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[C.Olimar788]

I have no interest in retro filters whatsoever. I bought an HDTV so that my games would look crisp and sharp, not so that hey could have anti-aliasing up the ass and silly filters put over them.

I can see the appeal of scanlines I guess, but keep that intentional blur nonsense out of here.

 

[Coda]

I have no interest in retro filters whatsoever. I bought an HDTV so that my games would look crisp and sharp, not so that hey could have anti-aliasing up the ass and silly filters put over them.

I can see the appeal of scanlines I guess, but keep that intentional blur nonsense out of here.

It all weighs down on your interest level for playing older games. Most true gamers who game both retro and new games will tell you that you need a CRT for classic and a newer HDTV or LCD for HD. It's really that simple. I suggest a smaller CRT if you like classic gaming here and there because the small ones are so much easier to move than the massive ones and the smaller screen allows for a cleaner picture.

 

[Zombie James]

La-Mulana using sweetfx CRT shader

Ah, I'd forgotten SweetFX had a CRT shader. Are the curvature and scanlines configurable?

I have no interest in retro filters whatsoever. I bought an HDTV so that my games would look crisp and sharp, not so that hey could have anti-aliasing up the ass and silly filters put over them.

I can see the appeal of scanlines I guess, but keep that intentional blur nonsense out of here.

Well, as you can probably see from some of the examples here (especially FFVI), retro games were designed around the limitations of display technologies of their time.

 

[Muffdraul]

I have no interest in retro filters whatsoever. I bought an HDTV so that my games would look crisp and sharp, not so that hey could have anti-aliasing up the ass and silly filters put over them.

I can see the appeal of scanlines I guess, but keep that intentional blur nonsense out of here.

You honestly think the top version looks better?

 

[To Far Away Times]

Scanlines are a must for me with any sprite based game that gets scaled beyond its native resolution.

I like CRT filters as well as long as the curvature isn't overdone. The goal here is to get the visuals as close to how they were originally designed to be viewed.

 

[EasyMode]

Ah, I'd forgotten SweetFX had a CRT shader. Are the curvature and scanlines configurable?

Yes they are, and you can get rid of the curvature and bloom if you like.

 

[darkpaladinmfc]

You honestly think the top version looks better?

Still waiting for someone to spill the beans on what filters were used exactly to make this, I can't find anything to get the palette to look like that.

 

[Orayn]

Still waiting for someone to spill the beans on what filters were used exactly to make this, I can't find anything to get the palette to look like that.

Finally got around to looking this up.

That was my screenshot. It was set up using BSNES's included CRT filter set to the SRGB setting. I don't think the new version of the emulator has the same filter though, or at the very least, I can't find it.

 

[C.Olimar788]

You honestly think the top version looks better?

Absolutely. The bottom one looks muddy and awful, whereas the top looks clear and nice.

Well, as you can probably see from some of the examples here (especially FFVI), retro games were designed around the limitations of display technologies of their time.

Even if they were made to look as nice as possible on crappy displays, it doesn't change the fact that emulating how they look on a crappy display still looks... well, crappy.

Then again, opinions, opinions. It just seems odd to me that people would want distorted color palettes and a murky, smeared look on their games. Even if it is how they looked back in the day.

 

[darkpaladinmfc]

Finally got around to looking this up.

Thanks!

 

[Orayn]

Absolutely. The bottom one looks muddy and awful, whereas the top looks clear and nice.

Let's keep ignoring the fact that the top screenshot is stretched vertically and the bottom one seems to intentionally take advantage of CRT behavior with the highlights on the bricks.

Also, distorted color palette? Really? The color choices in a lot of older games were completely driven by how they would show up on a TV. The internal, perfect colors are often different from what the developer intended the player to see.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

The color choices in a lot of older games were completely driven by how they would show up on a TV. The internal, perfect colors are often different from what the developer intended the player to see.

These statements always read like projection to me. The quality of consumer displays has always varied so much that a graphic designer can't come up with a universal use case.

