Improve the Overlay selection & add video filters for offsetting the screen

[Jeltr0n]

I noticed that Onion's version of RA has the ability to offset the image in the settings disabled. This makes it so that the only overlays that are currently included for systems like the GBA are for the tiny integer scaled scaling mode. I've worked with @akouzoukos to develop a set of video filters and overlays that work together to enable new scaling modes that work better with overlays. The new video filters offset both GB and GBA to be higher so there's more room for the system logos and would work well with other people's overlays too. I have included in this zip both the video filters and the overlays.

I also messed around and made some more universal overlays that some people might enjoy. A set of CRT Overlays and Scanline Overlays all designed for the 640x480 4:3 aspect ratio of the Miyoo screen.

The goal with all of these overlays is to make the screen look as good as possible by blending how you remember it looking with what makes it look best. We are trying to avoid the screen getting too dark or anything like that as a result of these overlays/filters.

The GBP one is based on the work of @creamydips

6-1-2023 Update 6-1-23 update.zip (Thanks to @duckyb)

Changelog

GB

• Fixed noise being present on the GBC overlay (that system did not have the same reflective backing as the DMG, so it didn't look authentic)
• Added Noise/No noise options for DMG

GBA

• fixed alignment issues w offset filter
• made scanlines and grid be better aligned with the frame. Note: It is impossible for the overlay to perfectly align with the pixel grid when it is not integer scaled. If this bothers you, I suggest a lower opacity or using integer scaling with the 2px scanlines overlay.
• made the rounded corners on overlay smoother so they look good on the Mini Plus
  CRT
• removed some of the least useful filters (vertical checker, scanlines 2x)
• the vignette effect is now more subtle to avoid the screen getting too dark at the edges.
• the edges now have a smoother gradient
• the pixel patterns have been softened to not call too much attention to individual pixels on the larger screen of the miyoo mini plus
• a new overlay has been added for vertical arcade games. I don't know if it will fit everything correctly. Proportions were based on DoDonPachi
  SFC
• a new overlay for Super Famicom by @duckyb
  VIDEO FILTERS
  -There is a very versatile new offset video filter by @Eggs that allows you to offset the screen by X pixels by editing a simple text document. Could be useful for future overlays made by other people.

4-4-2023 Update Jeltron Overlays- 480p.zip

Changelog

- The GBA offset filter has been updated to align better with the overlays - The GB logos have a slight blue added to give a stronger impression that they are white but in shadow rather than just dark gray - The CRT filters have been completely redone. I didn't have enough time to make them good last time. - A GBA grid filter has been added based on one that Miyoo included in their stock OS

Original set: Onion Overlays.zip

How to use the Overlays with Onion

Gameboy

Please note that the 'GB-Pocket' gambatte palette requires Onion 4.2 beta 4 or later

Quick Menu

• Core Options
  • GB Colorization= internal
  • Current category for palettes= Essentials
  • Color Categories
    • Essentials= (GB-DMG for the original green gameboy palette or GB-Pocket for the pocket grayscale palette)

Settings

• Video
  • Scaling
    • Integer Scale= ON
    • Keep Aspect Ratio= ON
  • Video Filter= /GB-GBC/Filters for overlays/(DMG_GreenGrid for green color scheme, GBP_GrayGrid for gray pocket style)**
• On-Screen Display
  • On-Screen Overlay
    • Display overlay= ON
    • Overlay Preset= /GB-GBC/GBOffset/DMG_GBP (-Noise is an optional variant that replicates the reflective backing of the gb screen)
    • Overlay Opacity= 1.00

I often put all of my GB and GBC roms in the same folder since they both use the gambatte core but you may want to separate them so that you can save different settings for them. Don't forget after you set your settings the way you want them to go to Overrides->Save Content Directory overrides or Retroarch will conveniently delete all of your settings. If you choose save core overrides it might save it for both GB and GBC which would not be ideal.

Gameboy Color

Quick Menu

• Core Options
  • Color Correction= GBC Only (set to OFF if you prefer ultra-saturated unrealistic colors)
  • Color Correction Mode= Accurate for very desaturated, Fast for mild desaturation

Settings

• Video
  • Scaling
    • Integer Scale= ON
    • Keep Aspect Ratio= ON
  • Video Filter= /GB-GBC/filters for overlays/GBC_DarkGridReshade
• On-Screen Display
  • On-Screen Overlay
    • Display overlay= ON
    • Overlay Preset= /GB-GBC/GBOffset/GBC
    • Overlay Opacity= 1.00

GBA

Quick Menu

• Core Options
  • Color Correction= ON for realistic color, OFF for saturated color

Settings

• Video
  • Scaling
    • Integer Scale= OFF
    • Keep Aspect Ratio= ON
  • Video Filter= /GBA/filters for overlays/GBAOffset
• On-Screen Display
  • On-Screen Overlay
    • Display overlay= ON
    • Overlay Preset= GBA/GBAOffset/GBA_(Choose if you want grid or scanline)_(The number represents how opaque the effect will be)
    • Overlay Opacity= 1.00

