RetroPie forum home
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Home
    • Docs
    • Register
    • Login

    Custom configs for CRT using the built-in composite out

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Projects and Themes
    crtcrt tv
    147 Posts 23 Posters 60.7k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • SakitoshiS
      Sakitoshi @Rion
      last edited by

      @Rion No, I havent. there are fundamental differences between built-in composite and other methods of analog tv out (mainly they have access to custom timings and resolutions while we are stuck at 720x480 interlaced or progressive skipping every other line) that make 90% of those configs useless for my purpose, so I usually just take a quick look and move on (that and I don't use facebook and stay away as far as possible from it).

      and for what I can see they use a list and modify the config at launch time, both things that I try to avoid. the first because then I'll have to maintain said list and the second to not burn write cycles of the sd card every time you launch a game.
      of course the list method is better (for me since the list was already made by them), but I don't want to burn out everyone's sd card.
      another way to do it would be to create unique configs for each game (like I did for neogeo before giving it a dedicated scaling shader), but I prefer to avoid adding +2500 files just for a niche feature.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • RionR
        Rion
        last edited by Rion

        @Sakitoshi

        Well sadly facebook is where they are. To bad that they don't use a forum. The "official" (circuit-board dot de) is sadly not updated with the latest info.

        Its a pain in the ass to find something on facebook.

        Anyway... I could not help myself so i created a 480i.txt containing all the games from the file vertical.txt with file extension to be place in:

        /opt/retropie/configs/arcade/ 
        /opt/retropie/configs/fba/
        

        Then i went ahead and created *.cfg files for all the 2500 vertical games in the list.

        Place in

        /opt/retropie/configs/fba/config_crt/FinalBurn Neo/ 
        /opt/retropie/configs/arcade/config_crt/emulator/
        

        zip or rar pick your poison.

        I have tested about 20 or so games and all looks good. But i am only using FinalBurn Neo at the moment.

        FBNeo rom filtering
        Mame2003 Arcade Bezels
        Fba Arcade Bezels
        Fba NeoGeo Bezels

        SakitoshiS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • SakitoshiS
          Sakitoshi @Rion
          last edited by

          @Rion I guess I can add an optional zip or rar with all the vertical configs.
          I'll be testing a couple games to assure that at least the most popular ones work as intended, but it'll take some time.

          RionR 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • RionR
            Rion @Sakitoshi
            last edited by

            @Sakitoshi

            I was not aware of this until yesterday.

            240p via HDMI on Raspberry Pi to RGBS, no need for RGB hats!
            Non-powered active HDMI to VGA adapters for OSSC But i think you need a powered one for the pi if you look at the link below.
            Connect your recalbox to a CRT with HDMI (EN)

            FBNeo rom filtering
            Mame2003 Arcade Bezels
            Fba Arcade Bezels
            Fba NeoGeo Bezels

            SakitoshiS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • SakitoshiS
              Sakitoshi @Rion
              last edited by Sakitoshi

              Arcade update:

              • optional zip file added which contains every game that uses a vertical monitor.
              • also in the zip are a couple tweaks for popeye and the mortal kombat series.
              • new optional configs to help frame arcade games.

              vertical configs for every (I think) arcade game are here!
              and also I went ahead and tried to make some other arcade games look better.
              arcade games are such a complicated beast that I really tried to avoid the issue, but since I also play them from time to time I just couldn't stand how they looked, so I had to open up my box of tricks and come up with something to frame them inside the viewable area of my tv. the results aren't perfect (if you put attention you can see there are missing lines thanks to the scaling going on), but it really helps since some games miss some information without doing that (you couldn't see the time in mortal kombat).

              and as always, the details are in the github readme.

              @Rion interesting information, but all of those links point to using pc monitors or rgb, which is not the goal of this.

              RionR 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • H
                handlolo
                last edited by handlolo

                Hello again guys, I wanted to ask you one thing, how you have managed to make the controls work in Fuse, I have tried everything and I do not get the Pad or keyboard to work

                SakitoshiS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • SakitoshiS
                  Sakitoshi @handlolo
                  last edited by Sakitoshi

                  @handlolo as a computer emulator, fuse controls highly depends on the game. you can open a virtual keyboard with select to choose kempston joystick in games that support it.
                  try jetpac or manic miner, I tested the configs with those games and both support the kempston joystick interface.

                  H 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • H
                    handlolo @Sakitoshi
                    last edited by

                    @Sakitoshi thanks for the clarification.
                    But the problem I see is that absolutely nothing works, neither the kempston nor the keyboard, can you pass me a photo with your configuration?

