HSM has talked about adding a shader folder syntax (or variable) to RetroArch, sometime in the future.
That way you could define your shader path in the settings and put these presets outside of the RetroArch folder.
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I guess I’ll have to try out FB Neo too now and see how it looks and plays. Does it work with Mame merged roms?
Congrats on the 1000+ views and thanks for the new presets!
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All of my Arcade game screenshots were created using FinalBurn Neo. My Arcade Sharp preset was also tested using FinalBurn Neo. I don’t know why they would look blurry in Mame. Perhaps the output resolution is set too high. My presets seem to work best on cores that output 224 - 240p resolution possibly up to 256 will look great as well.
I was turned off a very long time ago by some of the older versions of the RetroArch Mame Core. I prefer things that “just work” to some extent and I pick and choose carefully what I’m willing to spend my time and mental energy researching and understanding.
I also traditionally liked keeping things up to date and with Mame and their ever changing ROMs it got kind of confusing and tedious trying to keep up.
I’m sure there are lots of resources available both in the Libretto forums and the wider Interwebs with information on how to setup these emulators and their requirements for getting proper roms and all of that working properly.
It might work with some Merged Roms. You can try but different emulators have their particular instructions and recommendations whwn it comes to those things.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=163785.0
https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/FinalBurn_Neo
Thanks very much! Seems like people are spreading the word.
You’re most welcome! I haven’t made a big fuss over these yet but the image quality improvement over the previous ones is huge!!! I just haven’t had much time to do more as I do this in little pockets of free time.
These new PVM Edition presets are almost interchangeable. There’s very little difference between the RGB Sharp PVM Edition and the Composite Sharp PVM Edition presets at first glance for example. Both look spectacular but I will continue to add some specific tweaks to suit the various platforms as I see fit.
Stay tuned for the updates and spread the word! Maybe you can try them out and share some of the first screenshots if you like the way they make your games look! Do remember that they were made and tested with 8 and 16-bit era games and systems in mind. Anything after that is uncharted territory for me and my presets but I do enjoy a challenge.
I’ve also seen some great looking PS1 shots! In the future I might include some early 32-bit era systems in my testing but the Dreamcast/Naomi/Atomiswave, 480p/480i “hi-res” 128bit (I think I heard that term used to describe Dreamcast at least once) era stuff has proven to have some unique shader preset requirements which may require a different set of tools to get the same type of effect that my presets have on the older content.
Do you emulate older generation systems? 8 and 16-bit era as well?
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thank you for letting me know this.
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Yeah it seems that anything above 640x480 internal resolution on Mame would cause blur.
Thanks for taking the time to link all these posts. That Launchbox post pretty much describes my situation and what I want to achieve, which is interchangeability of roms b/w the two cores. Doesn’t seem like it’s possible but I’ll take a look at the other posts too.
I have emulated 8 and16 bit era games but not on RA as I’m new to it. I have used Nestopia, Kega Fusion and Snes9x.
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Here are some screenshots of my newest CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels PVM Edition Presets in action!
4K Screenshots:
Arcade - Sharp (Old)
Arcade - Sharp PVM Edition (21-11-21)
Arcade - Sharp PVM Edition (New 22-11-21 - Red cast fixed)
Arcade - Sharp (Old)
Arcade - Sharp PVM Edition (New)
Composite - Sharp (Old)
Composite - Sharp PVM Edition (New)
Composite - Sharp PVM Edition @ 1080p (New)
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I tried the new Arcade Sharp PVM Edition and now, I cannot decide if I prefer it or the old 1440p preset, both look great even if they look different. I like the small amount of blurryness of the 1440p preset, and I also like the sharpness of the PVM preset.
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Those are nice problems to have! Did you notice the Arcade Sharp 1440p PVM Edition as well in there?
For me, I can’t go back…lol
When I put on a game like The Simpsons and compare the outlines, the new preset really does a much better job. If you go back and forth you’ll see. For games that use a lot more shading and darker colours or more realistic graphics, I can understand your dilemma. Lol
It also depends on how close you sit to and the size of your screen. At a distance the older preset can hold its own but at point blank you can now notice the softness (some might say blurriness) compared to the new one.
I always wanted to have my text look sharp and legible especially in title screens like the Samurai Showdown III title screen, the area signs in Bonk’s Revenge and also the impressive white text on that deep green background in the title screen of Nekketsu Kōkō Dodgeball Bu: Soccer Hen and these new presets achieve that!
The good thing is the “Old” Arcade Sharp preset isn’t going anywhere any time soon so the option is always there to mix and match. The real reason these new presets actually came about was because for some reason I preferred the look of Super Mario World and Super Mario Kart with sharp, detailed outlines and text. Any visible smoothing looked strange to me and thus the RGB Sharp and RGB Raw presets were born and well the rest is history!
