Features - Retroarch Mega Bezel Packs

• WHAT'S IN THE BOX
• ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS
• ZERO-CONFIG PRESETS
• PERFORMANCE SOLUTIONS
• MODULAR DISPLAYS
• DISPLAY CURVATURE
• SCALABLE FRAMING
• AMBIENT LIGHTNING
• INTRO SEQUENCES

TheNamec Mega Bezel Commodore Pack is a collection of addons for Libretro Retroarch focusing on famous Commodore gaming hardware and includes original illustrations and quick-start presets.

WHAT'S IN THE BOX

Content packages included in latest Release Candidate 3 (April 16th, 2022):

SYSTEMS & VARIATIONS

• Commodore Amiga series: A1000, A500, A500 Plus, A600, A600HD, A1200, A1200Synth, Amiga CD32
• Commodore 64 series: Silver Label, Breadbin, G Series, ALDI, DreanComm
• Commodore VIC20 series: Golden Label, Mark2, Mark3, VIC-1001
• Commodore 264 Series: Commodore16

DISPLAYS

• Classic Monitors: C1080, C1201 Monochrome, C1702, C1902, C1084, C1084S-D1, C1084S-D2 CDTV Black Edition
• CRT TVs: Philips 21PT3326-V7
• Procedural Mega Bezels: Cream, Beige, Darkgray, Black

DATA UNITS

• Disk drives: Internal Chinon FB-354 (A500/600/1200), External A1010 (A1000)
• CD-ROM: Proprietary MKE drive (CD32)
• Drive Simulator: GoTek-like interface, LCD display, multi-floppy, sd-card and usb (A1200Synth)
• Datassette: 1530 C2N, 1530 C2N-B (C64, VIC20)
• Datassette: DC-120 DreanComm (C64 DreanComm)
• Datassette: 1531 (C264 series)

ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS

I personally draw my digital illustrations with a particular care for accessibility, usability and originality of concepts and design, while keeping quality at a professional level.

• Vector-based original illustrations rendered at 300dpi
• Bicubic sharper resampling from 300dpi to 72dpi for crispy, super-sampling anti-aliased visuals
• 16:9 aspect ratio, horizontal, optimized for 1080p and 4k resolutions
• Adaptive support for horizontal ultrawide displays
• Photorealistic-like hand drawn shading
• Historically based details taken from actual hardware, advertising and manuals
• Remixed familiar elements (ever dreamt about integrated data units?)
• Perceptive dis-proportion between elements and fan-based branding
• Retro-modding original alternative designs 😉

Some special "visual mods" are included to enhance retrogaming experience:

• DATASSETTE LIGHTBULB nothing is better than an old incandescence bulb casting light on yout audiocassette game compilation
• EMBEDDED DATA DEVICE floppy disk drives and datassette are embedded in the chassis for a compact, all-in-one design
• AMIGA 1200SYNTH is an original concept for an advanced Synthwave Amiga, equipped with a dark chassis, backlit keyboard, embedded multi-floppy data simulator and optical disk drive. A little cyber, a little punk

ℹ️ *Note: AMIGA 1200SYNTH is also available as FS-UAE Amiga emulator theme, sporting exclusive advanced features:

• Blinking LED indicators
• Functional multi-floppy data simulator
• Disk presence switches, track display, access notification
• Audio indicator
• Basic curvature and scanlines postprocessing effects

For more info about my FS-UAE themes visit https://retrogamingpacks.blogspot.com/p/features-fs-uae-amiga-themes.html.

ZERO-CONFIG PRESETS

The main objectives of Retrogaming Packs project is to make the best emulation visuals accessible to everyone.

A huge effort was invested in developing pre-made configuration files, called 'Shader Presets' in Libretro jargon, to expose the full potential with near to zero user-side setup.

Each Retrogaming Pack includes ready-to-go configuration files (presets) with a combination of alternatives:

• Gaming systems and retro scenes
• CRT displays, TVs and monitors
• Curved and flat tubes, bezels and frames
• Display framing with levels of zoom
• Day and night ambient lightning
• NTSC signal vs crystal clear RGB
• Performance solutions

PERFORMANCE SOLUTIONS

Retrogaming Packs enable graphic caching by default, getting a consistent performance with SMOOTH-ADVANCED, ADVANCED or STANDARD presets. Nevertheless, POTATO alternatives provide accessibility for less powerful machines.

