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My Scanline Quest
gamepimp:
I have a showcase cabinet that has a rather large monitor (50" LCD) which runs at 1920x1080. For MAME, I use the scanline artwork that overlays on the screen to create the scanline effect. The scanlines are nice and thin and look great. However, when I run other emulators for console games (Nestopia, KEGA Fusion, SNES9X, etc.) the scanlines are thick and look unnatural. I thought I could use MESS as an alternative for consoles so that I could get the same nice scanline effect that MAME has. But it's not perfect for many systems and the cheat system doesn't work unless the games are in the format of the software lists. Has anyone found a way to get consistently thin, natural looking scanlines on most popular emulators?
the_gamer:
There is hardware which does a really good job at creating scanlines. Sadly I don't know if those work with lightguns :(
BadMouth:
I haven't used these, but have thought about adding it to my current build after absolutely everything else is done.
Rather long-winded demonstration of the SLG3000 Scanline Generator:
(I think he finally turns it on around the 9:30 mark)
Comparison of it and Toodles Scanline Generator:
http://shoryuken.com/forum/index.php?threads/t-slg-toodles-scanline-generator-authentic-retro-look-from-your-modern-flatscreen.145407/
(haven't seen that one for sale anywhere)
Light Guns don't work with LCD screens anyway.
IR guns do, but they wouldn't be affected by anything you do to the screen.
Howard_Casto:
--- Quote from: BadMouth on September 18, 2012, 10:27:30 am ---IR guns do, but they wouldn't be affected by anything you do to the screen.
--- End quote ---
Actually this isn't quite the case.
I found this out the hard way with my wiimote experimentation. Emulators generally calculate lightguns by treating them as a mouse... in other words the x-y value of the "pointer" in relation to the game's screen bounds calculates position. Any kind of screen effects distort the game's video... things can get slightly moved up/down ect.... Well the emulator's gun position code doesn't account for this distortion.
In other words screen effects don't effect the gun, but they DO effect your perception of where objets are on the screen. The altered rendering makes an object look like it's at A,A when it's really at B,B with the effects turned off (which is what the emulator goes by).
I don't think it would be a huge issue with just a simple scanline pattern, but be aware that it does indeed effect ir guns.
gamepimp:
I actually bought the SLG-3000 hoping it would give me the perfect scanlines I was looking for. Unfortunately, VGA doesn't look as good on the HDTV than HDMI. Also, I couldn't seem to get it to work at 1920x1080 resolution. From what I understand, it really only supports lower resolutions. I think I need some sort of software solution.
I don't have a light gun for my machine. But would ideally like to add one someday. Hopefully the scanlines that I currently have thanks to MAME and MESS scanline filters won't interfere...