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[TheExodu5]

This is the first time I've seen a CRT filter that even remotely replicated how CRT TVs look. Most just blur everything, slap on black bars and pretend they look anything like what real scanlines actually looked like, and call it a day.

THAT SAID

It's interesting, because I think we're in an age where people tend to value the crispness of pixel art over the reality of how the games actually looked. This is especially true of people who were introduced to those games via PC emulation, I think, where all the pixels were preserved.

I honestly don't know where I stand on the issue. It becomes a very per-game thing. Yoshi's Island, for example, almost demands a filter of sorts to make that pastel aesthetic work, but if anyone even thinks of slapping a filter on Street Fighter III, I'll cut them.

For sure it can depend on the game. The benefits in Suikoden 2 are clear...just look at the ground. In the non filtered shot it's dithered to hell and back. In the filtered shot its a nice, smooth gradient (likely the way it was meant to look with the dithering).

Also, this is what the shader looks like for Final Fantasy VII. It decreases the overall IQ, but makes the whole scene a lot more cohesive, IMO (characters don't stand out from the low res backgrounds).

raw

Natural Vision

 

[Cave Johnson]

Oi Neogaf, any Tenchu screenies?

 

[Pooya]

those asking for accurate PSX emulation should check out XEBRA, it's equivalent of SSF for Saturn emulation, no visual enhancements, the goal of it was to produce results closest to the real console. just use Run-1 option, it might be very slow on older hardware.

 

[Suairyu]

For sure it can depend on the game. The benefits in Suikoden 2 are clear...just look at the ground. In the non filtered shot it's dithered to hell and back. In the filtered shot its a nice, smooth gradient (likely the way it was meant to look with the dithering).

Also, this is what the shader looks like for Final Fantasy VII. It decreases the overall IQ, but makes the whole scene a lot more cohesive, IMO (characters don't stand out from the low res backgrounds).

raw

Natural Vision

I wish I could like that, but blurred 3D graphics are the greatest sin in my eyes. I just run games with pre-rendered backgrounds at ungodly resolutions, then scale the window down to something like 800x600. Helps a lot.

On another note, can anyone explain no-one has actually made a scanline filter that does what scanlines do? Scanlines are the black bars between rows of pixels, yet scanline filters just paste the black bars over the top of the image, which is horrendous.

 

[TheExodu5]

I don't think scanlines ever make sense. As for running at 800*600...sure that's an option, but if you want to run at full screen on an extra large display like mine (32"), then a filter helps a ton.

 

[Train of Midnight]

At that point wouldn't you rather play the modded PC version?

 

[TheExodu5]

I would, but I would never mod the character models...I think they look awful since they clearly don't fit in with the rest of the game's art assets. My interest is in playing the vanilla game with the best overall image quality and sound quality possible.

I attempted to mod it last week, but was left with a bunch of missing textures and gave up.

 

[Suairyu]

At that point wouldn't you rather play the modded PC version?

Character model mods are universally terrible for FFVII.

The art style, especially the chibi models on the maps, were deliberate. It fits the tone of the game, the animation and the writing.

 

[Razek]

I always just used one of regular plugins with 2xSal and depending on the game, sprite smoothing. Always seemed to look good enough to me. I remember FF7 looking great and the characters didn't stick out too much.

 

[Mindman]

How can I smooth out the backgrounds in FFVII using this? I've got it up and running.

 

[Mindman]

For sure it can depend on the game. The benefits in Suikoden 2 are clear...just look at the ground. In the non filtered shot it's dithered to hell and back. In the filtered shot its a nice, smooth gradient (likely the way it was meant to look with the dithering).

Also, this is what the shader looks like for Final Fantasy VII. It decreases the overall IQ, but makes the whole scene a lot more cohesive, IMO (characters don't stand out from the low res backgrounds).

raw

Natural Vision

How can I get/use this filter?

 

[Oemenia]

How can I get/use this filter?

Again its just tinkering with the settings. Also in his case, it could be done better as the 3D details have become smeared. Look on the previous page for my post with the best settings. Most people do the internal resolution too high or apply to much filtering.

 

[Mindman]

Again its just tinkering with the settings. Also in his case, it could be done better as the 3D details have become smeared. Look on the previous page for my post with the best settings. Most people do the internal resolution too high or apply to much filtering.

Will try your posted settings.

 

[Tess3ract]

At that point wouldn't you rather play the modded PC version?

OMG

Those character models are amazing.

The worst sin for a game is shitty blocky models and texture quality. Those are always the very first thing I change in a game that allows modding.

 

[lightchris]

On another note, can anyone explain no-one has actually made a scanline filter that does what scanlines do? Scanlines are the black bars between rows of pixels, yet scanline filters just paste the black bars over the top of the image, which is horrendous.

