Hey that looks really nice.
BTW I wondering why you haven’t included the scanline dithering code with guest2
You can still use it if you paste the code into a .slang file. 
But it really requires and extra pass and it isn’t compatible with slotmask and some masks with vertical logic. Extra pass especially at viewport size means additional notable slowdowns. It isn’t the first modification which isn’t included.
2 Likes
Been doing some further tinkering. Just wanted to let you know that the glow is fantastic, and I’m making good use of those increased ranges 
Was reading some more on the displaymate site about artifacts of CRTs. Maybe point 10 could be something for the shader?
10. Screen Uniformity and Color Purity: The screen is generally brightest at the center, with lower intensities in the corners. On a high quality display this will not be apparent visually.
Maybe there’s a low performance impact manner to implement this? I tried to find measurements of real CRT screens to get an idea of the distribution of luminance across the screen (is it a circle effect , or only the deeper sides / corners for example?) but didn’t have much luck. Maybe you have good understanding how this effect works in real CRT?
I wasn’t a fan of deconvergence before, but with your implementation I’ve learned that with a -tiny- touch of it the simulation looks better. The same with glow, it’s really adding something if used in a subtle way. Because of this I’m getting more and more the idea that the sum of all these tiny touches (of real CRT artifacts) adds up to a bigger overal real CRT experience. It’s only a pity I can’t find data on the distribution of this luminance uniformity on real CRTs.
Related to the above effect point 8 is also interesting:
8. Focus and Sharpness: CRT image sharpness depends on many factors including beam size, focus, color registration, and video bandwidth. <…> Sharpness is generally best in the center of the screen and worst in the corners.
So it seems sharpness is “distributed” in a similar way as the uniformity effect above. I have no idea, but maybe this is another one of those touches when used subtly which could add to the overal experience.
Edit: the page on the displaymate site is here: What makes a great CRT
2 Likes
Vignetting (brightness distribution / uniformity) is already implemented in the grade shader form Dogway. I’m endorsing the usage of ‘grade’, since it helps providing a very nice crt experience. At the same time you can try the glass shader for more effects:
Both are quite easy to add/implement with crt-gdv, i like to remind it.
This will probably not be emulated within crt-gdv with also some other crt effects like left-to-right shadowing etc. It’s also hard to do with an after shader because it would smear masks.
While looking at this from the implementation/shader usage standpoint is the newer gdv also a bit heavy performance wise / compex to use.
I will probably leave it here regarding major features, since there is always something more to add or improve…and ofc. … it can be combined with other shaders or you can try something really exciting like the HSM Mega Bezel pack.
5 Likes
No, it’s a very fine shader though. It’s like when using the Retroarch shader interface both grade and glass can be added without much hassle. Same goes for editing the shader preset, since it’s about to replace the first stock pass or adding/replacing the last pass.
3 Likes
I noticed something about about the afterglow is that it seems to only show up over what was absolutely black, you can see what I mean in this pretty extreme image:
The trails disappear at the edge of the space clouds because the pixel art starts coming up from black
1 Like
I think that’s actually fairly true-to-life.
Any time you use thresholds for stuff, values right on the border will look bad/unnatural. The alternative is to add the trails in linear gamma and then re-curve all of it together, which is elegant and “right” (AFAIK), but it ends up with trails from very bright pixels showing up in areas where they probably shouldn’t be visible (like dark areas that aren’t fully black). <- at least, I’ve never seen trails in those areas on my CRTs.
I believe the trails are mostly the result of the long tail of the exponential rolloff, so it would make sense that they would be drowned out by almost anything at all.
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I tried to replace the first pass :
shader0 = shaders/guest/crt-gdv-new/stock.slang filter_linear0 = false scale_type0 = source scale0 = 1.0 alias0 = StockPass
with an xbr-hybrid pass:
shader0 = “…/xbr/shaders/xbr-hybrid/2xbr-hybrid-v5-gamma.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 = “1.000000”
and it failed. It’s probably an obvious error but if anyone can post a working xbr-hybrid preset, it will be much appreciated!
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Ok that makes sense, what is the effect seen here where you see the last few frames?
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Dunno. Could be the camera itself. That’s one of the problems with looking at pictures of CRTs: it’s hard to tell what’s from the display and what’s from the camera 
2 Likes
Hey there.
It’s a bit complicated because the core crt pass can’t rely on it’s predecessors pixel size due of previous scalings that set it abroad. That’s why it relies on the original pixel sizes, but scaling you like to have has no effect.
Your best option is to use the ntsc preset, set both ntsc passes to stock and scalings to 1.0 and then include the xbr-hybrid as the first pass with x-scaling set to 2.0.
Ah, I see. It would break too many things. I have been using it; just wondering if maybe I shouldn’t be 
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That’s why is posted the shader, so you guys can use it.
