CyberLab Death To Pixels Shader Preset Packs

[Cyber]

@kanjieater

One nice thing i could do in reshade but cant figure out how to do with the RA preset is, how do i turn up the core internal resolution, but keep the scan lines the same as of it were native resolution of the device.

With Re-Shade (at least with the CRT-Guest-Advanced port), you have to tell the shader what is the native resolution of the game so that it will know how many scanlines to draw.

I have never used the Megatron Re-Shade port though.

In some emulators and Core Options there’s an option to downscale the output to native resolution after upscaling.

What you’re trying to do isn’t a standard feature of CRT Shaders or even CRTs though. The only reason scanline gaps are so obvious on 240p content is because the CRT is actually skipping every other line when drawing the frame.

For high res content, no lines are skipped therefore the gaps between the scanlines are a lot smaller.

Normally, in RetroArch, a shader would workout and display the correct number of scanlines based on the resolution output by the core.

What you would like to do is really an enhancement.

@kanjieater

In retroarch when i set my ppsspp core to 4x, the shader cant apply scanlines it seems like. Any way to keep the internal resolution high and use the preset pack?

Firstly PSP didn’t use scanlines natively at all, unless you were fortunate to use the video output cable on a CRT TV.

It might be a good idea to try out one of the Handheld Border shaders for that system.

Also, the answer to your final question depends on which Preset Pack you’re referring to.

If you’re using my Mega Bezel Shader Preset Pack, you can use one of the DREZ presets if the Core doesn’t support downsampling to a low resolution natively.

PSP’s native vertical resolution is 272p so you should get some good looking scanlines. I think there might be a DREZ preset specifically for PSP in the Mega Bezel variations folder. You might want to try that or you can use the one I included for PSX in my CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels Shader Preset Pack.

You can use my Mega Bezel or CRT-Royale presets in conjunction with RetroArch’s built-in HDR implementation.

If using my Sony Megatron Color Video Monitor presets, you’ll have to prepend some sort of downsampling shader if you wish to do what you’ve described with a core that doesn’t downsample natively.

How do PCSX2 and PPSSPP look when you run them natively or at 2X internal resolution?

Do remember that my presets, especially the Near Field presets already contain a lot of post processing, filtering and smoothing which work best with low res content so if you upscale, you might actually be missing out on stuff like that.

Most people suggest using standalone PCSX2 as opposed to the RetroArch Cores though. I think it’s called LRPS2 now as well.

Also a picture paints a thousand words so do share a photo or a screenshot so that I can see what you’re describing and more easily assist.

[kanjieater]

https://imgur.com/a/yRM6S3N

I ended up finding it easier to just use the Sony Megatron Reshade preset with Retroarch. I didn’t expect it to work so well or look so good. It’s the same config as my PCSX2. I’m not sure how the line count is adjusting, but it’s extremely crisp, and breaking the “pixels” up naturally, so I’m happy with it.

For PPSSPP in retroarch, it’s great because I can do higher internal resolution, which really helps with image fidelity, but then the lower rez sprites naturally sharper look due to the gaps between scanlines, which for the games pictured, make a lot of use of 3d & 2d assets.

I’m far less worried about the “right” way to play psp, and more just about getting a really bright picture w/ scanlines & “phosphor glow” that I’ve had on my Sony Trinitrons I’ve been using lately. As you’ve said, just kind of letting my eyes and personal taste shape the “right” experience for them.

And, I think this pretty much replaces them except maybe for old PC games that were 4:3 ( the glass & native resolution for ~800x600 era games just fits really well on my Sony HMD-A440).

I’m sure this is doing some things “wrong” though, as you mentioned, I’m not explicitly reporting the resolution to the reshade preset. It’s somehow inferring it. I’m sure if I used a addon/preset to handle that I could get the scanlines to look even more accurate(?). But honestly, it’s at a really convenient point where the preset just works for all content, which is kind of the dream (for me at least). So I’ll probably just try actually playing through a few games with this setup for now .

