Ok I successfuly changed to PAR in the shader, and noticed a difference. But when I move the non-integer scale % nothing changes. I found that since I’m using MagicHat’s multigame.slangp setup, that option doesn’t change anything.
However, when i changed the shader entirely, to duimon directly, that value change does actually change the appearance. Really odd.
It’s not odd. MagicHat’s settings probably use Integer Scale Mode 1 or 2, which is On and Duimon’s settings use Integer Scale Mode 0, which is Off. The non-integer scale % only works if Integer scale Mode is Off. If it’s on there are different parameters to adjust the size of the viewport, for example Integer Scale Mode Offset.
You should probably take a look at the readme.md in your spare time.
Sorry, it is odd to a layman like me who is just hunting and pecking around lol. It probably isn’t odd in the least to someone who really knows what is happening under the hood so to speak.
Also, I’m beginning to think it is just stretching the single monitor version buggy boy. Because when I tried another triple monitor game (Ninja Warriors) the shader is just showing what seems to be the left monitor. You can walk the character off the right side of the screen into what would have been the middle monitor, and no longer see it.
It is definitely not stretching it. PAR means displaying what the core intends. To stretch it we would have to use another method and a manual aspect ratio.
I would pull up the MAME internal menu and see what the video settings are… it may be set to just one monitor.
ahhh, right. forgot there was still a mame internal menu there. I found a “triple side by side” in the video settings for the particular game. Thanks for your patience and help. Should be able to move forward with success now.
I could use some help on this one. I hadn’t played any DOSBox games for a while, and I’m finding that a few games are squished into this portrait mode. I have the aspect ratio shader parameter set to auto, and most games are in a normal 4:3 ratio, but a few look like this screenshot. I remember that this game, in particular, used to look normal… I’m sure I changed something and forgot. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
I’m not sure, but it’s possible it thinks it’s a known resolution which should be a vertical aspect or something like that, could you turn the yellow debug text on se I can see the core resolution?
Thanks for the reply, HSM. I actually got it figured out last night. I think there were conflicting entries between the preset and what it referenced back to, so I cleared one out and it turns out it had to be set on horizontal aspect ratio, when it was set to auto it was going to that vertical aspect as pictured above… so your guess was right. If it would still be helpful, though, I can check for the core resolution. I would need to know how to turn on the debug text… I wasn’t able to find it in the settings.
Sure, always nice to see what res might be accidentally triggering it. To turn on the debug text, it’s I the second parameter in the list called “Show Resolution Info”
Tandy CM-5 progress…

I took a photo of the emulation using a camera, as I cannot figure out how to screenshot HDR in Retroarch, properly. Even a camera requires adjustment to exposure timing. Sad, because I’d like to show all the details an actual PC generated screenshot could provide.
I still can’t get the color right, however, and cannot figure out how to match the brown hair and tan face in this screenshot of the real monitor, no matter what dials I tweak:
The actual CM-5 has a “brown dial” on the display, which is a potentiometer to change how brown looks.
Please elaborate. Can you provide an example of how it’s supposed to look and how it looks now?
Try to get a side by side, like for like shot for comparison purposes please.
Can’t you adjust the settings in the Grade section of the Shader? Try different Phosphor settings, different white point / colour temperature, different regional settings.
You should be able to tune it but please provide as much detail and information as you can.
Apologies for the moire banding, but here’s what the same, emulated scene looks like on my monitor, vs. the photograph of a real CM-5 above:
There is no moire banding on my actual display. Once again, hard to replicate HDR in a Retroarch screenshot, thus photo captures the closest representation.
Here’s my preset:
https://mega.nz/file/PMlQ3DBR#5_z_FR1tZ_FMnjKwBrki4t_2b7ncwUegQHjfIzONmVA
The primary issue is the brown hair and skin color, vs. the real monitor. As you see the tones are off. I’ll keep tweaking.
One thing I can see off the bat is it looks like, in the emulated screenshot, your colors are a bit oversaturated vs. the real thing. If you can tone that down until the yellow table and the red books look like the real thing, then you can go from there. That is just my humble 2 cents.
Finally… Quality Commodore 1084s Emulation is practically upon us. After much tweaking, I’m coming really close, even at my lowly 1440p.
(apologies for imgur, but they are all too big to upload, so right click, open on imgur, then right click on that next pic, and open in another window, and maximize)
First, the real thing:
https://i.imgur.com/kVSv2jw.jpeg
Photos of the emulation, taken using phone:
https://i.imgur.com/6DbakKL.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/rRKEh6K.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/ZrrfaSo.jpeg
The color will be off because phone can’t take HDR photos properly, but it is much closer than using the crummy built in Retroarch screenshot feature.
If I had 4k, this preset I have constructed would probably be nearly perfect.
The 1084s, for those unaware, is the iconic 1980s monitor Commodore produced for their Home PC. Slot Mask tube, thick scanlines, beautiful brightness, quite a wonderful a device.
Looks good. Imgur is a bit clunky. You can try postimg or imgbb instead or use IrFanView save as a jpeg with a custom size of 4095KB.
Don’t forget the impeccable and venerable Commodore 1701/1702! Those were iconic as well, at least to some of us.
Indeed, I should tackle those next!
I’ll look into those other image hosting methods.
Does anyone happen to have any good, closeup photos of a Commodore 1701/1702? I haven’t seen one in person since probably 1985, and reading up on the specs I find the dot pitch similar to the Tandy CM-5 (.64 vs. .67 mm), and both are slot mask tubes. That said, I imagine there are some other differences to the image output, despite them both being RGB.
Maybe, maybe not?
I have for years considered Micro64 to the premier C64 emulator, and has a wonderful CRT shader within the limitations of 1080p. That’s just an emulator, however.
I need more real pics than I can find online so far.




