PlainOldPants's Shader Presets

[Hyllian]

Very nice evolution in speed! I didn’t test much. I have only one thing at first that bothered me: it’s very dark! I only tested the snes preset, and had to increase the contrast to 1.0 to get something playable.

I’ve seen the Contrast at 1.0 only works using Device 1. For Devices from 2 to 9, if you increase Contrast above 0.50, the reds clamp someway. So, you ends up with a very dark picture.

Is there a way to control the red push as the first version? It may be accurate, but I can’t remember it was so red when I played in the 80’s or 90’s, or even now in my CRTs (even on composite cables).

Overall, it looks very analogical, real and alive. Congrats!

EDIT: Nevermind the red push thing. I just found the param that desaturate the reds!

EDIT2: Here’s a useful preset I’ve got running with crt-hyllian-new-mask. I had to descrease saturation and increase contrast plus tweaking the red push param to decrease clipping:

preset patchy-new-crt-hyllian-new-mask

shaders = "6"
feedback_pass = "0"
shader0 = "shaders_slang/ntsc/shaders/patchy-ntsc/p68k-fast/p68k-fast.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_slang/crt-hyllian-new-mask/shaders/support/multiLUT-linear.slang"
filter_linear1 = "false"
wrap_mode1 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input1 = "false"
alias1 = ""
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-hyllian-new-mask/shaders/crt-hyllian-base.slang"
filter_linear2 = "false"
wrap_mode2 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input2 = "false"
alias2 = "CRTPass"
float_framebuffer2 = "true"
srgb_framebuffer2 = "false"
scale_type_x2 = "viewport"
scale_x2 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y2 = "viewport"
scale_y2 = "1.000000"
shader3 = "shaders_slang/crt-hyllian-new-mask/shaders/support/glow/threshold.slang"
filter_linear3 = "true"
wrap_mode3 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input3 = "false"
alias3 = ""
float_framebuffer3 = "true"
srgb_framebuffer3 = "false"
shader4 = "shaders_slang/crt-hyllian-new-mask/shaders/support/glow/blur_horiz.slang"
filter_linear4 = "true"
wrap_mode4 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input4 = "true"
alias4 = ""
float_framebuffer4 = "true"
srgb_framebuffer4 = "false"
scale_type_x4 = "viewport"
scale_x4 = "0.200000"
scale_type_y4 = "viewport"
scale_y4 = "1.000000"
shader5 = "shaders_slang/crt-hyllian-new-mask/shaders/support/glow/blur-glow-mask-geom.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 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y5 = "viewport"
scale_y5 = "1.000000"
pf_console = "1.000000"
pf_contrast = "1.000000"
pf_color = "0.800000"
pf_connection = "1.000000"
pf_clipping = "2.000000"
pf_signalfringing = "1.000000"
pf_signalartifacting = "1.000000"
pf_videostd = "4.000000"
LUT_selector_param = "0.000000"
BEAM_MIN_WIDTH = "0.720000"
SCANLINES_STRENGTH = "0.860000"
MASK_STRENGTH = "1.000000"
BRIGHTBOOST = "1.000000"
GLOW_ENABLE = "0.000000"
textures = "SamplerLUT1;SamplerLUT2"
SamplerLUT1 = "shaders_slang/crt-hyllian-new-mask/shaders/support/LUT/Sony_Wega_29FA310_no_gamma-v2.png"
SamplerLUT1_wrap_mode = "clamp_to_border"
SamplerLUT1_mipmap = "false"
SamplerLUT2 = "shaders_slang/crt-hyllian-new-mask/shaders/support/LUT/Sony_Wega_29FA310_no_gamma.png"
SamplerLUT2_wrap_mode = "clamp_to_border"
SamplerLUT2_mipmap = "false"

[PlainOldPants]

I need to point out, the “red push” is not just some red color enhancer, but it’s the CRT’s way of approximating the NTSC standard from 1953 while compensating for using a bluer white than the standard. The default settings are calibrated against that, so that’s why you have to turn down saturation and adjust tint to make SNES games look anything like they’re supposed to, since those are often made for plain RGB. For NES, on the other hand, I would assume most games want standard NTSC settings.

Or maybe you’re from a PAL region, where (as far as I know for now) they fixed this problem a long time ago. In NTSC regions, SMPTE-170M only fixes this sometimes, but apparently CRT manufacturers never got the memo here. My Panasonic CRT from 2000 still has this “red push” over all 3 of its composite inputs, and the only bypass is YPbPr component.

I can say for sure that all settings in this are either 1. based on video standards, 2. based on my real CRTs, 3. based on real video decoder chips and their brand’s known phosphors, or 4. otherwise made as an educated guess. It’s accurate.

[PlainOldPants]

I just added in a simple hack to more easily darken over-saturated reds without needing to desaturate as much, in case that helps you. https://www.mediafire.com/file/u0c981wllep9a2q/patchy68k-1pass-2025-05-29-r2.zip/file

Also I see that you’re applying 2.4 gamma in this, but my shader already does gamma. You should change the gamma in my shader instead, unless you know what you’re doing.

I’ll do a fix soon to make it possible to skip gamma and/or NTSC color.

Edit: Here’s a version that can skip gamma and NTSC color. You can’t just set my shader’s gamma to 2.2; you have to enable “Skip all gamma correction”. To skip NTSC color, make sure you pick “Dummy” and not “SMPTE C”. https://www.mediafire.com/file/qlwkoqs77hdx1nb/patchy68k-1pass-2025-05-29-r3.zip/file I’ve realized that this shader does a poor job with double-resolution SNES games. I suggest prepending a SNES hi-res blending shader for now.

[Hyllian]

Thanks. I’m still learning how to integrate your shaders with others. That was a first approach. I know it has room for improvements. Thanks for the tips, I’ll test tomorrow that new version.

One thing I’d like to know about fringing: does it only manifests if you move the screen? I don’t remember very well if in real crt those artifacts change fase even if you pause the game.

[PlainOldPants]

The fringing artifacts are constantly there, but on most consoles, they are quickly flickering between two different offsets. Because of that, while holding still, artifacts visually cancel themselves out a little bit, and they become more jarring while moving.

For an example, I suggest looking up the cave in Battletoads on the NES. This particular NES game switches between 3 offsets instead of the usual 2, but it’s still a neat example of this effect. I know Game Grumps played it on original hardware at least once.

A few consoles, such as the Genesis/MegaDrive and Master System, have the phase constantly at one offset, so the artifacts don’t cancel themselves out while holding still.

Speaking of fringing, you should try adjusting the sharpness setting too. I’ve improved it over patchy-ntsc.

[bactino]

[Hyllian]

The new params are great, thanks. One thing I noticed in the r3 version is that it offset the source someway and cut part of it horizontally.