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[DDayton]

where has the word "enhanced" been used? i can't see a single count of it in this thread, we've been calling it upscaling. why are you coming into this thread pretending you have some sort of superior knowledge, sat there with a 3L bottle of mountain dew stroking your neckbeard?????

Perhaps I need a better explanation, then... if you agree that these games haven't been enhanced, then in precisely what way do the 2d games look better?

I'll agree that they look different, but I don't see how there is any form of improvement. In many cases, it seems as though subtle detail is being lost.

(Strokes beard, thoughtfully.)

 

[VideoMan]

:lol

Some of the people in this thread need to take their meds. Nobody's forcing you to play your games upscaled. Calm down.

Personally, I didn't even know stuff like HQ even existed until now. I just took a quick look at some games with it on and thought I'd get some screen caps so other people can see for themselves. No need to get all bent out off shape.

 

[Pharmacy]

Perhaps I need a better explanation, then... if you agree that these games haven't been enhanced, then in precisely what way do the 2d games look better?

I'll agree that they look different, but I don't see how there is any form of improvement. In many cases, it seems as though subtle detail is being lost.

(Strokes beard, thoughtfully.)

look, i can agree about the 2D looking worse to an extent, but only when you're only making the game say, twice as big. but, i have a 22" monitor with a resolution of 1650x1050 and i play MAME games full screen, which means I actually need the smoothing out or else its just a pixelated mess

heres some off screen shots of The King of Fighters, HQ3x and AF applied:

there is a HUGE improvement on these games, it all comes down to personal preference

 

[Powerslave]

what the hell is wrong with his left arm

 

[Ydahs]

Now for some Chrono Cross!

You'll straight away notice that the text is unreadable That's my fault and I couldn't be bothered retaking the images again >_>

 

[Walshicus]

chubigans has been using it in every post.

And rightly so. They *are* enhanced from what I can tell; they look far better.

 

[Ydahs]

what the hell is wrong with his left arm

I think he's putting it behind his back. Kinda hard to tell from a screenshot.

 

[Pharmacy]

what the hell is wrong with his left arm

shit i didnt notice that, what the fu-

guess who got ePSXe working?

no filters, for reference:

 

[Powerslave]

Neither of the 5 video plugins work for me fuuuuuccckkk

 

[Pharmacy]

Neither of the 5 video plugins work for me fuuuuuccckkk

Absolutely none? Try this pack

 

[Pharmacy]

Holy shit, this upscaling business is ridiculous

Nearest neighbour, original 1650x1050

Upscaled, with everything on 1650x1050

its beautiful

 

[theultimo]

Sorry about the SS before, I was on my laptop with only MS paint :lol These are rendered 640x480 window, very nice edge enhancements in motion.
EDIT: THis stupid video card wasn't doing SS with AA applied...yarr.

Blast Corps, 4xAA 16xAF:

BC Normal, :

LOZ:OOT AA+AF, no hi res pack though:

(For example, this is a hi-res pack)

OOT Normal:

Paper Mario AA edition:

Paper Mario no enhancements

 

[Fuu]

Holy shit, this upscaling business is ridiculous

Nearest neighbour, original 1650x1050

Upscaled, with everything on 1650x1050

its beautiful

:O

It's MAGIC!

 

[Yoshichan]

I really don't know what to think. It looks okay I guess. I'll try some.

Contra 3

Harvest Moon

Street Fighter Alpha 2

Mario Paint

 

[stuminus3]

This is definitely something that needs to be taken on a case-by-case basis, I don't think either extreme is 100% correct, and even on individual games one solution isn't going to suit everybody. I wish Wii VC games gave you the option of turning filtering on or off... it's "always on" (TG16 games) or "always off" (everything else). Some TG16 games look awesome with the filtering, totally natural... some look like a blurry mess. Some SNES games look great untouched... and some I load up directly after playing a nice TG16 game and wish the same filter was applied. I find with most games I'll just stick with the original chunky pixel art, though.

I think what the problem is with many games is that the filtering makes it look unnatural, even though no filtering makes even the most beautiful pixel art look blocky and ugly.

3D games, I more often than not find that super-high resolutions and AA/AF make some PS1/N64 games look once again quite unnatural. I actually found this out years ago when I stopped buying console versions of games and buying the PC versions instead. While GTAIII on PS2 might have been a low-res chugging mess, GTAIII on PC at high resolutions, with AA/AF, at 60fps, made the game look less like another world and more like a video game. Suddenly you notice characters are made out of like 5 polygons and one big low-res texture. It was nice, but it sort of pulled you out of the ambiance.

One crime is having 3D characters rendered at super high resolutions running around a pre-rendered background originally drawn at a 320x240 resolution (PS1 FF games), or vice versa (Paper Mario 64). It just looks silly. Final Fantasy VII is a good example actually... when you're just walking around it looks terrible because your character and the NPCs are super sharp and clear, running around on a jagged mess. Then you go into battle, where the backgrounds become 3D, and it looks great.

