New CRT shader from Guest + CRT Guest Advanced updates

[sonkun]

@guest.r

Rainbowing options added to the ntsc shaders per @Hyllian’s advice

I love you lol. Can’t wait to try this out soon.

Edit:

@guest.r So I gave it a quick spin, I turned the rainbow setting up to 1.00, fringing setting at 0, artifacting up to 1.50 and chroma scaling from 4.00 to 3.00 (I’ll explain why below).

That’s indeed the sharpest I’ve gotten composite to look with the Mega Drive rainbows added in and I will definitely be replacing my “md rainbow” presets with this look on my next update.

So for the chroma scaling part I noticed when using the rainbow setting with chroma turned up to 4 I see these weird vertical lines. Notice the rock Sonic is standing on:

Chroma scaling at 3 the lines dissapear or at least I don’t notice them:

I’m not sure why that is but just something I noticed.

[guest.r]

@sonkun

@guest.r So I gave it a quick spin, I turned the rainbow setting up to 1.00, fringing setting at 0, artifacting up to 1.50 and chroma scaling from 4.00 to 3.00 (I’ll explain why below).

Coloring with the ntsc shaders is done with application of trigonometrical functions, and effects like interference patterns might occur with a certain set of circumstances. I did manage to reproduce the mentioned effect…

Chroma scaling and rainbowing are heavy tweaks uppon the original idea, and I’m also glad to read that lowering chroma scaling to 3.0 brings normal results.

[sonkun]

@guest.r

I did manage to reproduce the mentioned effect…

Chroma scaling and rainbowing are heavy tweaks uppon the original idea, and I’m also glad to read that lowering chroma scaling to 3.0 brings normal results.

Good that you were able to reproduce it, I was also wondering if that was something occurring off of my presets alone. At least this information can now be used by everyone going forward.

Edit: Chroma scaling at 2.75 completely eliminates those lines, at 3.0 there were still some faint lines I noticed in the clouds in Sonic.

[BendBombBoom]

I like this new setting to increase the rainbow coloring but I can’t get a good look on both the Sonic waterfall and the Street of Rage 2 spotlights in the second stage.

[sonkun]

I guess it all comes down to your definition of “good look” that you’re aiming for. You’re trying to make a “stronger” looking rainbow perhaps? I haven’t tested the rainbow on any other games besides Sonic but I assume it’ll give a similar look to the pic I posted above. @Hyllian said in one of his posts it’s best to keep fringing at 0. Let me see how your Sonic and sor pics look if you don’t mind.

[BendBombBoom]

Streets of Rage 2 has that organic rainbow flicker that is hard to capture in screenshots so all of these look way more saturated than when viewing in real-time. Hopefully you get what I’m saying.

Here is the baseline Fringe 1, Artifact 1, Rainbow 0.

Now, Fringe 0, Artifact 0, Rainbow 1. It’s actually got more color in gameplay but now it’s static and the gradient is chunky.

Another way to see issues is to set Resolution Scaling setting to 0.98. First is baseline. Fringe 1, Artifact 1, Rainbow 0.

Next is Fringe 0, Artifact 1, Rainbow 1. (If set Rainbow to -1 I get the correct angles but the smooth gradient is destroyed.)

Here is Sonic for comparison with the new setting, Fringing at 0, Rainbow at 0.85. It looks great.

[sonkun]

Hmm I’m not home yet to test this but I didn’t know you could get diagonal rainbows on 2phase games, maybe that’s just another option one can use, now I gotta test this and see all of this myself. If I’m not mistaken though the second pic is actually correct and how it’s suppose to look, at least that’s how it always looked when I used the “mame_ntsc” shader for my megadrive rainbow presets. I’ve come to learn there’s two “types” of rainbow effects you can get with 2-phased games, the first pic you posted and the second. That third and forth pic I don’t know what the hell is going on there lol.

I believe those rainbow looks are based off either certain Megadrive model types or certain type of cables used, forgot which but maybe someone can chime in if they know what I’m talking about.

[shenglong]

Hi @guest.r

I am trying to use the following values on the first stock.slang to force 240 height output, in particular for PSX games as they tend to switch resolutions mid game.

scale_type_y0 = “absolute”

scale_y0 = “240”

When the above values are set in the guest advanved shader preset the output flickers and does not work as expecetd, can you please advise?

I’ve used this method successfully to force the video output in other crt shaders such as easymode, crt-geom.

Thanks.

[guest.r]

It’s a bit tricky with guest-advanced shaders.

You must set the Internal resolution Y parameter to 1.0 for 224p.

But I can also implement 200p and 240p and make a new release.

