This is quite a big update that mainly changes the size used for render targets and re-introduces the correct usage of texture coordinates instead screen coordinates by the shaders.
Refactored render targets
HLSL now uses NPOT sized render targets (this breaks the compatibility with graphics cards based on R300/R400/NV30, anno 2005 and older) HLSL render targets now have the exact size of the screen removed HLSL pre-scale factor improved overall performance (based on the previously required pre-scale factor, you might notice a 5-50% speed-up depending on your graphics card, more if you used a higher pre-scale factor) improved shadow mask quality (pixel-perfect) in screen-mode HLSL now uses a sharp bi-linear interpolation to pre-scale textures to screen size, based on [Themaister's] implementation added proper texture coordinates to vector screen quad removed ./hlsl/artwork_support folder (the default shaders supports artworks again) known issue: cocktail mode for vector screen looks wrong
Improved scanline simulation
changed the amount of scanline darkness, a setting of 1.0 now becomes fully black (to get the same result as before half your current setting) added scanline variation, which makes the scanline height dependent on the brightness of the underlying color the amount of the scanline brightness and overdrive now depends on the scanline darkness renamed 'Scanline Screen Height' to 'Scanline Screen Scale' and 'Scanline Indiv. Height' to 'Scanline Height'
Refactored bloom
fixed dimensions of bloom targets, which results in a much better alignment especially for games with very low resolution (therefore current bloom settings might look a little less intense than before) reduced blur width for raster screen added usage of shadow u/v option for source tile mode
HLSL presets
added general presets for raster and vector screens added example presets for Game Boy (monochrome LCD) and Game Boy Advance (color LCD) options are now reset to loaded preset when game is closed
MAME Testers #06144: Fixed infinite loop
fixed infinite loop while building slider list, when more than one window was created
p.s. The fix for #06144 is more of a workaround, because it doesn't achieve the intended functionality, but at least the application does not freeze anymore
As I noticed tonight that on .168 and .171, there was no vector bloom. vector_bloom_scale is not in the ini for, say Tempest, with those; and increasing bloom_scale had no effect. It's not my hardware, because .157 still has bloom. And so I came here to ask. Waiting with slightly baited breath to see the new features....
> As I noticed tonight that on .168 and .171, there was no vector bloom. > vector_bloom_scale is not in the ini for, say Tempest, with those; and increasing > bloom_scale had no effect. It's not my hardware, because .157 still has bloom. And so > I came here to ask. Waiting with slightly baited breath to see the new features....
There is no vector_bloom or vector_bloom_scale anymore. Jezze decided to merge the different bloom settings, into a single bloom_scale that works for both- raster and vector games. The intention was to organize the HLSL settings more and to make room for new HLSL options, rather than having a huge list of parameters, that would only scare people to use HLSL at all.
Too bad that isn't really what a gameboy looks like. You get darkening light parts of a row/column with lots of black pixels, not fuzzy area darkening like that screenshot shows.
> > You get darkening light parts of a row/column with lots of black pixels, not fuzzy > area darkening like that screenshot shows. > > You might be right, but I've never seen a high quality image, that I could use as > reference. My own good old fellow Game Boy died long ago; R.I.P. > > So, I rely on your feedback, which would be highly appreciated.
I'm sure ths is is far from high enough quality but damn this is hard to photograph. I tried my scanner first and the LCD looked blurry. I then tried my cell phone camera. I don't have enough decent light. It's getting dark outside now. Sunshine would be best with a real camera. Maybe I'll try again in a few days...
Well I'll tell you what. My eyesight is no as good as it used to be. Even though I could hardly see the display, I was able to finish a B game of Tetris, Level 9 - 5 High. I got to see the space shuttle launch. :-)
My brother-in-law bought a semi-pro camera that can take really sharp and detailed pictures. The details on a 4K picture from it is breathtaking. He paid 700 dollars for it. Money well spent. I'll ask the brand/model of the camera when I see him again.
> > yes, vector preset looks awesome. > > Any screenshots of Asteroids Deluxe ? > > Man it looks really awesome when everything is in motion > > http://imgur.com/NG6lX0j
I don't know man, I don't remember the saucers being blown out like that........ Same thing with Asteroids. Trail on the shots looks good, but the saucers not so much, imo.
> I just got the vector.ini preset from MAME git to test with MAME 0.171. > I really looks amazing. > > And it seems HLSL is not raping GPU usage like previous MAME builds. GPU usage stays > at around 35%... it used to be 70% with HLSL enabled.
That was users' fault turning the prescale up too high; Jezze took that option out of their hands and voila
> You have to see it for yourself and everything in motion to fully appreciate it. > > And if you don't like the presets then you're free to make your own settings and > adjust sliders as you wish.
I did try it. It looks all wrong to me. I'm not complaining, just saying. I owned an original Asteroids cab, and playing it with these settings is wrong, imo. As I said, the saucers are blown out and therefore indistinct on my rig.
Same with, say, Black Widow with these settings, it's not right, imo. Take a look at the reds, I don't remember vector games being blurry like that (actually I think it's a case of overdoing Bloom in Mame, could be wrong......)
