Full Speed PSX finally here on New 3DS / New 2DS XL (Metal Gear Solid, Crash Bandicoot, Final Fantasy IX, Vagrant Story, Resident Evil 2, etc.) RetroArch – Convert PlayStation 1 BIN/CUE to CHD

There was a lot of attention in 2019 when the UNAI renderer was added to PCSX Rearmed, as it meaningfully improved the ability of 3DS owners to play PSX classics.

Unfortunately, as anyone who tried it out could attest, the performance was still extremely spotty. 2D games generally performed better but overall playability varied significantly from title to title.

Over the past six months, the situation has improved dramatically. Incredibly, there has been very little attention despite the huge improvements. The latest nightlies now run most PSX games at full speed, including demanding titles like Metal Gear Solid!

To get started, you will need to download a recent nightly of the PCSX Rearmed Retroarch core. Then you will need to enable the following settings.

• Compress your game to either CHD or PBP. CHD is the superior solution.

To do this conversion you need chdman.exe which can be found inside the MAME Official Windows Binary packages located here – mame0201b_64bit.exe was the latest release when I did the conversion.

Extract chdman.exe from mame0201b_64bit.exe into the same folder as your PSX BIN/CUE files. Then you can just run one command to convert everything to CHD:

1	for %i in (*.cue) do chdman createcd -i "%i" -o "%~ni.chd"

• Switch Audio Driver to DSP_Thread. This step is very important. Threaded audio was only added in the past few months and provides a meaningful performance boost. You will need to restart Retroarch to realize this setting change.
• Enable Audio Synchronization.
• Disable Video Synchronization (unless you are playing a 2D game). You will not notice a negative difference in 3D games.
• In Quick Menu -> Options, set CD Access Method to Async. You will need to restart Retroarch to realize this setting change.
• In Quick Menu -> Options, set Threaded Rendering to Async. This is extremely important. Threaded Rendering option was only added in the past few weeks.
• In Quick Menu -> Options, enable Advance GPU UNAI/PCSX4All Settings.
• In Quick Menu -> Options, Enable High-Res Downscaling. This option will only show up once you show Advanced GPU UNAI/PCSX4All Settings and then close and reopen the Quick Menu. M

For good measure you may want to Restart Retroarch after making the last changes.

via https://blog.thirdechelon.org/2018/10/retroarch-convert-playstation-1-bin-cue-to-chd/

Potential fix method for the 3DS GBA Virtual Console screen wrap issue. (128GB SD Card Issue - Fix by Formatting to 64kb FAT32 Clusters)

Let me just start by saying that I did not discover this fix on my own and there is a possibility it simply won't work. I'm posting this because I don't see much talk of the issue here and so people can try the method to fix the problem on a permanent basis.

The issue in question is a widely know issue with 128gb microSD cards and the GBA Virtual Console. When attempting to load GBA games from a 128gb microSD card, there is a high chance the screen image will be improperly wrapped and a few lines of pixels that are supposed to be the top of the image, will be displayed at the bottom. I was having the issue with most all of my injected GBA games on pretty much every startup. I have been trying to find a permanent solution for a bit but had been coming up short. Most places I read said that the issue was unavoidable with 128gb cards and you best bet was to repeatedly spam the home button to get the screen to slowly wrap back around to the proper place. I finally came across someone who said they fixed their issue.

How I fixed the issue: Thanks to a helpful post from KJack on GBAtemp, I was also able to permanently fix the issue.

• Back-up the contents of your SD card to your PC. (The next step will wipe the card, so this is necessary.)

• Using a program such as guiformat, or any other formatting tool, fully format the SD card with 64kb clusters as opposed to 32kb. The card must also be FAT32 format, which it already should be if you've been using it on your 3DS.

• You can use guiformat or MiniTool Partition Wizard to format your drive in Windows

• Copy all of your files back to your SD card and load up some GBA titles.

Oddly, everywhere else I raid said that clusters above 32k would cause the issue, but this immediately fixed the issue for me on a 128gb card.

Disclaimer - I have not tried this method with any microSD card size other than 128gb. The issue seems to be mostly related to 128gb cards, so that's what I fixed it on. There are reports than 64kb cluster sizes will actually cause the issue on 64gb and lower cards but, for whatever reason, it appears to fix it with 128gb. My sample size of two 3DSs and 2 128gb cards is very small, so I can't guarantee it will work for everyone, but it worked for me and KJack, so hopefully it will help anyone else who is having the issue.

via https://www.reddit.com/r/3dshacks/comments/7t6pb1/potential_fix_method_for_the_gba_virtual_console/

3DS GBA Virtual Console Game Save Backup and Restore with GodMode9

If you have followed my previous tutorial on Nintendo 3DS GBA Game Injection to play GBA games on the 3DS then you might be wondering how you can backup your save games or even restore a save game from an emulator or from a real GBA game cartridge.

You can do this quite easily with GodMode9 once you know how.

