Koko-aio shader discussions and updates

Jamirus · 27 April 2023 17:02

I think it’s great to try to have more flexible LCD-based shaders. I’ve also observed with the current ones, that if you increase the resolution (e.g. by using the normalx2) filter it can make a better image for high-res displays. The “LCD Shader” also has a variable cell scale parameter, but in practice I’ve only found the default useful, anything else looks to rough.

I also have a 20" 480p LCD with VGA input. The grid is very visible, it does comes off somewhat aperture like once you put scanlines on there

kokoko3k · 27 April 2023 17:16

Well considering that it can superseed scanlines and mask emulation, pretty good.

I’ve not made any precise measuerement, but i expect no more than a 5% gpu use penalty on my haswell if compared to scanline+aperturegrille+rgb mask.

Also, being the phosphors able to grow in width, there should be less need to ‘brightness push’ workarounds.

I’ve to explore the possibility to offset the phosphors to do slotmask too, and i expect this new method to be more robust versus artifacts that may be visible with slotmask+curvature, let’s see how it goes.

RetroGames4K · 27 April 2023 17:13

I prefer this one for GBA IMO. Looks really good.

Winter47th · 27 April 2023 18:05

Those look so amazing!

HyperspaceMadness · 27 April 2023 18:43

Wow! This is looking fantastic! I’m really excited about a more flexible matrixish shader like this!

@Duimon, you might be interested too

Duimon · 27 April 2023 21:34

Yes, I certainly am.

I was also wondering if it was possible to come up with a Color LCD shader that has the blending and drop shadow the Game Boy shader has.

I’ve seen screenshots of a legacy shader that did, but have never seen one available.

kokoko3k · 28 April 2023 03:51

@Duimon I think you can achieve that in koko-aio by mixing the shadow feature under ‘dot matrix’ emulation with the blending of the ‘phosphor grid’.

I’ve to check out if they are in the correct order.

But what console had this, Gameboy color?

oldpainless · 28 April 2023 06:36

I just tried your dev repo, and all shaders load, except any of the pgrid ones (using Vulkan)…is it working for others?

kokoko3k · 28 April 2023 07:10

I think i made some mistake compiling them, probably wrong reference path. I’ll take a look asap.

EDIT Indeed, there were broken references, please try again.

oldpainless · 28 April 2023 07:58

I can confirm that they are now working. Thanks.

kokoko3k · 28 April 2023 08:01

Glad to hear that. Keep in mind that i made them in a matter of minutes in a rush yesterday; something like “load a random game”, tune parameters till it looks ok, take screenshot, save preset, make another preset, so if you find something weird, it could be expected

kokoko3k · 28 April 2023 08:07

Just drafted 4.1 release on the repo with changes till gameboy mono emulation (phosphor grid left out), it sohuld be availablle on retroarch online update shortly.

Add a standalone/stripped down version for gameboy mono emulation only in misc folder
Dot matrix emulation with grid shadow and motion blur
Allow to emulate monochrome display colorization
Add gameboy mono preset
Apply curvature later in the chain so that it is consistent whan inner zoom changes.
Allow to ignore aspect when doing integer scaling -> integer scale along both axes.
Allow wrap mode in shader again
Use mimpaps again to sample bezel lut as it gives rounding errors on amd side
Add TATE mode

Duimon · 28 April 2023 10:20

None. I just think it looks cool.

kokoko3k · 28 April 2023 13:48

Added basic slotmask functionality to the low phosphor grid emulation function:

still playing with it; parameters ar a bit messy atm because i’ve still to figure out where this thing has to go, btw:

You can emulate slotmask at screen resolution:

Or at core resolution:

And @Cyber: basal performance hit on my haswell is about 2% just because there is another function living in the code, but actually, the new code proves to be faster (3%) than the old if it replaces masks and scanlines, there are still missing features tho.

HyperspaceMadness · 28 April 2023 21:58

I’m really enjoying this direction of being able to morph the phosphors / dots in so many ways

ROBMARK85 · 2 May 2023 08:28

Hello koko-aio. I wanted to thank you again for your splendid work and I am very happy for the developments in the field of handled emulation that your shaders is having. By now a good part of gaming is done through smartphones due to various factors, and thanks to your shaders and a good interlocking joypad I can still enjoy healthy and good RetroGaming. I enclose some shots taken from my Poco M4 Pro of Super Ghouls 'N Ghost with your shaders, I use your monitor-bezelwider preset with some parameter variations and I find it fantastic:

With slotmask

With aperture grill

kokoko3k · 2 May 2023 09:45

Maybe on a phone (oled?) you would get better results by using an rgb mask without horizontal gap instead of green,magenta,gap.

ROBMARK85 · 2 May 2023 10:09

I have an amoled display. If I wanted to try your advice, what should I change inside your shaders ? Thank you

kokoko3k · 2 May 2023 10:26

Use LoDPI Green, Magenta -> RGB = 0
Horizontal gap between triads = 0

ROBMARK85 · 2 May 2023 11:11

Thanks for the advice and help. I would like to ask you in the light of the changes made, which one do you consider the best image. I used slotmask 1, 2, and 3 in that order. Thank you very much