Dude I can’t even set up those shaders yet but this describes me on my little Anbernic devices when I mess with custom Shaders and Overlays. Now I just got a 4K OLED TV and installed Retroarch on my windows computer for the first time. It is so much easier on the little Linux devices with custom firmware I really have to learn a lot more about setting up Retroarch on windows and how to properly do the shaders stuff on here… I‘d love to know someone that already has experience who I could talk to for a proper setup.
Tried it on my LGC1 OLED tv and it's amazing especially with BFI maxxed, it just looks like a CRT, both in looks and motion resolution. The guy who made the HDR version in particular even managed to fix the HDR on every modern games as a byproduct of this work, using reshade. He's a genius. Unfortunately this looks best on OLEDs (with BFI) but scanlines and OLED isn't a great idea, I already had slight scanlines burned in lol even without HDR. So it's better to use the crt grids without big dark scanlines if you're using theses on OLEDs
With an OLED TV, you really need to mix your content. I know people who have been running stuff like this daily for years with no signs of image retention whatsoever.
Do you mean that we can play with 720p resolution on a 4k screen with Pi4 with these shaders enabled in retropie. Because 4k native is going to be quite difficult for emulators on pi4 to emulate.
I don't use Retroarch because I am not a big fan of the overcomplexity and it not having great compatibility(I think Dolphincore has none of the cool features and is still 5.0 stable? Lmao), but I hope the shader madness will eventually jump over to standalone emulators. Some shaders are already ported over to standalone emus, but the vast majority are not as far as I can tell.
Yeah you have to watch this in 4k on a tv otherwise it has all weird artifacts. I don't think Raspberry Pi 4 will handle it to be honest - general recommendation is to fix the resolution at 1080p max for performance reasons (even without shaders), but the new Pi 5 might.
The artifacts are mainly due to TH-cam not supporting RGB 4:4:4 Full colour format and instead forcing Chroma Subsampling/Compression to be applied to the video which wrecks the Subpixel detail of the CRT Mask. The creator of the Sony Megatron Color Video Monitor said that it will run on a Raspberry Pi 4 and I believe him. This Shader relies on the brightness of the display, not the power of the GPU to do its heavy lifting.
I do have a 4K HDR TV but I will need to move the case of the PC and the keyboard with the mouse and the gamepad to the living room just to try the shader and then, take back everything to its place once more 😅😭😭😂😂😂😂
Or just build an HT/Console PC or get an extra long HDMI Cable. I'm not sure about all of my presets but the base Sony Megatron Colour Video Monitor presets should be able to run on a Raspberry Pi 4 and I've tested some of my presets on a mid range cell phone.
I wish at some point we could have simple, easy to use CRT-emulator that would work out-of-the-box with every game, with every software. Yes, I know about ReShade, but I am talking about something so simple that even my grandpa would now how to use without reading instructions :D Well, maybe someday.
@@RetroCrisis I have good shader in retroarch. What mostly bothers me that my nice slangp shader is not compatible with nothing else. You have great videos BTW. It's nice to see some people still care about that their retro games look as original as they can!
@@Pelimuistelot thanks bro. Took me a while to move over to slangp shaders, but now I'm fully onboard with Vulkan and there's no going back. What other devices are you using?
There is a lot of missinformation about the HDR standards and also windows does not make things easier. It is not the same HDR10 than HDR1000. There are tons of monitors with HDR cerfitications that just EMULATES 10bit colors, but they are just 8bit panels with extra brightness and that is wrong. Only the expensive tvs or monitors have a 10bit panels and that is the problem. I tried to setup this shader on 4 tvs and monitors and only the expensive ones looks ok, the rest looks washed out. Also have random troubles with vulkan, dx12 and dx11, but thats another story. I guees we have to wait for true hdr becomes an standard and right now I am going to stay with my crt and the mega bezel shaders. Thanks for the tutorial
Ensure you've got the presets installed in the exact correct folder. I use the Vulkan video driver. Also ensure you've updated your slang shaders. If you go to cyberlab's homepage you might find some notes there too
I do not use retro arch myself, but i know a lot of people do, and your easy to understand tutorials, goes a long way, and helps a lot of people, you are a saint mate :) keep up the great work
So, I don't know if this issue only affects me, but attempting to use any open-API standard like OpenGL or Vulkan + Windows 11 HDR + fullscreen = reverting back to SDR, even though I'm still in HDR mode. Then, when I alt-tab to the desktop, everything is super, super dark, as if somebody just set the screen brightness to minimum. Disabling then reenabling HDR mode in Windows 11 returns the correct brightness levels, but if I alt-tab into the fullscreen app running OpenGL/Vulkan, the same thing happens again. For this reason, I've been having to use DX11/DX12 for HDR, and these CyberLab shaders run like absolute dogshite on DX11/DX12. Anyone got any tips on how I can get Vulkan + HDR + fullscreen to work as expected?
Have you updated your Slang Shaders using the Online Updater? Also try reinstalling your GPU Drivers. @RetroCrisis has a video which talks about a Vulkan fix. You can take a look at it and see if it helps. Also, you don't need HDR to be enabled in Windows before opening RetroArch if you're using the Vulkan Driver. What graphics card and Cores are you trying to run that are running slowly under DX11/12? I can run BSNES using either DX11/12 on a GeForce GX 1070 at 4K with no noticeable difference in performance between that and Vulkan.