NGP

Settings

• Video
  • Scaling
    • Integer Scale= ON
    • Keep Aspect Ratio= ON
  • Video Filter= GB-GBC\filters for overlays\GBC_DarkGridReshade (this is not a typo, same as GBC)
• On-Screen Display
  • On-Screen Overlay
    • Display overlay= ON
    • Overlay Preset= NGP/NGPOffset/NGP_Black
    • Overlay Opacity= 1.00

CRT

These are good for 4:3 systems scaled to full screen.
Note: There was a bug in Onion's version of Retroarch that was fixed by @akouzoukos that made the overlays appear incorrectly. This bug is addressed in Onion 4.2 beta 4.
Settings

• Video
  • Scaling
    • Integer Scale= OFF
    • Keep Aspect Ratio= OFF
• On-Screen Display
  • On-Screen Overlay
    • Display overlay= ON
    • Overlay Preset= CRT/(Choose your favorite effect)
    • Overlay Opacity= 1.00

Scanlines & Grids

Usually the 2px versions will be best for higher res systems.
Settings

• Video
  • Scaling
    • Integer Scale= (up to you)
    • Keep Aspect Ratio= (up to you)
• On-Screen Display
  • On-Screen Overlay
    • Display overlay= ON
    • Overlay Preset= Scanlines and Grids/(Choose your favorite effect)
    • Overlay Opacity= 1.00

[ShadowDrakken]

Love the phosphor screen one. Needs a little bit of tweaking to get the brightness right, but this is the most CRT-like overlay I've ever seen :)

Games like the SEGA Genesis Sonic games will really benefit from this style overlay because the graphics were specifically designed to take advantage of the phosphor screen. The waterfalls in Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 are a great example of where the graphics were designed around it.

In general though, it really helps to soften the pixels and mimic a CRT in a way that scanlines never quite accomplished. :D

[AkitoFire]

Hi, do you mind telling me what the 'phosphor screen one' is specifically called? Is it the 'CRT_Basic' overlay? Would love to have the best possible CRT overlay :)

[dreams897]

Thank you for sharing this, I have been trying to find the perfect filter/overlay settings for a lot of games. I have spent hours doing this honestly and I have found something that it is a little better for GB/GBC games and it is the following settings:

Quick Menu --> Core Options
Color Correction= OFF (sorry but that just looks best to me and I recommend lowering saturation a bit in Miyoo device settings instead)

Video --> Scaling
Integer Scale= ON
Keep Aspect Ratio= ON
Video Filter= LCD3x_light

On-Screen Display --> On-Screen Overlay
Display overlay= ON
Auto-scale overlay= ON
Overlay Preset= /GB-GBC/GBC_grid.cfg (or just GBC.cfg if you want a lighter look)
Overlay Opacity= 0.50

Give it a try and let me know what you think

[lost-in-the-wide-web]

Wow, beautiful work! I'll be sure to try this out 😀

[Raphaa]

Very good, I had a doubt regarding GB-Pocket, you say that it is in the latest version of Onion, however I am using version 4.1.4 which is the last one released at the moment but I did not find it within Essentials, is there any way to add this palette in the gambette or does it have to wait to be added in the next versions?

[Jeltr0n]

Unfortunately the palettes are very baked-in to gambatte but you could try another grayscale palette. One of them may be close enough.

[dem1980]

It seems to be in 4.2.0 beta 4 :

Update Gambatte + a new "GB-Pocket" palette (04e73b8)
Adding "GB-Pocket" palette (by Jeltron) in "Essentials" section

[Jeltr0n]

Yes, I have updated the guide, It is officially in Onion starting now!

[Raphaa]

This is amazing, I will update my Onion to be able to use this new palette. Thank you very much for everyone's attention.

[dreams897]

With the last couple updates the GBA_3X_Grid filters aren't working for me, I get a yellow dotted line at the top of the screen and overall a slightly yellow dotted look. My setttings are:

Video --> Scaling --> Keep Aspect Ratio - ON
On-Screen Display --> On-Screen Overlay --> Overlay Preset --> GBA_3X_Grid_25 under GBAOffset

The 3X__scanlines work for me but I don't like them as much. Let me know if I'm doing something wrong with the latest update

[drkhrse]

I am also having the same issue, only with GBA Grid Overlay as far as I can tell (Integer Scale OFF and Keep Aspect Ratio ON). As a test, with with the GBAOffset video filter disabled it shows all yellow pixels outside of the GB image up with the GBA Grid Overlay. Once the settings are applied the yellow pixels fade in quickly afterwards.

[dreams897]

Yeah that is exactly what I'm seeing too. If this isn't resolved soon I may "downgrade" or make my own version

[drkhrse]

I made my own version that covers the line here if you want to check it out.

