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[peakish]

I've been trying the rgb3x filter myself lately, it looks great (if a bit muted) in fullscreen as long as you don't push your nose against the screen. It's either that or tv2x/3x that works best for me, I definitely think they look better than the unprocessed images.

1:
normal3x
rgb3x
tv3x

2:
normal3x
rgb3x
tv3x

3:
normal3x
rgb3x
tv3x

scan2x/3x is a bit too heavy, the other available "hq" filters seem to change a bit too much for my taste.

 

[epmode]

Why would you put scanlines into a game that didn't have them in the first place?

 

[peakish]

Why would you put scanlines into a game that didn't have them in the first place?

I've just read too many of TheExodu5's posts in this thread, lol. Or the argument he makes here about old pixel games being made for CRT screens in particular, which creates a different image than we get on LCD screens. Ever since I've been vary of this and tried experimenting to see if it can make stuff look better. TBH it's been so long since I used a CRT for PC gaming that I don't know if it's anywhere close but I do think the images look better with small filters applied. It's almost as if more detail is implied when it's not as blocky.

 

[AstroLad]

Very cool, thanks for the advice guys. Will definitely be using some of these filters. Can't wait to replay some of the classics.

 

[epmode]

I've just read too many of TheExodu5's posts in this thread, lol. Or the argument he makes here about old pixel games being made for CRT screens in particular, which creates a different image than we get on LCD screens.

Right, but that stuff applies to console games which were designed for televisions. Old computer monitors were infinitely sharper and I don't remember scanlines at all.

But whatever, options are always welcome in emulators even if I don't have a use for them!

 

[Perkel]

Why would you put scanlines into a game that didn't have them in the first place?

as someone stated above because it look better.Back then monitors were CRT and had naturally scanlines.

This is exactly the same reason why PS1 games look way better on emulator with scanlines on.

 

[peakish]

Right, but that stuff applies to console games which were designed for televisions. Old computer monitors were infinitely sharper and I don't remember scanlines at all.

But whatever, options are always welcome in emulators even if I don't have a use for them!

Hm, interesting. Like I said, I'm not too familiar with the reality.

Edit: Scanlines aside, what about the rgb-stuff? Am I crazy for remembering my old monitors having a similar effect?

 

[Perkel]

chris like anachronox

 

[Joseph Merrick]

yeah, definitely had black lines on monitors.

 

[epmode]

as someone stated above because it look better.Back then monitors were CRT and had naturally scanlines.

This is exactly the same reason why PS1 games look way better on emulator with scanlines on.

CRT televisions looked a lot different than CRT monitors. Scanlines were very visible on most TVs and almost invisible on many CRT VGA monitors. I barely noticed them from my 386 and up.

 

[Joseph Merrick]

CRT televisions looked a lot different than CRT monitors. Scanlines were very visible on most TVs and almost invisible on many CRT VGA monitors. I barely noticed them from my 386 and up.

what. they are still super noticable compared to a lcd

 

[epmode]

Shrug. I kind of want to dig out my old monitor to double-check but I just realized that I'd rather kill myself than argue about scanlines.

 

[skullwolfgp]

Ugh why do most emulators have such butt-ugly scanlines.

For example, here's MAME's HLSL-based implementation
(quoted to reduce size)

 

[Joseph Merrick]

Shrug. I kind of want to dig out my old monitor to double-check but I just realized that I'd rather kill myself than argue about scanlines.

nothing to argue about, you're wrong. haha.

I've got my dos computer right here, here's a couple of pics. different aspect ratio even

Ugh why do most emulators have such butt-ugly scanlines.
For example, here's MAME's HLSL-based implementation
(quoted to reduce size)

yeah, this would be perfect in dosbox

 

[charlequin]

Ugh why do most emulators have such butt-ugly scanlines.

Because researching and implementing accurate, subtle, image-enhancing scanline filters is hard and just slapping black lines onto the image is easy.

