snes emulation in native res on data monitor?

[Jack Burton]

Hi, thought you guys here could be sympathetic to this issue of mine and would probably be knowledgeable about it.  I have cross posted this from the zsnes.com forums

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I want to run ZSNES on my Mitsubishi Diamond Scan 20 M monitor. I know this monitor will display the SNES's native video output since I've hooked my snes up to the RGB ports in the back.

Now, if I set ZSNES to 256x224 or 521x448 in the video settings it only resizes the video, it does not change resolutions. I know this because normally when I change change resolutions the monitor goes black for a second, then their is a loud click and the screen reappears. With game systems I can also very easily see the scanlines and the difference in video. So even though ZSNES says that it is running in 256x224, it really isn't. I have run powerstrip, and have set a custom res of 256x224 or 512x448, but I can never get it to sync properly. I do not know the exact specifications to do so. Again, I know it WILL display the image since I have actually ran a real snes on this monitor before. Additionally, I have run games through Advancemame at low frequencies and resolutions, so I know the card I am using is capable of it. I am using an NVIDIA Geforce FX 5200.

The closest I have come to the image I want is by setting a mode of 640x480 intelaced in powerstrip, then running ZSNES in 640x480 DR Full. This results in an image where one line of pixels in the game image results in exactly one line in between scanlines, which is what I am aiming for. However, this image does not fit the entire screen like the snes image does. If I use 640x480 DS full the scanlines do not have a one line per one line of pixels ratio anymore and the image is not as sharp.

My goal here is to reproduce as authentically as possibly the image the SNES outputs, real scanlines and all. So I'm not worried about any kind of progressive image or blending or anything. Even if the result is a technically inferior one to what is possible, I would still like the TV output look, but with the sharpness and rgb quality this industrial monitor provides, as well as all the benefits of playing roms on ZSNES.

So does anyone here know anyway to do this with ZSNES or any other emulator? What settings should I use in powerstrip?

Most importantly, is there anything like Advancemame or Advanceconfig but for the SNES?

Thanks in advance to anyone who posts.


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That's the gist of it.  I am having a lot of fun running Advmame, but having problems getting the same results with console stuff.  Would an arcadevga work better?  I have heard from some people that since it comes with native support for the lower res's that zsnes is able to change to 256x224.

[ahofle]

I just tried and was able to switch to 256x240 with an ArcadeVGA (the AVGA doesn't have any resolutions below 240 lines).  The monitor reports 15.8khz so I know it switched, but I had problems getting the picture right.  Under the "DR F" mode, there seemed to be scaling issues (game text was artifacted).  When trying "DS F" the game text looked much better, but it lost the 8:7 aspect ratio and stretched the picture to the whole screen (is that what it is supposed to do?).  321x240 DR F looked better, but I had some other issues with blurriness in the middle of the screen (no idea what caused this).  So it looks like it will definitely accept lower resolutions, but you have to make sure they are setup correctly in windows.  Have you looked into Soft15khz?

[Jack Burton]

I'm gonna ressurect this thread since I think I have more info now and it seems good to post for posterity. 

My problem was this.  I was indeed running the games in their native resolution, but I neglected to understand the idea that the aspect ratio of the snes native solution of 256x224 is 8:7.  This means that a pixel perfect image could never be displayed full screen on a 4:3 monitor.  In order to properly display such an image the pixels must be stretched horizontally.  Using powerstrip and my monitor adjustments this was indeed possible.

When I booted up my snes I had the suspicion it would be the case their as well, and wouldn't you know it, rectangular pixels.