Nothing new here, just a few tweaks to the STD Mega Bezel Shader:
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When I say “resolution” I meant the scanline count is inaccurate. I’m not sure how the math works out for a slot mask to match up to scanlines but maybe it’s something @guest.r would know more about. Thus far my experience is you either have accurate scanlines and a messed up slot mask, or an accurate slot mask with messed up scanlines.
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My thought is to get it to match up you’d need to be using integer scale, then make sure the integer multiple matches how many pixels tall the mask pattern is. So that’s a lot of constraints, so a bit difficult to manage.
In the Mega Bezel you could use the fake scanlines and adjust the count to get the just right size to match the mask, but that still feels like it would not be that robust, and of course you end up with a mismatch with the original content res, which may or may not look bad.
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Integer scale wasn’t working out for me when using the slot mask. I’ll give it another try and post screenshots in the Guest Venom thread.
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It’s been years since I played any Capcom arcade titles on an arcade monitor but are you saying dithering wasn’t displayed properly back in the 90’s at the arcades and that it was only displayed properly on home ports? That doesn’t make sense to me. I’ll also give that mask a look, if I remember correctly it’s the same as mask 10 but for 4k displays
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Yes RGB connection doesn’t blend pixels like that.
Watch the video (4:25 & 4:44) Street Fighter Alpha 2 - Arcade Cabinet Game Review - Capcom 1996 - YouTube
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Actually arcade monitors had RGB connection, for proper “emulation” I use guest’s vanilla. But I think there should be a sort of middle way, as obviously there’s a difference between LCD, LED and CRT. For example, I think maybe also the incandescence of the phosphors produced some kind of dithering, but I may be wrong.
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From the looks of that video, in comparison to guest’s ntsc shader that looks just mask 0 or 7 using blend mode 2, that’s the first thing that I thought of. I like to use the Slot Mask so the pattern would probably be a little different looking if I switched it to blend mode 2 with the ntsc resolution scaling raised up anywhere past 20, or you can get that look with the vanilla shader like @Fab said.
Now I feel tempted to make a new shader update but this time make separate presets for just arcade
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This might make sense. It will give you the freedom to differentiate between the different types of screens, input types and console outputs that were used with different content instead of trying to fit everything into one format.
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Yeah that’s sounding like a plan. Maybe I’ll whip up something real fast as a proof of concept type of thing and post it up to see what you guys think. Instead of slot mask this time I want to use lottes mask 1 or 3 not sure yet. Something nice and sharp but most important, it gotta look sexy lol
What’s wrong with slot mask, especially for Arcade Games? Which actual screens used Lottes?
With that said, variety is the spice of life they say!
Good luck in your shader preset endeavors!
I figured if I kept the same slot mask look it’s pretty much gonna look exactly the way it already it is except I’ll be changing how the dithering blends, thought I’d present something different just for the arcades. Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t arcade monitors also use lottes masks as well?
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I understand, but I don’t think Lottes is actually a “real” CRT Mask pattern. It was actually invented for the purpose of CRT emulation. So a more authentic Arcade Monitor Preset would definitely be using Slot Mask.
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Lottes’ mask 3 should be an arcade monitor (1 consumer slot CRT, 2 aperture grille, 4 PC monitor), but in my opinion is not as as good as guest’s slots.
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Yeah I agree with both you and @Fab, I tried messing around with it last night, compared to that slot mask nothing seems to compare that’s how much I love that mask. The most I’ll probably tell someone if they want that arcade monitor dithering is switch over to blend mode 2 and call it a day lol.
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Looks nostalgic!
I think you need a minimum of 6x scale (1440p) to avoid the weird artifacts you’re talking about when using this mask.
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Fun fact, the dithering on arcade games is not blended. All arcade monitors were RGB, without exception.
Not all dithering is meant to be blended.
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No, it’s a “fake” mask that never existed IRL and was created purely for emulation because it works well on LCD monitors. Basically what Cyber said.
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I don’t know how I didn’t correct myself to that fact earlier, and that’s exactly what Blend Mode 2 in guest’s NTSC shader gives you when you also raise the NTSC resolution up as well.
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