i prefer to play them in the way the art was drawn, so no, 100%.
(i get your point but come on, it's not like CRT filters are some sort of objective representation)
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Do you use CRT filters when you play retro games?
- Thread starter Leo
- Start date
i prefer to play them in the way the art was drawn, so no, 100%.
(i get your point but come on, it's not like CRT filters are some sort of objective representation)
I usually don't, but recently I found myself being fond of the CTR filter used in SNES mini and the Switch NES and SNES online apps
It's also a must for PSX at native or double res.
It's also a must for PSX at native or double res.
I try to use them as much as I can. I don't tend to like the implementation that most retro game releases use though so I may skip them there. I go for it when I have the power to tweak it how I want in retroarch.
All CRTs were different so it's not an exact science but these games were built for this technology and I'd rather have them displayed as close as possible to how originally intended like with that transparency effect Sonic used for waterfalls.
All CRTs were different so it's not an exact science but these games were built for this technology and I'd rather have them displayed as close as possible to how originally intended like with that transparency effect Sonic used for waterfalls.
OP
OP
Alright, I guess I'm gonna try shifting to scanlines always and see how I feel about it.
I have a SNES hooked up to my lcd TV, I wish there was a cheap way to make that look better / add filters. It never really bothered me with my past TVs, but this one is my first 4k, and it seems that the higher the resolution of the TV, the worst 480p content look. It's horrendous right now, but I bear with it cause nothing beats the feeling of playing on a real SNES.
I have a SNES hooked up to my lcd TV, I wish there was a cheap way to make that look better / add filters. It never really bothered me with my past TVs, but this one is my first 4k, and it seems that the higher the resolution of the TV, the worst 480p content look. It's horrendous right now, but I bear with it cause nothing beats the feeling of playing on a real SNES.
lol classy
When I was playing my games on the Amiga using my TV I often laughed at PC users with crispier monitors. Even though they were CRT as well, you could easily see pixels in the games which, at least to my eye, looked much worse than games on a regular TV. Going back to these games without filters is a pain because I feel as if I played PC ports and not Amiga ports. In other words, I have to use filters. Unfortunately, I did not find one that looks "exactly" like real TV, but they are definitely much better than no filters. I would love to have a real CRT to play the games, but I don't have space for it, so I doubt I will ever buy one.
If I want pixelated pixel art, I can always play modern indie games ;)
If I want pixelated pixel art, I can always play modern indie games ;)
Scanlines on 32-bit games and older are essential to making them look right IMO. 2D games especially, as they were nearly always drawn using scanlines as part of the art composition.
I don't like shader-based CRT filters that apply curvature and discolouration effects though, I think those go too far and look pretty bad. If I'm emulating something on a modern TV, I like my retro games to look like I'm playing on a perfect PVM or CRT flatscreen connected by the best RGB cable money can buy, not the shit, old telly you got from your gran with a composite cable, and really I just need a decent scanline filter for that. You can probably go further with a light shader filter, but I don't think it's worth it and I don't miss those 'flaws'.
I don't like shader-based CRT filters that apply curvature and discolouration effects though, I think those go too far and look pretty bad. If I'm emulating something on a modern TV, I like my retro games to look like I'm playing on a perfect PVM or CRT flatscreen connected by the best RGB cable money can buy, not the shit, old telly you got from your gran with a composite cable, and really I just need a decent scanline filter for that. You can probably go further with a light shader filter, but I don't think it's worth it and I don't miss those 'flaws'.
Scanlines yes. Pixel art looks so much better on an SD CRT but scanlines (and similar filters) are the closest to that experience.
I'd imagine the preference depends whether you grew up doing 8/16 bit gaming on CRTs or not.
I'd imagine the preference depends whether you grew up doing 8/16 bit gaming on CRTs or not.
They don't make them look worse though. Scanlines massively reduce the harshness of the low resolution pixels and trick your brain in to thinking it's more detailed than it really is, as your brain fills in the gaps. It's why CRTs look like they're outputting a higher resolution than they actually are, and (black levels and motion aside) why LCD seemed like such a downgrade in the early days before HD.
I prefer to them, but a huge amount of games have absolutely crap implementations of it, so I usually leave them off.
M2's Metal Slug 2 port is probably the best I've seen when it comes to scanlines.
M2's Metal Slug 2 port is probably the best I've seen when it comes to scanlines.
Yeah, of course. The games were made with CRTs in mind, they look wrong in the literal sense of the word without it.
I do wish the Switch Online filter was less blurry though.
The sad part about this is this is all wrong. Without a filter, you actually are getting the wrong aspect ratio for a lot of systems, and seeing sharp pixels is a problem, since you are not supposed to focus on the pixels, but instead on the art the pixels are making. Not using a CRT filter is like refusing to watch a movie without black bars, cause they bother you, even if you are messing up the movie by removing them.
It's not like listening to music on vinyl for nostalgia, it's actually more like playing something in the wrong format.
I do wish the Switch Online filter was less blurry though.
The sad part about this is this is all wrong. Without a filter, you actually are getting the wrong aspect ratio for a lot of systems, and seeing sharp pixels is a problem, since you are not supposed to focus on the pixels, but instead on the art the pixels are making. Not using a CRT filter is like refusing to watch a movie without black bars, cause they bother you, even if you are messing up the movie by removing them.
It's not like listening to music on vinyl for nostalgia, it's actually more like playing something in the wrong format.
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It depends how good they are. 90%+ of scanline filters in commercial products are complete junk that look nothing like what a CRT would display (dark, blurry, too thick) so I usually leave them off. Even M2 can't seem to get this right.
I love the hybrid scanlines on my OSSC however.
I love the hybrid scanlines on my OSSC however.
I've played on PC CRT monitors for the most part where scanlines weren't even present most of the time even in low resolutions so I see them as degradation only, nothing more.
Nah. CRT-Royale in general works best at 4K tho. But Aperture grille emulation will work at 1080p.
I'm talking about the SD interlaced CRT TVs not PC CRT monitors.
My God, this looks amazing!mostly stuck with default settings and 2x scanlines and a Panny Plasma TV
SF 30th Anniversary Collection tested SF 3Rd Strike with and without CRT filter and it looks much better with the CRT filter so it depends on the game and quality of CRT filter
I think they look universally pretty terrible but I get why some people like them.
Those smoothing filters like the ones the Mega Man X collection had (and I think defaulted to?) also are the wooooorst
At least this we can all agree on.
Those smoothing filters like the ones the Mega Man X collection had (and I think defaulted to?) also are the wooooorst
I prefer dem pixels as sharp as possible, it makes me appreciate more the effort put into sprite art.
But to be fair, choosing the "sharp pixels" option right away is easier than trying all the CRT filters one by one and seeing which one is more to the liking.
But to be fair, choosing the "sharp pixels" option right away is easier than trying all the CRT filters one by one and seeing which one is more to the liking.
Some of them are pretty decent nowadays if you combine them with a quality lcd/oled set. Still a long ways to go compared to a good trinitron or pvm but better than your average, run of the mill crt.
It's mandatory to me. I wish more stuff released on the GC/Xbox/PS2 era had an option for the CRT filter on digital releases. My Gamecube games looks so much better with scanlines on my CRT.
Yeah I usually use scanlines, however, the one on the Genesis Mini makes the screen way too dark. The one on the SNES classic as well as the Switch NES/SNES stuff is good.
Not all CRT filters are created equal. Ones that that add blur to smear the screen to emulate old CRT TVs like the SNES Switch online service and the Contra collection are generally awful for me.
However, give me ones that emulate those professional monitors with no blur all day, everyday, and I'll prefer it over raw pixels every time.
However, give me ones that emulate those professional monitors with no blur all day, everyday, and I'll prefer it over raw pixels every time.
