Duckstation Emulation Downsampling Tested - Affro's Curiosities 

It definitely makes the most sense in games like that although for me I'm happy to leave it as is :) But it does help to blend the two elements together better :)

Thank you for the kind words :)

I prefer the software mode myself but it is there for those who want to try it :)

We will have to see but it is good to see more opinions for those wanting a different or more accurate look to their graphics :)

This is because you likely used Composite on a CRT which blurred the image :) RGB SCART which I use on real hardware is very sharp even on a CRT :) I prefer this but I know many love the composite quality used on a CRT :)

It looks just as blurry as bilinear without downsampling. Textures are images with a fixed resolution, downsampling does not magically increase it. You get a cleaner overall image with downsampling, namely less jaggies (because it basically works as a very expensive type of anti-aliasing) and flickering (at the cost of some blur on distant textures), but never a higher texture resolution. Why nearest neighbor? Because my eyes can adapt to pixels easily, but I can never get used to the absolutely insane blur that you get with PS1 textures + bilinear (or any other type of filtering). And like ACO, I used an RGB cable back in the day (you could get them at every electronics and toy store here in Europe) and you could indeed count the pixels, even on a CRT. 😉

Texture filtering for PS1 games is a terrible idea, because for those games developers did not use seamless textures, like in modern games. With filtering, not only 3d geometry in the game have noticeable seams, but also some interface elements, for example in Metal Gear Solid, on the title screen you can see how Snake blinks his eyes, but with filtering you can clearly see that he has a block with another texture in front of his face.

There's always a way to play these games thanks to emulation :)

Thank you & I had a feeling based off my testing that people usually use a filter combined with the downsampling but, at least you can see it in all its glory :) I prefer the software mode but, this video was fun to make :)

Possibly, sadly I don't own one but there is a case for It using this :)

I can understand why & I bet it looks good on it :)

I'm the same, I normally use software mode to keep the original PS1 graphics but keep enhancements like disk speed up and read speed up and overclocking to improve frame rate performance :)

I actually love the PS1 graphics despite the shortcomings but, it is great we now have a way to correct it if it does bother you :)

I actually go one step further and use 480p (2x scale) & I feel this does even better while still retaining the PS1 look :)

​@@AffrosCuriositiesOfficial If it looks good, then great. I don't remember my exact settings. Wrote approximately. I remember that for PS2 emulation I set x2 upscale (I checked only for "Shadow of the Colossus" and "Disaster Report"). The main thing is not to get carried away with 4k :) The characters in the game should look harmonious against the background. But many people don’t understand this, and they think that the more detail the 3D objects have, the better it is. But they forget that they are dealing with PS1.

@@kirilychplay8071 As I tell everyone on this channel, my personal settings on all these emulators is software mode as it closely hits what a real system would look like (albeit with RGB SCART or Component for PS2) I always show 4K because I want viewers to see what can be done even if I don't personally recommend this :) But, it is good to see what people like when they use emulation & everyone is different with different tastes :) That's the beauty of emulation and the retro scene in general :D

I'm not a Final Fantasy fan so I wanted to use games I knew would potentially benefit from my past experiences :) Always next time :D I was debating to use that filter but, I made it as is so I could see which filters people use when using downsampling!

without scanlines, all these older games designed for CRT look wrong on LCD and LED screens

I disagree :) It might not look the same or have the classic retro look but retro games can look fantastic on modern displays :)

@@ianswift3521 3D-only games look absolutely gorgeous with a higher internal resolution on an LCD. The only thing that looks wrong in some games is True Color Rendering, because they heavily rely on dithering to hide pop-in and smooth out color gradients. (the latter isn't as much of a problem with true color, but the former is, e.g. in Silent Hill during the night - use scaled dithering in Duckstation instead). Interlacing on a CRT can smooth out the jaggies a bit, but as soon as you use a higher internal resolution, that's not an issue anymore, besides, there's nothing they could have done to the graphics of a 3D game that would have made it look better on a CRT than an LCD. It's simply wonderful seeing these old games without the atrocious flickering of the original hardware. (Tomb Raider 2 was so bad, I never finished it back in the day.) PS2 games on PCSX2 are gorgeous. I didn't buy many games for that system back in the day, because the image quality wasn't great (in fact, a major downgrade compared to the Dreamcast) and the flickering and blur made my eyes hurt. But seeing the games now with no flickering, no jaggies, much less blur and best of all: A steady frame rate - that's awesome. I'm blown away by how great the games look, it's like a remaster. And yes, I did try original hardware as well, but got a massive headache after half an hour of Valkyrie Profile 2. ☹

If you do, let me know what your thoughts on this feature are!

You'd have to rebuild or somehow port the 2D backgrounds or graphics in higher quality 2D assets but this is not easy...

AI upscaling of the FMVs/jpegs

Again, not easy to do & then put into a PS1 title, you'd have to do a lot of work :)

Yes, increased 3D model graphics but not the same level of work done for the 2D assets shows especially in HD or above resolutions!

Hope you enjoyed :)

Im sure using adapters this could be possible but, for me I'll stick with my 4K TV xD

You can try the infamous HDMI2AV for a cheap look on how it can look. Its not as bad as people make it to be, you need to put the game in 16:9 aspect ratio so the adapter works correctly. The biggest issue is the input lag, which is 1 frame more.

