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#11
Mapping Tips/Guides / Re: What map-making feature wo...
Last post by ReyVGM - October 17, 2026, 11:38:46 AMQuote from: Guard Master on September 19, 2026, 05:23:54 AMQuote from: ReyVGM on September 13, 2026, 02:31:38 PMGood news. SuperSNES9x does have the option to display "accurate SNES colors". I haven't tested it, but it's there in Video -> Color Correction.
That's great. Tried it myself with the latest release. Getting my hopes higher for the emulator to be the next one I use as default. Here are additional features I'd like to see:
1. Support to combine multiple of the "tools" windows (e.g., the viewers, debugger, cheats, etc.) into a single window, offering tabs to switch between them. Having all these windows opened while I'm also alternating between other external windows becomes overwhelming.
2. Support to enable "widescreen" view. More emulators are supporting this including the latest Super ZSNES. Also, support to disable overscan (to allow 240 pixel height viewable instead of the typical 224 pixels in most games). Lastly, not sure if even possible, but the best would be support to have the emulation screen be the same size as the tilemap viewer and display as much as possible of bg + sprites.
Sorry for the late reply.
1) I suppose I could ask for this to be implemented, although the multiple windows option should stay too in case someone wants to look at all the viewers at the same time. Personally, I wouldn't want to have to be clicking tabs every time I want to check on one of the tools. I much prefer to have them in their individual windows.
2) Widescreen view is not something were you can just push a button and it's enabled. It requires someone to enable it on a per game basis as far as I know (but it is something that will eventually be implemented somehow). Snes9x/SuperSNES9x already displays 240pixel games in that height if they support it. But even if it didn't, there's an option in the video settings that does what you want already. I personally never use it, so if it's not working right, let me know.
Not sure what you mean with that last one. You want the emulation screen (meaning, the game screen?) to be as big as the titlemap viewer? You can modify the size of both the emulator screen and the viewer already.
Quote from: mechaskrom on October 09, 2026, 12:32:47 PMPretty much what everyone have already said, but I just wanted to add one feature that I REALLY want in an emulator for mapping and that's scripting. It's extremely useful for automating the screenshot+stitch process and saves a lot of time and work. Sadly, very few emulators have script-support. BizHawk is one of the few that does, which is why it's my goto emulator for mapping games. Plus it has many other excellent features/tools.
https://tasvideos.org/Bizhawk/LuaFunctions
Some other emulators with scripting that I know of is FCEUX, Lsnes and Snes9X Rerecording (snes9x rr).
Scripting exposes an API to the emulator so you get great control of the emulated game. My scripts usually just use the memory read/write functions to change the camera position in the emulated game and then the take screenshot function.
Something BizHawk lacks in its scripting and I would like to see is an in memory drawing canvas that you can blit copy a rectangular part of the current screen to. The canvas could then be used to stitch together the map into and then saved to file. Currently I have to call an external tool that takes a txt-file with blit commands from the BizHawk script that stitches together all taken screenshot files. It works, but it would be nicer if this could be done entirely inside the script.
BizHawk has a canvas (LuaCanvas object), but it's a GUI desktop window and as far as I know it's not possible to close or hide it which is annoying. Especially when stitching a really big map. Plus you cannot copy from the screen to the canvas, only from image files.
I'll add it to the requests, but it can be a bit complicated to grasp especially since none of us use those tools. Could you make a short video showing how it works and how you want that canvas thing to work? Although, it feels like this is getting a bit to close to image-editor territory.
Question, if SuperSNES9x adds LUA support, is there a script you can use or does the emu author have to write its own script?
There is a debugger in the works and once that's added, scripting can also be added.
I see you've written tools too. Can't you write your own tool and add it to SS9X once scripting is available? That way you can make the tool exactly how you (and other mappers) would like it.
#12
Gaming / Re: EmuVR - emulation in VR
Last post by lucaskinney - October 17, 2026, 02:07:24 AMEmuVR really hits differently if you grew up in the 80s or 90s!
