Help:Contents/Taking Screenshots

We have very specific requirements that all screenshots must meet. This page exists for those who aren't sure about taking screenshots of various system games.

PC

Steam games: Go to Settings > In-Game, check the "Save an uncompressed copy outside Steam" option and click the "SELECT EXTERNAL SCREENSHOTS FOLDER" button to set where you want screenshots to be saved. Take screenshots with F12 or whatever hotkey you have set, but do NOT use the "SHOW ON DISK" button in the screenshot manager to get your screenshots. Those screenshots are JPEGs. Instead go to the folder you set up and grab the lossless PNG screenshots from there. Also note that the Steam overlay ("Steam Community In-Game") must be running to grab screenshots, and that it is not compatible with older, software-rendered games.
FRAPS: First go into the FRAPS window, then go in the "Screenshots" Tab, and set the "Image Format" to PNG, select an output folder, then go into a 3D accelerated game. Press F10 to take a screenshot. This only works with full-screen games. As FRAPS does not indicate which program it will capture, it is recommended that you only keep one game/emulator open at a time.
Print Screen: If all else fails, just do a simple print screen (press the PrtScrn key, usually found on the upper corners of full-size keyboards) and save the result as a PNG in an image editor. The specific rules vary between operating systems (and in the case of Linux, desktop environments).
- Note that even this fallback can fail, as in the case of Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness. In that case you should try FRAPS.
Irfanview: Open the program and press C. You can choose between one of several capture modes, and whether to copy the capture to the clipboard, to the Irfanview window, or save it to a file. "Foreground Window" works best with windowed games that let you Alt-Tab out of them. The program does not normally work with full-screen games.
DOSBox: Press Ctrl+F5 while in a game to save a screenshot in PNG format. In Windows systems, these will be placed in the capture folder. In Macs, these go in ~/Library/Preferences/capture/.
Built-in screenshots: Many games have built-in hotkeys that save screenshots, which may be in various lossless formats! Be sure to read your game's instruction manual (if any) for more info. If the game saves pictures in a lossy format like JPG, then use one of the techniques mentioned above.

Arcade games, Neo Geo

The correct resolution depends on the game (and newer systems may allow changing the resolution mid-game).

MAME: MAME produces lossless screenshots by default. Just hit F12 during gameplay. If your configuration file or frontend does not specify an explicit screenshots folder, MAME will save the screenshot to a snap folder in the current directory, with the current game's internal name as a subdirectory and then the file (named with a number) within (for instance, the first screenshot of Street Fighter II you take will be snap/sf2/0000.png).
- In addition, MAME will usually tell you the correct video resolution in an infobox when you load the game.
Kawaks: This emulator deals specifically in Neo Geo/CPS/CPS2 platform games. Go to Tools>Screenshot (Unfiltered) or press Ctrl + P. Screenshots are saved to the capture folder by default. Also under Tools is Shot Factory, a menu where certain layers can be removed piece by piece for easier isolation of certain graphics.

Atari

Atari 2600

Obviously enough, the TV Type setting must be on Color when taking screenshots.

Stella: Press F12 for a screenshot, making sure to have checked Screenshot in 1x mode under Config Paths.

Jaguar

It should be noted that the Jaguar's internal resolution seems to vary per game. This can be seen with screenshots taken with MESS.

MESS: Seen some improvements lately, and it seems to emulate the 3D alright. Similar to MAME, take a screenshot with F12, except double the height, remove the black borders and halve the total size using nearest-neighbor scaling.
Project Tempest: Print-screen, remove the borders and then halve the size.
Virtual Jaguar: Glitches severely with DSP. Set the size to 1x and turn anti-aliasing off, then print-screen and remove the borders.

Nintendo

NES

Palette

For the sake of consistency, all users must use the same palette when taking NES screenshots. The officially-sanctioned NTSC palette file can be downloaded below:

Download NES NTSC Palette

File: NES NTSC Palette.zip (293 B) (info)

FCEUX - Go to Config > Palette..., check "Use Custom Palette", then click the "Load Palette..." button. Make sure "NTSC Color Emulation" is disabled, as this will override the loaded palette file (FCEUX's NTSC color emulation is based on very old and inaccurate code).

