meppi

I haven't really found a way to crop pages automatically in Photoshop. I'm sure it's possible, but as half of the pages should be cropped a bit more from the left and the other half from the right, I actually haven't even tried. What I do is crop them manually and try to do them more or less the same way. But some pages are better than others on the spine side, so there is a tiny bit of difference. Then when all my PSD files are completely cleaned up and cropped, I run a batch action to up the saturation by 20 (which doesn't seem necessary for yours at all), crop the to a standard size which is different for each magazine but always 1440 wide. (1600 is more then fine btw ) and save them in a separate map as JPGs with a quality of 9. You can always use the clone tool to fix those small things up very nicely. Or even the heal tool sometimes. If you need more tips, you can always take a look at the scanning FAQ. I should get around do redoing it for Photoshop one day though.

It looks like photobuckets resized them to 1024, but still, these look absolutely wonderful. Please, please, please don't resize them to anything smaller than 1440 for the final release as they really do seem to jump of from the screen. Not quite sure about the contrast and saturation in the last pic as I can't compare it to the actual magazine. But if the magazine page is feels this dark and "heavy" as well then it's just about perfect. Looking at the second scans I'm pretty sure that's the case as the lighter colors seem just right. If I really do have to find something to comment on, the the only thing I would be able to say is that you seemed to have missed 2 speckles of dust in the top left corner of the last scan. But that's just nitpicking.

About that cbr/cbz thing. We've tested this extensively in the past and does make a difference. Depends on the system you're using though. The better your hardware, the less you will notice the difference when you flip from one page to the next, simply because your hardware is faster in loading up the data in the background. What also matters is that you don't create your zip or rar files with a compression algorithm to make the zip smaller. If you have the option, use an uncompressed or archive zip. The zip will then be the exact same size as the map you put your JPGs in. And I'd be careful with the whole cbz/cbr thing, just to make sure. We might not have encountered any problems with them so far, but you never know. Rename a rar to cbr and a zip to cbz to be sure every program and OS knows what exactly the files are and how to use them. For instance, when I first switched over from XP to OS X, my first mag I uploaded turned up corrupt on every Windows system. Little did I know at the time that when I open my cbz/cbr files with Comicbooklover, the program writes a little image into the file so that I can see which issue it is by just looking at the pictogram. It can even be used in CoverFlow, like on an iPod or in iTunes. But the Windows based cbr/cbz programs don't know what to do with it and tell you it's corrupt. So I have to zip them up before opening them with CBL and use settings so that none of the OS X specific files are saved along with the JPGs. For more ideas about how to go about scanning and editing magazines, take a look at the guide: http://www.retromags.com/forums/Scanning-E...uide-t2727.html I create my own magazines in this way, and the last couple of months I've been doing it at 1440 instead of 1280 and the difference in quality in quite big. So I would certainly go that way. For examples of mine, you can download the latest Club Nintendo issue I did this way: http://www.retromags.com/forums/Club-Ninte...ue-file776.html Or my last couple of Sega Saturn magazines, namely issues 19-23.

Yeah that's the hardest purple coin challenge I think. Lost quite a bit of lives on it myself. Certainly more then 30. I loved every second of it though. From what I have read, and I try to stay away from as much info about yet to be released games as possible, I believe Megaman 9 gives you several save slots. So that shouldn't be an issue. (I believe I read 8 or something, but my memory isn't that great.)

Always glad to see people who want to help out. 1) If they are a tiny bit off I wouldn't worry too much. It all depends a bit. I can't say without looking at them, but if you feel they are probably too slanted, they very well might be. But they don't have to be 100% straight either. 2) Depends a bit. Lately we are starting to put out scans at a width of 1440 pixels instead of 1280 like we used to in the past. Due to just about every screen being widescreen nowadays and the resolution of monitors improving over the years. If they are something like 1600 and over, I would resize them. But if they are yet to be cropped and edited, then it would be fine to upload them as 1600 and possibly a bot more. This will give editors that want to clean up the scans afterwards a bit room to play with. If they are already around 1280 or 1440, I would let them be. 3) You can contact Phillyman to upload the cbz (best to use zips instead of rars) files to the ftp, so they can be easily transferred onto the download manager. I normally take care of any rapidshare links as I have a premium account for that, so they never get deleted as long as I pay the bills. 4) I would say most definitely scan the ads as well. It might seem trivial to some, but it can't be denied that the classic video game ads are as much a part of the classic magazines as the rest of the pages, wether we like it or not. There's just something that feels wrong without them. And there are have been some truly great ones created over the years. Personally I'm looking forward to the GameFan magazines. Heard lots of great things about them, but sadly enough these were never available over here, unlike EGM and such.

