Shader Preset Wildcards

thats easy to do you just change one line in the default preset

TubeColoredGelImage = “…/…/…/Graphics/GCE_Vectrex/Vectrex_Overlays/MEGA.png”

to

TubeColoredGelImage = “…/…/…/Graphics/GCE_Vectrex/Vectrex_Overlays/$GAME$.png”

than you make a copy of the MEGA.png and rename it to $GAME$.png

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Hm… just realized my roms probably aren’t named the same as the overlays. I think I have that problem on a lot of systems. There’s not that many Vectrex roms though, I can rename them.

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yeah the naming …has to be right

will be a problem with my automatic config preset aswell

to show the channel names and badges right the rom folder names have to be like

Nintendo - Nintendo Entertainment System

otherwise it will load a default image , still works just the channel name isn´t shown ^^

also for cropping and extra features as the sinden boarder the game/rom name should be the same as the params …but you could change it too your needs

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As much as I can guess, I would imagine that the names from the no-intro roms would be the most standard

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yeah thought so, with this i also work with already

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i think i post it here aswell cuz i dont know if this should be included in my base pack or will be a thing on its own

for now i just need suggestions and feed back on this

Yeah that’s weird. :hushed: I swear I changed my Vectrex presets to be only one preset using wildcards, but I just looked and they are the old presets.

That will change VERY quickly. :grin:

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It is done. :grin:

With my recent experience it was even easier this time. I only had to edit one file and rename two presets in each class.

Then I deleted everything that was no longer needed.

I use No-Intro names for most of my Vectrex screen overlay images, but I have a few homebrew roms they don’t use. For consistency I have a couple of names that use “Homebrew” instead of “Hack”.

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Isn’t there a no-intro renaming tool? It’s something I haven’t thought about for a while so I could be wrong about that, but does anyone know?

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yes some rom manger and renaming tools are floating around , but if i could remind wich one i used i would say it ^^

that was quite a while ago and a huge effort , i can only remind that i tested many and only one wasn´t overly complicated … :thinking:

i search around maybe i can remind me wich one it was

it also sortet everything…

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clrmamepro and/or romcenter i used

not sure wich exactly cuz just reminded that one of these didn´t sort them the way i wanted , and just used the renaming feature of one .^^

There are tools available on the Hyperspin website.

They are called “Don’s Hyperspin Tools”.

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there are also some plugins to sort , convert your collection for lauchbox i just don´t know if one of them also can rename them

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Hi folks, I’m just playing about with the wildcard feature and so far i really like it. I do have a slight issue though with how the blending modes effect the transparent glass section on MrRetrolust overlays and I wanted to know if anyone could help.

I want the overlay to act like it would if i was using the overlay option within Retroarch ie: no blend just on top.

I’m using the Orion’s Angel arcade wildcard example from HSM’s example package, here is how my base.params file looks:

ScreenPlacementImage = $GAME$.png
BackgroundImage = $GAME$.png
BackgroundVertImage = $GAME$.png

// Scale and Position image inside the transparent area
HSM_USE_IMAGE_FOR_PLACEMENT = "1.000000"
HSM_PLACEMENT_IMAGE_USE_HORIZONTAL = "1.000000"
HSM_NON_INTEGER_SCALE_OFFSET = "89.5"

HSM_BZL_WIDTH = "240.000000"
HSM_BZL_HEIGHT = "240.000000"

// Put the CRT and Bezel Under the Background
HSM_CRT_LAYER_ORDER = 0

// Put Background above CRT
HSM_BG_LAYER_ORDER = 1

// Matte with white
HSM_BG_SOURCE_MATTE_TYPE = 2
HSM_BG_BLEND_MODE = 1


HSM_SCREEN_POSITION_X = 0
HSM_SCREEN_POSITION_Y = 0

HSM_FRM_OPACITY = "0.000000"

The ‘Matte with white’ section is where i managed to get the overlays to look right however when the screen gets bright any scratches and drop shadows don’t just fade they disappear completely :frowning:

I suppose although not played for this effect is quite similar to real life, but i’d like to have the option to change that if possible.

Bit more info: I’m using single png overlays for this which have all been modified in the past by me, and i’m using per game params files. I have no idea what numbers correspond with what blend modes within MegaBezel.

If all else fails i can just use the normal overlay system within Retroarch so no problem i just thought i’d ask :+1:

The blend mode can be left at the default (Normal), you only need to change it if you want to use Add or Multiply.

The trick for Matte, suggested by @HyperspaceMadness, is to create a layer below the overlay (In Photoshop) that is filled with black. By reducing the bottom layer to 1% opacity you can guarantee that the alpha matte is black. This will correspond with the default matte type.

The end result is that you can remove these two lines.

HSM_BG_SOURCE_MATTE_TYPE = 2
HSM_BG_BLEND_MODE = 1

This should give you results that are the same as if you used an overlay.

The only way to get more control over the screen portion is to use a separate layer as the Screen Reflection Image. This will let you use all the parameters available for the reflection image. (Opacity, blend mode, etc.) The default blend mode for the screen reflection is additive, which may help with the white disappearing.

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Thanks for the quick reply fella, I have the Retrolust overlays in layers so i could add a second screen portion layer like you say.

Am i better using one reflection image for all and resize to suit each overlay or is it possible to use the correct sized reflection image for each game?

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I’ll have to take a look at the overlays before giving you concrete advice.

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Ok thanks for getting back to me, I tried the double layer. Not bad but the reflection layer was slightly off and would need manual adjustment.

So because of this i’ve had the shader handle the screen and Retroarch handle the overlays :+1:

The reflection image is the arcade reflection from Mr retrolust’ overlays?

If so I would suggest trying the 1% black trick, then set the matte mode to black and set the blend mode to normal?

Below are the settings for a black matte and normal blend mode

HSM_BG_SOURCE_MATTE_TYPE = 0
HSM_BG_BLEND_MODE = 1

And this should only need one image if you already have them set up.

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Cheers for the reply buddy but i’m part way through now. (i’m gonna still try what you say to see the result though) :+1: