PuNES (NES Emulator)

[Lordmonkus]

It would depend on the game mostly, playing the main games you probably wouldn't notice any difference but in some of the more oddball games using different mapper chips not properly emulated you may run into the issue.

I was tinkering around with puNES some more last night and I did run in to a roadblock with closing out puNES with Launchboxs controller combo, I am going to try and get that one sorted out. puNES uses Alt + Q to close out, I can get the Escape key to close it out with an AHK script but Select + Start on my controller is not working for it.

Nevermind on the controller closing it out issues, I sorted it out and it was just a fuck up on my end.

[legolas119]

22 hours ago, lordmonkus said:

That site is probably fine but here is the official thread for it with information http://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?t=6928

Bizhawk will work fine with the command line and in Launchbox.

8:7 ratio if I remember correctly is the correct aspect ratio that the NES actually output at but CRT televisions altered it to 4:3 because that was just what they did. Basically do you want the aspect ratio of the TVs or the actual output ratio of the console ? That is a personal preference thing.

I don't think you will find any screenshots showing differences because once you get to that level of accuracy the differences are so extremely minor and not even visible. I would just suggest trying each emulator out and see which you prefer.

thanks!  Now i asked in that forum wich is the difference between "win64 SDL" or "win64 D3D9" versions.  I want to try PuNes. I tried Mesen but i didn't find any filters or shader in order to obrain the same crt effect like in Higan of Nestopia (i use it in Retroarch adn i find a good setting). In mesen i tried all the filters but none of them is like a crt effect

 

Edited May 1, 2017 by legolas119

[Lordmonkus]

I use the SDL version and set it to use the OpenGL video driver and use GLSL shaders from Retroarch. I cannot confirm how many of the shaders work but my favourite at time moment, aperture does work.

[legolas119]

Thanks. Ther SDL version is better?

Currently i have Reotrarch 1.4.0 but i see that 1.5.0 is already out and 1.5.1 is incoming. I don't know if PuNes it will be inclueded in the new Retroarch version...

In any case, did you took the same shader "aperture" (in RetroArch\shaders\shaders_glsl\crt   folder) and put it in PuNes folder? In Nestopia (v.148 in Retroarch) I use 2xbr-hybrid-crt-hyllian.cgp filter (in RetroArch\shaders\shaders_cg\cgp folder) and it is really good for Nestopia I think.

I know aperture, it is good too.

[Lordmonkus]

I don't think there is a better between the SDL and D3D, just a matter of which works best for the hardware you are running it on.

As far as I know there is no puNES core planned for Retroarch, but that could be wrong and could change.

I copied over my RA shader folder to my puNES folder and loaded it from there.

[legolas119]

ok thanks. So if I want the SDL version i have to download and install SDL libraries, am I right? From here: https://www.libsdl.org/download-2.0.php    I suppose i have to download the Rutime binaries for Windows 64 bit. Is it correct? Or the Source code?

 

many thanks

[Lordmonkus]

Go here http://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?t=6928 and get the version that suits your setup best. For me its the win64 sdl version

[legolas119]

Thanks.

I downoaded the SDL version

If so, i think that the best option in order to emulate a crt effect is the Shader = CRT Scanlines.  I tried all the other Shader and filters but they aren't good for me.

I currently playing with Nestopia in Retroarch with 2xbr-hybrid-crt-hyllian.cgp  shader and it is really really good! And with Nestopia stand-alone too, with this settings https://s9.postimg.org/vjgpkvven/Immagine.png  and it is good.

It seems that PuNes hasn't a so good video filter/shader..

Here the comparison between the 3 emulators:

1) Retroarch with Nestopia: https://s16.postimg.org/seixsjhcl/Immagine4.png
2) Nestopia: https://s12.postimg.org/56bbrstt9/Immagine3.png
3) PuNes with CRT Scanlines activated: https://s7.postimg.org/l0yhq6erf/Immagine6.png

I tried to load the same shader that i'm using on Retroarch (2xbr-hybrid-crt-hyllian.cgp) but in PunNes the result is totally different: https://s1.postimg.org/44etrqewf/Immagine7.png
So, with this filter enabled, I have enabled Interpolation too and this is the result: https://s2.postimg.org/dbjz6z5a1/Immagine8.png.  But not good as Retroarch or Nestopia

I tried to load crt-aperture,cgp too but the effect is identical to the 2 screenshot of the 2xbr-hybrid-crt-hyllian.cgp, without Interpolation and with interpolation!!! I don't know why...it seems that PuNes doesìt detect the differences between the 2 shaders...

can you help me?

thanks!

