Filters and shaders!

[Nebulon_Galaxy]

For duckstation, snes, genesis, and PC Engine is use CRT-Geom but putting my CRT VGA Monitor at 1280x960 full screen on a Gateway EV700. The filter gets as close to 240p resolution "look". Now if im running my Sega Saturn, Dreamcast or N64 i use my CRT TV for that. Preferably in S-Video and for the DC on VGA in a Sony or Viewsonic VGA monitor.

 

[Toast Rider]

Been using CRT-newpixie with most parameters set to zero except curvature and rolling scan lines. Really digging how it looks for SNES games.

 

[semyaza]

ive had so much trouble with filters nowadays i just always install reshade with crtroyale, it's a bit aggressive i guess but does the trick

man i could look at these screens all day god help me

 

[Maduin]

I've been experimenting with odd combinations for "what if?" scenarios, like, what if they had 4K CRT widescreen TVs with HDR back when the Wii was popular. This screen shot was taken with the game running on Retroarch using the Dolphin core. The game itself is rendered at 1080p, my monitor is at 4K HDR, while the shader is a retro crisis 4K one meant to mimic an RGB CRT Arcade monitor.

 

[CrimeRobot]

I saw the CRT royale filter while I was putting together my mod package for FF7 7th Heaven, and while I'm not using it for FF7, it looks so nice that now I might actually learn to use Retroarch so I can use that for my emulation. I do have CRTs and a lot of original consoles, but they don't all have flash carts etc., so it'd be nice to have that for my little phone emulation setup, maybe even go on to Steam Deck for a cleaner HDMI output.

Retroarch's UI has just always rubbed me the wrong way, and I've always preferred individual emulators, but those CRT shaders do provide a compelling reason apart from the (theoretical, eventual) convenience.

I guess the newest OSSC update adds a slot mask filter that should be nice, but mine's old enough that I need to work up the courage to de-solder an SMD and solder onto that tiny pin to upgrade.

 

[secreto7]

I saw the CRT royale filter while I was putting together my mod package for FF7 7th Heaven, and while I'm not using it for FF7, it looks so nice that now I might actually learn to use Retroarch so I can use that for my emulation. I do have CRTs and a lot of original consoles, but they don't all have flash carts etc., so it'd be nice to have that for my little phone emulation setup, maybe even go on to Steam Deck for a cleaner HDMI output.

Retroarch's UI has just always rubbed me the wrong way, and I've always preferred individual emulators, but those CRT shaders do provide a compelling reason apart from the (theoretical, eventual) convenience.

I guess the newest OSSC update adds a slot mask filter that should be nice, but mine's old enough that I need to work up the courage to de-solder an SMD and solder onto that tiny pin to upgrade.

You could try using ShaderGlass or ReShade too.

 

[fmsynthetic]

Pedants will say 'the programmers didn't have scanlines in mind!' but that's WRONG

The programmers of 2D and early 3D games were working on PCs or SGI workstations which did, indeed, have CRT monitors with scanlines and very high refresh rates. Maybe you can argue that things like RF and color bleed weren't part of their intention, but not the scanlines.

 

[TheGreenJackass]

Raw pixels for me. I think it may be because the only 2D games I grew up with were on handhelds like the GBA SP and the DS, so I never saw 2D sprites on a CRT. Recently, though, I’ve been experimenting with CRT shaders for emulation. They’re visually amazing, but I haven’t found one that’s perfect for my tastes (especially for 3D games with upscaled resolution). Perhaps I’ll give it another try when I replace my old HD TV with a 4K one.

In the end, everyone can enjoy gaming however they like, but I’m a bit skeptical about the “look intended by the devs” argument. Sure, CRTs were the only displays available for those consoles at the time, but given the huge variety of TV models, signals, and regional standards, it’s nearly impossible to recreate a single “intended effect” for all of them (For ex, with the SOTN eyes effect, many CRT shader presets I tested didn’t reproduce it accurately, though perhaps that's only on a real CRT). And not even mentioning PC or handheld ports of the same games, which ran on completely different displays.

As another user said, for me playing a game with raw pixels is like watching a remastered version of an old movie: the details are sharper, but you also risk seeing details that were once hidden (like traveling rails or camera reflections). Still, I don’t think that makes it an illegitimate way to enjoy retro gaming, just a different approach.

Maybe I’m all wrong about this, I’m far from a CRT expert. But I’d love to read/listen to developer interviews on the topic.

