# Modding My New 3DS XL for Capture I finally did it. After years of longing, hoping, [[Delta 1.3 Thoughts & Impressions|conniving]], and [[Hot, Fresh Homebrewed Consoles|hacking]] ways to record Nintendo DS and 3DS footage, I finally sent mine [off to loopy](https://3dscapture.com/order.html) and had them install a [[260131_3DS Capture Test_USB C Cutout.jpg|USB-C capture mod]] on my *Majora's Mask*-themed New Nintendo 3DS XL. And ohmygoodness. ![[260203_3DS_Samus_5x.png]] ![[260131_3DS Capture Test_Mario Top Screen.png]] ![[260131_3DS Capture Test_ACNL.jpg]] ![[260131_3DS Capture Test_LBW.jpg]] Before we continue to ogle at razor sharp pixels, I want to share how I ended up here. I have always had a desire to play portable games on the big screen. From a total [[Trading Pokémon from the Nintendo 64 to the Switch|misunderstanding of the purpose]] of the N64 Transfer Pak to the [[Game Boy Player Start-Up Disc|Game Boy Player]] that I got for my ninth or tenth birthday (I cannot seem to remember which), I have always preferred playing my portable games on a television. Unfortunately, there has never been a consumer-facing official method for playing DS or 3DS carts on the TV. Sure, there are the [NitroDS developer kits](https://retrorgb.com/first-successful-rgb-mod-of-the-nitrods.html) from back in the day—actually, a mom and pop down the street has had one for sale for years that I have contemplated. One can only dream of the 3DS capture cards that Nintendo's Treehouse used at E3. There have been plenty of [mods](https://youtu.be/F4n9oYBFiMI?si=-BSAVFoFqAwISwUM) for the DS over the years, including this wild one [through the audio jack](https://youtu.be/FZRikLKsXY8?si=mLdbxZxtzblHfhAI). There was even supposed to be a [[DS Consolizer in the Works|DS Consolizer]] from Woozle before he formed PixelFX. The most appealing of all these was a mod for the New 3DS XL from katsukitty, which Marc "Try4ce" Duddleson from [My Life in Gaming](https://youtube.com/watch?v=HWTxs7bxhi0) did a video on back in 2019. This was the dream as it would tackle both DS and 3DS at their native resolutions. The catch was katsukitty was shut down not long thereafter. When exploring options for [[S6 - Pokémon|Chapter Select Season 6 - Pokémon]], it felt like the scene was still [[S6 - Pokémon Behind the Scenes#Video|shrouded in mystery]] behind foreign modders and complex soldering. I tried emulating the DS on [[240110_Delta-Direct.png|my iPhone]], [[240111_melonDS.png|Mac]], and [Wii U](https://youtu.be/1gIoXAu22U0)—the Wii U is actually the best bet for playing and capturing outside of a modded console. <div class=iframe-container> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/1gIoXAu22U0?si=xCZtI8H1bC7McyN5" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div> But in 2024, I saw [Tito's video](https://youtu.be/F23h90RRqfo?si=3Uj3-I-8aFOKh7uU ) on a new board from loopy, the brains behind the original 3DS capture mod. After a year's worth of waffling, I sold off some old stuff overdue for eBay and sent my sole 3DS off to an address in Utah, hoping for the best. And the best was returned to me a couple of weeks later. The [[260131_3DS Capture Test_USB C Cutout.jpg|cutout]] is is so clean that it looks official, like it was always meant to be there. It charges the console and spits out the video—the dream of USB-C realized. Now, being on a Mac, I have to resort to alternative software to view the footage. There are two multi-platform options—[cc3dsfs](https://github.com/Lorenzooone/cc3dsfs?tab=readme-ov-file) and [xx3dsfml](https://github.com/ChrisMalnick/xx3dsfml). I went with cc3dsfs because it is the most recently updated *and* it has a Raspberry Pi version for TV play. That's the next goal. I want to set this up with a Pi and feed it into my Retro-TINK 4K Pro for advanced upscaling features. For now though, I am using the Mac app. I did [grab this icon](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1C07rkkuTLlKiVktRyGdODWoB1a3s8P_t) of the 3DS camera app that has been stylized for macOS and apply it to the app; just to give it [[260205_cc3dsfs app and icon.png|that little flare]], because this app needs some. The app and its menus are clearly multi-platform in there approach, which makes total sense. We are modding the 3DS for video out after all. There is no official flavor here.