I am really liking these for the newer systems especially. I think the alt RGB looks really great. … but how do I set the aspect ratio within the settings. I’m used to the Mega Bezel setting layout. Thanks for the help.
1 Like
Thank you I’m glad you’re enjoying the pack. To change the aspect ratio you have to go to settings/video/scaling, from there you can make those changes. I’m not sure which aspect ratio the Mega Bezels use, maybe @HyperspaceMadness can assist you more about that.
1 Like
Ah… I see. Thanks. The Mega Bezels have an aspect ratio setting as well as the ones in the RA system menu that you mentioned… but it should be the same end result.
2 Likes
The Mega Bezel, and all border shaders, use “Full” aspect. I would assume that for these you would use “Core Provided” and Integer scale.
2 Likes
That’s right, full borders how could I forget. By the way everyone I did a quick retweak on my updated pack and put up a new link. Didn’t like how the saturation was looking.
1 Like
Version (10/29/2022)
Made a small tweak to gamma correction
Restored saturation back to default
New link in the same post
2 Likes
That’s a lot of changes. So the new versions are based on the -hd variants from crt-guest-advanced. It will be curious to see how they look now, because I have no experience with those. Need to add a note on the blog for the obvious big change, but not much more (it’s a blog post of its time, not an accurate and updated documentation).
Comparing old vs new could be achieved with backing up older files and just rename the folder before running RetroArch.
The manual updating process is a bit tedious, as I have to do this twice for both once. I need to write some scripts for. 
BTW the link and installation are currently only be seen if one scrolls down 7 times or so. Maybe put it to the top of post.
2 Likes
Yeah I had to switch up a few settings transitioning over, hd is different beast than ntsc. The settings I used on ntsc couldn’t simply be copied over to hd, saturation went through the roof so I had to tweak a bunch of settings to get things to look “normal” again. I like how smooth it makes everything look plus I wanted to try something different this time around.
I don’t know if you been backing them but I don’t keep back ups, once I go forward there’s no turning back so if anyone likes a old pack O hope they keep them.
When I drop another update I’ll move the installation guide/downloads towards the top of the first post, I wanted to show people what they were getting before throwing a link in their face off the bat lol
2 Likes
I really really like this new pack, I didn’t think you could use guest’s HD this way, it looks really smooth. Fantastic.
I have only one problem, with pixel blending. The waterfall in Sonic is a rainbow pain when you move, do you think it’s tweakable?
Oh, and one more thing. I think you could toy a little with Glow, I’ve tried to pump it at 0,30/0,40 and it really gives you a CRT feel, let me know what you think of it.
3 Likes
I’m glad you’re liking it. Yeah I decided it was time to try something new this time around, the vanilla and ntsc versions have been tweaked to death by all of us so I wanted to show hd some love since I hardly see anyone post presets with that version. Wasn’t sure what to expect but I think they came out alright especially if you guys are liking the new look.
Ahh you don’t like that juicy rainbow banding lol? I added that in to get that authentic composite rainbow look but I understand it can be a distraction as well. I’m not home right now so I’m relying on memory but let’s try this first solution.
Look for two settings from the mame ntsc shader called A Value and B Value, put both of those to 1.00 and see if that helps.
If that solution isn’t good enough we’ll try something else and I will try cranking that glow up later when I get home. I played around with glow once bringing up to just 24 and thought maybe that would be too much. Maybe it looks better on hd I’ll see later.
1 Like
New Release Version (11/02/2022)
Changes Made
Uses guest latest shader update Version (2022-11-01-r2)
In the previous two packs since switching over to the hd guest shader from the ntsc version that I’ve always previously used I noticed the hd version comes preloaded with thicker lines, it looks cool for blurry images (composite) but it doesn’t work if you want a sharper image (rgb) so I retweaked the sharpness settings for both the svideo and rgb presets.
Comparison pics:
Previous settings
Current settings
You can see how thick Link’s black outline looks around his body along with the black line going down the bridge. That’s now been fixed.
Grab the new link in the usual post.
8 Likes
Greetings @sonkun, looking at these last pics and the ones in the first post, I can see that your stuff has come a long way! I knew that all that was needed was some gentle encouragement and that over time it was inevitable for things to keep growing and improving as you learned more and more.
Keep up the great work!
3 Likes
And I’m still learning lol. Thank you I appreciate the love, I’ve definitely come a long way especially if you go back to posts from months ago in the “show off” thread. It’s amazing actually how all of us working on shader presets have come a long way and we’re all still growing.
Every time guest adds in a new feature to the shader that opens the door for even more ways to play. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next in the future and likewise!
5 Likes
I’m different in that I think I’ve managed to mangle and squeeze quite a bit out of the tools available in their current form even if I might go about things in an unorthodox manner.
Right now, with my latest Console Specific “…Composite Slot Mask IV OLED for Blargg…” presets things have pretty much hit nirvana for me.
Whatever I’ve done would cover several workarounds and tweaks to parameters of different shaders contained within the venerable and most versatile HSM Mega Bezel Reflection Shader.