If you have injected some GBA games on to your 3DS then you have CFW and should have GodMode9 installed as this is used during the process to install CFW on your 3DS when following the popular https://3ds.guide however if you hacked your 3DS a long time ago then its quite possible your version of GodMode9 is out of date. The ability to backup GBA savegame is quite a new feature on GodMode9, so first download the latest version of GodMode9.

Unzip this to your 3DS's SD card in the luma\payloads folder, overwriting the existing payload:



Your all set to backup your GBA save games on the 3DS now.

Backing up GBA Saves on the 3DS:

Keep in mind you can only backup the save of the last GBA game you played, so launch the GBA game you wish to backup:



Let the game load, then press the home button and exit back to the 3DS home screen before powering the 3DS off.

Now hold the start button and press the power button to turn the 3DS on, this should launch GodMode9 by default. If it doesn't you have likely assigned a different button to hold when powering the 3DS on to load GodMode9.

When GodMode9 loads go down to Sysnand Virtual and press A:



Press A on agbsave.bin, this is the save game which was restored to the 3DS's nand when you loaded the last GBA game you played up:



Press A on AGBSAVE options:



Select Dump GBA VC save:



The GBA save should be dumped to gm9/out on the SD card:



As you can see the save game has been dumped with the title ID of the installed GBA game with .gbavc.sav as the file extension:



You have now backed the save up and can use it on an emulator, or even restore it to a real GBA game cartridge if you have a DS / DS Lite with a Flash Card and GBA Backup Tool. Either way i'd suggest copying it to somewhere safe on your computer.

Restore GBA Saves on the 3DS:

You are almost doing the reverse of what you have just done to backup a save.

Again keep in mind you can only restore the save of the last GBA game you played, so launch the GBA game you wish to restore the save to:



Let the game load, then press the home button and exit back to the 3DS home screen before powering the 3DS off.

Now hold the start button and press the power button to turn the 3DS on, this should launch GodMode9 by default. If it doesn't you have likely assigned a different button to hold when powering the 3DS on to load GodMode9.

Go to the SD card and find the GBA save you wish to restore:



Press Y on the save you wish to restore and it will be copied to the clipboard, you will see [Clipboard] in the top right of the bottom screen when you have done this, as shown below:



Now navigate to Sysnand Virtual:



Press A on agbsave.bin, then on the bottom screen select AGBSAVE options:



Then inject GBA VC Save:



The save game will then be injected:



You now know how to restore a GBA save, you can restore a save from an emulator, or even from a real GBA cartridge if you dump the save with a tool such as GBA Backup Tool using a DS or DS Lite.

I have personally been enjoying playing my GBA games on a much larger screen:



Hopefully this tutorial has been some help to you.

via https://digiex.net/threads/3ds-gba-save-backup-and-restore-with-godmode9.15395/

How To Disable PayPal’s Currency Conversion to Save Money on Fees

via https://roman-reviews.com/how-disable-paypal-currency-conversion-save-money-fees/

PayPal is great if you’re shopping at a place you don’t entirely trust and/or if you want to keep your credit card number private. Well, between you and Paypal at least. Their fees, however, can be horrendous. This hits merchants harder than consumers, but even as a buyer they have ways to get you. One example is their currency conversion fee, which amounts to 3% of the transaction value and is applied automatically if you buy from a(n international) seller whose currency differs from your card’s.

3% is a lot, and your bank can probably do better (mine does conversions at 1%). Thankfully, there is a way to disable PayPal’s automatic currency conversion, though they haven’t made it easy to find. Go figure.

How To Disable PayPal’s Currency Conversion in 6 Steps

Step 1

Step 1

Log into PayPal and click on the options icon.

Step 2

Step 2

Go to the Payments screen, then to “Manage automatic payments”.

Step 3

Step 3

Once again, click “manage automatic payments” to get to the classic view.

Step 4

Step 4

Above your automatic payments list, got to “Set Available Funding Sources”.

Step 5

Step 5

Next, hit “Conversion Options” behind your credit card (or other funding source).

Step 6

Step 6

Finally, choose to be billed in the currency listed on the seller’s invoice. Don’t forget to hit submit.

If applicable, repeat from step 5 for any additional cards on your account.

There, all done. Now your bank will handle the conversions at probably much more favorable rates. Wasn’t that process straightforward and intuitive? /s

How to extract your Amazon ebooks from the Android Kindle App

via https://www.nico.schottelius.org/blog/how-to-extract-your-amazon-ebooks-from-the-android-kindle-app/

TL;DR

The ebooks of the Amazon Kindle app can be found on your Android phone in PRC format below the folder /data/media/0/Android/data/com.amazon.kindle/files/.

Download the books

To be able to extract your books from your Android phone, you need to synchronise the books first, so they are available on your device.

To ensure they are local. turn of all network connections (wifi, mobile data) and try to read them.