 

[Minsc]

Because researching and implementing accurate, subtle, image-enhancing scanline filters is hard and just slapping black lines onto the image is easy.

Maybe properly displaying a simulation of a CRT monitor requires far greater resolution than what most 1080p LCD monitors display? Or it could just be lack of effort like you say. I had a 19" Hitachi display for a long time, with a .20mm dot pitch, so I just got used to how stuff looked essentially clean. At least that's how I remember it and prefer it today! I'm sure whatever displays I had earlier were less like the unfiltered output though. Scanlines/etc usually look worse to me personally, and I don't normally like the HQx smoothing filters on 320x240 graphics much either. I do like the option for the filters of course, and am glad they're there and hope they improve.

 

[Monroeski]

Anachronox purchased.

Hoping that you guys' hype doesn't let me down.

 

[speedpop]

Anachronox purchased.

Hoping that you guys' hype doesn't let me down.

It's a great game. As long as you remember that the game is over a decade old then I'm sure you will enjoy it thoroughly.

 

[Suairyu]

Because researching and implementing accurate, subtle, image-enhancing scanline filters is hard and just slapping black lines onto the image is easy.

Oh god this. I have never seen a scanlines filter that actually looked anything like real scanlines.

 

[Refreshment.01]

Did a light reading of this Baldur's Gate start up guide:

http://www.pocketplane.net/volothamp/bgguide.htm

In here is suggested that i get 3 different patches the 2 official ones and the G3fix pack. I can't access those links. So im wandering if the GoG version of the game automatically applies the patches. If not does anyone knows where can i get them.

Playing the game for the first time, don't plan on modding it, want to get close to the original experience as possible.

 

[FrontalMonk]

Did a light reading of this Baldur's Gate start up guide:

http://www.pocketplane.net/volothamp/bgguide.htm

In here is suggested that i get 3 different patches the 2 official ones and the G3fix pack. I can't access those links. So im wandering if the GoG version of the game automatically applies the patches. If not does anyone knows where can i get them.

Playing the game for the first time, don't plan on modding it, want to get close to the original experience as possible.

honestly, I've never run into any big issues and I've never used the G3 fixpack, just the official patches.

You do still want the official patch though. Man, that robe of vecna...

 

[Minsc]

Did a light reading of this Baldur's Gate start up guide:

http://www.pocketplane.net/volothamp/bgguide.htm

In here is suggested that i get 3 different patches the 2 official ones and the G3fix pack. I can't access those links. So im wandering if the GoG version of the game automatically applies the patches. If not does anyone knows where can i get them.

Playing the game for the first time, don't plan on modding it, want to get close to the original experience as possible.

The official patches are already in GOG's release. All the big patches you might want to run with are in the link to the mods in the OP.

 

[Refreshment.01]

The official patches are already in GOG's release. All the big patches you might want to run with are in the link to the mods in the OP.

DO YOU EVER SLEEP OR REST!

Glad you don't Thanks Minsc.

 

[charlequin]

Scanlines/etc usually look worse to me personally, and I don't normally like the HQx smoothing filters on 320x240 graphics much either.

Most scanline effects that people apply in emulators significantly affect the actual appearance of the underlying image by darkening it and reducing the effective "display surface," which always looks completely awful, and actually probably looks less "accurate" when you view it at normal computing distances (a foot and a half) rather than TV distances.

The really good filters (which are pretty rare) have a more subtle effect. Blargg's NTSC filter is pretty neat, frex.

 

[Mattakuevan]

Anachronox bought!

So what mods are recommended for this thing?

 

[A Black Falcon]

CRT televisions looked a lot different than CRT monitors. Scanlines were very visible on most TVs and almost invisible on many CRT VGA monitors. I barely noticed them from my 386 and up.