So I tinkered a lot on my Samsung KS9080 and it looks very dim if you follow this guide (probably because the Samsung is a LCD/LED and not OLED). I did the following for SNES: I chose the Shadow Mask Ultra Sharp Preset Changed in the Parameters: Peak Brightness (1450) Paper White (500) HDR Original/Vivid (0) Display 4k (1) Display Subpixel BGR (2) Mask/Colour Accurate (0) Colour System: NTSC-J (3) Phosphors: 1953 (5) D93 White Temp (13300) Saturation (0.35) Gamma (3) Please keep in Mind that my TV Settings might differ from yours. Mine is Brightness Set to Max, in Game Mode and Color Temp Warm 1. But with this settings, my game goes from very dim to very good bright and looking very aweyome!
Thanks bro. XMB is super clean and simple. I must admit, I'm personally a fan of the one that looks like command prompt. Makes me feel like Neo from the Matrix 😎😝
Can someone help? even though I inputted the right hdr peak brightness and luminance, it still too dark. i tried changing the brightness in the parameters, it would give me this washed out look.
Is there any sort of non-HDR version of this? It doesn't seem to play well with my monitor, even though it's capable of it. Just makes everything really washed out and faded.
I have ths shaders installed in the correct folders but it is giving me error when loading :( hdr in shaders and the crt in crt folder, retroarch up to date with vulkan and hdr enabled. one thing I am noticing is that every time I quit the game my tv shows HDR enabled on the top right corner. It looks like Hdr is disabled once I enter the game and enabled when I leave the game maybe? inside the game hdr option is enabled and vulkan active.... I don't know what is happening :/ I am not sure If the shader should load even if HDR is not active on the tv
Which monitors or TVs should I use with this. I know there is qd-oled. And woled. And ips. And va panels. Which should I use for this? The sub pixels are all different.
Excellent easy to follow guide. It’s a very good set of shaders, my only gripe and this isn’t a criticism of anyone’s work btw, is it still doesn’t look like a real life crt. Next to my Sony pvm shaders look nothing like it. I’m using a 2023 4k Panasonic oled.
Thanks dude! It's all very subjective when it comes to shade of preferences. Personally, I like my image to look a little more dirty like a VHS tape almost. But this is one option. If you get the chance, I have a playlist full of other shaders too. Hopefully you'll find something you like
The shaders you present are incredible. I saw some videos where you defined a specific type for a certain platform, but if you were to choose a shader, would you only use CyberLab Megatron Death To Pixels? In the case of retroarch's default shaders, which one would you choose? It could be a top 3.
I know that the guide is for a 4k monitor, but something could be done to be able to test with a 1080p, this monitor meets the rest of the requirements
When I get more into retroarch and stuff down the road, I need to watch more of this. I'm thinking about really going more into the emulation soon. I need to get my little PS1 classic fitted with a flash drive and maybe update my Retro Pi
So sad i can't fully experience those white webpages appearance on 1000 nit bright display! Still painful for my eyes on 150" ~300 nit in the darkness, thou. You should also consider to insert some white flash-screens in a darker demo scenes, i saw this kind of genius approach in some HDR-demo videos, got unforgettable experience, and leaked-out eyes.
Is there a way to play retro PC games using these shaders? A way to get them to work in ReShade? I'm about to play KOTOR 1 and 2 and want to recreate that feel of playing it on an old monitor from 2004.
Hello! Could you please do an in-depth guide on how to use this amazing pack outside of RetroArch? In the page you linked, I scrolled down a bit further, and I saw that you can do this in 2 ways: 1) WindowCast Core for RetroArch and 2) ReShade. This would be very useful for standalone emulators, but also native PC games, running with these presets!
It's possible. You can load up a Sony Megatron Mega Bezel base preset and you're good to go after setting your Peak and Paper White Luminance. Make sure HDR is turned on in RetroArch as well as the Shader Parameters. If you're skilled enough you can figure out how to apply CyberLab Megatron Death To Pixels settings but maybe sometime in the future I might look into making some Mega Bezel + Sony Megatron Color Video Monitor presets.
@@CyberLabStudio I'm not sure to understand. Are you saying that Sony Megatron presets from Mega Bezel already includes 4K and HDR? Maybe I'no that skilled after all...😭
Mega Bezel has supported and included Megatron presets for a long time now but HDR was either broken or unsupported. This has been rectified in the latest release of Mega Bezel so it might be worth giving it a try.@@krnivoro1972
Can confirm that if you have a cheap 4K TV that does not have a high peak luminance in HDR, trying to set this up is not worth it. Anything good for those of us in 1440p land?
@@RetroCrisis Mine was 190 and yeah, too dim, doesn't look right. Back to CRT-Royale for me. I don't suppose it's possible for a "4K" shader to look alright at 1440p? My best display is my ultrawide OLED 1440p monitor.
@@enemyv I think it's resolution specific so probably not. There might be an option in the parameters to adjust that. Did you have HDR on on your computer
Love all the videos you make, great explanations. Please show us a before and after of the effects. It would be good to see 20 seconds of gameplay at the end of the video showing everything youve done. However I also understand that the effect wont be as true, because of how youtube compresses videos, and how our monitors arent the same. Thank you again.
th-cam.com/video/h7PzgUng10o/w-d-xo.html hopefully this test video I made might help highlight why I was unable to make a comparison video. As you'll notice TH-cam makes the HDR shader look crushed up. I wish I could have figured it out, but this time I was defeated 😫
Awesome guide! Thank you for your work. I was about to set it up on my android, but turns out that retroarch for android doesn't support HDR. Any recomendations for presets for android?
