Mega Bezel Reflection Shader! - Feedback and Updates

Hey, I think I’m running into an issue with the latest version. The reflection from the game bleeds into the background image, especially near the top of the screen where there are light-colored bars stretching to the sides. I know it’s coming from the reflection since the bars aren’t there when the game screen is black. But strangely, it only does this on my 4K TV (not my 1440p monitor), and it doesn’t show up in a GPU screenshot, so I had to take a picture of my screen. And zooming in slightly on my TV (basically the “overscan” option) also removes the bars. I don’t know if this is a problem with Mega Bezel or my computer/TV/connection, but it only does this with the current version, so that’s my best guess. No idea what’s going on.

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Hmm this is quite strange. So if you switch back to the last version you were using this goes away?

Are you saying that when you change a setting on your TV the artifact goes away?

The strange thing is the GPU screenshot really should be the final image coming out shader chain, so if the GPU screenshot doesn’t show this artifact, and the monitor doesn’t show the artifact, but the TV does show it, I would think it must have something to do with the TV or connection to the TV.

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Yes. Specifically, the current MBZ__2__STD.slangp with shaders has the white bars while the MBZ__2__STANDARD.slangp with shaders shaders from May 2 doesn’t.

Also yes. I thought there could be an issue with what my PC is sending to the TV (like maybe it’s not exactly 4K, so it looks wrong when it’s pushed to a 4K TV), but I confirmed that it is indeed pushing out 4K. And for what it’s worth, I tried both GLCore and Vulkan.

Normally I’d think so too, but the fact that this problem only started with the new version (or with some version from the last few months) is what has me confused. There must be some functional difference between the two versions that’s causing it. Is there a setting that allows the game reflection to show on the background, which might have previously been disabled by default but is now enabled?

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Yes, if you are switching back and forth between the old shader and the new shader and the artifact is going away and coming back then it has to be something functionally different.

What does it look like on your TV with overscan vs without?

Hmm, I don’t think so, but I would need to make a diff to see what has changed.

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Have any of you guys got the shader working with retrolust’s collection of overlays? https://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/52435-mr-retrolusts-mame-4k-lights-out-realistic-bezels/?tab=comments#comment-332276 I’d love to see an easy integration with these, or something similar with the actual arcade bezels for different machines. I’ve been extremely impressed with @Duimon 's work, and I’m already using his stuff for all my console emulation but it’d be great to have an easy drag/drop integration for all the arcade games. That would be absolutely killer. I tried out some people’s overlays and stuff but most don’t integrate well or aren’t aligned so they’re a pain (not to diss their work, most of which is fantastic). It’d be great to just be able to drop stuff in and have it work.

I also checked out @soqueroeu 's tv recreations which was also really great. Some of his look like an old sony t.v. we used to have when I was a kid, the KV-1370R. Ex: https://preview.redd.it/zm21y072oy831.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=6d7a585553e21c9f9efe324b63d0d6b1cf255e82

Anyway just wanted to thank you guys again here, and also praise @HyperspaceMadness for his hard work as well. The moment I found/saw this stuff I was floored, it’s all absolutely incredible, honestly. Sheer genius.

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I took a look at these. If what you are looking for is drop in convenience you probably won’t find it there. (The screens are many different sizes to accommodate the cabinet glass art.)

I recommend “The Bezel Project” overlays. Every one has exactly the same size screen so you only have to set one up and the rest just work.

I have some scripts in a repo that are designed to create Mega Bezel game presets using “The Bezel Project” art. (here)

They are meant to work with a very old version of the shader but if you follow the instructions it should work. (At least the first script will and if you don’t want different colored bezels it is all you need.)

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Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t the bezel project’s stuff not have the actual arcade bezels? I tried them out before and most were basically like fan art compilations rather than the actual arcade ones. Maybe there was an option I missed or something in their setup program? It is kind of clunky/broken sorta. I read somewhere that you had built a script for them, but I wasn’t able to find it before so I’ll give it a look, thanks for the link! I do understand what an absolutely insane undertaking that is.

I did also see the guys working on the vertical arcade project, that’d be similar to what I’d be after, but horizontally oriented. They used to have some horizontal ones but I think they’re using the old version of HSM’s shader, so they’re broken now.

