Official release thread for WindowCast core

[Cyber]

What graphics card are you using? How much VRAM does it have? Have you tried the potato presets or other MBZ__3__STD presets?

[SpoonyOrbit]

rtx 2080 super 8gb of vram, 5800x AMD cpu 32gb of ram. It’s not my system

[SpoonyOrbit]

@Cyber ok I did some further digging and found out what works and what doesn’t with windowcast for both your presets, Duimon, and HSM. MBZ_1- 5 work. MBZ_0 SMOOTH doesn’t work. That is for HSM

Now for your presets. Any preset you base off of MBZ_0 SMOOTH won’t work. Your presets in the MBZ_1-5 section will work. What won’t work in any section though is your NeoGX presets.

Most Duimon presets seem to work though I haven’t checked handhelds. The Duimon presets aren’t based off MBZ_0 SMOOTH which is why they work. I’m not sure if it’s my system or not so I won’t assume. I just figured I have a good system so it can’t be me.

If i’m just using retroarch and the built in PCSX2 based core any preset will work including MBZ_0 SMOOTH, NeoGX etc. the resolution I use for the emulator core is standared res 1x.

If I use retroarch with windowcast core + PCSX2 standalone standard res 1x I can’t use MBZ_0 SMOOTH presets or NeoGX.
Hope this helps.

[Cyber]

@SpoonyOrbit

Hope this helps.

This helps a great deal. It’s very possible that your GPU is running out of resources (specifically VRAM) when running the shaders that perform upscaling in conjunction with the WindowCast core.

Perhaps @HyperspaceMadness or @IHQMD might be able to elaborate.

Try changing your desktop resolution to 1080p and see if that makes any difference.

[SpoonyOrbit]

@Cyber found something else too. If I load a preset that’s standard I go into sharder parameters and tick show resolustion info the windowcast core is reporting a res of 3840x2160 and sampling res is 61456x2160 but the PCSX2 standalone is standard res for PS2. I think if the window cast core will report the same res as the standalone emulator it might fix it

[SpoonyOrbit]

I did a test of lowring my screen resolution to 640x480 and that didn’t work. MBZ_0, CyberLab NeoGX or anything based on MBZ_0 won’t load. I’m wondering if there is a specific shader that doesn’t play well with windowcast

[Cyber]

@SpoonyOrbit

I’m wondering if there is a specific shader that doesn’t play well with windowcast

I have a feeling that someone with a better understanding of how these things work might be able to offer an explanation. So perhaps if we wait a bit, @HyperspaceMadness or @IHQMD might respond. I wouldn’t be surprised if they found this information useful.

[SpoonyOrbit]

I did another test with window cast. I loaded the MBZ_1_ADV preset from HSM and ticked the parameter to show resolution. The sampling res of 61456x2160 wasn’t there but when I load your preset MBZ_1 / 4k / computer monitor smooth the sampling res of 61456x2160 shows in res info.

HSM’s MBZ_0 still doesn’t load.

I also made a copy of the preset I was using inside retroarch for the pcsx2 core and I turned off a bunch of things in shader parameters. I turned off deconvergence, fxaa, scalefx, and sharpsmoother. just to see if it would load with those off for windowcast but no dice. It’s a pickle

[Cyber]

Have you tried the different versions of the WindowCast Core? For example the experimental v2.0 or the Vulkan blitz version?

Official release thread for WindowCast core

An issue where some users experienced the image in RA ‘freezing’ when RA was in fullscreen mode has been identified as a Nvidia driver issue. Please see the updated README.md file in the latest download.

Official release thread for WindowCast core

Thanks… I switched on the DXGI option in the Nvidia control panel as per the readme file… that seems to help. It looks like it still freezes if the target window is minimized. Maybe this is just the way it works… not sure. edit Actually, seems to be freezing on launch pretty consistently now when I’m testing with standalone mini vmac.

You can also try setting the Vulkan/OpenGL present method to Prefer layered on DXGI Swapchain or Prefer native if it’s already set to Prefer layered on DXGI Swapchain?

[SpoonyOrbit]

ahha. I loaded MBZ_0 but just inside retroarch with the pcsx2 core and clicked show res info. the core reads 512x416 but there is still a sampling res 3072x416. MBZ_1 does not show a sampling res, but if I load cyberlab mbz_1 / 4k / computer monitor smooth that sampling res is shown at 61456x2160.

I tried the vulkan blitz version. When I downloaded experimental 2.0 version the core file name structure isn’t a .dll / it’s a .so file and retroarch doesn’t see it

[SpoonyOrbit]

I have nvidia control panel set to prefer layered on DXGI Swapchain yup. I followed those instructions

[Cyber]

@SpoonyOrbit

MBZ_1 does not show a sampling res, but if I load cyberlab mbz_1 / 4k / computer monitor smooth that sampling res is shown at 61456x2160.