Finding the files

At first I guessed the files I was looking for may be ending in .azw. Looking for these files, however did not reveal any file.

My second guess was to look for amazon files or folder named amazon:

% find / -name \*amazon\* 2>/dev/null

I found /data/data/com.amazon.kindle, with the following content:

% ls
app_com.amazon.device.syncHIGH    app_metricsNORMAL                 databases
app_com.amazon.device.syncNORMAL  app_web_cache                     files
app_dex                           app_web_database                  lib
app_dexopt                        app_webview                       shared_prefs
app_metricsHIGH                   cache

Looking for books in this directory wasn't successful. However, the databases directory looked interesting.

% cd databases
% grep -ri mybookname *
Binary file databases/kindle_library.db matches
Binary file databases/kindle_library.db-journal matches

I used sqlite to have a look at the database:

% sqlite3 kindle_library.db
sqlite> .schema
...

This revealed one interesting table named LocalContent. Looking at it closer:

sqlite> select * from LocalContent;

This revealed the emulated path /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.amazon.kindle/files/ and referenced .prc files.

I looked for them in the filesystem using ...

% find / -name \*.prc 2>/dev/null

... and found my books!

To extract the ebooks to your computer, you can use any file copy program. The rsync utility however is suited for it very well, as it can (re-)sychronise the whole folder:

% rsync -av /data/media/0/Android/data/com.amazon.kindle/files/ mycomputer:mybooks/

Easy way to get captions from OPENLOAD

Hi distressed person! Like you I have been through this problem of how can I get to download subtitles from openload. I  had searched a lot of sites regarding how you can download subtitles from openload however, no good results were shown or some were too complex for my little mind to even comprehend lol.

So if you are okay with extending a little bit of an effort to get those subs, I’ll share my own experience on how miraculously got it. If you have questions, just put it in the comment box below.

Disclaimer: I am by no means an expert with any computer languages, i’m just sharing my own experience 

Good luck!

So first of all, you are in that site of openload with the video you wanted to watch. However, the subs aren’t easy to get. well, just follow these steps below:

1. Open that page’s source simply by left click —> view page source or just simply (Ctrl+U)
2. then press Ctrl+F and find captions
3. you’ll see something like this
4. that is the link which is the source of your video’s subtitle. So just click it. I don’t know if other openload videos also have .vtt as extension for their subtitles but this is the one in my case.

5. left click again and choose “save page as”

6. then you already have the webvtt version of the subtitle that you need. If your computer supports this version for subtitles then you are good to go! Congratulations!(Well, even if I already downloaded this version, it didn’t run on my computer at first lol so I still did a bit more to finally convert it to srt)

so if it still didn’t run on your video player, you can add a little bit of an effort and follow the steps below:

1. The thing that I used is a free site which generates vtt files. Just go to http://www.vttcaptions.com/  and click caption generator
2. Import the file you downloaded from the subtitle’s source
3. Click download captions vtt file
4. There are many sites which convert vtt files into srt ones just choose whichever you want. But in case you are asking, I used https://gotranscript.com/subtitle-converter to convert the vtt file to srt
5. Once you got your srt file, you are already good to go! Congratulations!

Well, I do really hope I helped you. Enjoy watching your video with subtitles now!

I will really appreciate any message of thanks in the comments below just to know whether I helped you.

Have a good day!

1. Open the page, Ctrl+U
2. Ctrl+F and type src
Roll down & find link https://openload.co/embed/4rOEFmxKL6U
(the code after /embed/ will be unique for each movie)
Click this link.
3. Mark/chose again ‘src’ or ‘vtt’.
4. Find the line with the link similar to this:

(vtt – indicates subtitles; another languages, if available, will be shown in separate lines.)
5. Right-click the link and select: ‘save this on disk as’ or alike.
6. The window pops out – chose where to save and change the name that it matches with the movie. Type dot (.) and srt as the extension. (e.g.: The Assasin.srt) Save it as ‘all files’ and never as text file.
7. Yours subtitles in srt format are ready.

via https://blacksidedvermillion.wordpress.com/2017/09/22/easy-way-to-get-captions-from-openload/

Openload Fast Downloader

This will allow you to download openload mp4's much faster than direct from the site using youtube-dl and aria2


1. Install chocolately
Open CMD

Paste
@"%SystemRoot%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe"
 -NoProfile -InputFormat None -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "iex ((New-Object
 System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))" &&
 SET "PATH=%PATH%;%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\chocolatey\bin"

Paste
choco install youtube-dl

Paste
choco install aria2

2. Create download batch file
Paste this in a .bat file
@echo off
SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
set /p var1="Url? " && youtube-dl -f best !var1! --external-downloader aria2c --external-downloader-args "-j 16 -s 16 -x 16 -k 2M"
ENDLOCAL
pause

For embedded video urls in Firefox
Right Click on Embedded Video > This Frame > Show Only This Frame > Copy URL from address bar