[Cyber]

@kanjieater

I ended up finding it easier to just use the Sony Megatron Reshade preset with Retroarch. I didn’t expect it to work so well or look so good. It’s the same config as my PCSX2. I’m not sure how the line count is adjusting, but it’s extremely crisp, and breaking the “pixels” up naturally, so I’m happy with it.

Nice!

@kanjieater

For PPSSPP in retroarch, it’s great because I can do higher internal resolution, which really helps with image fidelity, but then the lower rez sprites naturally sharper look due to the gaps between scanlines, which for the games pictured, make a lot of use of 3d & 2d assets.

Very good. You can try my latest Sony Megatron NX Near Field Presets if you have the time as I’ve barely even gotten to use them since my OLED TV was damaged right after I made them. I’m just curious as to how they look. You can try the PSX or Turbo Duo_DC ones for PS2 and PSP.

@kanjieater

I’m far less worried about the “right” way to play psp, and more just about getting a really bright picture w/ scanlines & “phosphor glow” that I’ve had on my Sony Trinitrons I’ve been using lately. As you’ve said, just kind of letting my eyes and personal taste shape the “right” experience for them.

I was just trying to explain that the shader wasn’t doing anything “wrong” when it was being fed an upscaled image and not displaying the same number of scanlines as a low res image.

@kanjieater

And, I think this pretty much replaces them except maybe for old PC games that were 4:3 ( the glass & native resolution for ~800x600 era games just fits really well on my Sony HMD-A440).

Well there are shaders for this as well.

@kanjieater

I’m sure this is doing some things “wrong” though, as you mentioned, I’m not explicitly reporting the resolution to the reshade preset. It’s somehow inferring it. I’m sure if I used a addon/preset to handle that I could get the scanlines to look even more accurate(?). But honestly, it’s at a really convenient point where the preset just works for all content, which is kind of the dream (for me at least). So I’ll probably just try actually playing through a few games with this setup for now .

So don’t get me wrong, I was not saying you were doing anything wrong or that there was a right way to do these things.

When I mentioned Handheld Border Shaders it was just to get a better PSP experience but those don’t actually contain any PSP overlays. For that you can try Koko-aio or Duimon’s offerings.

[kanjieater]

Oh yeah absolutely - I wasn’t under the impression you were saying anything was “wrong” - more that some people might say this is an “inaccurate retro experience”, which while it may be true, isn’t too concerning to me. I appreciate the help getting these things set up.

[Winter47th]

Those pics look amazing. I’d love to know if there’s a tutorial to do this. I’m using the reshade presets made by Kyubus and they are easy for me to just copy-paste as they do all the necessary settings for 4k-2k-1080P, if it weren’t for his just-copy-paste reshades I’d never be able to do anything cause I suck as setting reshades up lol

[Cyber]

These are samples of some new SDR presets, which should be coming soon. I’ve just been very busy, plus my traditional hardware setup and workflow is in a bit of disarray at the moment.

I’ve also been trying to dial in colours that appear correct (to me) on an entirely different display that’s calibrated to the best of my ability.

I’m almost at the point of releasing something with further tweaks to come after release. Also mulling whether or not to add these to my CyberLab Megatron NX Death To Pixels 4K HDR Shader Preset Pack because it might require a name change due to the inclusion of non-HDR presets.

Another ground for a possible name change is that I’m working on some CRT-Guest-Advanced-NTSC exclusive presets as well but I might probably make a separate preset pack for those.

[Cyber]

@Cyber

Introducing…my latest and possibly greatest Shader Preset Pack in terms of pure image quality and accuracy…

CyberLab Megatron NX Death To Pixels 4K HDR Shader Preset Pack!

To experience the NeXt generation of CRT Shader Software Technology…**

Click the link below to download

CyberLab Megatron NX Death To Pixels 4K HDR Shader Preset Pack 22-05-24

CyberLab Megatron NX W420M Death To Pixels 4K Shader Preset Pack 07-08-24

Wow! See that? It’s a link to a new preset pack right below the old one!

After a brief hiatus CyberLab is finally back with a new Preset Pack offering. This one is a bit different from the previous one with a few similarities.

