Need help. Why are most CRT Shaders so blurry or dark or yellowish?

RetroArch Additions Shaders
#1

Hey guys,

I was trying Street Fighter 2 Turbo for the SNES on Retroarch yesterday and I did tried pretty much all CRT Shaders in the CRT folder and to me they either look too blurry or too dark and some look very yelowish on my Samsung 55" TV

Now I do dislike pixels, they actually did not look that bad, back in the days on a CRT TV but I hate them now.

I noticed that ScaleFX gets rids of them and gives a nice image but of course changes the look of the graphics. I tried adding a CRT shader on top of it but I could not find one that makes the image look natural in color and some did not change the color much but added way too much blurriness or make the image too dark.

What combination will work with ScaleFX? I need to keep the color that ScaleFX gives but I want to add some very fine scanline that looks good at 1080p and without blurring the image so much and without making it too dark.

Any recommendations? I want to use this shader for all 2D Pixel games

Or is it better to just add a filter on top of the ScaleFX shader? is there one for fine scanlines that looks good?

2 Likes
#2

Have you tried any of these yet?

CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels Shader Preset Pack

Sony Megatron Color Video Monitor

The Guest-Advanced NTSC thread

The Guest-Advance, 100% mask strength thread

Koko-aio-shader discussions and updates

RetroGames4K’s Mega Bezel and other shaders screen pics & gameplays

Zomb’s Mega Bezel Pack

Example videos:

CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels Shader Preset Pack YouTube Playlist

This is what CyberLab Turbo Duo for Blargg + Blargg_NTSC_Turbo_Duo_SNES_PSX_S-Video_CyberLab_Special_Edition looks like!

CyberLab Turbo Duo for Blargg + Blargg_NTSC_Turbo_Duo_SNES_PSX_S-Video_CyberLab_Special_Edition

This is what CyberLab SNES looks like!

CyberLab SNES

This is what CyberLab Genesis for Blargg + Blargg_NTSC_Genesis_S-Video_CyberLab_Special_Edition looks like!

CyberLab Genesis for Blargg + Blargg_NTSC_Genesis_S-Video_CyberLab_Special_Edition

This is what CyberLab NES for Blargg + Core Blargg NTSC S-Video looks like!

CyberLab NES for Blargg + Core Blargg NTSC S-Video

CyberLab NES for Blargg + Core Blargg NTSC S-Video

CyberLab NES for Blargg + Core Blargg NTSC S-Video

You can use MPC-HC, MX Player or VLC Player to view the videos.

Here’s a look at some of my latest presets!

CyberLab Ultimate Virtual Slot Mask CRT-1P2RTA

New Preset and System Recommendations

TVch34 Overlay

Plus

TVch34 Overlay + Mega Bezel

Sony Megatron Color Video Monitor YouTube Playlist

2 Likes
#3

As for the yellow tint, that may be related to the mask emulation being designed for RGB but being displayed on a BGR display.

2 Likes
#4

Thanks I will give some of these a try later when I get home.

I like how this looks

I would need to see how it looks on my TV later. I have the feeling that it will look a bit too blurry and dark though. If I can change it so that it has more brightness, so the picture is not too dark and so that it does not look too blurry, this might work

Like I said most CRT shaders are adding way too much blur for my taste and also they are making the picture too dark for my taste. If I could find something to throw on top of ScaleFX that adds scanlines, fine looking scanlines without adding too much blurriness and making the image too dark that would be great.

Also this one loos not too dark and has the right colors. Will give these one a try

1 Like
#5

if you want you can try something like this one with xbrz + guest crt shader:

