NES emulators in 16:9 black bars discussion

backstander

Thank @Darksavior and @edmaul69
That worked well for lr-fceumm (note the other 2 emulators don't have that option in the RGUI). I also set it to "unsaturated-final"

backstander

I updated the NES wiki with directions to disable the Crop Overscan:
https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Nintendo-Entertainment-System#tweaks

UDb23

@backstander said in NES emulators in 16:9 black bars discussion:

I updated the NES wiki with directions to disable the Crop Overscan:

Thanks for pointing this out and updating the wiki; and of course @edmaul69 & @Darksavior for the solution.
Quite unexpected that some games work correctly by default and some other not.

Found a similar issue with Atari (lr-stella) that seems related to Activision's games. I solved by adapting the bezel. Not sure it is also related to overscan but surely worth checking.

In any case the video_crop_overscansetting should work from config file and not only thru RGUI. If it used to work before then it's probably a bug that should be added as issue on github.

Having the setting work in cfg would allow overlay creators to set it correctly inside the game specific overlay configuration.

edmaul69

@UDb23 actually the crop overscan is a problem in all games on fceumm. You just dont notice because it doesnt cut off text. You can see this if you go into super mario bros 1. You will notice the blocks on the bottom are cut off on the sides, but everything displays so you dont notice it. I will have to look into the stella thing. Wanna give me an idea of what games and issues i should see?

edmaul69

@UDb23 also, it isnt a bug that it doesnt work now. It is because the core options override the retroarch.cfg.

UDb23

@edmaul69 I see. If it's like the general overscan setting (Emulation Station cut off at borders) then some people will be affected and some not, depending on their TV.
Is this the same in this case ? Otherwise I don't see the reason to default setting something that gives a bad image in core options ;-)

For Atari 2600 if you look at the screenshots in the link above you'll notice that Activision games have additional left black bar space vs Atari titles.
You could try Atari space invaders vs Activision's Pitfall (on top of the game mentioned in the link).

It could be also interesting to test using the viewport settings (that force the game area size, like this) inside of overlay cfgs and see if this helps to get the right screen display regardless of overscan option.

edmaul69

@UDb23 so here is the deal with the atari. They have an overscan on the left side that has black lines through it. Some games will display that part even though it isnt useable game space. Some games completely hide that by making that space black which then hides the black lines. There isnt anything you can do other than making your overlay bigger. That or making a config file for that game that centers it, then make both sides of the overlay bigger.

UDb23

@edmaul69 That was also my initial thought when I found the problem. Thanks for checking !

dankcushions

the setting is tricky as only a small number of games actually show useful information in the extreme left/right (castlevania being the only one i know of), but several games show ugly scrolling artefacts (super mario bros 3) if you enable it. so i guess you probably want to enable it on a per-game basis.

In any case the video_crop_overscan setting should work from config file and not only thru RGUI. If it used to work before then it's probably a bug that should be added as issue on github.

i agree with this! although technically that option should also crop from the top and bottom also, if it's enabled. perhaps it does already.

Capeman

Is there any advantage to using fceumm over nestopia? I started using nestopia as my default a couple years ago because of this same issue with castlevania overscan, I've never seen any compatibility issues with it. I'm actually surprised lr-nestopia isn't the default emulator out of the box.

(also, off subject but... 2xSaI=BLARGGGHHH!!! Save the pixels! haha)

Darksavior

@Capeman I tried Holy Diver in Nestopia and the game has huge scrolling artifact bugs. It's one of the few games I tried, and that one game made me avoid Nestopia overall. At the time, fceumm had a few extra palettes, like the nes-classic one, but I'm not sure if that's changed now.
Also, 2xsal/eagle/etc filters are vomit to me:) crt-pi for life.

Capeman

@Darksavior Interesting, i'm going to have to try Holy Diver tonight, funny that it's been in my collection so long but i've never played it.

meleu

@Capeman said in NES emulators in 16:9 black bars discussion:

Is there any advantage to using fceumm over nestopia?

RetroAchievements don't work in Nestopia. It's a big disadvantage for those who care about it.

By the way, Is there any advantage to using fceumm over quicknes?

QuickNES has the best compatibility with RetroAchievements, but I know that this isn't the main thing to consider.

backstander

Thanks @meleu for the heads up! I actually like the RetroAchievements so I might stick with fceumm.

I was getting those " ugly scrolling artifacts" while using QuickNES to play Castlevania but the other 2 emulators didn't seam to have them but I only tested with that one game.

@UDb23

In any case the video_crop_overscansetting should work from config file and not only thru RGUI.

I was thinking the same thing but I wonder if maybe that variable might had changed name...like now it might be called "crop_overscan" instead of "video_crop_overscan" but then I thought it was odd that "video_crop_overscan" only works in QuickNES.

edmaul69

@backstander it doesnt work in fceumm because it became a core option. And core options override retroarch.cfg files. It has always been messed up using in quicknes. Nestopia doesnt crop so it has no need for the option.

edmaul69

@dankcushions can you explain the scrolling artifacts in smb 3? I was testing and i couldnt see any issuses other than the weird line that changes size, but that is something that i believe shows on a real system as well. It does show the blue down the whole left side, so maybe that is what you are talking about? I like to make a core-options.cfg in the systems config folder that has different options that i make individual game config files point to so i dont have to change the options back and forth. I need to get back to working on the psx games. I am pointing all the games that use analogs to the seperate core-options.cfg so i never have to swap back and forth for the analog settings.

Capeman

@edmaul69 The loading seam explained! (this is what some emulators try to cover up) - its normal part of NES games.

edmaul69

@Capeman gotcha. I edited my last file about creating seperate core-options file for games like this.

dankcushions

@edmaul69 said in NES emulators in 16:9 black bars discussion:

@backstander it doesnt work in fceumm because it became a core option. And core options override retroarch.cfg files.

in theory core options and retroarch.cfg options shouldn't really overlap. core options are those that are specific to the core you're using (enable_multitap or whatever), whereas retroarch options are potentially applicable to all libreto cores (enable_shader), although in retropie we have separate retroarch.cfg files for each core, as well as an /all/retroarch.cfg for generic options.

so in my opinion, overscan options should either be a retroarch, or a core option, not both, but i don't really know the intention/history of that option.