Duimon - HSM Mega Bezel Graphics and Presets - Feedback and Updates

[Duimon]

Here is something new!

I wanted to do something fun, challenging, and unique. This is all three.

I present to you the Olivetti M21 luggable!

This is a pretty special system. Unlike most PCs of the day this was an 8086, not an 8088. It ran at 10Mhz instead of the standard 4.77, had a built in amber monochrome monitor, and ran it on a hybrid HGC/CGA video card. That meant it could power an external CGA monitor, like the Olivetti M24.

I don’t have one of these in my collection but I have an Emerson that is an 8086. It runs at 10Mhz, has an IDE and HD Floppy controllers, and also has a hybrid HGC/CGA video card. In addition it has MS-DOS 3.3.1 on chip.

I believe the M21, like many PCs of the day, had Basic on chip.

This one is almost complete, (I don’t like the floppy LED. ) and will be my last IBM compatible monochrome.

I still have in mind to do an Amiga monitor, (Probably the Commodore 76BM13.) and an Atari. (The SM124)

[Cyber]

@Duimon

If anyone has a request for a specific model, please let me know.

Commodore 1701/1702 please! That is what I grew up playing on!

Commodore 1701 Computer Monitor

https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=AOaemvIZxeWUUmeeCbFj7GB-538oLNrebA:1631866580910&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=Commodore+1701+please&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwizxoDfyIXzAhWuTDABHRMUA38Q7Al6BAgcEDM

https://www.google.com/search?q=Commodore+1701+please&tbm=isch&chips=q:commodore+1701+please,online_chips:commodore+1702:4OGSdhj41m8%3D&hl=en-GB&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjQ_uiqyYXzAhXEIN8KHRy_Cf4Q4lYoA3oECAEQFw

[Cyber]

@Duimon

I just hooked up my two new 28" ASUS 4K monitors.

The colors are richer, the blacks are blacker, and (Not to brag too much. ) boy do my graphics look great in 4K!

If you have the time, can you let me know how my latest shader presets (Arcade - Sharp & Composite - Sharp) look on these High DPI beauties please? I’m stuck at 4K @ 55" and although I could sit farther away, it won’t be the same. I expect them to look even better at 28" than they do at 55"! I just want to get some feedback to convey what I won’t be able to experience for myself.

[Duimon]

@Cyber

Commodore 1701/1702 please!

While I could do this, it has already been flawlessly executed by my talented team member @TheNamec, for his upcoming Commodore collection.

While some crossover will be unavoidable I am making a point to not duplicate his work.

BTW. I do have one of these in my collection along with two C64s and two VIC 20s.

[Duimon]

@Cyber

I just want to get some feedback to convey what I won’t be able to experience for myself.

They both look very nice, although the rolling scanlines make it hard to see the extreme mask detail that a smaller 4K display gives you.

While I won’t be changing any of my public presets, I have switched my personal masks to mask 7 (Trinitron #3). I was never really impressed with it at 1080 but at 4K it is amazing!

[HyperspaceMadness]

Here’s a link to @TheNamec’s commodore pack thread

TheNamec - Mega Bezel COMMODORE Pack

This thread is about Mega Bezel Commodore Pack, a special graphic addon focusing on famous Commodore hardware with original backdrops and ready-to-go presets based on @HyperspaceMadness Mega Bezel Reflection Shader. Mega Bezel Commodore Pack Release Candidate 1 is out! Download it while it’s still hot on the Official DevBlog Requirements RetroArch v1.9.1 or later with simple presets enabled HSM_Bezel_Reflection_V0.9.21_2021-07-05 or later Features Original vector-based design, 108…

[Tromzy]

I noticed something strange in Valkyrie Profile’s video cutscenes, the frame is flipped and the PSX background is replaced with the default texture, see screenshot here :

It only happens in cutscenes, not in game or menu. Setting the Aspect ratio to “Explicit” does not help.

[Cyber]

@Duimon

While I could do this, it has already been flawlessly executed by my talented team member @TheNamec, for his upcoming Commodore collection.

Wow! Okay! I’m now looking forward to this being released! I like the current minimalistic look of the default Mega Bezel Carbon Fibre Screen and background but I’m sure that Commodore monitor is going to trigger even more nostalgia than the immense amount that I’m feeling right now.