@RetroCrisis full version. I realized a large problem was that my phone isn't rooted, so I didn't have full access to all the folders needed. I changed the directory settings, and pointed everything to folders that I have access to. Then updated everything using the updater to repopulate all the folders. I can now load all the custom shaders. Now I'm just trying to find shaders that look nice on a 1440p screen.
Huge bummer was attempting to get this to work, but unfortunately I can't due to my laptop being unable to run Vulcan. I tried the other video but don't have another graphics card that can run the app. Is there a method for the d3d since that works for me? Can't seem to find one. 😢
@RetroCrisis ok. Do you know what else would cause the shader to fail to load? I have HDR turned on in both RetroArch and on my Samsung Galaxy Book Flex from 2020 to my TV, I unzipped and put both files in the respective folders, and I have a Samsung 8K OLED TV. The HDR shaders flat out won't load, but any other shader will lag and slow down my game/audio significantly. Do you have any idea what would cause this? I am running RetroArch on Steam if that is an issue.
I tried dude. believe me. But my camera made it suck. It's something you have to try for yourself on your own TV. HDR is a difficult beast to capture on camera.
The subpixels I'm seeing are enormous on my 32" 4K monitor. I need to stand real far from my desk for it to look ok. I don't remember seeing subpixels on my crt without getting a lot closer to the screen. I get that my screen is way bigger than that of old crt monitors but even when I try using a smaller retroarch window the shader seems to render the CRT pixels at the same size so it doesn't help. Have any advice?
In the shader parameters, there is a Display's Resolution option. Are you setting it to 1.00? 0.00 for 1080p, 1.00 for 2160p, and 2.00 for 4320p. Otherwise it is broken and scales improperly.
I can confirm these shaders do work on OLED Steam Deck. In the shader menu, go to shader parameters and scroll down until you find the resolution options. Change it to 1080p, aka "0.00"
Very clear cut guidance Lord of Retro Arch 👏 A complicated one made easy by you once again. I can’t understand why people can’t capture HDR in this day and age 😂 Now I get why you couldn’t show gameplay footage.
Haha thanks for understanding brother. HDR and TH-cam are like oil and water at the moment. It's been quite a learning experience 🤣 - I might keep away from it for a while after this video 🤣
Is it worth cycling through the sub pixel layout for the newish QD-OLEDs like the alienware AW3225QF? Also some shaders are loading from this pack whilst others are not, any ideas as to why that maybe happening?
@@RetroCrisis unfortunately on Android I can't even find a way to turn on HDR like you can on Windows so while the shaders themselves may work without HDR there use becomes null and void
Hello, I wanted to try this on my mobile phone, since it supports HDR, but Android version did not have HDR settings available under Video section. What I'm doing wrong?
Not sure what I'm doing wrong but the shader itself is soooo dark. Everything else like the menus and stuff is fine but I can't for the life of me figure out why the hdr seems to be broke with the shader and how to make it brighter
When I put on the shader, the video output in retro arch freezes. I can still get in and out of the quick menu with F1 because I can hear the sound effects of scrolling through the RA menu but I cannot see it. HDR is set to on in windows as a personal preference and my nvidia drivers are set to use g-sync compatible in both fullscreen and windowed mode. These are the only two things that I use adjust that has to do with display. I also have a 144hz ultra wide.
Where are you trying to adjust these settings? Are you using the Shader Parameters? Also are you sure you're in HDR mode on RetroArch and on your display?
Sonkun, CyberLab and Mega Bezel are all fantastic options. There are many more too such as KokoAIO - here's a playlist with many options: th-cam.com/play/PL3amG1g3KoFsVGTmOB7jD4T5sJ2UOeF3A.html&si=HiZBCL18DIlN9k31
If it's dark, that could be due to the Peak Luminance or Paperwhite Luminance settings. What your display's peak luminance value? It could also be due to your display simply not being bright enough. Try fiddling around with it. Also make sure you update your shaders so that you're on Sony Megatron Color Video v5.7.
Yes, just go into Shader Parameters and switch the SDR/HDR parameter to SDR. You'll need to boost the backlight and brightness on your display though. Don't forget to adjust the "Display's Subpixel Layout" to match your screen.
It's not perfect, but I think we should all just be grateful that members of the community are pouring hours on unpaid work into making these shaders for us.
@RetroCrisis all 3 settings isnt really isnt changing the greeness. But changing the mask/colour accurate value changes it a bit in the right direction. Still, colors look very washed out, and it looks yucky
Sounds like either HDR isn't enabled properly on your setup, you need to set your Peak Luminance and Paperwhite values correctly or your colour format is not currently set to RGB 4:4:4 Full. That last one is extremely important.@@dynamitestalker4219
@@Purpbatboi We are told here to put the Guest Advanced CRT files into the shaders/shaders_slang/crt folder, but with the NX revision (what I assume people have been using instead of the instruction's older Megatron shaders), you are only to put those files into shaders_slang.
The Sony Megatron Color Video Monitor has settings for 1080p, 4K and 8K. 1440p can work as well, you might just have to adjust the Display's Resolution and TVL settings until it looks right.
@@RetroCrisis What you can do is provide a download link for the full quality RGB 4:4:4 Full non-Chroma Subsampled/Compressed version of the video for users to download in the description. However, based on my experience, I haven't been able to create an HDR Compliant video that doesn't utilize Chroma Subsampling in the editors I've tried so until that's figured out SDR RGB 4:4:4 is the way with TH-cam probably being just for preview purposes.
