1080p 5x and (NTSC) scanline distortion? [Solved]

[rhester72]

I'm a bit late to the party getting to (1920x)1080p 5x - and the scaling certainly does seem to be correct and appropriate, which is wonderful!

The only fly in the ointment is that the scanlines, which looked gorgeous at 720p, look a little uneven at 5x...not far off, but enough to be observable and distracting. It seems like it's OK for PAL, so far I'm only seeing it in NTSC modes.

Is this 'normal' at 1080p, and is there any way to correct for it?

Never mind - early documentation didn't describe manually setting vertical crop to 5x per core, now that I've done so it looks fantastic!

[jca]

I am also late to the party but I finally installed the MegaAGS and found it fantastic.
Could you point me to the documentation explaining out to setup 1080p 5x per core?
Thanks.

[rhester72]

Requirements:

- Resolution is 1920×1080.
- vscale_border isn’t used (or vscale_border=0) in MiSTer.ini
- vscale_mode isn’t used (or vscale_mode=0) in MiSTer.ini
- forced_scandoubler=0 in MiSTer.ini
- In OSD menu Scandoubler Fx: None

Then, for supported cores, just set Vertical Crop to 5x and you're done!

[jca]

Thanks,
I see that for most cores Vertical Crop and Crop Offset are grayed out. Not only that but a lot of other stuff is grayed out, for example on the Genesis core Priority, Cheats, Load Backup RAM, Save Backup RAM and Autosave are grayed out besides Vertical Crop and Crop Offset. Is it possible to un-gray them or is it because the core does not support these options in which case what is the point to display them.

[rhester72]

Can you give an example of a core where Vertical Crop/Offset are grayed out? Also, what output device are you using?

[jca]

As mentioned in my previous post the Genesis core is such a core and I am using a 1080p HDMI monitor, Asus VZ229H.

[rhester72]

My settings:

Region: US
Auto Region: Header
Priority: US>JP>EU

Audio & Video:

Aspect ratio: Original
320x224 Aspect: Original
Scandoubler Fx: None

Vertical Crop: 216p(5x)
Crop Offset: 0
Scale: Normal

Border: No
Composite Blend: On
CRAM Dots: On

MiSTer.ini:

[MiSTer]
video_mode=8
vsync_adjust=2

No core-specific INI settings

Core build is Genesis_20210225.rbf (official release)

[jca]

Thanks,
I will check that at the end of the day.

[jca]

I must say that I totally do not understand what is going on:
My MISTer is usually up to date, my Genesis core is up to date, to be sure that everything else is up to date I ran the update all script, only some arcade cores have been updated. In my MISTer.ini I had video_mode=8 and vsync_adjust=0. With not much hope I set vsync_adjust to 2 and rebooted my MISTer.
The Genesis core still show Vertical Crop and Crop Offset grayed out together with Cheats and Backup RAM/Autosave. I even changed Region, Auto Region and Priority to match your settings.
In the OSD I have MISTer v210617 and OS v210316.

[rhester72]

@jca - please post your entire MiSTer.ini

[jca]

My ini file has just these 2 mods: video_mode and now vsync_adjust, I did not change anything else but here it is. Note: I wanted to post it as an attachment but it did not like it, same for .txt.
[MiSTer]
key_menu_as_rgui=0 ; set to 1 to make the MENU key map to RGUI in Minimig (e.g. for Right Amiga)
forced_scandoubler=0 ; set to 1 to run scandoubler on VGA output always (depends on core).
ypbpr=0 ; set to 1 for YPbPr on VGA output.
composite_sync=0 ; set to 1 for composite sync on HSync signal of VGA output.
vga_scaler=0 ; set to 1 to connect VGA to scaler output.
hdmi_audio_96k=0 ; set to 1 for 96khz/16bit HDMI audio (48khz/16bit otherwise)
keyrah_mode=0x18d80002 ; VIDPID of keyrah for special code translation (0x23418037 for Arduino Micro)
vscale_mode=0 ; 0 - scale to fit the screen height.
; 1 - use integer scale only.
; 2 - use 0.5 steps of scale.
; 3 - use 0.25 steps of scale.
vscale_border=0 ; set vertical border for TVs cutting the upper/bottom parts of screen (1-399)
;bootscreen=0 ; uncomment to disable boot screen of some cores like Minimig.
;mouse_throttle=10 ; 1-100 mouse speed divider. Useful for very sensitive mice
rbf_hide_datecode=0 ; 1 - hides datecodes from rbf file names. Press F2 for quick temporary toggle
menu_pal=0 ; 1 - PAL mode for menu core
hdmi_limited=0 ; 1 - use limited (16..235) color range over HDMI
; 2 - use limited (16..255) color range over HDMI, for VGA converters.
direct_video=0 ; 1 - enable core video timing over HDMI, use only with VGA converters.
fb_size=0 ; 0 - automatic, 1 - full size, 2 - 1/2 of resolution, 4 - 1/4 of resolution.
fb_terminal=1 ; 1 - enabled (default), 0 - disabled
osd_timeout=30 ; 5-3600 timeout (in seconds) for OSD to disappear in Menu core. 30 seconds if not set.
; Background picture will get darker after double timeout
osd_rotate=0 ; Display OSD menu rotated, 0 - no rotation, 1 - rotate right (+90°), 2 - rotate left (-90°)

