Scanlines?

[KroeboCop]

I play most of my 2d games from Steam with my SLG 3000 and the iScan HD+ so I can get scanlines, I normally go to the exe file and force it to run in 640x480, but if I do it with this game, the screen goes black :=( Does anyone had any luck with this?

[Slurp Dog CDXX]

You know unless you have the world's worst TV, or are playing through the viewfinder of a digital camera, you can't actually see scan lines in real life, right?

I can't for the life of me figure why people like these weird CRT filters. It just makes the game look like ass. CRT TVs don't actually look like that.

[sethsez]

Originally posted by Legume Duprix:

You know unless you have the world's worst TV, or are playing through the viewfinder of a digital camera, you can't actually see scan lines in real life, right?

I can't for the life of me figure why people like these weird CRT filters. It just makes the game look like ass. CRT TVs don't actually look like that.

Yeah, I agree with this. Any decent CRT monitor won't have easily visible scanlines, and if it does, it'll have a variety of other visual distortions as well. There are benefits to emulating the look of an old CRT for older games, since a lot of times they'd rely on those technical quirks to blend colors for systems with limited palettes or fake transparency (Ristar on the Genesis is a good example of both of these), but again, scanlines alone do neither of those. It's cargo cult retro gaming.

More to the point, with this game there's really no reason for it. The arcade original might have been on a CRT, but the HD version with redone sprites was designed for modern displays. All you'd be doing is taking an intentionally sharp image and putting some lines over it.

[shockdudeX]

You can force 640x480 using GeDoSaTo. In fact, doing so is actually really nice since that allows Mushihimesama to run at fullscreen native resolution without distorted pixels.
What's even better is forcing 1280x960 (2x 640x480) for super-sharp undistorted pixels.

[KroeboCop]

Pls, don't post if you don't know what you are talking about. The SLG 3000 isn't like those scanline filters you can get in some emulators, it is generating real scanlines. I have already seen this game with scanlines and it look great, because it works then it is in window mode, but not in fullscreen mode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLf-6nRQoxc

[Elegnaim]

Originally posted by Legume Duprix:

You know unless you have the world's worst TV, or are playing through the viewfinder of a digital camera, you can't actually see scan lines in real life, right?

I can't for the life of me figure why people like these weird CRT filters. It just makes the game look like ass. CRT TVs don't actually look like that.

My CRT TV has discernible /vertical/ lines. You can see this up-close, alone with the individual square... pixels, I guess? Neither are that noticeable if I'm two feet away from the screen though.

I don't recall ever seeing anything like horizontal scanlines on any CRT TV I've ever owned.

[KroeboCop]

Originally posted by shockdudeX:

You can force 640x480 using GeDoSaTo. In fact, doing so is actually really nice since that allows Mushihimesama to run at fullscreen native resolution without distorted pixels.
What's even better is forcing 1280x960 (2x 640x480) for super-sharp undistorted pixels.

Thanks I try that.☺

Then I play on my friends Taito Egret or SEGA Astro city, it look amazing with the scanlines. If people can't see the scanlines, then my guess is that you are using that awful RF or composite signal, it makes the color bleed.

[sethsez]

Originally posted by KroeboCop:

The SLG 3000 isn't like those scanline filters you can get in some emulators, it is generating real scanlines.

Real scanlines are a function of the monitor, anything else is faked by default. It is an analog box that skips every other line in the image, which might give a more pleasing image than a software filter but is no more authentic.

And again, scanlines are only one part of what makes a CRT a CRT. They're the part retro junkies have clung to, but the technology is more complex than that.

[AwesamLinux]

You can definitely see visible scanlines on most Arcade games. I think anyone claiming otherwise has not actually seen Caves games running on an actual arcade monitor/machine.

Howefer the scanline filters in ported/emulated games that try to mimic it, often do not look anything like the real thing. The scanlines in actual CRT monitors are pixel/line perfect, often emulating filters divide pixels making it immediately look inaccurate. The scanlines should also be a gradient not a sharp contrast, hence why even a 1080p LCD monitor is struggling to have enough resolution to reproduce it.

And then we also have the vignetting, contrast and vibrant color of CRT's that are difficult to reproduce on common LCD's.

Simply put the reason why scanline filters and such look bad and fake, is because they are fake and really don't look accurate to the real thing. My opinion is that to even be able to semi-accurately emulate the scanlines of a 480p game on a LCD monitor you need at least 3x the vertical resolution (1440p). Anything less than that is going to look crap no matter what, and you are usually better off without a scanline filter.