Pretty obvious you playing crazy/trolling everyone around.
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Did not work, not sure what I did wrong. I copied this in example and saved to alphutima_verysharp.slangp:
Pass 1 Linear 2x
Pass 2 Lanczos3-x
Anti-Ringing off
Pass 3 Fast Sharpen; linear default scale
Sharpen strength 2.00
Amount of sharpening 0.03
Details sharpened 1.00
Pass 4 RCAS; linear default scale
Strength 0.70
Suppress Luma sharpening 1
Pass 5 Res independent scanlines; linear default scale
Everything zero, except:
lines blacks 1.00
Mask layout 12
Mask weight 0.23
Simulated image height default
The best way to share Shader settings is to save it from RetroArch first with the Save as menu. It will save into the top shaders folder.
Ummm ok. You don’t see how Sabr (first image) and XBRZ (second image) smears the pixels, making it look like abstract vector art…? All the nuance in the details and the original look is lost, imo.
Make the images full screen and you’ll see.
My whole approach is that it preserves the pixel art while providing pixel blending. Nothing else in the library does that, unfortunately.
Sorry for the noob question here, but yep I’ve saved hundreds of presets over the years, but I can’t find this data/user/0… folder in Android. Any idea how it can be accessed?
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No idea. I am not an Android or phone user and just have an old phone with an ungoogled version of Android. This should be asked to someone who understands and uses Android. A quick web search reveals that folder of RetroArch can only accessed by root user. If that’s still correct, then you have no access. Seems like there is no (normal) way to get these files.
Ok figured it out!:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15J1zr_aR47wzf8mm7hK6N9ZLPgJtnE97
This is my version 2 btw which is much better.
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Great, it worked. Today I am in the mood of playing around with a few Shaders and settings. Later this day I will probably report back (its early in the morning here).
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Great, looking forward to it! 
I don’t want to be rude, and with all my respects, I wouldn’t dare to say that this is the best shader for retro 2D pixels in the world. I have a real CRT, and doesn’t look like this at all. I think there are better shaders than this in the world…
3 Likes
Hi, I’m little late but here are my comparison shots for 6 shaders on 3 different games. First let me tell you that I use a 1440p monitor at a size of 27", sitting close to it on my desk. Using any of your sharp or very_sharp variants will cause artefacts and I excluded them from the comparison. I only use the smooth variant. And added bilinear and quilez to the mix.
Furthermore, I have added two CRT Shaders that come with RetroArch to see how it compares. But their default settings are altered to exclude scanlines and some other effects. GTU-v050 in particular is designed without degrading the image by simulating typical effects from a tv. I disabled it’s scanlines effect and the look might interested you, at least for comparison. Similarly the standard CRT Guest Advanced was altered by disabling scanlines, glow and interlacing, but all other effects are still in place.
Edit: (I want to add the disclaimer (?) that this comparison could potentially be a disservice to the Guest Advanced Shader, as it was not intended to be used like that. So anyone comparing here, don’t judge it by how it looks without all effects in place. I just included it here for curiosity.)
Settings for gtu-v050-noscanlines.slangp:
#reference "shaders_slang/crt/gtu-v050.slangp"
noScanlines = "1.000000"
Settings for crt-guest-advanced-noscanlines_glow_interm.slangp:
#reference "shaders_slang/crt/crt-guest-advanced.slangp"
interm = "0.000000"
glow = "-0.000000"
no_scanlines = "1.000000"
First complete album links to full sized screenshots for comparison at imgsli website. Every game and shader I have screenshot are listed there in full size. One can select the screenshot from the drop down menu. And images can be compared with the slider and mause wheel can zoom in and out. I have no idea how long these files will be available on this site, there is no explanation found.