I don't know about that, but there is a huge difference in quality between CRT monitors and most CRT TVs -- CRT TVs are usually 480i, with a very few being 480p, at 60hz only, while CRT computer monitors can generally handle resolutions up to 1600x1200 (for a 17" monitor) with frequencies of 100hz or more, depending on model and resolution (the higher the resolution, the lower the max frequency; for instance, on my 17" circa 2001 Dell CRT computer monitor, it can to 100hz at 1024x768, but only 60hz at 1600x1200 -- and 60hz is kind of painful to look at (for my eyes), really need at least 75hz to for Windows to not be painful to look at.

But anyway, CRT computer monitors support far higher frequencies and resolutions than CRT TVs, so I'd expect such things to be less noticeable...

 

[AstroLad]

What are some GOG games that play well on modern computers? Playing U7 for the first time since it originally came out and man does it feel clunky I don't even know how I'm going to handle combat. Or maybe it's just my computer I dunno. RPG or strategy preferred.

 

[Aselith]

I've just read too many of TheExodu5's posts in this thread, lol. Or the argument he makes here about old pixel games being made for CRT screens in particular, which creates a different image than we get on LCD screens. Ever since I've been vary of this and tried experimenting to see if it can make stuff look better. TBH it's been so long since I used a CRT for PC gaming that I don't know if it's anywhere close but I do think the images look better with small filters applied. It's almost as if more detail is implied when it's not as blocky.

You notice how the example that theExodus used improved the image though (besides darkening it) and your filtered images both look fucking godawful? Sometimes you don't have to research silly filters to tell you how your nostalgia should look.

Old PC games don't look as pixelated so those techniques aren't doing them any favors. They just make them look fucked up.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

What are some GOG games that play well on modern computers? Playing U7 for the first time since it originally came out and man does it feel clunky I don't even know how I'm going to handle combat.

Did you install Exult? That's pretty much required for playing Ultima 7 today imo.

 

[bhlaab]

What are some GOG games that play well on modern computers? Playing U7 for the first time since it originally came out and man does it feel clunky I don't even know how I'm going to handle combat. Or maybe it's just my computer I dunno. RPG or strategy preferred.

Try playing it through Exult. Might help a bit.

 

[AstroLad]

oh cool thanks. i remember hearing about that but totally forgot. yeah that's a lot better. do you guys play in full screen?

 

[peakish]

You notice how the example that theExodus used improved the image though (besides darkening it) and your filtered images both look fucking godawful? Sometimes you don't have to research silly filters to tell you how your nostalgia should look.

Old PC games don't look as pixelated so those techniques aren't doing them any favors. They just make them look fucked up.

Please. I wouldn't use it anything if I thought it looked worse. Whatevs.

 

[PumpkinPie]

I can't get any video settings to save in Anachronox, plus I played for a while and made multiple saves, but when I tried to load them they were all gone :/ lost my progress.

 

[vazel]

I can't get any video settings to save in Anachronox, plus I played for a while and made multiple saves, but when I tried to load them they were all gone :/ lost my progress.

Sounds like something's wrong with how Windows is storing the data in the appdata folder. Try installing the game outside of the C:\Program Files folder.

 

[PumpkinPie]

Sounds like something's wrong with how Windows is storing the data in the appdata folder. Try installing the game outside of the C:\Program Files folder.

Will do, thanks. I did get a message "this program may not have installed correctly" but the game ran fine, apart from eating my save files.

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

Will do, thanks. I did get a message "this program may not have installed correctly" but the game ran fine, apart from eating my save files.

This happens to me on quite a few gog games on win7, depends on whether gog saves to program files or the user directory, which depends on whether you run the game with admin privileges. Mixing between admin and standard will cause save games not to appear as it looks at the wrong place.

Try looking in:

C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG.com\Gamename\ then wherever savefiles should be

and

C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\GOG.com\gamename\ then wherever savefiles should be

Hopefully they're in one of those locations.

 

[PumpkinPie]

^ Thanks guys. I reinstalled to a outside of program files and the save games now work, still can't get video settings to save but at least I can play the game.

