3 ms·

A couple more good ones: https://twitter.com/CRTpixels/status/1461432490636234756 https://twitter.com/CRTpixels/status/1461432490636234756 https://twitter.com

by Luc 5y ago

A couple more good ones: https://twitter.com/CRTpixels/status/1461432490636234756 https://twitter.com/CRTpixels/status/1461432490636234756 https://twitter.com/CRTpixels/status/1484553881329745925 https://twitter.com/CRTpixels/status/1484553881329745925 Sharp pixels are fine for modern pixel art, but some of the old stuff looks much better using a CRT or CRT-shader (and sometimes even NTSC color effects matter).

mrandish 5y ago
> some of the old stuff looks much better using a CRT or CRT-shader (and sometimes even NTSC color effects matter). Yes, I built a custom MAME cabinet around a 27-inch Wells-Gardner multi-scanning arcade CRT with authentic arcade buttons, sticks, trackball and spinner for this reason. Although some advanced shader emulators are recently getting closer in some games, there's still usually a visible difference with a real CRT. Whether that difference matters to you in the games you play is up to you. If you get a CRT for emulation of classic arcade machines, look into GroovyMAME, which is a dedicated, synced fork of MAME with changes under the hood specifically to support accurate CRT display. Arcade machines often had different, non-standard resolutions, frame rates and scanning frequencies which makes visually accurate emulation even more challenging than emulating home game consoles like Nintendo. For accurate appearance, some arcade games require tweaking the config file to ensure the correct resolution and scanning frequency are sent to the CRT but once you've set these, with a multi-scanning CRT it's possible to achieve essentially perfect emulation of a wide variety of raster CRT originals. I certainly don't tweak the config file for each of the thousands of games emulated by MAME. For most, I just go with the defaults which are usually close enough. However, for a few dozen games that I played the most back in the day (and a couple of which I actually owned a cabinet), it makes a noticeable difference to me. There are dedicated scan converters to adapt HDMI to composite, S-Video or analog component but they come with various quality or accuracy trade-offs. The best way to output analog to a CRT is to instead use an older graphics card with native analog VGA output (usually on a 15 pin connector). The last widely distributed PC graphics cards with native analog out were circa roughly 2014, so many HN readers probably have a few kicking around in a parts bin. Emulation is a great way to put these older cards back into useful service as their 3D capabilities and memory sizes are inadequate for modern gaming but still exceed the requirements for emulating most 90s and earlier arcade machines and 16-bit era home game consoles. I'm currently using a Radeon 3850 in my dedicated cabinet. With a fast enough CPU (circa 2016-17) and recent emulator improvements, now home consoles such as most PS1 and even many PS2 and Gamecube titles can be fully emulated. All out of parts bin and thrift store grade components. People who see my MAME cab are often impressed by how great the games look when properly emulated and displayed through a quality analog signal chain. The best part is that now new generations of players who've never seen these games are discovering just how fantastic they are. While modern AAA games certainly have spectacular visuals and scope, the harsh constraints imposed by 8 and 16-bit era hardware forced the best games to really nail the game play and feel in ways modern games rarely do.

by Luc 5y ago

mrandish 5y ago

> some of the old stuff looks much better using a CRT or CRT-shader (and sometimes even NTSC color effects matter). Yes, I built a custom MAME cabinet around a 27-inch Wells-Gardner multi-scanning arcade CRT with authentic arcade buttons, sticks, trackball and spinner for this reason. Although some advanced shader emulators are recently getting closer in some games, there's still usually a visible difference with a real CRT. Whether that difference matters to you in the games you play is up to you. If you get a CRT for emulation of classic arcade machines, look into GroovyMAME, which is a dedicated, synced fork of MAME with changes under the hood specifically to support accurate CRT display. Arcade machines often had different, non-standard resolutions, frame rates and scanning frequencies which makes visually accurate emulation even more challenging than emulating home game consoles like Nintendo. For accurate appearance, some arcade games require tweaking the config file to ensure the correct resolution and scanning frequency are sent to the CRT but once you've set these, with a multi-scanning CRT it's possible to achieve essentially perfect emulation of a wide variety of raster CRT originals. I certainly don't tweak the config file for each of the thousands of games emulated by MAME. For most, I just go with the defaults which are usually close enough. However, for a few dozen games that I played the most back in the day (and a couple of which I actually owned a cabinet), it makes a noticeable difference to me. There are dedicated scan converters to adapt HDMI to composite, S-Video or analog component but they come with various quality or accuracy trade-offs. The best way to output analog to a CRT is to instead use an older graphics card with native analog VGA output (usually on a 15 pin connector). The last widely distributed PC graphics cards with native analog out were circa roughly 2014, so many HN readers probably have a few kicking around in a parts bin. Emulation is a great way to put these older cards back into useful service as their 3D capabilities and memory sizes are inadequate for modern gaming but still exceed the requirements for emulating most 90s and earlier arcade machines and 16-bit era home game consoles. I'm currently using a Radeon 3850 in my dedicated cabinet. With a fast enough CPU (circa 2016-17) and recent emulator improvements, now home consoles such as most PS1 and even many PS2 and Gamecube titles can be fully emulated. All out of parts bin and thrift store grade components. People who see my MAME cab are often impressed by how great the games look when properly emulated and displayed through a quality analog signal chain. The best part is that now new generations of players who've never seen these games are discovering just how fantastic they are. While modern AAA games certainly have spectacular visuals and scope, the harsh constraints imposed by 8 and 16-bit era hardware forced the best games to really nail the game play and feel in ways modern games rarely do.