Mega Bezel Reflection Shader! - Feedback and Updates

[Duimon]

I haven’t messed with the DODBox pure core much, but I have had good results with DOSBox SVN.

I think you’ll find that compatibility will be only about 35% either way. eXo and his team use at least 5 different versions of DOSBox, a couple are custom just for his project.

BTW. On an interesting side note. Here is a graphic I did in 2007 for eXo’s DOS Collection. (Way before he started developing eXoDOS.)

I am very proud to say that I am credited in his readme.

There was a short discussion here a while back about a virtual video input core for RA that would allow any full screen app to use the shader system.

If anyone who has the skills is reading this, I still think something like this would be a game changer.

[SqHd]

That’s so cool you’re credited in his readme!

His collections are amazing: eXoDOS, eXoWin3x, and the recent eXoScummVM. And you’re totally right, DOSBox Pure won’t play everything. His setup is so customized and thorough. (I wasn’t sure how in depth I should go on here about cores and compatibility. But I guess we are all way into this stuff considering we use bezel shaders.) And, shhh don’t tell him I mentioned Pure and eXo in the same post. I see you’re on his Discord channel.

Virtual video input core definitely sounds like the next evolution! Then we could use Daphne, Model 2, Model 3, and Demul with HSM.

[Duimon]

@SqHd

And, shhh don’t tell him I mentioned Pure and eXo in the same post.

I won’t.

eXo is certainly open to some kind of Bezel and shaders for his collection. He and I have discussed Reshade and Rocketlauncher, They just aren’t mature stable methods.

He has expressed appreciation for my default DOSBox graphic. I think, were some kind of pass-thru core developed, he would at least explore the option.

[SqHd]

Oh yea! That DOSBox graphic is awesome! I adjusted your preset to use STANDARD HD-CORE that Hyperspace mentioned. And was playing Monkey Island on my cab. So many good memories playing that with my dad and brother when I was little!

I’ve thought about looking into Reshade for Sega Hikaru (via Demul). It has this annoying bug where it won’t do 4:3 in fullscreen mode and stretches the game.

@HyperspaceMadness Sorry for hijacking your thread!

[soqueroeu]

OK people,

I started configuring shaders for arcade games. I’m using the tilted @Duimon preset and there’s something here that intrigues me in vertical resolution games:

when they are horizontal, the scanlines are uniform, but when I rotate to vertical format (which is correct), the lines are no longer perfect:

Vertical game + horizontal aspect:

Vertical game + vertical aspect:

Is there any tweak that fixes this?

[Duimon]

I’m not sure I see a problem. The screen it tilted so there is perspective. The scanlines shouldn’t be uniform.

Unless I misunderstand the question.

[soqueroeu]

It seems to me the lines are closer together and this creates darker lines between them. In this image you can see something:

Reducing fake interlace and scanlines trigger res makes the darker lines disappear. But the pixelated aspect is also reduced a little, which may not be ideal:

[HyperspaceMadness]

@soqueroeu

Reducing fake interlace and scanlines trigger res makes the darker lines disappear. But the pixelated aspect is also reduced a little, which may not be ideal:

This is interesting, because I think any game I know which runs vertical has a resolution under the default interlace trigger res and so should be using standard scanlines from the Guest-DrVenom shader rather than the fake ones.

What is the resolution of this game?

[slikvik55]

Hi, sorry but I can’t find a step by step in the discussion above, how do I replace the carbon bezel with one of my own? I have a TV surround I’d like to use. Can this be done on a core by core basis, as in, just have the background in the simple present file?

Also, what would be good shader settings for 480p Dreamcast, GC and VGA? I have a 1440p monitor.

[Duimon]

At this point it all has to be done manually. A simple preset with a custom background can be as easy as…

#reference ":/shaders/shaders_slang/bezel/Mega_Bezel/Presets/Base_CRT_Presets/MBZ__2__STANDARD__GUEST-DrVENOM.slangp"
BackgroundImage = ":/shaders/Duimon-Mega-Bezel/Graphics/Atari_2600/2600.png"

The first line references a base preset and the second points to a custom graphic.

The :/ syntax means the Retroarch root directory, so the preset can be moved anywhere within that folder and still work.

You have two choices once you create the preset.

1. You can place it in a folder of your choice, load it, and save a core preset.

2. You can manually rename the file and copy/create the required folder structure in the “config” folder.

Your choice depends on your comfort level and experience.

As stated in the shader readme, make sure you have simple presets enabled.