Final step: close retroarch and dont play the games
This is too real 🤣
It's nice to take a break from modding Skyrim.
Dude I can’t even set up those shaders yet but this describes me on my little Anbernic devices when I mess with custom Shaders and Overlays.
Now I just got a 4K OLED TV and installed Retroarch on my windows computer for the first time.
It is so much easier on the little Linux devices with custom firmware I really have to learn a lot more about setting up Retroarch on windows and how to properly do the shaders stuff on here…
I‘d love to know someone that already has experience who I could talk to for a proper setup.
Literally me. I downloaded so many roms and have played only one of them seriously 😭
Now I need an HDR monitor
Tried it on my LGC1 OLED tv and it's amazing especially with BFI maxxed, it just looks like a CRT, both in looks and motion resolution.
The guy who made the HDR version in particular even managed to fix the HDR on every modern games as a byproduct of this work, using reshade. He's a genius.
Unfortunately this looks best on OLEDs (with BFI) but scanlines and OLED isn't a great idea, I already had slight scanlines burned in lol even without HDR. So it's better to use the crt grids without big dark scanlines if you're using theses on OLEDs
With an OLED TV, you really need to mix your content.
I know people who have been running stuff like this daily for years with no signs of image retention whatsoever.
I would think activating the automatic pixel shift option on the oled tv (if it has it) might prevent harm from scanlines.
It would be killer if you could apply this to full screen Windows for watching old TV shows and whatnot.
Followed all the steps get the message: Failed to apply shader presets.
Any advice?
What's my best alternative, running on a 1080p monitor?
Hi! Any chance of a "CyberLab Megatron NX Death To Pixels 4K HDR Shader Preset Pack". I couln't get those working...
One more very important question: do we need to enable HDR through Windows first? (Right-click on the Desktop --> Display settings)?
If you're using Vulkan, no. If you're using GLcore or d3d, yes.
Do you mean that we can play with 720p resolution on a 4k screen with Pi4 with these shaders enabled in retropie. Because 4k native is going to be quite difficult for emulators on pi4 to emulate.
I'm confused on adjusting the Paper White Luminance. I have the grey ramp test pattern up. What should I be aiming for? More greys? More whites?
You want to set it somewhere in the middle so you can see as many samples as possible
I don't use Retroarch because I am not a big fan of the overcomplexity and it not having great compatibility(I think Dolphincore has none of the cool features and is still 5.0 stable? Lmao), but I hope the shader madness will eventually jump over to standalone emulators. Some shaders are already ported over to standalone emus, but the vast majority are not as far as I can tell.
Is this available for duckstation standalone or PCSX2? I like Retroarch but for Playstation I much prefer those two
There's a duckstation core available called swan station not sure about PCSX2
Yeah you have to watch this in 4k on a tv otherwise it has all weird artifacts. I don't think Raspberry Pi 4 will handle it to be honest - general recommendation is to fix the resolution at 1080p max for performance reasons (even without shaders), but the new Pi 5 might.
The artifacts are mainly due to TH-cam not supporting RGB 4:4:4 Full colour format and instead forcing Chroma Subsampling/Compression to be applied to the video which wrecks the Subpixel detail of the CRT Mask.
The creator of the Sony Megatron Color Video Monitor said that it will run on a Raspberry Pi 4 and I believe him.
This Shader relies on the brightness of the display, not the power of the GPU to do its heavy lifting.
I do have a 4K HDR TV but I will need to move the case of the PC and the keyboard with the mouse and the gamepad to the living room just to try the shader and then, take back everything to its place once more 😅😭😭😂😂😂😂
Oh man 🤣 that sounds like too much effort
Or just build an HT/Console PC or get an extra long HDMI Cable. I'm not sure about all of my presets but the base Sony Megatron Colour Video Monitor presets should be able to run on a Raspberry Pi 4 and I've tested some of my presets on a mid range cell phone.
No se compara con un Crt de verdad 😭😭
Nothing will ever compare to a real crt 😫
Will these shaders work for Android devises specifically the Nvidia shield?
They definitely work on Android devices. You might have to experiment and see if they'll work on the Shield.
Ouch. Your text is so bright.
Ehhh it is pretty good for texture, but TV scanlines have more of a glow. This looks really dark in comparison to a real CRT
You really can't judge this from watching a TH-cam video. You need a bright HDR TV with the Peak Luminance and Paperwhite values set correctly.
You definitely have to try it out for yourself. The video won't accurately represent the shader
I wish at some point we could have simple, easy to use CRT-emulator that would work out-of-the-box with every game, with every software. Yes, I know about ReShade, but I am talking about something so simple that even my grandpa would now how to use without reading instructions :D Well, maybe someday.
There are many easy to use shader presets out there. Check this playlist: th-cam.com/play/PL3amG1g3KoFsVGTmOB7jD4T5sJ2UOeF3A.html
@@RetroCrisis I have good shader in retroarch. What mostly bothers me that my nice slangp shader is not compatible with nothing else. You have great videos BTW. It's nice to see some people still care about that their retro games look as original as they can!
@@Pelimuistelot thanks bro. Took me a while to move over to slangp shaders, but now I'm fully onboard with Vulkan and there's no going back. What other devices are you using?
@@RetroCrisis I play with PC only these days. But do still have 14" Crt-TV and NES and PS1 from my childhood. But I rarely hook them up.
There is a lot of missinformation about the HDR standards and also windows does not make things easier.