[dreams897]

Thank you for making this! I definitely do prefer it and it works/looks great. I like the smaller Game Boy Advance logo as well

[Pobega]

For anyone getting here from Google -- you need to set the offset in the video filters. There are two provided offsets (8px and 10px) in there, the 10px worked for me for GBA.

[drkhrse]

Thanks for the great work! It would be appreciated if a Game Boy Pocket Light version of the Game Boy offset video filters could be added. Or better yet a video filter where we could define the palette in the .filt file to provide even more flexibility.

[parski]

Would be great to be able to adjust the Y offset of the integer scaled output. Using your overlay for GBP @drkhrse I had the image misaligned with the screen area of the overlay. It feels wrong to adjust the overlay when the problem is the Y offset or rather lack thereof.

I looks worse just looking at the overlay but at least the output isn't misaligned on the Miyoo. Attached the modified overlay in case anybody else wants to use it in the mean time like I'm doing.

Is there a simple or non-simple way of just, you know, adjust the Y offset? I'd much rather use the supplied overlay.

[parski]

I only use integer scaling and maintained aspect ratio and with your GBP integer overlay the image is offset from the overlay.

Not sure why the image get's bugged (white dots, seethrough overlay) when I screenshot but look at the bottom and you get the idea.

Stock:

Edited:

[drkhrse]

that's interesting. what video filter are you using? are you on the latest beta?

[parski]

Latest Onion V4.2.0-beta-dev. Video filter is GBP_GrayGrid. I just set up the device a couple of days ago so it's a rather fresh install.

[drkhrse]

That makes sense since the filters in the 'Filters for overlays' folder have an offset built into it so it is behaving correctly as far as being further up vertically. you'll notice the other filters in the main GBA-GBC folder do not shift the image.

[parski]

Yeah, you're right. How odd. Thanks for pointing that out, I didn't have the overlay on when I tried the different video filters so I did not notice they had different offsets. Looks really great now!

As a side note, it's remarkable how good the output can look on a display with a resolution this low.

[Clornhole]

What options are available for Wonderswan emulation? I had a fiddle with the overlays and filters and had a hard time finding anything suitable.

[duckyb]

Adding this overlay here so I don't lose it 😁

GBC Colorful

GBC_colorful_logo.zip

[PapiFed]

Are there any pics and instructions for the « SFC » overlay ?

[PapiFed]

Been looking all over the place and could not find it 🤔

[duckyb]

@PapiFed did you find it after updating Onion?

[PapiFed]

No and I am on 4.2-RC.

[duckyb]

@PapiFed there are several versions of 4.2-RC, make sure the release commit is: a506420
Or simply try to update via OTA App and it will tell you if you're on the latest 4.2 RC.

[PapiFed]

That was it, thanks !

[The-Tacozilla]

I love using the video filters, though since upgrading the firmware of my Mini V4 the filters don't look as good as they used to, I assume this down to the resolution change that came with the new firmware?

This could be a issue with OnionOS maybe and not the filters? as when I take a screenshot within OnionOS they look fine, but as you can see below the filters don't look quite right

[dem1980]

Mini V4 has not a new screen ? I was reading that it is a new screen and it has not the same resolution that older Mini and Mini+.
If it is a new screen with another resolution, currents overlay are optimized fot the original resolution.
V4 resolution's is 750x560
Others models are 640x480

[The-Tacozilla]

there was a recent firmware update that made the V4 screens run at the higher resolution, before the firmware they were running at 640x480

[dem1980]

Yes, Retroarch could use now the 750p resolution instead doing a zoom from the 640p.
But overlays and filters are often configured for working in a native resolution (640p, 720p or 1080p for example).
Originals overlays should be optimized for 640p i guess. So if your Mini works now at 750p, overlays and filters are now streched to 750p and not optimized for 750p. Pictures in overlays are PNG 640x480 so they are streched for 750p screen.

[krabasti]

Is it possible to use the "GBC_DarkGridReshade.filt" video filter in full screen without an overlay? For me the filter leaves a black bar at the bottom.

[SirPrimalform]

This is because of the way the offsetting works. The offset filters add the offset by padding the image with a black bar at the bottom, so this is working as intended. But yes, a reshade grid filter without an offset would be nice.

[oherau]

Question : does it affect FPS a lot ?

[dreams897]

It only does if you use the fast-forward feature. Normal gameplay is the same.

[SirPrimalform]

The work you've done here is amazing, but I'm a little confused. When I use the green grid filter and the Gambatte DMG palette as instructed, the result is a low contrast green soup. Am I misunderstanding the post or are you really saying to stack them? They both seem like they're individually designed to give a green DMG image.

[allanrps]

How did you create the video filter to offset the display? Do you have the source files so that I could build one myself? I want to achieve a different amount of offset for an overlay that I made based on your gba overlay (Miyoo mini v4 3x scaling with even bezels). Thank you for your work btw