sorry, mask zoom, i got it wrong about mask size, but yeah mask zoom 1 gets rid of this pink vertical rows and i think it looks a bit more even, mine is like a 40-45 inch 1080p tv, i know in fact that your presets look different in 4k even with -1 in mask zoom
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I used the Mask zoom on 4k presets to make them look like the 1080p presets. I use the 1080p presets more than I use the 4k ones and I don’t see these vertical rows that you mentioned. I game on a 65 inch 4k display
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Hmm, maybe is because the tv is probably not native 1080p, idk i don’t recall my tests of the 1080p in my 4k tv, i can’t do them anymore as i don’t have that tv any longer, also in my tv by increasing mask zoom, the preset also looks less overexposed in colors???
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Maybe. I’m not sure what you’re seeing on your end, everything looks right from my end. The only time I touched mask zoom was for the 4k presets to lower it
yeah, i do remember also something in fact that, 4k is capable of representing in a better and clearer viewable way the grouping of rgb phosphors, that’s why it can indeed represent tinier and even bigger phosphors without much of a visual problem because of how much pixels 4k has compare to 1080p, while 1080p has less pixels and is capable of representing and simulating less lines of crt. and if you goo too big it starts too look all clue with rgb squares
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New Version Release (02-17-2024-v3)
Changes Made
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Uses guest.r shader version 2024-02-17-r1.
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All rf and composite presets use the new “ntsc taps” setting (further enhances the chroma scaling setting, basically the overall image is a bit sharper/colors pop slightly more on ntsc 2-phase based games).
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Chroma Scaling on all composite “megadrive rainbow” presets have been raised from 3.00 from the previous pack back up to 4.00.
Edit: Updated it again so now it’s called “02-17-2024-v2”. If you grabbed the pack earlier please grab it again and be sure to grab the latest guest.r shader update (2024-02-17-r1) as well as this release goes exclusively with his latest pack.
Edit 2: Version 3 now up. Tweaked sharpness settings in the “megadrive rainbow” presets.
Couple screenies (All composite shots)
Download the latest pack in the first post.
This post is all about composite, with those new ntsc settings I think I have made composite look a bit more sharper (2-phase based games at least). I hope you all enjoy.
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@B-Nerd It’s working on my end but maybe it has to do with a mix of settings. If you can send me your grade settings (slangp) and the core you’re using (and on which backend) I can have a look.
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Ah you have returned. Just to add I’ve had another Linux user have the same exact issue, defaulting that contrast setting allowed them to see the light again lol. @B-Nerd also said earlier today on discord that the issue also happens when loading grade up by itself and setting contract anywhere in the negative values.
Yes for a lil while : D a bugfix pass on all my projects.
So is this a linux only thing? The obvious would be a value overflow as in NaN, but if I can narrow down the affecting area the better as I don’t have much time lately.
So basically loading grade with default values. What core and what video backend?
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I believe any core with the vulkan driver and yes I’ve only heard of this issue from two Linux users only so far. That issue happens both with grade loaded by itself or with my presets. It’s only with that contrast setting turned to any of the negative values from what I’ve been told. My presets have contrast at -20.00, once they put it back to 0.00 they were able to see again.
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Hi @sonkun, I tried your latest presets and I think they look gorgeous! However, I have some questions:
- I use a MacBook Pro with a resolution of 3024x1890px. Is it better to use the 1440p or the 4k presets?
- When using a 4k shadow mask preset, the alignment of the shadow mask does not seem to be correct–I think the “next row” needs to be shifted by 1.5. Also is the transition from red to green to blue supposed to smear like this?
- I found some statements of recommendations of yours from ~1 year ago.
To sum it up most systems used 2-phase, nes, snes, master system and atari 2600 used 3-phase. I personally use the neutral or u-warm presets on all systems from the 4th generation and below. For s-video I use the u-cool presets on all systems from the 5th generation (32-bit, 64-bit era) and 6th generation (dreamcast, ps2, gamecube) and I use rgb u-cool strictly for arcade games.