On the other hand, sometimes it just looks superb. Sin & Punishment on N64 looks like someone puked on my TV when played on an actual N64... played at high resolution with filtering, it's incredible. R-Type Delta on PS1 at 1600x1200 with all the filtering turned on... oh my, that's the 3D side scroller of my dreams.

 

[Powerslave]

3D games, I more often than not find that super-high resolutions and AA/AF make some PS1/N64 games look once again quite unnatural. I actually found this out years ago when I stopped buying console versions of games and buying the PC versions instead. While GTAIII on PS2 might have been a low-res chugging mess, GTAIII on PC at high resolutions, with AA/AF, at 60fps, made the game look less like another world and more like a video game. Suddenly you notice characters are made out of like 5 polygons and one big low-res texture. It was nice, but it sort of pulled you out of the ambiance.

I understand what you mean. And thats why I always disliked the graphics of PC games in general. They are too clean and smooth and it just looks like something that you made yourself using 3DSMax. It takes out the charm.

 

[Pharmacy]

working on a new OP now

MAME / arcade titles usually benefit quite a bit from filters, HQ3x:

 

[Powerslave]

Absolutely none? Try this pack

Thanks, a lot of those work but emulators just aren't my thing. Too many glitches and errors. One screen will op up perfectly fine and crisp, the next misses objects and icons, fmv's are pixelated, random screen skippings, etc.

 

[ElectricBlue187]

I'll take watercolory mess over pixelated mess any day

 

[Gilgamesh]

YUCK. When you filter textures in Vagrant Story, it turns all the meticulous detail into a swimmy mess and makes the environments look like they're made out of cardboard. There's a LOT of depth and trickery in that game's textures that gets flattened out of existence when when you mess with things. Granted, the models look nicer at a higher resolution, but that game was made for low resolution and no filtering.

You're right, this looks WAY better.

 

[Pharmacy]

BRAND NEW OP WITH TONS OF NAMEDROPS AND PICTURES

 

[Cheeto]

You're right, this looks WAY better.

Thats what I call subtle beauty.

 

[FordStang]

Hq4x: I think looks the best. But i agree with one of the comments mentioned before, it should be determined by how sharply it makes each game. Just because it sharpens up one game does not mean it is going to have the same sharpness to another game. I think we just need to accept the fact that when we were young, games did not look like they look now (that might be an understatement). Honestly though, games were still fun back in the days.

 

[Powerslave]

BRAND NEW OP WITH TONS OF NAMEDROPS AND PICTURES

I like your style XD

 

[Barkley's Justice]

man the filtering on those 2d games look horrible. they distort the original art, even. looks like crap, imo. give me the crunchy, pixelated art any day, thank you.

 

[DaCocoBrova]

My preference:

 

[Mamesj]

working on a new OP now

MAME / arcade titles usually benefit quite a bit from filters, HQ3x:

What game is that?

 

[DaCocoBrova]

^

Sengoku 3 / Sengoku Denshou 2001 - Neo Geo (2001)

 

[zbarron]

Final Fantasy V SNES

 

[KevinCow]

My preference:

Fake scanlines? Seriously? Yuck.

 

[Tain]

Holy shit, this upscaling business is ridiculous

Nearest neighbour, original 1650x1050

Upscaled, with everything on 1650x1050

its beautiful

That's not just upscaling, though.

Semantics, yeah, I know, but it's a combination of upscaling and things that actually don't make games look ugly.

 

[Pharmacy]

Fake scanlines? Seriously? Yuck.

how else are you supposed to get scanlines using a fucking LCD monitor?

took some more off screen shots (regular screenshots wouldn't do the extra filter justice) using MAME 32 Plus! this time of Blue's Journey. Using HQ3x and RGB Tiny filter, which overlays the screen and makes it look like a proper arcadey old CRT screen

 

[Tain]

Fake scanlines? Seriously? Yuck.

Honestly, when they're upscaled properly, they do look better. Even on my CRT monitor I'll run some platforms at double the resolution with fake scanlines. 240p games were drawn with scanlines in mind and all that, and using mostly transparent fake ones, assuming they're properly aligned, can lead to a nice and subtle result.

Definitely prefer this:

to this:

Nothing beats honest low-res with a nice RGB monitor, but that's not always practical. And some emulators just can't do fake scanlines decently.

 

[nincompoop]

N64 retexture packs > *
Mario 64 retro pack:
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q56/qaopjlll/m64retro1.png
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q56/qaopjlll/m64retro2.gif
Mario 64 realistic pack:
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q56/qaopjlll/m64realistic1.gif
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q56/qaopjlll/m64realistic2.gif
Paper Mario:
http://i13.tinypic.com/6tm7xo3.gif
http://i19.tinypic.com/6o2hb36.png
(56k no)

 

[Crushed]

Old 3D rendered at a higher resolution with antialiasing and AAF = GOOD.

