I am currently working on revising my presets to use a modified version of @TheNamec’s multi-reference boilerplate. It will be a bit of work, so it is a long way off, but I am intentionally adding in a reference slot for community preset variations.
It might require some effort on Cyber’s part (Consolidating some references so the parameters are all in one shader etc.) but if he is willing, it will be a snap to use his presets with my pack.
I assume @TheNamec’s pack could just as easily use something similar.
I’ve been thinking along the lines of creating a CyberLab Lite Shader Preset Pack containing my favourite presets that I actually use currently.
I’ve also been thinking about creating some presets that pre-integrate and point to some of your presets even if just as an example because this is a question that keeps coming up from time to time.
Along the lines of what I did with @Soqueroeu-TV Mega Bezel TV Backgrounds.
I’m not even sure consolidation is necessary, is it that *params files (which I recently learned don’t even need to be called *.params files) can’t chain to other presets? That might be pretty neat, if a *.params file could have followed the same principles that have been established with simple presets. I see you mentioned that the reference line in the params files needs to be removed or commented out though.
I do have some presets in my pack that are fully consolidated and can be used as a single file. But aren’t all 3rd party HSM Mega Bezel Reflection Shader compatible presets chained to some other preset anyway, i.e the Base Presets?
I just love how powerful and elegant at the same time the Simple Presets feature is and have fully embraced it with my interweaving of presets across multiple folders. A nice bonus is that it help to keep my pack as a pack, which is what I would like and makes it a little harder to plagiarize.
Currently, there are some of my presets included in the HSM Mega Bezel Examples package, which are all single file.
At some point, hopefully in the near future, I would like to work on this subset of presets that are are tried, tested and pre-integrated with @Duimon’s Mega Bezel Graphics once they are correctly installed.
Let’s see if I can do this by the end of the year, but I might start by doing at least one example within a much shorter period of time.
You yourself can work on including some of your presets that point to presets in my package in the Mega_Bezel_Packs folder.
This one right here might be a good starting point:
Hello. I want a pixel-free image with a reflected frame and a soft image, namely hd soft. I am aware that you are trying for the original image, but I want a softer and clearer image like xbrz or hx4x inside the reflected frame. Which shader is best for me?
No problem, sounds like you might be interested in my CyberLab__RGB-Smooth__PVM-Edition, Cyberlab__RGB-Sharp__PVM-EDITION or CyberLab__Computer_Monitor-Smooth presets.
You can also take a look at my new Le’Sarsh Folder. They’re all softer than my previous presets.
My CyberLab_Arcade-Sharp__PVM-Edition also makes use of some nice upscaling.
If you want to add upscaling to any of my existing presets, you can enable ScaleFX and increase the HSM_CORE_RES_SAMPLING to 300 or higher.
Feel free to let me know if this helps or if you need any additional assistance.
Lastly, you can also lower the Mask Strength but then you might also have to adjust the Gamma_C or Post CRT Brightness to compensate for the increase in brightness.
Hi Cyber or someone else, what shader preset and Blargg Filter Preset combination should I use if I wanted my retrogaming most closely to resemble the CRT’s from yesteryear? Focusing primarily on arcade gaming for now? I tried a few combinations and there are some nice ones, but curious to know if there’s a consensus here.
And by the way Cyber, I tried to rename one of Duimon’s presets by changing the path of that first line and that totally worked so thanks.
To me this is all subjective. I’ve posted several screenshots over the past few months showing whatever latest preset and filter combination I’ve been using.
It’s as easy as seeing which presets are used in one of those screenshots then trying it.
The Blargg Video Filter presets generally do the same thing, just with varying levels of resolution and sharpness, so again, you can use whichever you find looks good to you.
For Arcade Games, I don’t use any Blargg Filters nor Composite like settings.
You can probably start with CyberLab__Ultimate__Virtual__Slot__Mask__CRT-1P2RTA or CyberLab__Ultimate__Virtual__Slot__Mask__IV_OLED__CRT-NP2RTA
Also, CyberLab__Arcade-Sharp__ADV or Cyberlab__RGB-Sharp__PVM-Edition__ADV
If you look not too far back you’ll see the preset combinations I’ve been recently using for Arcade Games. Be sure to also check out the Le’Sarsh variations.
Also remember that my IV_OLED presets are not exclusively for OLED TVs. Depending on the Subpixel Layout of your TV, you might need to change the Mask Layout from 1 to 0.
I don’t really aim to closely match any particular CRT in my presets but I do try to create presets which make the games look great with general CRT like characteristics.
You can think of my presets as imaginary TV Models that I just made up in my head.
I think I found a good preset now for arcade games. And I was able to combine it with the Duimon cabinet shader. Did indeed go into the shader parameters to tweak just a few things. I’m happy, thanks Duimon and Cyber.
Hi. This may be a bit off topic, but since you made a new shader for Higan, how do you download the higan core? I’m using 1.10.3 and the Higan core hasn’t been availiable for download for a while now. Are you using an older RetroArch version or a backup of the core?
I’ve had that Higan core for a long while now. Don’t know what’s the most appropriate way to get it currently. I’ve recently developed a corresponding set of presets for BSNES with Blur Emulation turned on and have switched to that core as well.
Here are some examples using those presets from my new Le’Sarsh folder.
I don’t know if that would be appropriate. I’d have to run it by @hunterk, @Tatsuya79 or @HyperspaceMadness first before I do something like that.
I wouldn’t want to infringe on any copyrights or licenses nor the intentions or wishes of the author.
Perhaps they might also be able to suggest an appropriate method of acquiring the core?
Just out of curiosity. How come you prefer to jump through hoops to get that one instead of using the still supported and better performing BSNES core?
I always found it strange that it was so hard to get older, unsupported cores directly from Libretro/RetroArch sources. I heard about some crash some time ago but I wondered afterwards if it might be intentional and for good reason.
Apart from the Color Emulation which I don’t know why isn’t one of the Core Options in BSNES, I really don’t see much of an advantage to using the old Higan core.
Does the regular BSNES core do Super GameBoy Emulation as well?
Ah sorry I didn’t know about that. I barely have any knowledge about copyright and licenses and stuff. I just wanted to try it out since you made shaders specifically for this core, since I thougth the result might be a bit different then when using the shader with bsnes or snes9x for example. My apologies if this is against the copyright or online license.
It’s just because we update the cores constantly (sometimes multiple times per day, and sometimes the cores are >100MB each) and it’s just not feasible to keep all of those builds of >150 cores around.
AFAIK, color emulation doesn’t do a whole lot for SNES. I think it restricts the color range slightly at the edges to mimic a TV’s RGB range or something…? It was mainly a big deal in higan for NES games, since it applied the RAW palette, IIRC.
I made the new shader presets for BSNES Blur Emulation specifically for people who don’t have access to Higan and it should provide a similar if not superior experience to my Console Specific Higan preset.
I also wanted to take advantage of Run-Ahead and better latency and performance provided by the more up to date core. Have you tried these yet? They’re relatively new. I most likely won’t be continuing to update and develop my older Higan Blur and Color Emulation presets going forward because I have switched to the BSNES core for SNES Emulation.
So try the new CyberLab SNES Composite Slot Mask IV OLED for BSNES Blur Emulation preset with Blur Emulation on. There are 2 flavours. Le’Sarsh and the regular 4K_Optimized. If you don’t have an OLED TV, just flip the Mask Layout to 0.
Are you using a 4K Screen? The Le’Sarsh 4K_Optimized Slot_Mask presets also look great at 1440p while the Aperture Grill Presets also look great at 1080p!