The Gameboy one is the gb-dmg shader in RetroArch. Load up a core/game and go to Shaders > Load Preset > shaders_cg > Handheld > console border and pick one of the gb-dmg ones. Then back out a menu, and go to Options, and change the palette. The last step will make it look more like the screenshot above.
Looking nice
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A lot of PAL TVs didn't have any obvious scanlines, I think people mis-remember seeing them.
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I was gonna say no one could possibly do this, but we already had someone in this thread haha
If they're well implemented, sure. I modded my NES Classic for the express purpose of being able to use scanlines without having to use that shitty CRT blur filter alongside it.
It's funny, I used to actually hate scanlines, but then Sonic Mania's incredible CRT filter came around and I've been spoiled ever since.
It's funny, I used to actually hate scanlines, but then Sonic Mania's incredible CRT filter came around and I've been spoiled ever since.
Holy fuck, Crazy Castle 2. I completely forgot about this series.The Gameboy one is the gb-dmg shader in RetroArch. Load up a core/game and go to Shaders > Load Preset > shaders_cg > Handheld > console border and pick one of the gb-dmg ones. Then back out a menu, and go to Options, and change the palette. The last step will make it look more like the screenshot above.
Looking nice
If I can get scanlines that scale nicely on the display, sure.
I don't use much else. As long as there's a square pixel option I'm usually happy. Yes I know CRT TVs didn't have square pixels for a lot of 240p consoles but I don't mind the look.
A lot of CRT filters really pale in comparison to what was available in PC emulators going back ten years ago, and are broadly in line with what was available twenty years ago.
I haven't touched emulators on PC in a while but I know that they have much better options than the kind of vaseline RF filters that end up on stuff nowadays. It's crazy how bad they can look.
Mega Man Legacy Collection I'm looking straight at you. You look so bad on Switch.
I don't use much else. As long as there's a square pixel option I'm usually happy. Yes I know CRT TVs didn't have square pixels for a lot of 240p consoles but I don't mind the look.
A lot of CRT filters really pale in comparison to what was available in PC emulators going back ten years ago, and are broadly in line with what was available twenty years ago.
I haven't touched emulators on PC in a while but I know that they have much better options than the kind of vaseline RF filters that end up on stuff nowadays. It's crazy how bad they can look.
Mega Man Legacy Collection I'm looking straight at you. You look so bad on Switch.
Not always a fan of them. Most implementations don't accomplish what they set out to do, and their usage feels on the performative side. Most of them appear to be composite (or god forbid... RF) filters with slapdash scanlines laid over them, and they do little more than hurt the image quality. I prefer my pixels clean in most cases. There are exceptions, like games that make excessive use of dithering, or (the opposite end of the spectrum) games where the artists simply didn't really know what they were doing and just created a lot of pixell-y noise. Composite or RF blurring and bleeding can help in those cases, especially on colour-starved systems. If I have a choice, I usually still prefer the clarity of RGB though. Their cleaner edges makes games easier on my eyes, which helps if you're sensitive to headaches. Especially if it's a game where I'll have to do a bunch of reading.
The thing I find more important, are aspect ratios. Even people who mean well stumble here at times. There's no one-size-fits-all solution here unfortunately. Some games clearly took the stretching to 4:3 in mind when making their assets, while others didn't. You can probably tell pretty quickly which game did or didn't from looking at the circles in those games. If objects that were obviously meant to be round look stretched out, like a sun, moon, wheel, or morph ball, you'll want to fiddle around a bit.
The thing I find more important, are aspect ratios. Even people who mean well stumble here at times. There's no one-size-fits-all solution here unfortunately. Some games clearly took the stretching to 4:3 in mind when making their assets, while others didn't. You can probably tell pretty quickly which game did or didn't from looking at the circles in those games. If objects that were obviously meant to be round look stretched out, like a sun, moon, wheel, or morph ball, you'll want to fiddle around a bit.