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RETROARCH - The all-in-one emulator dreams are made of, son

C

charlequin

Banned
UNRELATED SECOND POST.

Awakened said:
I started monkeying around with the parameters in crt-hyllian-glow and I like what I came up with. This is with "Sharpness Hack" enabled, "Scanline Strength" set to 0.60 and "Bloom Strength" set to 0.0:
Click to expand...

Okay, I went back to try this out and it turns out I am too ignant. Where precisely do I want to tweak these settings?
 
A

Awakened

Member
charlequin said:
UNRELATED SECOND POST.



Okay, I went back to try this out and it turns out I am too ignant. Where precisely do I want to tweak these settings?
Click to expand...
You can change them in the menu under Settings, Shader Options, Parameters (Current). However, they won't save that way. The way I got them to save was to open up the shader files in a text editor and change the parameter's default value (which is the first number following the parameter). You can find "Sharpness Hack" and "Scanline Strength" near the top of crt-hyllian.cg and "Bloom Strength" at the top of resolve2.cg. I imagine a way to save your parameter changes through the menu will come eventually or there's a way to do it now that I don't know (I think I tried changing them in Parameters (RGUI) and that didn't seem to save either).
 
C

crawlingpeter

Member
Nymerio said:
I've installed the Aeon MQ 5 skin which comes with the rom collection browser. It's pretty straight forward to set up. You just add a new collection and it asks you for the path the emulator, so you just browse to your retroarch.exe. It then wants to know where your roms are and the file format (*.zip) for example. What I did was, I started retroarch for each core and created a configuration for each one. You can add the file as a parameter during the rom collection setup so you can have individual configurations for every system. I haven't tried any other skins so far as the Aeon works pretty well so far. I just disabled everything I don't really need from the main menu (Video, Music, etc.) and you can use different views for the collection. It's actually pretty neat and I think it is worlds better than HyperSpin.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the good info! I never really could quite decipher the differences between RCB and AL when it comes to emulation so I will definitely give RCB a try if I can't figure it out. It sounds like either way is perfect in XBMC if you setup RetroArch with separate core configs like you did.

Thanks to everyone else for the shader tweaks... those are beautiful!
 
C

charlequin

Banned
Awakened said:
You can change them in the menu under Settings, Shader Options, Parameters (Current). However, they won't save that way. The way I got them to save was to open up the shader files in a text editor and change the parameter's default value (which is the first number following the parameter). You can find "Sharpness Hack" and "Scanline Strength" near the top of crt-hyllian.cg and "Bloom Strength" at the top of resolve2.cg. I imagine a way to save your parameter changes through the menu will come eventually or there's a way to do it now that I don't know (I think I tried changing them in Parameters (RGUI) and that didn't seem to save either).
Click to expand...

Coolio, thanks!
 
L

Lettuce

Member
MoGamesXNA said:
LOL so much Retron5 hate. I agree that a dedicated Retroarch system is the way to go. I'm going to have to look into getting a Brix. I love Gigabyte hardware. You should post some pics of your set up in the pickup thread.
Click to expand...

Yeah i will when i get it setup correctly, need to find a nice frontend for it to boot into. Can retroarch be added to XBMC at all?
 
L

Lettuce

Member
Im getting annoyed that you have to have integer scaling on to get even scanlines, but with integer enabled the image doesnt fill the height of the screen

Also i have tried changing the bloom strength to 0.0 in the resolve2.cg file....

#define BLOOM_STRENGTH 0.0

but doesnt appear to change the bloom level
 
A

Awakened

Member
Lettuce said:
Im getting annoyed that you have to have integer scaling on to get even scanlines, but with integer enabled the image doesnt fill the height of the screen

Also i have tried changing the bloom strength to 0.0 in the resolve2.cg file....

#define BLOOM_STRENGTH 0.0

but doesnt appear to change the bloom level
Click to expand...
You need to change the #pragma parameter line. The full line should be:
Code: 
#pragma parameter BLOOM_STRENGTH "Bloom Strength" 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.01	//0.45 Default
I added the //0.45 Default so I don't forget the original default. If the parameter lines aren't at the top of your shader file you need to grab the latest version of the shader.
 
Lactose_Intolerant

Lactose_Intolerant

Member
is there a way to get volume control using bsnes with this? They way I have my headphones setup is they are loud even when they are set really low in windows. I have them at 6% right now in windows. Even if I set them at 1% it is still a little loud.
 