 

[Orayn]

These statements always read like projection to me. The quality of consumer displays has always varied so much that a graphic designer can't come up with a universal use case.

Maybe a little, but you've got to assume that there was at least some attention paid to how the SNES' color palette would be reproduced on an actual TV.

 

[Muffdraul]

Absolutely. The bottom one looks muddy and awful, whereas the top looks clear and nice.

I prefer it to look the way I remember it looking when I played it in 1994. I take it that simply is not part of the equation for you. When I originally played it, there was certainly no notion of "Man, I hope someday we get video monitors that are less blurry so that I can see all four sharp 90 degree corners of every pixel."

 

[GayForMaster]

I really like the look of a good RGB cable on a retro console, but I'm not a fan of scanlines.

 

[Vipershark]

Let's keep ignoring the fact that the top screenshot is stretched vertically and the bottom one seems to intentionally take advantage of CRT behavior with the highlights on the bricks.

Everyone keeps going OKAY BUT THE BRICKS when the bricks are still just as muddy, washed out, and blurred as the rest of the image.

I can see the effect you're speaking of, but it's still a blurry mess, so uh...

Not to mention that the rest of the image (particularly the character) is awful by comparison.

 

[Seasoned Badger]

Oh, it's like that?

Retroarch: rgb, nearest, crt-geom-flat (bright adjusted).

fuck it, close enough.

 

[Muffdraul]

Everyone keeps going OKAY BUT THE BRICKS when the bricks are still just as muddy, washed out, and blurred as the rest of the image.

I can see the effect you're speaking of, but it's still a blurry mess, so uh...

Not to mention that the rest of the image (particularly the character) is awful by comparison.

*shrug* The "blurry mess" looks much better to me than the seemingly random jumble of differently colored perfect squares.

 

[spoonman]

How about "Future" Post Processing? I think the voxel graphic filter is very cool...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCeFpLMn3sc

 

[Roto13]

Absolutely. The bottom one looks muddy and awful, whereas the top looks clear and nice.


Even if they were made to look as nice as possible on crappy displays, it doesn't change the fact that emulating how they look on a crappy display still looks... well, crappy.

It does change that, actually. It changes that completely.

 

[IrishNinja]

Oh, it's like that?

It ain't the size that matters, son...

640x480 is all I need.

is that...is that alex kidd? i just can't tell cause of the screen size, sorry bruh =/

These statements always read like projection to me. The quality of consumer displays has always varied so much that a graphic designer can't come up with a universal use case.

yeah, ive thought this too. i do tend to lean towards the theory that since NES box art, ad art etc seemed to reflect RGB colors that some devs might've intended those shades, though (kid icarus' hair etc). but no, playing my bubble screen awful color set in the day i never look back like "THIS IS WHAT GOD INTENDED", jokes aside yours is far better than i had & i'd totally pick up another trinotron for TATE/lightgun stuff down the road

How about "Future" Post Processing? I think the voxel graphic filter is very cool...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCeFpLMn3sc

what the fuck is going on

 

[Alo81]

La-Mulana using sweetfx CRT shader

I'm fairly certain those shots are stretched to 16:9. The normal game is 4:3.

 

[Miguel81]

Emulators at 640 x 480 with nearest neighbor scaling are something that I could only dream of in the 90s.

 

[HDgaming42]

The lust after curvature I just don't understand. I grew up in NTSC land with a father who bought bargain basement TVs, and I have never played on a CRT that exhibits such horrific curvature as I've seen displayed here by some members. I always yearned for something better than RF. Moved to composite, and eventually S-Video. When I learned that Europe got RGB I was miffed!

Filters like HQ4x need to die in a fire. Wretched. Just wretched stuff IMHO.

Scanlines when done accurately, and appropriate for the content certainly add to the experience. Mind you now that I tracked down a Sony PVM, I don't bother with emulating them any more.

25" is all you need. If you can't tell Sonic from Alex Kidd on a 25" PVM, you're either sitting too far away, or blind.