What’s new:

• Sony Megatron Shadow (Dot) Mask Presets

I’ve always wanted to reproduce what I was able to accomplish with my CyberLab Neo-GX Presets while using Sony Megatron Colour Video Monitor but somehow I never liked the results when I tried the Shadow Mask Pattern. The same was true for a while with Slot Mask until I got those sorted out as well.

For these to look okay I needed some assistance from RetroArch’s Video Menu’s scaling engine.

In general I recommend Integer Scaling to be On and a recommended Custom Aspect Ratio should be included at the end of the filenames of each preset.

• YCbCr 4:2:0 (W420M) Support

Yes, for those who are unfortunate enough to own a display which cannot support RGB 4:4:4 Full at the desired resolution and refresh rate, these W420M presets are for you.

They might also be compatible with YouTube HDR Video but someone else might have to test that.

• SDR Compatible by default

The new W420M presets have been developed and tested using Sony Megatron Colour Video Monitor’s SDR Mode. HDR Display users are free to toggle the SDR/HDR switch for even more brightness.

As for the similarities, they use the same shader setup as my previous CyberLab Megatron NX Death To Pixels 4K HDR Shader Preset Pack so they can be dropped into the shaders folder right next to them and they should work.

So without further ado, here are some examples from my CyberLab Megatron NX W420M Death To Pixels 4K Shader Preset Pack.

If the following screenshots appear dark or have strange lines, just zoom in or download then zoom in and be sure to brighten your screen until they look right!

Desktop users, right click then open in a new tab then zoom in until things look right.

CyberLab Megatron NX W420M 4K SDR Game Turbo Duo_DC 3D Comb Filter Shadow Mask Smooth Ultra Ultimate CAR10x8x.slangp

Special thanks and credit goes out to all the shader creators out there whose works are featured in this preset pack especially, @MajorPainTheCactus and @guest.r, whose NTSC engine is at the heart of the magic behind these illustrious and wonderful works of art.

These presets also use Super-XBR by @Hyllian and Grade by @Dogway. They could not have been possible without them.

[Cyber]

Those presets above look awesome on my 1080p mobile screen, even in vertical orientation! Just zoom in or download then zoom in and be sure to brighten your screen until they look right!

Desktop users, right click then open in a new tab then zoom in until things look right.

They should also look perfect if you zoom out until they match the integer scale specified in the filename.

CyberLab Megatron NX W420M 4K SDR Game Genesis Composite Shadow Mask Smooth CAR8x8x.slangp

CyberLab Megatron NX W420M 4K SDR Game Arcade Shadow Mask Smooth Ultra Ultimate CAR2576_8x.slangp

CyberLab Megatron NX W420M 4K SDR Game SNES S-Video Shadow Mask Smooth Ultra Ultimate CAR5x4x.slangp

CyberLab Megatron NX W420M 4K SDR Game SNES Composite Shadow Mask Smooth Ultra Ultimate CAR5x4x.slangp

CyberLab Megatron NX W420M 4K SDR Game SNES Composite Shadow Mask Sharp Ultra Ultimate CAR5x4x.slangp

@RetroCrisis, @RetroGames4K, @Nesguy, @Dennis1 you can take a look at these when you have some time.

[darkand]

Need help. I have an LG C3 and the images are dark, does anyone know what I can change in the settings? HDR is enabled in retroarch and Windows configuration. I’m using the CyberLab Megatron NX 4K HDR Game Arcade Slot Mask Ultra.slangp

[Cyber]

@darkand

LG C3 and the images are dark,

Feel free to post a photo.

Are you using the recommended CRT-Guest-Advanced-NTSC version for that preset pack?

What are your Peak and Paperwhite Luminance settings?

Are you using HDR Game Mode?

Also what size screen are you using and how far away are you viewing from?

To increase brightness, once Peak Brightness is set correctly you can increase Paperwhite Brightness and/or turn up the Gamma near bottom of the Parameters list.