I'm sure with time this feature among others will become standard although, I would only use Duckstation for my PS1 needs :)

Beauty of emulation, 4K resolution & perspective correction :)

Just used a combination of different effects in DaVinci Resolve until I got the final results :)

@@Mirai-tv Amazing what 4K can do :)

Hope this helped or you had fun watching!

Yes, playing at 4K certainly shows details hidden in 240p which is interesting to see :)

It was introduced to Duckstation back in 2023 I believe :) Unfortunately I don't use Retroarch so I couldn't tell you :) It was both 2D & 3D aka the Box mode :)

@@AffrosCuriositiesOfficial retroarch with swanstation core has it. The problem is when I use the box mode, the internal resolution will always use 1x. If i want to retain the 4x resolution, i have to use the adaptive mode which makes the high res polygon characters don't match with the new smoothed background. Need to use duck station instead.

Very odd, Duckstation defiantly is better as this video was in 4K resolution & so was the emulation internal resolution! Duckstation is amazing so, it shouldn't be too hard to set up and enjoy using it for the downsampling feature :)

The beauty of emulation is we can use filters or try different combinations to get the look we feel most happy about :)

Especially with proper 3D or 2D pre-rendered backgrounds!

Don't forget this was at 4K, you can go as low as 240p and change the look to however you see fit :)

On my MacBook there was no difference but I assume so mainly because of the extra post-processing effect happening :)

It might give interesting results :)

It's from a game called Motorhead on the PC & PS1 :)

@@AffrosCuriositiesOfficial Ooooh, thank you so much!

@@NeovanGoth Anytime, glad you enjoyed the background music :)

That's Gowclazer for the PS1, it was featured in my video called Duckstation Emulation Vs Real PS1 Hardware (2024 Edition) which is on this channel :)

It would have no effect on the 2D backgrounds, you'd need to redo them completely in higher quality :)

Ultimately much the same as any enhancement, they can only do so much are not a absolute fix :) There's been a couple of games that have gotten the treatment to enhance their 2D assets or backgrounds & the results are fantastic in some cases!

Not for acccuracy

@@Flackon Well, you could always have a toggle option back to original graphics. But for these games to be rendered as intended, they need to be displayed via CRT. Probably also limited to the original 256×224 to 640x480 pixels, depending on the game. Emulation allows you to see these games in a much clearer and higher resolution than they were ever intended, so accuracy is sort of already out the window. I mean, just enabling PGXP is already not accurate. And CRT shaders, as great as some of them are, aren't completely true to an actual analog TV. So, if total accuracy is not the sole objective of emulation, and the issue with these games is the low quality of the 2D textures and assets in comparison to the 3D elements, then the solution has to be to upscale the 2D. AI upscaling tools are getting much better at interpolating low resolution images and videos into 2x or 4x HD. Done sensitively and with knowledge and respect for the source, I believe it can be done to a quality on par with what was intended or "how you remember it looking". Just take a look at SM64 Render96 or Mario Kart 64 HD, for which many textures were rediscovered or entirely recreated in higher quality. That's the goal. The Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition from 2022 also faced issues similar to some of these PS1 titles, where all the backgrounds in the original game were low-res 2D looping videos. The upscaled assets in the remaster didn't quite achieve the required clarity but tools and techniques have improved since then. Plus, there are further advances on the horizon. Within the next few years, upscaling low-res 2D assets could be an on-the-fly process incorporated into the rendering pipeline. These kind of options don't really stop anyone from playing the game as accurately as they desire. In fact, when done right, they can be a massive improvement.

Not ideal. How would a AI upscaling upscale sprites on RPG games like Lunar, Final Fantasy 1 - 6, Breath of Fire 3, etc?

@@Massobliteration It's an option, not a magic solution. It's not ideal right now, sure, but over the next 5 years? You get a decent model representative of the art style of the sprites and it's going to interpolate it up to 2x, 4x or 8x fairly well. I mean, someone could even create bespoke upscaling models based on specific high resolution assets on a game-by-game basis. That would greatly improve specific results. But I'm not saying it'll be AI upscaling to the rescue. Preferably it'll be a focused project, done sensitively and with knowledge and respect for the source. Sprites could be entirely redrawn in HD by artists, as the sprites in MK64 HD were re-modelled and re-rendered. Done right, that's the best solution. So you could create a custom texture pack for a game focusing on those specific sprites. That gets loaded in and applied when called for, with the AI upscaling being applied to all other textures not included in the texture pack. That's how it could work.

Probably but I don't own a CRT :) At least it is good to hear it works if you like that setup :)

Sadly I'm not a Final Fantasy or even an RPG fan so this is unlikely :)

It will be personal preference but I agree the image quality of the character model was pretty good!

@@AffrosCuriositiesOfficial ikr, it holds up even for modern standards.

Great and well designed art can always stand the test of time :)

I guess it just gets the graphics back to 240p/288p and of course is handy for mixed 2D/3D graphics :)

@@AffrosCuriositiesOfficial Just kidding) But yeah, hardware rendering + downsampling algorithms looks very much like N64 anti-aliased game, excluding their unique 3-point filtering.

It is personal preference, I perfer to have software rendering as is :) If you want to enable or try CRT shades, go for it! Have the game look as you'd please :)