Help:Contents/Images

All you need to know about uploading, adding, and formatting images.

Image Guidelines

TEST: See if you can spot how many rules this image is breaking!

General

1. No JPEGs.
   • Please take your screenshots using PNG format. Don't try to convert JPEGs to PNGs. This only serves to make the file much larger and has zero impact on image quality.
   • Exception: If a texture or other graphic was originally stored as a JPEG, and you can cleanly extract it from the game, you can upload it in its original format.
2. No screenshots of text editors, hex editors, or file listings.
3. Optimize PNGs before uploading them.
   • Large and/or high-color PNGs need to be optimized in order to reduce filesize.
   • Try using PNGCRUSH or IrfanView (via the PNGOUT plugin).
4. Make sure the image is clean.
   • No watermarks, emulator messages, or other non-game images or text.
5. Use descriptive filenames.
   • Include an abbreviation for the game's title. This helps make files easier to identify, and prevents future filename conflicts.
     • Example: A Super Mario Bros. 2 screenshot should be called SMB2-smiley.png, not Smiley.png.
6. Try not to use visibly obvious hacks when taking screenshots.
   • Example: Don't change the appearance of the player character using hacks.
7. For image comparisons, use the same emulator with the same settings whenever possible.
   • Using different emulators can cause subtle brightness, color, or texturing differences (especially in newer games), which are undesirable in image comparisons.
8. Tag the image appropriately.
   • Instructions for tagging images can be found here.

Title Screens

1. Take title screenshots with an emulator or in-game screenshot function at the console's native resolution.
   • A list of native resolutions for various consoles, including instructions on how to take screenshots in various emulators, can be found here.
   • For the sake of consistency, please use 256×240 for NES/Famicom screenshots.
2. No box art, promotional art, etc.
3. No watermarked images from other websites.
4. For old games that have no real title screen, upload the first gameplay screen that appears after you power on the console.

Ripped Graphics

1. Upload textures and graphics at their original resolution.
   • You can resize very small images by using the instructions in the Formatting section.

Screenshots

For more help on this, see Help:Contents/Taking Screenshots.

NOTE: All NES screenshots must be taken with the same palette file for consistency. Please see this page for more information.

1. Don't take screenshots from video footage.
   • Don't take screenshots from online web streams, such as YouTube videos. These tend to suffer from lossy video compression.
   • Exception: Video captures may be used to illustrate how leftover content was once used in unreleased demo or prototype versions of games (such as trade show demos), but only if the content still exists within the final game (example).
2. Take screenshots with an emulator or in-game screenshot function at the console's native resolution.
   • A list of native resolutions for various consoles, including instructions on how to take screenshots in various emulators, can be found here.
   • For the sake of consistency, please use 256×240 for NES/Famicom screenshots.
   • When using Kega Fusion for Genesis/Master System/Game Gear screenshots, set "Output Stage" to "Raw" in the Extras tab of the configuration dialog to prevent the image from being resized and filtered. Also note that images will need to be converted to PNG before they can be uploaded to the wiki.
   • Some consoles use video modes that rely on the display device to resize the image. If a screenshot at its native resolution is much taller than it is wide (e.g. 320×480) or vice-versa, causing excessive distortion, resample the image to 4:3 using a high-quality filter (Lanczos is recommended) before uploading. IrfanView is a good choice for Windows users.
3. Don't go above 1024×768 (or 1280×720 for widescreen-optimized games) for variable-resolution platforms (e.g., PCs).
   • Feel free to use a lower resolution if it still shows sufficient detail, or if higher resolutions introduce unwanted scaling artifacts.
   • Older games were often optimized for fairly low resolutions. For example, a game made in 1995 may not need anything higher than 640×480. Use good judgment and common sense.
4. Do not upload widescreen (16:9 and up) shots unless a significant amount of important detail would be lost otherwise.
   • Although widescreen often "looks" better, the extra detail is usually not necessary to illustrate unused content, and is an unnecessary waste of server resources and bandwidth.
   • Exception: Some games are only designed to run in widescreen resolutions, and will appear letterboxed or distorted when run in 4:3. In these cases, widescreen shots are preferable.
5. Don't crop out parts of screenshots.
   • Exception: Nintendo DS and 3DS gameplay screenshots can be cropped if one of the screens does not contain relevant information (for example, item/status screens). Title screen shots should show both screens, unless one of the screens is completely blank.
6. Don't alter the screenshot.
   • This includes adjusting or adding contrast, brightness, filters, or watermarks.
   • When demonstrating something such as a hidden message that utilizes extremely similar colors to the background, upload two copies of the image—one normal, and one with the changes—and then use the Compare template to show the difference between the two.

Scans

1. Only upload scans if they illustrate something that is unused, but still in the game.
   • If it's not in the game anymore, don't upload it.
   • The only purpose of scans is to show how something still found in the game's code was intended to be used.