Moving to PVCR streaming over wifi 6 completely removes that cable restriction. Sitting on an actual couch or carpet in your room white playing inside the virtual 90s bedroom feels much more immersive.
It's funny suing a $1000+ VR rig just to play 8-bit games on a virtual 14-inch tube TV, but the atmosphere is unmatched.
Moving to PVCR streaming over wifi 6 completely removes that cable restriction. Sitting on an actual couch or carpet in your room white playing inside the virtual 90s bedroom feels much more immersive.
It's funny suing a $1000+ VR rig just to play 8-bit games on a virtual 14-inch tube TV, but the atmosphere is unmatched.
#13
VGMaps Social Board / Re: YouTube channel! (JonLeung...
Last post by JonLeung - October 16, 2026, 09:19:05 PMJust a silly Short I quickly whipped up.
When I saw the Tesla Roadster, a flying car that can also drive up walls and the ceiling, I was immediately reminded of the Sophia The 3rd tank from the NES game, Blaster Master.
#14
Mapping Tips/Guides / Re: Any advice on how to get s...
Last post by Cyartog959 - October 13, 2026, 07:06:36 PMYes, those games are quite harder to map, mechaskrom, but with select tools for whichever engines they use, it can be a bit easier.
I also nearly forgot to bring up some additional info centering on the BMZ trilogy's different handling of Inti Creates' 2D games.
Upon reading and visiting a bit, one of Spriters Resources' rippers, Deathbringer, who did sprite ripping from BMZ1, and apparently stopped for quite a long while now, so you know, used NinjaRipper, a tool to gather these sheets as textures, but it did a lot of palette DDS dumping(which that ripper, to speak, was able to follow the texture its meant to be used for) and they looked like they were mostly black and/or with one color used in them, and the color indexing is rather different than others' handling of palettes and sprite sheets by hand before converting them into PNGs.
For that, whatever sprites ripped in the process had to be manually retextured to get their colors right by taking screenshots to figure out which colors are right and what goes where. Another ripper, Random Talking Bush, did well on figuring that game's different file structure out, including understanding the OSB files and using a script that output palettes to .PAL format(but the palette swaps, such as the Albino and King Dig-Rawlers from BMZ3, for instance, may need to be manually extracted). Its all a bit technical, but can be learned from experience.
I'd do some consulting with these rippers for some better understanding on it, Kayato.
I think you'll be quite stunned to see the actual large bodies of Venom Master and Dig-Rawler themselves when you get to them. I saw them in the soundtrack booklets that holds all enemies' names, though its in Japanese language and needs to be translated.
That may be needed if you're up to adding in miniature bestiaries to your maps to identify which enemies are unique in each Area and which are shared across them. Honestly, I'm a bit surprised these games doesn't have bestiaries in-game, compared to many that do.
I also nearly forgot to bring up some additional info centering on the BMZ trilogy's different handling of Inti Creates' 2D games.
Upon reading and visiting a bit, one of Spriters Resources' rippers, Deathbringer, who did sprite ripping from BMZ1, and apparently stopped for quite a long while now, so you know, used NinjaRipper, a tool to gather these sheets as textures, but it did a lot of palette DDS dumping(which that ripper, to speak, was able to follow the texture its meant to be used for) and they looked like they were mostly black and/or with one color used in them, and the color indexing is rather different than others' handling of palettes and sprite sheets by hand before converting them into PNGs.
For that, whatever sprites ripped in the process had to be manually retextured to get their colors right by taking screenshots to figure out which colors are right and what goes where. Another ripper, Random Talking Bush, did well on figuring that game's different file structure out, including understanding the OSB files and using a script that output palettes to .PAL format(but the palette swaps, such as the Albino and King Dig-Rawlers from BMZ3, for instance, may need to be manually extracted). Its all a bit technical, but can be learned from experience.
I'd do some consulting with these rippers for some better understanding on it, Kayato.
I think you'll be quite stunned to see the actual large bodies of Venom Master and Dig-Rawler themselves when you get to them. I saw them in the soundtrack booklets that holds all enemies' names, though its in Japanese language and needs to be translated.
