VisualBoyAdvance-M

I tried one by one all filters,

and found the filter "hq4xS (mudlord)", to provide the best results .

Result look sharper & less aliased.

 

By the way, I'm surprised that the built in filter (i.e option Pixel Filter/ Magnification/ 4X/ HQ4x) doesn't provide same result.

 

And you, what is your favorite filter ?

on systems that support them, the 4xs plugins are good, however, on certain games, these filters introduce texture artifacts,

 

for systems that can't use the 4x plugins, the 2x plugins are good.

I prefer not to use any filters at all and just use the D3D Filter:Bilinear setting. Makes it a bit blurry but all the detail is preserved which tends to get smudged out and distorted with all the other filters.

Well, theorically, interpolation based on a grid of 4x4 pixel should be better than one based on a grid 2x2.

Bilinear filter, is a poor , quick, non-adaptive interpolation.

A better non-adaptive interpolation, would be a lanczos, or a bicubic ....

Hq4x, super eagle and so on... are adaptive interpolation.

Advantage of adaptive interpolation , is that sharpness of edges are restored.

Also adaptive interpolation interpolation try to eliminate jaggies,

and because of this it might be rounding/eliminate edges we want to keep (what you call "loss of details").

I found the "hq4xS (mudlord)" was good at preserving sharpness of edges, removing jaggies,

and not introducing too much artefacts.

I don't know how to write a vba-m plugin, but I guess it could be fun to tweak them ...

What about a hq6x plugin ?

A better non-adaptive interpolation, would be a lanczos, or a bicubic ....

 

Quite CPU intensive.

 

DOLLZ wrote for me a Lanczos2 HLSL pixel shader. Runs quite well. And plus, all filtering is done on the GPU with that.

 

I don't know how to write a vba-m plugin, but I guess it could be fun to tweak them ...
What about a hq6x plugin ?

 

You need to learn how to write a Kega Fusion filter plugin. VBA-M uses its filter system. Steve Snake posted some example filters with source on his site. So there is a start.

 

As for HQ6X....I can't see the reason. HQ4X is more than enough.

Quite CPU intensive.

That's a bit suprising . These interpolation can be processed in two steps : horizontally and then vertically (or reverse),

which help in processing time.

 

DOLLZ wrote for me a Lanczos2 HLSL pixel shader. Runs quite well. And plus, all filtering is done on the GPU with that.

Never tested this Lanczos2 HLSL, but I was just suggesting

something better than the default bilinear offered.

Lanczos2 is about same quality as bicubic, so better do a Lanczos3 :angel:

 

As for HQ6X....I can't see the reason. HQ4X is more than enough.

It's just about how to waste the remaining power in order to improve more the quality .

Ok well I did a comparison of the filters. And I do rather think that simply setting OpenGL or D3D to Bilenear does the trick. I ran Medabots: Medabee Version at 4x window size for the test. Just take a look at the text and message box in each one.

 

hq4xS(mudlord)

[attachment=46]

 

regular D3D set to bilenear

[attachment=47]

 

2XPM HQ

[attachment=48]

 

hq2x

[attachment=49]

 

Whilst the 2XPM HQ and hq2x may give bilnear a run for it's money, I still prefer as whilst the image is blurrier and jaggier, the jaggies that are there make sense and follow the image accurately. hq4x presents a horrible smoothing/smudging/oberboardboldening of everything...and just look at that text...it may be the most instense and most clear...but no way am I going to use it. Not to mention I usually play at 2x or max 3x window size anyways.

Mudlord, can you implement Trilinear filtering? + a texture sharpening method

 

you can use one of either...

 

glGetSharpenTexFuncSGIS - get sharpen texture scaling function

 

 

or lod bias adjustment using

EXT_texture_lod_bias

@SCHUMI4EVER

 

I still prefer as whilst the image is blurrier and jaggier, the jaggies that are there make sense and follow the image accurately

We may just don't have same tastes... I like sharp graphics.

Although in your example result would be more natural, when blurry...

 

Not to mention I usually play at 2x or max 3x window size anyways

Well, I play with the windows maximized (almost full resolution , which is 1280x1024) . At this size , blurriness might become unbearable.

At 2x, it might make no sense to use hq4x. I think hq4x is usually intended for a 4x enlargement ...

 

and just look at that text...it may be the most instense and most clear...but no way am I going to use it

In your example, hq4x improvement might not be obvious.

However, now tell me which one look better ,

with this example taken from "Zelda The Minish Cap":

 

no interpolation (nearest neighborhood)

 

 

hq4xS(mudlord)

[attachment=56]

 

@Squall Leonhart

Mudlord, can you implement Trilinear filtering? + a texture sharpening method

Trilinear filtering is for anything involving 3D. I don't see any 3D in the gba.

Trilinear is for any Texturing smoothing which may use gradients or Alpha, of which there are quite a few GBA games that do, resulting in colour artifacts between pixels.