Altering presets the way you mentioned above won’t work properly, unfortunately.

[shenglong]

Yes, that would be amazing if the height of 240p (plus other modes as you see fit) can be applied through a parameter toggle.

I played with the Internal Resolution setting of 1 however I find the 224p output for PSX games doesn’t scale well, 240p will work better.

As an example, if you load up Tekken 3 the PSX bios screen is a high resolution, then the Tekken 3 FMV intro plays which is a lower resolution, the title screen switches to a high resolution. When this happens you can’t achieve consistent scanlines.

[RetroGames4K]

Thank you @guest.r, I followed your advise and I managed to get rid of artifacts, I love how it looks.

Ordinary Glow and borders inferior and superior activated on emulator Genesis GX, no integer scaling.

Magic glow and borders inferior and superior activated on emulator Genesis GX, no integer scaling.

No borders activated, Magic Glow on and integer scaling set to 1

Magic Glow on and Integer scaling off

[guest.r]

New Release Version (2024-02-06-r1):

Notable changes:

• Mask size of mask 3 fixed with mask zoom feature.
• Rainbowing options added to the ntsc shaders per @Hyllian’s advice
• Corner function improvement with wide aspect ratios (thanks to @DevilSingh for noticing).
• Update: Smart Scanline mode added, auto selecting 200p, 224p or 240p… downsampling (@shenglong) - check under Interlacing -> Internal Resolution -> set to 1.0
• Update: some parameter info lines changes

Download link:

https://mega.nz/file/I1gUybIK#U0Q2e_bpN-GulvJkSYsopYD-fg3UUXYzBdDNlhj6Mcw

[shenglong]

@guest.r

Initial testing with this release and I think you’ve nailed it! Setting Internal Resolution to 1 forces the scaling of the scanlines to appear the same when the resolution switches between different heights, tested on Tekken 3 and the PSX bios screen and in-game scanlines appear consistently.

Don’t know what other dark magic you’ve done but the same preset works great on 2D games in MAME, SNES, Megadrive etc…

Getting closer to that “One Preset To Rule Them All”!

Will further test, but really appreciate your efforts and thank you again.

[sonkun]

@guest.r

Update: Smart Scanline mode added, auto selecting 200p, 224p or 240p… downsampling (@shenglong) - check under Interlacing -> Internal Resolution -> set to 1.0

Was gonna ask what this was about but it seems shenglong just did. Putting the finishing touches on my next preset pack and it looks like you added in another juicy new feature, very curious to see this in action when I get home later.

[Cyber]

@shenglong

“One Preset To Rule Them All”!

You mean this?

Please show off what crt shaders can do!

Introducing, my first SlotMask Preset! CyberLab Ultimate Virtual Slot Mask CRT-1P2RTA CyberLab Ultimate Virtual SlotMask CRT - 1P2RTA - Video 1 CyberLab Ultimate Virtual SlotMask CRT - 1P2RTA - Video 2 CyberLab Ultimate Virtual SlotMask CRT - 1P2RTA - Video 3 You can use MPC-HC, MX Player or VLC Player to view the videos. [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] You have to load full resolution, then open in new tab or window, zoom in or view fullscreen in or…

This is the same preset with an alias and some different aspect ratio settings.

CyberLab Death To Pixels Shader Preset Packs

Introducing CyberLab Wii Slot Mask! Note: You have to load full resolution, then open in new tab or window, zoom in or view fullscreen in order for these to look correct because of the mask and scanline settings. [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image] [image]

[ynnad4]

There’re quite a couple of recorded playthroughs on Original Genesis Console, but most specially with Rainbow Banding + composite video, in case any of these are useful for current presets or make new ones. All credits to their original authors.

Links in file: (all youtube) https://1drv.ms/t/s!AtKS8lBxejvUg2Z_fxWsiGEYu60P?e=Jjqqog

[guest.r]

2-phase implementation in ntsc-adaptive is designed in a special way which brings vertical “rainbow bars” to alternate/checkboard patterns and natively not to bar patterns (Sonic waterfall).

Current tweak brings vertical “rainbow bars” to bar patterns, but messes with checkboards.

My best guess is that in the case of a composite connection, the coloring of Genesis games also depends on TV demodulation and region.

[RetroGames4K]

This Last update I’m really enjoying the automatic scanlines and I’m really impressed, looks stunning on 1080p.

[ComfyTsu]

Looks really nice. Will you update your 1080p preset in your thread or mind sharing it here

[RetroGames4K]

Thank you! Right now I’m not at home, the 1080p settings are from my mobile phone, when I’m at home I can share it, also update it