MAMEWorld Forums - EmuChat - Re: MAME 0.172 bgfx

> Thanks for the reply.
>
> With respect, the video mode can be changed "all the time" within the UI, you simply
> set the default to whatever you want.
>
> So making it default to BGFX is possible - but what I don't get is that menu option
> when I do so.
>
> I might be off-the-wall here, but I'd have thought that now a UI is built in, its
> feature set would mirror anything done from the command-line. They ought to go
> hand-in-hand. Why would they let them diverge? Isn't this the very essence of having
> a built in UI?
>
> I realize people get upset when I write such things, but it just seems to me to be
> absurd to expect, in 2016, people to use the command line. It's not a lack of
> expertise in executing code from the CMD Prompt that is the issue, it's just old
> school for no reason. It's horribly inefficient.
>
> Just my 2 cents.
>
> EDIT: I just checked MAMEUIFX64 for .171, and under "Open GL Shaders" it allows you
> to choose various groups of shadows..... it's the kind of thing I'd of thought
> belonged in the Mame UI.......

I don't disagree. But you have to understand that bgfx showed up in the master branch on git a week ago. And MooglyGuy has only written the hlsl shader chain so far (well also an unfiltered shader chain and a bilinear filtering chain). So there aren't really other "effects" yet to choose from.

Even this week, he has been changing the way basic features work...specifying render target sizes, etc. And then having to edit all the json shader files to match. And fixing the NTSC filter. He really did a great job just getting a fully functioning system up and running in time for 0.172.

So it's not like people are disagreeing with you about having options in the UI. It's just that there hasn't been time for that to happen yet. The command line options barely exist right now!

My bet is that once we have shader chains implementing some more effects (like scale2x, hqx, etc) and those are shipped with MAME, that UI options for selecting the shader will appear. But that's just my guess.

Also, BTW, I think there was a little confusion in the earlier conversation. The hlsl shader chain has a number of sliders to control the effects. One of the sliders is simply "Enable Adjustments". So in order to see that you must have already loaded a game with the "hlsl" shader chain. Only then will you have the "Enable Adjustments" slider. It's not a general "enable my bgfx shader" thing. It's just an option in that particular shader chain that shows up once that specific shader: "hlsl" is already loaded and running. So if you loaded some other effect you wouldn't see a "Enable Adjustments" slider at all. Even if you were running BGFX and a shader you wouldn't necessarily have the slider. So you're right that there is really very little ui side support for all this stuff right now. And none at all for selecting a specific bgfx shader chain right now.