That's exactly what I wanted to hear. I love these punishing game experiences where you know exactly what you should be doing in a classic game setting. New tricks or not doesn't really make a difference one way or another. Having to repeat certain levels or section over and over and over again to perfect every little move and technique just to be able to progress to the next near impossible section. Those are the things that make or break a real retro renascence game in by book. That why I absolutely love games like Contra 4 and Bangai-O Spirits. They don't pull no punches, they directly go for your balls and won't let go no matter how loud you scream for your mommy. I must have quite a few masochistic tendencies as I also loved the hardest purple coin challenges in Mario Galaxies where quite a few people complained about. Gun Valkyrie was fun as well, especially the level where you couldn't make one wrong move, or you would plunge all the way down and have to start from the bottom again. Sounds like Im gonna love Megaman 9. Now please come out in 2 days....

Sadly I have not a single one of those magazines, but they do pop up quite regularly on Ebay. It seems to come and go in waves. Sometimes it's weeks on end where nothing seems to go on sale and then al of a sudden several sellers seem to put up loads of mags on ebay at once. You just have to have a combination of perseverance and pure luck I'm afraid.

MacBook Pro 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo OS X Leopard version 10.5.5 Extremely happy with it.

I'm at 48 right now according to the upload system. But I'm redoing most of my previous ones in between new scans, so it will go quite slowly to reach Philly's numbers. And then I'm not even taken into account the mags he'll be scanning in the meanwhile. Not sure if I did those old ones. I think I might have done them last year on the old system with PhotoStudio. I might be able to put something a bit more special in this time. How about letting VIP members have a say in creating their own tag plate? Just an idea. Once I make a template for the new one it should be easy to fill in the text and create different ones. What style should I go for? If i could get an example of some sort it would make it even easier to know what to do.

Yeah, me too. I surprised myself with that one actually. Glad Philly made the comment about putting the images on there. Those last missing page JPGs are for the occasional magazine scans which are missing a page. So far we only knew a page was missing if we actually counted the pages ourself, or if the uploader mentioned it in the comments. This way we can include such a page in anticipation of finding a way of getting the missing page and completing the mag in the future.

Couldn't agree more. The DreamCast didn't fail, we failed the DreamCast. :( It was the last system that I was truly passionate about. Don't understand me wrong, I loved my GBA and love my DS and Wii. But it's just not the same without Sega in their prime...

Well it can take a while before the money is actually transferred and the only one who can upgrade the account is Philly and he's probably at work right now.

Yes it is, but that missed the whole point of the video.

Jesus Christ, the spelling! The horrible spelling!!! I would say I was drunk when I typed that, but I don't drink. So my only excuse would be the spelling in Dragon Quest IV which is messing me up completely. Fixed now though.

So we can comple this magazine?????

ate???

Updated the thank you page and I've created a very simple looking missing page, eum page........ 1280 1440 1600

Now that I got your attention: Wario Land Shake commercial. Seriously even if you have zero interest in the game, click the link and watch the video! http://www.youtube.com/experiencewii

Well, these are some of my favorite magazines so it's only fair that I treat them with the respect I believe they deserve. And on top of that it's a feature about one of the most magical games ever as well.

Oh, I'm planning on picking it up on WiiWare the second it's released. I'm just hoping this will be by Friday....

This instant classic finally arrived today. The last RPG I remember finishing was probably Skies of Arcadia on the DreamCast if I don't count Mario & Luigi on GBA. But I'm adamant about playing this one from start to finish before I play another RPG. And Shining the Holy Ark is already calling me, so I do have something to look forward to after this. I've just finished chapter one and I'm gonna start Chapter 2 in a minute when I get into bed. So fae I'm lovin every single thing aboot it. No wonder since I fell in love with the series when I imported DQ7.

Yeah, they really are depressing. One of the many reasons why I have started recollecting my games catalogue, but this time with Japanese versions. Everything in color, pretty boxart, sweet artwork in the manuals etc. Along with full 60Hz no borders and full speed gameplay. But that last part is only of interest for us sad Pal gamers.

Been working an hour on this one. :(

Sad to hear that. But you still have loads of others, so it's not all bad. BTW. I've just found out that page 89 was still a PSD file instead of a regular JPG. So I've taken the file offline and I'm uploading a corrected version as we speak. Once the file is uploaded, I'll correct the link. Sorry for the trouble. :( People who have already downloaded it, please do so again in an hour or so. Everything should be fixed by then.

Well, the scanning part is actually the easiest. It's the editing and cleaning up that takes ages. Sometimes up to 45 minutes for a single page if it's really messed up. I wish I had a collection like yours. I'm guessing I have a couple of hundred magazines myself. Seeing as we're about a 3-4 hour car drive apart, it will be hard to come over for a visit.