That may be needed if you're up to adding in miniature bestiaries to your maps to identify which enemies are unique in each Area and which are shared across them. Honestly, I'm a bit surprised these games doesn't have bestiaries in-game, compared to many that do.
#15
Maps In Progress / Re: The Punisher (Paragon Soft...
Last post by JonLeung - October 13, 2026, 09:37:09 AMQuote from: TimbreWulf on October 10, 2026, 03:13:11 AMLocations 53:
1 World Maps raw: size reduced to 25% to allowable filesize
Have you seen the sizes of some of the larger maps on here?
I don't think there would be any problem with us hosting the 1:1 full city map of The Punisher on here. In fact, I'd prefer it over a reduced one.
#16
Mapping Tips/Guides / Re: Any advice on how to get s...
Last post by mechaskrom - October 12, 2026, 07:09:00 PMCyartog959 is right that there are many games that do not run in an emulator. They can still be mapped, but it's harder. The problem with games like Blaster Master Zero is rather that they use many graphical effects and scrolling layers which is difficult to map.
It's easier to map old 8- and 16-bit games using an emulator, which is why I suggest that beginners start there.
Regarding paint.net settings, in addition to "aliased rendering", I also like to set the "tolerance" level to 0% so that only identical pixels are bucket filled or magic wand selected.
It's easier to map old 8- and 16-bit games using an emulator, which is why I suggest that beginners start there.
Regarding paint.net settings, in addition to "aliased rendering", I also like to set the "tolerance" level to 0% so that only identical pixels are bucket filled or magic wand selected.
#17
Mapping Tips/Guides / Re: Any advice on how to get s...
Last post by dark_lord_zagato - October 12, 2026, 10:54:29 AMI have a small bit of advice for anyone who tries Paint.net
There is a way to save your tool preferences after you get started.
Open paint.net and put all the tool settings where you like them. Don't forget to select the bucket and turn anti-alias off, this is very important. The icon will be in the middle of the tool bar while the bucket is selected. Make sure it says "aliased rendering."
Next, click the settings button. It's the gear icon in the upper right of the window. Go to tools. Click on the option that says "Load From Toobar."
Settings/Tools
Load From Toolbar
These are now your default settings when you open Paint.net and you never have to worry about it again.
There is a way to save your tool preferences after you get started.
Open paint.net and put all the tool settings where you like them. Don't forget to select the bucket and turn anti-alias off, this is very important. The icon will be in the middle of the tool bar while the bucket is selected. Make sure it says "aliased rendering."
Next, click the settings button. It's the gear icon in the upper right of the window. Go to tools. Click on the option that says "Load From Toobar."
Settings/Tools
Load From Toolbar
These are now your default settings when you open Paint.net and you never have to worry about it again.
#18
Mapping Tips/Guides / Re: Any advice on how to get s...
Last post by Kayato - October 12, 2026, 07:25:17 AMThanks to both of you for the advice; I'll look into it further.
#19
Maps In Progress / Re: Keith Courage in Alpha Zon...
Last post by Cyartog959 - October 10, 2026, 07:37:40 PMQuote from: TimbreWulf on October 10, 2026, 01:18:17 AMThanks for everything. Now I know I can just post and it will get handled.
I wasn't aware there was such a request list. I'm shocked none of the Bonk's adventures are done yet. I may put it on my next to do list. I don't remember the stages being particularly large.
Well, have a good time! There's much to chart out.
Once you map the Bonk games from start to finish, we'll completely see how... *ahem* ..."large", to quote, they seemed to be, compared to other later games, even those that supersede them in size.
To be honest, there's not been a new Bonk game in a very, very long time, not counting the mobile phone games, one of which is a redoing, called "Bonk's Return". Especially since we nearly had a new one, "Brink of Extinction", that's supposed to be for WiiWare, PSN, XBLA and 3DS.
Not to mention I read that there was going to be a "Bonk IV", but it was formerly set to be an RPG. Thankfully, it didn't get launched; I'd prefer it to be a platformer.
