something out.

[TalkingOctopus]

I am pretty sure you can do a batch job in photoshop on all of the screens to resize them, but I don't know how.  I think if you did a little research, you could figure out how to do it in ps or find another tool that does it.  I have to agree with stuzza, and would like to see them in there native resolution.

I dislike the title screens too, but  unfortunately, I put some in the SNES shots I made.  That happened only when cherry roms did not have any other images.

Great work to those who have assembled these screens!

[stuzza]

Just an extra note on some of the Genesis snaps.  It has been pointed out to me that some of these are currently named incorrectly - mostly games in a series, ie Sonic 1, 2, 3 etc...

I did not make these, so cannot guarantee the accuracy of them.  

If anyone spots mistakes in these sets, please feel free to correct them and send me the fixed files.  

Hopefully we'll have these corrected soon.

[Luxury]

I think that higher rez is better, for a "just in case" scenario.  batch re-sizing is very easy to do in photoshop.  I could give a quick tutorial if there is a demand for it - OR - i could supply everyone with a action for download if need be.  

[Howard_Casto]

I think that higher rez is better, for a "just in case" scenario.  batch re-sizing is very easy to do in photoshop.  I could give a quick tutorial if there is a demand for it - OR - i could supply everyone with a action for download if need be.  

Well, here's the thing though.  Irfanview, by far the best batch image utility out there, can't handle png conversions very well.  So saying "you can just batch convert" and actually doing it are two different things.  

If the compiler wishes to keep high-res versions that would be understandable, but go check on the net.  As I've said there are 0 packs that are larger than 256 by 256.  And there are reasons for that.  

[stuzza]

Here's a thought on the resolution debate.  Perhaps we should aim to try and complete the snapshot sets for the consoles (ie.  going back over the NES, gameboy etc.. and try and complete the sets - could take a while though   )  Then once the sets are done, batch convert them all to 256x256 and offer that as the finished product?

As none of the sets are complete and there are not too many (less than the full sets anyway!) images for each set, perhaps people can just convert them themselves for the time being.

[2600]

All this talk about proper size and now the link is down. Doh!

[stuzza]

Yeah, sorry guys, the link is currently down for some unknown reason???  I can actually log in via ftp and see the site, but can't get it to load through the web!!!!  I'm working on it......

[liquid8]

XNView is an excellent batch converter, allowing you to do do all kinds of things during the conversion process...

chk it out - http://www.xnview.com/


LiQuiD8