The Big Ol' Retroarch Shader Thread

[cooljojo]

@Zombeaver, I'm amazed by your presets ?... Congratulations for your hard work ?!

Honestly, before I found your RetroArch shaders preset, I spent so many times trying to achieve something similar that yours but I was never satisfied enough lol.

I'd a question please: I found a mockup with a "retro cyberpunk" style, do you think we could create something close to that with the RetroArh shaders ?

Thank you in advance for your help ?
 

[Zombeaver]

Well, it depends on what exactly you're trying to replicate. There are scanlines, grain, and bloom - all of which are present in the presets already. Most of what you're seeing that's giving that a unique look comes down to the assets themselves and what looks to be some kind of additional lighting engine, none of which is stuff that shaders have any control over - that's based on the content. In other words, if you stripped away the scanlines, grain, and bloom from that picture and gave it to me, I could add a shader on top that would make the end result look similar (probably better even, honestly), but I can't make a preset that will cause content to spontaneously develop dynamic lighting or replace textures 

Glad you're enjoying the shaders!

[cooljojo]

Thank you for your answer ?!

What I'd like to mostly replicate is the nighty atmosphere. We can feel it... it's dark with a black & green tone, and the light sources (in the background) are slightly accentuated.

I agree with you, I think in this mockup there're scanlines and bloom for the light. But there're something more which create this dark atmosphere. I'm not sure but it's probably some green_boost / luminance ?...

To give you an answer, unfortunately I can't strip away the scanlines, grain & bloom from the picture because it's not mine?. But your answer gave me hope because you're telling me that it's possible to obtain a look similar to this picture ! I'm not willing to put some dynamic lightning or repalce textures, so no worries about that. I don't want to disturb you too much so I'd like to give a try by myself first. So, do you mind giving me a few advice or guidance that would put me on the right track in order to obtain this look, please ?

P.S. I'm not a master shaders creator as you, I'm a beginner lol. I just made a few shaders on ReShade years ago and recently tried to create some for RetroArch. So if you know a "RetroArch shaders guide" somewhere, I'd be happy to learn from it?.

 

Edited October 14, 2020 by cooljojo

[TakaraMiyuki]

Most of the complex CRT shaders will have options that allow you to boost certain colours and increase the bloom, which would go some way to creating that kind of atmosphere.

However, it would have side-effects; for example, it would make the UI slightly greener as well, and would make all the light pixels (for example, the ones in the fighters' names) appear to glow more. If you wanted only certain parts of the image to look green or glow, it would require some sophisticated AI.

Edited October 14, 2020 by TakaraMiyuki

[cooljojo]

11 hours ago, TakaraMiyuki said:

Most of the complex CRT shaders will have options that allow you to boost certain colours and increase the bloom, which would go some way to creating that kind of atmosphere.

However, it would have side-effects; for example, it would make the UI slightly greener as well, and would make all the light pixels (for example, the ones in the fighters' names) appear to glow more. If you wanted only certain parts of the image to look green or glow, it would require some sophisticated AI.

Thank you for your answer, TakaraMiyuki ?.

You pointed something very important about the side-effects of the shaders which can create another atmosphere. This can be really annoying to see the color of the UI changed. But honestly, I think it'd still be ok for me because I intend to play old school games I know by heart (Streets of Rage 2 ?) but in a different atmosphere; nothing more. So I'd not go as far as changing only certain parts of the screen which would requiered sophisticated AI as you said ?. If I managed to recreate that kind of atmosphere (dark/cyperpunk) but my UI become slighlty changed too, I'd accept it ?.

You seem to have a certain experience in shaders. Did you created some original shaders by yourself ? 

Edited October 15, 2020 by cooljojo

[Zombeaver]

17 hours ago, cooljojo said:

it's probably some green_boost / luminance

Feel free to adjust my presets as you see fit. Color boost and luminance are both available in the shader settings. Be careful with the latter though - it's easy to get blowout if you push it up too high (i.e. it wouldn't take much of boost from what I'm already using for that to happen).

17 hours ago, cooljojo said:

do you mind giving me a few advice or guidance that would put me on the right track in order to obtain this look, please ?

