[Feature Request] Can you add an "Auto" option in screen settings?

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branches78
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[Feature Request] Can you add an "Auto" option in screen settings?

Postby branches78 » Mon Sep 14, 2020 12:38 am

Some games, like the one in the screenshots below (GoldenEye 007 for Nintendo 64) support a widescreen or 16:9 aspect ratio option available in the game's settings.

RetroX currently supports three aspect ratio modes:

- Original (4.3)

- Square Pixels (1:1)

- Use whole screen (aka Fullscreen mode)

However, the only way to take advantage of the aspect ratio of the game in RetroX is by selecting the latter (use whole screen), the thing is, it's a hassle that everytime I want to play that game I have to go back and forth to screen settings and change it from original to fullscreen and viceversa, because I prefer playing 4:3 games in its original aspect ratio as well.

I wonder if an "Auto" option is possible, so everytime I play a 4:3 game the screen sets up automatically for that aspect ratio and everytime I turn ON the 16:9 aspect ratio in GoldenEye the screen switches automatically to fullscreen mode. I've seen this option working in several Sony TVs, where the screen automatically switches to the aspect ratio of the input video feed.

Take a look at this screenshots, where you can appreciate how the picture appears stretched when fullscreen mode is select before switching the aspect ratio in the game to 16:9:

When "fullscreen" is selected in RetroX and "Normal" is selected inside the game:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oqZCe90zUzBO2ueuX7ViHyF-HeVHvSMp/view?usp=sharing

When "fullscreen" is selected in RetroX and "16:9" is selected inside the game:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bAytf1B5ibzTcm9MtTGYDMVpqa16Z2mt/view?usp=sharing

Other Nintendo 64 games with 16:9 aspect ratio mode in settings are:

- Banjo-Tooie
- Donkey Kong 64
- Jet Force Gemini
- Mickey's Speedway USA
- Perfect Dark
- Starshot: Space Circus Fever

There are other platforms supported by RetroX in which some games support the 16:9 aspect ratio as well:

Dreamcast:

- AeroWings
- F355 Challenge: Passione Rossa
- Pier Solar and the Great Architects
- Rayman 2: The Great Escape
- Toy Commander

SEGA Saturn:

- Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams...
- High Velocity: Mountain Racing Challenge
- NiGHTS into Dreams...
- Panzer Dragoon II: Zwei
- Sōkyūgurentai
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Re: [Feature Request] Can you add an "Auto" option in screen settings?

Postby fcatrin » Tue Sep 15, 2020 12:43 pm

Ohh this is new to me!!

Would a setting per game like this one solve the problem?

Game Settings -> Aspect Ratio for this game ->
-- Use global settings
-- 4:3
-- 1:1
-- 16:9
Franco Catrin
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branches78
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Re: [Feature Request] Can you add an "Auto" option in screen settings?

Postby branches78 » Tue Sep 15, 2020 2:37 pm

Yes, that's a good idea actually, so I could set it to 16:9 for that game exclusively.
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Re: [Feature Request] Can you add an "Auto" option in screen settings?

Postby branches78 » Tue Sep 15, 2020 7:15 pm

I was digging in the game's settings and emulator settings and I found out that every game already has its own screen settings but it's NOT working independently, if I change the screen setting here, it also changes the RetroX global setting:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BFkv9B ... sp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OwAlYJ ... sp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16Z1E4- ... sp=sharing

I also found in the Mupen64Plus emulator, an option to change the aspect ratio but it's also a global emulator setting, if I change it here it also affects the rest of N64 games:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15d8lgP ... sp=sharing

For example: Setup RetroX screen setting to 4:3, the in-game screen setting to 4:3 and the emulator setting to 16:9, all N64 games are going to use the screen setting in the emulator, but it should work independently for each game instead. I hope you can do something about it.

I ignore if the emulators for the other consoles have this setting, that's something you'll need to verify.

Another sixth generation console with widescreen games is the Gamecube, which I read your are going to provide emulation support in the future.
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Re: [Feature Request] Can you add an "Auto" option in screen settings?