2D pixel art with (most) filters = UGH

Some of these screens (like the Yoshi sign from SMW) show the biggest problem: it's creating a weird mess that looks more like smudged pixels than what the original pixels were trying to depict. The original sign looked like a sign with straight edges, albeit pixelly. The hq4x sign looks like a wavy messed up sign. Colors that were made using the dithering of sharp pixels now look more like blurry checkerboards. Right edges become curved, objects meant to be square and straight look round and blobby.

 

[InterMoniker]

This thread fuckin rules. 2d "enhancements" kick ass too. I'm going to Tahoe right now but I have Metal Slug 2&3 on WinKawaks and it looks great with certain filters applied I wish I had time to take a pic. :/

 

[Baryn]

My preference:

Get on the trolley, man.

NTSC Mode:

Pure Output:

Retro:

 

[thefro]

Yoshi's Island looks real good filtered... not so for the rest of the 2D stuff.

Obviously it helps most of the PS1 games.

 

[stuminus3]

N64 retexture packs > *
Mario 64 retro pack:
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q56/qaopjlll/m64retro1.png
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q56/qaopjlll/m64retro2.gif
Mario 64 realistic pack:
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q56/qaopjlll/m64realistic1.gif
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q56/qaopjlll/m64realistic2.gif
Paper Mario:
http://i13.tinypic.com/6tm7xo3.gif
http://i19.tinypic.com/6o2hb36.png
(56k no)

Those Mario 64 shots made my eyes bleed... but Paper Mario looks great!

 

[Baryn]

N64 retexture packs > *
Mario 64 retro pack:
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q56/qaopjlll/m64retro1.png
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q56/qaopjlll/m64retro2.gif
Mario 64 realistic pack:
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q56/qaopjlll/m64realistic1.gif
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q56/qaopjlll/m64realistic2.gif
Paper Mario:
http://i13.tinypic.com/6tm7xo3.gif
http://i19.tinypic.com/6o2hb36.png
(56k no)

That's awesome! The Mario 64 packs are fun, but the Paper Mario pack actually improves the experience.

 

[drohne]

fake scanlines don't work for me. i don't think they adequately simulate the appearance of real scanlines -- i don't really notice them on a crt, but the filters are so obviously there

 

[Baryn]

fake scanlines don't work for me. i don't think they adequately simulate the appearance of real scanlines -- i don't really notice them on a crt, but the filters are so obviously there

Hence, NTSC filter, which does some blitting on the original pixels and post-processing on the picture.

 

[SnakeswithLasers]

Weren't some Metal Gear Solid shots coming? Or did I miss them...

 

[Tain]

People should just play the PC versions of stuff like FFVII and MGS if you want to see it looking better. You'll get higher resolutions, real AA, and perhaps most importantly, textures that don't fly all over the place. Something emulators can't do.

 

[Fuu]

People should just play the PC versions of stuff like FFVII and MGS if you want to see it looking better. You'll get higher resolutions, real AA, and perhaps most importantly, textures that don't fly all over the place. Something emulators can't do.

The first Metal Gear I've ever played was the PC version of Metal Gear Solid. I totally agree with you.

 

[Stop It]

People should just play the PC versions of stuff like FFVII and MGS if you want to see it looking better. You'll get higher resolutions, real AA, and perhaps most importantly, textures that don't fly all over the place. Something emulators can't do.

I have FFVII for PC, unfortunately I can't post pics with AA/AF applied as it causes the BG texture to turn into a pile of smeg, anyone with a Geforce FX or lower (With older drivers, 45.23 works well, using 2 x 2 AA via Rivatuner works best) or a Radeon 9xxx or lower could get away with it, apart from that, I'm going to find as many old games as poss to "upscale"

 

[Oblivion]

LOZ:OOT AA+AF, no hi res pack though:

(For example, this is a hi-res pack)

OOT Normal:

Is there any stable N64 emulator that can let you play that high res mode without sputtering?

 

[KittenMaster]

Many people argue that enhanced versions with scaling filters look better, and while they tend to make backgrounds look better, the sprites tend to look bubbly, and generally very ugly.

Scanlines do the best job at hiding pixelation, but at the cost of making the screen look darker.'

The first Metal Gear I've ever played was the PC version of Metal Gear Solid. I totally agree with you.

The PC version of Metal Gear Solid lacked the great cinematic motion blur that made scenes more intense.

 

[zbarron]

What settings do you use to have AA and texture filtering in epsxe?

 

[Stop It]

Right, some Quake 2, Original image at 1024 x 768, OpenGL, No AA/AF, basically the settings most people would have thought was "The bomb" when the game was first out, the uber settings = KMQuake2 a respecced engine of Q2, 1680 x 1050 (Yes, Widescreen), 6x AA + Temporal, and 16x AF, enjoy.

Uber Mode: