Please show off what crt shaders can do!

“what CRT shaders actually look like”

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The bad of the distortion effect and the actually shaders config like ghest venon hi res 4k for example is that when is applied, the curvature, all people know what appears… Literally im not remember the name of these that broke the mask when the curvature is applied.

My computer for retroarch mame is not very good, and latelly the filters that run good, in the two last actualization of retroarch now are slow, and i cant run some filters now, also 4k not too etc.

A greeting.

new pixie: very real

guest curvature simulation (quick config)

Mame hlsl shader with real distortion effect applied, and humbar and filter, bloom, etc (following the filter)

Your Preset from Mega Bezel called “Nesguy__Aperture__Low-TVL__Mask-7__Dbl-Phosphor-Width__N0” is very nice and I wanted to thank you for this great preset, which I am using as default for all games. Are there in your opinion other Presets available, which you would recommend even more than this (I’m just searching for perfection :slight_smile: ?

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Have you seen and tried these yet?

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Yes I tried them, but they give a slight “Aquarell painted” look, which I’m not a fan of to be honest. I can see cleary, that those presets are digitally manipulated. It does not look as natural as Nesguy’s preset to me. But thank you anyway, it’s just my personal taste, others may like it more.

I really tried all presets from the Bezel package and also all standard presets included in Retroarch, but the preset from Nesguy I mentioned is my favorite of all till now.

2 Likes

Here you can see what I mean. The first is the Preset from Nesguy and the second is the Arcade sharp (open the pictures in a new tab to see the differences clearly). The first looks more natural to me and is also brighter and more vivid. But there are people who like the “painted” look more.

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Did you notice the Arcade - Raw preset? That’s the preset I made for those who prefer a more raw, untouched look. It doesn’t use Scale FX.

Compare to a similar screenshot using the Arcade - Raw preset if you can please. Also, I don’t know why things are looking so dark in your screenshots. The brightness and gamma look pretty normal to me when I use my presets.

Are you using the most recent version (12-11-21) of my presets?

1 Like

It’s better, but the Nesguy preset (second) is brighter and overall hits my taste a bit more. But it looks definately more natural and good. Scale FX does the upscaling which I dont like (looks like a painting to me).

The pictures are darker because Retroarch darkens them while taking screenshots. But the brightness advantage for the Nesguy Preset stays the same.

Yes, I’m using the 12-11-21 pack.

1 Like

This is what they look like to me:

This is the standard, 4K optimized version. You have to click and download or load the full resolution version to see it properly.

This is the 1440p version. I realised that I hadn’t changed the mask to suit 1440p in this preset but I’ve done so before taking this screenshot. That change will be in my next update.

I wonder what’s causing your screenshots to be so dark. I’m used to screenshots being slightly darker when using imgur however, but not as dark as what you’re posting here.

2 Likes

Yes, while playing it looks bright like this. I guess because I use the print key on my keyboard instead of the direct screenshot function in Retroarch which causes the darkening.

But the Arcade Raw Preset is my favourite of your presets, the others are too blurry or too sharp due to Scale FX.

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That’s the thing, I tried to make a fairly comprehensive set of presets but if you skip (or don’t see) the one I made for your particular taste and instead use one that is meant for a different type of user then it is unfair to judge and make a representation based on that experience.

I will use this experience to try to make it a little clearer which presets are targeted to which type of users in the readme.txt file. I really didn’t make much mention of my Raw presets as they were not my primary focus. They’re just the product of my experimentation and I liked them enough to include them. I thought the naming was more or less self explanatory. “Pure” for “Purists” and “Raw” as in unprocessed.

Another thing, concerning your brightness comparisons. Did you adjust your TV or monitor in order to facilitate Nesguy’s or other presets, for example increased brightness or backlight settings?

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No, I tried the Raw preset before, you misunderstood me. I just wrote, that I like the Preset from Nesguy a bit more. I meant, that the Raw preset is the best of YOUR presets, not the best overall (for me).

And like I wrote you, the sharp and composite presets are just not my taste (either looks artificially upscaled or too blurry for my taste). If others like them, then it’s completely fine, everybody has a different taste, no problem with that. I’m just honest and dont want to make your presets look bad.