 

[IrishNinja]

25" is all you need.

type of dudes that say this (according to my peer-reviewed academic journals) are also the type to say most guys are 4" on average so that's all you need etc

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

type of dudes that say this (according to my peer-reviewed academic journals) are also the type to say most guys are 4" on average so that's all you need etc

I spat my drink out.

 

[Ahasverus]

I want a filter that corrects the colors to the intended ones and fixes the pixels aspect with (scanlines, I suppose) but doesn't have an awful curvature, does it exist?

type of dudes that say this (according to my peer-reviewed academic journals) are also the type to say most guys are 4" on average so that's all you need etc

You win.

 

[KHlover]

Emulated scanlines are hideous. Haven't seen a single good-looking one yet.

 

[spoonman]

Emulated scanlines are hideous. Haven't seen a single good-looking one yet.

What don't you like about the scanlines on this? (Keeping in mind it's a smart phone picture from an LCD screen)

 

[DocSeuss]

Let's fap together!

How is this not your tag

 

[LeleSocho]

Absolutely. The bottom one looks muddy and awful, whereas the top looks clear and nice.

Rarely i have heard a worse opinion here on gaf... And i'm one of the ones that says that screen warping is always stupid on a flat display and scanlines only look good on arcade games.

 

[Pie and Beans]

Oh good lord, downloaded the more Retroarch and I feel like I'm lost in a sea of too much choice.

There dont seem that many presets bundled with the thing, but tons of actual shaders (and core options too in some cases also adding to the nightmare) and plonking them all together into my own personal configurations is totally beyond me. The glowy CRT preset is a bit over the top, as are the NTSC ones. Wish I could scale back some of the blur and whatnot and find some 'best' presets for Genesis and Mega Drive. KGEN's simply 'Filtered' was enough blur for me for instance.

Sorting out GBA and GB was a lot easier in comparison since the LCD shader sort of did everything there.

 

[Yes Boss!]

Rarely i have heard a worse opinion here on gaf... And i'm one of the ones that says that screen warping is always stupid on a flat display and scanlines only look good on arcade games.

To be fair, they both look pretty bad. One too crisp, the other too murky. Also, stand a good ten to twenty feet from the first image and it looks better than the second. Subtle scanlines would help close that needed distance in the first but not much is going to help the second.

 

[Mzo]

If you're playing actual old 240p games on a 1080p monitor, you absolutely need scanlines to keep it from looking like blocky garbage.

Curved edges and weird blur can go to hell. That's dumb.

I definitely like how retro games look on a CRT through RGB. There's a very small amount of blurring still happening that is very pleasant and helps keep the scanlines from being just solid lines of black.

 

[Boulotaur2024]

Scanlines essentially fit 2D sprites but they can also work its magic when very lightly applied to 3D scenes

   /*----------------------------------------------------------.
  /                    Advanced CRT settings                   /
  '----------------------------------------------------------*/
#define CRTAmount            0.40    //[0.00 to 1.00]  Amount of CRT effect you want

#define CRTResolution        6.6     //[1.0 to 8.0]    Input size coefficent (low values gives the "low-res retro look"). Default is 1.2
#define CRTgamma             2.2     //[0.0 to 4.0]    Gamma of simulated CRT (default 2.2)
#define CRTmonitorgamma      2.4     //[0.0 to 4.0]    Gamma of display monitor (typically 2.2 is correct)
#define CRTBrightness        1.2     //[1.0 to 3.0]    Used to boost brightness a little. Default is 1.0
#define CRTScanlineIntensity 2.0     //[2.0 to 4.0]    Scanlines intensity (use integer values preferably). Default is 2.0
#define CRTScanlineGaussian  1       //[0 or 1]        Use the "new nongaussian scanlines bloom effect". Default is on