As I said, most of what you're seeing there - and I'm not sure how I can make this any more explicit than I have already - has nothing to do with (and is not replicatable) via shaders. No shader that you're going to throw on top of Streets of Rage 2 is going to spontaneously give the game dynamic lighting or high res textures, which is the majority of what makes it look the way it does. The only thing on top of that is scanlines, bloom, and grain which the presets have already. You can boost the green if you want, and maybe increase contrast and saturation. Those are about the only things that are within the confines of shaders that would make it look closer.

17 hours ago, cooljojo said:

if you know a "RetroArch shaders guide" somewhere, I'd be happy to learn from it?

The only advice I can give you there is "play around". That's all I've ever done. I just looked at what others had done - namely Birm's 199X presets - and poked and prodded and fiddled around with them for hours and hours until I ended up with something I liked. All I can say is play around and experiment. 

17 hours ago, TakaraMiyuki said:

it would have side-effects; for example, it would make the UI slightly greener as well, and would make all the light pixels (for example, the ones in the fighters' names) appear to glow more. If you wanted only certain parts of the image to look green or glow, it would require some sophisticated AI.

Not necessarily. It depends on whether you're doing it through Retroarch or Reshade. With Reshade you can use a mask layer that won't apply any effects to the areas that you indicate in the mask. I use this to make it not affect my bezels, but you could do it for whatever you want, including the UI (which is what it's actually designed to accommodate). You'd have to make a different mask for every game though...

There's no real equivalent to that in Retroarch though, to my knowledge. So in that scenario the shaders are going to affect the entire screen, yes.

[cooljojo]

Thank you so much for your help, Zombeaver ?!

I'm relieved because my intention was actually to "play around" ?. Well... to be honest, I already tried various presets and play around. But by doing so, I encountered some issue with manu of your presets and if it's ok with you, I'd to share that here (let me know if it's not the right place to do it). By trying to use many of your presets, each time RetroArch indicate that it failed to load them. So I took a look in the log console and those kind errors are displayed (for many of your presets) :

[INFO] [Shader driver]: Using Cg shader backend.
[INFO] [CG]: Vertex profile: arbvp1
[INFO] [CG]: Fragment profile: arbfp1
[INFO] [CG]: Loading Cg meta-shader: E:\-=GAMES=-\RetroArch\shaders\199X\199X_LongNights.cgp
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter GAMMA_INPUT is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter GAMMA_OUTPUT is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter SHARPNESS_H is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter SHARPNESS_V is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter MASK_TYPE is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter MASK_STRENGTH_MIN is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter MASK_STRENGTH_MAX is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter MASK_SIZE is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter SCANLINE_STRENGTH_MIN is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter SCANLINE_STRENGTH_MAX is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter SCANLINE_BEAM_MIN is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter SCANLINE_BEAM_MAX is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter GEOM_CURVATURE is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter GEOM_WARP is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter GEOM_CORNER_SIZE is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter GEOM_CORNER_SMOOTH is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter INTERLACING_TOGGLE is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter HALATION is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter DIFFUSION is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter BRIGHTNESS is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter NTSC_CRT_GAMMA is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter NTSC_MONITOR_GAMMA is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter DOTMASK_STRENGTH is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter maskDark is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter maskLight is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter shadowMask is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter target_gamma is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter monitor_gamma is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter overscan_percent_x is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter overscan_percent_y is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter saturation is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter contrast is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter luminance is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter bright_boost is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter R is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter G is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter B is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter ZOOM is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter XPOS is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter YPOS is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter V_OSMASK is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter H_OSMASK is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter percent is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter PHOSPHOR is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter InputGamma is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter OutputGamma is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter SHARPNESS is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter COLOR_BOOST is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter RED_BOOST is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter GREEN_BOOST is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter BLUE_BOOST is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter SCANLINES_STRENGTH is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter BEAM_MIN_WIDTH is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter BEAM_MAX_WIDTH is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter CRT_ANTI_RINGING is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter warpX is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[WARN] [CGP/GLSLP]: Parameter warpY is set in the preset, but no shader uses this parameter, ignoring.
[INFO] [CG]: Loading Cg shader: "E:\-=GAMES=-\RetroArch\shaders\Analog Shader Pack version 3\shaders_cg\Analog Shader Pack\COMPONENT\linearize.cg".
[ERROR] CG error: The file could not be read.
[ERROR] Failed to load shaders ...
[INFO] [CG]: Destroying programs.
[INFO] [CG]: Vertex profile: arbvp1
[INFO] [CG]: Fragment profile: arbfp1
[INFO] [CG]: Loading stock Cg file.
[INFO] Setting up menu pipeline shaders for XMB ...
[INFO] [CG]: Found semantic "POSITION" in prog #62.
[INFO] [CG]: Found semantic "COLOR" in prog #62.
[INFO] [CG]: Found semantic "TEXCOORD0" in prog #62.
[INFO] [CG]: Found semantic "POSITION" in prog #61.
[INFO] [CG]: Found semantic "COLOR" in prog #61.
[INFO] [CG]: Found semantic "TEXCOORD0" in prog #61.
[INFO] [CG]: Found semantic "POSITION" in prog #60.
[INFO] [CG]: Found semantic "COLOR" in prog #60.
[INFO] [CG]: Found semantic "TEXCOORD0" in prog #60.
[WARN] [GL]: Failed to set multipass shader. Falling back to stock.