The brightness is just dim in the screeshots, in gameplay it is fine. Nesguys Preset is just a bit brighter, maybe because he uses a cooler Color temperature and a bit of Blooming / halation effects etc. and maybe a different Gamma. The difference between yours and his presets in terms of brightness is not big.

1 Like

I think I understood when you said this:

When I said this:

I was referring to this:

To me it was an unfair comparison especially when the Arcade - Raw preset was there in the preset pack. That would have been more like for like / apples to apples.

I have no problem with anyone liking what they like as this is all subjective but I felt as if your statement kind of broad brushed my whole preset package without taking into consideration the variety that I attempted to provide. That’s why I sought clarification on this.

I also accept some responsibility for not making things clearer. I’ll try to address this going forward.

This isn’t surprising to me because during my most recent overhaul of some of my presets I lowered the Halation values significantly in order to increase sharpness and that would have lowered the brightness a bit.

2 Likes

Slot-mask probably is as good as it gets at 1080p on Guest.r-Dr.Venom. Can’t think how it could be better with just 4x4 or 5x5 pixels.

5 Likes

Hey, glad you like the preset. Good thing @HyperspaceMadness saved it before I deleted it and forgot the settings!

Work’s been keeping me busy but I might upload some new presets soon. @guest.r keeps updating his excellent shader, it’s hard to keep up :slight_smile:

7 Likes

What other settings are you using in this shot? Looks a lot like a dot mask computer monitor, good stuff.

1 Like

Yeah that’s an awesome mask indeed. It’s the GLSL version of Guest.r-Dr.Venom. Created when i was testing Retroarch on Linux Mint on my laptop and using it as default from then.

shaders = "11"
shader0 = "shaders_glsl/crt/shaders/guest/lut/lut.glsl"
filter_linear0 = "false"
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_glsl/crt/shaders/guest/color-profiles.glsl"
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_glsl/crt/shaders/guest/d65-d50.glsl"
filter_linear2 = "false"
wrap_mode2 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input2 = "false"
alias2 = ""
float_framebuffer2 = "false"
srgb_framebuffer2 = "false"
scale_type_x2 = "source"
scale_x2 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y2 = "source"
scale_y2 = "1.000000"
shader3 = "shaders_glsl/crt/shaders/guest/afterglow.glsl"
filter_linear3 = "false"
wrap_mode3 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input3 = "false"
alias3 = ""
float_framebuffer3 = "false"
srgb_framebuffer3 = "false"
scale_type_x3 = "source"
scale_x3 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y3 = "source"
scale_y3 = "1.000000"
shader4 = "shaders_glsl/crt/shaders/guest/avg-lum0.glsl"
filter_linear4 = "false"
wrap_mode4 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input4 = "false"
alias4 = ""
float_framebuffer4 = "false"
srgb_framebuffer4 = "false"
scale_type_x4 = "source"
scale_x4 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y4 = "source"
scale_y4 = "1.000000"
shader5 = "shaders_glsl/crt/shaders/guest/avg-lum.glsl"
filter_linear5 = "false"
wrap_mode5 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input5 = "true"
alias5 = ""
float_framebuffer5 = "false"
srgb_framebuffer5 = "false"
scale_type_x5 = "source"
scale_x5 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y5 = "source"
scale_y5 = "1.000000"
shader6 = "shaders_glsl/crt/shaders/guest/linearize.glsl"
filter_linear6 = "false"
wrap_mode6 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input6 = "false"
alias6 = ""
float_framebuffer6 = "true"
srgb_framebuffer6 = "false"
scale_type_x6 = "source"
scale_x6 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y6 = "source"
scale_y6 = "1.000000"
shader7 = "shaders_glsl/crt/shaders/guest/blur_horiz.glsl"
filter_linear7 = "false"
wrap_mode7 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input7 = "false"
alias7 = ""
float_framebuffer7 = "true"
srgb_framebuffer7 = "false"
scale_type_x7 = "source"
scale_x7 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y7 = "source"
scale_y7 = "1.000000"
shader8 = "shaders_glsl/crt/shaders/guest/blur_vert.glsl"
filter_linear8 = "false"
wrap_mode8 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input8 = "false"
alias8 = ""
float_framebuffer8 = "true"
srgb_framebuffer8 = "false"
scale_type_x8 = "source"
scale_x8 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y8 = "source"
scale_y8 = "1.000000"
shader9 = "shaders_glsl/crt/shaders/guest/linearize_scanlines.glsl"
filter_linear9 = "true"
wrap_mode9 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input9 = "false"
alias9 = ""
float_framebuffer9 = "true"
srgb_framebuffer9 = "false"
scale_type_x9 = "source"
scale_x9 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y9 = "source"
scale_y9 = "1.000000"
shader10 = "shaders_glsl/crt/shaders/guest/crt-guest-dr-venom.glsl"
filter_linear10 = "true"
wrap_mode10 = "clamp_to_border"
mipmap_input10 = "false"
alias10 = ""
float_framebuffer10 = "false"
srgb_framebuffer10 = "false"
scale_type_x10 = "viewport"
scale_x10 = "1.000000"
scale_type_y10 = "viewport"
scale_y10 = "1.000000"
TNTC = "1.000000"
CP = "1.000000"
WP = "20.000000"
wp_saturation = "1.100000"
SW = "0.000000"
GAMMA_INPUT = "2.200000"
scanline1 = "8.000000"
scanline2 = "12.000000"
beam_min = "1.450000"
beam_max = "0.800000"
csize = "0.030000"
bsize = "400.000000"
warpX = "0.030000"
warpY = "0.040000"
shadowMask = "-1.000000"
slotmask = "0.500000"
gamma_out = "2.200000"
bloom = "0.100000"
textures = "SamplerLUT1;SamplerLUT2;SamplerLUT3"
SamplerLUT1 = "shaders_glsl/crt/shaders/guest/lut/sony_trinitron1.png"
SamplerLUT1_linear = "true"
SamplerLUT1_wrap_mode = "clamp_to_border"
SamplerLUT1_mipmap = "false"
SamplerLUT2 = "shaders_glsl/crt/shaders/guest/lut/sony_trinitron2.png"
SamplerLUT2_linear = "true"
SamplerLUT2_wrap_mode = "clamp_to_border"
SamplerLUT2_mipmap = "false"
SamplerLUT3 = "shaders_glsl/crt/shaders/guest/lut/other1.png"
SamplerLUT3_linear = "true"
SamplerLUT3_wrap_mode = "clamp_to_border"
SamplerLUT3_mipmap = "false"
5 Likes

