PhilExile

You're right, billinear hides the artifacts. Once Cos and I finish our set, we can post links for download. I doubt it will be any more than 1 meg at most. Also, if T wants, we could include these with FBL at some point. Not as the default, but just included in a folder if you want to use them. They will be for 480i/p only, unless Cos wants to make 720p too. The only games I could see the point of that for though would be the widescreen Capcom ones.

Hey XxHellsFuryxX, did you get my email?

Hey Cos, I'm on it. I was already able to take the pixel perfect INIs I had made from the INIs you sent me this past winter and insert the Aspect code into all of them. It took about 30 seconds with some freeware program I found - so no problem there. I also have all the resolution INIs, along with the corresponding games, backed up on my computer, which we can use those as a starting point. Unfortunately, the games are from RX's set, so it doesn't include clones and whatnot. I do want to include these so we can release these INIs to the public. Anyway this is what we need to do. 1. Sort all of the ROMs into their native resolution folder - i.e. - 320x240 2. Create one perfect pixel INI for each of these resolution sets - already completed this past winter, so we should be good with just tweaking for 1.4! 3. Once this is done, I have a program that basically will take the file names from one folder (ROMS), minus the extension, and apply it to the files in another folder's contents (INIs) 4. Launch each game to make sure its OK Basically, the hardest part is sorting the ROMs - the rest should be easy! We can talk more tomorrow. If anyone wants to help (Bigby) who is good at organizing (Bigby) they'd be more than (Bigby) welcome! Cheers everyone

Ha, this is great! I think the change in 'intensity' is because the scanlines are sometime off register. I would aways get weird results with scanlines at 720p in FBL. For instance: the top 1/3 of the screen would be light, the middle 1/3 dark, and the bottom light. It would vary. Talk soon

Wow - very impressive. T, I keep forgetting to ask - does FBL take advantage of additional RAM and/or upgraded CPUs if you have them?

Wow - that new functionality is awesome. Cos, you are going to shit yourself.

Believe me, you want to be on 480p - your TV is doing crazy things to your mind!

Ha - glad I'm not alone! Ah, good to hear the issue is consistent! Gil, did you apply the AspectCorrect fix prior to importing to 1.4 as we were discussing earlier in the thread. I assume you did if your results were positive overall. Right, that was my thought as well. A lot of time, its a matter of getting the right pressure on the thumbstick and it gets very frustrating. Well, I would like to figure out what is causing the 1.3 INIs not to be imported perfectly horizontally. (Without driving +T+ crazy of course) Same here. I have noticed that this happens sometimes when I move it up and down, although, I've always attributed that to the scanlines. Thanks for chiming in.

Hey Cos, Something doesn't sound right. Lets wait till I can get home and test this some more. I have a feeling your television is doing some odd upscaling/filtering to the 480p image. Talk soon

Holding both triggers is a great idea. I never thought of that. Really? I never noticed this. I always moved the game screen around to see if any distortion happened. I'm going to try to make a really high res video of this ASAP. Thanks all

I'd like the two thumbstick's functionality to remain the same. We'd just like to add screen sizing to the D-Pad for precise changes. Basically, it would serve the same purpose as the right thumbstick, but one increment would equal one click in whatever direction. This hasn't been my experience. Basically this is how I find the perfect pixel proportion: 1. After I launch the game, I find the correct vertical size. This is fairly easy with scanlines because the pixels will 'lock' into place and become very sharp. If they aren't 'locked' the entire game screen appears blurry. This is most noticeable in type. 2. Then I re-size the horizontal. When resizing, you can see multiple lines (or waves) in the image as you are changing the horizontal size. It starts off with a lot of lines throughout, but as you get closer to the correct value, these lines begin to lessen in number until they are eliminated. 3. I then move the screen's position with the left thumbstick left to right to see if any distortions appear. If it is correct, there will be none and the screen will move smoothly across the monitor. I think we would just need it on the resize, the move doesn't seem to affect things in my experience. I'm going to try to make a high resolution video of this tonight or tomorrow to upload for people to see. Thanks again!