Postby fcatrin » Wed Sep 16, 2020 1:57 pm

Those are different settings:

The first settings that you post are global settings, so you can switch resolutions quickly before starting the game without going to the global settings menu, those apply for all emulators except.... The settings for N64 that you send later titled "Detalles del juego" are settings that override the global settings only for N64 libretro core, because those are settings that no other emulator has.

The only other emulator that has a separate setting than global settings is Dreamcast, and that's because they don't use stretch, it was the original console supported 16:9 only for some games, so you can't apply to them all.
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Re: [Feature Request] Can you add an "Auto" option in screen settings?

Postby branches78 » Thu Sep 17, 2020 5:50 am

The first settings that you post are global settings, so you can switch resolutions quickly before starting the game without going to the global settings menu


So it is like a shortcut to the global settings instead of a in-game setting, correct?, I imagine you would need to make it work separately from the global settings.

The settings for N64 that you send later titled "Detalles del juego" are settings that override the global settings only for N64 libretro core, because those are settings that no other emulator has.


Yes, I know, but still, it affects all N64 games instead of the game opened in the background, which is the only one I wanted to apply the setting, what I wonder is if it's possible for you to modify this, to be able to apply the setting to individual N64 games instead.
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Re: [Feature Request] Can you add an "Auto" option in screen settings?

Postby fcatrin » Fri Sep 18, 2020 4:01 pm

branches78 wrote:So it is like a shortcut to the global settings instead of a in-game setting, correct?, I imagine you would need to make it work separately from the global settings.


Yes, that's correct.

branches78 wrote:Yes, I know, but still, it affects all N64 games instead of the game opened in the background, which is the only one I wanted to apply the setting, what I wonder is if it's possible for you to modify this, to be able to apply the setting to individual N64 games instead.


First I want to make sure it makes sense: As far as I know the N64 was a 4:3 aspect ratio console, this option to use 16:9 is only for a specific emulator that has this feature, so it should improve all games, why would someone like to have 16:9 aspect ratio only for some games?
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branches78
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Re: [Feature Request] Can you add an "Auto" option in screen settings?

Postby branches78 » Sun Sep 20, 2020 9:30 pm

First I want to make sure it makes sense: As far as I know the N64 was a 4:3 aspect ratio console, this option to use 16:9 is only for a specific emulator that has this feature, so it should improve all games, why would someone like to have 16:9 aspect ratio only for some games?


Games in its original aspect ratio should be played "as intended", that means, stretching a game from 4:3 to 16:9 doesn't look good in my opinion, so I would prefer keeping it that way, obviously there are users who doesn't care about this and may leave the option ON.

However, consoles like the N64 which was meant as a 4:3 aspect ratio console, has some games like the ones I already mention, that bypasses this limitation by switching the picture from a 4:3 aspect ratio to a 16:9 one, I imagine the game has two versions of the picture or it just unfolds the real aspect ratio when we turn the option ON in the game's settings.

What I want to clarify is, if besides making the global screen option to work separately from the in-game screen settings, is it possible that you also make the N64 screen setting of the emulator to work independent as well?:

If the answer is YES, then if I set the global screen setting to 4:3, the in-game screen setting to 4:3 and the emulator screen setting to 16:9, the latter should bypass the two former options, so everytime I start to play the GoldenEye game, I should see the picture in 16:9 aspect ratio as long as I also selected the 16:9 option in the GoldenEye screen setting, this obviously should NOT affect other N64 games but only the one I choose to.

If the answer is NO, then I would set the global screen setting to 4:3, the in-game screen setting to 16:9 and the emulator screen setting to 4:3, in this case, the in-game screen setting bypasses the other two, as it currently does, BUT you would need to make the in-game screen setting to work independent from the global screen setting.
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Re: [Feature Request] Can you add an "Auto" option in screen settings?

Postby Ratbag » Mon Sep 21, 2020 7:30 pm

Not quite hijacking the thread but while we're talking about per game settings how about per game settings for shaders?

That's a big thing. The handhelds demand lcd shaders, the other machines don't.
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Re: [Feature Request] Can you add an "Auto" option in screen settings?

Postby fcatrin » Tue Sep 22, 2020 1:43 pm

About N64: I think I can do what you propose, it's a similar situation we have with Dreamcast right now, where some games are tolerant to work on non-stretched 16:9.

About shaders per system: Yes, that feature is needed as well
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