xx3dsfml Multi-platform Capture Software Release Thread

[static_zero]

Sup everyone

Recently, I overhauled my capture software pretty significantly and put out the first official release. I figured the best place to announce when significant updates are made would be right here in the forums, so I decided to open this new thread where I’ll do exactly that.

For this first announcement, I’m happy to say that the audio latency issue has been resolved and that performance as a whole for both audio and video has seen significant improvements overall. Also, significant changes to the feature set have been made which I’ll briefly outline here:

1. The screens can now be split into separate windows.
2. The screens can now be cropped for DS mode, removing the black borders.
3. Scaling is now done by a factor of 0.5x and now goes up to 4.5x.
4. All of the transforms (cropping, scaling, rotating, and blurring) apply to each window individually. Both windows are controlled separately when split and all three of the windows maintain their own configurations.
5. The settings are now loaded from a file when the program launches and are saved when it’s closed.

These updates should also improve stability, so if anyone was having issues previously, hopefully they’ll be resolved now. I’ll be continuing to patch the software as needed, but for the time being, I’m mostly interested in setting up something to provide an easier time deploying the dependencies and installing. I should have access to a Mac relatively soon too, albeit an older one with an Intel chip, but I’ll be using it to test things out when I can. I may even look to see if I can get this running on Windows, but that’s not really much of a concern as of now.

Also, I should mention that I haven’t actually had a chance to test the latest updates out thoroughly yet, so I’ll be shamelessly plugging myself again here by saying that I’ll be streaming at https://www.twitch.tv/static_zero for the next several hours today and tomorrow too (and probably most weekends at that). If anyone’s interested, feel free to pop in.

Anyway, I also wanted to say thanks to anyone that’s been using the software. I’m glad that I could put something out that’s benefited more than just myself. I’d be really happy if this has even given anyone enough confidence to buy a capture board in the first place, so I at least hope that it’ll be living up to expectations!

[static_zero]

Back again to post about another update! I released v1.1.0 late last week which added support for user defined preset layouts. Four layout files were added in a presets folder which can be saved to and loaded from on the fly. Basically, they let you save whatever configuration you currently have set so that you can quickly and easily load it back up at any time. I use this myself so that I can have three separate layouts, one for 3DS games and two for DS games, all of which are in split screen mode. The one I have for 3DS scales the top screen up to 3.5x so that it combined with the bottom screen make up 1080 pixels vertically. The other two have the top screen cropped for DS games and scale either of the screens up to 4.5x which makes it 1080 pixels tall. If I'm playing a game where the action mostly takes place on the bottom screen, I can swap to that layout and just switch which screens my sources in OBS point to. I personally like this since it means I only need two sources in OBS that are shared between two scenes, and it's quick to switch between it all both in my software and OBS. Just as before, whatever the configuration that the program was last set to is what will be loaded back up when launching the program again.

I also wanted to mention here that my testing last week with the last update went well. Long story short, there was only one issue that occurred, but it was entirely due to my USB cable failing, so after swapping it out, things were running fine again. I managed to go for about 6 hours, and everything stayed consistent the whole way through (outside of having to troubleshoot the cable issue that is). I'll be continuing to test things out, and will be applying patches if anything comes up either for myself or anyone else. I really don't plan to work on any more features for the time being (although I thought that with the last update and just randomly had a bit of inspiration for this update so who knows :p), and like I mentioned previously, I'll be shifting my attention to implementing something to make getting everything set up and running more easy. I understand that not everyone has the know-how in working with these sorts of things, so anything to help make the experience easier is my goal but more to come on that in the future.

[static_zero]

Hi all!

As I mentioned in the other thread, there likely won't be anymore updates to this project, but just for completeness, here's a list of everything that's been added since the last time I posted here:

- CPU usage has been observably reduced.
- Audio startup is now mostly completely stable. There are still some issues with this while in DS mode though unfortunately.
- Audio output device switching should now be handled. Logically reconnecting the 3DS should force the audio to output to the new device if it hasn't on its own.
- The config/layout file IO has been updated to create files per user in their local config directory.
- Physical/logical connection/disconnection of the 3DS has been reintroduced.
- Support for 12 layout files has been added across all 12 function keys. The Ctrl key is now used to facilitate saving.
- Holding keys for repeated input has been reintroduced for scaling, rotating, cropping, and volume.
- Adjusting the volume no longer cancels mute.
- A cropping mode for DS games in native resolution (when holding down START/SELECT while launching a title) has been added.
- The cropping control has changed to cycle through the different modes using separate keys for forwards and backwards.
- An --auto runtime option has been added to allow the program to automatically reconnect to the 3DS in 5 second intervals.
- A --safe runtime option has been added for running the application in safe mode, disabling config/layout file IO.
- A --vsync runtime option has been added for running with a frame rate limit that matches the monitor's refresh rate instead.
- Older versions of SFML are now supported.
- The Makefile now handles installing and uninstalling the D3XX driver which has been downgraded from the latest version due to a bug.
- The make install command now compiles the program directly to the /usr/local/bin folder.

Anyway, that's it for now. Thanks again to everyone whose used my software. I hope it's managed to serve you well in the short time that it has.

[static_zero]

Back again to post about another update (even though I recently said that there probably wouldn't be anymore *shrugs*). v1.5.0 was just released and introduces brightness controls to the program. The brightness can be incrementally darkened and lightened and can even be quickly reset back to its default. With this update, the keyboard controls have changed (sorry for swapping them around so sporadically), so please check the README for the latest configuration. I also added an update command to the Makefile so that the latest versions of the files can be downloaded directly to the folder where it's run from.

The only future updates I really see being added at this point would be more cropping modes like I've mentioned in the past, but I need to have actual games to test these out on before I add them. Updates may also come if/when the D3XX driver or SFML ever update again in the future which could potentially allow for more enhancements/features to come as well. Until then though, if there's anything that I add or change for my own use, I'll continue to make the updates public.

Well, that's basically it. Not a huge update, but a nice little feature to have for those who might want it.