; 1 - enables the recent file loaded/mounted.
; WARNING: This option will enable write to SD card on every load/mount which may wear the SD card after many writes to the same place
; There is also higher chance to corrupt the File System if MiSTer will be reset or powered off while writing.
recents=0

; lastcore - Autoboot the last loaded core (corename autosaved in CONFIG/lastcore.dat) first found on the SD/USB
; lastexactcore - Autoboot the last loaded exact core (corename_yyyymmdd.rbf autosaved in CONFIG/lastcore.dat) first found on the SD/USB
; corename - Autoboot first corename_*.rbf found on the SD/USB
; corename_yyyymmdd.rbf - Autoboot first corename_yyyymmdd.rbf found on the SD/USB
;bootcore=lastcore ; uncomment to autoboot a core, as the last loaded core.
bootcore_timeout=10 ; 10-30 timeout before autoboot, comment for autoboot without timeout.

; Option to load the custom font. Format is plain bitmap 8x8.
; Supported sizes of font:
; 768 bytes - chars 32-127 (only alpha + numeric)
; 1024 bytes - chars 0-127
; 1136 bytes - chars 0-141
; up to 2048 - only chars 0-141 will be used.
; if first 32 chars are empty (for sizes 1024 bytes and more) then they are skipped.
font=font/myfont.pf

; USER button emulation by keybaord. Usually it's reset button.
; 0 - lctrl+lalt+ralt (lctrl+lgui+rgui on keyrah)
; 1 - lctrl+lgui+rgui
; 2 - lctrl+lalt+del
; 3 - same as 0 (lctrl+lalt+ralt on keyrah)
reset_combo=0

dvi_mode=0 ; set to 1 for DVI mode. Audio won't be transmitted through HDMI in DVI mode.

; 0 - 1280x720@60
; 1 - 1024x768@60
; 2 - 720x480@60
; 3 - 720x576@50
; 4 - 1280x1024@60
; 5 - 800x600@60
; 6 - 640x480@60
; 7 - 1280x720@50
; 8 - 1920x1080@60
; 9 - 1920x1080@50
;10 - 1366x768@60
;11 - 1024x600@60
;12 - 1920x1440@60
;13 - 2048x1536@60
;
; custom mode: hact,hfp,hs,hbp,vact,vfp,vs,vbp,Fpix_in_KHz
; video_mode=1280,110,40,220,720,5,5,20,74250
video_mode=8

; set to 1-10 (seconds) to display video info on startup/change
video_info=0

; Set to 1 for automatic HDMI VSync rate adjust to match original VSync.
; Set to 2 for low latency mode (single buffer).
; This option makes video butter smooth like on original emulated system.
; Adjusting is done by changing pixel clock. Not every display supports variable pixel clock.
; For proper adjusting and to reduce possible out of range pixel clock, use 60Hz HDMI video
; modes as a base even for 50Hz systems.
vsync_adjust=2

; If you monitor doesn't support either very low (NTSC monitors may not support PAL) or
; very high (PAL monitors may not support NTSC) then you can set refresh_min and/or refresh_max
; parameters, so vsync_adjust won't be applied for refreshes outside specified.
; These parameters are valid only when vsync_adjust is non-zero.
refresh_min=0
refresh_max=0

; These parameters have the same format as video_mode.
; You need to supply both PAL and NTSC modes if you want vsync_adjust to switch between
; predefined modes as a base. This will reduce the range of pixel clock.
;video_mode_ntsc=0
;video_mode_pal=7

; 1-10 (seconds) to display controller's button map upon first time key press
; 0 - disable
controller_info=6

; JammaSD/J-PAC/I-PAC keys to joysticks translation
; You have to provide correct VID and PID of your input device
; Examples: Legacy J-PAC with Mini-USB or USB capable I-PAC with PS/2 connectors VID=0xD209/PID=0x0301
; USB Capable J-PAC with only PS/2 connectors VID=0x04B4/PID=0x0101
; JammaSD: VID=0x04D8/PID=0xF3AD
jamma_vid=0x04D8
jamma_pid=0xF3AD

; Disable merging input devices. Use if only player 1 works.
; Leave no_merge_pid empty to apply this to all devices with the same VID.
;no_merge_vid=0x045E
;no_merge_pid=0x028E

; Speeds in sniper/non-sniper modes of mouse emulation by joystick
; 0 - (default) - faster move in non-sniper mode, slower move in sniper mode.
; 1 - movement speeds are swapped.
sniper_mode=0

; Uncomment following option if you don't want to see a second line for long file names in listing.
;browse_expand=0

; 0 - disable MiSTer logo in Menu core
logo=1

; Custom shared folder for core supporting this feature (currently minimig and ao486 only)
; Can be relative to core's home dir or absolute path.
; Path must exist before core start to use it, or it will fail.
; Make sure USB device is mounted before use shared folder on USB!
shared_folder=

[rhester72]

Hrm...I don't see anything in there that looks wrong. I genuinely don't know.

