neo geo shadow flicker

[ee0jsp]

Hi everyone  

When playing any of the neo geo fighting games, the characters shadows flicker.

I think this isn't a bug, but am not sure what it's caused by?

Is there any fixes for this?

thanks all

James

[Mani]

hi,

you are correct that this is not a bug. the neo*geo hardware is not capable of drawing translucent objects (like a shadow on the ground), so they sometimes simulate this effect by only drawing the shadow every other frame of animation. this way your brain is supposed to take the average of these two frames and see a translucent shadow.

i could be wrong, but i remember reading that the flicker effect is less obvious on a monitor using arcade/tv refresh rate (i.e. a properly configured arcade monitor).

-Mani

[ee0jsp]

Maybe you can't see it if you're using an arcade monitor, but it's really obvious on my tv.

I really posted this because I was hoping someone had managed to patch this.

the neo-geo couldn't do translucenses? wow, that is a huge limitation for arcade hardware!

[Mani]

alpha blending is no joke! also remember, the neo*geo hardware more than a decade old.

actually, i'm not aware of any 2d hardware that supported true alpha blending before the 3d (naomi, etc) era. you'd often see fake alpha blending but that doesn't count. i could definately be wrong though, i'm no expert on arcade hardware.

-Mani

[ee0jsp]

I checked if it looked the same on my computer monitor, and it's less noticeable than on my tv.

I live in england, so my tv refreshes at 50hz and I guess this is the problem

thanks for your help mani!

James

[Mani]

james i think having a PAL tv will definately do it. the shadow is probably programmed to appear every other frame rendered in a 60 field/second scenario. but if your set draws a new field 50 times a second, you'll probably have a shadow flickering in a disturbing manner.

cheers, i'm glad to help, hopefully someone more informed than me will chime in and provide a second opinion!

-Mani