Emulator Settings for All Platforms

[weltall]

Just the fact RetroArch has xBR is enough for me to throw eventually away everything else and stick to it, at least for 2D games. Although I can understand why people avoid RA. It feels user unfriendly and it is full of menus and configurations, enough to make people run away from it. Of course if people would get it preconfigured, they would end up loving it and what it offers. If only they knew the configuration part can take only a short time..

[SentaiBrad]

And that's why we have a Tutorial series that I can objectively say is the best tutorials out there. I don't know the guy, but I hear he is amazing. ;) ;) ;) No but yea, I work hard on those tutorials for RA just for that reason. This Friday's tutorial will actually be on the SNES and it goes back to basics. I don't assume that the users have been watching the series the entire time. Not including LB Import times, and assuming they ditched the parts where I talked about Rom Patching, the tutorial was 36 min uncut, so it might be about 30ish, they can get up and running in 25 min easily. Then they can, or should, apply what they learn there to other systems in RA. Also, if you end up watching the Tutorial sorry ahead of time for talking a bit of crap on xbr. :P I personally don't like blended or rounded pixels. xD

[weltall]

I have watched them already and I do not mind XD Even if I adore it, xBR and filtering in general, alters the original "nostalgic" feeling of games. Plus I love rounded stuff in general, which I know it is a persona opinion. I do not mind when people express their own opinion and it conflicts over mine, but I can only like what my eyes look at and find enjoyable XD Still though many times I have caught myself finding oversmoothed pictures of older games being bad. For example, I love Kega's 25% scanlines, combined at timewith either RF or CVBS filters, which slightly blur out the picture. PS: Indeed they are the best at least I have seen >.> shows that guy (lol XD) that loves helping people and loves what he is doing~

[SentaiBrad]

I'm told Hylian's Scanlines are the best.

[weltall]

Thanks for sharing that. I will be trying it for sure!

[Lordmonkus]

The Hyllian CRT shader is indeed one of the best CRT shaders out there, especially when you consider how relatively performance friendly it is. If you have a decent GPU however give Royale a try, your mileage with it may vary though because the way it looks can vary wildly depending on the screen you are playing on. You will need a proper colour calibrated display and preferably at least a 1440 resolution to get it looking the way it should look. Out of the box it looked like garbage on my older 1080 monitor but on my new 1440 it looks glorious. One other thing when you try out CRT shaders is to turn on integer scaling otherwise because of how 240 does not divide evenly into 1080 it messes up the spacing of the scanlines and it will cause it to look weird. You can also try out the Kurozumi edit of Royale which I had luck with on my old 1080 monitor and I used it over Hyllian before I got my new monitor and started using the base Royale. I don't believe that the Kurozumi edit is in the selection choices but all you need to do is load up Royale then in the quick menu go to Shader Options > Menu Shader Parameters and check all the settings to match the following. Make sure to apply shader changes after. crt_gamma = "2.500000" lcd_gamma = "2.400000" levels_contrast = "0.840000" halation_weight = "0.000000" diffusion_weight = "0.010000" bloom_underestimate_levels = "0.800000" bloom_excess = "0.000000" beam_min_sigma = "0.02000" beam_max_sigma = "0.200000" beam_spot_power = "0.370000" beam_min_shape = "2.000000" beam_max_shape = "4.000000" beam_shape_power = "0.250000" beam_horiz_filter = "0.000000" beam_horiz_sigma = "0.545000" beam_horiz_linear_rgb_weight = "1.000000" convergence_offset_x_r = "0.000000" convergence_offset_x_g = "0.000000" convergence_offset_x_b = "0.000000" convergence_offset_y_r = "0.100000" convergence_offset_y_g = "-0.100000" convergence_offset_y_b = "0.100000" mask_type = "0.000000" mask_sample_mode_desired = "0.000000" mask_specify_num_triads = "1.000000" mask_triad_size_desired = "3.000000" mask_num_triads_desired = "900.000000" aa_subpixel_r_offset_x_runtime = "-0.333333" aa_subpixel_r_offset_y_runtime = "0.000000" aa_cubic_c = "0.500000" aa_gauss_sigma = "0.500000" geom_mode = "3.000000" geom_radius = "3.000000" geom_view_dist = "2.000000" geom_tilt_angle_x = "0.000000" geom_tilt_angle_y = "0.000000" geom_aspect_ratio_x = "432.000000" geom_aspect_ratio_y = "329.000000" geom_overscan_x = "1.000000" geom_overscan_y = "1.000000" border_size = "0.005000" border_darkness = "0.000000" border_compress = "2.500000" interlace_bff = "0.000000" interlace_1080i = "0.000000" This edit was made to mimic the look of a high quality PVM / BVM display. Again how well this looks on your display may vary depending on your monitor and its colour / brightness and contrast settings.