To do:
FCEUX for Linux changes the options entirely

Nestopia - No palette file is needed. To ensure that your screenshots match the palette file above, go to Options > Video... In the "Palette" section, select "Auto". In the "Colors" section, make sure all the sliders are in the middle (click the "Reset" button), then click the "Advanced.." button. In the Color Decoder dialog, click the "15° Canonical" button, make sure "Boost yellow" is unchecked, then click the "OK" button. Click "OK" once more to close the Video Options dialog.

Vs. System

Although the Vs. System arcade hardware is NES-based, its games use a variety of different PPUs, some with scrambled palettes, and all with pure RGB output. FCEUX must NOT be used to take screenshots of these games, as its built-in palettes are very outdated and do not match the actual RGB colors. Nestopia and MAME both use the correct palettes; the former will automatically choose an appropriate palette when its "Palette" setting (described above) is set to "Auto".

Resolution

NES screenshots should be 256×240 pixels, regardless of region. Many emulators crop eight rows of pixels from the top and bottom when running in NTSC mode, so be sure this is not the case before taking your screenshots.

FCEUX - In the Video configuration settings (Config > Video...), set the NTSC drawing area to 0 and 239 and make sure "Clip left and right sides (8px on each)" is unchecked. Press F12 to take a screenshot, which is (by default) saved in snaps under your FCEUX folder as "[ROM name]-number.png".
Nestopia - Disable all video filters and press Alt+E to take a screenshot. The screenshot hotkey combination can be changed in Options > Input..., in the File category (Save Screenshot).

SNES

The SNES can output at four progressive resolutions: 256×224, 512×224, 256×239, 512×239. There are also two interlaced resolutions: 512×448, 512×478. For the 512 pixel wide progressive resolutions, double the screenshot's resolution vertically before uploading. Do not resample it when resizing.

bsnes/higan - Uncheck "Enable NTSC gamma ramp simulation" under Settings > Configuration Settings. Go to Tools > Capture Screenshot to take a screenshot.
Snes9x - Press F12 to save a screenshot.
ZSNES - It is recommended to not take screenshots with this emulator, as it does not render the bottom line of the screen correctly.

To do:
bsnes and higan have changed dramatically over the years to fit whatever need its author(s) have had a the time; go through various versions (especially later higan versions with television-like scaling for the main display) to see how screenshots are affected there. Older versions can still be found on the old Google Code page for the project.

Nintendo 64

Please elaborate.
Having more detail is always a good thing.
Specifically: It's possible to take native resolution shots from hardware using a GameShark connected to a PC with a parallel cable. It'd be wonderful if someone could describe this process here.

Nintendo 64 games render at many resolutions, however most plugins scale this to a chosen window resolution.

Project 64 2.1 & 2.2

Download these two pixel accurate plugins. Place vigl.dll inside the \Plugin folder. Place rsp.dll inside the \Plugin\RSP folder. Finally, place rdp_conf.bin inside the main emulator directory, which contains Project64.exe. Run Project64, and then select Options > Settings. Click on the Plugins section. Set Video (graphics) plugin to angrylion's RDP with OpenGL 1.5, and RSP (Reality Signal Processor) plugin to Static Interpreter. Make sure Use High Level GFX? / Graphics HLE is NOT selected, and then apply the new settings. Now select Options > Configure Graphics Plugin..., and set Screen Resolution Formula to DP frame buffer. Make sure Force NN is enabled, and both Bypass DAC filters and Refresh stepping are disabled. Both iteration leaping values should be set to 0. Pressing F3 will now create a native resolution BMP format screenshot in the Screenshots directory. The emulator will run significantly slower, so savestates may be advisable in certain situations.

If a game doesn't run properly with the pixel accurate plugins, use Glide64. Use the chosen emulator's menus to configure the plugin. Set screenshot format to PNG and window/fullscreen resolution to 320×240. Check "show advanced emulation options" if it is not already, close and reopen the configuration window, then set aspect ratio to "original" in the emulation settings tab. Make sure filtering mode is set to automatic. Ensure that no texture enhancement options are enabled. Emulation settings must be configured on a per-game basis.

