(Retro) What have you been playing this week? Vol.2

[Atticus]

Brilliant. Thank you chaps, much appreciated.

19XX here I come

[Atticus]

I shall give that a go. Cheers Colin

[Colin]

In fact, I'm talking out of my backside, give me a minute and I'll type what you should do!

EDIT:

Ok, go to retropie set up, select configuration/tools, select configedit, configure basic libretto emu options, config default options for all emus, change aspect ratio to config. (I've probably left it on 4:3 when I set it up for you, my bad!)

That should then automatically put everything in to it's correct ratio when you load a game.

[importaku]

Last few nights been trying to complete the first Zelda on the disk system, have been using a map as quite frankly there’s no way in hell im bombing & burning random bits of scenery till a cave appears. Gotten through 6 dungeons so far the hardest bit besides working out what to do next is controlling link as his first game is very clunky and those enemies randomly whizzing around doesn’t make it easy to dodge. Thankfully I got the blue ring so my hearts don’t burn down faster than a politician through coke.

[Leon Retro]

Ok, go to retropie set up, select configuration/tools, select configedit, configure basic libretto emu options, config default options for all emus, change aspect ratio to config. (I've probably left it on 4:3 when I set it up for you, my bad!)

Can you make it automatically detect vertical games and set them to the correct aspect ratio?

I set things for 4:3 across all emulators, but when I play a vertical shooter, I have to change the aspect & scanlines and then save it for that particular game. So I have to change the aspect ratio and scanlines for every vertical game, but there aren't many, so it doesn't bother me.

It's really important to select 'vertical scanlines' otherwise you get horrible effect on the scanlines.

Last few nights been trying to complete the first Zelda on the disk system, have been using a map as quite frankly there’s no way in hell im bombing & burning random bits of scenery till a cave appears.

I have always thought games like Zelda look interesting, but I get really bored after a while when playing adventure & RPG games. I did play Zelda on the SNES a bit, and could tell it's a great game.

[Colin]

Yes, setting the ratio in the retropie set up to config will auto select the correct ratio for all games, you won't need to manually do it again. Just do it across the all systems option as you currently have with your 4:3 choice.

Edit to add: I use crt-pi.glsp as the shader, it automatically makes the scanlines vertical on tate stuff.

[Leon Retro]

Edit to add: I use crt-pi.glsp as the shader, it automatically makes the scanlines vertical on tate stuff.

I was using that, but the scanline effect looked a bit weird in some games. 1080p isn't ideal for scanlines, but it looks OK most of the time. It's just a few games that prefer a different scanlines shader.

I need to research what people think is the best scanline shader - and how to set things up so it doesn't suffer any image problems. I don't like scanline shimmer, or when it looks like some of them are clumped together.

[Colin]

Possibly different TV's display it differently, I don't find it to be clumped -



Just a case of finding one that suits your personal taste I suppose.

[Atticus]

I got got the aspect ratio sorted. I changed it in the RetroPie options but it made no difference, so I changed it in the emulator itself and it worked, saved for all games in the same emulator too.

I was using that, but the scanline effect looked a bit weird in some games.

It does in vert games I've found (I always got the same effect with RFA on 360, probs @ 1080p too) ... like the lines are slightly non-uniform, with every other one being thicker ... and yeah, occasionally flickery on paler backgrounds like clouds but I'd expect a bit of that. Everything looks amazing in std horizontal games so far though. Near perfection.

[Colin]

Weird it didn't work for you but does on mine mate, but at least you're sorted!

[Leon Retro]

Possibly different TV's display it differently, I don't find it to be clumped -

Well, the scanlines look really nice in most games. But now and then there are moments when the scanlines look a bit weird if the background is a solid colour. If a game has that sort of problem, I change the scanlines shader. The shader you're using definitely looks the nicest.

It does in vert games I've found (I always got the same effect with RFA on 360, probs @ 1080p too) ... like the lines are slightly non-uniform, with every other one being thicker ... and yeah, occasionally flickery on paler backgrounds like clouds but I'd expect a bit of that. Everything looks amazing in std horizontal games so far though. Near perfection.

That's a side effect of using 1080p to upscale 240p games. I went down to 720p but didn't like the softer image. At least it's only an issue on solid colours now and then. Most of the time the scanlines look great.