#define CRTCurvature         0       //[[0 or 1]          "Barrel effect" enabled (1) or off (0)
#define CRTCurvatureRadius   2.0     //[0.0 to 2.0]       Curvature Radius (only effective when Curvature is enabled). Default is 1.5
#define CRTCornerSize        0.0100  //[0.0000 to 0.0020] Higher values, more rounded corner. Default is 0.001
#define CRTDistance          2.00    //[0.00 to 4.00]     Simulated distance from viewer to monitor. Default is 2.00
#define CRTAngleX            0.00    //[-0.20 to 0.20]    Tilt angle in radians (X coordinates)
#define CRTAngleY           -0.15   //[-0.20 to 0.20]    Tilt angle in radians (Y coordinates). (Value of -0.15 gives the 'arcade tilt' look)
#define CRTOverScan          1.00    //[1.00 to 1.10]     Overscan (e.g. 1.02 for 2% overscan). Default is 1.01
#define CRTOversample        0       //[0 or 1]           Enable 3x oversampling of the beam profile (warning : performance hit)

 

[Durante]

These statements always read like projection to me. The quality of consumer displays has always varied so much that a graphic designer can't come up with a universal use case.

But they were all CRT displays, and either followed NTSC or PAL color standards. The art in SNES games and other titles of the era is clearly designed to be viewed on an NTSC CRT.

You can't design graphics for curvature though, so I don't really see a point in emulating that.

 

[russian box]

What type of emu's are you guys using?
also does anyone have a tutorial on setting up RetroArch, and getting it to work with PSX?


its not just as straight forward as something like make, the video opens don't seem to do what they should and i can't find any tuts for it

 

[Knurek]

But they were all CRT displays, and either followed NTSC or PAL color standards. The art in SNES games and other titles of the era is clearly designed to be viewed on an NTSC CRT.

Or a PAL one for Euro games, or NTSC-J one for Japanese ones.

 

[RedSwirl]

Is there a guide on how to tweak the sweetFX thing? I'm trying it out in KOF XIII and need to adjust some things for my screen. I like how it even affects the Steam overlay, making the whole platform look like some kind of old school thing. I need to see if I can do this for Rogue Legacy, Skullgirls, and others.

 

[MadSexual]

Oh good lord, downloaded the more Retroarch and I feel like I'm lost in a sea of too much choice.

There dont seem that many presets bundled with the thing, but tons of actual shaders (and core options too in some cases also adding to the nightmare) and plonking them all together into my own personal configurations is totally beyond me. The glowy CRT preset is a bit over the top, as are the NTSC ones. Wish I could scale back some of the blur and whatnot and find some 'best' presets for Genesis and Mega Drive. KGEN's simply 'Filtered' was enough blur for me for instance.

Sorting out GBA and GB was a lot easier in comparison since the LCD shader sort of did everything there.

I'm with you. Time to start getting some configurations in this thread!

 

[lazygecko]

Dicking around with ReShade in Red Alert, of all games. Using a sort-of-but-not-really sourceport called PortableRA, which updates the rendering mode to OpenGL allowing me to run the game with ReShade as an overlay. Also edited the resolution to be 16:9 in ratio but still at a fidelity close to the original game resolution, so it doesn't look horizontally stretched on a modern display. Then I started playing around with scanlines and a few other things in ReShade. Getting a decent resolution for the scanline overlay is tricky.

 

[Lettuce]

Whats the best sweetfx crt shader?, i have tried the advanced crt sweetfx shader on PCSX2 emulator but cant seem to get the scanlines to show up hardly

 

[missile]

But they were all CRT displays, and either followed NTSC or PAL color standards. The art in SNES games and other titles of the era is clearly designed to be viewed on an NTSC CRT. ...

And there were broadcast limits to obey while sending over RF.

 

[Varna]

I use to really like the upscaling feature of ePSXe for PSX games but one day on a whim I decided to try Retroarch and it's PSX core. Naturally it looked like crap at first but once I applied a CRT filter I was blown away. It just looked right despite being of obvious lower fidelity compared to ePSXe. Games with prerendered backgrounds seem to benefit greatly from CRT filters since it helps the 3D models blend in better with the background.