[Lordmonkus]

I made the following post a couple of months ago in its own thread but I thought I would just copy / paste it in here for more people to see. It gets into the more advanced but important settings of Retroarch that everyone should have. These aren't really personal preference because they really do objectively make the performance and enjoyment of playing much better. I have also made a few edits in this post so it's not an exact raw copy / paste job. These settings should be applied to every core where possible. ***Disclaimer*** These settings are based off my personal experience with each setting and my understanding from reading what I can find scattered throughout different places. The first settings you should be looking at are in the Video section of the Settings tab. For testing purposes turn on "Display Framerate", while playing you want your games to be running at a constant 60 frames per second. Aspect Ratio should be set to Core provided or Custom depending on your personal preference. Personally I use core provided but Custom is just fine too but then adjust the Custom Viewport Width and Height settings to adjust the screen size to what you like. Start out by setting each number at it's lowest setting then bump up each by one til you get what you want. Integer Scale is another personal preference and I use this with Core Provided aspect ratio. This setting however will give you black bars across the top and bottom of your game. This setting scales the game image at equal steps. The purpose of this is to maintain the proper aspect ratio at bigger sizes. If you leave this setting set to off with "Custom" aspect ratio when you adjust the Viewport Width and Height you will either get black bars or your screen will probably just slightly be larger than the height of your screen. Integer Scale set to "On" is my recommendation if you choose to use some sort of shader which uses scanlines. With it off your scanlines may look a little off. HW Bilinear Filtering is a personal preference, basically this just adds a slight blur to the output image. I like this one on to help break up the sharp pixels but it is purely personal taste, try them both and you decide. (I have since turned this off because I have made the switch to the CRT-Royale shader so I leave the base image as raw as possible and let the shader do all the work) Threaded Video should be left off if you can help it but if you are running on a low end system and you need to squeeze out a little bit more performance you can turn this on but off is preferred. Vsync is another setting that should be left off when possible. Off can cause some screen tearing depending on your display but the downside to having it set to "On" is it can cause some input lag which is something no body wants. Turn Vsinc on only if your screen tearing is really bad and you can live with some input lag. Hard GPU Sync is an amazing setting, just leave this set to "On". This is a feature that drastically reduces input lag. Input lag = bad. (I bolded the above because this is probably the single biggest reason to use Retroarch over all other emulators when possible.) Frame Delay is another setting that can help with input lag. Set this as high as you can before getting audio distortions like crackling or a frame rate hit. 0 is an ok setting but higher than 0 is better but don't go too high. Crop Overscan should be set to On. What this does is it crops a few pixels off the image output which on an old fashioned CRT would be hidden by the bezel but on new wide screen displays and using the Integer Scale setting above you may see. You don't want to see those garbage pixels do you ? (If you choose to use Iteger Scaling above and custom port size and have part of the screen outside the edges of the screen setting this to "Off" could be a good idea", it's just garbage pixels anyways.) That should be it for the Video section so now we move on to the Audio section where there really isn't too much to mess with here but you should set your Audio Latency to as low as possible without hearing crackles in your sound. The best thing to do here is set the latency all the way down then bump it up one notch at a time til you no longer hear any crackling.

[weltall]

I would say I have a decent one, but I am not sure. I own a 280x. I would definitely call it decent, since it can run some of my fav games in really good graphics. But >.> *copies the configuration and saves it in a txt* I will definitely give it a try. My monitor goes between a 42 inch tv, which I rarely to never play full screen and it has really high contrast, bleedingly strong colors (well not all, just some of them) and a lot of backlight and a 24 inch TFT LED , that is very good when it comes to colors and good contrast, but the backlight is not that strong. I will be trying it though and if I cant do it, I will try to look up if I can manage to adjust it. This is why I like RetroArch. Even if things like this can take a lot of effort to adjust, it will apply to any consoles you use RetroArch with :3 One of the best pies ever! Thanks for all the effort you put to write this up lordmonkus!