                    SakitoshiS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • SakitoshiS
                      Sakitoshi @handlolo
                      last edited by

                      @handlolo I'm using default core options, only needed to change the model to spectrum 48k for jetpac to actually load, manic miner works regardless.
                      for the controls you need to change the controls setting from retropad to kempston joystick.
                      I think you can also assign keyboard buttons to gamepad buttons (there are joypad X mapping core options), but I haven't tinkered with the options at all.

                      D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • RionR
                        Rion @Sakitoshi
                        last edited by Rion

                        @Sakitoshi said in Custom configs for CRT using the built-in composite out:

                        @Rion interesting information, but all of those links point to using pc monitors or rgb, which is not the goal of this.

                        That is true. What i wanted to say was you can get true Rgb output from the HDMI port without buying a Pi2Scart or Retrotink Ultimate.

                        But here is the interesting part. @mikechi2 Mike Chi the creator of the RetroTink product line recently did an Interview with Bob from RetroRGB where he talks about a new device he is developing that can output 240p super resolution over HDMI from the Pi to Component, Scart or Composite.

                        The Interview is

                        and if you want to skip ahead it starts from 9:00.

                        @Sakitoshi said in Custom configs for CRT using the built-in composite out:

                        Arcade update:

                        • optional zip file added which contains every game that uses a vertical monitor.
                        • also in the zip are a couple tweaks for popeye and the mortal kombat series.
                        • new optional configs to help frame arcade games.

                        vertical configs for every (I think) arcade game are here!
                        and also I went ahead and tried to make some other arcade games look better.
                        arcade games are such a complicated beast that I really tried to avoid the issue, but since I also play them from time to time I just couldn't stand how they looked, so I had to open up my box of tricks and come up with something to frame them inside the viewable area of my tv. the results aren't perfect (if you put attention you can see there are missing lines thanks to the scaling going on), but it really helps since some games miss some information without doing that (you couldn't see the time in mortal kombat).

                        and as always, the details are in the github readme.

                        This is very interesting.

                        Especially since the Mortal Kombat games outputs at a rather odd resolution of 400x254@54.7H.
                        I think you could do a lot of easy game specific configurations this way if you use the Mame/Final Burn Neo resolution database.

                        Sure it's true that arcade games used different resolutions but the ones like Mortal Kombat is a handful of games that uses non standard resolutions.

                        Here is the arcade rez table from Regamebox 3.0.20.

                        FBNeo rom filtering
                        Mame2003 Arcade Bezels
                        Fba Arcade Bezels
                        Fba NeoGeo Bezels

                        SakitoshiS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • RionR
                          Rion
                          last edited by Rion

                          @Sakitoshi

                          Would you care to add these handheld overlays as an alternative to the ones already available?

                          Game Boy Advance Black
                          alt text
                          Game Boy Color Black
                          alt text
                          Game Boy Pocket Black
                          alt text

                          FBNeo rom filtering
                          Mame2003 Arcade Bezels
                          Fba Arcade Bezels
                          Fba NeoGeo Bezels

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • DipkidD
                            Dipkid
                            last edited by

                            Having a bit of trouble..
                            New clean 4.5.1 image on a pi3 with all the cfgs and bios in their place.
                            Im getting nice clean images on my LG 2001 Coca-cola CRT tv! Iv edited the config.txt to sdtv_mode =2 since Im in europe & the tv is PAL. Could that be why I dont get fullscreen on any emulators? The cores doesent seem to be 4:3 / full screen, i have pretty big black bars at top and bottom on SNES and Genesis / 32X.
                            Neo-Geo is even weirder. There I get the screen cut off at the left & right sides although all of the green border on the Retroarch GUI is visible.

                            Now, I can fix these things manually by changeing X & Y aspect ratio custom values, but then I wont get the results the author had in mind. Wanted to know if I made some rookie misstake. I was under the impression that I shouldnt mess with the overscan settings when using these configs? / In advance thanks, Dipkid

                            RetroPC: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/13048/the-1976-retropc-diy-retro-gaming-computer-build
                            Wallcab: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/28324/wall-mounted-cab-2-0
                            Candy Cab: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/34290/diy-candy-cab-arcade

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • SakitoshiS
                              Sakitoshi @Rion
                              last edited by Sakitoshi

                              @Rion sorry if is a little too late, but I was busy managing another project.
                              I rather not add custom configs for every arcade game, it's too much work since those will not work well unless I take care of them one by one. arcade monitors are calibrated for the specific game they are running and so would I need to do in order to get good results.
                              regarding the gameboy overlays, I prefer to keep things simple and have a single default overlay per system or I would have already added a gb pocket, gb light, gba sp and gb micro overlays.
                              If you want to change them though, you have to match the existing overlays in size and screen window. I know the resolution is weird but it's because of the aspect ratio correction I have to apply.
                              remember the pi outputs 720x480 but a crt tv visually squishes that to 4:3, so it looks like 640x480. my little secret number to get the right proportions is 1.125 (720 / 640), so gb/c for example 160 x 1.125 = 180 x 2 = 360. vertical is fixed so no need to mess with that. do the same with all the other portables.

