Graphics filters (ie. hq2x)

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I think summary explains it. I understand from overseeing OpenTyrianWii 
that stuff like HQ4X are ridiculous due to screen resolution of Wii, but 
would it be possible to add such filters to Genesis Plus GX? 
I'm amazed how much better Crue Ball looks with hq2x on Kega Fusion and 
was wondering why there is currently nothing of that sort on the Wii 
(besides bilinear filter).

Original issue reported on code.google.com by bpze@outlook.com on 22 Apr 2010 at 11:15

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Original comment by ekeeke31@gmail.com on 22 Apr 2010 at 2:25

• Changed title: Graphics filters (ie. hq2x)
• Changed state: Accepted
• Added labels: Priority-Low, Type-Enhancement

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Original comment by ekeeke31@gmail.com on 22 Apr 2010 at 2:25

• Added labels: EmulationFeature

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Original comment by ekeeke31@gmail.com on 25 May 2010 at 6:49

• Added labels: VideoEmulation
• Removed labels: EmulationFeature

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openbor has graphic filters maybe their source will help

Original comment by Gamewiza...@gmail.com on 25 Jun 2010 at 1:56

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OpenTyrian had graphic filters as well but the way they've implemented it, it 
doesn't work too well on the Wii in terms of speed and efficiency, this is why 
I'm not totally optimistic about this sort of thing happening, but if it is 
possible for eke-eke to implement such a function it'd make the emulator a real 
crown jewel, you know? :D

Original comment by bpze@outlook.com on 25 Jun 2010 at 4:59

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Thank you but most software filters are open-source and I already have the 
sourcecode for the ones I need (hq2x, scale2x, sai2x). 

That's said, I think original mode already IS the crown jewel for this 
emulator, it's something you cannot find on any other platform (incl. Xbox 
emulators I think, correct me if i'm wrong) and make all these destructive 
filters useless (providing your TV can support it off course hence why I'm 
planning to eventually add software filtering options). Personnaly it hurts my 
eyes when playing an emulator with HQ2X or Super Eagle enabled after having 
played on the real thing ;-)

Original comment by ekeeke31@gmail.com on 25 Jun 2010 at 6:39

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I dont have the real thing myself anymore since it refuses to turn on after 
plugging in the RF cable (which looks like it has a lot less prongs than what 
it should).
I can't say for Super Eagle but I mentioned Crue Ball before because it really 
does look better using HQ2X, I really think visually how it is depends on 
brightness settings of the PC, speed handling and the actual game itself 
(graphic filters wont make better graphics out of graphics that were crap to 
begin with).
As for XBOX Emulators, I wouldn't even try comparing this project to theirs - 
this one is clearly superior. It is easier to obtain and run (no hax needed to 
install homebrew) and is easier to set up and use, is still in development and 
probably has more functionality. A quick look at trying to get homebrew on my 
own XBOX some time ago showed that without even needing to get it running.

Original comment by bpze@outlook.com on 28 Jun 2010 at 6:12

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Couldn't agree more with comment 6. I use original (240p) mode with a Micomsoft 
XRGB-Mini and it's wonderful. In my view, a much better option would be for 
Genesis Plus to allow for the simulation of scanlines in 480p mode so that 
1080p LCD users can enjoy a more authentic look without necessarily having to 
buy an specialized upscaler. All it would need to do is to perform 
pixel-perfect 2x scaling and darken the odd lines, preferably with the 
brightness being under user control.

Original comment by kerfra...@gmail.com on 12 Apr 2012 at 12:28

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That's more-or-less the idea I had. Original mode is definitely the way to go 
but it looks nasty IMHO on newer TVs especially ones with that weird 
interpolation thing. Not sure why that happens because nothing else looks 
interpolated but the games and stuff tend to show afterimages as a result. 
Probably a local issue but I imagine some more options to tinker with couldn't 
hurt.

Original comment by bpze@outlook.com on 12 Apr 2012 at 1:37

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There are various problems that can occur with modern TVs. Ideally, a 1080p TV 
should upscale in a linear fashion i.e. neatly doubling 480 pixels to 960 and 
vertically centering. On Sony models that is possible provided that one sets 
"Display Area" to +1. Otherwise, it will vertically stretch to 1080 and that's 
really not desirable in terms of trying to preserve the nuances of 240p 
graphics, *especially* when scanlines are being emulated (even if the scaling 
is good, artifacts will occur in many games). I think another issue is that 
some TVs treat 240p as 480i and apply crappy de-interlacing where it is simply 
not necessary, leading to strange effects. I've seen evidence of that when 
using the SCART input on my Sony TV, whereas 480p over component is fine.

In any case, the Wii is effectively limited to 480p and there's no magic that 
an emulator can pull off to fix a bad TV. Still, the mechanics of having an 
emulator line-doubling the framebuffer and inserting pixel-perfect scanlines 
prior to output aren't overly complex though. That would be great for anyone 
with a half-decent TV without having to splash out for a Micomsoft upscaler 
like I did ;) I really wish that more emulator authors would take care of these 
nuances. Hats off to eke-eke for being ahead of the curve and supporting true 
240p in all his emulators. The only other emulator I know of that gets it right 
is wii-mednafen.