High resolution games

Only certain games can output in a "hi-res" mode, and in most cases this high resolution mode needs to be enabled in an options or cheats menu in-game. Here is a list of games that support the "hi-res" mode:

007: The World Is Not Enough
Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness
Command & Conquer
Duke Nukem: Zero Hour
Excitebike 64
Hybrid Heaven
Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine
International Track and Field 2000
Ken Griffey, Jr.'s Slugfest
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (only for the Bomber's Notebook)
Madden NFL 2000
NBA Jam 2000
NFL Quarterback Club '98
NFL Quarterback Club '99
NFL Quarterback Club 2000
Nuclear Strike 64
Perfect Dark
Pokémon Stadium 2
Rayman 2: The Great Escape
Re-Volt
Resident Evil 2 (does some weird resolutions)
South Park
Star Wars Episode I: Battle for Naboo
Star Wars Episode I: Racer
Star Wars Rogue Squadron
Top Gear Rally 2
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil
Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion
Turok: Rage Wars
Vigilante 8
Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense
World Driver Championship

GameCube/Wii

GameCube and Wii have resolutions which can vary greatly based on system settings and even from game to game. European-region Wii consoles can be set to run in 50Hz 576i, 60Hz 480i or 60Hz 480p, while North American Wii consoles support the latter two only. In general, 480p should be considered the optimal mode for capturing screenshots on hardware.

The most common resolutions for 60Hz modes are 596×448 (e.g. Super Mario Sunshine), 608×456 (e.g. Super Mario Galaxy) and 640×480 (e.g. Wario Land: Shake It!). 50Hz mode can display at up to 640×528. That said, less common resolutions are still used even in relatively prominent titles, e.g. Wario World runs at 512×384 and the system supports much lower resolutions such as 640×240. Anything wider than 640 pixels or taller than 480 (60Hz)/528 (50Hz) is technically impossible on actual hardware and is incorrect for the purpose of screenshots.

Emulation

Dolphin 4.0+: By default, Dolphin will capture screenshots in the user's selected resolution rather than the game's native one. To set the emulator to use native resolution, click on Options and select Graphics Settings. Under the General tab, make sure Use Fullscreen and Render to Main Window are disabled. Enable Auto adjust Window Size. This will lock the window to the internal resolution while emulating. Under the Enhancements tab, set the Internal Resolution to 1x Native (640x528). Uncheck Widescreen Hack. For each individual Wii game, right click it in Dolphin's game browser and select Properties. Uncheck Enable WideScreen. Pressing F9 or clicking the Screenshot button while emulating will now produce a native resolution screenshot in Dolphin's user directory (generally C:\Users\USER\Documents\Dolphin Emulator\ScreenShots).

When emulating Japanese Wii games, some text elements may not appear unless the system language is set accordingly. Click on Options and select Configure. Under the Wii tab, set the System Language to Japanese.

Hardware

There are several methods of taking screenshots directly on the GameCube/Wii hardware. These all require the user to be able to launch homebrew software on their system, instructions for which are outside of the scope of this document.

USB Gecko: This is an unofficial debugging accessory for the GameCube and Wii, which plugs into a GameCube memory card slot (NB: not all Wii models have GCN support). It can perform functions such as memory viewing and editing, setting breakpoints, code searching, system logging, and taking screenshots. Firstly, games need to have debug hooks enabled via a homebrew game loader, of which there are many. On the GameCube, Swiss is the best option; on the Wii just about anything will do, from Gecko OS to any of the USB loaders. WiiRD can then be used for debugging commercial software and will take native resolution screenshots.

DIOS MIOS (Lite): DIOS MIOS and DIOS MIOS Lite replace the standard GameCube mode on a Wii with a version which attempts to load games from USB or an SD card (Lite version) instead of a disc. Since version 2.5, it has included a function to capture screenshots in raw YPbPr format. When enabled, this feature is triggered by pressing R and Z on the player four GameCube controller. The images can later be retrieved and converted to a usable format using a tool included in the download.

Game Boy/Game Boy Color/Super Game Boy

Game Boy and Game Boy Color screenshots are taken at 160×144 pixels.

BGB - First, make sure the "GBC LCD colors" option is not set: Right click the emulator window and choose "Options..." or press F11. Disable the option through the Graphics tab. In this same tab, you can check "SGB border in screenshot" if you're taking shots of Super Game Boy features. Right click the emulator window to take screenshots, these will be saved as native resolution bitmaps in a "scrnshot" folder under BGB regardless of the scaling filters set. If you wish to define a screenshot key or button, this can be done from the Joypad tab in the options menu - check "configure extra buttons" and click one of the configure buttons.
VisualBoyAdvance-M (VBA-M) - Takes screenshots at native resolution, no matter the video settings or filters. Press U to bring up the save screenshot window.
Gambatte - Cannot take screenshots.