- Super Mario World: https://imgsli.com/MTc0MDM0
- Streets of Rage 2: https://imgsli.com/MTc0MDM2
- Castlevania Circle of the Moon: https://imgsli.com/MTc0MDM4
And here some 1:1 close up cropped images for quick look:
Do i have a final verdict? I understand what your goal is, but to be honest this kind of Shader is not what I am searching for. There are some CRT effects I want to have it. Also I personally don’t believe that the art was intended to be viewed without the flaws of a CRT combined with the typical non perfect cable connections of that time. Examples of evidence are transparency effects, which are expected to be blend due to the TV characteristics, which almost all people played them on. But that’s not to say that you cannot prefer what this Shader preset looks like. I’m here just to compare and my personal preferences are different.
2 Likes
Good comparison shots! It reveals that this shader does do some pretty interesting stuff in sharpness vs blending.
I notice that it’s darkening lighter colors quite a bit, though. Perhaps this could be avoided by doing the work in linear gamma?
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Yes, I didn’t notice it before, but now you brought it up it’s noticeable. The difference is so subtle, that playing a game its probably not noticeable without direct comparison. I had a hard time to tell the difference at all, when playing the games in fullscreen to capture screenshots.
On the Castlevania image looking in the left eye (which is right side from our viewers perspective), there is a little white dot visible. Only the Alphultima 2 is a less visible, to almost none. The letters are also darker. But the letters itself are sharper than bilinear or gtu. And the overall image is sharp and still using blending, so its ahead what bilinear can do. And it is not as sharp as quilez.
Have in mind, I just compared the “smooth” version of Alphultima 2. Maybe the other sharper variants are usable for anyone else at normal distance view. They looked horrible on my end.
2 Likes
I’ve played a bit to add more brightness and luminance to the preset. The crops are hard to judge, so I recommend comparing the full images. Also this time I included the Sharp version alongside, because why not.
- Castlevania Circle of the Moon: https://imgsli.com/MTc0MTIz
I have added the image-adjustement shader with following settings applied to the Alphultima-2-Smooth.slangp:
shader5 = "shaders_slang/misc/shaders/image-adjustment.slang"
filter_linear5 = "true"
wrap_mode5 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input5 = "false"
alias5 = ""
float_framebuffer5 = "false"
srgb_framebuffer5 = "false"
SHARPEN = "2.000000"
CONTR = "0.020000"
BLURSCALEX = "0.000000"
LOWLUMSCAN = "0.000000"
HILUMSCAN = "0.000000"
BRIGHTBOOST = "1.200000"
MASK_DARK = "0.350000"
MASK_FADE = "0.000000"
RCAS_STRENGTH = "0.350000"
ia_luminance = "1.200000"
ia_black_level = "0.050000"
ia_bright_boost = "0.100000"
2 Likes
Wow incredible run down there! Thanks for spending the time and very interesting analysis!
Yep this is not intended to be a CRT esque shader.
I think it does provide partial transparency though and looks more transparent when not zoomed in and from a little further away from the screen (imagine when the games were made and ppl played on a 19" screen from 6’ away lol).
I have a different opinion of course in that I believe the original artists would love to be able to snap their fingers and eliminate scanlines and the screen mask, while having pixel blending.
Thank you for the very kind words!
I’m posting a different approach (Alphultima 3) in a moment that has much much greater image quality
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Having different opinions is the reason why we have different shaders in the first place. So you having another is a welcome thing I guess. As touched before, the darkening is a little problem too and after spending some time, I could not solve it to my liking. I also provided full sized images, for anyone who want to judge those instead a cropped (zoomed) in image. Off course not everyone has the same size and resolution of monitor, so judges will vary widely.
Regarding about the artists intention, that’s off course just your guess. Often the best artists of that time knew the shortcomings of the technology they had and created the art with it, not without it. Look, I absolutely respect and understand your goal here and what you like about this approach. I just don’t think you are right about the “intention of the artist”. Maybe, for a few, but at least you cannot assume that for every artist.
But, I don’t want make a scene about it. YOU set he goals of the project and explain how it should look like. We should focus on the product. With that, I wish you good luck.
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