L

Lettuce

Member
crawlingpeter said:
Have you tried hitting 'c' while in RCB? I seem to remember that bringing up a pretty comprehensive options menu.
Click to expand...

Ah nice one that worked, thanks. Is there a way to change the layout of the art work, i like the artwork where it has the box art and then just a background picture??

Also is there a way to hide the dos prompt screen when you select a game and also hide the mouse cursor?
 
L

Lettuce

Member
Is there a way to set 0.5 increments for the 'Custom Ratio' when you have 'Integer Scale' enabled??

As with a few emulators if you have Integer scale enabled then the game display doesn't fill the height of the screen but a few emulators if you go to 'Custom Ratio' you can increase the multiplier so for instance if it was set to, (1280x960, 4x4) you can change it to (1600x1200, 5x5) and then it would fit the screen perfectly, but some emulator this doesn't work and the screen is over scanned so was wondering if there's a way to manually set it to 4.5x4.5 for instance?
 
E

EasyMode

Member
Lettuce said:
Is there a way to set 0.5 increments for the 'Custom Ratio' when you have 'Integer Scale' enabled??

As with a few emulators if you have Integer scale enabled then the game display doesn't fill the height of the screen but a few emulators if you go to 'Custom Ratio' you can increase the multiplier so for instance if it was set to, (1280x960, 4x4) you can change it to (1600x1200, 5x5) and then it would fit the screen perfectly, but some emulator this doesn't work and the screen is over scanned so was wondering if there's a way to manually set it to 4.5x4.5 for instance?
Click to expand...

If I understand you correctly, the settings you're looking for are custom_viewport_width, and custom_viewport_height in retroarch.cfg. But instead of a multiplier, you set the upscaled resolution.

Which cores are problematic?
 
L

Lettuce

Member
EasyMode said:
If I understand you correctly, the settings you're looking for are custom_viewport_width, and custom_viewport_height in retroarch.cfg. But instead of a multiplier, you set the upscaled resolution.

Which cores are problematic?
Click to expand...

Let's see, Picodrive is when set to 1:1 par, but oddly the Genesis Plus core works fine when you increae the custom ratio and fits the screen perfectly. The other is the PlayStation core, has over scan when you increase the multiplier for custom ratio. And Mupen64Plus, this is all with Integer scaling enabled of course
 
S

Stimpack

Member
I remember seeing this thread pop up last year, but I never tried it. Holy crap, this is amazing. So far I'm loving this, but I wish I didn't have to go through so much to get it working on the PS3. Anyone have luck with the Ouya? Maybe I can actually get some use out of it.

This thing is really blowing my mind. How is this thread only 15 pages so far? I'm so glad I stayed away from the Retron 5. This alone merits serious consideration of building a cheap ITX device.
 
L

Lettuce

Member
Stimpack said:
I remember seeing this thread pop up last year, but I never tried it. Holy crap, this is amazing. So far I'm loving this, but I wish I didn't have to go through so much to get it working on the PS3. Anyone have luck with the Ouya? Maybe I can actually get some use out of it.

This thing is really blowing my mind. How is this thread only 15 pages so far? I'm so glad I stayed away from the Retron 5. This alone merits serious consideration of building a cheap ITX device.
Click to expand...

Performance is supposed to be rather good for the Ouya, and has some nice overlays....

http://ouyaforum.com/showthread.php?9558-MAME4droid-DIY-artwork
 
L

Lettuce

Member
TheWretched82 said:
Press C for the context menu.

Edit: Ahh... Didnt See the answer above
Click to expand...

Is there a button to switch between layouts for the boxart and covers etc.

Also have noticed some games dont have artwork how do i manly add artwork, one game i have noticed is Aladdin for the SNES. I downloaded the boxart myself and then placed it in the boxartfront folder and renamed it the same as the rom file but it still did not show
 
T

TheWretched82

Member
Lettuce said:
Is there a button to switch between layouts for the boxart and covers etc.

Also have noticed some games dont have artwork how do i manly add artwork, one game i have noticed is Aladdin for the SNES. I downloaded the boxart myself and then placed it in the boxartfront folder and renamed it the same as the rom file but it still did not show
Click to expand...

The first question I cant answer.