[INFO] [Shaders]: Found #pragma parameter CRT - Sharpness Hack (SHARPNESS) 1.000000 1.000000 5.000000 1.000000 in pass 15
[INFO] [Shaders]: Found #pragma parameter CRT - Color Boost (COLOR_BOOST) 1.500000 1.000000 2.000000 0.050000 in pass 15
[INFO] [Shaders]: Found #pragma parameter CRT - Red Boost (RED_BOOST) 1.000000 1.000000 2.000000 0.010000 in pass 15
[INFO] [Shaders]: Found #pragma parameter CRT - Green Boost (GREEN_BOOST) 1.000000 1.000000 2.000000 0.010000 in pass 15
[INFO] [Shaders]: Found #pragma parameter CRT - Blue Boost (BLUE_BOOST) 1.000000 1.000000 2.000000 0.010000 in pass 15
[INFO] [Shaders]: Found #pragma parameter CRT - Scanline Strength (SCANLINES_STRENGTH) 0.720000 0.000000 1.000000 0.020000 in pass 15
[INFO] [Shaders]: Found #pragma parameter CRT - Min Beam Width (BEAM_MIN_WIDTH) 0.860000 0.000000 1.000000 0.020000 in pass 15
[INFO] [Shaders]: Found #pragma parameter CRT - Max Beam Width (BEAM_MAX_WIDTH) 1.000000 0.000000 1.000000 0.020000 in pass 15
[INFO] [Shaders]: Found #pragma parameter CRT - Anti-Ringing (CRT_ANTI_RINGING) 0.800000 0.000000 1.000000 0.100000 in pass 15
[INFO] [Shaders]: Found #pragma parameter warpX (warpX) 0.031000 0.000000 0.125000 0.010000 in pass 15
[INFO] [Shaders]: Found #pragma parameter warpY (warpY) 0.041000 0.000000 0.125000 0.010000 in pass 15
[INFO] [CG]: Loading Cg shader: "E:\-=GAMES=-\RetroArch\shaders\Analog Shader Pack version 3\Televisions\curved\Soft & Grainy\..\..\..\shaders_cg\Analog Shader Pack\COMPONENT\linearize.cg".
[INFO] [CG]: Loading Cg shader: "E:\-=GAMES=-\RetroArch\shaders\Analog Shader Pack version 3\Televisions\curved\Soft & Grainy\..\..\..\shaders_cg\blurs\blur10x10shared.cg".
[ERROR] CG error: The compile returned an error.
[ERROR] Fragment:
E:\-=GAMES=-\RetroArch\shaders\Analog Shader Pack version 3\Televisions\curved\Soft & Grainy\..\..\..\shaders_cg\blurs/../include/quad-pixel-communication.h(86) : error C3004: function "float ddx(float);" not supported in this profile
E:\-=GAME
[ERROR] Failed to load shaders ...
[INFO] [CG]: Destroying programs.

 

If I'm the only one getting those errors, the problem could be on my side then?... But I believe I correctly installed the shaders as shown below :

Would you have an idea about the source of this kind of issue, please ?
Thank you in advance !