It is not the same HDR10 than HDR1000. There are tons of monitors with HDR cerfitications that just EMULATES 10bit colors, but they are just 8bit panels with extra brightness and that is wrong. Only the expensive tvs or monitors have a 10bit panels and that is the problem.
I tried to setup this shader on 4 tvs and monitors and only the expensive ones looks ok, the rest looks washed out. Also have random troubles with vulkan, dx12 and dx11, but thats another story.
I guees we have to wait for true hdr becomes an standard and right now I am going to stay with my crt and the mega bezel shaders. Thanks for the tutorial
Unbelieveable that you can spot the crt "sub pixels" with shaders like this.
It's a real treat for pixel-peepers
I haven’t got into retro arch yet but I appreciate people like yourself putting these guides together and getting them online for people to find 😊
Thanks John, hopefully one day you'll catch the RetroArch bug and I'll be here to catch you!!
I did all the steps but I get (Failed to apply shader presets) every time ? Help
Same here, could you solve?
Ensure you've got the presets installed in the exact correct folder. I use the Vulkan video driver. Also ensure you've updated your slang shaders. If you go to cyberlab's homepage you might find some notes there too
I do not use retro arch myself, but i know a lot of people do, and your easy to understand tutorials, goes a long way, and helps a lot of people, you are a saint mate :) keep up the great work
Hahaha bro you're the kindest most generous person ever. I appreciate you! Also I need to convert you to emulation !!!
This video changed my life. I'm very anti-social, but I almost wish I had a friend to show this off to. Almost...
Lol you've got CyberLab to thank for this one
With the response times of new OLED panels, the days of CRTs are pretty much over. My back rejoices.
Meh. Not quite unfortunately.
Brilliant shader and guide, thanks to all involved, a true game changer.
So, I don't know if this issue only affects me, but attempting to use any open-API standard like OpenGL or Vulkan + Windows 11 HDR + fullscreen = reverting back to SDR, even though I'm still in HDR mode. Then, when I alt-tab to the desktop, everything is super, super dark, as if somebody just set the screen brightness to minimum. Disabling then reenabling HDR mode in Windows 11 returns the correct brightness levels, but if I alt-tab into the fullscreen app running OpenGL/Vulkan, the same thing happens again. For this reason, I've been having to use DX11/DX12 for HDR, and these CyberLab shaders run like absolute dogshite on DX11/DX12. Anyone got any tips on how I can get Vulkan + HDR + fullscreen to work as expected?
Have you updated your Slang Shaders using the Online Updater? Also try reinstalling your GPU Drivers. @RetroCrisis has a video which talks about a Vulkan fix. You can take a look at it and see if it helps. Also, you don't need HDR to be enabled in Windows before opening RetroArch if you're using the Vulkan Driver.
What graphics card and Cores are you trying to run that are running slowly under DX11/12?
I can run BSNES using either DX11/12 on a GeForce GX 1070 at 4K with no noticeable difference in performance between that and Vulkan.
So I tinkered a lot on my Samsung KS9080 and it looks very dim if you follow this guide (probably because the Samsung is a LCD/LED and not OLED).
I did the following for SNES:
I chose the Shadow Mask Ultra Sharp Preset
Changed in the Parameters:
Peak Brightness (1450)
Paper White (500)
HDR Original/Vivid (0)
Display 4k (1)
Display Subpixel BGR (2)
Mask/Colour Accurate (0)
Colour System: NTSC-J (3)
Phosphors: 1953 (5)
D93 White Temp (13300)
Saturation (0.35)
Gamma (3)
Please keep in Mind that my TV Settings might differ from yours. Mine is Brightness Set to Max, in Game Mode and Color Temp Warm 1.
But with this settings, my game goes from very dim to very good bright and looking very aweyome!
This is useful to know. Thanks for sharing your research 🍻
Nice, great guide. Btw, I'm glad you're using the XMB menu driver, it's been my go-to for a long long time.
Thanks bro. XMB is super clean and simple. I must admit, I'm personally a fan of the one that looks like command prompt. Makes me feel like Neo from the Matrix 😎😝
@@RetroCrisis XBM for life. There's nice colour choices too.
Essas texturas são lindas demais. Obrigado pelo vídeo irmão ✌️😁
Thank you so much. Did you get a chance to test it on your computer? 🍻
Can someone help? even though I inputted the right hdr peak brightness and luminance, it still too dark. i tried changing the brightness in the parameters, it would give me this washed out look.
Is there any sort of non-HDR version of this? It doesn't seem to play well with my monitor, even though it's capable of it. Just makes everything really washed out and faded.
I have ths shaders installed in the correct folders but it is giving me error when loading :( hdr in shaders and the crt in crt folder, retroarch up to date with vulkan and hdr enabled. one thing I am noticing is that every time I quit the game my tv shows HDR enabled on the top right corner.
It looks like Hdr is disabled once I enter the game and enabled when I leave the game maybe? inside the game hdr option is enabled and vulkan active....
I don't know what is happening :/ I am not sure If the shader should load even if HDR is not active on the tv
All that to emulate an old outdated CRT?
Just use a CRT at this point.
Thanks for the advice. I'll go to the store right now and buy one 🍻
Which monitors or TVs should I use with this. I know there is qd-oled. And woled. And ips. And va panels. Which should I use for this? The sub pixels are all different.
Excellent easy to follow guide.
It’s a very good set of shaders, my only gripe and this isn’t a criticism of anyone’s work btw, is it still doesn’t look like a real life crt. Next to my Sony pvm shaders look nothing like it. I’m using a 2023 4k Panasonic oled.