My thoughts on scanlines:
First of all, the black bars noticeable on some CRTs are not the scanlines themselves, but the space between the scanlines (see Wikipedia).
Then it's not easy to reproduce this effect on LCDs because the characteristics of a CRT are different: The pixels aren't as discrete and tend to bleed over the edges, creating a blurrier image and also a more floating contrast between the scanlines and the black bars. Simply adding black bars on LCDs just doesn't look right.


Anyway: The natural vision shader seems quite nice to me. It still doesn't match the subjective impression I get when playing the PS1-FFs on a CRT TV though. The latter just looks a bit less pixelated despite not appearing too blurry.

 

[Train of Midnight]

OMG

Those character models are amazing.

The worst sin for a game is shitty blocky models and texture quality. Those are always the very first thing I change in a game that allows modding.

Jesus, thank you. I thought I was crazy or something.

 

[Tess3ract]

Some people care about "artistic integrity" but all I care about is if it answers this question or not:

Does it look like someone rubbed their balls on it and carved everything out of stone with their teeth:

[] Yes
[] No

 

[jett]

good lawd at the legend of the dragoon screens. Sometimes I think it's better to play these games in their original, low and unfiltered resolution. It just hid a lot of the ugliness.

 

[xJavonta]

Some people care about "artistic integrity" but all I care about is if it answers this question or not:

Does it look like someone rubbed their balls on it and carved everything out of stone with their teeth:

[] Yes
[] No

Hahahaha


Does anyone use their PS3 controller for PS1/2 Emulation? Last time I tried to it messed up my Wiimote/Dolphin bluetooth drivers, so I'm not doing that again unless there's another method that doesn't screw with my Dolphin stuff

 

[SuicidalSteve]

I have no idea what I am doing. Tried putting in a game in my drive and tried to load it on the emulator and it says I need a bios? Help!

 

[Dwayne]

Extract the BIOS image from your PSX.

 

[Train of Midnight]

Hahahaha


Does anyone use their PS3 controller for PS1/2 Emulation? Last time I tried to it messed up my Wiimote/Dolphin bluetooth drivers, so I'm not doing that again unless there's another method that doesn't screw with my Dolphin stuff

Yeah, MotionJoy can help with that. If you use the USB method and not wireless it shouldn't tamper with your Dolphin business.

 

[Suairyu]

good lawd at the legend of the dragoon screens. Sometimes I think it's better to play these games in their original, low and unfiltered resolution. It just hid a lot of the ugliness.

Depends on the game.

Run Spyro at high resolution on epsxe, for example, and it could pass for a PS2 game. Then again, that was back when Insomniac were gods.

 

[Teknoman]

Anyone have any DQVII or SaGa Frontier screenshots?

 

[televator]

Messed around with the filters a bit. Basically just turned on the AA and upped the resolution. Looks okay to me. Wish I could fix the text, but the models look solid.

Do you mean you used the shader that removes jaggies?

 

[TheD]

I have no idea what I am doing. Tried putting in a game in my drive and tried to load it on the emulator and it says I need a bios? Help!

Don't use epsxe, use PCSX-R (it does not need a BIOS).

 

[UnblessedSoul]

does anyone know what kind of filter this guy is using?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmFkdmkH73Q

 

[Canis lupus]

Hahahaha


Does anyone use their PS3 controller for PS1/2 Emulation? Last time I tried to it messed up my Wiimote/Dolphin bluetooth drivers, so I'm not doing that again unless there's another method that doesn't screw with my Dolphin stuff

Eh, I use my Dualshock controller to emulate every damn console, from the SNES to Dreamcast to Gamecube.

 

[Melhisedek]

Any good settings or plugins for Xenogears guys?

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

does anyone know what kind of filter this guy is using?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmFkdmkH73Q

There is a reason why the video only shows the 3d battles. Nothing can be done about the 2d backgrounds. They only look good at low resolution.

 

[TheExodu5]

Again its just tinkering with the settings. Also in his case, it could be done better as the 3D details have become smeared. Look on the previous page for my post with the best settings. Most people do the internal resolution too high or apply to much filtering.

No, you actually need to download the Natural Vision shader.

Download the shader, place it in a folder, and in the settings, click the something "shader" checkbox, and point it to the shader file. Sorry, can't get exact info since I'm at work.

 

[SOLDIER]

Any good settings or plugins for Xenogears guys?

I'd like to know this as well. I've been wondering what the best filter/shader is for sprite-based games.

I've also been looking for a good configuration for high end machines. What do I do to crank the video/sound settings for HD?

