banding around game screen (wanted)

BertusvR

Hi everybody,

I am using a Raspberry pi 3B + with retropie and emulation station. I use it in a cabinet with a 19" 4:3 dell screen 1280x960 and i want some black banding on top and under the screen when playing a game to get a better view. I have tried to get this done in retroarch, in retropie setup and in raspi config. Unfortunately i cannot get it done. Lets say a 30 pixel black band on top and 30 pixel black band on the bottom.

Thanks for the reply.

Bertus

edmaul69

@bertusvr you make the adjustments in /boot/config.txt. You can adjust the overscan settings there. Remember to remove the # on any directions you want to adjust.

DougA

@BertusvR To see how to do so, have a look here:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/configuration/config-txt/video.md

BertusvR

Thanks for the reply both I set the overscan for up down left and right on 30 is the config.txt. When starting up i see that it works, 30 pixels banding. But when starting up emulation station, it will turn to full screen again. Is there a solution for that, so ik can play games with black banding around the game.

mitu

@bertusvr Did you also set overscan_enable in the config file ? You could post the contents of the file here (use ``` to surround its contents in a code block).

BertusvR

Hi, I did put a # before "disable_overscan=1 ".

Maybe also important I use a HDMI to DVI converter.

BertusvR

@mitu Please find here the config.txt

# For more options and information see
# http://rpf.io/configtxt
# Some settings may impact device functionality. See link above for details

# uncomment if you get no picture on HDMI for a default "safe" mode
#hdmi_safe=1

# uncomment this if your display has a black border of unused pixels visible
# and your display can output without overscan
#disable_overscan=1

# uncomment the following to adjust overscan. Use positive numbers if console
# goes off screen, and negative if there is too much border
overscan_left=30
overscan_right=30
overscan_top=30
overscan_bottom=30

# uncomment to force a console size. By default it will be display's size minus
# overscan.
#framebuffer_width=1280
#framebuffer_height=720

# uncomment if hdmi display is not detected and composite is being output
#hdmi_force_hotplug=1
#hdmi_force_edid_audio=1

# uncomment to force a specific HDMI mode (this will force VGA)
#hdmi_group=1
#hdmi_mode=4

# uncomment to force a HDMI mode rather than DVI. This can make audio work in
# DMT (computer monitor) modes
#hdmi_drive=2

# uncomment to increase signal to HDMI, if you have interference, blanking, or
# no display
#config_hdmi_boost=4

# uncomment for composite PAL
#sdtv_mode=2

#uncomment to overclock the arm. 700 MHz is the default.
#arm_freq=800

# Uncomment some or all of these to enable the optional hardware interfaces
#dtparam=i2c_arm=on
#dtparam=i2s=on
#dtparam=spi=on

# Uncomment this to enable the lirc-rpi module
#dtoverlay=lirc-rpi

# Additional overlays and parameters are documented /boot/overlays/README

# Enable audio (loads snd_bcm2835)
dtparam=audio=on
#gpu_mem_256=128
#gpu_mem_512=256
#gpu_mem_1024=256
#overscan_scale=1
gpu_mem=512

BertusvR

OK.
I put a framebuffer in the configfile of 1200 x 600 to make clear what is happening.
When starting up the RP3 it uses the settings from the config file, so it uses 1200 x 600.
When Emulation station starts, it switch to full screen again 1280 x 960
When I start Retropie-setup from the Emulation Station menu, it starts the setup using the settings from the config file so a blue setup menu with 1200 x 600 pixels.
When starting a game (Arcade Mame 2003) it uses the full screen again.

See here the used config.txt file.

# For more options and information see
# http://rpf.io/configtxt
# Some settings may impact device functionality. See link above for details

# uncomment if you get no picture on HDMI for a default "safe" mode
#hdmi_safe=1

# uncomment this if your display has a black border of unused pixels visible
# and your display can output without overscan
#disable_overscan=1

# uncomment the following to adjust overscan. Use positive numbers if console
# goes off screen, and negative if there is too much border
overscan_enable
overscan_left=30
overscan_right=30
overscan_top=30
overscan_bottom=30

# uncomment to force a console size. By default it will be display's size minus
# overscan.
framebuffer_width=1200
framebuffer_height=600

# uncomment if hdmi display is not detected and composite is being output
#hdmi_force_hotplug=1
#hdmi_force_edid_audio=1

# uncomment to force a specific HDMI mode (this will force VGA)
#hdmi_group=1
#hdmi_mode=4

# uncomment to force a HDMI mode rather than DVI. This can make audio work in
# DMT (computer monitor) modes
#hdmi_drive=2

# uncomment to increase signal to HDMI, if you have interference, blanking, or
# no display
#config_hdmi_boost=4

# uncomment for composite PAL
#sdtv_mode=2

#uncomment to overclock the arm. 700 MHz is the default.
#arm_freq=800

# Uncomment some or all of these to enable the optional hardware interfaces
#dtparam=i2c_arm=on
#dtparam=i2s=on
#dtparam=spi=on

# Uncomment this to enable the lirc-rpi module
#dtoverlay=lirc-rpi

# Additional overlays and parameters are documented /boot/overlays/README

# Enable audio (loads snd_bcm2835)
dtparam=audio=on
#gpu_mem_256=128
#gpu_mem_512=256
#gpu_mem_1024=256
#overscan_scale=1
gpu_mem=512

dankcushions

@bertusvr said in banding around game screen (wanted):

#overscan_scale=1

you need to uncomment this for it to take effect in games/emulationstation. see https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Overscan#the-console-looks-good-but-the-picture-is-off-for-emulationstationretroarchetc

BertusvR

@dankcushions That is the sollution! Thanks!!
@all thanks for the help!!