Mega Bezel Reflection Shader! - Feedback and Updates

RetroArch Additions Shaders
#5884

So I think the difference you are seeing in your original post with the side by side is an increased core resolution multiplier opposite direction (which corresponds to the vertical here) the actual param name is HSM_CORE_RES_SAMPLING_MULT_OPPOSITE_DIR the old SMOOTH-ADV preset had a value of 125 which means it adds extra vertical scanlines smoothing to the image. So if you set this you may get closer to what you were liking before.

The reason this was changed back to 100 is because a higher number of vertical scanlines can cause misaligned scanlines with horizontal features E.G. The ground in Super Mario Bros.

There is also a folder Presets/Variations/Smoothed which has a bunch of examples of different settings which you can try

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#5885

In my opinion, it really isn’t. Composite video is far, far sharper even on a low quality CRT compared to all of the existing shaders. The shaders might be as blurry as a TV with a notch filter but I don’t know because I never had one of those, and I grew up in the 80s and 90s. The sharpening options all come with a side dish of unwanted artifacts that were not present on actual hardware.

I get that we’re limited by algorithms and such but I can’t help but think that maybe there’s a better way that hasn’t been tried yet.

1 Like
#5886

Excellent, thank you!

1 Like
#5887

HyperspaceMadness, i tried your latest preset MBZ__1__ADV__MEGATRON.slangp and with some little adjustments i found it perfect for my current likings, however i only have to tweak perceived brightness which is too low and don’t feel to push my monitor brightness too much. I decided to play around with the afterglow, but it seems disabled in your preset, it doesn’t do anything when changed, maybe is it because it is missing the magic glow functionality? I wouldn’t know how to make it myself as when editing your presets with notepad plus plus they are basically empty.

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#5888

The Afterglow for making phosphor trails behind moving objects on top of black, and is independent of magic glow, and of course there is no magic glow in the Megatron shader.

I’ll take a look to see why it’s not working

#5889

Also, same in the megatron presets instead of the others, the bezels cover the top and bottom of the screen due to curvature, when set to flat that part of the screen is displayed. Switching to the other kind of presets doesn’t give the same.

#5890

ahw it seems that on the megatron presets it still keeps the 2d option, and the crt curvature scale multiplier is set to 0, while the others are set to 100. Maybe with the 2d option set to off for flat intention is best, or 100 and with the 2d option on for curvature.

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#5891

You are free to adjust it to your liking. :grin:

The Megatron absolutely needs integer scale and no curvature, ( Hence the 0 crt curvature scale multiplier.) but you could adjust the 2D Curvature parameter so it still curves but covers less of the screen, or turn the curvature off completely.

When you have it the way you like it just save a core, game, or content directory preset.

From the first post in the thread:

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#5892

I didnt give my own preference, i noted down a mistake in the making, dont know if you tried it yourself, but what i meant is that by default the megatron preset comes with curvature from the bezel and the black edge, not the screen. So it cuts aways elements of the game in the top and bottom part. I personally fixed it already as noted above but figured out it was fixed cause it might be annoying for newcomers.

#5893

This is probably not a mistake. It’s just a preference. I actually sometimes prefer a Bezel that shows the curve but the actual curvature of the screen being off especially because it’s virtually impossible to realistically render screen curvature to be displayed on a flat screen. So what you’re claiming to have fixed is actually a feature. It’s not broken.

There are also technical reasons why this setup makes more sense for the Sony Megatron Color Video Monitor shader.

So as has been mentioned before…go ahead and fix err…modify things to your hearts desire. When you achieve something that you like, you can feel free to save it as a Core, Game or Directory Preset.

In the future, you may or may not encounter strange happenings with the shader (or maybe just some other feature you probably do not fully understand), feel free to come and report it because this is the HSM Mega Bezel Reflection Shader! - Feedback and updates thread.