[Lordmonkus]

I should have added that if you try out the Kurozumi edit of Royale and you like it and want to apply it to other cores the best way to do it without reloading the Royale shader and manually editing each setting again is to do the following. Not sure if per core settings affect this or not. Load up whatever core you are going to try first, let's just use the Sega Genesis for example. Load in the CRT-Royale shader and if things change then you are good to go. Make the changes I outlined above using the Retroarch menu. Now there should be a file in your "shaders" folder called "genesis_plus_gx_libretro.dll.cgp" Make a copy and rename this file to something you like, I called mine Kurozumi-BVM.cgp. Now when you load up another core such as any of the SNES ones and you want the same shader setup just load a preset and instead of drilling down to the CRT-Royale shader and changing all the parameters just load the preset you renamed above. It just be right there in the first menu of the "load preset" menu.

[Farsside]

hallo I totally green in Lunchbox, how do I get my ( .bin | .a26 | .zip) in to the launchbox. im Use mess for the Atari 2600

[Zombeaver]

@Farsside just run the import wizard. If you drag and drop them onto the UI it will prompt you to run the wizard immediately.

Farsside said ...Lunchbox...

Hahaha

Also, welcome to the community! 

EDIT: Sorry, had to do it!

[Farsside]

Zombeaver said @Farsside just run the import wizard. If you drag and drop them onto the UI it will prompt you to run the wizard immediately.

Farsside said ...Lunchbox...

Hahaha Also, welcome to the community! EDIT: Sorry, had to do it!

Zombeaver said @Farsside just run the import wizard. If you drag and drop them onto the UI it will prompt you to run the wizard immediately.

Farsside said ...Lunchbox...

Hahaha Also, welcome to the community! EDIT: Sorry, had to do it!

[SentaiBrad]

Watch our tutorial series on YouTube and start with the SNES Beginner Tutorial. From there, you can watch the tutorials on the systems you want to emulate the most. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC4NieHGwbo

[tosmo]

Hi everybody first of all excuse my English I found a cool old Amstrad cpc emulator : CPCE95 and it' s run automatically games and i' ts working like a charm with launchbox http://cpce.emuunlim.com/ The games have to be unzipped The command line to run it fullscreen is : /m+ If you want a cool scanline effect find those lines in CPCE.INI and put it like this

IMAGE_DOUBLE=1 IMAGE_SCANLINES=2 ; WIN32 recommended options WIN32.IMAGE_WIDTH=2 WIN32.IMAGE_HEIGHT=3 WIN32.SOUND_QUALITY=2 WIN32.SOUND_16BITS=1

[Belgarath]

Or just use Winape http://www.winape.net/ which still gets updated and also automatically loads Amstrad cpc games :)

[tosmo]

Yes you' re right, I tried winape but this is impossible for me to configure my xbox 360 controller i am using Windows 10 x64 and my controller is not recognized by winape and when i try with a ps4 pad it's working without problems (maybe it's an issue with xinput). And i want all my emus set to a xbox pad so i found this solution.

[mameau]

can anyone tell me how to get sammy atomiswave games to load with the latest DEmul x86 v0.7 Alpha BUILD 22121 ??

[Lordmonkus]

With the first release of Mednafen with Sega Saturn implemented I thought I would share my command line switch settings. The emulator will work and load games just fine without any at all but the picture will have a blur and no scanlines. Anyways here are the settings I am using, just put them in the Associated Platforms tab > Default Command-Line Parameters box. -ss.scanlines 30 -ss.special nn2x -video.driver opengl -video.glvsync 0 -video.blit_timesync 0 Scanlines go from 0-100, 0 being off and 100 being crazy overkill. Adjust to your liking, i found 30 to be a good balance without being overly done. The nn2x is the scaling of the picture, there are other settings but I found this one to suit my tastes to sharpen up the image without going too crazy with it. The last 3 settings are all settings to reduce input lag. All the possible command line switch settings are found in the documentation folder that comes with Mednafen if you wish to play around with them, look for the ss.html file. The ones I posted was just my personal settings I think work well and is what is seen in the video I posted in another thread about the Mednafen Saturn emulation.

[latin625]

How About AAE?  I can get the emulator going, but always have to manually select the game. Thanks!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z4lHsVueSj0

Edited September 4, 2016 by latin625

[Lordmonkus]

For AAE, in the the "Edit Emulator" window turn on "use file name without file extension".