Please show off what crt shaders can do!

[Cyber]

You can try different things like Increasing Downsample Blur, Decreasing Horizontal Sharpness, Turning On Scale FX, playing with the core sampling resolution and more.

Or you can just use presets like these:

HSM Mega Bezel Reflection Shader! - Feedback and Updates

Just sharing my latest presets with the community. I’m quite satisfied with these settings for now. Pictures won’t tell the whole story as there’s a bit of subtle movement going on in there so feel free to try them out. I recommend using Arcade - Sharp for arcade games, Composite - Pure for NES and similar systems and Composite - Sharp for the 16-bit era systems and everything else. With that said, for the best viewing experience of these screenshots I suggest you right click on the image then…

[Dante]

@Cyber or anyone for that matter…since you are familiar with the new pixie shader, do you have integer scale on while using it or you leave it off…generally I always use integer scale on with my shaders but I read somewhere (and correct me if I’m wrong) that newpixie makes some sort of auto-scaling, is it true?

For the record my screen is 1600*900 and I use 5x width with 4x height. Thanks!

[mas]

Thank you very much! Strangely, the softness of your screenshots is missing on my side

[hunterk]

Integer scaling is primarily an issue for scanlines. Newpixie doesn’t include any special sauce that fixes this, it just rolls the scanlines so the unevenness from fractional scaling isn’t as obvious.

[Cyber]

@Dante

@Cyber or anyone for that matter…since you are familiar with the new pixie shader, do you have integer scale on while using it or you leave it off…

I’m not really familiar with the new pixie shader but instead the new pixie clone shader preset that was made by @HyperspaceMadness. I use HSM Mega Bezel Reflection Shader exclusively now and in order to use that you must set integer scale to off and aspect ratio to either Full or the aspect ratio of your screen. HSM Mega Bezel Reflection Shader takes care of the scaling and aspect ratio automatically.

[Cyber]

@mas

Strangely, the softness of your screenshots is missing on my side

If you’re using Higan or BSNES, the resolution setting in the core options can influence how your final image quality looks in terms of sharpness and softness. You can try switching between 256 x 224 or 512 x 224 and see what happens.

Also things like the billinear filtering setting and blur emulation can affect that as well. There are many settings which can affect softness.

Can you post your shader preset settings?

This applies to Guest-DrVenom and HSM Mega Bezel Reflection Shader but it might help:

@HyperspaceMadness

About softening the image, there are a couple options

• Adjust Downsample Blur
• Adjust Sharpness settings in the Guest-DrVenom settings
• Turn on and adjust GTU
• If you ever want a sharper picture you can increase the core sampling res parameters

[Duimon]

@Cyber

HSM Mega Bezel Reflection Shader takes care of the scaling and aspect ratio automatically.

It also handles Integer scaling. You can have it off, on just the Short axis, or Both axes.

The new pixie clone uses fake scanlines that have no curvature so integer scaling isn’t needed. It also has an Integer Scale scanlines option. (Though I think this is to make the scanlines fit the pixels like they should.)

[HyperspaceMadness]

@Duimon

It also has an Integer Scale scanlines option. (Though I think this is to make the scanlines fit the pixels like they should.)

That’s right, the integer scale scanlines divides up the scanlines so that they are a multiple of the pixels available.

[sonkun]

Another @guest.r shader update, another shader preset tweak. The new rolling scanlines feature is a welcome touch and I wasted no time making use of it. I kept it subtle though:

