I second that motion!
Here is an excellent video of my CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels (Arcade - Sharp) preset in action courtesy @TheNamec ! It features his Amiga 1000 + Commodore C1080 RetroArch Overlay from TheNamec Mega Bezel Commodore Pack. The game being played is Jim Power in Mutant Planet
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Dear Cyber,
could you please elaborate on the below?
For lower end systems, you can replace the Base CRT Preset reference shader line with this:
#reference ":/shaders/shaders_slang/bezel/Mega_Bezel/Presets/Base_CRT_Presets/MBZ__3__BASIC-EXTRA-PASSES__GDV.slangp"
I want to use the CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels Blending and Transparency 1080p Edition but my GPU steps at 99%.
So I edit CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels Arcade Sharp (I guess this is the Base shader of it) and put the lower spec shader you suggested…but I get no reflections. Is that normal?
Thank you
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Wow, thanks for your very detailed reply! I greatly appreciate your help. I’ve learned a lot. Messing with your presets has been a highlight of my week. It’s been fun exploring this fascinating shader. At this point I think I’m done tweaking stuff. Now I can finally relax and enjoy playing these games. I’ve updated my preset once again, this time with a solution to the super narrow aspect ratio in Ridge Racer Type 4’s intro and menu. In the shader parameters, I forced an aspect ratio of 4:3; preventing the screen to ever change shape. This problem bothered me long before I knew of your work, so I’m really happy to see this problem fixed. Anyway, thanks for all your help and good luck on perfecting your presets! You’re the reason I’m gonna buy a 4K monitor.
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Yes, once the CRT filtering looks the same and you’re seeing the plain bezel with no reflections you did it correctly. These shaders are a bit GPU intensive, however in the next update performance is supposed to improve significantly.
There are 2 other tricks you can use to squeeze out some better performance though.
The first is to use a lower desktop resolution than your native resolution and just use a preset that is optimized for that resolution. So for example, if you had a 4K screen, you could have lowered your desktop resolution to 1440p or 1080p and use one of the corresponding shader presets for the lower resolutions. (PVM Editions work fine at either 4K or 1080p and there are optimized ones for 1440p). So in your case you can also try my CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels Blending and Transparency PVM Edition preset on your 1080p display. Just edit the base preset in the same way. It should actually be the same Arcade Sharp base preset you already edited I believe so you wouldn’t have to change anything.
The second is to look for an older version of HSM Mega Bezel Reflection Shader - version 9.21 to be precise and use that instead of the current one because the older one is measurably faster than the current version. Older versions are available on HyperspaceMadness’s GitHub page I believe. The information on how to find it is the first post of his shader thread.
If you want to use a different version then be sure to rename or delete the other bezel folder.
You can also combine any or all of these methods for a cumulative effect.
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You’re welcome! Please help others to share in this experience if you can. You can report this behaviour with Ridge Racer 4 to @HyperspaceMadness so that he can include an automagic fix for this in the future!
Listen, getting a 4K Monitor is good, but if you can, the ultimate experience with these shaders is using them with a 4K OLED TV or monitor! So see if you can get a deal on one or find the cheapest you can afford. I think Visio is starting to make them and LG is supposed to be releasing some smaller, cheaper models next year.
I don’t have the experience to back this up but a Samsung QLED TV might also give you a pretty great experience due to having good contrast and black levels and also excellent brightness, colour volume and motion clarity.
A TV with proper functioning BFI at 120Hz is also an exceptional option from what I’ve been told.
Something with Mini-LED with lots of dimming zones might also be a good alternative or a Dual Cell technology TV.
Look at this thread for some recommendations. I’m not sure if it’s been updated though:
And also this one:
Hi Cyber, im using a hd crt 4-3 aspect ratio sony tv with the mega bezel and looks awesome to me, im about to create another retroarch folder to use with your shaders, i want to try your arcade pvm version and some composite for old systems that i feel your shader gives me the most pleasant picture to my eyes that i remember with those systems. I have a question, im using a custom resolution of 1920x1440i not p in my pc with my hd crt, this is the biggest res my tv can accept, its interlaced but my tv handles very well without slowdowns at 60hz, what resolution of the ones you have available in your shader would be the best in my scenario?