[dvdx2]

Well, the scanlines look really nice in most games. But now and then there are moments when the scanlines look a bit weird if the background is a solid colour. If a game has that sort of problem, I change the scanlines shader. The shader you're using definitely looks the nicest.




That's a side effect of using 1080p to upscale 240p games. I went down to 720p but didn't like the softer image. At least it's only an issue on solid colours now and then. Most of the time the scanlines look great.

1080p isn’t a great resolution to upscale to, as most arcade games output at 224p. This works out at a 4.8 scale other than an accurate x4 or x5. This is going to cause issues with the image quality. If the horizontal resolution isn’t 320 (1920/6), then it’s double trouble and you will get all sorts of issues with scrolling, in-accurate scanlines, shimmer and tearing etc etc. It’s inaccurate for every emulated retro console

It will probably look ok if you haven’t seen it running properly, or are viewing it from a distance though.

[Sketcz]

I finally got around to reading my copy of the Neo Geo Visual Compendium by Bitmap Books.

Having never really dabbled in the Neo Geo, only owning some of its ports to other systems, like Metal Slug on Saturn, I decided to download the entire ROM set and FBA-XXX PRO for the original Xbox. Then I realised that the ROM sets you can find online do not match the requirements of the emulator, so I spent about 10 hours manually unzipping each one, find or renaming the missing files, using an ancient set someone sent me about 15 years ago, and then zipping them back together.

Finally got it all working and...

I think I hate the Neo Geo and its collection of games. There's very little here that appeals to me.

I ignored all mainstream conversions to other systems. So that's the entire Metal Slug series, because I already own copies on other platforms.

I also dislike fighting games, so skipped over those entirely. The only fighters I like are the Psychic Force series and Fighter's Destiny on N64.

So what I was left with was a very short list of games, basically consisting of a couple shmups, a couple run n guns, a couple of overhead racing games, a couple of platformers, several scrolling brawlers, and a bunch of crappy sports games.

The majority of everything I disliked.

The good stuff:

Blue's Adventure
The Super Spy
Thrash Rally (surprisingly fun despite looking cheap)
Last Resort
Windjammers
Shock Troopers #1
Magician Lord
Pulstar
Viewpoint

Maybe Robo Army too?

That's it. There's like 150 games and the majority I thought were all garbage. There was only about 10 games I actually enjoyed, which is crazy, considering the CDi and 3DO and Jaguar all contain more than 10 games I like. Well, maybe not the Jaguar... But the ratio of stuff I like and dislike for this thing is ridiculous. Classic example of Emperor's Clothes.

Even the above list of games is not that amazing. Shock Troopers is like Mercs. Pulstar is like R-Type. Blue's Adventure is like a hundred other platformers. Viewpoint is like Zaxxon et al. Windjammers is the only game I cannot think of with a direct equivalent on any other system. The rest are all clones or were later cloned by someone else.

It's weird because throughout my teen years the Neo Geo was this scared machine only for the rich, which I dreamed of someday playing. And now that I have finally gone through literally everything on it, I realise that actually I was much better off with my Mega Drive and SNES growing up.

[Colin]

The Neo library is only just over 100 games, can’t remember the exact figure, maybe 120? If your ROM set is showing in the region of 300 it’s because it also contains all the Chinese hacks etc of the actual library and the regional name differences for certain games. It’s definitely not a library for everyone though.

[Sketcz]

I used this list when curating my folders:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Neo_Geo_games

FBA-XX Pro claims support for 279 games in the menu screen. Which is what I based the 300 figure on, rounding up... Thinking about it, the emulator also supports CPS1 and CPS2, so maybe the 279 figure is for all three sets and I simply made a mistake.

I suppose if you like fighters it's amazing. But this relates to the emulation thread, in that I'd never even attempt Neo Geo collecting given the price of several hundred quid per game, and now when I examine the system closely, it definitely isn't for me. I always sort of imagined it as a Mega Drive / SNES on elephant steroids. But none of these games are worth that price to me. I'd pay £200 for Panzer Dragoon Saga if forced to, since I genuinely think it's incredible. But my favourite Neo Geo game is probably Blue's Adventure, but I wouldn't pay more than I would for an unboxed copy of Super Mario World.