1 Like
Thank you for the instructions. I think I got it working now. I don’t know how to post the preset in a separate section with proper format like you guys did but I’ll just share it below in case that anyone is interested. If there’s anything wrong with the preset please let me know. Thanks!
shaders = 11
shader0 = “…/xbr/shaders/xbr-hybrid/2xbr-hybrid-v5-gamma.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 = “1.000000”
shader1 = shaders/guest/crt-gdv-new/stock.slang filter_linear1 = false scale_type1 = source scale1 = 1.0 alias1 = StockPass
shader2 = shaders/guest/crt-gdv-new/afterglow0.slang filter_linear2 = false scale_type2 = source scale2 = 1.0 alias2 = AfterglowPass
shader3 = shaders/guest/crt-gdv-new/pre-shaders-afterglow.slang filter_linear3 = false scale_type3 = source scale3 = 1.0
textures = “SamplerLUT1;SamplerLUT2;SamplerLUT3;SamplerLUT4” SamplerLUT1 = shaders/guest/lut/sony_trinitron1.png SamplerLUT1_linear = true SamplerLUT2 = shaders/guest/lut/sony_trinitron2.png SamplerLUT2_linear = true SamplerLUT3 = shaders/guest/lut/other1.png SamplerLUT3_linear = true SamplerLUT4 = shaders/guest/lut/custom_lut.png SamplerLUT4_linear = true
shader4 = shaders/guest/crt-gdv-new/stock.slang shader5 = shaders/guest/crt-gdv-new/stock.slang
filter_linear4 = false filter_linear5 = false
scale_type_x4 = source scale_type_y4 = source scale_x4 = 1.0 scale_y4 = 1.0 frame_count_mod4 = 2 float_framebuffer4 = true
scale_type5 = source scale_x5 = 1.0 scale_y5 = 1.0 alias5 = PrePass
shader6 = shaders/guest/crt-gdv-new/avg-lum-ntsc.slang filter_linear6 = true scale_type6 = source scale6 = 1.0 mipmap_input6 = true alias6 = AvgLumPass
shader7 = shaders/guest/crt-gdv-new/linearize-ntsc.slang filter_linear7 = true scale_type7 = source scale7 = 1.0 alias7 = LinearizePass float_framebuffer7 = true
shader8 = shaders/guest/crt-gdv-new/bloom_horizontal.slang filter_linear8 = true scale_type_x8 = viewport scale_x8 = 0.5 scale_type_y8 = source scale_y8 = 1.0 float_framebuffer8 = true
shader9 = shaders/guest/crt-gdv-new/bloom_vertical.slang filter_linear9 = true scale_type_x9 = viewport scale_x9 = 0.5 scale_type_y9 = viewport scale_y9 = 0.5 float_framebuffer9 = true alias9 = GlowPass
shader10 = shaders/guest/crt-gdv-new/crt-guest-dr-venom2-ntsc.slang filter_linear10 = true scale_type10 = viewport scale_x10 = 1.0 scale_y10 = 1.0
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I’m really happy with the current state of guest2. Here’s my preset in case anyone is interested. I was aiming toward a consumer preset that kept things bright (@ 4K). Works at 1080p just need to change the mask size from 2 to 1.
First, you need this to be present in \RetroArch\shaders\shaders_slang\crt\shaders\guest (call it coarse.slang)
#version 450
layout(push_constant) uniform Push
{
vec4 SourceSize;
vec4 OriginalSize;
vec4 OutputSize;
uint FrameCount;
float dsize;
} params;
#pragma parameter dsize "Scanline dithering size" 1.0 0.0 2.0 0.10
#define dsize params.dsize // Dithering size
layout(std140, set = 0, binding = 0) uniform UBO
{
mat4 MVP;
} global;
#pragma stage vertex
layout(location = 0) in vec4 Position;
layout(location = 1) in vec2 TexCoord;
layout(location = 0) out vec2 vTexCoord;
void main()
{
gl_Position = global.MVP * Position;
vTexCoord = TexCoord;
}
#pragma stage fragment
layout(location = 0) in vec2 vTexCoord;
layout(location = 0) out vec4 FragColor;
layout(set = 0, binding = 2) uniform sampler2D Source;
void main()
{
vec2 tex = vTexCoord;
vec2 pos = tex * params.OutputSize.xy;
vec2 dy = dsize*vec2(0.0, params.OutputSize.w);
float mixer = floor(mod(pos.x,2.0));
tex = mix(tex + 0.0*dy, tex - dy, mixer);
FragColor = vec4(texture(Source, tex).rgb, 1.0);
}
Now for the preset (place @ \RetroArch\shaders):
shaders = "12"
shader0 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/crt-gdv-new/stock.slang"
filter_linear0 = "false"
wrap_mode0 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input0 = "false"
alias0 = "StockPass"
float_framebuffer0 = "false"
srgb_framebuffer0 = "false"
scale_type_x0 = "source"
scale_x0 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y0 = "source"