 

[fmsynthetic]

I don't think that the restored film/pixel perfect retro game argument is sound. Those pixels are all that's there, and they're extremely low-resolution. There's like, 8K of resolution in a film print. It can only be a good thing to draw that out, even if it shows the seams.

On the other hand, old 2D games were programmed by devs using CRT monitors, and played by gamers using CRT monitors. I do think the option to view them in pixel perfect resolution with no filters is important to have, but the most accurate experience is with a CRT filter.

 

[Deleted member 898720]

I like that I usually use the HD2 resolution. This makes the picture look even better but you need a good device for it otherwise it won't run smoothly.

 

[O_Fender]

I couldn't never understand use of pixel perfect filter, as this is not true to the original look. Old games, especially 2d ones are ment to be played with CRT look, hence this would be my first choice of filter. As it's comes to 3d games, I would be more ok with bit of experiments, depending on the particular game or platform.
Also new pixelated games being called retro style seems not to be very accurate. In old games pixels were barely visible on CRT.

 

[Miles Miles]

I always use sharp pixels because it's simple and looks clean.

 

[TheGreenJackass]

On the other hand, I use color shaders for handhelds to lessening the saturation on my monitor.

Sameboy: Modern/Accurate in core settings
mGBA: GBASP101 Color Shader
MelonDS: NDSLite Color Shader

(Nothing for Wonderswan because, visibly, nobody gives a f°°° about Wonderswan. If you guys know if a color shader exist for it, let me know !)

I keep PPSSPP on default because the PSP Color shader messed with the latter games of the system (although the difference is much more subtle than the others).

I know it's not entirely accurate but I think it's a good balance between the oversaturated raw palette and the de-saturated tones of the first models (which don't always go well with the later games). But again I grew up with the GBA SP not the original.

 

[newageretrohippie]

For duckstation, snes, genesis, and PC Engine is use CRT-Geom but putting my CRT VGA Monitor at 1280x960 full screen on a Gateway EV700. The filter gets as close to 240p resolution "look". Now if im running my Sega Saturn, Dreamcast or N64 i use my CRT TV for that. Preferably in S-Video and for the DC on VGA in a Sony or Viewsonic VGA monitor.

how do i do this? i got a Dell monitor 1600x1200, but windows 11 gives me mostly only random-ass options for resolution and refresh rate depending on how i connect it up.

it's never anything i want really tho... (like a 1280x960 for instance).

I'm guessing there is an extra special hidden menu that allows me to actually specify exactly what i want?

 

[Deleted member 58254]

i used to like just the plain sprites without filters or shaders
but ever since i started using crt shaders i never went back lol

 

[pinetreeneedle56]

Do any of you use shaders when you emulate older generation games (2D or 3D) to get an approximate CRT-display experience?
If you do, which shader(s) do you use, and what settings do you set them to? What's the closest you can get to an "authentic" CRT TV?

 

[Deleted member 466]

I use Geom but disable the warping and lower the corner radius.

 

[Aldia Aldia]

I was experimenting with Duckstation just now and it's got built-in crt shades. I really liked them in the games I tried.

 

[petran79]

Retroarch is a shader bliss

 

[fourmonty]

i dunno about authentic crt, i use sedi, scanline simple, image adjustment, all on top of super eagle filter.

sometimes replace sedi for 3d-2d mix for something like tactics ogre., while gba gets a 4th shader: nds color.

sedi's edge 7 gives the most clarity without artifacts, sharpness from image adjustment can improve it, while its many other options can tweak the colors, vibrance, test the order of clarity on these.

some film grain makes it atmospheric, i use a tad too much. some examples below, wont let me attach.

Akumajou Dracula X Gekka no Yasoukyoku (Japan) (2M) 251215 035612 hosted at ImgBB

Image Akumajou Dracula X Gekka no Yasoukyoku (Japan) (2M) 251215 035612 hosted on ImgBB

ibb.co

Castlevania Harmony of Dissonance Visual Improvement(v1 2 3) Chain Whip nco Z Animation Localization hosted at ImgBB

Image Castlevania Harmony of Dissonance Visual Improvement(v1 2 3) Chain Whip nco Z Animation Localization hosted on ImgBB

ibb.co

Grand-Knights-History-v1-16-251201-193332 hosted at ImgBB

Image Grand-Knights-History-v1-16-251201-193332 hosted on ImgBB

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Gundam-Wing-Endless-Duel-251201-184402 hosted at ImgBB

Image Gundam-Wing-Endless-Duel-251201-184402 hosted on ImgBB

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Tactics-Ogre-Let-Us-Cling-Together-Japan-251201-190948 hosted at ImgBB

Image Tactics-Ogre-Let-Us-Cling-Together-Japan-251201-190948 hosted on ImgBB

ibb.co

unrelated, crystalizer dsp audio plugin if low voices or ChipTuneEnhance with resampler at 28900 Hz, audio latency 80. fps limit 59, Disable rewind so it wont crash.