I use Shadow Mask for the older 8-16 bit systems, aperture grille for the 32-64-128 bit systems and Slot Mask for arcade.
Do you still use your presets like this for an authentic look or would you recommend something different?
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Hello and thank you for trying out my presets and I’m glad you’re enjoying them.
Since 1890p is a bit closer to 2160p maybe 4k? I’ve never played on 1890p but things still seem to look ok in your shot.
I believe the alignment looks like that because of the green deconvergence setting I’ve applied which I think "shifted the position of the Mask slightly. I use deconvergence because it seems to help with reducing moire by a little bit. The smearing could probably be due to the various settings I use to help brighten my presets to absurd levels such as glow etc so that could explain why the mask looks that way.
These days I use the normal presets for everything. I may switch to warm or cool every now and then just to see the differences though.
Absolutely. I’ve been using Shadow Mask composite a lot these days on those older 8/16 bit systems. If not that then Slot Mask for sure.
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Thank you very much for taking your time to answer my questions. I have one more: you mentioned that NES and SNES both use phase 3. Would you recommend switching the respective parameter to phase 3 for these two systems? If so, do I need to set any other parameters?
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About that and I should’ve said this in my previous post, as far as 2-phase and 3-phase is concerned my presets will now automatically choose the appropriate one for you so you don’t have to do anything but enjoy your games. I wrote that at a time when I stopped using the guest ntsc shader and was trying a different method out. Now I’m back to using the guest ntsc shader and couldn’t be more happier, it’s now updated better than ever and it allows me now to get a clean and sharper composite image.
So no need to worry about which phase to choose, my composite and rf presets got you all covered. Funny thing is I recently found out that Sega Megadrive which I thought was only for 2 phase games actually has games that run in 3phase. One game is Virtua Racing. You’ll see it if you load up my “composite artifacts” preset and notice the diagonal rainbow lines (2 phase games produce vertical lines).
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So when I understand you correctly it doesn’t matter if I use composite-standard, composite-artifatcs, or composite-megadrive-rainbows, it will always choose automatically the correct phase? If so, can you share some details how this is done?
Which preset do you recommend for the Dreamcast via VGA? Is there a preset that supports VGA DoubleScan like koko-aio?
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That’s correct, use any composite preset you like without a care in the world, it’ll take of all dithering stuff for you automatically, that’s the beauty of that amazing shader.
How that’s done you would have to ask guest.r himself, I don’t really get into the behind the scenes technical stuff, I’m just a loyal guinea pig that likes to play around with the settings and create my own little magic lol
That’s a good question, I never made a “vga” specific preset before. I usually just slap a rgb preset over dreamcast or maybe composite. You did give me a potential idea now though.
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I notice in a specific Mega Drive game (Tiny Toons Acme All-stars, ntsc) that when I pick soccer and play in Forest stage and pick Rainbow or Artifacts shaders, the shadows on the field become garbled during movement. Though that was not the case on the late December version of the shaders.
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I had a feeling it was gonna be exactly what I thought it was, that’s the checkerboard dithering blending at work. I believe @guest.r reworked the ntsc shader after adding in the “rainbow” setting to where you now get full vertical line and checkerboard dithering. Previously in my megadrive rainbow presets where I was using the “mame ntsc” shader in the mix it wasn’t displaying the full dithering correctly.
If im not mistaken you probably saw the soccer forest stage dithering looking like this in the second pic?
If so that’s not how it’s actually supposed to look and the jittering you see now is how it should be. Also you can stop it completely if you want by turning the “ntsc fringing value” setting down to 0.
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Having a dedicated VGA preset would be awesome for Dreamcast via VGA and DOS games 
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NTSC value is at 0.00. If I record it via Retroarch it does not show unfortunately so I had to use the mobile phone.
Notice the soft grass patches during movement. They start to flicker. is this expected behavior?
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