Uploading Images

1. Click "Upload file" under the Toolbox heading on the left sidebar.
   • You can also click here.
2. Choose a filename and enter it into the Destination Filename box.
   • Example: OoT-Redead.png
3. Write a description of what you're uploading in the Summary box.
   • Example: "A Redead from Ocarina of Time."
4. Tag the image appropriately.
   • Example: {{screenshot|Nintendo 64}}

Once you've uploaded a file, it will appear on its own page. (Example) Here you can see the file name, the date it was uploaded on, who uploaded it, and which articles link to it.

NOTE: Due to image caching, when uploading a new version of an image, you may need to refresh the page once or twice afterwards in order for it to appear properly. Do not reupload the same file multiple times!

Tagging Images

Images must be tagged with their system and type. Put this information into the Summary box on the Upload File page. Tagging an image will place it into a category. You can use more than one tag.

• Replace system with the proper name of the platform. Example: {{screenshot|PlayStation 2}}

Code:	Description:	Category:
{{conceptart|game}}	Concept art, for use on Prerelease pages.	Concept Art
{{debugscreen|system}}	Screenshots of debug modes.	Debug Mode Screenshots
{{editor|system}}	Images taken from game data editors/viewers.	Editor Images
{{map|system}}	Fully ripped maps of areas or stages.	Maps
{{mockup|system}}	Images assembled from a game's resources that don't represent actual gameplay. These images are sometimes featured in prerelease footage and often depict situations that cannot happen during the game, or attempt to make the game look as exciting as possible. It's sometimes difficult to recognize whether a screenshot is a mockup, so if you're unsure, just use the {{screenshot}} category instead.	Mockup Images
{{modelrender|system}}	Model assets rendered with third-party tools rather than in-game.	Model Renders
{{personalimage|username}}	Images you are uploading to put on your User Page. Replace username with your username.	Personal Images
{{prerelease-image|game}}	Prerelease images, for use on Prerelease pages.	Prerelease Images
{{rippedgraphic|system}}	Graphical assets that were ripped directly from the game, or cropped from full-size screenshots. These can include sprites, backgrounds, models, textures, and fonts.	Ripped Graphics
{{scan|system}}	Scans of printed material, including pictures from magazines.	Scanned Images
{{screenshot|system}}	Full-size game screenshots, usually taken directly from an emulator.	Screenshots
{{titlescreen|system}}	Title screens.	Title Screens
{{wikiimage}}	Internal wiki images. Most users shouldn't need to use this.	Wiki Images

Formatting Images

Use this code to add images to your article:

Code:

[[File:Filename.png]]

[[File:TWW_OutsetIsland1.png]]

Size

Resize images by adding the desired width in pixels. You can do this with the px tag.

• For pixel art, use exact multiples of the original size, as TCRF uses nearest-neighbor resampling to prevent blurring.

Code:

[[File:Filename.png|??px]]

[[File:TWW_OutsetIsland1.png|200px]]

Alignment

Change the alignment of your image by adding left, right, or center:

Code:

[[File:Filename.png|??px|right]]

[[File:TWW_OutsetIsland1.png|200px|right]]

Spacing Issues

If text isn't wrapping properly around bobs, images, or embedded videos, use a {{clear}} tag to force unrelated content below them. For example, a {{clear}} tag has been added to the end of this section to prevent the text in the Comparisons section below from wrapping around the image on the right.

Code:

{{clear}}

Comparisons

Compare two different screenshots like this:

Code:

{{compare| | leftt = Heading A | rightt = Heading B | left = [[File:Filename.png|??px]] | right = [[File:Filename.png|??px]] }}

Japanese Version	Other Versions

{{compare|
| leftt  = Japanese Version
| rightt = Other Versions
| left   = [[File:TWW-HyruleWallsJ1.png|270px]]
| right  = [[File:TWW-HyruleWallsU1.png|270px]]
}}

Galleries

You can create an image gallery using this code:

<gallery widths="64" heights="64" perrow="3"> File:Filename.png|Description of Image A File:Filename.png|Description Image B File:Filename.png|Description of Image C File:Filename.png|Description of Image D File:Filename.png|Description of Image E File:Filename.png|Description of Image F </gallery>

widths: width of images
heights: heights of images
perrow: how many images will appear per row

• 

  Description of Image A

• 

  Description of Image B

• 

  Description of Image C

• 

  Description of Image D

• 

  Description of Image E

• 

  Description of Image F

<gallery widths="64" heights="64" perrow="3">
File:DKCBanana22.png|Description of Image A
File:DKCBanana2C.png|Description of Image B
File:DKCBanana42.png|Description of Image C
File:DKCBanana4A.png|Description of Image D
File:DKCBanana4E.png|Description of Image E
File:DKCBanana5E.png|Description of Image F
</gallery>