shaders = "10"
shader0 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/crtsim/composite.slang"
filter_linear0 = "true"
wrap_mode0 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input0 = "false"
alias0 = ""
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/misc/grade.slang"
filter_linear1 = "true"
wrap_mode1 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input1 = "false"
alias1 = "PrePass"
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/advanced/avg-lum.slang"
filter_linear2 = "true"
wrap_mode2 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input2 = "true"
alias2 = "AvgLumPass"
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/advanced/linearize.slang"
filter_linear3 = "true"
wrap_mode3 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input3 = "false"
alias3 = "LinearizePass"
float_framebuffer3 = "true"
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/advanced/gaussian_horizontal.slang"
filter_linear4 = "true"
wrap_mode4 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input4 = "false"
alias4 = ""
float_framebuffer4 = "true"
srgb_framebuffer4 = "false"
scale_type_x4 = "absolute"
scale_x4 = "800"
scale_type_y4 = "source"
scale_y4 = "1.000000"
shader5 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/advanced/gaussian_vertical.slang"
filter_linear5 = "true"
wrap_mode5 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input5 = "false"
alias5 = "GlowPass"
float_framebuffer5 = "true"
srgb_framebuffer5 = "false"
scale_type_x5 = "absolute"
scale_x5 = "800"
scale_type_y5 = "absolute"
scale_y5 = "600"
shader6 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/advanced/bloom_horizontal.slang"
filter_linear6 = "true"
wrap_mode6 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input6 = "false"
alias6 = ""
float_framebuffer6 = "true"
srgb_framebuffer6 = "false"
scale_type_x6 = "absolute"
scale_x6 = "800"
scale_type_y6 = "absolute"
scale_y6 = "600"
shader7 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/advanced/bloom_vertical.slang"
filter_linear7 = "true"
wrap_mode7 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input7 = "false"
alias7 = "BloomPass"
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/advanced/crt-guest-advanced.slang"
filter_linear8 = "true"
wrap_mode8 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input8 = "false"
alias8 = ""
float_framebuffer8 = "false"
srgb_framebuffer8 = "false"
scale_type_x8 = "viewport"
scale_x8 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y8 = "viewport"
scale_y8 = "1.000000"
shader9 = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/guest/advanced/deconvergence.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"
NTSCArtifactScale = "0.000000"
wp_temperature = "8004.000000"
interm = "5.000000"
bloom = "0.900000"
halation = "0.400000"
gsl = "-1.000000"
rolling_scan = "-0.100000"
h_sharp = "3.000002"
s_sharp = "0.200000"
BLOOM = "1.000000"
csize = "0.030000"
barspeed = "200.000000"
barintensity = "0.010000"
warpX = "0.040000"
warpY = "0.050000"
c_shape = "0.600000"
shadowMask = "8.000000"
maskstr = "1.000000"
slotmask = "0.500000"
slotmask1 = "0.850000"
slotwidth = "3.000000"
double_slot = "2.000000"
deconrr = "0.750000"
deconrb = "-0.750000"
deconrry = "1.500000"
deconrby = "-1.500000"
decons = "-2.000002"
addnoised = "-0.300000"
textures = "MaskTexture;NTSCArtifactSampler;shadowMaskSampler;SamplerLUT1;SamplerLUT2;SamplerLUT3;SamplerLUT4"
MaskTexture = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/mame_hlsl/resources/aperture-grille.png"
MaskTexture_wrap_mode = "clamp_to_border"
MaskTexture_mipmap = "false"
NTSCArtifactSampler = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/crtsim/artifacts.png"
NTSCArtifactSampler_linear = "true"
NTSCArtifactSampler_wrap_mode = "clamp_to_border"
NTSCArtifactSampler_mipmap = "false"
shadowMaskSampler = "shaders_slang/crt/shaders/crtsim/mask.png"
shadowMaskSampler_linear = "true"
shadowMaskSampler_wrap_mode = "clamp_to_border"
shadowMaskSampler_mipmap = "false"
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"

[LinerCRT]

Easy, this filter with the effect of the crystal distortion, and perfect.

[sonkun]

Thank you I’m glad you like it, @guest.r likes my preset as well and I always appreciate that. I think this preset is the best concoction I’ve came up with yet since I started posting in this thread months ago. That slot mask is so sexy and gives off the right gritty look I’m going for. I like my preset so much I might try and ask @hunterk if he can get it up upstreamed to the presets folder for all to easily grab, maybe call it something like “crt-guest-dr-venom-advanced-slotmask-grade” or something lol

[Syh]

Maybe add something about the rolling scanlines into the name?

[sonkun]

Let’s think of a name together lol. “crt-guest-dr-venom-adavanced-composite-grade-rollingscanlines-special”? Kinda long I know lol

[Syh]

Crt-guest-adv-ntsc-sonkun-special.

Screw having a super detailed description, just add your name

Ikik, I was the one that brought up adding it to the name, then I realized that idea was kinda ridiculous lol.

[sonkun]

Well there we go we have a candidate for a name lol

[crtJoe]

I saved your original preset (the one with a bit over-saturated colors) a while ago and named it “80’s TV game magazine”. It looks like the game photos from those magazines.

[DariusG]

I don’t know if it’s an nvidia thing, but on my laptop with GTX 1060 even if i don’t use integer scaling, scanlines look perfectly fine as you can see from the dosbox screenshots i uploaded. Same thing on my desktop with GTX 1070.

[Duimon]

@DariusG

even if i don’t use integer scaling, scanlines look perfectly fine

In my experience the Guest shader suffers less than any other shader. (Some magic happening there.)

[mas]

What can be done to make scanlines look better without integer scaling on a 1366x768 resolution? Screenshots don’t show how it looks in motion (bad).

[hunterk]

nothing, unfortunately. There simply aren’t enough pixels to make it look decent.