 

[NotReallyHere]

I can't lie - the recently updated CRT filter for the NES on the Switch Online service is very, very convincing. I'm usually not a fan of such filters, but the NSO one goes pretty lo-fi - overscan, color banding, and plenty of blurred edges. Leans heavy into the "RF Switch" side of things, but I think the results are pretty impressive - and accurate!

Part of the challenge of emulating a CRT picture is that there was so much variance and inconsistency between screens and inputs. They were not all created equal. The NES, for example, got much better video output on a CRT from the built-in Composite jack than it did from the RF out. And the SNES could even output S-Video, which looked spectacular! Clean and sharp.

And if you happened to have a console with RGB output - and a compatible monitor - the picture was so sharp and clean that it was hard to imagine it ever looking any better. And plenty of retro gamers feel that the RGB setup can't be beat, anyway! It helps if you like scanlines, though

I'd imagine most people think of a normal "CRT Filter" as what they remember seeing from their consoles outputting through RF or Composite. But there were certainly better picture quality options available, if you had the TV and hardware to support it. Some emulators offer CRT Filters with either a "Sharp" or "Blurry" option, to better match the hardware of the day. Whether or not that is accurate to your own eyes really depends on what you grew up with in the first place

 

[nimlouth]

I've been using all manners of overlays, shaders and filters since I got an emulation retro handheld. This is Final Fantasy II on the GBA, I played through this with this lcd grid overlay, and interpolation shader to help with the not-quite-integer scaling on my device and a little bit of motion blur (a.k.a lcd response time). I think that both nostalgia and "historical accuracy" are good justifications for using filters, but in general if a game looks better for you, for whatever reason, using whatever, you should just go do it.

 

[pinetreeneedle56]

i dunno about authentic crt, i use sedi, scanline simple, image adjustment, all on top of super eagle filter.

sometimes replace sedi for 3d-2d mix for something like tactics ogre., while gba gets a 4th shader: nds color.

sedi's edge 7 gives the most clarity without artifacts, sharpness from image adjustment can improve it, while its many other options can tweak the colors, vibrance, test the order of clarity on these.

some film grain makes it atmospheric, i use a tad too much. some examples below, wont let me attach.

Akumajou-Dracula-X-Gekka-no-Yasoukyoku-Japan-2-M-251201-190316 hosted at ImgBB

Image Akumajou-Dracula-X-Gekka-no-Yasoukyoku-Japan-2-M-251201-190316 hosted on ImgBB

ibb.co

Castlevania-Harmony-of-Dissonance-Visual-Improvement-v1-2-3-Chain-Whip-nco-Z-Animation-Localization- hosted at ImgBB

Image Castlevania-Harmony-of-Dissonance-Visual-Improvement-v1-2-3-Chain-Whip-nco-Z-Animation-Localization- hosted on ImgBB

ibb.co

Grand-Knights-History-v1-16-251201-193332 hosted at ImgBB

Image Grand-Knights-History-v1-16-251201-193332 hosted on ImgBB

ibb.co

Gundam-Wing-Endless-Duel-251201-184402 hosted at ImgBB

Image Gundam-Wing-Endless-Duel-251201-184402 hosted on ImgBB

ibb.co

Tactics-Ogre-Let-Us-Cling-Together-Japan-251201-190948 hosted at ImgBB

Image Tactics-Ogre-Let-Us-Cling-Together-Japan-251201-190948 hosted on ImgBB

ibb.co

unrelated, i also use crystalizer dsp audio plugin for clear audio, & disable rewind so it wont crash.

I always get called a weirdo because I like film grain as well.

 

[pinetreeneedle56]

I use Geom but disable the warping and lower the corner radius.

I'll give this one a spin.

 

[Boofy]

Most standard crt effects are decent enough compared to what they were like 10 years ago.

I used to waste way too much time trying to find the perfect shader. You stop noticing it after 5 minutes anyway.

Anything that resembles an s-video output on a regular crt is good enough for me, unless I really want to hide aliasing effects like pixel shimmer. That stuff drives me nuts. Outputting it through my 480p projector usually fixes it anyway, if I'm being particularly finicky.