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The simplest answer is the ones that look best to you. I’ve never tested these presets on a CRT and most certainly not in any interlaced modes but I would think that the 1440p optimized presets might be a good starting point. The optimizations for the different resolutions don’t really have much to do with whether interlacing is enabled or not. They’re optimized to have feature sizes and sharpness that lower resolution screens can display and better resemble the standard presets which are all made and tested on a 4K screen.
So whether 1440 progressive or interlaced it’s still 1440 lines per frame and the number and size of the scanlines and mask should still be a proper match but the proof will be in the testing. So go ahead and enjoy them. Your setup might be the ultimate setup for my presets with that CRT glow, excellent black levels and response times and finally perfect motion clarity!
I can just imagine what it must be like! I’m glad you like the way they look! I’m looking forward to seeing some video footage (or some photos) of this setup in action if you feel the urge to share!
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As soon as i set it to work im going to take some pics and videos, thanks a lot. Ill use your 1440 presets to see whats up.
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Question; I installed everything fresh as shown in the Youtube installation video, but my games don’t take up the whole box like they do in the examples. I’m running N64 games and those have varying amounts of black borders. How can I make it as shown? I’m new to all this, thanks for any help!
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Welcome to the forum. You have to use the crop/zoom feature of the shader.
Launch your game and go into the Quick Menu.
Then Shaders…
Then Shader Parameters…
Scroll Down from the top until you see the Cropping and Zooming Settings. It’s close to the top of the list. There you can Zoom - which crops all sides simultaneously, or Crop the sides, top or bottom individually. There’s also an option to set the Auto Crop Black Threshold which is supposed to automatically crop the black borders which is useful for games that change resolutions.
When finished cropping go back then click Save…then Save Game Preset.
You can let me know if you get through!
In those screenshots im using rgb sharp pvm edition, is there a way to make the horizontal scanlines thicker and just a tad bit darker
with the pvm edition?, i think that would make those screenshots look almost perfect
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Oops, my bad. I thought you might have tried my 1440p optimized presets seeing that you were using a custom resolution of 1920 x 1440 however I only just realised that I didn’t finish making my full complement of 1440p PVM Edition presets, including the RGB - Sharp 1440p PVM Edition. That one should look a bit more defined at 1440p than the standard presets since they are optimized for 4K. So let me add those so you can try them and tell me if they improve things. There are also other ways in which you can adjust the scanline thickness and darkness but try these new 1440p PVM Edition presets first. The only one I added so far was the Blending and Transparency 1440p PVM Edition, which is based on the Composite Sharp 1440p PVM Edition.
By the way, I recommend the Blending and Transparency PVM Edition for Sonic The Hedgehog and there is a 1440p version in the Shader Pack. It’s based on the Composite - Sharp PVM Edition though and not the RGB - Sharp PVM Edition.
I just posted the link to the latest version of my Shader Preset Pack which includes additional 1440p PVM Edition presets and an updated Blending and Transparency 1440p PVM Edition Preset with additional scanline tweaks. You can download it and try it and let me know if these new 1440p presets work better for you.
And yes, there are ways to make the horizontal scanlines thicker and just a tad bit darker. Settings like scanline1, scanline2, beam_min, beam_max and maskstr are some that I’ve already adjusted to this effect. I’ll post the friendly names when I get a chance.
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Awesome Cyber, i just download and overwrite the ones i already have right? BTW could you make a rgb pvm edition with enhanced scanlines, i dont know if its too much of a hassle but im a scanlines freak, or maybe tell us what setings to touch to make them thicker and darker. Im going to try your new 1440 rbg sharp preset. The thing i didnt tell you its that my hd crt had to take it to the repair shop because yesterday it didnt turn on, damn awesome tech but kind of old too.Im testing your presets with a 1080p lcd 42 inches tv right now, and the standard rgb sharp pvm edition looks georgeous but i think it can be almost perfect with those additions, maybe im wrong. Thanks a lot for your excellent work and the hsm mega bezel.
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Hmmm, that’s unfortunate about your CRT TV. I had a similar situation with my 4K OLED about 2 weeks ago. At least you can find someone hopefully competent enough to repair yours properly for you.
It’s a very subjective thing as well as a delicate balancing act to arrive at these final settings. I don’t play around with too many settings at once but instead learn the different sections as time goes by and that’s how my presets have evolved to this point. I wasn’t in front my computer to tell you the friendly names of the settings to adjust but I did give you the names of the settings that you would find in the shader preset file.