EDIT: I think the video settings weren't saving because 1280 x 960 is not supported on my screen.

 

[wazoo]

Gog promises the storm and the unexpected for this week.

quite some hype.

 

[SteveWinwood]

Gog promises the storm and the unexpected for this week.

quite some hype.

I bet it's Lucasarts.

 

[PumpkinPie]

How does the lockpick meter work on Anachronox? Press up, meter goes up. Press down, meter goes up.

 

[mclem]

Gog promises the storm and the unexpected for this week.

quite some hype.

Quick! Everyone! Try REALLY REALLY HARD to not expect System Shock!

(Also corny, but I believe that can be taken at face value since it was in response to another tweet)


Edit: Plausible, given recent releases: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_(video_game)

Edit2: Oh, wait, 'corny' was relative to discussion about adverts.


Edit3: Hang on. I think we're talking about two distinct things here. There's a release due today, and I'd guess that's Tornado for the reasons outlined above, but there's also the "Totally unexpected!" thing, and I suspect that's something different:

If you had to guess what @gogcom is gonna do in 12 hours, what would it be?

That tweet's from 25 minutes ago. "In 12 hours" is therefore late in the evening - nowhere near their normal release schedule... but it may well be at midnight, Poland time. Midnight is a time for *business* announcements. I reckon they've either been bought or acquired someone (and my gut's saying that Dotemu would be a very logical 'someone')

 

[Joseph Merrick]

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/journeyman_project_3

very nice

That tweet's from 25 minutes ago. "In 12 hours" is therefore late in the evening - nowhere near their normal release schedule... but it may well be at midnight, Poland time. Midnight is a time for *business* announcements. I reckon they've either been bought or acquired someone (and my gut's saying that Dotemu would be a very logical 'someone')

oh interesting

 

[protonion]

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/journeyman_project_3

very nice


oh interesting

OMG! Buy this game people! Such an amazing experience!

 

[Yaska]

Please, let it be Lucasarts announcement. I want to replay Grim Fandango so bad ( lost my cd's T_T)

Edit: Seems to be a new layout for site and Machinarium. There's a walrus picture on facebook. The site layout differs from the one I see on my computer and there's a Machinarium (9.99) on the background.

 

[gabbo]

That tweet's from 25 minutes ago. "In 12 hours" is therefore late in the evening - nowhere near their normal release schedule... but it may well be at midnight, Poland time. Midnight is a time for *business* announcements. I reckon they've either been bought or acquired someone (and my gut's saying that Dotemu would be a very logical 'someone')

My initial, smart-ass reaction is that they'll 'close down' again for the night, and come back with a new layout or something. I doubt they'll be bought, we'd hear about the whole company (CDP) before GoG.

Hopefully it's a new publisher or a big chunk of backlog they hadn't been able to get until now from one they have signed (more EA/Activision, etc)

 

[androvsky]

I wouldn't expect Lucasarts after just a couple days' mild teasing, even if they are promising something unexpected.

 

[Yaska]

My initial, smart-ass reaction is that they'll 'close down' again for the night, and come back with a new layout or something. I doubt they'll be bought, we'd hear about the whole company (CDP) before GoG.

Hopefully it's a new publisher or a big chunk of backlog they hadn't been able to get until now from one they have signed (more EA/Activision, etc)

Pretty much it if you look at the Walrus picture on Facebook.

 

[Anarkin]

Here's the picture.

 

[Joseph Merrick]

so they'll announce some of the newer games line-up maybe. that's ok

 

[mclem]

Here's the picture.

Is that the Baldur's Gate icon at the bottom? Why would that be at the top of (what I assume is) the news feed? Could they be getting the Enhanced Edition content?


Edit: Oh, wait. If that's the 'bestsellers' section, that would fit correctly; BG2 is currently top of that list.

Edit2: In fact, isn't that pretty much the same layout as Steam is currently? Banner at the top, small recent titles on the right, bestsellers on the left?