Please show off what crt shaders can do!

[Nesguy]

@HyperspaceMadness

Since phosphor gamut and the color temperature are IMO a couple of the core feature of grade this seems like a catch 22 situation, because to use the base features you have to fulfill these other requirements which will not be met by 99% of users.

Even without the phosphor gamuts, the contrast pivot and gamma correction are still good reasons to use grade.

But yeah, everything else is advanced user stuff that probably only applies to 1% of all users.

[sonkun]

In no way is this post intended to replace my presets from this post, but I thought I’d share what these presets were originally intended to look like but ended up being changed to what they are now cause it doesn’t look good without integer scaling and I don’t like using integer scaling. If integer scaling isn’t enabled you’ll get this moire pattern so I went into the parameters and changed it from 0 to 3 and the image went from this (it’s more noticable in game but you can see a moire-like pattern in the blue sky):

to a cleaner image like this:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/1a03swpzigntlhd/crt-guest-advanced-ntsc-slotmask_alternate_presets_3-25-2022.zip/file

If you don’t mind the image being cropped on the top and bottom a bit you’ll likely enjoy these presets, they even have scanlines now. For an even grittier old school look and feel on the 8/16 bit preset go into the parameters and change the Add Noise to -50 or -60 and the Bloom Distribution to 40 or 50.

I’ve also been using the glsl “crt-consumer” shader, it’s a good light weight shader for cores that only work good on the gl driver (yaba sanshiro):

shaders = "1"
shader0 = "shaders_glsl/crt/shaders/testing.glsl"
filter_linear0 = "true"
wrap_mode0 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input0 = "false"
alias0 = ""
float_framebuffer0 = "false"
srgb_framebuffer0 = "false"
blurx = "0.450000"
blury = "0.150000"
warpx = "0.030000"
warpy = "0.040000"
corner = "0.020000"
smoothness = "100.000000"
scanlow = "4.000000"
scanhigh = "5.000000"
slotmask = "0.500000"
slotwidth = "3.000000"
double_slot = "2.000000"
GAMMA_IN = "2.200000"
sat = "1.000000"
contrast = "1.100000"
WP = "-100.000000"

[DariusG]

Guest.r-Dr.Venom-mini on my old Xiaomi redmi note 3 pro (Snapdragon 650). I can’t run much, eg can’t run crt-consumer full speed let alone some heavy ones like Geom, but can run this and it looks good.

[Cyber]

@DariusG

but can run this and it looks good.

Most definitely looks good! Have you tried running these in conjunction with CPU based Video Filters like Blargg NTSC?

Also, what games are featured in those screenshots?

[DariusG]

I have one preset in that phone with ntsc shader and Guest.r-mini on top of that. The games are Bruce Lee Master system, I think that is a homebrew and Chaos Engine (or else Soldiers of fortune in USA) for SNES.

[lfan]

DOSBOX

Shader

zfast_crt + ewa_curvature

Shader Passes: 2

Shader #0: zfast_crt_finemask.slang
Shader #0 Filter: Linear
Shader #0 Scale: 5x
Shader #1: ewa_curvature.slang
Shader #1 Filter: Linear
Shader #1 Scale: Default

Shader Parameters

Blur Amount X-Axis: 0.00    
Scanline Darkness - Low: 9.00
Dark Pixel Brightness Boost: 1.40    
Mask Effect Amount: 0.20
Mask/Scanline Fade: 0.30
EWA Curvature X-Axis: 0.01
EWA Curvature Y-Axis: 0.02    
Mask Style: -1.00 

Shader Presets

shaders = 2

shader0 = shaders_slang/crt/shaders/zfast_crt/zfast_crt_finemask.slang
filter_linear0 = "true"
scale_type_x0 = "source"
scale_x0 = "5.000000"
scale_type_y0 = "source"
scale_y0 = "5.000000"

shader1 = shaders_slang/anti-aliasing/shaders/ewa_curvature.slang
filter_linear1 = "true"

BLURSCALEX = "0.000000"
LOWLUMSCAN = "9.000000"
BRIGHTBOOST = "1.400000"
MASK_DARK = "0.200000"
MASK_FADE = "0.300000"
warpX = "0.011000"
warpY = "0.021000"
shadowMask = "-1.000000"

[Nesguy]

I love how in the middle of all this you just post this dry as hell scanlines only preset. NO mask, no controversy, lol. Looks good to me.

[Nesguy]

Reposting this here because I think the closeup is surprisingly good for how terrible this looks IRL on my crappy work monitor.

247-D1-A3-A-B179-47-FF-95-B1-1-DF5-BBAA6-E7-B

[crtJoe]

It looks like the real thing to me (except some visible LCD grid in the dark areas) But I’ll trust your words that it might not look good in normal viewing distance. Given how the forum shows the images, I believe semi-closeups (probably something like 2x zoom, not 5-10x zoom) gives you the best idea about how a preset might look like in real life. Will still be noticeably different obviously depending on the quality of the image and everyone’s monitor setup but I think semi-closeups will help reduce the discrepancies between expectations and reality for the forum users.

[Nesguy]

It’s very easy to get even 100% mask strength to look fantastic with the latest guest-dr-venom, using mask 0. Just a few small tweaks. Cranked up scanline saturation, some post crt brightness, adjusted the glow, crank up the scanlines a bit, and some color stuff.

(the usual disclaimer about viewing things at original size definitely applies)

[Syh]

Not going to lie, I always just max out scanline saturation (I actually can’t even with the low settings for it anymore).

[Nesguy]

yeah the expanded range really helps when you’re using obscene post crt brightness levels.

[DariusG]

I checked on my screen and indeed looks pretty impressive, with mask at full strength. Awesome job again @guest.r

[MajorPainTheCactus]

I actually think the best is to have your big eye capturing screenshot and then to have a very detailed close up shot so you can actually see what’s going on and what you might actually see with the naked eye when using the preset. Also to use standard camera settings (ISO 200, 6500K, 1/60 aperture speed) as it’s difficult to know what is the camera clipping highlights and what is a preset with bloom say.

Personally I’d like to always see a comparison shot with an actual CRT but then again a lot of shaders are artistic impressions (I suppose aren’t they all to varying degrees) which a lot of people prefer so I wouldn’t go hard-line on that.

I think the photos you posted above are the closest to what I’d like to see people shift to but are still a little too far out IMO as they hide details that you see when actually viewing the shaders.

I also think we should take a leaf out of retrogamingboards 240p forum where people embrace the beauty of the phosphors (or pixels in our case):

Here’s a good example from @oscartilheiro:

SCANLINE SCREENSHOT THREAD. BECAUSE 240p IS ALL THE P'S I NEED. (56k warning)

[Syh]

I’ll try and do some eyeballing distance tests on my CRT tomorrow (aka when I wake up)

Ik when I used it the other night, I was still able to distinguish scanlines pretty easily at 4+ feet away from my CRT. (Which was kinda surprising no cap, mask went bye bye tho at that distance, which not a surprise)

I’d take pictures, but my cameras are too potatoe atm, or I would.

[MajorPainTheCactus]

Although you may not directly be able to distinguish the mask I’m pretty sure you’d be able to tell the difference between a screen with no mask and one with a mask from the other side of a large room - a good few meters away. Your visual system is pretty good at seeing detail from a distance even if it’s ‘averaged’ a bit and you find you can’t quite put your finger on whats different.

[Syh]

Ohh for sure, you can definitely “notice” the mask, but you can’t make any details out.