The second one is easy. The scraper didnt add the artwork to the database, thus it doesnt load it. Rescrape the game and you should be fine
 
L

Lettuce

Member
TheWretched82 said:
The first question I cant answer.

The second one is easy. The scraper didnt add the artwork to the database, thus it doesnt load it. Rescrape the game and you should be fine
Click to expand...

Thanks for the answer, regarding my first question, its just do that some games show the boxart and then somefan art as the mian background but then other dont show the boxart and it some other art altogether, would just like all games to have the same layout.

How do you add Rom Collection Browser to the main menu in xbmc, so you dont have to go into programs tab all the time to select it?
 
E

EasyMode

Member
Lettuce said:
Let's see, Picodrive is when set to 1:1 par, but oddly the Genesis Plus core works fine when you increae the custom ratio and fits the screen perfectly. The other is the PlayStation core, has over scan when you increase the multiplier for custom ratio. And Mupen64Plus, this is all with Integer scaling enabled of course
Click to expand...

Picodrive is definitely a weird one. It crops the overscan, but scales to a multiple of the uncropped resolution, so it's never 1:1. I have the same issue with Genesis Plus unless I leave the borders on "full" in the core options, which isn't ideal since the margins are often ugly. Oddly enough, I haven't had issues with Mednafen PSX or Mupen64Plus.
 
E

EasyMode

Member
I'm gonna share my first attempt at a CRT shader with you guys. It started off as a learning exercise, and I ended up rather liking it. Save the download as .cg instead of .txt:

http://pastebin.com/EQR9Z3fe

Recommended settings:

Filter: Nearest
Scale: Don't care (I care, it's just the name of the setting)
Aspect Ratio 4:3
Integer Scale: on or off, your preference

My goal here was decent non-integer scanlines and clean scaling with adjustable sharpness. Here's a preview:

1440x1080 integer scaling off
1yks7w.png


2gjsk1.png
Click to expand...

The scanlines are on the lighter side by default, and keep in mind that non-integer scanlines are never perfect. It's just a question of how noticeable the imperfections are.

Since newer builds of Retroarch support shader parameters, you can adjust things under Shader Options > Parameters. I don't think the official build has this feature yet, so here's a link to a recent win64 build.

sharpegsqy.png

Horizontal Sharpness: 0%, 50% (default), 100%
 
S

Stimpack

Member
Lettuce said:
Performance is supposed to be rather good for the Ouya, and has some nice overlays....

http://ouyaforum.com/showthread.php?9558-MAME4droid-DIY-artwork
Click to expand...

Well I looked around a bit, and it appears that the OUYA version is poorly supported? Apparently it won't even work with a different controller, which I would need because there's no way in hell I'm using the OUYA controller. Maybe I wasn't reading the right stuff, but that's what I gathered from the thread on their forum. It's probably better for me to think about building an HTPC solution anyway.

Also, those screenshots look incredible, Easy.
 
N

notBald

Member
The Red Wizard said:
Is this better than ZSNES for PC emulation?
Click to expand...

ZSNES is the best of the fast emulators. If you're on a Atom or slower CPU this still the best choice.

But both Snes9x has surpassed it on both the audio and video front. And if you got the CPU for it, BSNES is the most accurate emulator ever - regardless of system. The author did an awesome job (and spent thousands of dollars).
 
L

Lettuce

Member
Stimpack said:
Well I looked around a bit, and it appears that the OUYA version is poorly supported? Apparently it won't even work with a different controller, which I would need because there's no way in hell I'm using the OUYA controller. Maybe I wasn't reading the right stuff, but that's what I gathered from the thread on their forum. It's probably better for me to think about building an HTPC solution anyway.

Also, those screenshots look incredible, Easy.
Click to expand...

Could get ones of those Gigabyte Brix systems, i have one and there great.

notBald said:
BSNES is the most accurate emulator ever - regardless of system. The author did an awesome job (and spent thousands of dollars).
Click to expand...

Is even BSNES performance version regarded to be more accurate that Snes9x??
 
K

KojiKnight

Member
The Red Wizard said:
Thanks. I'll have a look at BSNES tonight.
Click to expand...