In the old days MBZ__1__ADV did some upsampling in the Shader pipeline to allow for the use of things like ScaleFX. Subsequently this was taken out of the MBZ__1__ADV performance tier and limited to the MBZ__0__SMOOTH-ADV performance tier.

It’s possible that the Computer Monitor Smooth Preset is referencing the MBZ__0__SMOOTH-ADV_GDV base preset.

One giveaway is that it has Smooth in the filename. There are other presets with Smooth in the filename which don’t use the MBZ__0__SMOOTH-ADV_GDV base preset and don’t use ScaleFX for upscaling. Those use Super-XBR instead which is supposed to be in the MBZ__1__ADV__GDV performance tier.

[SpoonyOrbit]

oh duh the experimental build isn’t for windows duh me. it’s only for X11 and Linux

[Cyber]

While waiting for more expert responses you can probably read a few posts above and see how some other folks have been using the WindowCast Core with PS2 games.

On another note, most of my presets don’t require ScaleFX/Super-XBR nor the MBZ__0__SMOOTH-ADV_GDV performance tier. You said my presets in the MBZ__1 to MBZ__5 folders work. Why don’t you embrace the ones in the MBZ__3__STANDARD folder? The quality is arguably just as good as the others, it’s very close actually if not better in some respects.

Mega Bezel is not a one size fits all solution, that’s why there are different performance tiers to begin with.

As for my presets, it wasn’t easy expanding my offerings to cater for lower performing systems so go ahead and enjoy them. That’s what they’re there for.

CyberLab Death To Pixels Shader Preset Packs

Update 05/12/22 The following preset folders have been renamed: MBZ__1__Advance_Full_Reflections ===> MBZ__0__Smooth-Advance_Full_Reflections MBZ__2__Performance_No_Reflections ===> MBZ__0__Smooth-Advance_No_Reflections MBZ__3__Standard_Full_Reflections ===> MBZ__3__Standard_Full_Reflections_Soqueroeu-TV_Special_Edition This is to make way for the following additional performance tiers as well as to update the folder naming to be more in line with HSM Mega Bezel Reflection Shader’s Base P…

[SpoonyOrbit]

i tried computer monitor sharp from mbz_1 / 4k and the sampling res of 61456x2160 was there too in the same mbz_1 / 4k section it tried computer monitor sharp and sampling res of 61456x2160 was there

I then tried slot mask II, slot mask IV OLED, and others like that in the section and the sampling res wasn’t there.

what I can’t understand is how come I’m able to use any preset including MBZ_0 but with windowcast I can’t. my guess is windowcast with shaders might be causing some sort of performance bottleneck. I read this whole thread. It’s ok. time will fix everything…then I’ll be dead…i kid i kid

[HyperspaceMadness]

Have you tried setting the resolution settings in the windowcast core settings? There are controls in there to control try initial resolution coming out of windocast

[SpoonyOrbit]

I looked in the core settings quick menu and I don’t see resolution settings only scaling settings

[SpoonyOrbit]

@HyperspaceMadness I was busy for a while. I went again and checked in the windowcast core setting and I was able to scale down the resolution. I tried every lower resolution and it still runs into the same problem. I also tried changing render drivers for the pcsx2 standalone emulator and changed pcsx2 nvidia control panel to match DXGI Swapchain in retroarch negative. I tried disabling exclusive fullscreen in pcsx2 but it’s just set at borderless window set to run in a separate window. MBZ_0 won’t work with windowcast. works fine without. Hope this and Cyber and my convo up above helps with process of elimination for you and @IHQMD

[Cyber]

@SpoonyOrbit

I tried disabling exclusive fullscreen in pcsx2 but it’s just set at borderless window set to run in a separate window.

Have you tried running PCSX2 in an actual window, with title bar and everything?

There is also a wrapper floating around here to assist with launching games. Have you tried that?

Also, you should really look into this:

Official release thread for WindowCast core

Also, I’ve been using WindowsCast a little less often now that more and more games are slowly getting to run on LRPS2. Is LRPS2 still being updated from time to time to improve compatibility and accuracy? It would be great if RA could complete everything.

And possibly this:

Official release thread for WindowCast core

as i say the precompiled version runs great give it a try vice city as example runs flawless wit mbz shader on vulkan but a few games that normally need some patches from pcsx2 like path of neo still have visual bugs cuz you can´t turn on fixes that is the most up to date core you can get so far i know , keep in mind that retroarch maybe overwrite this core if you use the update all cores option

Those might cover your needs quite well actually.

[SpoonyOrbit]

@Cyber

Have you tried running PCSX2 in an actual window, with title bar and everything?

Yup that doesn’t work

@Cyber

There is also a wrapper floating around here to assist with launching games. Have you tried that?

That wrapper is only for things like launchbox

LRPS2 is what I’m going to use for now. I think once pcsx2 get’s another stable release LRPS2 will get a upstream update soon