As far as we know, Konami holds Bonk's IP rights, not that I'm versed in that matter, and as with others form Hudson Soft's absorption, they've been in complete stagnation without a new entry for too long.
The one problem was with in making a new Bonk game in the vein of TurboGrafx's style, but unbound by tech limits that no longer applies, is that nobody thought there were tools needed and made to create Bonk games that continues the caveman's fights against the evil King Drool, and others. We do have them, including Aseprite and Furnace, which is more than what we need to create the authenticity we've been wanting.
Well, I'm sure you'll do well in your mapping contributions.
#20
Maps In Progress / Re: Keith Courage in Alpha Zon...
Last post by JonLeung - October 10, 2026, 12:03:35 PMWell, I would still prefer that the maps get emailed to me. The email address can be found on the main page on the left side where it says "CONTRIBUTE", then just replace the "(at)" with a "@".
Bonk's Adventure for the NES has been mapped by Dan_, and Bonk's Adventure: Arcade Version (that's really the name of the game) for the arcade is currently being mapped by George s (a level at a time, and we literally got another one today).
(I find it funny that there's a game called Bonze Adventure that is totally unrelated but it also stars a bald guy, but it's a monk, not a caveman. Calling it "Monk's Adventure" would also be funny.)
But yeah, you can see on my shortlist of the 24 games that VGMaps.com surprisingly didn't have mapped by its 24th anniversary that your recently-mapped Keith Courage In Alpha Zones and Bonk's Adventure made the cut, representing the TurboGrafx 16. I mean, it's the pack-in game and the mascot game! Come on!
So if you are interested in doing the Bonk games on TurboGrafx 16, or any of the other requests in my personal requests topic, please consider doing so!
I didn't have a TurboGrafx 16 growing up, but my cousin did, and so my brother and I played a lot of Final Lap Twin on it when we visited them in 1993. This console took a back seat to the Super NES and Sega Genesis (certainly in North America, and with less than 100 games), but as I love the 8- and 16-bit era, it's a still mostly-untapped well of potential retro maps that I would love to see more of here. Besides the four games I specifically requested, it would be nice to see more of whatever are considered the iconic, must-play games for the TurboGrafx 16, because I'm not sure what they are, to be honest, but I feel that if even Bonk's Adventure hasn't been mapped, then there must be more!
(Oh, yeah, my brother did get me a TurboGrafx 16 Mini last Christmas. I should probably play more on it besides Ys: Book I & II, heh. If only a second controller wasn't separate and expensive...)
Bonk's Adventure for the NES has been mapped by Dan_, and Bonk's Adventure: Arcade Version (that's really the name of the game) for the arcade is currently being mapped by George s (a level at a time, and we literally got another one today).
(I find it funny that there's a game called Bonze Adventure that is totally unrelated but it also stars a bald guy, but it's a monk, not a caveman. Calling it "Monk's Adventure" would also be funny.)
But yeah, you can see on my shortlist of the 24 games that VGMaps.com surprisingly didn't have mapped by its 24th anniversary that your recently-mapped Keith Courage In Alpha Zones and Bonk's Adventure made the cut, representing the TurboGrafx 16. I mean, it's the pack-in game and the mascot game! Come on!
So if you are interested in doing the Bonk games on TurboGrafx 16, or any of the other requests in my personal requests topic, please consider doing so!
I didn't have a TurboGrafx 16 growing up, but my cousin did, and so my brother and I played a lot of Final Lap Twin on it when we visited them in 1993. This console took a back seat to the Super NES and Sega Genesis (certainly in North America, and with less than 100 games), but as I love the 8- and 16-bit era, it's a still mostly-untapped well of potential retro maps that I would love to see more of here. Besides the four games I specifically requested, it would be nice to see more of whatever are considered the iconic, must-play games for the TurboGrafx 16, because I'm not sure what they are, to be honest, but I feel that if even Bonk's Adventure hasn't been mapped, then there must be more!
(Oh, yeah, my brother did get me a TurboGrafx 16 Mini last Christmas. I should probably play more on it besides Ys: Book I & II, heh. If only a second controller wasn't separate and expensive...)