[^1] ![[260205_3DS_cc3dsfs menu wide.png]] All the options you might want are here though. You can split the screens apart and scale them independently. There's screen placement, menu bar removal, profiles, etc. There's even Black Frame Insertion, but I didn't test that. As for the scaling, you can scale by factors of 0.5x, so native scaling is totally achievable. I actually did not test for or see an option for interpolation should you opt for a 0.5x integer scale. Inside a 4K display area, this means that you can scale the 3DS's native top screen resolution of 400 x 240 nine times to get 3600 x 2160 or scale the DS native resolution of 256 x 192 eleven times to get 2816 x 2112. I hooked my MacBook Pro up to my LG C1 and, yep, it looks stunning. ![[260204_3DS_OoT_Title_9x.png]] Here's a fun comparison with *Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies*, which I started playing on Switch 2 this year. It's cool to see the original next to the remaster. Notice the bloom of the lamp on the 3DS—I kinda like it more. You can see the thick lines for the cel shading that age gracefully on Switch. Please forgive the different text, but Athena's pose is the same. Actually, its interesting they went from a san-serif to a serif in the remake. ![[260203_3DS_Athena_5x.png]] ![[260204_PWDD_Switch 4K-boarder.png]] The catch with this approach is that there's no room for the 320 x 240 bottom screen. You can do a 6x scale on the top screen and 3x for the bottom screen to fit both. This is really dependent on whether or not the game you are playing is top or bottom screen heavy. A game like *Phantom Hourglass* would definitely demand a bottom-screen-first approach, while *Super Mario 3D Land* can probably just be the top screen all the time. Now, there are built-in settings to put the two screens up together and scale them based off a percentage. Here's an example of *[[260204_3DS_OoT_Full_70-30.png|Ocarina of Time]]* in a 70-30 split and *[[260131_3DS Capture Test_Mario Top and Bottom.png|Super Mario 3D Land]]* in a 3x scale. And let us not forget the original Nintendo DS! When booting a DS title on a 3DS, if you hold the "Start" button, the console will run the game it is original resolution. Inside cc3dsfs there is a crop option for "Native DS." I tested out *Yoshi Island DS* and *Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia*. The results were sharper than I could have imagined. It reminded me of the first time I saw [[140822_MLiG_RGB 101_LttP.png|this comparison shot]] of *[[The Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past|A Link to the Past]]* in My Life in Gaming's [RGB 101](https://youtu.be/43dzrCAfU3A?si=ej2_AIC7FWVLxuow&t=322). It was like when I put glasses on for the first time inside a Walmart Vision Center and was able to tell the giant yellow blur in the sky was the rollback mascot. ![[260203_DS_Yoshi_3x.png]] ![[260203_DS_OoE_3x.png]] The pixels are sharp. The colors are rich. All this information, depth, detail was hiding beneath the surface of those TFT LCD panels. I can confidently say I have never seen DS games this clear before, even when emulating. And that's why I wanted a real-hardware solution. Emulation can get you so far, even emulate things on a hardware level like with FPGA. Emulation can even take you beyond, like the [[Analogue 3D at First Blush|Analogue 3D]] for example.[^2] There are undeniable pros. The challenge for Nintendo's seventh and eighth gen handhelds lies within the touch screen, microphone, and the complexity of the 3DS emulation itself. Heck, even certain DS titles (like the *Pokémon* titles) are difficult to emulate, as I discovered when making [[S6 - Pokémon|Season 6]] of Chapter Select. Cartridges could have funky workarounds or IR sensors. Some stuff you just *can't* properly emulate. I never have to wonder if my New 3DS XL is running a 3DS game correctly. It is. No doubt enters my mind if the quirks of *HeartGold* are being masked or portrayed the right way. And if I want to enhance those experiences, like I did with *Metroid Prime Hunters* for [[S7E4 - Metroid Prime Hunters|this past season of Chapter Select]] then I can! I'm thrilled to have bit the bullet and modded my 3DS. Now I can capture any console in my collection off real-hardware. There are no more hangups or holdbacks. Expect to see crispy footage in our season on *[[S8 - Castlevania|Castlevania]]*—from the NES all the way to the PS5 and *everything* in between. Here's one more for ya. ![[260204_3DS_OoT_Title_b_9x.png]] You can hear this one *and* see it. [^1]: Now, cc3dsfs is under an MIT license, which means anyone can do whatever with the software as long as *that* software also has an MIT license. Perhaps with all these [AI coding tools](https://youtu.be/oV6mC8Rt1kY) and agents now, a more Mac-focused version could be made? [^2]: Speaking of which, Analogue just updated the 3D with a "Force Progressive Output" feature that removes the interlacing of 480i games. I gave it a quick test with *Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness* and, yeah, I will be playing that way when we get to it for Chapter Select. A complete game changer! Powered by emulation!