Edited October 19, 2020 by cooljojo

[Zombeaver]

Whatever you're loading there, it isn't one of my presets. I don't load anything from 199X or Analog Shader Pack version 3 paths. It's all self-contained in its own folder (Zombs Shaders), but your screenshots show paths external to that. It looks like you're loading a 199X preset. Those are not mine. Those were made by Birm. Retroarch's shader path format has changed since those were first made (relative to loaded preset location, not relative to Retroarch location) so they probably don't work anymore.

The newest version of my presets are in this post and don't have any external dependencies.

[cooljojo]

My bad.

Thank you again, Zombeaver ?.

[Seta]

Hey Zombeaver . Dunno if this would affect your shaders, but I thought you would like to know about the changes in RA regarding automatic core OGL renderer: https://www.libretro.com/index.php/changing-behavior-of-gl-and-glcore-video-drivers/

Edited November 5, 2020 by Seta

[Zombeaver]

Glcore doesn't support cg, so that means you'll need to use cores that support regular gl. The non-HW Beetle PSX core should still work (and would be my recommendation anyway since the shaders are designed for native resolution anyway). That's likely the only thing out of the bunch that might throw people off, since in the past you could still use the HW core and have it use gl if you set it to software mode.

Kinda stupid change imo but shouldn't change much as far as support - some cores never supported gl to begin with.

[Zombeaver]

I taught myself how to compile Retroarch to add cg support back in since they've been leaving it out for a while now (despite the fact that it still works just fine). The good news is it's a pretty simple process now that I know what I'm doing. I'm attaching the current version (1.9.13) for anyone interested. This is just the .exe and cg dependency .dlls, so you'd still need the standard 1.9.13 package from Retroarch and then just drop these on top.

(upload removed, see below post)

I've also included the current version of my shader pack for anyone interested as I continue to tinker with it over time and I've made a few more presets. I made a 1440p version of Esper for example (as I now have a 1440p monitor).

(upload removed, see below post)

EDIT: I accidentally packed the shaders incorrectly - the contents of the 7z are supposed to be in a folder called Zomb's Shaders which goes in Retroarch's shaders folder. If you've downloaded a previous release you probably already know that.

[Zombeaver]

It looks like OpenAL support is no longer built by default anymore either so the .dll for it isn't included in Retroarch's buildbot anymore. So I've attached an updated version that has all depenency .dlls (in case there's anything else that isn't included by default) as well as an updated version of the shader pack that includes the correct folder structure.

retroarch-1.9.13-cg+openal.7z

(shaders removed, see below post)

 

[Zombeaver]

Sorry y'all, one more quick correction on the shader pack. I have a couple separate instances of Retroarch for different projects (C64 Dreams, individual DOS game releases for Zomb's Lair, etc.) and sometimes I work on these while working on those, and while I did copy all the presets over, I neglected to copy a few of the custom individual shader passes that I'd made. This wouldn't have affected many of the presets, but any relevant ones would fail to load since the passes were missing.

Zomb's Shaders 11-10-2021.7z

 

[Zombeaver]

Retroarch released a "ninjafix" for overlays for 1.9.13 today, so here's a new version with those changes.

retroarch-1.9.13.1-cg+openal.7z

[Zombeaver]

Here’s 1.9.14 + CG + OpenAL support. The only .dlls included with this one are cg.dll, cgD3D9.dll, cgGL.dll, and libopenal-1.dll as I think this is all that’s needed on top of the standard stuff, but if anyone gets a missing dll error let me know.

retroarch-1.9.14-cg+openal.7z

[mlsaunders1985]

Hey, just checking this is the latest version of RetroArch I can get that has cg shader support added back in? Still think your shaders are the best available for the look I want. Have tried the usual CRT shaders that everyone talks about but these look so much better.

[Zombeaver]

That's the latest one that I've uploaded but it's not the most recent version of Retroarch. It's 1.9.14 and latest is 1.10.1. I can compile the latest version + cg support this weekend.

[Paultimate]

Any chance for a new compile? Why did they even remove this? Removing used features is some goofy stuff.

 

Also thanks for the work on this over the years. Its a fine pack of shaders. 

Edited October 2, 2022 by Paultimate

[Zombeaver]

Actually yeah I just did 1.11 the other day. I've attached it below.

retroarch-1.11-cg.7z