Not sure if running Steam is required, I always have it on at startup.
I meant for retro games, i’d rather have nice CRT shaders.
Not with Retroarch, but I’ve used it with RPCS3 to play Ico HD version which is capped at 30 fps in stereoscopic 3D. Searched for a 60 fps patch beforehand and tried to tweak the emulator for real 60fps, but no dice.
It’s working fine I guess. I think 30 fps or the like may be preferable for games with a “cinematic” vibe, but since I played that game with a VR headset for the stereo 3D, I just decided to test my options.
Also, windows capture in Win10 may add yellow outlines and Lossless scaling may interfere with OBS and Desktop+ (the SteamVR app I used to display stereo3D). You can watch the result in motion here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOY0UVikFAY&list=PLZKRUnUPcYXuqncGOc1OJWdC2vZMlwQSZ&index=1
I think going from 30 to 60 is challenging as there is not many frames for the program to work with initially, so you get a lot of artifacts. At least from what I’ve seen on Youtube. 60 to 120 seems a lot more pleasant.
Latest version 3.2 has really improved and has way less artifacts. I’m using it with scanline shaders with minimal issues.
Do these extra frames reduce the LCD motion blur? That’s my priority, find ways to make motion as clear as in CRTs. Playing at 240fps almost achieves this (it’s pretty close) but the games must be able to reach these frame rates. Old retro console games are usually locked at 60fps.
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To me, it definitely does, as I use it to double the framerate. I cannot get the black image generation shaders to give a decent image, but this looks great. A caveat to consider is that it still has issues if you use shaders with scanlines and some minor other details that the developer has been fixing over time.
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Just a couple questions about the Steam app, for those that have it (since it doesn’t have a trial version)… if you are using it with the desktop version of Retroarch, does it just sit in the system tray, or run in the background? Are you able to have it open with the game and close afterward? What are the specifics of how you use it? Thanks for the info.
It runs minimised to tray, maybe there’s some ahk script that can do what you want.
I have this basically set up, but my frames seem to be locked to 50/100. Is there an obvious way to get this to 60/120?
Is the game you are running a PAL version? Because it seems the base FPS is 50, and the software is just doubling it.
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Kind of… it turns out Nestopia’s auto region was playing “world” games as PAL (so you called it in that aspect), and I had to set it to force NTSC. I realized it after I tested a game that is NTSC only and it played in 60/120.
I got everything set up properly now. I found that you can auto start lossless scaling with retroarch by setting up a profile within the app to start running with the retroarch.exe (that was one of my questions above).
It took some experimenting with the settings, but it actually runs the games very smoothly. I have an ethical dilemma because this basically blows the top off of emulator accuracy because it’s no longer accurate at all, technically… but from a playability perspective it does a good job. I’ve run it on games that had problems with motion, like Sonic and Super Mario World for example, and they play and look a lot better.
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Nice that you liked it, And each update makes Lossless Scaling much better.
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I am noticing the game music is kind of weird and warbly. I’m not sure if that could be because of LS or just some other issue I’m having.
No issues with music here at all.
I have that problem with the WASAPI audio driver. I use xaudio instead without issues.
If you have any suggestions, that’s helpful.
Yeah, it’s the wasapi driver because I have an external DAC the xaudio just doesn’t work at all… sounds terrible. So, I use the wasapi and it’s passable, but sounds warbly. I read this morning that there is problems with it in general but I don’t know if that’s true. Anyway, I spent some time fooling with settings but haven’t been able to get it ironed out.
In my experience it doesn’t really improve gameplay. I play a lot of rythm games where high framerates really matter for both comfort and gameplay, also in VR, and I can usually detect latency issues. If I’ve got CPU to spare I’d be more comfortable playing with Retroarch’s pre-emptive frames.
Lossless Scaling is still fine for making cinematic experiences like ICO or Shadow of the Colossus more fluid. But like any postprocess it adds latency, but with that tool you cant compensate with preemptive frames.
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Indeed. Frame generation is best used for modern 60+ FPS games. It’s intended for situations in which responsiveness is already good, but the framerate is below the monitor’s refresh rate, as some of them goes pretty high for a GPU to handle. Basically, scenarios like you running a game at 100FPS, but your monitor has 180Hz. Frame generation covers for that 80-frames gap and it works, but it’s no magic. You can’t turn a 20 FPS retro game into a 60 FPS modern experience without any shortcoming.
tl;dr: use frame generation if you already have a high framerate, but needs an even higher one and your hardware cannot do it the traditional way.
I played through nes Metroid last night with LS and had a very smooth experience. What are the shortcomings you guys are talking about? I’m not saying that there aren’t any, but I’m interested to know what I might be missing.
Maybe try and test it with games that would benchmark latency, and that you’re familiar with, like some Donkey Kong Country barrel level or some Punch Out. You’ll then see for yourself.