I’m really glad you’re enjoying them! Now I just have to find some time to play some games! Maybe I should take a break from preset development for a while. Lol
You know you can also try out my Composite - Sharp PVM Edition preset as an alternative to my Arcade - Sharp PVM Edition and my “old” Arcade - Sharp presets. It sits right in the middle. Not quite as sharp as the Arcade - Sharp PVM Edition preset but only slightly, yet sharper than my “old” Arcade - Sharp preset!
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Hi, just wanted to share some additional information concerning controlling the pixelation on the graphics in some Dreamcast games which wasn’t being removed by the ScaleFX algorithm in my presets.
Take a read of this post here and the responses. I’m glad I took a break and didn’t waste even more time and energy trying to get things to be smoothed beyond what I had already achieved. Now that I have some more information I know where I have to focus my attention on and what level to set my expectations on going forward when it comes to that.
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Hey guys, what would be the best option for pre-rendered background PSX games for 1080p? (I will definetely try each one but would love to see opinions from people that already tried/know this shader preset better)
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This is all subjective but you can try Composite - Sharp PVM Edition preset first. If you want things to be softer than that, then the Composite - Sharp 1080p edition preset.
Alternatively you can try the Arcade - Sharp PVM Edition, the Arcade - Sharp 1080p or the RGB - Sharp PVM or RGB - Sharp 1080p Edition presets.
Hope this helps. Feel free to post some screenshots if you like the presets and spread the word!
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These are cellphone camera photos of my 4K IPS TV using my CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels (Arcade - Sharp PVM Edition) preset!
Hats off to @guest.r and @HyperspaceMadness !!!
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I’m using it with just few tweks. Thank you!
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Posting this here at @Cyber’s request
Pushing mask strength as high as it can go, here- the sub-pixel detail is amazing. The post-CRT brightness setting and gamma adjustment makes it really easy to compensate for lost brightness without throwing the colors off too much.
Looks acceptable on a 400 nit IPS, really shines on my iPhone with ~600 nits.
(screenshots will appear absurdly dark if not viewed at original size)
Here are the settings.
#reference "shaders_slang/bezel/Mega_Bezel/Presets/Experimental/Nesguy/Nesguy__Aperture__Low-TVL__Mask-7__Dbl-Phosphor-Width__N0.slangp"
HSM_INT_SCALE_MODE = "1.000000"
HSM_INT_SCALE_BORDER_MIN_HEIGHT = "0.000000"
HSM_NON_INTEGER_SCALE = "100.169739"
HSM_CURVATURE_MODE = "-1.000000"
HSM_GAMMA_IN_LINEARIZE = "2.399999"
HSM_GAMMA_OUT_CRT = "1.900001"
HSM_POST_CRT_BRIGHTNESS = "500.000000"
HSM_TUBE_BLACK_EDGE_CURVATURE_SCALE = "1000.000000"
g_gamma_out = "2.550000"
g_crtgamut = "0.000000"
g_vignette = "0.000000"
wp_temperature = "6504.000000"
WP = "-100.000000"
glow = "0.005000"
brightboost = "1.000000"
brightboost1 = "1.000000"
gsl = "1.000000"
beam_max = "1.500000"
vertmask = "0.200000"
h_sharp = "4.500000"
shadowMask = "0.000000"
maskstr = "1.000000"
mcut = "1.000000"
masksize = "1.000000"
mask_gamma = "2.399999"
mclip = "0.000000"
decons = "-0.000000"
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Thanks a mil. I’m sure these settings might help some users who pass through in the future! Why don’t you open a thread with just your personal presets, screenshots and recommendations?
I noticed that the screenshot is 1600 x 1200. Is that the optimal resolution for using these settings?
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Wow, the non-integer scale scanlines are so good now that I didn’t catch that. Ideally it should be 1494x1120 at 1080p, though.
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Well I’m too new around these parts of the forum to remember when they didn’t look so good so I’ll take your word for it that they’ve improved quite a bit. Lol
So are you saying that a user should set a custom resolution of 1494 x 1120 in RetroArch while using a screen or desktop resolution of 1080p? I’m not sure I fully understand what you have in mind.
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Yep, exactly that. This is only true for games/systems that use 224 horizontal lines, though. For games that use 240 lines, a custom resolution of 1600x1200 can be used. The amount that gets cropped in either case is outside of the safe area for CRTs. 5x vertical scale makes a big difference with the scanline beam dynamics.
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Wow! Thanks for sharing your knowledge! Great tip!
I’m now wondering what would work for 480p content and also what custom resolution would be best if using a 1440p or 4K screen. I have try to fully understand this.
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With 480p content you can only go up to a vertical resolution of 960 before you crop way too much (assuming a 1080p screen)
1920 x 1440 works perfectly for 480p content on a 1440p screen.
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