Wavebeam NES Palette for NESRGB, NT Mini, Emulators, etc

[FBX]

I can try emailing him again about it.

Only if you feel you've finished it. I know that's hard to say though, because I kept coming back to my own palettes over and over.

[nakedarthur]

I can try emailing him again about it.

Only if you feel you've finished it. I know that's hard to say though, because I kept coming back to my own palettes over and over.

I've played through all the games I know by heart and nothing sticks out to me anymore, so I think it's time to stick a fork in it. I'm sure I could go on tweaking it forever, but at some point it just becomes an unhealthy obsession

Also, I spoke with Tim, new NESRGB firmwares should be coming soon! \o/

[strygo]

[nakedarthur]

Ouch, too true

[vaanen]

I totally get that feeling. When i used to calibrate my TV, i spent at least 60 to a hundred hours to get it "right" and i never left satisfied. I think specially when it comes to our eyes, nothing "digital" can really be perfect so at one point we need to just let it be. In the worst case just give yourself a deadline and don't touch it for at least a few months after that, when your mind has been able to think about something else. It's crazy how time consuming it can be, people thought i was crazy when they were seeing me going back and forth for "tiny color changes", and i can imagine how much worse it can be with the NES and it's awful "NTSC colors"

[blizzz]

Great palette, thanks for your work nakedarthur! I've been playing around with RetroPie the last days and I'm very happy that your palette works on there too.

In case any other Raspberry Pi noob is reading this: You have to rename Wavebeam.pal to custom.pal and put it in the BIOS folder (not the palette subfolder!). Then just select it in the core options of your NES emulator core.

[FBX]

Hey art,

I have a converter program that Tim sent me to make his end easier. It turns the 3 palette choices into a .tdf file, which he then simply adds into his code to execute the pof build. If you don't have it, I can make a few tdf files with yours and my palettes combined to send to Tim that way.

[nakedarthur]

Hey art,

I have a converter program that Tim sent me to make his end easier. It turns the 3 palette choices into a .tdf file, which he then simply adds into his code to execute the pof build. If you don't have it, I can make a few tdf files with yours and my palettes combined to send to Tim that way.

That would be awesome man! Please grab the latest .pal from the site first, I tweaked the two lighter cyans a bit after I recorded some demo footage for the site. I'd definitely like to do an update to the current one with the Sony Palette and NTSC Hardware, and then whatever variations you think would be useful.

[nakedarthur]

Great palette, thanks for your work nakedarthur! I've been playing around with RetroPie the last days and I'm very happy that your palette works on there too.

In case any other Raspberry Pi noob is reading this: You have to rename Wavebeam.pal to custom.pal and put it in the BIOS folder (not the palette subfolder!). Then just select it in the core options of your NES emulator core.

Thanks, glad to hear it works on there

[Wolf_]

Finally got around to testing it and adding it to the SmokeMonster NT Mini pack, it will go live with the next update. Thanks again for doing such a detailed job on this.

[FBX]

I'd definitely like to do an update to the current one with the Sony Palette and NTSC Hardware, and then whatever variations you think would be useful.

Got a link to the Sony palette? I want to make sure I have the one you want to use.

[nakedarthur]

I'd definitely like to do an update to the current one with the Sony Palette and NTSC Hardware, and then whatever variations you think would be useful.

Got a link to the Sony palette? I want to make sure I have the one you want to use.

Yea you can grab it here.

[syboxez]

I'd definitely like to do an update to the current one with the Sony Palette and NTSC Hardware, and then whatever variations you think would be useful.

Got a link to the Sony palette? I want to make sure I have the one you want to use.

Yea you can grab it here.

Isn't that the same palette that nobody knows what it was based on? I know it looks nothing like my Sony CRT.

[nakedarthur]

Isn't that the same palette that nobody knows what it was based on? I know it looks nothing like my Sony CRT.

We know what it's based on, the question is what source was used for the raw colors before conversion. Sony used many different jungle ICs and they are all different, so unless you have one with the same IC it's going to look different.

[syboxez]

the question is what source was used for the raw colors before conversion.

That's what I meant.

[tjstogy]

Arthur, didn't you apply the Sony code to FBX's raw capture? I think that should be the Sony palette to use, not the original imo.

[syboxez]

Arthur, didn't you apply the Sony code to FBX's raw capture? I think that should be the Sony palette to use, not the original imo.

He did, and so did FBX.

[nakedarthur]

Arthur, didn't you apply the Sony code to FBX's raw capture? I think that should be the Sony palette to use, not the original imo.