Also, feel free to try my new W420M Preset Pack. Some of the presets are set to SDR by default but you can switch them to HDR in the Shader Parameters.

You might also have to set a custom aspect ratio as recommended in the filenames of the presets for best results.

I forgot to ask you, do you have BFI enabled (as that can suck brightness)?

Other than that, I don’t see why you should be having any brightness issues with that model TV unless you turned down your backlight.

Right above Gamma, there’s Saturation. If you decrease Saturation the colours will appear less dark.

[Cyber]

Maybe it’s because I grew up playing on a Commodore 1502 monitor but something about those JVC D-Series images always resonates with me.

https://www.reddit.com/r/crtgaming/s/MkvyDjeTJ4

After going back and forth between the JVC pics and my the last W420M presets I’m thinking my presets aren’t looking too shabby at all. The Shadow Mask pattern seems to be aiding that slightly noisy and irregular effect of the scanlines which are almost never quite as pristine and absolutely uniform as the typical CRT Shader photo.

Despite how beautiful the D series looks, this is part of the reason I can’t justify the space and convenience cost of getting and setting up a CRT. Motion clarity on a typical LCD at 60Hz doesn’t really bother me at all, only the blooming and lack of micro contrast. Lag isn’t an issue for me either. I can beat Lords of Thunder or Gate of Thunder with no problems and you can’t get more twitchy than those. I reached the last boss of Contra III: The Alien Wars while play testing my presets recently, so I guess the “old” guy can still continue to improve and regain some of his gaming chops of yesteryear after all.

Thanks again to the shader creators!

[lazostat]

Hi guys. I am new here. I have installed retroarch and those mega bezels. I have some questions :

1. Where can i find info about how each bezel differ each other. I see names like crt, monitor, raw, sharp, slot II, etc…

2. Is it possible to have a pure black background? And how?

3. Do they work well with mame 2003 plus core?

4. I notice they don’t work well with overlays. Is it normal i guess?

Great job btw!

[Cyber]

@lazostat

I am new here.

Welcome @lazostat.

@lazostat

I have installed retroarch and those mega bezels.

Very good. Do note that Mega Bezel Reflection Shader is a collection of shaders, while CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels Preset Pack is a collection of presets (settings) for that shader. Just wanted to make that distinction.

@lazostat

• Where can i find info about how each bezel differ each other. I see names like crt, monitor, raw, sharp, slot II, etc…

Well you’ve come to the right place concerning CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels Shader Preset Pack. You can start by reading the first post, then just continue to browse the thread until something catches your attention.

For information about Mega Bezel, you can visit the Mega Bezel Reflection Shader thread and read the first post. There are also other Mega Bezel projects for example Duimon’s Mega Bezel Overlays and Backgrounds, Orion’s Angel, Thenamec’s Commodore Bezels and many more. just seek and you shall find but do take things one step at a time.

@lazostat

I see names like crt, monitor, raw, sharp, slot II, etc…

Those are just adjectives used to describe and differentiate between the many variations of presets.

@lazostat

• Is it possible to have a pure black background? And how?

Read the first post of the Mega Bezel Reflection Shader thread for this one.

@lazostat

Do they work well with mame 2003 plus core?

I’ve never tested them but they should work with any Core that supports Vulkan or GLCore.

@lazostat

I notice they don’t work well with overlays. Is it normal i guess?

In what way? Why would you put an overlay on an engine that already has it’s own overlay? Anyway, this one is more for the Mega Bezel thread or Duimon’s thread but you can integrate Mega Bezel Reflections with existing overlays, you just have to know how. Mega Bezel Reflection Shader is highly flexible and customizable.

@lazostat

Great job btw!

Thanks if you’re referring to my presets. For the shaders you can thank the shader creators.

There are a few video guides linked in the first post that you can check out as well.

[Cyber]

@lazostat You didn’t have to pull your question but I take it that you found the answer to your question by reading through the first post completely, as well as by continuing to browse the thread for relevant information.

