Custom configs for CRT using the built-in composite out

ScanLines

@chipsnblip Is there a way to private message on this forum? I am hoping to glean some info on your setup. I will download that 240p test suite tonight, I am certain there is stretching going on that is causing shimmer. Was hoping to get your retroarch settings to see if mine are similar. I suspect I have something messed up. I may have to dig out my Commodore 1702 monitor as I believe it has analogue controls for H/V sizes and positions the Toshiba does in the service menu but it's clunky.

chipsnblip

@ScanLines sure, feel free to send a private message or an email (chipsnblip at gmail)

Sakitoshi

@ghrayfahx use the provided setting in the to_config.txt file, 480i is the best way to make the text readable inside emulationstation, the scripts inside to_config/all will automatically
switch to 240p while booting a game.
the color issue isn't an issue, the tv-out shader applies gamma correction so the games are displayed identical to how real hardware does, as emulationstation doesn't has this gamma correction applied it can look off. this is also why you shouldn't disable the shaders despite the comments of other people.

@ScanLines
1- games of what platform? arcade games will never display correctly because arcade monitors are adjusted to display everything perfectly depending on the game, something that can't be done here were I have to go for a "one size fits everything" approach.
I visually verified (say, played the same game on real hardware and later retropie on the same tv) almost all the other platforms and the overscan is as close as it can be. so if something is cut off then it is supposed to look like that.

2- see the above answer, you can try and play around with the settings, but vertical games are not currently supported and I don't think I can do something about it to make them look nice without disturbing the current configuration that works well with horizontal games.

Also as a general reminder for everyone, these configs are designed for NTSC only, I don't have a PAL TV to tweak the setting for it, so I don't know how good/bad works on PAL.

ScanLines

@chipsnblip So the link that you sent me in a PM (is what ended up fixing it. I am using a very current build and indeed all my .cfg files had an aspect ratio of 22 not 23. I went through and manually changed it in the _crt.cfg and regular .cfg files from aspect ratio 22 to 23 and boom fixed! everything is lining up nicely and the world is a better place.

I am still going to try to tackle the vertical titles. If set the screen rotation 180 and set the AR to 3:4 its pretty passable but then there is definitely some cut off on left/right (top bottom on physical screen). I wonder if I can state overscan values for individual rom cfgs?!

Some screenshots showing some grids and diagonal lines that used to be horrendous are now pixel perfect:

Screenshot 1
Closeup showing diagonal that had terrible pixel doubling before now perfect.

Screenshot 2
Fullscreen view of Toshiba TV.

Screenshot 3
Save room in Super Metroid (SNES). Crisp as hell for composite. Best $12 I ever spent. 😊😊😊😊😊

Sakitoshi

@ScanLines I'm updating the configs right now, they changed the numbers of aspect_ratio_index in retroarch 1.7.4 for no good reason and messed up the configurations of everyone in the process.
retroarch is a fine product but sometimes is like they sabotage themselves with those stupid changes.

ScanLines

@Sakitoshi Could you write an bash installer script that checks for the retroarch --version and changes the AR accordingly?

chipsnblip

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

@Sakitoshi Could you write an bash installer script that checks for the retroarch --version and changes the AR accordingly?

if it helps, you can change them all at once with this one-liner:

find /opt/retropie/configs/ -maxdepth 2 -type f -name "retroarch*.cfg" -print0 | xargs -0 sed -i 's/aspect_ratio_index = \"22\"/aspect_ratio_index = \"23\"/g'

Sakitoshi

I managed to put together a script to deal with the aspect_ratio_index change automatically. it detects the installed retroarch version and changes the setting accordingly.

https://github.com/Sakitoshi/retropie-crt-tvout/blob/master/to_configs/all/runcommand-menu/fix_aspect_ratio_index.sh

ScanLines

@Sakitoshi Thank you for the reply. See thread comment below, all good now!!! I play the #&$! out of so many titles last night after it was fixed. Finally my Rpi3/Retropie is getting used now, I totally couldn't deal with it on a LCD.

Nikorasu081

Will this method you created here also work through an HDMI to VGA adapter? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016HL4CAY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I have my retropie hooked up to a CRT monitor using HDMI to VGA. Also, will this project you created allow the emulators to switch the resolution to the same original resolution of whatever game I'm playing? Is there any way your method would scale the games while still giving me scanlines? For instance, I get what I'd call perfect scaling with genesis games due to the original console resolution being so close to 320x240.
Gensis: https://i.postimg.cc/jqnk7Tt9/DSCPDC-0001-BURST20181219131847883.jpg

But SNES, NES, and other systems I get a cropped image
SNES: https://i.postimg.cc/GL2fbYNb/DSCPDC-0001-BURST20181219132533014.jpg
NES: https://i.postimg.cc/4GSLzYqh/DSCPDC-0000-BURST20181219132410894.jpg

Heck, I would even love to play GBA/GBC with scanlines https://i.postimg.cc/sjk4bhC6/DSCPDC-0001-BURST20181219132717501.jpg, but the cropped image just kills it. And I don't want to use shader scanlines it just doesn't work for me at a low resolution. In fact, the scanlines shader in retroarch doesn't give me scanlines at all. Honestly, I just want to get my Retropie the way I want it so I can start enjoying some games. After all, I recently bought a CRT monitor, HDMI to VGA adapter, and even a desk. to place my retropie and CRT monitor on. I'm exhausted and just want to enjoy my pi. I want to enyjoy these retrogames the way they were meant to be played and after seeing scanlines I can't go back to a pixelated LCD.

youxia

@Sakitoshi Hi, I finally got around to trying these configs but ran into an issue straight away.

I flashed a new official image on an RPi 3B+ (with a NTSC CRT TV via composite) and then followed your "how to use" instructions from github.
Copied all the stuff into respective directories + config.txt.

Now when I try to start a game I get "syntax error at line 13 of configuration file / ?_dialog dlg_parse_rc" message.
Game starts but with no display ( I can hear the music playing thou)

Any ideas?

polish.potato

I'm having a problem with getting picture with my games and yes they did work before doing a fresh install. The menu works and the only thing I've tried is Fceumm, nestopia and stella. The stella works just not the libretro one. Just wondering how to fix this?

Thanks.

Also tried game boy. All I get is a screen showing the frame of a Gameboy but no picture. Virtual boy worked.

chipsnblip

@youxia i guess the question would be how did you copy

all the stuff into respective directories + config.txt.

if i were troubleshooting this, i'd start by (after flashing the official image) running a full update before copying the configs over.

polish.potato

I got an image directly off this website. What is there to update?

mediamogul

@polish-potato

RetroPie is constantly being updated. The current official image is at version 4.4, while the most recent version is 4.4.4. There have even been quite a few updates and improvements since that version bump. Whenever the head developer (BuZz) feels that a milestone has been reached, or that a substantial amount of development has occurred, the version number is officially increased. Whether or not any of the most recent advancements will help with your issue is uncertain, but like @chipsnblip said, it's a good place to start troubleshooting.

polish.potato

Seems to be working now. I tested 2600, Gameboy and NES. Which seemed to work out fine. The only problem I have now (not for me but maybe someone else) is that the command screen is zoomed in and you can't see what you are typing in the beginning. Other than that it's freaking awesome! The only thing I can think of that I did wrong was that I didn't press the save button in notepad. Which is a possibility. Noob.

Sakitoshi

@polish-potato
sorry for the late reply, all the new year parties had me busy for a while.
the screen seems zoomed in because of the lower resolution.
If you are talking about the screen that says "launching system, press A to configure", you can modify the runcommand-onstart.sh file and remove "-yres 400" almost at the end of the forth line. you can also tweak the number, the original value (if you remove the option) is 480, but if you have a loading image it will also be affected and get stretched/squished.

or maybe you are talking about the login screen bug (as you say typing in the beginning) that happens when you update to raspbian stretch. you can fix that as explained here:
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/post/154986

Sakitoshi

New update:

nec pc98 support (via libretro neko project II kai).
small adjust to pc: disabled gamma correction for that system (pc98 also has this tweak).
slight tweak to runcommand at 240p, toned down my previous change to make it bigger, is still bigger than normal to make it readable.
Not much going on since I was quite happy with what I have done, but since pc98 emulation is possible now (and I wanted to play a couple games) I looked into the matter and since I was again testing things I decided to take a look at a couple things of my previous configs.
Now that I remember I also silently changed the values of cave story to make it match its wiiware release, now it has exactly the same aspect ratio and alignment.

Sakitoshi

Yet another update:

colecovision, intellivision and msx are now supported.

tested mostly by eyeballing, msx has some titles on the wii virtual console so I could use that as a reference and get a pretty accurate look, I'm pleased with the results.
and with this I think we can say that there are configs to support every major platform the raspberry pi can emulate without problems, or at least almost every system that has a libretro core (except psp and dreamcast because those run like balls).
I know I'm missing some other systems but I really have no way to test those correctly (and some have a screen that isn't even remotely similar to a tv) and I don't want to eyeball the remaining systems without a reliable source just to support every system.

Cascote

I've been using your configs for the last few months and I must say you did an awesome job here!
I have built an Arcade using Raspberry pi 3b and a 20in CRT TV.
Games look great, no issues at all with that, but EmulationStation not so good.
I know that, inevitably, I will always have some flickering in Emulation Station since is running Interlaced, but is there any way to reduce that somehow? I tried progressive in ES, the picture doesn't have flickering, but text looks crappy as also the ES Menu UI. I tried changing emulation station resolution thru autostart.sh, trying different SDTV_MODES, different themes, modifying themes (since every existing theme is bigger than my screen), modifying colors and random stuff on the service menu from the TV... I ran out of ideas. Would you have any suggestion for me?
Thanks in advance :)