You are correct but the screens are all the same size. They can be used if you make the shader generated bezel a bit larger that the one in the graphic.

There are parameters that will use the cutout space in the graphic as a guide to automatically scale and place the generated bezel. In theory you may be able to have that parameter set and use any art you like. The problem is, using arcade art, each graphic will take some fine tuning, and you probably want the generated bezel behind the graphic etc.

If you download the Mega Bezel Examples pack there is an example of the parameter being used in one of the 4K Vertical graphics you mentioned.

So I guess you either have to choose between fan art and ease of use or authentic art and maybe a lot more effort. (Especially if you want a set that includes both horizontal and vertical games.)

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Ah, I see. Well, I may end up going through making my own then using some of the assets from the different packs that are floating around. I really like that authentic look. I’m using retrolust’s stuff for my standalone mame for lauchbox/bigbox’s community high scores feature, and they’re neat, but they just don’t have that extra little panache of hyper-realism that the shader and your stuff adds. I have that setup to run in parallel with retroarch’s mame core with you guys’ stuff just cause everything looks so damn good. If I do get around to making some, I’ll be sure to share 'em with you guys.

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Oh, I did have another question if you don’t mind. I tried out you and soqueroeu’s t.v. bezel’s for some old t.v. shows and things, but I noticed that they would either bug out playing 16:9 content, or squish it to be 4:3. Would it be possible to add a widescreen orientation / aspect ratio detection method of some sort for content? Maybe even specifically only for the video player core? It seemed like it did detect it sometimes when it bugged out, it resized the bezel wider than the t.v. and played it normally, but other times it would just squish it down to fit. It was very strange, and I haven’t had the time to tinker with it enough to know exactly when it’s doing different things. I wouldn’t mind, other than most movies and modern shows are in 16:9 natively, and it’s kind of difficult to find 4:3 content these days. I doubt my use-case for using it for television/movie playback is all that huge, but I thought it might be worth asking.

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Hey, glad you’re liking the shader and the creators graphic packs!

About Mr Retrolust’s overlays. You can definitely use the Mega Bezel with these. I will probably make some examples using Mr Retrolust’s awesome graphics soon which will go into the examples package like the orionsangel ones are.

The auto screen placement should work pretty easily on the graphics which don’t already include a bezel around the screen.

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Awesome, I’ll keep a look out for that for sure.

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Hey! Since a while back I can’t load MBZ__1__ADV__GUEST-SM.slangp or MBZ__2__STD__GUEST-SM.slangp, everything else seem to work.

I’m getting an error “Failed to apply shader preset”

Using RA 1.9.8, all shaders updated and latest HSM.

Here’s a log:

Any idea?

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Hey there, thanks for reporting this.

I looked and I think the Guest-SM actually hasn’t been working since the first release this year. This makes me wonder how widely it’s being used.

In general the fewer crt shader versions we have the less cluttered the Mega Bezel presets folders will be, so I am wondering if we really need guest-sm still

For anyone following If you would really like to use Guest-SM please like this post go give me an idea, although I’m thinking that perhaps it’s time for another survey as well.

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No problem! :slight_smile: Which one would you consider the default right now?

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The Guest-DrVenom Advanced is what I would consider the default this is in the root of presets:

MBZ__2__STD.slangp

It just references:

Base_CRT_Presets/MBZ__2__STD__GDV.slangp

Guest-DrVenom-Advanced is really flexible, and Guest is still doing little tweaks here and there.

:smiley:

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Thanks for the fast replies, this shader package is what keeps me using RA, it’s sooo good! One more question. I haven’t really been in the loop on how to change the background, for example using some of Dumions excellent backgrounds. What’s the process for that? Let’s say I want to use one for SNES, another for NES and so on?

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I think you are talking about switching between different presets for different cores (NES, SNES)

To do this you load the preset, then go to the shaders Save page, and choose Save Core Preset.

Then the next time you load up this core this preset will be automatically loaded.

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No, I know how to to that, I’m talking about changing the backdrop to match SNES / NES and so on, you do that in the shader preset file?

Like this one.

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Since the new version of the shader I have been releasing presets for my graphics, so no extra work is required. Just read the second post in my thread for installation instructions.

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