Scanline1 and Scanline2 correspond to the Scanline Shape. Setting 1 is the Center and 2 is for the Edges. Beam_min and Beam_max are for the size of the beam (or it could also be for the darkness of the beam). Right in that section you’ll also see the 2 settings to adjust the darker pixels and lighter pixels. Then next one is Mask Strength. Will verify when I get a chance.
If you want to try this you can simply, make a copy of or open my new RGB - Sharp 1440p PVM Edition Preset I made and save as a different name then delete (or add // followed by a space to the beginning of) the first 2 settings below the #reference. Those should be the CRT Mask Type = 7 and the CRT Mask Size = 2.
That should give you the same preset with a mask type and size that are suitable for 1080p or 4K screens. Of course you’ll be the first to test these settings out so don’t be surprised if something doesn’t look quite right but they just might!
Yes, that is the correct way to update my presets.
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Thanks for all the info, on my 1080p lcd i have come to choose the 4k versions of your presets, they seem the best to my eyes and balanced, when i choose 1080p they seem blurry and when i choose 1440p in my screen almost look like a lcd grid with too many squares (actually thats the one i use with the handhellds cores
) this one is the rbg sharp 1440 enhanced scanlines this is the same but with curvature in 0, and this last one is the 4k version curded with 0 and the one im using the most in almost all systems
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Im going to mess with those settings, beam min and beam max when they are not 1.00 both give me too many distracting halos when i use cirved in 0, guess my only option to play with is scanline 1 and scanline 2, im just a perfectionist, the 4k rgb pvm version looks the best i have ever seen in a shader. Thanks a lot.
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Scanline1 on 8 and Scanline2 on 10, gave me the result i was looking for, it looks between a pvm and a sony fv310 to my eyes. I´m happy now 
. Thanks for your awesome work. Now to find how to add and configure my own side bezels. Im thinking about selling my crts now, lol.
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It was confusing at first and a bit tedious to adjust the crop for games individually, but I also figured out how to mess with the bezel as well and it all works beautifully now! Thank you for the nostalgia trip!
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You’re welcome! You know all that you have mentioned here is expected behaviour. It’s even in the readme.txt file (somewhere). The original presets were designed and tested on a 4K TV. Based on feedback I started doing optimized versions for 1080p and 1440p screens. Then I recently created my PVM Edition presets and I realized that the 1440p resolution screens could benefit from optimized settings. In my testing of 1080p resolution I realized that the standard (4K tested) presets worked fine and that no further optimization was necessary. So as far as the PVM Edition presets are concerned. The non resolution specific ones can be used on 4K and 1080p screens, while the 1440p optimized versions are for 1440p screens. I didn’t want to create additional 1080p specific PVM Edition presets that were identical to the standard 4K optimized ones to add to the already growing list of presets so I made a note in the readme file instead.
Wow! I’m glad you reached to this point! You’re welcome. Just spread the word and share the joy of these presets with others. As for the side bezels, it shouldn’t be to hard and has been documented in other threads. You can probably do a search or ask @Duimon, @TheNamec, @Orionsangel, @soqueroeu or @HyperspaceMadness to point you in the right direction. I guess it’s time that easy to follow video tutorials be made easily accessible for all of these main usage scenarios and setup steps. Things like cropping, installing custom bezels and updating the presets and doing minor adjustments to the scanlines for advanced users like yourself.
Sell the CRTs?! Lol Perhaps when you get a 4K QLED or OLED TV with 120Hz BFI. That Dual Cell or Mini LED (with lots of dimming zones) technology might also do well. My presets will really shine on something like those!
I get a truly satisfying experience from using these presets. It just makes me feel to play over all of my games! Can’t wait to fix my OLED.
I’m truly humbled and honored by this. Did you try using my scanline settings from my new RGB - Sharp 1440p PVM Edition preset minus the CRT Mask Type = 7 and Mask Size = 2? On my TV at 1440p the scanlines and mask look crisper and darker than Scanline 1 on 8 and Scanline 2 on 10 with beam min and max at 1.00.
I haven’t tested any of these scanline enhancements at 1080p yet though.
After some extensive tweaking and testing I just updated my shader preset pack with some 1080p PVM Edition presets for you to try! I suggest you start with the Arcade - Sharp 1080p PVM Edition preset.
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