MAMEWorld Forums - EmuChat - Questions about crt-geom and crt-geom-deluxe bgfx shaders

> > > crt-geom doesn't get its shadow mask texture from the "-bgfx_shadow_mask"
> > commandline
> > > option (afaik). So once you know which aperture mask you like the best from
> > > experimenting with the sliders you'll have to edit the "crt-geom.json" or
> > > "crt-geom-deluxe.json" in mame/bgfx/chains to point to the texture you want to
> use.
> > > This is generally true if you want to change (any of) the defaults in any of the
> > bgfx
> > > shaders btw since they can't save options to a file.
> > >
> > > Look for this line near the bottom of the file to change:
> > >
> > > { "sampler": "mask_texture", "texture":
> > "bgfx/chains/crt-geom/aperture_1_2_bgr.png",
> > > "selection": "Shadow mask" }
> > >
> > > Also I believe that for vertical games, crt-geom just renders the whole thing
> like
> > > normal and then its output is turned on its side. I think this is actually what
> we
> > > want it to do... For aperture/shadow mask patterns that depend on the subpixel
> > > arrangement of your display, this will look weird. For patterns that don't, it
> will
> > > look good. You might need to keep a second copy of the crt-geom.json around for
> > > vertical games if you need different options for them. You can just copy/paste
> > > "mame/bgfx/chains/crt-geom.json" and give the new version a different name. Then
> > you
> > > can edit it as you like.
> > >
> > > This kind of thing is necessary until (if?) there is a a way to read/save shader
> > > parameters from/to a file.
> >
> > Thanks for pointing out that line. In the sliders, I see where you can change to a
> > different effect...such as super-eagle or hlsl, but I don't see where you can
> change
> > the aperture mask. Where is that slider?
> >
> > Creating a copy or more of the crt-geom-deluxe.json in the Chains folder with
> > different names is enough? I don't have to create copies of the corresponding files
> > in the other folders such as Effects and Shaders?
>
> When you have crt-geom selected and running, then the shader parameters for crt-geom
> will show up in the sliders menu. Then you can change parameters while the
> game/shader is running. Other shaders work the same way although most don't have
> parameters to edit so they don't have slider entries either.
>
> So you should be able to run MAME with the shader. Scroll through the different
> aperture mask textures using the slider menu. And then once you know which one you
> like, then you can edit the chain file (or better yet, a copy) like I said.
>
> And, yes, all you have to do is copy/paste the single file in the chain folder.
> Because inside of the json file it specifies the name of the effects, which in turn
> point to the compiled shaders. The file in the chain folder can have any name you
> want and you don't meed to modify/create anything in the effect or shader subfolders.

I believe there is an issue with this in that if you make a copy and the shader gets updated in a future release, your shader won't have those changes (and I believe it is possible for the copied shader to break in this regard). The configuration and implementation of the shaders needs to wholly be separated, like the HLSL implementation.