Thanks dude! It's all very subjective when it comes to shade of preferences. Personally, I like my image to look a little more dirty like a VHS tape almost. But this is one option. If you get the chance, I have a playlist full of other shaders too. Hopefully you'll find something you like
The shaders you present are incredible. I saw some videos where you defined a specific type for a certain platform, but if you were to choose a shader, would you only use CyberLab Megatron Death To Pixels?
In the case of retroarch's default shaders, which one would you choose? It could be a top 3.
I know that the guide is for a 4k monitor, but something could be done to be able to test with a 1080p, this monitor meets the rest of the requirements
pretty sure you need 4k in order for this to recreate the accurate sub pixel look.
Like this video. Hopefully next year I'll own a monitor with that feature.
Fingers crossed. I'm saving up for an HDR OLED TV too.
Retro crisis indeed
When I get more into retroarch and stuff down the road, I need to watch more of this. I'm thinking about really going more into the emulation soon. I need to get my little PS1 classic fitted with a flash drive and maybe update my Retro Pi
Brother when you're ready to jump on the RetroArch train, I'll be here to help you
So sad i can't fully experience those white webpages appearance on 1000 nit bright display! Still painful for my eyes on 150" ~300 nit in the darkness, thou. You should also consider to insert some white flash-screens in a darker demo scenes, i saw this kind of genius approach in some HDR-demo videos, got unforgettable experience, and leaked-out eyes.
Is there a way to play retro PC games using these shaders? A way to get them to work in ReShade? I'm about to play KOTOR 1 and 2 and want to recreate that feel of playing it on an old monitor from 2004.
Did anybody compare this to a Retrotink 4K with a MisterFPGA?
I truly want to know how goods this 0$ solution is to a 1300$ solution!
How did you make this long video and forget to even show what this shader even looks like ingame?
HDR shaders don't capture properly. This test footage I took will explain why - th-cam.com/video/h7PzgUng10o/w-d-xo.html
I followed everything in this video perfectly but these shaders just look dull and washed out in HDR. Has anyone else had this issue?
Hello! Could you please do an in-depth guide on how to use this amazing pack outside of RetroArch? In the page you linked, I scrolled down a bit further, and I saw that you can do this in 2 ways: 1) WindowCast Core for RetroArch and 2) ReShade.
This would be very useful for standalone emulators, but also native PC games, running with these presets!
Next gen of monitors will probably really do it.
Imagine a preinstaled a crt mod in a gaming monitor.🤩
Haha I wonder if there is enough demand for that
Has anyone gotten to have this work on the Steam Deck OLED? I have tried and failed..
It should work. There's nothing here that the SD can't handle.
I love shaders! Is there any way to make these shaders work with Mega Bezel reflection shaders by HyperspaceMadness?
It's possible. You can load up a Sony Megatron Mega Bezel base preset and you're good to go after setting your Peak and Paper White Luminance. Make sure HDR is turned on in RetroArch as well as the Shader Parameters.
If you're skilled enough you can figure out how to apply CyberLab Megatron Death To Pixels settings but maybe sometime in the future I might look into making some Mega Bezel + Sony Megatron Color Video Monitor presets.
@@CyberLabStudio I'm not sure to understand. Are you saying that Sony Megatron presets from Mega Bezel already includes 4K and HDR? Maybe I'no that skilled after all...😭
Mega Bezel has supported and included Megatron presets for a long time now but HDR was either broken or unsupported. This has been rectified in the latest release of Mega Bezel so it might be worth giving it a try.@@krnivoro1972
Hey, I have a 4K fake HDR10 Samsung monitor, capped at 300 nits for peak brightness. Are these shaders worth trying? Thanks for the amazing content!
Because every HDR screen is different, the best thing to do is test it out - it's what I would do
Can confirm that if you have a cheap 4K TV that does not have a high peak luminance in HDR, trying to set this up is not worth it. Anything good for those of us in 1440p land?
Best thing to do, is test it out. My monitor's peak luminance isn't too high, but it still looks great. Test it and see how you get on.
@@RetroCrisis Mine was 190 and yeah, too dim, doesn't look right. Back to CRT-Royale for me. I don't suppose it's possible for a "4K" shader to look alright at 1440p? My best display is my ultrawide OLED 1440p monitor.
@@enemyv I think it's resolution specific so probably not. There might be an option in the parameters to adjust that. Did you have HDR on on your computer
what about in a smartphone would you recommed?
Even though I followed your instructions I am having a problem with retroarch failing to load shaders
also for a C4 which is WRGB do you select RGB or RWBG
Love all the videos you make, great explanations. Please show us a before and after of the effects. It would be good to see 20 seconds of gameplay at the end of the video showing everything youve done. However I also understand that the effect wont be as true, because of how youtube compresses videos, and how our monitors arent the same. Thank you again.
th-cam.com/video/h7PzgUng10o/w-d-xo.html hopefully this test video I made might help highlight why I was unable to make a comparison video. As you'll notice TH-cam makes the HDR shader look crushed up. I wish I could have figured it out, but this time I was defeated 😫
Awesome guide! Thank you for your work.
I was about to set it up on my android, but turns out that retroarch for android doesn't support HDR.
Any recomendations for presets for android?
Are you using the play store version of RetroArch or the full version? th-cam.com/video/1fbNedjr7bc/w-d-xo.html
@RetroCrisis full version. I realized a large problem was that my phone isn't rooted, so I didn't have full access to all the folders needed. I changed the directory settings, and pointed everything to folders that I have access to. Then updated everything using the updater to repopulate all the folders. I can now load all the custom shaders. Now I'm just trying to find shaders that look nice on a 1440p screen.
