Shaders not displaying properly, weird issue / CRT-PI etc.

mitu

Normally when RetroArch is updated, the default configuration file is copied to the same location, but with the suffix rp-dist added to it. You probably updated at least once RetroArch, so this file should be next to the retroarch.cfg in the /opt/retropie/configs/all.

I should ask, will doing this have any impact on my controller configurations (as it took me an age to set up for all consoles).

How did you configure those ? If you used the recommended method - via core input remapping - these configurations are saved separately. Did you use the RetroPie provided image from retropie.org.uk/download or another image ?

dankcushions

i agree with @mitu’s suggestion. i would also replace the nes/retroarch.cfg with its rp-dist version.

also, what does the run command offer in the video modes? what is it currently set to? a photo of the full menu and a photo of the video modes choices would be useful https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/runcommand

skykid

@mitu I used the retropie provided image.

I configured my controllers using the RGUI and went to Quick Menu -> Controls and set them up individually and then saved the config per core. I didn't go to Settings -> Input because I found binding didn't work properly for me.

Will replacing retroarch.cfg ith the rp-dist version overwrite these controls?

@dankcushions I will take a look at the runcommand video options in a bit and let you know!

skykid

@mitu

Replaced the retroarch.cgf in /opt/retropie/configs/all with rp-dist and renamed, restarted RPI, no change.

@dankcushions There's no rp-dist file in the NES folder, did you mean the .bkp file?

Here is the runcommand menu on NES rom startup:

mitu

@skykid Your video mode shows 1024x768, which is none of the ones you previously mentioned. Is your TV with an aspect ratio of 4:3 ? What model is it exactly ?

What I meant when talking about the NES system is to get rid of the overlay (bezel) you declared in the nes/retroarch.cfg, since it will modify your viewport.

skykid

@mitu

No, I was replying to @dankcushions where he said he also recommended replacing the NES rp-dist version.

I have no idea why this shows 1024x768! The TV is a 16:9 Samsung LCD 42". I've already reset everything back to default as you guy said I should, so maybe this is the automatic resolution as part of the handshake between TV and Pi?

mitu

@skykid Quit/Exit ES and check what's the resolution your Pi is using from the command line with the tvservice -s command. Here's what it looks like on my monitor/tv

pi@retropie:~ $  tvservice -s
state 0x12000a [HDMI CEA (16) RGB lim 16:9], 1920x1080 @ 60.00Hz, progressive

skykid

@mitu

I got this:

pi@retropie:~ $ tvservice -s
state 0x12000a [HDMI DMT (16) RGB full 4:3], 1024x768 @ 60.00Hz, progressive

Is this just a super weird TV problem? XD

Why it's giving back 4:3 I have no idea. I checked the TV settings and it's set at 16:9. I don't get it. When emulationstation runs the frontend is 16:9, and if I choose "core provided" on the video options within the RGUI it will display the game window stretched to 16:9 (almost to the edges but not quite, but definitely no way near 4:3).

dankcushions

when you're in emulationstation, can you try hitting the 'info' button on your TV remote? or anything else that flashes up the current resolution. i wonder if it's 1024*768 always

skykid

@dankcushions

Yeah I did try that. The problem is that I can't get the resolution info to display on the TV until there's a connected device. Then it will display the output resolution of whatever that device is. For example the digital TV box has a different resolution when connected than the pi. And the pi is outputting at exactly what it says above, 1024x768.

@mitu After making those changes all my controller configs seem fine, but I'm getting a 'Failed to load config' message that only seems to appear when starting Megadrive games. Other systems don't have this (as far as I can tell). Also the text in the Mega Drive menu is kind of messed up (sort of jaggy text) whereas all the other consoles are fine.

I know replacing the retroarch.cfg with default has had some effect as whenever I go into the RGUI I get the "welcome to retroarch" message for every new title played, but I'm not sure how it would have affected the MD like this. Any ideas?

Oh, and theme is Tronkyfran, although I don't think that matters too much.

mitu

@skykid said in Shaders not displaying properly, weird issue / CRT-PI etc.:

I know replacing the retroarch.cfg with default has had some effect as whenever I go into the RGUI I get the "welcome to retroarch" message for every new title played, but I'm not sure how it would have affected the MD like this. Any ideas?