Speed -> Accuracy


Zsnes (latest) -> Snes9x 1.43 (the version almost all non-PC ports are based on, such as most Android SNES emulators) -> Snes9x 1.50+ ->BSNES/HIGAN (BSNES was merged into HIGAN)

Snes9x went through a major rewrite where they focused on compatibility at the cost of speed, but then most of the devs abandoned it for other projects (or to help work on BSNES/HIGAN)
 
P

Parallax

best seen in the classic "Shadow of the Beast"
this is probably a stupid question, but is there instruction on how to change the control setup for different cores?
 
Z

Ziffles

Member
Lettuce said:
Could get ones of those Gigabyte Brix systems, i have one and there great.

Is even BSNES performance version regarded to be more accurate that Snes9x??
Click to expand...

Yes, even the performance version is way more accurate than snes9x. It's the only emulator that displays the Kirby Superstar intro correctly.
 
N

Nymerio

Member
Parallax said:
this is probably a stupid question, but is there instruction on how to change the control setup for different cores?
Click to expand...

Load up a core, configure controls, save core config, start retroarch with the core's config file. At least that's the way I did it, dunno if there's an easier way but it worked out for me because I could actually use the same configuration for most of the cores.
 
L

Lettuce

Member
Nymerio said:
Load up a core, configure controls, save core config, start retroarch with the core's config file. At least that's the way I did it, dunno if there's an easier way but it worked out for me because I could actually use the same configuration for most of the cores.
Click to expand...

Thing with this is that it appears not to remember the rom location for each core

CueTheMusic said:
You can try this:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=171180
Click to expand...

i take it retroplayer is another emulator?, it has to be retroarch or nothing im afraid. Just seems the Linux version is no where near as advanced as the windows version which is a shame.

Is there a xbmc version for windows like openelec, would really like to get away from a full blown win7 environment and just have xbmc os like openelec
 
C

charlequin

Banned
The Red Wizard said:
Thanks. I'll have a look at BSNES tonight.
Click to expand...

Just FYI, BSNES has stopped really having an end-user-friendly version for a while now, but all three of its cores are in RETROARCH and much easier to set up there anyway.

Lettuce said:
Is even BSNES performance version regarded to be more accurate that Snes9x??
Click to expand...

The performance core of BSNES is still dramatically more accurate than any other emulator. The number of inaccuracies in even the performance core is minuscule. I wouldn't run anything else unless your system can't hack it.
 
Jelle

Jelle

Member
These shaders are really something to behold, woah.

I can't post on the RetroArch boards, none of the bSNES cores render all sound effects on DKC2. The Snes9x core does render all of the sound effects.. will try with standalone bSNES to see if it's just the RetroArch version. I've tried different sound output settings.
 
N

Nymerio

Member
Lettuce said:
Thing with this is that it appears not to remember the rom location for each core



i take it retroplayer is another emulator?, it has to be retroarch or nothing im afraid. Just seems the Linux version is no where near as advanced as the windows version which is a shame.

Is there a xbmc version for windows like openelec, would really like to get away from a full blown win7 environment and just have xbmc os like openelec
Click to expand...

Isn't there a line in the config where you can set the rom directory? I don't know if you can configure that in the emulator itself but editing the line in the file itself shouldn't be a problem.
 
A

Awakened

Member
Nymerio said:
Isn't there a line in the config where you can set the rom directory? I don't know if you can configure that in the emulator itself but editing the line in the file itself shouldn't be a problem.
Click to expand...
It's (example):
Code: 
rgui_browser_directory = "..\..\Roms\Bandai WonderSwan Color\"
I found out when I had a problem with MAME that it can be picky about the type of slashes you use. I was using forward slashes for my MAME browser directory and couldn't load ROMs through RGUI until I switched to backslashes. All the other cores I use work with forward slashes though.

When I was testing the built in per core config option, the browser directory didn't change when I switched cores even though I had them set up in my configs. You need to use command line parameters in your frontend to load the config you want for a system for that to work right.
 
B

BurritoBushido

Member
I can't get this to start up, can anyone help me out? Running windows 8.1 pro 64 with an older Radeon gfx card. Downloading from the website it just crashes with no message or anything
 
L

Lettuce

Member
So i have installed OpenElec disk image as the OS om my Gigabyte Brix system and have installed Rom Collection Browser. Have set it up correctly to use with Retroarch, but when i select a game to play the dos window appears as normal with the command lines for Retroarch but then the window closes and no game loads. Any ideas?
 
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