Huge bummer was attempting to get this to work, but unfortunately I can't due to my laptop being unable to run Vulcan. I tried the other video but don't have another graphics card that can run the app. Is there a method for the d3d since that works for me? Can't seem to find one. 😢
Sorry to hear. Either of these drivers should work, to varying degrees - D3D11, D3D12, Vulkan or GLCore
@RetroCrisis ok. Do you know what else would cause the shader to fail to load? I have HDR turned on in both RetroArch and on my Samsung Galaxy Book Flex from 2020 to my TV, I unzipped and put both files in the respective folders, and I have a Samsung 8K OLED TV. The HDR shaders flat out won't load, but any other shader will lag and slow down my game/audio significantly. Do you have any idea what would cause this? I am running RetroArch on Steam if that is an issue.
For those of us with 1440p monitors is it better to use the 1080p or 4k shaders?
I have tried this shader changing the parameters and putting 1080p and it works.
Why would anyone need a HDR display to simulate a dull CRT display? lol HDR is all about peak brightness, something that CRTs never came close
you don't even show one sample of it zoomed out so we can see how it looks at a more normal viewing distance
I tried dude. believe me. But my camera made it suck. It's something you have to try for yourself on your own TV. HDR is a difficult beast to capture on camera.
The subpixels I'm seeing are enormous on my 32" 4K monitor. I need to stand real far from my desk for it to look ok. I don't remember seeing subpixels on my crt without getting a lot closer to the screen. I get that my screen is way bigger than that of old crt monitors but even when I try using a smaller retroarch window the shader seems to render the CRT pixels at the same size so it doesn't help. Have any advice?
I'd like an answer to this as well.
In the shader parameters, there is a Display's Resolution option. Are you setting it to 1.00? 0.00 for 1080p, 1.00 for 2160p, and 2.00 for 4320p. Otherwise it is broken and scales improperly.
@@willuigi64 what parameter number is for 1440p? :)
Hi, are all these great shaders do work on the Retroarch for SteamDeck ?
Maybe on the OLED Deck. I've not tested it myself, but I'd love to.
@@RetroCrisis I've not seen HDR as an option on mine yet. I don't know if the Linux version supports HDR
I second a Steamdeck OLED version if possible.
@@crestofhonor2349You don't need HDR to use Sony Megatron Color Video Monitor once the screen can get bright enough even in SDR mode.
I can confirm these shaders do work on OLED Steam Deck. In the shader menu, go to shader parameters and scroll down until you find the resolution options. Change it to 1080p, aka "0.00"
Very clear cut guidance Lord of Retro Arch 👏 A complicated one made easy by you once again. I can’t understand why people can’t capture HDR in this day and age 😂 Now I get why you couldn’t show gameplay footage.
Haha thanks for understanding brother. HDR and TH-cam are like oil and water at the moment. It's been quite a learning experience 🤣 - I might keep away from it for a while after this video 🤣
@@RetroCrisis TH-cam needs upgrading been time it’s 2023 people!!!
Is it worth cycling through the sub pixel layout for the newish QD-OLEDs like the alienware AW3225QF? Also some shaders are loading from this pack whilst others are not, any ideas as to why that maybe happening?
How do I apply this to games outside of retroarch?
I think these shaders only work in Retroarch
what shaders is good for use in emuelec 4.6 in tv led 32"? i use in snes, megadrive, nes, mastersystem, n64, mame i have tvbox t95 max plus
How did you run the 240p test suite from RetroArch? I tried downloading it but it's not a ROM or anything.
Would these shaders work on android devices specifically the Nvidia shield
I can't see why not - it doesn't require a powerful computer
@@RetroCrisis unfortunately on Android I can't even find a way to turn on HDR like you can on Windows so while the shaders themselves may work without HDR there use becomes null and void
Hello, I wanted to try this on my mobile phone, since it supports HDR, but Android version did not have HDR settings available under Video section.
What I'm doing wrong?
Not sure what I'm doing wrong but the shader itself is soooo dark. Everything else like the menus and stuff is fine but I can't for the life of me figure out why the hdr seems to be broke with the shader and how to make it brighter
You can post your issue in the CyberLab Death To Pixels Shader Preset Packs Libretro Forums thread and I can try to assist.
Is HDR not available on retroarch android?
The full version should have it - th-cam.com/video/1fbNedjr7bc/w-d-xo.html
I just want something that looks like HLSL on MAME.
What a mess!!
When I put on the shader, the video output in retro arch freezes. I can still get in and out of the quick menu with F1 because I can hear the sound effects of scrolling through the RA menu but I cannot see it. HDR is set to on in windows as a personal preference and my nvidia drivers are set to use g-sync compatible in both fullscreen and windowed mode. These are the only two things that I use adjust that has to do with display. I also have a 144hz ultra wide.
Actually even If I put back these things as they were by default, I get the same. The game doesn't launch neither.
Paper white Luminance doesn’t do anything it remains dark why is it broken?
What kind of monitor are you using?
@@RetroCrisis tcl r646 mini led 4k tv
Where are you trying to adjust these settings? Are you using the Shader Parameters? Also are you sure you're in HDR mode on RetroArch and on your display?
@@CyberLabStudio yes and hdr is on hdr10 shows up on my screen.
