Incline eXoDOS v6 — It's coming!

[Rincewind]

But that is the thing, this is exactly what I would like to see without shaders to have a basis for comparing their effects.

Sure, and you can do so with the below configs. Make sure to use the latest dev build.

You wanna compare the "sharp" shader with vertical integer scaling enabled to the CRT-shaded output. This way the "sharp" shader always does integer scaling vertically, and *very very minimal* interpolation horizontally (with max 1px wide "interpolation band" at the sides of the pixels—this is *not* bilinear interpolation).

Auto CRT shader:

[render]
glshader = crt-auto
integer_scaling = vertical

Sharp shader:

[render]
glshader = sharp
integer_scaling = vertical

Try it and you'll see. I've been doing such comparisons for many hours when tweaking the shaders to roughly match the brightness of the "raw" output.

If you'd do this with the so-called "pixel perfect scaler", the results wouldn't match up for all resolutions, except perhaps if you have a 4k+ monitor. E.g. 320x200 can only be 100% integer upscaled to 1600x1200; that's a no-go on 1080p. I recommend reading the linked ticket very carefully, making sure to understand all points if this is unclear.

EDIT: Maybe you're slightly confused by the word "shader". On a modern GPU, whenever you display any image, that *must* use shaders (I'm simplifying this but that's the gist of it). So if you wanna do say "display raw pixels at 2x integer scaling", yeah that will also be a very simple shader! Shaders in general != CRT shaders. Technically, what `glshader = none` does is it *still* defaults to an extremely simple shader, one of the simplest that there is, that simply uses the standard (and bad) bilinear interpolation we all know.

 

[Alex]

Sorry for the detailing if the thread. But what should I do if I don't want any interpolation at all, just big square (or, if you must correct the aspect ratio, rectangular) pixels made up of a single solid colour each?

 

[Rincewind]

Sorry for the detailing if the thread. But what should I do if I don't want any interpolation at all, just big square (or, if you must correct the aspect ratio, rectangular) pixels made up of a single solid colour each?

Like I said:

[render]
glshader = sharp
integer_scaling = vertical

Don't think about it, try it That whole 1px wide interpolation band "issue" is waaaaaay overblown... Unless you're intently examining the screen from 1cm, you'll not notice it. Correct aspect ratio is way more important than that *extremely slight and minor* interpolation artifact.

To have completely square pixels, add "aspect = on" to the above. But that's wrong for most 320x200 games.

Then 640x480 resolutions have square pixels, so those will get 2x upscaling with the above settings. This all gets complicated, and I won't write an essay now... My upcoming PC graphics article will go into excruciating detail on all these topics. But the TL;DR is, before 640x480 VGA, square pixels *did not exist*! Yes, all DOS screen modes before 1987, before 640x480 on the first VGA adapter, had non-square pixels, *all* of them. And 320x200 VGA has rectangular pixels too.

Our defaults have been chosen carefully for the very reason that 99% of people who don't understand these details, or don't want to spend 10-20-30+ hours understanding what's involved, will get the best possible experience by default, how these games were meant to be played. Believe me, we want everybody to experience DOS games in their best form. We're all 40+ year-old guys in the team who lived through the DOS era, CRTs, and so on. I have 9 VGA CRTs here in the house We know exactly what we're doing and we don't release shit

 

[mastroego]

That's a great summary Unkillable Cat .

mastroego Well, you can ask me and I'll tell you where to get them , but given you needed to ask (and I don't mean this in a condescending way), you are in the "target market" eXODOS is made for. Links in the first post, you can get the lite v5 collection (50 GB) which will give you the option to only download the games you are interested in (it contains all the manuals, covers, extras, metadata, etc., but no actual games). That's the best currently available shortest path to give you access to a 8000+ game DOS library, all preconfigured and tested to give you an optimal experience.

Or you can wait a month or two for the next version, eXoDOS v6, which will be even better. Well or get v5 now, then make sure to upgrade.

Thanks for the offer and the info Rincewind.
It seems it might be the best option indeed, I just have little desire to deal with a dev who bans people who report bugs and such.
I have zero patience for that kind of shit.

But I'll see... at the moment the 500 GB are a problem too. How does one download it? Single file?

 

[Rincewind]

That's a great summary Unkillable Cat .

mastroego Well, you can ask me and I'll tell you where to get them , but given you needed to ask (and I don't mean this in a condescending way), you are in the "target market" eXODOS is made for. Links in the first post, you can get the lite v5 collection (50 GB) which will give you the option to only download the games you are interested in (it contains all the manuals, covers, extras, metadata, etc., but no actual games). That's the best currently available shortest path to give you access to a 8000+ game DOS library, all preconfigured and tested to give you an optimal experience.

Or you can wait a month or two for the next version, eXoDOS v6, which will be even better. Well or get v5 now, then make sure to upgrade.

Thanks for the offer and the info Rincewind.
It seems it might be the best option indeed, I just have little desire to deal with a dev who bans people who report bugs and such.
I have zero patience for that kind of shit.

But I'll see... at the moment the 500 GB are a problem too. How does one download it? Single file?

I'm not saying it's great, but talk to Python on their Discord if you need to. He's super friendly and very reasonable.