To do:

Decide best color ratio for monochrome Game Boy games. Tentative one is 0/128/192/255.
Super Game Boy

Game Boy Advance

Game Boy Advance screenshots are taken at 240×160 pixels.

VisualBoyAdvance-M (VBA-M) - Takes screenshots at native resolution, no matter the video settings or filters. Press U to bring up the save screenshot window.

Nintendo DS

DeSmuME: Some games work better with SoftRasterizer (e.g. Rhythm Heaven), while some games work better with OpenGL (e.g. Super Mario 64 DS). If you're unsure which to use, take a screenshot with both and use the one that's more accurate with the given game. Additionally some games will render different parts differently, so it may be necessary to use different renderers on different parts of the same game.

Nintendo DSi

No$GBA: This is the only emulator that plays DSi games right now. On the active game window, press the PrintScreen key or right click on your mouse and select "Screenshot" to take a native snapshot. If you use an external screenshot program to take the snapshot, make sure the middle frame is removed and that the resolution is 256x384.

Nintendo 3DS

Nintendo 3DS screenshots are taken at 400×240 pixels for the top screen and 320×240 pixels for the bottom screen. In 3D mode, the 3DS produces two 400×240 pixels images; one for each eye in order to show depth when viewed on the system's screen. Screenshots should be taken in 2D mode for a lack of a better way to see them on other devices and for the sake consistency.

Homebrew: It is possible to take native resolution screenshots from the hardware by using homebrew. This is accomplished by running any given game through a utility called HANS. From there, pressing the Home button will capture RAW images from the framebuffer. RAW images are converted to PNG format by using another utility called Screenshot tool.

Sega

Master System/Game Gear

Meka: Uncheck the Include GUI option under Video > Capture and press Print Screen to save a screenshot.

Genesis, Sega CD, 32X

The correct image size should be one of the following: 320×224 (NTSC/PAL), 320×240 (PAL only), 256×224 (NTSC/PAL), 256×240 (PAL only).

Gens/GS: Go to Graphics > Color Adjust... and set Color Scale Method to Full and both Contrast and Brightness to 0 before taking screenshots to set Gens/GS's idea of Genesis color to the most accurate option. (Gens/GS II will use the correct color scaling settings by default, and the incorrect options will be removed.)
Kega Fusion: Fusion by default outputs processed screenshots. You will need to change it to produce raw screenshots. To do this, go to Options > Set Config, click on the Extras tab, and set Output Stage to Raw. Now you can just convert the images produced by Kega to PNGs.
- In addition, Kega always produces a 240px-high image, even in NTSC where the upper and lower 8 pixels of the image will just be the "background color" (one of the palette entries chosen by the game; by default the very first one, as that is also a transparent pixel for tiles). For these screenshots, merely crop out this border.
Regen: Go to Tools>Screenshot (unfiltered).
- Like Kega, Regen always produces a 240px-high image, even in NTSC where the upper and lower 8 pixels of the image will just be the background color. For these screenshots, merely crop out this border.

Saturn

Dreamcast

Sony

PlayStation

pSX (psxfin) - Press F12 to take a screenshot at native resolution. Screenshots will be saved to the emulator's screenshots folder. Half-height images must be pixel resized to double height without any filtering, and then resampled to a 4:3 ratio using the Lanczos resampling method. Irfanview is an excellent tool for resizing and resampling images with ease. Make sure "Apply sharpen after Resample" is always unchecked.
ePSXe should not be used because it produces inaccurate screenshots.

PlayStation 2

PCSX2: GSDX: Press F8. The screenshots will be saved to the snaps folder as a raw bitmap. The resolution may vary depending on how the game renders graphics - some images are saved at half-height, so double their height in an image editor (pixel resize, no filtering) before uploading them to the wiki (title screens only).

To do:
I remember at least one plugin absolutely insisted on sepia-toning screenshots for some stupid reason (I forget which) - andlabs

PlayStation Portable