[Cyber]

CyberLab Megatron NX W420M 4K SDR Game Turbo Duo_DC Composite Shadow Mask Ultra Smooth Ultimate CAR10x8x.slangp

Zoom in or download then zoom in and be sure to brighten your screen until they look right!

Desktop users, right click then open in a new tab then zoom in until things look right.

They should also look perfect if you zoom out until they match the integer scale specified in the filename.

[lazostat]

Yeah, i try to find some good presets, although on most of them i can’t notice any difference.

Also, why are there so many console specific presets? Do you have any preset for mame games? I see all the consoles except mame.

Still don’t understand what are the slot, mask, smooth, composite etc presets. Or can’t find any difference between raw and sharp. Look the same.

There are too many presets and make me confused somehow.

[Cyber]

@lazostat

Do you have any preset for mame games? I see all the consoles except mame.

Mame games are primarily arcade games, right? Did you see any presets with the word Arcade in the filename? I don’t make presets specific to cores or emulators, I make them specific to systems. If you read some more of the thread you might better understand why.

@lazostat

Also, why are there so many console specific presets?

There are various reasons for this. The main one being I don’t generally delete a preset once I like it. I just iterate, revisit or re-imagine. In addition to that, most of the presets are interlinked, thus building on the work that was done before.

One nice thing is that when you try to load preset in RetroArch, they’re all grouped alphabetically so you can use these groupings to help sort things out.

@lazostat

Still don’t understand what are the slot, mask, smooth, composite etc presets.

You’re new to this niche or scene. Take your time. Eventually things might start to make more sense to you.

Slot Mask, Aperture Grille/CyberTron, Shadow (Dot) Mask - these are different types of CRT screens, so games would look differently on each type once the user is discerning enough.

Smooth means there is smoothing or some sort upscaling.

Composite is a type of TV signal which has its own unique characteristics.

Raw means no smoothing. I haven’t used Raw in a while.

Sharp - You can’t figure out or guess what “Sharp” means?

@lazostat

Look the same.

There are too many presets and make me confused somehow.

Maybe you need to read some more. You can try this approach. In the 4K_Optimized Folder, there’s a folder called CyberLab Neo-GX. You can start with those if you’re on a 4K screen.

Other than that, you can try the Soqueroeu-TV Special Edition Folder or CyberLab Special Edition folder.

What you can do is read this thread, especially the entire first post and the Please Show Off What CRT Shaders Can Do thread and if you see any images or screenshots that you like you can take note of the presets used, then just load them up.

If you don’t need the Mega Bezel, you can try some of my other, newer preset packs.

If it’s still frustrating or confusing then maybe this preset pack is probably not for you at least not at this time. There are several others, some which also employ the Mega Bezel Reflection Shader.

[lazostat]

Ok, i have to read to find out the best preset. Also i will try the Soqueroeu ones.

One last question. Why most bezels are for 4k monitors? I have 1440p.

[Cyber]

@lazostat

Why most bezels are for 4k monitors?

I don’t really know why. I have presets for 4K, 1440p and 1080p.

As far as I know bezels are scaleable so it would make sense to target a higher resolution then scale down to lower resolutions as necessary.

It’s different for the scanline/Mask and CRT effects though because less resolution means it’s harder to get the fine details right and special parameters need to be changed in order to maintain similar visuals at different resolutions.

For less detailed CRT effects they should scale more easily.

Can you clarify exactly what you’re referring to when you say “bezel”?

@lazostat

Ok, i have to read to find out the best preset.

Yes, this thread and others are like catalogues. There are even videos available both here (which you can download) as well as on YouTube. Most of the screenshots and videos are labeled with the names of the presets used.

[darkand]

Feel free to post a photo. - I can’t because every print I make the image gets darker.

Are you using the recommended CRT-Guest-Advanced-NTSC version for that preset pack? - yes

What are your Peak and Paperwhite Luminance settings? -

Are you using HDR Game Mode? - Yes

Also what size screen are you using and how far away are you viewing from? - 42", Next to the TV (1 meter) dark room.

I forgot to ask you, do you have BFI enabled (as that can suck brightness)? - Disabled