Cos, you probably have an outdated set. I think that FBL 1.4 uses new roms than 1.3 did. You should PM Bigby. He will be able to point you to the place where you can get the most recent built from the DATs included with 1.4. Talk soon

What's the idea? Please share! Yes, I found that out this past winter. Usually, MAWS list them as all the same size unfortunately. Thank you for the heads up though. T, would it be hard to add the functionality to be able to adjust the screen size by using the D-Pad? It would be great if one 'click' to the left, right, up, down would equal the smallest integer change of screen size. Its really hard - and usually takes a lot of trial and error, to set the size exactly right with the right thumbstick. Thanks again

Hi T, yes, that is what I did. In 1.3, if the size is perfect - meaning no distortions, then in 1.4 its very slightly off horizontally - not vertically. The horizontal size of the screen is either too small or large, but by a very minute amount. I assume the size values in the INI interact with 'base' screen size and position values in FBL. Is it possible that these change very slightly between the two versions?

Thanks, Fu!

Hey Cos, I just tried these same two games. See below for the results: ------------ ALEX KIDD (Set 2) I launched this in FBL 1.3 to double-check my screen size. I noticed that the horizontal was very slightly off - probably due to my own error. For people that wonder, to check the horizontal screen size, you go into the screen setup screen and move the game screen back-and-forth from right to left with the left thumbstick. If you notice 'waves' appearing in the image as you do this, the horizontal size is either too big or small. By eliminating these waves, it stops distortions from appearing in-game - like a ship flying through an invisible line that offsets its pixels. Anyway, I fixed it, copied it to my PC, added the AspectCorrect line of code, and copied it over the FBL 1.4. Unfortunately when I opened the game in 1.4, I noticed the horizontal screen distortion 'waves' had returned. However, adding the line of code definitely had a positive effect. Without it, the screen size would have been totally off - including the vertical size - which was not the case. MUTATION NATION I launched this in FBL 1.3 to double-check my screen size and it was perfect. I did the same to the INI as with ALEX KIDD and opened it in FBL 1.4. Again, the horizontal was very slightly off and the waves were there. Cos, I think that WILLOW - a 16:9 widescreen game - imported 100% perfect because you already 'crushed' the horizontal pixels to fit the 4:3 space. If the size of the horizontal screen is slightly off, it probably doesn't show up as prominently as in games like ALEX KIDD and MUTATION NATION, which are both native 4:3. ------------ Basically, I think we solved the larger half of a two-part problem. I'm going to play around with FBL 1.4 skin INI and some other stuff to see if that has any sort of effect - even though I know its not supposed to. You never know. Update: OK - I tried a few things, including altering the INI to match 1.3 values, which Gilou9999 suggested. Nothing seemed to work. Its my guess that something is different in the code that controls how the horizontal size is calculated. My first thought was that it was due to the rotation correction that Neo found, but I loading his build up and it didn't have the screen issue we are seeing in 1.4. T, is there anything that you can think of at this point? It would have something to do with the horizontal size or position of the game screen. The vertical doesn't seem to be affected. Considering how small the variation is - I'm guessing it may be something that is only slightly different. Thank you again!

There is - see the last post from that thread you posted:

Well, I can suggest two things: 1. Make the fix and put at the start of the read me file that you need to delete any INIs from the ini/emulation directory. This will avoid any hiccups between the revisions. 2. You could make two XBEs - one for users upgrading from 1.3 INIs and one for 1.4 users. This could get confusing though. Thanks again, T!

OK - I'll look into that. I'd be glad to mail you one.

I think this is the problem, but lets wait to hear back from Cos - he is the definitive expert in pixel perfection. I'll try to test later today as well, but I have work to do now. Thanks again!