[jca]

The only thing I can think of is that I am running with "Switched to USB". I have been running with "Switched to USB" since the end of last year without any problem, the only thing I had to do was to remove the noexec option in the way USB drives are mounted in order to be able to run the scripts. But I do not see why it would have this effect of having all these options grayed out in a bunch of cores.

[jca]

This is totally insane:
I decided to redo my SD card and I used Mr. Fusion.
I disconnected my USB HD to just run from the SD card.
After Mr. Fusion did its job I ran the official update script.
After reboot I went into the OSD and loaded the Genesis core and guess what? All these entries which were grayed out are still grayed out.
Note: I did not create a MISTer.ini file, I did not change anything on the SD card besides running the update script. I was short in time but later on I will create the MISTer.ini but I do not have much hope.

[rhester72]

You have to have a mister.ini to at least set the mode to 8. It defaults to 720p.

[jca]

But does that explain the grayed out items, not only regarding crop but Cheats, Save/Load to backup RAM and Autosave?

[rhester72]

Crop, yes. The rest I can't speak to (though some are greyed for me as well, just never tried to use them before).

[jca]

Thanks,
I will try later on and see what it gives. It is not that I want to use them but I am wondering, if the core does not support these features why display them? I understand for the region where priority is grayed out depending on the settings above it but I do not see any setting which would gray/un-gray these other settings I mentioned.

[jca]

OK, I figured it out. It is indeed because I am running with "Switch to USB" and some kind of bug in the way the menus built in the cores work.
First on SD card, video_mode=8 -> Vertical Crop and Crop Offset not grayed out.
Reconnecting my USB HD but to "Switch to USB" (only games folder used) -> Still OK.
Last "Switch to USB" -> Items grayed out, which means the core is thinking I am in 720p.
Copied MISTer.ini to /media/usb0 and now OK.
The menu built into the core looks in the wrong place, it should be looking in /media/fat.

[jca]

The other items which were grayed out are also OK now.

[jca]

I suppose the bug is in the framework. On which Github page should I open the issue?
Opened the issue in MiSTer-devel /Template_MiSTer as I cannot find anything else suitable.

[FoxbatStargazer]

I'm not sure this is a bug? "Switch to USB" means switch EVERYTHING to USB. So it should have the entire mister framework and stuff there now including the ini.

If you just want games/roms on USB, Switch back to SD, delete your games folder on SD and have it on USB only, that seems to work for most cores.

[jca]

I would think it is a bug. When MISTer boot it looks for the ini file on /media/fat, when using "Switch to USB" it creates the whole structure on the USB drive, copies a bunch of stuff but does not copy MISTer and MISTer.ini. So far it has been working fine except that I have not been using Vertical Crop, Cheats and Saves. It is only when I decided to give Vertical Crop a try that I bumped into the problem. Yesterday I spoke too early: copying MISTer.ini to /media/usb0 fixes only Vertical Crop. After I did the copy I saw that Cheats and the Save stuff was enabled in the Genesis core. I went to other cores, Vertical Crop was enabled but Cheats and the Save stuff was grayed out. I went back to Genesis and now they are also grayed out. I copied cheats, save and savestates to the SD card, it did not change anything for cheats, it seems it improved some things with the saves but things are mainly grayed out, I also discovered that GBC Colors is grayed out in the GameBoy core, copying gamma to the SD card did not improved anything but I must admit that I do not know what is involved with GBC Colors. The weekend is coming so I will have more time to investigate as I have been too busy these days to really see what is going on.

[jca]

I am totally confused. This is off-topic but as I already talked about it in this thread after discovering it while posing questions regarding 1080p 5x I will post it here first.
I am running with "Switch to USB".
When I load the Genesis core I have Cheats, Load Backup RAM, Save Backup RAM and Autosave grayed out. If I load a game they become enabled except Cheats which is only enabled if there are cheats for the game.
I never used these features before, is it the normal way things work?

[gibs]

Hello,
So if I understand, if you want to use 5x you need to disable scanlines ?

[FoxbatStargazer]

Scandoubler needs to be disabled. You can use the scanline scaling filters.

[Sigismond0]

Yeah, seems like expected behavior to me. If you're switching MiSTer to run with the files on /media/USB0 instead of /media/fat, it's going to use the settings from /media/usb0/mister.ini. That's the only logical thing for it to do.