/vr/ - Retro Games

Old thread:
http://archive.foolz.us/vr/thread/1500765/#1500765

Info:
http://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/Shaders_and_Filters

PS1 has a lot of problems with 3D. It is not a true 3D GPU in that sense, since it takes a lot of shortcuts. These issues become more obvious. Also HD is mostly an option only in HLE video renderers, and HLE removes dithering, which was used in these games as shading.

>>1506721

I do too. Instead of nearest neighbor for scaling, I try something like CRT Geom. It looks similar to how it looked originally. Especially if you have some distance. Shaders are not perfect, and they will improve when we get displays with more resolution. But I prefer them, and the increased accuracy of emulators like Mednafen over HLE HD.

>>1489729
>>1489727

1. Xenogears is not the prettiest game ever. This is not the best example to use.

2. It's somewhat apples and oranges. You're using native internal resolution THEN upscaling with nearest neighbor. This is not how it would be displayed at all.

3. PS1 HD is primative as hell and takes tons of shortcuts. These are exasperated in HD. The constantly wobbling textures are a complete nuisance. PS1 HD can look good in screenshots, but NOT in action. If it could upscale fine, I'd be all for it.

Upscaled N64 is fine, since it is a true 3D GPU and doesn't take the same kind of shortcuts.

4. Shaders can approximate the quality of the original display. People whine because they are jaggies or have lines, or less detail. The original game had jaggies, and shaders like CRT Geom reduce the pixilization dramatically when compared to Nearest Neighbor. The game's details are viewable just fine, if they are close to the screen. The lines are not visible if using a few feet distance when viewing.

5. Shaders will only improve as displays improve. More pixels = better shaders. Shaders are the future. Upscaled PS1 is the past. Especially since there's been so few HLE plugins for the PS1. People gave up after Pete's it seems.

6. Upscaling does nothing for 2D elements. Many of these old games are 2D/3D mixes. And we're never going to get HD sprites. With a nice shader, 2D elements can look pretty good upscaled in HD. Look at text and menus in this shot. It's pretty damn good.

6. HLE plugins remove dithering, which was used for shading. Games that relied heavily on it, like Silent Hill look MASSIVELY different in LLE vs. HLE emulators because of this.

>>1471823