Getting a near perfect aspect ration without shimmering (SNES and NES cores)

photomatik
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Getting a near perfect aspect ration without shimmering (SNES and NES cores)

Unread post by photomatik »

I've been playing some Nightmare on Elm Street on NES in the original (4/3) aspect ratio in a 5x integer scale.

Silly me, I thought with 1920 px wide, somehow I would have enough resolution so that there would be no shimmering, but then I noticed the brick walls in the background just behaving oddly. Then I understood that integer H/V in the settings meant horizontal and vertical.

I could use this to eliminate the shimmering, but I'm not a fan of the unstretched square ratio it provides.

I started obsessing, and I played around in Adobe Illustrator to figure out if there could be a fancy solution.

If I could have a 5X vertical integer scale with a 6X horizontal integer scale, I'd be very close to a 4/3 aspect ratio. I assume I would no longer see any shimmering because it's an integer, even though it's different from the vertical scale.

Since the SNES has most games at a 224 px high and some at 240 px, while the NES is mostly 240 px tall, is there a relatively easy way to adjust these cores to have that 5/6 integer aspect ratio with the vertical crop?

Would this fix the shimmering while giving me that oh-so-sweet near 4/3 aspect ratio, as I think?
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Kitrinx
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Re: Getting a near perfect aspect ration without shimmering (SNES and NES cores)

Unread post by Kitrinx »

If you use the correct aspect ratio you will always get shimmering, even at 4k, though it'll be less pronounced the higher the resolution is.

You have to use some amount of interpolation to get rid of shimmering, and it doesn't have to be a ton. The higher the resolution, the less interpolation you will have to use.

You can use horizontal and vertical integer scaling, and you won't get shimmering, but then the aspect ratio will be incorrect.

There's no other way around it, that's how the math of things shakes out.
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Re: Getting a near perfect aspect ration without shimmering (SNES and NES cores)

Unread post by Yim »

Have you tried both the narrow and wide HV integer setting? The narrow one should be the largest integer scale that’s narrower than the correct aspect ratio and the wide one should be the smallest integer scale that’s wider, so one of them should get what you want.
photomatik
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Re: Getting a near perfect aspect ration without shimmering (SNES and NES cores)

Unread post by photomatik »

Yim wrote: Thu Aug 18, 2022 3:43 pm Have you tried both the narrow and wide HV integer setting? The narrow one should be the largest integer scale that’s narrower than the correct aspect ratio and the wide one should be the smallest integer scale that’s wider, so one of them should get what you want.
I was just starting to understand the H and V in the scale settings and I did not notice the Wider HV option (or understood it).
I assume that with 5X cropped, it means I get the 6/5 ratio that I was looking for! In any case, no more shimmering and not that much wider than the normal ratio.

I'll experiment with other stuff, but I think this will be my go-to! Thank you so much! :)
thiagoauler
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Re: Getting a near perfect aspect ration without shimmering (SNES and NES cores)

Unread post by thiagoauler »

Every core has a different aspect ratio. This is one thing I dislike, because in the ancient times, we played solely on a 4:3 CRT TV.
To achieve this, I configure custom_aspect_ratio=4:3 in Mister.ini, and than enable the aspect in the core configurations…
To alleviate shimmering I also use vfilter_default to Interpolation (Sharp)…
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