scale_y0 = "1.000000"
shader1 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/crt-gdv-new/afterglow0.slang"
filter_linear1 = "false"
wrap_mode1 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input1 = "false"
alias1 = "AfterglowPass"
float_framebuffer1 = "false"
srgb_framebuffer1 = "false"
scale_type_x1 = "source"
scale_x1 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y1 = "source"
scale_y1 = "1.000000"
shader2 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/crt-gdv-new/pre-shaders-afterglow.slang"
filter_linear2 = "false"
wrap_mode2 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input2 = "false"
alias2 = "PrePass"
float_framebuffer2 = "false"
srgb_framebuffer2 = "false"
scale_type_x2 = "source"
scale_x2 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y2 = "source"
scale_y2 = "1.000000"
shader3 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/crt-gdv-new/avg-lum.slang"
filter_linear3 = "true"
wrap_mode3 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input3 = "true"
alias3 = "AvgLumPass"
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/crt-gdv-new/linearize.slang"
filter_linear4 = "true"
wrap_mode4 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input4 = "false"
alias4 = "LinearizePass"
float_framebuffer4 = "true"
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/crt-gdv-new/gaussian_horizontal.slang"
filter_linear5 = "true"
wrap_mode5 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input5 = "false"
alias5 = ""
float_framebuffer5 = "true"
srgb_framebuffer5 = "false"
scale_type_x5 = "viewport"
scale_x5 = "0.500000"
scale_type_y5 = "source"
scale_y5 = "1.000000"
shader6 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/crt-gdv-new/gaussian_vertical.slang"
filter_linear6 = "true"
wrap_mode6 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input6 = "false"
alias6 = "GlowPass"
float_framebuffer6 = "true"
srgb_framebuffer6 = "false"
scale_type_x6 = "viewport"
scale_x6 = "0.500000"
scale_type_y6 = "viewport"
scale_y6 = "0.500000"
shader7 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/crt-gdv-new/bloom_horizontal.slang"
filter_linear7 = "true"
wrap_mode7 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input7 = "false"
alias7 = ""
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/crt-gdv-new/bloom_vertical.slang"
filter_linear8 = "true"
wrap_mode8 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input8 = "false"
alias8 = "BloomPass"
float_framebuffer8 = "true"
srgb_framebuffer8 = "false"
scale_type_x8 = "source"
scale_x8 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y8 = "source"
scale_y8 = "1.000000"
shader9 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/crt-gdv-new/crt-guest-dr-venom2.slang"
filter_linear9 = "true"
wrap_mode9 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input9 = "false"
alias9 = ""
float_framebuffer9 = "false"
srgb_framebuffer9 = "false"
scale_type_x9 = "viewport"
scale_x9 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y9 = "viewport"
scale_y9 = "1.000000"
shader10 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/crt-gdv-new/deconvergence.slang"
filter_linear10 = "true"
wrap_mode10 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input10 = "false"
alias10 = ""
float_framebuffer10 = "false"
srgb_framebuffer10 = "false"
scale_type_x10 = "viewport"
scale_x10 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y10 = "viewport"
scale_y10 = "1.000000"
shader11 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/coarse.slang"
filter_linear11 = "true"
wrap_mode11 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input11 = "false"
alias11 = ""
float_framebuffer11 = "false"
srgb_framebuffer11 = "false"
scale_type_x11 = "source"
scale_x11 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y11 = "source"
scale_y11 = "1.000000"