Like I said, download the 50GB lite version via a torrent, start it, then you can download individual games on demand from the UI. Just what you need, one by one.

~500GB is the full one, with all the games, but frankly, few people need ALL THE GAMES.

 

[mastroego]

That sounds like a reasonable plan.
Even then, 50 GB will require quite some time to download.... I might wait for version 6 after all.

 

[jfrisby]

320x200 can only be 100% integer upscaled to 1600x1200; that's a no-go on 1080p

1600x1200 is my primary use case, but it's good to know its possible with some addon file... I don't really get the arguments that bend to meet 1080p - those people are living in the past at this point.. or they're using whatever hellish defaults are in SCUMMVM. Many adventure game websites updated their screenshots to pixel-perfect.. that's really as much as I care, for the historic record or whatever.

 

[deama]

I made a logo for exodos:

 

[Lord of Riva]

Pretty cool stuff there, appreciated and worthwhile. Haven't seen the thread until now.

 

[Rincewind]

eXoDOS v6 has been released:

https://www.retro-exo.com/exodos.html

 

[mastroego]

Main pack size?
Media add-on size?

I'd be tempted to get everything but I have storage issues ATM and an abysmally low connection speed...

 

[Rincewind]

Main pack size?
Media add-on size?

I'd be tempted to get everything but I have storage issues ATM and an abysmally low connection speed...

Dunno. Check out the torrents, talk to them on their Discord, etc. You can install a minimal base system then add games on demand one by one.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

Main pack size?

637 GB

Media add-on size?

161 GB

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

You can install a minimal base system then add games on demand one by one.

This isn't out yet, they say it'll be out in a week and then the system will use the same torrent to download games on demand once enough people have downloaded the entire library and are seeding it.

 

[Rincewind]

You can install a minimal base system then add games on demand one by one.

This isn't out yet, they say it'll be out in a week and then the system will use the same torrent to download games on demand once enough people have downloaded the entire library and are seeding it.

Makes sense. TBH, I'm not following it that closely

 

[Nutmeg]

Time to get a 1TB thumb drive (so far I've been buying 512 GBs as they had the best value $ per gigabyte).

 

[flyingjohn]

What is this, extras made into each game folder with a easy name thus making you not download extra 50+ gb's?
That alone is worth praise.

 

[deama]

What's "Media add-on"? What does that add in? More magazines?

 

[flyingjohn]

What's "Media add-on"? What does that add in? More magazines?

Books, catalogs, magazines, and game soundtracks.

 

[deama]

What's "Media add-on"? What does that add in? More magazines?

Books, catalogs, magazines, and game soundtracks.

Hmm, I'm tempted, but 165GB and I'm not even sure I'll be using it other than the initial "cool" factor.
I'll just stick with the vanilla 500+GB one.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

Main pack size?

637 GB

Media add-on size?

161 GB

I'm installing it right now and it's actually more than that. The size listed above is just for downloading. After that, you need to install (unpack stuff by running a .bat file) and it'll eat up some more space.

Base pack + media pack, once uncompressed, are 1.07 TB
Then, as you install games, it'll eat up more space. In theory, if you install all games, it'll be 1.75 TB

I only got a 1 TB drive. So during installation, I'll be deleting the downloaded media pack files that I no longer need after they've been unpacked, and I think everything will fit there just fine.

 

[Alex]

Main pack size?

637 GB

Media add-on size?

161 GB

I'm installing it right now and it's actually more than that. The size listed above is just for downloading. After that, you need to install (unpack stuff by running a .bat file) and it'll eat up some more space.

Base pack + media pack, once uncompressed, are 1.07 TB
Then, as you install games, it'll eat up more space. In theory, if you install all games, it'll be 1.75 TB

I only got a 1 TB drive. So during installation, I'll be deleting the downloaded media pack files that I no longer need after they've been unpacked, and I think everything will fit there just fine.

So it is out already? The v6, I mean?

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Currently downloading this. 800 Gigs in total, the upload speed is as well as the download speed.

I'm hoping that my few contributions made it in somehow, will have to wait and see.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

I installed it on an external 1 TB drive, but had to move/delete all the .zip files from the /Content/ folder after they were used by the installer, which takes some figuring out. You have to do it while the installation is happening, otherwise you run out of space. Strangely enough, doing mklink (symbolic links) didn't work.

I ended up with a 825 GB installation. It has everything. The games are "downloaded", but not "installed". Once I start playing, it'll take up more space, but it's manageable.

It's got 500 RPGs. Sorted by user rating, it looks like this. Will have to disregard the rating.

Would've been nice to gather all the ratings from the magazines and do an average. And to display them in the details panel separately.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

Well, using it is not as perfect as I expected.

First of all, I don't see any auto-crt shaders on regular launch. Only on Alternative Launch, which of course can't be done through LaunchBox, but that's half the problem.

The main problem is when you hit "install game", you can wait between 1 and 5 minutes before the empty console asks you if you want to install the game... Good luck reporting it, I'm banned there.
Even if you hit "configure", it'll go through the same process and you'll wait forever.
Something is very wrong with those bat scripts.