                              @Dipkid sorry, but this is designed for ntsc. I have no access to a pal tv so I can't guarantee it works, but some have reported it works fine with pal60.

                              DipkidD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                              • DipkidD
                                Dipkid @Sakitoshi
                                last edited by

                                @Sakitoshi Ok, thanks for the reply.
                                (I`ll start messing with the overscan then :D )

                                RetroPC: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/13048/the-1976-retropc-diy-retro-gaming-computer-build
                                Wallcab: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/28324/wall-mounted-cab-2-0
                                Candy Cab: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/34290/diy-candy-cab-arcade

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • T
                                  tix
                                  last edited by

                                  Hey sakitoshi, Well done for your contribution !

                                  Yesterday I took the plunge and did a fresh install so that I can use your settings !!
                                  I can report that everything in the consoles front plays beautifully !
                                  In the arcade front I have mixed results.. I understand that it's a "best possible" solution but some games are simply broken..
                                  for instance Moon Patrol, R-Type 1 and 2 are displayed in a stretched wide screen stripe making them unplayable..
                                  I know that the two R-Types at least used a standard 4:3 monitor..

                                  So do you have a tip how to fix them ?
                                  I don't mind doing a per game configuration setting !!

                                  Thanks anyway.

                                  T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • D
                                    dimetrius @Sakitoshi
                                    last edited by

                                    @Sakitoshi Dear, you can’t create your own settings for the batocera linux system. thank you very much

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • T
                                      tix @tix
                                      last edited by

                                      @Sakitoshi and everyone else, HELP

                                      OK, I understand that you can make a config for a specific game that overrides the general rule,
                                      and I have downloaded the 'arcade rez table' so far so good.
                                      Can you give an example of a custom config?
                                      let's say for the R-Type games..

                                      Thanks guys

                                      SakitoshiS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • SakitoshiS
                                        Sakitoshi @tix
                                        last edited by

                                        @tix I pushed an update that will fix the issue. no need to install all again, just replace this file https://github.com/Sakitoshi/retropie-crt-tvout/blob/master/to_configs/all/retroarch/shaders/tvout/shaders/box-vert.glsl
                                        you should probably take a look at the expand field of view presets too to be able to see the whole screen since r-type uses a resolution that goes out of a normal crt screen.

                                        @dimetrius isn't batocera based on recalbox? if that's the case I don't want to do it. recalbox is very restrictive with its configs and I wasn't able to make a clean and easy setup (read, not hacky by overriding some important recalbox configs) for it like a year ago when I tried.
                                        you can still take a look at the configs and adapt them if you want. but I don't want to mess with a stubborn environment like recalbox.

                                        D T 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                        • D
                                          dimetrius @Sakitoshi
                                          last edited by dimetrius

                                          @Sakitoshi Dear, as far as I know, now batocera 5.24 is very different from recalbox. I am ready to try to adapt your configs for batocera, but I have poor knowledge of Linux, if you can help me, I will be very happy for your help. What needs to be done to make ES work in 480p, retroarch in 240i? where to watch this script? I am waiting for your help, thank you very much. just in case here is my email: dimetriusdx@gmail.com

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • T
                                            tix @Sakitoshi
                                            last edited by

                                            @Sakitoshi said in Custom configs for CRT using the built-in composite out:

                                            @tix I pushed an update that will fix the issue. no need to install all again, just replace this file https://github.com/Sakitoshi/retropie-crt-tvout/blob/master/to_configs/all/retroarch/shaders/tvout/shaders/box-vert.glsl
                                            you should probably take a look at the expand field of view presets too to be able to see the whole screen since r-type uses a resolution that goes out of a normal crt screen.

                                            Thanks man ! you totaly fixed all my issues !!

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • First post
                                              Last post

                                            Contributions to the project are always appreciated, so if you would like to support us with a donation you can do so here.

                                            Hosting provided by Mythic-Beasts. See the Hosting Information page for more information.