Running cores/games at reduced scale

RetroArch General
#1

Kinda Off topic, but I cannot create a new topic and google searches usually lead me down to threads like this one or questions about problems with black borders, I actually WANT black borders.

So my question is:

I do not like how blown up low resolution retro games look in fullscreen on my 1440p computer screen. Is there a way to go full screen but simply have the picture be a small image in the middle of the screen that is maybe only blown up 2x or perhaps 3x with black around the edges?

Alternatively, if there is not way to do this, is there a way on Windows 10 to have only the focused window visible, the background being black and there being a ‘panic button’ (i.e. windows key) to select other apps?

I understand there are other solutions (buy a CRT, render at a high resolution etc.), but for now I would just like to do this simple thing.

Thanks, U

Windowed fullscreen?
#2

Yes. While running fullscreen, set integer scaling to ON and set the aspect ratio to “custom” and you can set the size to whatever you want.

#3

You can also try to use shaders either crt or not, for crt I suggest to start with guest advanced (shaders_slang/crt/crt-guest-advanced.slangp) or Megabezel.

For non crt maybe:

shaders_slang/xbrz/2xbrz-linear.slangp

shaders_slang/xsoft/4xsoft.slangp

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#4

It worked! Thank you!

And yeah, I am experimentiing with CRT shaders, the game I am playing is Xenogears and the CRT shaders really smooth out the 2D sprites on 3D enviroments.

That said I also prefer the colour grading without the CRT shader, so the tradeoffs are something I am carefully considering. The help is appreciated.

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