@@batman200 Can you post this in the Sony Megatron Color Video Monitor thread please. I'm starting to see a sort of common trend with TCL TVs though.
hello, i followed your directions exactly and retroarch said that the shader “failed to load”. any idea what i might be doing wrong?
Double check it's installed in the correct location
I have an hdr laptop K3502, and the HDR option doesn't show up on my installation. :(
Have you installed the latest version of RetroArch? Also enable Vulkan
I have no way to find out at the moment, but can all these shaders be used in DOSBox?
They can be used on most if not all RetroArch cores
gracias por el video, lamentablemente cuando quiero abrir el shader me aparece ERROR AL CARGAR.
It might be installed in the incorrect location. Double check
Would this be possible on Steam Deck OLED?
Technically yes, it can be used on a steam deck OLED. But I have no idea how good it will look
the best crt shaders for 1080p screens are sonkun right?
Sonkun, CyberLab and Mega Bezel are all fantastic options. There are many more too such as KokoAIO - here's a playlist with many options: th-cam.com/play/PL3amG1g3KoFsVGTmOB7jD4T5sJ2UOeF3A.html&si=HiZBCL18DIlN9k31
No matter what I do I can't get the image not to look extremely dark or blown out. :/
Try bumping up the brightness on your TV?
If it's dark, that could be due to the Peak Luminance or Paperwhite Luminance settings. What your display's peak luminance value?
It could also be due to your display simply not being bright enough.
Try fiddling around with it.
Also make sure you update your shaders so that you're on Sony Megatron Color Video v5.7.
Is there an easy way to implement this with batocera?
Does Batocera support RetroArch?
Hi ,thanks looks impressive, but is there a non HDR version of these shaders ?
Yes, just go into Shader Parameters and switch the SDR/HDR parameter to SDR. You'll need to boost the backlight and brightness on your display though.
Don't forget to adjust the "Display's Subpixel Layout" to match your screen.
@@CyberLabStudio cool thanks
Why are the shader "pages" just messy bloated disorganized incompetent Forum posts?
It's not perfect, but I think we should all just be grateful that members of the community are pouring hours on unpaid work into making these shaders for us.
My screen just looks green sometimes. What value is there to fix it?
Try changing the subpixel layout. That happened to me too
@@RetroCrisis I'll try that. Thanks for the reply 👍
@RetroCrisis all 3 settings isnt really isnt changing the greeness. But changing the mask/colour accurate value changes it a bit in the right direction. Still, colors look very washed out, and it looks yucky
Sounds like either HDR isn't enabled properly on your setup, you need to set your Peak Luminance and Paperwhite values correctly or your colour format is not currently set to RGB 4:4:4 Full. That last one is extremely important.@@dynamitestalker4219
Does not work.
Care to share more details?
i managed to fix my issue
@@Purpbatboihow did you fix it?
@@serkan4370 i uh.. i forgot
at some point i just replaced this with Guest Advanced CRT
@@Purpbatboi We are told here to put the Guest Advanced CRT files into the shaders/shaders_slang/crt folder, but with the NX revision (what I assume people have been using instead of the instruction's older Megatron shaders), you are only to put those files into shaders_slang.
Tried this on my TV... seems way too dark no matter what I do. Granted, it is a low-end 4K...
The extra brightness offered by HDR usually offsets the darkness. Sadly not all 4k HDR displays are made equal
@@RetroCrisis HDR in Windows outside of RA seems fine .. everything seems to dim when alt tabbing into RA
@@Swoliosis1 did you enable HDR within RetroArch too?
@@RetroCrisis I did.. also played with many of the shader parameters... its as if there is an 'intensity' setting I'm missing.
@@Swoliosis1 for the brightness, it will be on your TV's side, rather than the shader itself
would also like to request 1080p and 1440p, not all of us have 4k monitors :P
I'm sure it's possible but I don't think 1080p would offer enough pixels...treat yourself to a 4k monitor, it's almost Christmas 🎄🎁
Not 1080p but would love to use this on Steam Deck
The Sony Megatron Color Video Monitor has settings for 1080p, 4K and 8K. 1440p can work as well, you might just have to adjust the Display's Resolution and TVL settings until it looks right.
@@RetroCrisis1080p is actually fine for Aperture Grille presets. It's the Slot Mask and Dot Mask that struggle a bit at such a low resolution.
Is there an option for common 1080p monitors?
Yes, it's in the shader parameters. "Display's Resolution". Don't forget to also adjust the " Display's Subpixel Layout" to match your screen.
I'm getting failed to apply shader preset
Double check you've installed it in the exact correct location
i checked many times and replay the video many times and reinstall the retro arch and applied the same video again but same problem@@RetroCrisis
@@renardsama8122I've had the Same issues when following this videos 🤷🏻
@@RetroCrisisunfortunately, no luck for me either...
@@serkan4370 same here
You should provide preview video, i can not judge a shader only from the ultra zoom view
I did try, but TH-cam compression scrambled the image. Resorted to just pointing a camera to my monitor.
@@RetroCrisis What you can do is provide a download link for the full quality RGB 4:4:4 Full non-Chroma Subsampled/Compressed version of the video for users to download in the description.
However, based on my experience, I haven't been able to create an HDR Compliant video that doesn't utilize Chroma Subsampling in the editors I've tried so until that's figured out SDR RGB 4:4:4 is the way with TH-cam probably being just for preview purposes.
hello retro crisis could you make a video how to improve retroarch quality to 4K ive watched the older video but its not working
If your monitor supports 4K, RetroArch should automatically adjust itself to support it