Weird ratio/resolution problems in Mupen64

RetroArch Windows devices
#1

I’m having a hard time getting games to be displayed in the proper 4:3 ratio in Mupen64. The default resolution under core options is 640x480, but this leaves black bars at the top and bottom of the screen.

I’m also having problems getting scanlines / shaders to work. If I set the resolution in core options to 320:240 (I think that’s what it was) then the scanlines become visible but then part of the screen gets cut off. If I set the resolution to something other than 640x480, the image shrinks and moves to the lower left corner.

All of this is really weird and I don’t understand it. Every other emulator runs fine in 4:3 with no issues and no horrid letterboxing. Is there a specific plugin I need to use or something?

#2

Any time you change the internal resolution, you need to reload the game (I usually quit out of retroarch entirely, but I don’t know if that’s necessary). The internal resolution controls what size framebuffer gets handed to the shader, so the larger it is, the less likely things like scanlines are going to look as expected.

For mupen, I run everything in 320x240 with integer scaling, core-provided aspect ratio and a crt shader.

#3

[QUOTE=hunterk;18771]Any time you change the internal resolution, you need to reload the game (I usually quit out of retroarch entirely, but I don’t know if that’s necessary). The internal resolution controls what size framebuffer gets handed to the shader, so the larger it is, the less likely things like scanlines are going to look as expected.

For mupen, I run everything in 320x240 with integer scaling, core-provided aspect ratio and a crt shader.[/QUOTE]

Following your advice, I was able to get scanlines working - awesome!

But, I’m still getting those annoying black bars at the top and bottom. I’m using a 1080p 16:9 monitor (1920x1080). I don’t understand why it’s doing this because 1440x1080 is an exact multiple of 640x480 (it’s exactly 2.25 times bigger). With fullscreen enabled, 640x480 should completely fill the 1440x1080 area, leaving no black bars at top or bottom and only having black bars on the sides.

Or is this just how N64 games are supposed to look? It’s been so long since I played a real N64 on an actual TV that I don’t remember if the games used letterboxing or not.

#4

[QUOTE=Nesguy;18786]Following your advice, I was able to get scanlines working - awesome!

But, I’m still getting those annoying black bars at the top and bottom. I’m using a 1080p 16:9 monitor (1920x1080). I don’t understand why it’s doing this because 1440x1080 is an exact multiple of 640x480 (it’s exactly 2.25 times bigger). With fullscreen enabled, 640x480 should completely fill the 1440x1080 area, leaving no black bars at top or bottom and only having black bars on the sides.

Or is this just how N64 games are supposed to look? It’s been so long since I played a real N64 on an actual TV that I don’t remember if the games used letterboxing or not.[/QUOTE]

2.25 is not an exact multiple. The integer scaling is restricting it to 2x.

#5

Some games will have letterboxing even if you turn off integer scaling. Example: Mario 64 has it, while Mario Kart 64 doesn’t. It’s supposed to be how it looked on the real system, though CRT’s probably cropped some of it off.

#6

Yeah many games have black bars on the original system. I was using image-adjustment.cg shader overscan setting to cut those bars and then you have to find a good screen ratio.

#7

Good to know, thanks! I guess the games are being displayed correctly, then - the game I was testing was Mario 64, which had some slight letterboxing even with crop overscan enabled.