The hires preset is failing to apply and so is the ntsc preset under the presets folder but not the one under crt folder. How do I resolve this?
1 Like
Hires is obsolete and was removed, its better successor is the HD version.
Regarding the NTSC preset in presets folder, some don’t work anymore. Best to use the one in the crt folder or better to update it to the latest version from this thread. It’s currently just copy / paste / overwrite the existing presets and other files.
2 Likes
OK, very informative thread btw.
1 Like
I’m quite a noob on crt shaders and I have some questions about this shader which I really like.
-
I’m usually playing PAL games, I like how crt-guest-advanced-ntsc looks, but I don’t know if that shader creates any conflict with PAL region games.
-
what is the difference between interlacing and interpolation in the shader parameters? Is there any wiki I can get info about the parameters of this shader or in general?
Thanks.
1 Like
Nah, it should still be fine. 50Hz, if you run them on this refresh, are still enough for the temporal effects (compared with 60Hz) and you can still merge the fields for ‘solid’ performance.
Interlaced mode switches between odd and even fields/lines, which produces a slightly flickering image and interlacing artifacts, but it comes quite close to the real CRT HW regarding interlacing simulation.
Interpolated modes offer a ‘solid’ image, if you or your eyes prefer this.
Documentation is in the works, but currently no ETA.
3 Likes
Greetings again @guest.r, this new Mixed NTSC Phase Mode has me really excited once again and I’ve been putting it through the paces. It seems like the perfect solution for blending Turbo Duo/PC-Engine dithering and a setting of 1.0 for NTSC Resolution Scaling seems to be the catch all setting for the games I’ve tested so far.
There’s one slight issue though or rather an area that can be improved still. These consoles tend to switch resolutions and I’m noticing that when in game, in the games I’ve tested so far with the new settings, everything looks perfect, graphics and text are sharp and in focus, however when I switch (reset) to the PC-Engiine CD BIOS screen, the finer text is all blurred and blended.
For example the in the “NEC Home Electronics, Ltd.” You can hardly make out the “m” and the “ni”.
When I switch to either Auto or 3-Phase it’s clear enough, not perfect but at least things are legible and all other larger fonts look excellent.
However, at least in Lords of Thunder, if I leave it on Auto or 3-Phase I lose the blending of the waterfall which I was getting when using NTSC Resolution Scale at 1.0 and Mixed NTSC Phase Mode.
I’m almost sure a setting of Auto might break the blending in Dracula X and possibly other games as well.
Is it possible to put some catches somewhere, possibly resolution based at least for this Core or system which would automatically select 3-Phase Mode for the PC-ENGINE CD BIOS screen but Mixed once in game, at least in the case of Lords of Thunder and Dracula X and other games which use similar resolutions?
I’m not able to see the Core Resolution being output in those different screens but I can load a Mega Bezel Preset and get that info. I don’t mind starting a small database of which Phase Modes seem to work best with which Core resolutions for you if you require in order to help with this possible improvement to this impeccable Shader.
What you have done in recent weeks and months has already been game changing, this will just be the crème de la crème!
Here are some examples showing one side of the problem:
Ys IV - NTSC Phase Mode 4
Ys IV - NTSC Phase Mode 3
Ys IV - NTSC Phase Mode 1
The other side is when you want to blend at NTSC Resolution Scale 1.0 but Auto is selecting Mode 3 and not 4 as is the case with the Lords of Thunder waterfall and Dracula X.
I’m no expert and I know that the PCE uses many different resolutions in games but so far it seems to me that Mode 3 might be preferred for Hi Res Modes with finer text/fonts, while Mode 4 might be the better option for the lower/mid resolution modes.
7 Likes
Greetings @guest.r,
Not sure if this came up and was answered before but do you think an HDR compatible CRT-Guest-Advanced-NTSC might be a possibility at some point or is it already fully compatible with HDR?
1 Like
You can already adjust some settings in the RA HDR menu, so i guess an extra inverse tonemapping shader isn’t needed.
Ofc. brightness settings should be tweaked regarding target output display, so it might be a bit more complicated with presets compared with SDR.
Your OLED should be a nice opportunity to test the guest-advanced-ntsc in HDR mode, my testing options are a bit more modest atm.
1 Like
This is something I might try at some point in the near future when I get a chance. I was just worried about the colours being off/completely wrong when HDR mode is enabled. So I was wondering if there needed to be anything in the Shader to ensure that colours are mapped correctly once in HDR colourspace.
I was even thinking that that could be a function of the colour grading shader.
I know folks have tried it in the past with seemingly good results, just by using DirectX and turning HDR on in Windows.
It still seems like the “wild west” when it comes to the popularity and proliferation of using HDR to enhance CRT Shaders. Hopefully things will continue to mature and evolve in this direction though.
1 Like
9 Likes
Thanks for leaving the Fast Sharpen code in your Shader @guest.r. It’s finally allowed me to find the sweetspot I was looking for between completely blending TurboGrafx16 dithering while keeping things sharp and legible. Thanks as well for all those awesome recent updates and your continued work on your shaders.