Original comment by kerfra...@gmail.com on 12 Apr 2012 at 3:11

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For a somewhat CRT-like experience, I suggest looking into this thread: 
http://board.byuu.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=147

Some of the samples, especially in the first post, look amazing, and the look 
should be preferable to simple scanlines. I still haven't seen a real 
filter/shader that replicates this look, but if any coder is interested it 
would be really awesome if he/she could pull it off. I find filters that try to 
curve the picture odd though. I still won't use the CRT TV that I have because 
the flat glass on top of the curved glass makes it look odd.

Original comment by swsparkl...@gmail.com on 9 Jul 2012 at 3:17

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Re: Comment 11 - that's an interesting filter but I don't see how it can be 
implemented in a Wii emulator because it relies upon being able to scale the 
original image by 3x. If the Wii happened to support 720p, it would be a 
different matter (3 x 240 = 720).

Original comment by kerfra...@gmail.com on 9 Jul 2012 at 3:27

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I'm not a coder, nor a painter, by any means, but this sample includes 
phosphor2x: http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/627/phosphornxgng.png

That should theoretically work for 240 games upscaled to 480, if the number of 
pixels is doubled, although how it will work in practice considering there is 
no real filter/shader that is actually usable in an emulator yet and that 
replicates this well (That I'm aware of), I don't know. Having it relatively 
flexible could also make a difference, since some games use a smaller 
resolution than 320x240, plus the fact that pretty much all LCD's that are 
released today are 16:9, and 480p in widescreen is 720x480 if I'm not mistaken.

Original comment by swsparkl...@gmail.com on 9 Jul 2012 at 4:00

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Ah, I didn't notice that there was a 2x variant! Yes, that would work with 480p 
- assuming the Wii has the horsepower to pull it off. The sample looks quite 
good, given the limited resolution. If you try that particular filter with a PC 
based emulator running at 640x480 over VGA, it should be a good indicator of 
what an implementation might look like on the Wii.

16:19 support on the Wii is anamorphic; the display merely stretches the image 
along the horizontal axis if configured to do so. That's neither useful nor 
desirable for emulation of 240p consoles. The maximum framebuffer resolution 
remains the same which, if I recall correctly, can be 640x528 at the most.

Original comment by kerfra...@gmail.com on 9 Jul 2012 at 4:52

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Yes, if there's an implementation for RetroArch I could definitely try it on my 
PC. Component is almost as good as VGA, plus there's a port of Genesis Plus GX 
for RetroArch, so that should certainly be quite an accurate indicator of what 
it might look like. And I agree that the sample looks good even with 2x, 
definitely better than plain bilinear filtering or scanlines.

Oh, I never noticed. I'm always using the 16:9 mode if I can, and the games 
that support it don't look stretched or anything to me (Rather they look like 
they are in a higher resolution), and menus in some games for example seem to 
have more unused space in 16:9 mode. Maybe there's some sort of compensation 
going on? Or I just didn't analyze it enough. Anyway, if what you're saying is 
true then it would indeed not be useful or desirable. There are still games 
that are in a lower resolution than 320x240 though. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for 
example uses a lower resolution with different proportions in the special 
stages, and this I think would normally be stretched to 4:3 on an SDTV. I just 
thought it'd be good to mention this, since a lot of filters in emulators seem 
to break whenever an "odd" resolution is used. I've seen this with SNES 
emulators whenever a game goes into "hi-res" mode for example.

Original comment by swsparkl...@gmail.com on 10 Jul 2012 at 10:14

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Original comment by ekeeke31@gmail.com on 12 Jul 2012 at 8:32

• Changed state: Standby

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Re: Comment 15, for confirmation that 16:9 mode is not a good thing, look at 
eke-eke's comments in Issue 24 and Issue 66. In native Wii games that support 
it, what you get is an increased field of vision but not an increased 
resolution (the opposite, in effect). That's a reasonable tradeoff for 3D games.

Original comment by kerfra...@gmail.com on 28 Jul 2012 at 12:14

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You're probably right. I guess I haven't been paying enough attention to 
notice. I won't change the setting for my native Wii games though because the 
16:9 proportions outweigh the benefit of using a higher resolution in this 
case. I can see how 16:9 would be bad for MD emulation however, since they are 
originally made in 4:3.

Original comment by swsparkl...@gmail.com on 30 Jul 2012 at 6:23

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There's a modified version of the Retroarch port that supports scanlines via an 
overlay:

https://gbatemp.net/threads/retroarch-wii-updated-cores-and-stuff.362826/

I tried out the genplus-gx core in this version, using the "scanlines.png" 
overlay. With the resolution set to 640x480p in retroarch, the results are 
really good for as long as the image is still. Unfortunately, there are scaling 
artifacts as soon as there is any motion, especially along the vertical axis. I 
wasn't surprised because scaling is handled really badly in the Wii port. 
Still, it is a tantalizing example of what might be possible if it were 
implemented correctly.

Original comment by kerfra...@gmail.com on 14 Nov 2014 at 1:05