RetroArch Quick : Overlays & Shaders

Channel:

LibRetro

Subscribers:

32,700

Published on May 19, 2019 4:12:25 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRNbA-4wuSc

Game:

RetroArch (2022)

Duration: 3:52

21,709 views

237

RetroArch supports overlay images for use with hardware accelerated drivers. The purpose of this is to allow some kind of input interface that is mouse/touch oriented. The overlay images are displayed with transparency over the regular game image, and the
user is able to trigger input by pressing on certain parts of the overlay.

Since the overlay is a series of images, the user should be able to fully configure the look and functionality of this overlay. This allows skinners and themers to go wild.

Interactive overlays are managed within: https://github.com/libretro/common-overlays
Decorative border overlays are managed within: https://github.com/libretro/overlay-borders

overlays = 1
overlay0_overlay = youroverlayname.png
overlay0_full_screen = true
overlay0_descs = 0

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RetroArch is shipped with a lot of shaders. There is an overwhelming array of them and we can't show all of them on this video.

Shaders are small programs, and they are written in specific programming languages. RetroArch supports 3 of these languages:

CG: Old, deprecated format. Might not be available if RetroArch is built without Cg runtime support.
GLSL: Shader format available to OpenGL. Wide range of platforms including phones and tablets.
Slang: New and recommended shader format, when available. Compatible with Vulkan, Direct3D 10/11/12, OpenGL Core, WiiU and Metal renderers.

Depending on your platform and the way you have configured RetroArch, you need to use one of these shader types.

RetroArch is also able to stack these shaders to create a combined effect. These complex effects are saved with a special extension:

.cpg for CG
.glslp for GLSL
.slangp for Slang

The shader presets can also have parameters. This means that you can tweak them to fit your needs.

You can download or upgrade the shader packs for the 3 types in Main Menu-＞Online Updater.

To enable a shader preset, you need to have a game running.

You then trigger the menu and you should see a Shaders entry in the Quick Menu.

Go to Load Shader Preset and choose a preset file.

For this example, we used shaders_glsl/crt/crt-geom.glslp.

In this example, we have set the Menu Shader pipeline to OFF and the Background Opacity to 0 in the Settings-＞User Interface-＞Menu to be able to preview the parameter changes in live.

Load a game and apply a shader preset that supports parameters like shaders_glsl/crt/crt-geom.glslp.

You then trigger the menu and you should see a Shaders entry in the Quick Menu.

Go to Preview Shader Parameters and start playing with the values.

When you are happy with your changes, you can save them under a new preset file.


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