 

[Kareha]

Anyone know why PCSX-R would be crashing on startup, everytime I run it, it just says that the program has stopped working. ePSXe works fine for me but I'd like to try PCSX-R to see what's different. Running Windows 7 64-bit if its any help, can't find anything online to help though

 

[TheExodu5]

I'd like to know this as well. I've been wondering what the best filter/shader is for sprite-based games.

I've also been looking for a good configuration for high end machines. What do I do to crank the video/sound settings for HD?

I posted this last page. I feel Natural Vision is really nice for sprite based games:

raw

Natural Vision

 

[Vane_MagicCity]

Anyone wanting to see FFVIII in high resolution should really check out the PC version. It's superior to the PS version, with backgrounds and FMVs being at DVD resolution, which is double of that used on the PS.

Only hassle is that you'll want to download the original PS soundfonts so the thing doesn't sound like poor man's midi.

Well, I finally got FF8 working properly on Windows 7 but the controls are horrible using a 360 controller. Using a PS2 to USB adapter with a Dualshock 2 is worse. It all comes down to loose analog controls.

I finally downloaded a Pinnacle profile for the 360 controller that allows me to use the d pad but it still sometimes goes crazy. Tell me, what controller do you use for FF8 PC?

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

I posted this last page. I feel Natural Vision is really nice for sprite based games:

Here's Natural Vision + AA

That might be too much for purists though.

 

[Suairyu]

Well, I finally got FF8 working properly on Windows 7 but the controls are horrible using a 360 controller. Using a PS2 to USB adapter with a Dualshock 2 is worse. It all comes down to loose analog controls.

I finally downloaded a Pinnacle profile for the 360 controller that allows me to use the d pad but it still sometimes goes crazy. Tell me, what controller do you use for FF8 PC?

Uh, I just used the controller. No configs. Windows should handle that all for you.

 

[Vane_MagicCity]

Uh, I just used the controller. No configs. Windows should handle that all for you.

Which controller?

 

[Suairyu]

Which controller?

360 wireless pad.

 

[Vane_MagicCity]

360 wireless pad.

My wired 360 controller just goes crazy. It works great in FF7 though, both the 1998 version and the 2012 version.

 

[The Mana Legend]

Nevermind, figured it out.

 

[dr3upmushroom]

Was wondering if anyone could help me out, I've been trying to run PSX-reloaded on my mac for a few hours now and have made no progress, I've installed the program but can't seem to make it run roms.

 

[Kareha]

For those that didn't know, ePSXe 1.8 came out awhile ago. Can't link as I'm on my iPod but it will be at the usual emulation places.

 

[maniac-kun]

How do i setup petes opengl plugin so that Tekken 3 looks normal? For me its streched wrong.

 

[KojiKnight]

How do i setup petes opengl plugin so that Tekken 3 looks normal? For me its streched wrong.

Been awhile... but I think it's under the special game fixes section.

 

[maniac-kun]

fixed it:

works fine in fullscreen when you set the res to a 4:3 ratio like this and upscale it to 1920x1080

 

[teiresias]

I've just done a replay of Chrono Cross on PCSX-reloaded (first play through of the game since getting it at launch), and didn't really have any issues. I used one of Pete's more advanced filter files and didn't do any texture filtering and thought it looked great (and not having texture filtering on kept the text boxes from having any corruption). I also decided I prefered to run the emulator at 640x480 and let my Kuro do the scaling (and have it do the grey bars on the side) because I don't really like the look of PSone games when they're rendered at ridiculous resolutions - just something wrong about it, but 480 seems a good compromise and is fairly clean once it gets through my TV's scaler. I also replaced the included controller plug-in (which sucked donkey balls) with a PSX emulator build of the one that's included by default with PCSX2.

HOWEVER, I've also ripped my copy of FVII and both Lunar Completes, but get strange audio glitches. For example, the "attack hit" sound in FFVII sounds almost corrupted, and the voice-acting audio in both Lunars is completely corrupted and sounds awful. Could this be an issue with the ISOs I made from my disc copies - meaning I should re-rip them with maybe some special settings - or is it maybe an audio plug-in issue? I've played around with the provided audio plug-in settins with no luck. I'm also considering trying ePSXe rather than PCSX-r in case there's just something in it that is the issue, but if anyone has any suggestions that would be great.

 

[UrbanRats]

Man, what's up with Resident Evil games? Both RE2 and 3 take ages, sometimes, to load the next screen or when i pick up an object.
Like, a good 5 seconds.

 

[lightchris]

works fine in fullscreen when you set the res to a 4:3 ratio like this and upscale it to 1920x1080

1280x1024 is not 4:3 but 5:4. 1280x960 is the better choice.

 

[maniac-kun]

1280x1024 is not 4:3 but 5:4. 1280x960 is the better choice.

Oh right ^^