ffight-230414-195416
ffight-230414-1954161440Ă—1080 790 KB

shaders = "13"
feedback_pass = "0"
shader0 = "shaders_slang/xbrz/shaders/2xbrz.slang"
filter_linear0 = "false"
wrap_mode0 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input0 = "false"
alias0 = ""
float_framebuffer0 = "false"
srgb_framebuffer0 = "false"
scale_type_x0 = "source"
scale_x0 = "2.000000"
scale_type_y0 = "source"
scale_y0 = "2.000000"
shader1 = "shaders_slang/cubic/shaders/bicubic-x.slang"
filter_linear1 = "false"
wrap_mode1 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input1 = "false"
alias1 = ""
float_framebuffer1 = "false"
srgb_framebuffer1 = "false"
scale_type_x1 = "viewport"
scale_x1 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y1 = "source"
scale_y1 = "1.000000"
shader2 = "shaders_slang/cubic/shaders/bicubic-y.slang"
filter_linear2 = "false"
wrap_mode2 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input2 = "false"
alias2 = ""
float_framebuffer2 = "false"
srgb_framebuffer2 = "false"
scale_type_x2 = "viewport"
scale_x2 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y2 = "viewport"
scale_y2 = "1.000000"
shader3 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/hd/stock.slang"
filter_linear3 = "false"
wrap_mode3 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input3 = "false"
alias3 = ""
float_framebuffer3 = "false"
srgb_framebuffer3 = "false"
scale_type_x3 = "source"
scale_x3 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y3 = "source"
scale_y3 = "1.000000"
shader4 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/hd/stock.slang"
filter_linear4 = "false"
wrap_mode4 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input4 = "false"
alias4 = "StockPass"
float_framebuffer4 = "false"
srgb_framebuffer4 = "false"
scale_type_x4 = "source"
scale_x4 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y4 = "source"
scale_y4 = "1.000000"
shader5 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/hd/afterglow0.slang"
filter_linear5 = "false"
wrap_mode5 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input5 = "false"
alias5 = "AfterglowPass"
float_framebuffer5 = "false"
srgb_framebuffer5 = "false"
scale_type_x5 = "source"
scale_x5 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y5 = "source"
scale_y5 = "1.000000"
shader6 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/hd/pre-shaders-afterglow.slang"
filter_linear6 = "false"
wrap_mode6 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input6 = "true"
alias6 = "PrePass"
float_framebuffer6 = "false"
srgb_framebuffer6 = "false"
scale_type_x6 = "source"
scale_x6 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y6 = "source"
scale_y6 = "1.000000"
shader7 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/hd/linearize-hd.slang"
filter_linear7 = "true"
wrap_mode7 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input7 = "false"
alias7 = "LinearizePass"
float_framebuffer7 = "true"
srgb_framebuffer7 = "false"
scale_type_x7 = "source"
scale_x7 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y7 = "source"
scale_y7 = "1.000000"
shader8 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/hd/crt-guest-advanced-hd-pass1.slang"
filter_linear8 = "true"
wrap_mode8 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input8 = "false"
alias8 = "Pass1"
float_framebuffer8 = "true"
srgb_framebuffer8 = "false"
scale_type_x8 = "viewport"
scale_x8 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y8 = "source"
scale_y8 = "1.000000"
shader9 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/hd/bloom_horizontal.slang"
filter_linear9 = "true"
wrap_mode9 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input9 = "false"
alias9 = ""
float_framebuffer9 = "true"
srgb_framebuffer9 = "false"
scale_type_x9 = "absolute"
scale_x9 = "800"
scale_type_y9 = "source"
scale_y9 = "1.000000"
shader10 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/hd/bloom_vertical.slang"
filter_linear10 = "true"
wrap_mode10 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input10 = "false"
alias10 = "BloomPass"
float_framebuffer10 = "true"
srgb_framebuffer10 = "false"
scale_type_x10 = "source"
scale_x10 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y10 = "absolute"
scale_y10 = "600"
shader11 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/hd/crt-guest-advanced-hd-pass2.slang"
filter_linear11 = "true"
wrap_mode11 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input11 = "false"
alias11 = ""
float_framebuffer11 = "true"
srgb_framebuffer11 = "false"
scale_type_x11 = "viewport"
scale_x11 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y11 = "viewport"
scale_y11 = "1.000000"
shader12 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/hd/deconvergence-hd.slang"
filter_linear12 = "true"
wrap_mode12 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input12 = "false"
alias12 = ""
float_framebuffer12 = "false"
srgb_framebuffer12 = "false"
scale_type_x12 = "viewport"
scale_x12 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y12 = "viewport"
scale_y12 = "1.000000"
bloom = "0.050000"
mask_bloom = "0.050000"
bloom_dist = "0.300000"
gamma_c = "0.950000"
scan_falloff = "0.200000"
textures = "SamplerLUT1;SamplerLUT2;SamplerLUT3;SamplerLUT4"
SamplerLUT1 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/advanced/lut/trinitron-lut.png"
SamplerLUT1_wrap_mode = "clamp_to_border"
SamplerLUT1_mipmap = "false"
SamplerLUT2 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/advanced/lut/inv-trinitron-lut.png"
SamplerLUT2_wrap_mode = "clamp_to_border"
SamplerLUT2_mipmap = "false"
SamplerLUT3 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/advanced/lut/nec-lut.png"
SamplerLUT3_wrap_mode = "clamp_to_border"
SamplerLUT3_mipmap = "false"
SamplerLUT4 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/advanced/lut/ntsc-lut.png"
SamplerLUT4_wrap_mode = "clamp_to_border"
SamplerLUT4_mipmap = "false"
4 Likes
#6

Some of the shaders have extra sharpness parameters. Try the two easymode variants, or guest’s shaders (you can probably stick to the “fastest” variant). They also have parameters to boost brightness. If you disable the mask, you can gain additional brightness.

#7

Thanks Hari-82

That looks pretty good on my monitor. I will test it out on my TV later :slight_smile:

1 Like