So many shaders, so little explanation to what each does

There are so many shaders but I’m only able to find a fraction amount of information as to what each does.

All I can find are in the two links below.

(2015) Filthy Pants: A Computer Blog: More CRT Shaders

CRT shaders - Emulation General Wiki (gametechwiki.com)

Anyone has a link to more information in regards to different types of shaders?

Thank you

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That’s because many of them are in development, so information gets old very fast. Therefore there’s no incentive to explain things that often get obsolete.

The number one rule about shaders is that you need to experience them. I mean, the quality perceived will depends on your hardware (device and display, including your output resolution) and more subtle to your subjective memory about how some retro game should be presented on a screen.

Another aspect to be aware of is that some shaders express their best quality on certain resolutions than others. And not just output resolutions (from your monitor), but source/native resolutions too (from cores).

Other than that, the Retroarch shader specs allow the user to tweak the presets easily through “shader parameter” options screen and even save them as a new preset. This implies that even the shader developers can’t precise exactly what kind of visuals their shaders can achieve!

So, for that rule above, I suggest you to try them. Just open Retroarch and begin testing all presets available until you know what each of them looks like.

Now, about your request, I suggest these two links:

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Unfortunately, a lot of them differ on highly technical aspects but otherwise do similar things. E.g., it’s pretty hard to explain the difference between, say, lanczos and bicubic without getting into the nitty gritty of the actual algorithms at work, so a bunch of them would end up with vague descriptions like “makes things look smoother/sharper”.

The libretro docs site includes some more detailed descriptions and some preview shots, but it’s hard work to make these pics+descriptions and I only did a few of each (this link goes to the CRT directory, but you can browse the others via the sidebar): https://docs.libretro.com/shader/crt/

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You can also look into this:

CyberLab Mega Bezel Death To Pixels Shader Preset Pack

Sony Megatron Color Video Monitor

The Guest-Advanced NTSC thread

The Guest-Advance, 100% mask strength thread

Example videos:

This is what CyberLab Turbo Duo for Blargg + Blargg_NTSC_Turbo_Duo_SNES_PSX_S-Video_CyberLab_Special_Edition looks like today!

CyberLab Turbo Duo for Blargg + Blargg_NTSC_Turbo_Duo_SNES_PSX_S-Video_CyberLab_Special_Edition

This is what CyberLab SNES looks like today!

CyberLab SNES

This is what CyberLab Genesis for Blargg + Blargg_NTSC_Genesis_S-Video_CyberLab_Special_Edition looks like today!

CyberLab Genesis for Blargg + Blargg_NTSC_Genesis_S-Video_CyberLab_Special_Edition

This is what CyberLab NES for Blargg + Core Blargg NTSC S-Video looks like today!

CyberLab NES for Blargg + Core Blargg NTSC S-Video

CyberLab NES for Blargg + Core Blargg NTSC S-Video

CyberLab NES for Blargg + Core Blargg NTSC S-Video

You can use MPC-HC, MX Player or VLC Player to view the videos.

Here’s a look at my latest preset!

CyberLab Ultimate Virtual Slot Mask CRT-1P2RTA

New Preset and System Recommendations

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@Hyllian @hunterk @Cyber Thank you for taking the time to respond. You guys provided me the answer I was looking for. :space_invader:

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