Hey T, Could you look into adding these Arcade Ambiance tracks into the default FBL skin? I tried to do it myself, but for some reason, it stuttered and made the interface hiccup. It would also be great if we could select which of the four tracks to play - if its not too much trouble of course. Here is a link: http://arcade.hofle.com/downloads.htm Also, how hard would it be to add custom controls to FBL? In CoinOps, for games such as ARKANOID, MISSILE COMMAND, and CRYSTAL CASTLES there is an option for mouse input. This allows you to use a trackball or spinner dial for games that supported them. This really adds to the experience and I think it would be an excellent addition. CENTIPEDE just can't be expected to be played with a joy/thumstick! Thanks

Cos, if you were using the INIs I sent last night/earlier today, they are incorrect since they were made with 1.4. I just sent you a batch of the old ones we were working on this past winter. Those should work as long as you add that line in the proper place. Talk soon

Hello, Indirectly, that what was causing the issue. This will mainly affect NeoGeo games. Please see the example below: When I opened the WILLOW game with an INI from 1.3, this is what 1.4 did to the last three lines of code: AspectCorrect=13 SNKBIOS=0 XBINPUT_DEADZONE=0.540000 It either flops the AspectCorrect and SNKBIOS markups or just doesn't move the 13 down to the SNK line. This must also play havoc with the screen size since FBL is likely reading the '13' as just a '1' which means YES COMPRESS THE SCREEN. Cos, this is why your setting were so out of wack and you couldn't fix them. By manually pre-fixing the INI to read correctly before opening the game, I was able to successfully import the INI to 1.4. It read: AspectCorrect=0 SNKBIOS=13 XBINPUT_DEADZONE=0.540000 Hopefully, this can be fixed for 1.5. I know people are probably still saying 'why the heck does this matter' - well, it does! Here are two images from WILLOW that show how the screen size is wrong. It focuses on the text, not the horizontal distortion that you would see throughout the game. This is the easiest way to illustrate the importance of accurate screen size. Since old games had limited real estate, the type design doesn't lend itself to much scaling - especially if scanlines are in the picture. This makes the text become blurry and, in some cases, unreadable. See below: INCORRECT: CORRECT: Thanks again T for putting up with all our nitpicking!

Hey T, I'll try that

Hey T, I was just comparing two INIs for the game, EIGHTMAN, which is listed at MAWS as 320x240 - standard for NeoGeo, though not 100% consistent. ------------- Here is the INI from version 1.3 - I double checked and there are no distortions when opened in 1.3, but when its opened in 1.4 - it needs to be corrected, although, usually the width ends up not being 100% correct. zLeft=-0.089999 zRight=0.099999 zTop=0.200000 zBottom=0.370000 SoftwareFilter=0 HardwareFilter=1 vsyncEnabled=1 pixelRatio=0 FlickerFilter=0 Soften=0 nAudDSPModule=0 disableMenuSounds=0 RotationDegrees=0.000000 CursorSpeed=7 nInterpolation=1 nFMInterpolation=0 HiScoreSaving=0 DipEnabled=0 CPUSpeed=256 neoGeoFree=0 bAlwaysDrawFrames=1 SNKBIOS=13 XBINPUT_DEADZONE=0.540000 ------------- Here is the same INI altered by 1.4, which is close to, but not perfect: zLeft=0.360001 zRight=0.549999 zTop=0.210000 zBottom=0.380000 SoftwareFilter=0 HardwareFilter=1 vsyncEnabled=1 pixelRatio=0 FlickerFilter=0 Soften=0 nAudDSPModule=0 disableMenuSounds=0 RotationDegrees=0.000000 CursorSpeed=7 nInterpolation=1 nFMInterpolation=0 HiScoreSaving=0 DipEnabled=0 CPUSpeed=256 neoGeoFree=0 bAlwaysDrawFrames=1 AspectCorrect=13 SNKBIOS=13 XBINPUT_DEADZONE=0.540000 ------------- I noticed the AspectCorrect entry. What does this do exactly? Could that be causing the problem? Thanks again