parameters = "bogus_afterglow;PR;PG;PB;AS;sat;bogus_color;TNTC;LS;LUTLOW;LUTBR;CP;CS;WP;wp_saturation;BP;lsmooth;GAMMA_INPUT;bogus_interlacing;inter;interm;inters;iscan;bogus_glow;SIZEH;SIGMA_H;SIZEV;SIGMA_V;SIZEHB;SIGMA_HB;SIZEVB;SIGMA_VB;bogus_brightness;glow;bloom;halation;contrastd;gamma_c;brightboost;brightboost1;bogus_scanline;gsl;scanline1;scanline2;beam_min;beam_max;beam_size;vertmask;scans;spike;bogus_filtering;h_sharp;s_sharp;smart_ei;ei_limit;sth;bogus_screen;TATE;IOS;OS;BLOOM;csize;bsize;warpX;warpY;overscanX;overscanY;bogus_masks;shadowMask;maskstr;masksize;maskDark;maskLight;mcut;mask_gamma;slotmask;slotwidth;double_slot;slotms;mclip;gamma_out;bogus_hdeconvergence;deconr;decons;cswitch;addnoise;dsize"
bogus_afterglow = "0.000000"
PR = "0.140000"
PG = "0.140000"
PB = "0.140000"
AS = "0.070000"
sat = "0.100000"
bogus_color = "0.000000"
TNTC = "0.000000"
LS = "32.000000"
LUTLOW = "5.000000"
LUTBR = "1.000000"
CP = "1.000000"
CS = "0.000000"
WP = "-100.000000"
wp_saturation = "1.000000"
BP = "0.000000"
lsmooth = "0.700000"
GAMMA_INPUT = "2.400000"
bogus_interlacing = "0.000000"
inter = "350.000000"
interm = "1.000000"
inters = "0.000000"
iscan = "0.200000"
bogus_glow = "0.000000"
SIZEH = "6.000000"
SIGMA_H = "1.200000"
SIZEV = "6.000000"
SIGMA_V = "1.200000"
SIZEHB = "4.000000"
SIGMA_HB = "0.700000"
SIZEVB = "4.000000"
SIGMA_VB = "0.700000"
bogus_brightness = "0.000000"
glow = "0.080000"
bloom = "0.300000"
halation = "0.150000"
contrastd = "0.000000"
gamma_c = "1.000000"
brightboost = "1.400000"
brightboost1 = "1.100000"
bogus_scanline = "0.000000"
gsl = "-1.000000"
scanline1 = "6.000000"
scanline2 = "8.000000"
beam_min = "1.300000"
beam_max = "1.000000"
beam_size = "0.600000"
vertmask = "0.500000"
scans = "0.600000"
spike = "1.000000"
bogus_filtering = "0.000000"
h_sharp = "4.000001"
s_sharp = "0.000000"
smart_ei = "0.000000"
ei_limit = "2.000000"
sth = "0.200000"
bogus_screen = "0.000000"
TATE = "0.000000"
IOS = "0.000000"
OS = "1.000000"
BLOOM = "0.000000"
csize = "0.000000"
bsize = "600.000000"
warpX = "0.000000"
warpY = "0.000000"
overscanX = "0.000000"
overscanY = "0.000000"
bogus_masks = "0.000000"
shadowMask = "2.000000"
maskstr = "0.300000"
masksize = "2.000000"
maskDark = "0.500000"
maskLight = "1.500000"
mcut = "1.150000"
mask_gamma = "2.400000"
slotmask = "0.000000"
slotwidth = "2.000000"
double_slot = "1.000000"
slotms = "1.000000"
mclip = "0.500000"
gamma_out = "2.400000"
bogus_hdeconvergence = "0.000000"
deconr = "0.500000"
decons = "0.500000"
cswitch = "1.000000"
addnoise = "0.200000"
dsize = "1.000000"
textures = "SamplerLUT1;SamplerLUT2;SamplerLUT3;SamplerLUT4"
SamplerLUT1 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/lut/sony_trinitron1.png"
SamplerLUT1_linear = "true"
SamplerLUT1_wrap_mode = "clamp_to_border"
SamplerLUT1_mipmap = "false"
SamplerLUT2 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/lut/sony_trinitron2.png"
SamplerLUT2_linear = "true"
SamplerLUT2_wrap_mode = "clamp_to_border"
SamplerLUT2_mipmap = "false"
SamplerLUT3 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/lut/other1.png"
SamplerLUT3_linear = "true"
SamplerLUT3_wrap_mode = "clamp_to_border"
SamplerLUT3_mipmap = "false"
SamplerLUT4 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/lut/custom_lut.png"
SamplerLUT4_linear = "true"
SamplerLUT4_wrap_mode = "clamp_to_border"
SamplerLUT4_mipmap = "false"
I hope you enjoy it; just beat the wonderful “Mega Man X3 - Zero Project V4.1”
2 Likes
New Release Version (31.01.2021-r1):
Notable changes:
- deconvergence pass: deconvergence looks much nicer due mask synced offsets.
Download link:
https://mega.nz/file/x8pEib5C#xq9zus18L0UhEFTOTajsIGiq3XRSN4LC9l4zl3kAZVE
Edit:
- Nice deconvergence improvements.
- some fixes.
9 Likes
@guest.r @HyperspaceMadness It works finally!!! I renamed the base shader folder and I deleted the “dots” in the name, and now works like a charm all shaders!!!
Thanks!
2 Likes
Hi the switch deconvergence colors doesn’t work anymore with this release (my preference is to have the red deconvergence on the right, but it will always be on the left)
Also the stepping value for strength seems to be increased as I can’t make it as subtle as I had it before…
Hope both can be fixed
1 Like
It was fixed right before you posted. 
Now you can alter all three color components offsets individually.
What is maybe worse is the larger offset step for mask preservation.
2 Likes