New CRT shader from Guest + CRT Guest Advanced updates

hello is it for 4k screen?

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I tested on my 4k screen but it should work on lower resolution maybe by decreasing the mask size (2.0 to 1.0). Edit: maybe it is not even necessary to touch the size of the mask.

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Thanks a lot

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Hi, maybe a dumb question (unfortunely, i haven’t read the whole topic) but is there a setting to apply this shader on vertical position for the vetical games? Thanks again regards

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Under Screen Options, set the TATE parameter to 1.0 for vertical mode.

But you must use the standard version, namely “crt-guest-advanced”, it isn’t implemented in fast, HD, etc. versions.

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Thank you for your quick answers. I will have a look on it after work. Regards and thanks again for your great shaders

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here is an example

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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?

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Hires is obsolete and was removed, its better successor is the HD version.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.

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OK, very informative thread btw.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Windows 10 Photos opens them fine, as does Affinity Photo. Although neither Photoshop or Paint.Net appears to support them.

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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?

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