Mega Bezel Reflection Shader! - Feedback and Updates

[shenglong]

Thanks for the suggestion @soqueroeu

I have already investigated in separating/moving horizontal and vertical MAME files to different folders but it became a bit tedious with each monthly MAME release (that’s if you like to keep up to date with the latest MAME releases).

Plus, when you have several 100 gigs of data and 1000’s and 1000’s of files it can be time consuming.

I was hoping for a simpler, cleaner solution in RetroArch or the Cores without having to mess about with the default MAME folder structure.

(No dig at the RetroArch, Core dev teams and you shader gurus, you are all doing a wonderful job )

[Duimon]

@shenglong

While not simple, if you can generate a list of ROMs that are vertical and horizontal, it would be easy to write a script that would generate game presets and configs once you create the first set. You could leave the folder structure as is.

I believe MFM “MAME File Manager” https://github.com/phweda/MFM could generate the list. If it’s not currently capable of generating that kind of list, I could ask the developer to add that feature.

I’m currently working on a surprise gift for him that might soften him up a bit.

[shenglong]

Thanks, will look in to that too.

With the script method, I am assuming if you made a change to a paramater or config, one would need to generate or update all the presets and configs again?

[Duimon]

Sure. Configs would be easy to update with a search and replace script, soon (With the next RA release I hope.) shader presets will be just as easy.

[HyperspaceMadness]

@guest.r

Ideally for the Reflection Pack (and many other) shaders would be, if the core would get an option to properly rotate the original image before shaders are applied.

CRT masks and scanlines get notable side effects most of the time, integer scaling also doesn’t help with shaders which have a TATE/scanline direction option - in the situation, when the image is rotated after shader processing.

So in a case like the Mega Bezel where we have a smaller screen in a large viewport we would do all the shading and scaling on the sideways image, then rotate this shaded image so it sits right ways up in the middle of the viewport in a way that all the pixels are preserved and not filtered. Then after it is placed in the center we do some sort of reflection pass and apply all the graphics to fill the full screen.

@guest.r

played around a bit with this concept with the crt-guest-sm shader (pre rotation) and it’s working very nice, but is not trivial in a way

In this case which parts of the shading were before the final shader pass which writes the final pixels into the viewport?

@guest.r

So cheers for the core option!

Yeah it would be great to just be notified of the kind of content coming in so we can make the best shading decisions. I’m curious is there’s something in Retroarch which knows something about the rotation already since there used to be an option somewhere which was “Allow Core Rotation”

[guest.r]

@HyperspaceMadness

So in a case like the Mega Bezel where we have a smaller screen in a large viewport we would do all the shading and scaling on the sideways image, then rotate this shaded image so it sits right ways up in the middle of the viewport in a way that all the pixels are preserved and not filtered. Then after it is placed in the center we do some sort of reflection pass and apply all the graphics to fill the full screen.

I think it could be not necessary to do anything special or different with vertical games if the core would do a pre-rotation. This would be very convenient indeed.

@HyperspaceMadness

In this case which parts of the shading were before the final shader pass which writes the final pixels into the viewport?

The crt-guest-sm-rot0.slang actually does the rotation, but since the actual vertical resolution varies from game to game, this sort of information must be passed ahead to all later passes, including the final pass. It works, but is unusable for other presets in a simple manner.

@HyperspaceMadness

Yeah it would be great to just be notified of the kind of content coming in so we can make the best shading decisions. I’m curious is there’s something in Retroarch which knows something about the rotation already since there used to be an option somewhere which was “Allow Core Rotation”

I think the current concept of rotating the filtered image is a legacy and was defined in times where vanilla look or smoothing shaders were the most common option to be used with (vertical) games. If something changes for the better now, where crt shaders are commonly used, it would definitely be a fine step ahead.

[Leatherface]

Hi guys,

Got a problem with moire pattern artifacts on the Dosbox preset. Look at the french text on white background. What have i to do to avoid this in the shader parameters ? Thanks

[Duimon]

Probably not a lot you can do right now. When the next version of the shader is released, the monitor will be scale-able.

The moire is usually fixed by using integer scale, which is not possible with my current DOSBox preset.

Practice a little patience and all will be well.

As a short term fix, you could change the auto fake scan line parameter so it uses fake scan lines.

[Leatherface]

Can see better with this screen

Will search for the auto fake scan line parameter (haven’t found it) and will wait an update Thanks for your awesome work !

Is it possible to totally disable scanline effect ? If yes, which parameter to modify ?

[HyperspaceMadness]

@Leatherface

Is it possible to totally disable scanlines effect ? If yes, which parameter ?

To do this you should reduce [INTERLACE] Trigger Res (Also Fake Scanlines) until you see the scanlines visually change. When the threshold is less than the core res the scanlines you will see are the fake scanlines. Then reduce [SCREEN FX] Fake 240p Scanline Opacity to 0 which will hide the fake scanlines.

[Leatherface]

Thank you ! With your help, scanlines are gone now

[Leatherface]

Hi guys,

Again can someone help me for finding color of the HSV of the bezel and frame ?

H = ?

S = ?

V = ?

[Diego]

Hi @Leatherface, there is a group of tools for windows from microsoft that allows the user to get any color from the screen. The name is power toys: https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys This may help you.

[Leatherface]

I’ve a question… All presets for different systems but… in he shaders parameters, impossible to know the resolution. Then how to know if integer scale of a system is respected or not ? What is the default resolution of HSM Guest-Venom & the others ?

[HyperspaceMadness]

The first or second parameter is to turn the debug info on, I think this is probably what you want, it shows you info about the resolutions and scaling currently in use.

It looks like this:

[soqueroeu]

@Leatherface, is actually a little bit of work to find the exact color value, but it doesn’t have to be exact, as a slightly darker color to bezel brings a more realistic look.

So I recommend after finding the closest values, adjust the brightness only for bezel.

Try these values:

Color Hue: 7.00

Color Saturation: 100.00

Color Brightness: 74.00

Optionally, you can use black bezel & frame and make it default color for all systems. This makes things easier. That’s what I did here at alternatives versions of this overlay. It looks cool too:

[John.Merrit]

These shaders are fantastic, and everything I had been asking for way back in 2018. Many thanks to the OP, going to use these in some of my overlays.

[HyperspaceMadness]

Hey @John.Merrit many thanks! I’ve definitely been impressed with your work in the past

There have been lots of great feedback from everyone to get it to the point it is now. So please let me know if you have any feedback.

We’ve got a bunch of additional image layering stuff coming, I think when the next Retroarch release comes out.

There’s also a new Retroarch feature I worked on which I hope will be merged in soon to save/load simplified presets with only your changes instead of a copy of the whole preset. This will help with management of the user presets but also insulate from user presets failing to load when the original preset/shaders are updated.

Feel free to share any of your work here if you feel like it

[John.Merrit]

Cheers, matey. I will let you know how it goes, as soon as I have it all set up, can’t wait. At the moment, I am just using one of my arcade overlays and your shaders, but I have something special that will take full advantage of your shader.

@HyperspaceMadness

We’ve got a bunch of additional image layering stuff coming, I think when the next Retroarch release comes out.

sure look forward to that, sounds awesome.

@HyperspaceMadness

Feel free to share any of your work here if you feel like it

I have a few overlays that are beyond anything I have done in the past, these push the limits of what can be done via overlays, and your shaders will be the icing on the cake. Look forward to up and coming stuff from you. All the best,

[Leatherface]

Hi soqueroeu,

Thanks for your help with colors ! But… please, can you share your FBN_flame background ?

?