I think this appears when there's no override config for the system. It doesn't have any effect on gameplay.

dankcushions

@skykid said in Shaders not displaying properly, weird issue / CRT-PI etc.:

Yeah I did try that. The problem is that I can't get the resolution info to display on the TV until there's a connected device. Then it will display the output resolution of whatever that device is. For example the digital TV box has a different resolution when connected than the pi. And the pi is outputting at exactly what it says above, 1024x768.

that’s what i’m asking - so you’re saying that whenever your pi is connected, either in game or in emulationstation, your tv is 1024*768, right?

if this is the case, i think the HDMI handshake is giving you a crappy resolution, for whatever reason. i have one idea that could solve that. add the following to boot/config.txt

hdmi_group=1
hdmi_mode=16

this forces it to CEA 1080p

skykid

@mitu Well that's strange, because I set a core override config when I did the buttons and added the shader - and the buttons are still set correctly. Is that why the menu text is partly messed up too?

@dankcushions Ok! Will give that a shot on return.

skykid

@mitu @dankcushions

Ok I have some big problems here now. Something seems to have gotten fudged in the works.

First of all I set the hdmi settings as above to config.txt to force 1080p. First thing you notice is that emulationstation frontend is oversharp and jaggy around text and logos and looks like it's on maximum contrast. Usable, just ugly.

Then I went into my go to ROM, Ninja Gaiden, and weirdly the TV then auto switched back to 1024x768. Exit Retroarch and it switched back to 1920x1080.

I thought that was weird, so started the ROM with runcommand and forced video output from config. Then it started in 1920x1080.

The image is similar to the frontend: oversharp and bright, like high contrast - but the scanlines of crt-pi were suddenly present. They just didn't look quite right. There seemed to be heavier black scanlines every second line and it wasn't uniform. I also spotted some faint vertical lines running in patterns. I tried switching to Zfast and it was basically almost exactly the same. Here are some screens from Aladdin:

Now, bar this being pretty ugly and not satisfactory to use, I have developed a serious problem that I haven't seen for ages (and ages) but first popped up for me when I started out with Pi use about 2 years ago.

Basically, I noticed when switching between systems, that my settings in the RGUI are automatically overwriting the next console. To be precise, I set crt-pi as the shader for a NES game, test it, but don't save core overrides before quitting, and then go to SNES and start up any game, and crt-pi has also been set, as well as bilinear filtering off/on etc. So I switch to Zfast shader for SNES and then quit without saving, go back to NES, and Zfast has been set there too.

This is definitely some kind of bug. I had it with a way eariler version of Retropie and nobody could help me fix it. In the end I had to wipe the entire thing and start over. I'm PRAYING that isn't the case here and you guys know why this has happened, because I really hope it can be resolved.

I still have my original all/retroarch.cfg backup and can of course comment out the HDMI settings. I'm just worried that that's not going to solve it.

mitu

@skykid said in Shaders not displaying properly, weird issue / CRT-PI etc.:

Basically, I noticed when switching between systems, that my settings in the RGUI are automatically overwriting the next console

Sounds like you enabled 'Save Config on exit' in RetroArch, that's not recommended. Unfortunately, you're not making any progress and with all the extra configuration you're trying out you already have messed up your existing configuration. You can add back your configurations, but note that if you used 'Save Config on Exit', the systems' retroarch.cfg will also have to be restored.

Your switch between 1080p and 1024x768 makes me think you had set the resolution for the core via the runcommand or otherwise (RGUI ?), otherwise this would not have happended.

I'd take a backup of the current installation, image with a clean installation and make sure that resolution is correctly set (via config.txt) and then try out shaders - without any other configuration. If you're not happy with the result, then you can go back to your original image.

skykid

@mitu I don’t remember hitting Save Config on Exit at any point - is that what causes the system overwrite? Because I literally searched forever in the past to figure that out and nobody could help.

I have the backup of the retroarch.cfg I had before I replaced it with the dist version. To restore the console retroarch.cfg’s I should be able to pull them from a previous backup - but do I need to replace all the console files?

The switching of the resolution between frontend and rom sounds like it was set prior in the runcommand, but I assure you it wasn’t! When I went in there today it was all totally vanilla. I never messed with anything in there before.

mitu

@skykid said in Shaders not displaying properly, weird issue / CRT-PI etc.:

I have the backup of the retroarch.cfg I had before I replaced it with the dist version. To restore the console retroarch.cfg’s I should be able to pull them from a previous backup - but do I need to replace all the console files?

You can easily compare the versions you have on your backup with what you currently have installed.

The switching of the resolution between frontend and rom sounds like it was set prior in the runcommand, but I assure you it wasn’t! When I went in there today it was all totally vanilla. I never messed with anything in there before.

'in there' where ? How do you check it ? The video modes switch should be saved in the /etc/retropie/configs/all/videomodes.cfg file, you can also check there.