[Lordmonkus]

CGP shaders won't work with the GL render, only the GLSL ones will in theory work. I say theory because I don't know if some of the shaders will use some passes and effects that aren't supported in puNES.

I would also turn off any filters when using a shader.

Here's a screenshot with the aperture shader.

[MesonW]

On 01/05/2017 at 6:30 PM, dovella said:

alt+Enter

Alt+W

Alt+F4

Thank you, this did it for me, I realise I didn't have the Save Settings on Exit ticked

[dov_EL]

8 hours ago, MesonW said:

Thank you, this did it for me, I realise I didn't have the Save Settings on Exit ticked

[legolas119]

On 3/5/2017 at 11:24 PM, lordmonkus said:

CGP shaders won't work with the GL render, only the GLSL ones will in theory work. I say theory because I don't know if some of the shaders will use some passes and effects that aren't supported in puNES.

I would also turn off any filters when using a shader.

Here's a screenshot with the aperture shader.

thanks.  I tried 3 different glsl filters: crt-royale-kurozumi, crt-aperture and 2xbr-hybrid-crt-hyllian but with all them PuNes crashes immediately...i don't know why..!?

I tried the same 3 filters but .cgp and puNes doesn't crashes but the effect the 3 filters is always the same...and a message appears: "errors on shaders, use 'no filter'.   But I have selected Shaders Effects =NO FILTERS so it is already ok! I don't know why it appears this message...

Edited May 4, 2017 by legolas119

[Lordmonkus]

Are you using the OpenGL or D3D9 version ?

If you are using the OpenGL version in puNES go to Settings > Video > Rendering, once there it should say Software and OpenGL GLSL, select OpenGL. This will only support the GLSL shaders, not the CGP ones.

If you are using the D3D9 version then you should't need to select any renderer, it should let you load CGP shaders though.

I normally use the OpenGL version but I downloaded and tested the D3D9 version and it worked for me.

[legolas119]

yes sure i use SDL version ( i tried the D3D9 version too) and in Rendering the OpenGL is enabled.  But the glsl shaders cause the crash (ok you said that it is normal because not supported) and the cgp filters don't have any effect as I show you above...:(  And as you see at the bottom in this picture, the message that appears everytime i load a .cg shader

And same thing happens even if i Try the D3D9 version, same message at bottom of the screen if i try to load a .cg shader.

 

thanks

[Lordmonkus]

Not sure what to tell you then, it works for me using the aperture shader preset in the shaders folder I copied over from my Retroarch install.

[legolas119]

did you create a Shader folder? I simpòly put the .cg (or .glsl) file in the root folder where it is present the .exe file of the PuNes...have i to create a Shader folder and then put there the shaders files?

[Lordmonkus]

I copied over my entire shader folder from Retroarch.

Not sure if this is what is happening to you or not but it could be that you copied over the preset and it's trying to call the actual shader files but it cannot find them because of folder structure and the shader files it is trying to call up aren't there.

[legolas119]

yeah it's work! i put the complete shaders_cg folder in a shader folder i have created in the root of the PuNes folder and now i'm able to load the shaders!

Well, after some test, i think that the best shaders could be 2xbr-hybrid-crt-hyllian.cgp but crt-aperture and crt-easymode.cgp are good in any case (they have more scanlines than 2xbr-hybrid-crt-hyllian.cgp)

[Lordmonkus]

Yup, shader choice is personal preference and what looks best on your display. Display size and resolution can make a difference in how a shader looks as well.

[legolas119]

yes you are right. I think that i will keep hybrid-crt-hyllian.cgp it has the best effect on my monitor. It is like a crt but without too many scanlies and the sprite definition is really good.  

crt-easymode.cgp is my 2nd preferredt shaders

 

thank you!