• ADVANCED (ADV) is a full customizable experience with modular layouts for display scaling and positioning, glass reflections and ambient lightning. This is the way to go to have customization flexibility and performance, with high visual quality and unaltered original artworks
• SMOOTH-ADVANCED enhances the experience with post-processing passes: ScaleFX smooth resample, fast sharpen, fake scanlines, MDAPT de-dithering for pseudo-transparencies. Post-processing produces higher quality 2D game artworks, while maintaining authentic CRT texture and a little graininess. Truth is: once you taste SMOOTH-ADV, you will never go back!
• STANDARD (STD) is a faster alternative to ADVANCED and includes CRT postprocessing effects like color grading and display scaling/positioning personalization
• POTATO (POT) is an insanely performing overlay solution with easy-go CRT masking based on lighter shaders

ℹ️ Note: remember that if you find my shader presets to be too heavy for your rig, you can toggle unwanted features and save your custom simple-presets.

MODULAR DISPLAYS

Because of real-life Commodore displays being widely cross-platform compatible, Retrogaming Packs lets you combine classic displays with all systems: I myself used a C1084 monitor on my Amiga 500 in the days, while lots of people used it as an high-end monitor for C64!

SMOOTH-ADVANCED, ADVANCED and STANDARD presets let you choose from a wide catalogue of monitors & TVs to combine with each gaming system.

POTATO presets leverage on pre-baked overlays for high performance, meaning you can choose from at least two alternatives, being them curved and flat variants.

You are free to choose from an array of fully modelled classic devices including:

• COMMODORE: Commodore 1201 Monochrome, Commodore 1702, Commodore 1902, Commodore 1084, Commodore 1084S-D1, Commodore 1084S-D2 CDTV Black Edition
• BEZELTRON CRT SERIES: Philips 21pt3326-v7
• PROCEDURAL MEGA BEZELS: light (beige, cream) and dark (black, darkgray) variants with per-system custom decals.

DISPLAY CURVATURE

Which CRT display would you choose for gaming: a modern FLAT one, or a classic CURVED device? The latter has an undeniable magic, but may inherit shortcomings like moire/scanlines artifacts, aliasing, and the infamous rainbow effect. On the other side, FLAT screens has always been the top quality choice, but may be missing that vintage feeling.

So I decide to develop both variations for each display preset for you to choose from:

• CURVED simulates the typical barrel distortion from CRT surface. Bezel and frame are realistically arranged to minimize overscan. May introduce artifacts.
• FLAT straightens things out, making pixels perfectly orthogonal like expensive last-gen CRTs and modern LCD/OLED panels. Prevents artifacts.

SCALABLE FRAMING

Retrogaming Packs come with zero-config presets for you to enjoy the most comfortable framing: textures layers logic will automatically take care of resizing for the best gaming experience.

• NEAR SCALING is a fine-tuned sweet spot between gaming area and a zoomed-in display, the ideal solution for gaming
• NORMAL SCALING full display chassis is visible, trading a smaller gaming area for a beautiful retro-scenery
• INTEGER SCALING automatic display zoom for cleanest pixels and less artifacts

AMBIENT LIGHTNING

Let your retrogames shine! Day lightning makes you enjoy a full lit room showing all accurately rebuilt graphics details.

If you prefer to turn off the lights, Night lightning is easier on your eyes as it simulates a soft, warm lit room full with LEDs lightning from your retrogaming systems.

System presets come with day and night variants for each display out-of-the-box so you can instantly choose the best solution with zero configuration.

Each display comes with it's own lightning and LEDs layer for a realistic experience fine tuned for both day and night lightning.

ℹ️ Note: you can customize ambient lightning via a single percentage parameter and create your custom presets. It's just that easy!

INTRO SEQUENCES

You can enjoy an animated intro sequence, full with old-school statics and pixelated per-system and per-model logos, paired with each preset for a fully immersive retro nostalgia.

ℹ️ Note: to use this feature you have to use one of the RetroArch auto-loading methods, please refer to the presets loading section.