Wow, the “HSM_POST_CRT_BRIGHTNESS” setting in @HyperspaceMadness’s Mega Bezel shader is really nice. This makes it very easy to compensate for even full strength masks! It’s a bit of a game changer.

(note: these screenshots will appear abysmally dark unless viewed at full size). Here are some settings to get started.

Mask strength 100%!

#reference "shaders_slang/bezel/Mega_Bezel/Presets/Experimental/Nesguy/Nesguy__Aperture__Low-TVL__Mask-7__Dbl-Phosphor-Width__N0.slangp"
HSM_INT_SCALE_MODE = "1.000000"
HSM_INT_SCALE_BORDER_MIN_HEIGHT = "0.000000"
HSM_NON_INTEGER_SCALE = "88.169922"
HSM_CURVATURE_MODE = "-1.000000"
HSM_GAMMA_IN_LINEARIZE = "2.399999"
HSM_GAMMA_OUT_CRT = "2.000001"
HSM_POST_CRT_BRIGHTNESS = "350.000000"
g_crtgamut = "0.000000"
g_vignette = "0.000000"
WP = "-100.000000"
glow = "0.010000"
brightboost = "1.000000"
brightboost1 = "1.000000"
gsl = "1.000000"
beam_max = "1.500000"
h_sharp = "3.999999"
shadowMask = "0.000000"
maskstr = "1.000000"
mcut = "1.000000"
masksize = "1.000000"
mclip = "0.000000"
decons = "1.000000"
4 Likes

It seems to work just like turning up the brightness on your CRT TV!

Do you mind cross posting this entire post to my thread? That way, it might benefit users who pass through and like what they see.

5 Likes

Glad it’s working for you, it really is a very simple multiplication of the RGB at the very end of the crt shader :face_with_monocle:

3 Likes