#5894

It is a report to Hyperspace and his own preset, he will tell if he intended it like that or not. As far as i could understand the fact that it is an isolated case that wasn’t there in prior versions makes me think simply an oversight from the latest version. I honestly don’t understand why would you curve all the overlays or the black edge and not the screen, if you want to give perceived curvature then you just curve the screen aswell, if you want to not have curvature you make it more flat same as the overlays and the black edge. I have tested all your preset cyber, also sonkun, duimon and guest ones, and it is the first time happening to me.

#5895

Thank you. Your feedback is very valuable, and welcome.

The Megatron is a complex beast of a shader. Curvature tends to create moire using the Megatron, unlike Guest ADV, and the crt curvature multiplier was introduced as a way of mitigating that. It is a relatively new feature.

It remains to be seen if HSM set this preset up like this intentionally, but I strongly suspect he did.

Based on your feedback he may rethink this. That’s what feedback is for. :grin:

Thanks again!

2 Likes
#5896

Hi, and thanks for sharing your question and thoughts about this, I’m glad you are enjoying the Megatron, MajorPainTheCactus put a lot of fantastic work into it.

To answer, yes this is intended. The reason is because I try to have all the base presets are set up to be the same as possible, E.G. Same screen size, same bezel. They are really the starting point for customization. There are about 150 of them, so the more consistency the better! :rofl:

The Megatron by its nature does not like the screen image to be curved, it creates a lot of artifacts if it does get curved. As @Duimon mentioned, this is why the crt curvature is set to 0.

Before this feature was added, it’s possible that I had turned the main curvature off instead, which would result in square edges for the bezel, but now that the crt curvature multiplier feature was added we can get an uncurved screen image with a curved bezel which is better for consistency between the Mega Bezel base presets.

The results is like an 80’s tv where the tube is still rounded, but the picture is adjusted to have the least curvature possible, and this naturally cuts off the corners of the screen image.

Hope that helps explain it :slight_smile:

6 Likes
#5897

Yes it does completely, thanks for having a look at it.

Have you also checked the afterglow report?

#5898

No, I have not gotten to it yet

#5899

Several years ago I started making some bezels for use with Rocketlauncher. They were simple and you couldn’t do much with them, but the dream of a fully decorated digital home arcade was born, for me. Fast forward to now… when I discovered Mega Bezel it was like science fiction with all the things it could do. A new level of customizability re-lit the fire for my home arcade project.

I’m posting this because after a couple months of work, a bit every day, I have a fully decorated digital home arcade thanks to Mega Bezel and Retroarch. My files are set up so that I can easily swap out backgrounds or update bezels for a new look. I broke out the arcade controller a couple days ago, fired up some Centipde, and simply zoned out for a while. It was really great. It was fun to go through the playlist of games and they all looked fantastic with the shaders. I thought to myself that this wasn’t just about the nostalgia… these were some really great games that can’t be rivaled by games that are offered today.

So, this post is a thank you to the guys who have been helping me out as I asked more than my share of questions, and who offered some great advice. HSM, thanks for this great, game-changing project. Duimon, thanks for answering so many questions and for the great artwork I’m using as the building blocks for my arcade. P3st, thanks for the advice and for the resources that got my project started. Guest, thanks for the great, realistic arcade look. Thanks to all the guys that have contributed art resources to the MAME world.

My girlfriend and I were playing some Mario Bros. last night, laughing and having a good time… and I thought it was time to post a thank you note. :space_invader: :robot: :+1:

9 Likes
#5900

Amen to that buddy :beers:

4 Likes
#5901

I reduced bloom. Since I took a rest tweaking, my eyes can see better lol, and I reduced bloom because I realized it’s a bit high. Now looks better. This is a Mega Drive/ Genesis game :sweat_smile:
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#5902

Sorry this might be a stupid question, but how do you turn on subpixel emulation? By which I mean having a pure red pixel displayed as a red subpixel followed by two black subpixels for instance. I’ve only managed to find slot masks, but it’s not what I have in mind, I hope I’m making sense.

1 Like
#5903

I think this is controlled by the mask choice in @guest.r’s guest advanced parameters nearer the bottom of the list. The mask offset might affect this as well.

1 Like