The following files are all in jxr format so you’ll need a jxr viewer to view them if you’re not using Windows 11. I’m not sure if Windows 10 supports them natively as well.
https://mega.nz/file/QB4ixJJA#LGy2aGJDRqwPNV5lXT4n2II2aRXAXVIGJkbcB_ckrg4
https://mega.nz/file/5QJHnRxA#biYsTNc91FP7_8q2kKiO0EQi4G9DmJYXRL_bdWHATjE
https://mega.nz/file/1ExClAyJ#KHUklFTUgUjSJioqdEgGS7KkqyXpnTFQdSJeiNlJAwQ
https://mega.nz/file/xApQUTAS#NdY9R7jzqtC1fz2n_C4kRFwCA4px54vY5I2Bgc-HDtk
https://mega.nz/file/VM512Iha#xEBXJiwsTQksZkU2e4VygBPPOvK6JFplRnoZXovLfdo
https://mega.nz/file/hNg2QapS#d_G_TNBUe4hwVw5sWbjNkuEGA45A9HcKP_dsb8r4YFI
https://mega.nz/file/FRoimTKS#YHruH8jLVP2IrHmefIu2sSh4VeFmUEZHllcdEM3bPzM
https://mega.nz/file/YJBQhQyJ#AP4yWD_8-AjbruX2g9YaFA9Zaj1SfFBQ44umQwCCuRg
https://mega.nz/file/VZIWQI6L#yjErhoHWo3kWfXuxAhurU4psTlicR73fv9em_eqGFN8
https://mega.nz/file/lVYQ2SSS#Hb7djpNXXrzBVwGViMoIwbY_NtU-g8e-kD6m8tKUPt4
https://mega.nz/file/MNwnUCRC#FpqULN1iA95zMLXX9sPvbhZxPdAIq1lQzpHaUb102_o
https://mega.nz/file/FYpEWbiJ#_jfSYVldILGamHDM8BzSmRqAGSyBzA-TefoDOY5lDfg
Here’s a link to a jxr viewer. The native viewer in Windows 10 and 11 is probably better though.
View popular high dynamic range (HDR) image formats, including OpenEXR, Radiance (.HDR), DirectDraw Surface (.DDS), and JPEG XR, in their full quality on a capable HDR10 display. https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/9PGN3NWPBWL9
The files can also be viewed on an SDR display by the way.
2 Likes
Windows 10 Photos opens them fine, as does Affinity Photo. Although neither Photoshop or Paint.Net appears to support them.
2 Likes
Greetings @guest.r and @hunterk,
Seeing that the changes in this version of the shader are backward compatible with old presets and that there are some really ground-breaking improvements to the ease of achieving certain desired looks would you consider it ready to be integrated into the RetroArch repository so as to make it easier for more casual users who might have difficulty installing manually to be able to take full advantage of the newest features?
1 Like
Indeed, this is a good, matured version and the update should be just copy-paste over existing files.
Would be great if @hunterk finds some time to update the official repository.
My thanks in advance. 
8 Likes
I have a question: is it possible to replicate the subtle scanline effect seen in the following screenshot in the latest GDV presets?
This screenshot was taken using the old guest-sm preset that is no longer in the slang repo. It seems to work a bit differently from the other presets, in that 480p content still displays very thin scanlines at 2x scale, whereas in the modern presets, it will not, such as in this shot taken using the standard GDV preset using default parameters:
The idea would be to have 480p content still display subtle scanlines even at 2x scale. I know at 3x scale and above, you do get scanlines with 480p content in the modern presets, but that’s not viable for 1080p monitors. One could, of course, argue 1080p does not give enough pixel room for good-looking 480p scanlines, but I think it still looks pretty neat regardless. In any case, I fiddled with all the parameters, and the only one that kinda got close was setting Internal Resolution Y to 1.5, but it doesn’t look quite right. Can something else be done? I like what guest-sm does here, but it’s missing a TON of advancements from the newest presets.
2 Likes
Is there a way to make a BGR slot mask? like this:
xxB xGx Rxx/xxx xxx xxx
xxB xGx Rxx/xxB xGx Rxx
xxx xxx xxx/xxB xGx Rxx
My best guess is that you should disable interlacing (mode 0.0) before any tweaks. Guest-SM doesn’t have interlacing options and that’s what makes the major difference when compared with guest-advanced.
It broke some of the existing presets, so it’s currently RBG instead of BGR regarding slotmask alignment.
2 Likes
I see, it’s because the MG pattern is too close, and this pattern has more space between the triads. Where is this old build? Would like to try it at least. Thanks.
EDIT: Mask 9 seems what I’m looking for, lol.
1 Like
One more thing lol. How to make the base (dark) mask strength look like a slot mask?
1 Like
On a real CRT the slotmask features aren’t visible with “base mask”, there was a debate in this thread about it, so it looks aperture-like with this feature.
You can have slotmask features with accordingly setup magic glow OTOH.
2 Likes