Any changes to the underlying shader code runs the risk of breaking the looks I currently have then I have to find ways to possibly recreate them.
There’s also the possibility of things improving “for free” due to updates but these improvements may not always translate well due to things already being exactly where they need to be at this very moment.
With that said I’m still eternally grateful for the work of all the shader creators whose dedication and hard work made all of this possible.
@guest.r, @HyperspaceMadness, @aliaspider, @Dogway, @Hyllian, HunterK, Sp00kyFox and all others who might have contributed along the way.
3 Likes
Yeah I remember that one time guest pretty much changed the code a bit and rendered my ntsc presets useless lol, I had to reconfigure everything but then I eventually bounced back.
Now that I have more than one preset to deal with I too understand what you mean in having to maintain multiple presets, for you it’s a little different since you don’t just deal with Slot Mask presets you got a bunch of different types.
Me personally I love when a new feature gets introduced, I may or may not take advantage of it depending on what it is but it’s good to know there’s multiple settings there to play with. If I ever decide to do aperture grille style presets one of those new features may come in handy in the future.
Just today guest fixed something with the hd shader I’m now starting to use, I can’t see it yet since I’m not home but depending on what the fix looks like i may have to put out a updated pack myself, that’s just the beauty of tweaking shader presets.
2 Likes
@Cyber is doing very nice presets, but without much mask mitigation. The only re-coded feature which might concern his work is scanline saturation, it’s much better now, but has to be retweaked if not using defaults. Other new features are mostly optional, which is also my intention.
Old NTSC really had problems with doubled horizontal resolution and workarounds made it quite slow. I had to implement a new filter and the sharpness feature to feel comfortable with it. But nevertheless, you are doing great work, quite a fan of it.
I tested it on my Navi, old Cayman HD and Intel igpu, didn’t notice anything strange. It’s definitelly a driver related issue which affects some cards. Some bells were ringing with a strange @RealNC’s screenie, as he likes to use the HD version, but i didn’t quite know what’s going on.
With my testing i didn’t notice any visual changes between old and fixed versions, but some folks might start to like the HD presets. 
5 Likes
I finally got around to trying out the new shader update, I don’t see any major changes myself so I don’t have to update anything. I’m glad you’re a fan of my presets as well, none of this would be possible without you and Dogway’s shaders and yes more people need to embrace the HD version lol.
I actually tried the HD version out as a test just to try something different, if enough people would have said they liked the ntsc version better I would have brought it back but it seems like everyone likes the new look and so do I so I’ll stick with HD.
3 Likes
Thanks @guest.r. I really appreciate your continued support and our mutual appreciation for each other’s work.
Well you know I might be asking you how to bring it back or recalibrate if necessary whenever it gets integrated into HSM Mega Bezel Reflection Shader.
I know I haven’t touched scanline saturation in a while but most of my presets are built upon one another, sort of Simple Presets on steroids so I’ll be looking out for any changes or regressions.
Thanks for the heads up and keep doing what you do.
2 Likes
I need to disagree with this. It might be true technology-wise I am not sure, but in practise it is a noticable difference and I always prefered the RGB.
I have owned most systems since the Intellivision and RGB has in most cases given more vibrant colors and a slighthly better sharpness. Great reds and no bleed. There is a practical motivation to why we went through all the troubble and money of modding the Gamecube component-cable to RGB when we had the s-video one if we wanted.
The difference was noticable. I did always use the best TV I could get like Philips blackline and then matchline, so on lower end tvs I do not have that much experience apart from the NES/Master system era.
There certainly is a difference, but it’s not huge: https://www.reddit.com/r/crtgaming/comments/7uwaa4/snes_composite_vs_svideo_vs_rgb/ and it’s mostly observable in the color fidelity rather than the sharp/blurry-ness (which is what determines things like pseudo-transparency effects in the Sonic waterfalls).
RGB gives about double the color bandwidth of YPbPr (though the color signals are transmitted as a ‘difference-from-luma’–that’s the Pb and Pr parts–signal, which probably helps some; IIRC, the eye can discern smaller color differences in higher-luminance scenes), which explains the color differences you’ve seen with modded gamecube cables, and some of that Y bandwidth is devoted to sync, which likely explains the slight sharpness difference.
In the case of svideo (aka Y/IQ), the color information is all on one cable, which further reduces the bandwidth and also affects the color fidelity (re: smearing/bleed; however, the NTSC bandwidth allocations take advantage of the fact that the human eye perceives differences in the I–or orange/blue–axis better than in the Q–or purple/green–axis), but the sharpness should still be very close to that of component/YPbPr.
Videophilia, like audiophilia, is a game of diminishing returns. As far as objective, overall quality is concerned, RF < composite < svideo < component/YPbPr < RGB, but the subjective difference covered by each hop is significantly less than the last, and part of that is due to clever engineering on the part of the folks who developed the broadcast standards, based on perceptual dynamics of the human eye.
3 Likes