Would I be able to use it with a similarly nostalgic TV stand/living room decor aesthetic as in some of the other monitor bezels I’ve seen, such as in the PVM20 Presets?

@Duimon

BTW. I do have one of these in my collection along with two C64s and two VIC 20s.

Unfortunately the one I used was thrown out probably over a decade ago. Long before I discovered the kinds of restoration, repair and preservation resources we have available today for those types of things.

[Duimon]

@Cyber

Would I be able to use it with a similarly nostalgic TV stand/living room decor aesthetic as in some of the other monitor bezels I’ve seen, such as in the PVM20 Presets?

I don’t know if @TheNamec has plans for such but when his collection is released, with his permission, I would feel privileged to add it to my PVMs.

[Duimon]

@Tromzy

he frame is flipped and the PSX background is replaced with the default texture

The specific resolution must be triggering a switch to vertical orientation. Perhaps @HyperspaceMadness could use some debug details to counter it.

[Duimon]

@HyperspaceMadness

Here’s a link to @TheNamec’s commodore pack thread

I have added links in the first post to @TheNamec’s, @soqueroeu 's, and @Orionsangel’s threads.

[HyperspaceMadness]

Yeah if you can turn on the resolution debug (2nd parameter in the shader parameters list) and take a snapshot I will be able to see the core resolution which might help me fix this for the future.

To work around this just set the Aspect Ratio/Orientation to Horizontal (to make the tube horizontal), and set the Aspect Ratio Type to 4:3

[Cyber]

@Duimon

They both look very nice, although the rolling scanlines make it hard to see the extreme mask detail that a smaller 4K display gives you.

Thanks for checking them out! I still wish I could see them in person but maybe sometime in the future I’ll get to. I have some smaller displays but they’re all lower resolution so there will be a lot that would be different and lost as a result of the lack of resolution and not necessarily due to the presets themselves.

I haven’t really noticed a loss in detail due to the rolling scanlines though. To me they come together nicely with the noise to help with the blending of some of the colours and dither patterns as well as reduce some of the aliasing in a more temporal manner. Of course the overall experience would be very different to if they were off but that would probably be for another look and another preset.

I actually reverse engineered certain images and scenes with dither patterns and was pleased to see the separate colours and line patterns turn into new colours with smoother gradations at the right viewing distances and when viewed up close I could see the subtle movement and nuances in the image being “generated” that just aren’t the same with modern progressive, sample and hold displays. When I first did this I was working with much softer settings and I did notice the rolling scanlines becoming slightly more obvious as the preset evolved to become sharper but it’s not something that takes away from my immersion while I’m playing.

[Tromzy]

And here you go :

[Album] imgur.com

Also, the workaround works perfectly, thanks a lot @HyperspaceMadness.

[Tromzy]

Scanlines were also flipped, so I had to set Scanline Direction from ‘Auto’ to ‘Horizontal’.

[Duimon]

Here is a WIP on the Atari SM124 Monochrome.

FYI the bevel around the bezel is the generated frame. Thanks @HyperspaceMadness for the parameters that make customizing it like this possible.

[Duimon]

I added a small bit of curve (5px) to the body of the monitor.

I didn’t add too much because I wanted to leave the bezel curvature alone.

[HyperspaceMadness]

@Duimon

FYI the bevel around the bezel is the generated frame. Thanks @HyperspaceMadness for the parameters that make customizing it like this possible.

Great, glad it’s coming in handy, one of the things I think we could add at some point would be transition zones and possible shading for the outer edge of the bezel so it is not so sharp a falloff

@Tromzy

And here you go :

[Album] imgur.com

Also, the workaround works perfectly, thanks a lot @HyperspaceMadness.

Thanks! It’s funny, I was right about my guess that the video was running at 320x480! Such a strange resolution

[garrusgaming]

right now i am trying mame 2010 core and do the same

[Duimon]

AFAIK there is no workaround for the MAME 2010 core. (The core doesn’t have the settings to turn off TATE.)

Until @HyperspaceMadness manages to magic up some fix for this scenario, I recommend using the 2016 or Current core.