Can someone please explain how to get scanlines working?

Dr_Spankenstein · Post by **Dr_Spankenstein** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 7:49 pm

Hello there,

I am having problems with scanlines in ZSNES. It seems whatever resolution I set the emu to (and then make it fullscreen) the scanlines wont display evenly.

Can someone explain in layman's terms just how to activate full screen scalines or ntsc tv mode with all the scanlines ending up the same space apart like on a real tv and not sporadically spaced?

Thanks very much.

Post by **odditude** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:09 pm

what kind of tv/monitor do you have? if it's an LCD or plasma, what's the native resolution?

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:18 pm

IIRC, this is answered in the docs. Please RTFM next time.

ZSNES FAQ wrote:Q: Why do my scanlines look awful?
A: Scanlines can be negatively affected by the method of vertical scaling that your video card uses, depending on the video mode you have selected for ZSNES. This can sometimes result in scanlines that are not of uniform darkness. The effect of this video scaling is most noticeable with Full scanlines, with 50% and 25% scanlines being less noticeable. To display the scanlines effect properly, you should use resolutions based on a multiple of 256x224 in windowed modes (e.g. 512x448) and 320x240 for fullscreen modes (e.g. 640x480).

Dr_Spankenstein · Post by **Dr_Spankenstein** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:42 pm

Please RTFM next time.

This is why I asked the question, unfortunately I have read the manual and I have tried every resolution, be it multiples of 320x240, or not. The scanlines simply do not display with a uniform darkness.

Why?! Does anyone else have this issue?

Thanks

Post by **odditude** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:49 pm

odditude wrote:what kind of tv/monitor do you have? if it's an LCD or plasma, what's the native resolution?

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:34 pm

I'm trying to remember of it affected ratio (R) modes more or the scale (S) modes... it always helps to try both.

Also, you probably should answer odditude's question.

Dr_Spankenstein · Post by **Dr_Spankenstein** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 10:12 pm

I couldn't answer the monitor question til now as I was at work when posting before

The monitor I own is an LCD monitor. It is the Samsumg 2493HM Digital with a native resolution of 1920 x 1200.

Any ideas?

EDIT: 640x480 DS F works with 50% scanlines and interpolation but is not full screen. I can live with it unless anyone knows of a way of making it fullscreen? The NTSC filter wont display the scanlines correctly no matter what resolution I use.

Thanks for your patience guys.

Post by **odditude** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 10:24 pm

try 640x480DR w/ NTSC or scanlines, see how that looks.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 10:28 pm

Dr_Spankenstein wrote:EDIT: 640x480 DS F works with 50% scanlines and interpolation but is not full screen. I can live with it unless anyone knows of a way of making it fullscreen?

I'm not sure how it's not full screen given your description. It sounds like your monitor is not auto-centering the image or you are giving the incorrect mode.

The NTSC filter wont display the scanlines correctly no matter what resolution I use.

That's a totally different issue.

You need to run something that's a factor of 602x446.

Dr_Spankenstein · Post by **Dr_Spankenstein** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 10:32 pm

The NTSC filter wont display the scanlines evenly in DR mode, and the screen is displayed smaller than the DS mode.

640 x 480 DS mode can display the scanlines correctly without the NTSC filter.

In both cases the NTSC filter makes the screen much bigger stretching it out and displacing the scanlines (almost fullscreen for DR mode and fullscreen for DS mode).

Dr_Spankenstein · Post by **Dr_Spankenstein** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 10:37 pm

You need to run something that's a factor of 602x446.

Thanks for the info. That means I will have to make do without the NTSC filter, which isn't a problem as I can use 50% scanlines (and possibly interpolation).

Apologies if I was being vague but not full screen should be read as:

Does not fill the screen entirely in 640x480 DS F mode with scanlines on.

With scanlines off, 640x480 DS F mode does fill the entire screen with no borders top and bottom.

paulguy · Post by **paulguy** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 8:50 am

wouldn't setting a custom resolution of 1920x1200 give it fine enough resolution to have decent looking scanlines? better than some smaller resolution. Otherwise, you might just have to live without it completely filling the display. Keeping it 4:3 isn't too bad of an idea, anyway. Most SNES games look awful stretched to 16:(9/10).

Dr_Spankenstein · Post by **Dr_Spankenstein** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 1:47 pm

wouldn't setting a custom resolution of 1920x1200 give it fine enough resolution to have decent looking scanlines?

Unfortunately not. This custom resolution doesn't display scanlines correctly.

The only one that does is 640x480. With the ratio being 4:3 then I will have to live with the borders top and bottom.

If the authors deem it viable to have a mode where these borders are eliminated by implementing a 16:9/10 ratio setting then that would obviously be great.

Otherwise I will just have to live with it, unless someone else already knows a way of achiveing fullscreen, correctly displayed scanlines via another means?

Thanks for your time guys.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 2:16 pm

To remove the borders, uncheck the Use 4:3 Ratio option when you are using a non-4:3 resolution.

Dr_Spankenstein · Post by **Dr_Spankenstein** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 9:39 pm

Couldn't find that in the GUI but could in the zsnesw.cfg file

Changing:

Keep4_3Ratio=0 (from 1)

had no effect on the borders and they still remain in any scanline mode.

Am I missing something in the options?