don't click here

Graphics Rendering 2xSAI

Discussion in 'Technical Discussion' started by saxman, Jun 21, 2008.

  1. saxman

    saxman

    Oldbie Tech Member
    I hate it!! I wish emulators never had the damn feature. I think it makes a perfectly fine looking game look crappy. Yes it's a neat feature and does make 'some' graphics look better, but not all (prime example -- Score / Time / Rings in Sonic games). I don't know why people don't just play these ROMs with the look they were intended to have.

    Am I alone out there or does anyone else find 2xSAI, OpenGL, and other stuff like that slightly annoying when applied to classic games that weren't meant to use it?


    EDIT: Sorry for posting in the wrong forum. Thanks to whoever moved it!
     
  2. NiktheGreek

    NiktheGreek

    Grumpy old bastard Oldbie
    1,440
    119
    43
    UK
    As long as the option to play without filters is there, I'm fine. Forcing the player to put up with smeary crap is unacceptable, and Mega Drive games on XBLA suffer from this ridiculous design decision.
     
  3. On that note, I don't understand what Microsoft classify as "HD" in their descriptions for arcade games, as Sonic 1/2 are at max double the MD's resolution w/filter, then stretched. Does being able to stretch an MD game over an entire 1080p screen = HD in MS's eyes?

    And yeah, I prefer being able to see individual pixels then ugly SAI or any other filters.
     
  4. nineko

    nineko

    I am the Holy Cat Tech Member
    6,364
    522
    93
    italy
    No, you're not alone. I hate that kind of filters, and I always disable all of them in all my emulators. In fact, I actually disable EVERY kind of smoothing, including the one in Acrobat Reader. Raw graphics are always the best.
     
  5. saxman

    saxman

    Oldbie Tech Member
    Text is where I make an acception. I rather like the way Windows for instance can smoothen out fonts. And it can make a nicely constructed document look even better!
     
  6. Overlord

    Overlord

    Now playable in Smash Bros Ultimate Moderator
    19,475
    1,089
    93
    Long-term happiness
    Blast - In a word, yes. =P
     
  7. 16BT

    16BT

    Drop out boy. Oldbie
    273
    0
    0
    None that regard this place.
    I always have games rendered with no filtering whatsoever. (Unless you count just making it larger by 2x or 3x) I also use the correct aspect ratios, even the retarded ones like 8:7 for the SNES.
     
  8. HighFrictionZone

    HighFrictionZone

    Hi. Member
    855
    1
    16
    Katy, Texas
    Nothing
    For me, gens is set to render double, nothing else. All emulators that have a 2x option has it set. Otherwise, no filters.
     
  9. Flare

    Flare

    Member
    887
    154
    43
    Yeah, for example macs have this thing where if a image on a website has a set width or hight it stretches the image like any platform would but it blurs instead of seeing the pixels. The same happens with Pixel joint, I really hate it and would rather see the pixels than a smooth blur.
     
  10. saxman

    saxman

    Oldbie Tech Member
    That's almost like what Microsoft did. They had the image shrink on as default in IE6 when it first came out if I remember correctly. Thankfully they decided it was best turned off, but I remember hating that thing because of how it distorted images. Plus, some images I WANT to be big like that.
     
  11. MoDule

    MoDule

    Tech Member
    328
    32
    28
    Procrastinating from writing bug-fix guides
    To me it depends on what I want. For emulators I usually use HQ2x if it's avaliable. For the most part it produces tolerable results, but in some places it looks like shit. Maybe someone should try to find a compromise between the different algorithms? A smart algorithm that can recognise when it needs to smoothe edges or textures and can handle dithering properly would be great.
    Also, the reason I use filters is because I don't like pixellation. That and the fact that I like to play things in full screen (so nothing can distract me). I'm near sighted so I have trouble seeing small images (and my CRT monitor is slowly becoming crap), but seeing pixels up to 3 or 4 times their normal size isn't pretty, either. Hence the filters.

    The only time I want things to be pixellated is when I want to see how things were drawn or when I'm drawing something.
     
  12. PC2

    PC2

    GenMobile > 3DS Member
    1,742
    0
    0
    Various Artwork & Music, :smug:
    I use filters like that during fullscreen play as well... I'm not a big fan of giant pixels, either. I try to get as close to how the game would look on a regular TV screen, really. Unfortunately, my computer is a desktop, so I can't really use the magic of S-video whenever I want - it'd be too much hassle. I don't see why it would be necessary at all to use any type of filter (other than maybe anti-aliasing for 3D games) on a game that's already on a television screen. That's kind of like, duh.
     
  13. Uberham

    Uberham

    King Of Oblivion Member
    I use HQ2x for anything that looks good.

    I've got a friend who plays ALL his emulated games with scanlines on, and it drives me fucking mental. He likes it though, but it means I can't play emulated games at his house without fucking around with the config before & after I play.
     
  14. Flygon

    Flygon

    Member
    I use the filters if the games look good in them.

    And if my computer allows for it because using it does really slow down my computer sometimes.
     
  15. FraGag

    FraGag

    Tech Member
    I also dislike filters. I play in Gens with the "Double" rendering option. I once found an emulator based on Gens in which I couldn't find a way to disable filters; I didn't use it much :P.

    I <3 big pixels.
     
  16. TmEE

    TmEE

    Master of OPL3-SA2/3 Tech Member
    1,726
    2
    18
    Estonia, Rapla City
    T-04YBSC-A !
    I only accept unfiltered multiples of original resolutions. I usually add 25% scanlines for TV look (I'm on RGB, and with my kick ass CRT TV, it looks like emulator in fullscreen with 25% scanlines) but that's all. Any smoothing, filtering, interpolation, blurring (or other ways they're called) look bad, and with my not so good PC, there's always a nice performance hit when something is enabled.
     
  17. amphobius

    amphobius

    not so gone, after all Member
    2,120
    0
    16
    life
    I only use filters if nessacary - the SNES annoys me so, so I use zsnes' 3x filter.

    On the MegaDrive I prefer the original pixels though.
     
  18. Phos

    Phos

    Going for the high score on whatever that little b Member
    3,318
    0
    0
    I don't even like cleartype, so you can imagine where I stand on this. What's kinda funny is how some filters make pixilation, if not worse, at least more noticeable.
     
  19. Nemesis

    Nemesis

    Tech Member
    I don't like 2xSAI at all, and never use it. That said, I'm not opposed to the idea of filtering. A lot of Mega Drive games made extensive use of dither patterns, because when you're running on a TV, those pixels really do completely blend together. Just have a good look at the starting area of the first level of Aladdin and you'll see what I mean. When you look at patterns like that on a TV, you get a nice, soft colour. On a computer monitor, you get large dots. A lot of games simply don't look as good in an emulator without some kind of good filtering. Unfortunately, 2xSAI isn't good filtering. The RF mode in Kega does the best job I've seen.
     
  20. setz

    setz

    Oldbie
    RF with 25% scanlines? that's tasty. apart from that, NTSC filter with mednafen, I won't use any others. I can understanding filters to emulate a TV screen, but when they're filters to make everything rounded, it just completely misses the point of emulation. I like seeing things how they were designed to be seen; not seeing things mutilated :(