[soqueroeu]

@HyperspaceMadness

This is interesting, because I think any game I know which runs vertical has a resolution under the default interlace trigger res and so should be using standard scanlines from the Guest-DrVenom shader rather than the fake ones.

What is the resolution of this game?

• Core: 224x320
• Reduced Res: 224x320
• Cropped:224x320
• Sampling Res224x320

In fact, I realized that by reducing interlace and scanlines trigger res, it makes smooth vertical lines appear instead of horizontal ones, even in 4:3 games . This is interesting for newer systems and I started to adopt this in post 16bit cores. It seems to help reduce aliasing, which is quite common in 3D games. Do you think I’m doing it right?

[slikvik55]

Thanks. I’ll get that a go!

[soqueroeu]

@Duimon and @HyperspaceMadness, here another point:

The cabinet and joysticks layer is OK, but for this game in question, the Mame logos are mirrored. I was also unable to get the tube in the right position at all. I think it’s worth testing with more different games.

Just to help with the analysis, I have all vertical games separated from horizontal ones.

For this core (Mame 2010) the video rotation is set to rotate 270 degrees automatically on all games in same directory.

Please, help us!

[HyperspaceMadness]

@soqueroeu

For this core (Mame 2010) the video rotation is set to rotate 270 degrees automatically on all games in same directory.

Hi there, Looking at the resolution debug info printing on the screen Mame 2010 is outputting sideways, then the Viewport rotation is rotating it sideways.

For the Mega Bezel you should have video rotation set to 0. I’m going to add this to the instructions as this keeps coming up as a problem.

If you need to flip or rotate the screen to get it the correct orientation you should use the Mega Bezel parameters to do this instead of the Video Rotation.

Let me know how it goes

[Duimon]

I don’t think the Mega Bezel works with MAME 2010 and vertical games. The MAME 2010 core has no setting for turning off rotation. (Unless it can be done with a mame.ini in the ini folder.)

[soqueroeu]

@HyperspaceMadness

Hi there, Looking at the resolution debug info printing on the screen Mame 2010 is outputting sideways, then the Viewport rotation is rotating it sideways.

For the Mega Bezel you should have video rotation set to 0. I’m going to add this to the instructions as this keeps coming up as a problem.

If you need to flip or rotate the screen to get it the correct orientation you should use the Mega Bezel parameters to do this instead of the Video Rotation.

Let me know how it goes

Without changing the rotation to 270, I can’t get out of images like this. No adjustments in MegaBezel correct this alignment.

@Duimon

I don’t think the Mega Bezel works with MAME 2010 and vertical games. The MAME 2010 core has no setting for turning off rotation. (Unless it can be done with a mame.ini in the ini folder.)

I hope I don’t need another package. Unfortunately my romset is based on this Core version and it is already properly separated and filtered

[HyperspaceMadness]

@soqueroeu

Without changing the rotation to 270, I can’t get out of images like this. No adjustments in MegaBezel correct this alignment.

@hunterk, do you know if there is any switch in retroarch which can stop the core from rotating the framebuffer?

[hunterk]

yeah, settings > core > allow rotation is what lets cores take control of RetroArch’s rotation. If the core itself does the rotation internally, there’s nothing the frontend can do to stop it.

[HyperspaceMadness]

Thanks

So I guess that’s the answer, if the core options has a setting then you can turn it off there, otherwise you are left with the video rotation option.

If you do have to use the video rotation then I may need to add a flip viewport horizontal option if it’s not already there.

Or you could try a different version of mame, I’ve had good results with Mame2016

[soqueroeu]

@hunterk

yeah, settings > core > allow rotation is what lets cores take control of RetroArch’s rotation. If the core itself does the rotation internally, there’s nothing the frontend can do to stop it.

@HyperspaceMadness

So I guess that’s the answer, if the core options has a setting then you can turn it off there, otherwise you are left with the video rotation option.

If you do have to use the video rotation then I may need to add a flip viewport horizontal option if it’s not already there.

I just checked and both MAME 2010 and newer have the option to block rotation.

In fact, I was able to successfully control the rotation only through the shader. Thanks everyone for that!

But, I noticed that by default, in the latest Mame the game opens vertically, filling the entire screen. In Mame 2010 the same game runs horizontally, also filling the entire screen. However, in the latest Mame version, when applying the shader, everything automatically goes in its place, without needing to adjust the shader parameters. I don’t know if this is true for all games. So far I’m just testing these two games that appeared in my screenshots.

I’m glad I can still use my selective romset. Thanks @HyperspaceMadness , @Duimon and @hunterk !