Still, if people like it, then it's all good. I did indeed turn things down, and appreciate the choice to have it or not.
> You tried it compiling from GIT? Trying it on 0.171 is not good enough.
Perhaps that's the problem. I just tried the settings in .171.
Not saying my opinion is the "right one" at all - just making an observation. Testing as I did, the saucers on Asteroids were indistinct, whereas they should be clear, but brighter than the Asteroids themselves.
> > You tried it compiling from GIT? Trying it on 0.171 is not good enough. > > Perhaps that's the problem. I just tried the settings in .171. > > Not saying my opinion is the "right one" at all - just making an observation. Testing > as I did, the saucers on Asteroids were indistinct, whereas they should be clear, but > brighter than the Asteroids themselves. > > Probably a build issue......
I know what your talking about. Should be transparent brightness level on some of those lines. Like a ghost. I seen those lines on the machines before.
Example here. Transparent overlay lines. It like connecting the dots. Sorry about the colors aren't correct ones. This will do anyway.
You can actually see this when you don't have the HLSL turn on. Or just gotta mess with the settings on the HLSL.
> Thanks sky25es and redk9258 for your photos. > > Maybe you like these settings better. I'm not sure it I made the colors right, but > feel free to adjust them.
Thanks. Look good man. Yellow version look good as well. I will keep those in different folder.
Wow! Very nice! the pattern is accurate. The colors to an 90%. If you don't mind, as soon as I have some time, I'll try to adjust them a bit more...
Edit: After comparing it on a big lcd screen, I have to say that the colors are pretty accurate (I tried it the first time on my laptop). Thanks again Jezze
Oops. Sorry, my fault. Maybe I'm really color blind. I'm pretty sure now that it should be purple, no?
Now seriously, under a bright light source, as I already stated before, it looks pretty greenish. The picture above doesn't reflect this 100%. It's just a matter of taste. If you don't like it, then use another preset or you can just make your own and share it with us all
> > You think that you can come up with this color? No I didn't mark on it. > > See this one shows ghosting in the light pixels of a column containing a lot of > black. That's what the red circle is highlighting.
Yep I know. Does that on the older arcade games screen too. Just a sign of wearing out on the pixels. Depend how long it been used. That screen will burn out. No telling when. It can last longer without the light.
> Thanks sky25es and redk9258 for your photos. > > Maybe you like these settings better. I'm not sure it I made the colors right, but > feel free to adjust them.
> > > You think that you can come up with this color? No I didn't mark on it. > > > > See this one shows ghosting in the light pixels of a column containing a lot of > > black. That's what the red circle is highlighting. > > Yep I know. Does that on the older arcade games screen too. Just a sign of wearing > out on the pixels. Depend how long it been used. That screen will burn out. No > telling when. It can last longer without the light.
The same thing doesn't happen on CRTs. It's got nothing to do with pixels wearing out. It's got to do with how the matrix scanning works on LCDs.
made junction points of overlapping vector lines more intense by extending the lines with their width adjusted gameboy.ini preset to be more greenish than yellowish added hlsl_oversampling option to render the image in a resolution twice as high, which can help to reduces moiré-effects
I just compiled to check out the latest changes. Vector games are looking so awesome now.
Also, I notice most users can simply create a fresh mame.ini and just add the preset ini files to the ini folder and they have a very nice look without really needing to change anything. Of course more advanced users can make changes as they see fit.
To be honest, and please don't anyone take this as an attack on anyone's efforts, those screenshots don't look much different than I got in .171.
Look at the saucer in the first screenshot - it's a white blob, there's no definition.
Black Widow shouldn't have those white dots, and the vector lines have lost definition and look blurred.
The tie fighter in Star Wars suffers in much the same way as the saucer in Asteroids.
I'm a strong believer in people enjoying these games in any way they like, but for me - based on the screenshots - the screenshots don't look like their arcade cousins. The beauty, for me, of Vector games was their clean appearance, this takes them a step away from that, imo.
Still, each to their own, and the only way to know is to try it on your own rig......
I notice the dark lines is going up/down rather than going across the screen. Light lines going across the screen. Make the video screen bigger. You will see the lines much better.
Using the CRT-geom-halation. Forget about it. Only put out dark lines across the screen. I don't think anyone vert it to up/down yet.
> > https://github.com/mamedev/mame/pull/758 > > > > More changes went in boyz!!! > > > > Next release will be very awesome > > Woot! GBA and Wonderswan perfect. > > Copy from gba.ini to wswan.ini
Gives really good results for Sega Game Gear too (compare with THIS)
The over-bright issue I previously mentioned is there - but only when the saucer moves vertically. If it moves horizontally, then it is as it should be.
> The over-bright issue I previously mentioned is there - but only when the saucer > moves vertically. If it moves horizontally, then it is as it should be. > > Is this a limitation of some kind?
This is due to the phosphor effect. In the vertical the saucer does not have much black spaces compared to the horizontal. The phosphor effect fills these small vertical spaces and the saucer appears brighter if it moves vertical.
Setting phosphor r,g,b to 0.25 instead of 0.5 should help.