Hello everyone
Does crt emudriver utilize s-video/composite video outputs or only vga? Got a hd 3450 with s vid and another on the way with composite and i was hoping To maybe use crt emu with switchres instead of just constant 480i. thanks in advance
No it doesn't, it generates a 15kHz signal in RGB only, RGB with separate Horizontal and Vertical sync, so a TV with RGB support will need a sync combiner as well (I recommend the UMSA as it also reworks the sync signal for better compatibility, but others such as VGA2Scart works).
HD3450 isn't recommended as only 5xxx + cards such as HD5450 can do Emulated EDID (giving you a lot of modelines), just helped someone wanting to set this up and they ended up buying an HD5450 to make this work properly with CRTSwitchres.
Dual GPU is a really great way to do it as you can without introduced lag (under a frame) output to the CRTEmudriver GPU, but have your modern GPU handle the processing for GPU utilizing emulators like Flycast.
https://imgur.com/a/2eVfjla (Here you see Dolphin Blue running at 640px, 1280px and 2560px, the modern GPU allows you to run games at super res internally, which makes for a crazy detailed horizontal resolution, abusing the fact that CRT TV's don't have a horizontal resolution.
From RGB you can use something like a wakabavideo transcoder to transcode into a color space your TV accepts, they sell VGA(RGBHV)>Component(YPbPr) that also combines the HV sync into one for TV's. I believe the also have a transcoder for composite. But you're going to lose a lot of visual fidelity with composite. I will have to ask Jam about this, as I'm unsure what someone limited to composite would have to do.
Maybe you should look into RGB modding your TV.
Keep in mind that if you're in the US with a US TV you'll be able to play console games perfectly with Switchres, but arcade stuff will be limited to games that run fine at 60Hz, since arcade games also go anywhere from 55-59Hz which US TV's don't like (Euro CRT's do sync anywhere between 50-60Hz though). It's fine to speed up 58Hz>60Hz, but games that run below that will be a much worse experience at the incorrect speed. You can read about what refreshrates different games have on arcade italia database adb.
I've posted my guide earlier in this thread for RA CRTSwitchres (by Calamity as well), but just PM me and I can help in detail to get this up and running.
I wonder if these drivers would be a good starting point for a updated CRT EMU driver. They support multiple generations back.
https://www.amernimezone.com/#home
I hope so! Seems like a sound idea. Some users that I've helped are asking me about the windows 11 situation, so there are a lot of people who wish to use win11 now.
I'll stay on win10 as long as possible personally but when it comes to a long term plan something will have to be developed. Nothing beats CRTEmudriver+CRTSwitchres since old games came in all sorts of resolutions, refreshrates and sometimes switched modes mid game.
And beyond emulation there still are new windows native games that come out in 240p 4:3, like Steel Assault for example, plays perfectly with a CRTEmuGPU+RTX/GTX setup and multimonitortool batch scripts (sets CRT modeline as you launch the game), other games need .ahk scaling scripts for perfect 1x scaling. Bit of a long single time setup, but totally worth it and something we eventually will need win11 support to keep doing.
I'll keep helping people to set this up as much as possible, the more people we are who use this and know how to set things up the better it is for everyone.