Yea, as an experiment I converted the Composite Direct palette back to YIQ and then re-decoded using that ICs values. I haven't looked at it or the code any further though, so I'm not really comfortable with distributing as an official thing. The other thing is you lose precision once you go into RGB space, so if it's going to be done right it needs to start in YIQ. This is where Artemio's capture data comes into play - my plan is to create a master YIQ palette with it that RGB ones can be generated from based off the NTSC decoder of your choice. That is going to be a while though, I don't have a lot of time to devote to it right now and accurately extracting the necessary info from the data is pretty complicated.

[FBX]

Arthur, didn't you apply the Sony code to FBX's raw capture? I think that should be the Sony palette to use, not the original imo.

He did, and so did FBX.

I didn't. The only attempt I made was comparing visually the Sony translation on my display, but I never finished the attempt because having to eyeball it sucks.

[FBX]

Okay Art, I sent him 3 variations with the tdf files:

1. Smooth (FBX) >>> Wavebeam >>> Sony CXA

2. Smooth (FBX) >>> Wavebeam >>> PC-10

3. Smooth (FBX) >>> Wavebeam >>> Composite Direct (FBX)

So I'm sure some of you are like "wait, what happened to NTSC Hardware?". Well not to worry, "Smooth FBX" is effectively the same palette, only with a handful of tweaks to make it less 'sterile'. Below is a compilation of the tweaked colors as they appear in a few games:



Since it's pretty much my last bid to make a new firmware for the NESRGB board, I figure I might as well make sure I can live with the palette, and this one seems plenty fine to me now. In fact, I rather like how it is less saturated as counterpart to Art's more saturated palette. Should be something for everybody in these offerings when Tim makes them.

Cheers!

-FBX

[xadox]

...So I'm sure some of you are like "wait, what happened to NTSC Hardware?". Well not to worry, "Smooth FBX" is effectively the same palette, only with a handful of tweaks to make it less 'sterile'...

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[FBX]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Scream again, cuz the NESRGB profiles are ready!

http://www.firebrandx.com/downloads/fbx ... lettes.zip

Huge thanks to Tim for knocking them out super fast the moment I sent the files in!

Edit: Got to use my JTAG mod job I did and it worked flawlessly. Updating the NESRGB firmware went from a 15-minute delicate pain in the ass, to a job done in 60 second! Super glad I made the effort to mod my NES deck with this.





-FBX

[nakedarthur]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Scream again, cuz the NESRGB profiles are ready!

http://www.firebrandx.com/downloads/fbx ... lettes.zip

Huge thanks to Tim for knocking them out super fast the moment I sent the files in!

-FBX

Thanks man! I just tried the first firmware and it works great. I'm not sure if the firmware is labeled wrong or my switch is wrong, but it seemed to be:

Smooth (FBX) >>> Sony CXA >>> Wavebeam

Can you confirm? The Smooth palette looks awesome btw!

[FBX]

Thanks man! I just tried the first firmware and it works great. I'm not sure if the firmware is labeled wrong or my switch is wrong, but it seemed to be:

Smooth (FBX) >>> Sony CXA >>> Wavebeam

Can you confirm? The Smooth palette looks awesome btw!

It's because of how your switch is wired. Mine is the same way, which makes the toggle position look like this:

Switch #1 >>> Switch #3 >>> Switch #2.

-FBX

[nakedarthur]

It's because of how your switch is wired. Mine is the same way, which makes the toggle position look like this:

Switch #1 >>> Switch #3 >>> Switch #2.

-FBX

Cool, thanks for confirming.

--

I've updated the site as well with the latest NESRGB firmware pack. If you downloaded either the .pal or NESRGB firmwares before today please grab them again just to be safe since both have been updated recently.

[syboxez]

So I'm sure some of you are like "wait, what happened to NTSC Hardware?". Well not to worry, "Smooth FBX" is effectively the same palette, only with a handful of tweaks to make it less 'sterile'. Below is a compilation of the tweaked colors as they appear in a few games:

Can we get the pal file for this new palette?

[Ripthorn]

Thanks @FBX. It's time to open my famicom again
Any chance of you have some of these jtag adapters left to sell?

[PascalP]

Thanks to both of you!
I'll give them a go as soon as I get to it!

[FBX]

Can we get the pal file for this new palette?

http://www.firebrandx.com/downloads/Smooth%20(FBX).zip

[FBX]

I updated the NES Palette page with all the links and details, including explaining the weird quirk of the NESRGB requiring palette #3 being the middle toggle position:

http://www.firebrandx.com/nespalette.html


-FBX