Presenting: RetroArch Arcade Presets for the koko-aio shader

Update 6 April 2023: I released v 0.3 of my Arcade koko-aio shader

https://github.com/estefan3112/koko-aio-slang/releases/tag/0.3

Important change besides new presets: The backdrop presets (see the example here - Space Imvaders Deluxe) work in the same directory.

No need to repeat all of the Release Notes here. The shader gets better and better, and so do my presets, now 52. Tested under MacOS, iPadOS and Windows 11.

v 0.2 sees old-school games with Backdrops landing

Some of Ars Invictus insane 4K artwork is in (and adds to the size of the release)

But I also continue adding John Merrit's artwork

Test this and be amazed, this lifts arcade gaming on Macs on a new level.

Big thanks go to these brilliant heads (:

• John Merrit and Ars Invictus for having produced most of this amazing bezel artwork
• Antonio Orefice a.k.a. kokoko3k for designing this amazing shader
• The guys at Retroarch for finally giving Macs the attention this system deserves (acknowledging the difficulties); particularly warmenhoven for all his Mac-dedicated work
• The guys at FinalBurn Neo for brining arcade gaming to perfection.

I also included an attribution into every single game preset. Unfortunately that one disappears if you adjust and save it from within RetroArch.

Video Teaser:

System requirements: You need RetroArch 1.15.0 or a recent RetroArch Nightly build that has the new Vulkan driver incorporated. RetroArch with FinalBurn Neo and MAME2003/MAME 2003-plus should be up and running with Vulkan being activated. Don't forget to enable HDR in the video settings, should your monitor be HDR capable.

Detailed installation instructions are contained in the download.

What makes the koko-aio shader so peculiar?

• Highly configurable: The shader contains some of the latest and greatest concepts in shader emulation. In particular, it provides for bezel reflections of the game video, which provides for an amazingly immersive effect.
• Integration of arcade artwork: This is where the shader and RetroArch really shine for me. The arcade artwork is integrated as background or foreground picture. With a tweak, even backdrops work (currently in progress)! Zoom and location of the screen and the bezel is done in the game with the joypad - no longer endless work with editing numbers and aspect ratios in a layout file. With different zoom, rotation and shift functions, the integration of basically every artwork was so far successful for me. The learning curve is absolutely doable and not too steep.
• Very performant: I cannot be more grateful for the developer here, as he is very conscious of system resources, which can become a real problem in shader emulation. On an M1 Mac Mini, FinalBurn Neo runs the preset without any hickups.
• Game-specific setup in RetroArch: I set up the package so that every game automatically starts with the right shader/artwork configuration. But please read the instructions carefully. It should also not be very difficult to move the presets to a different RetroArch core, if that is what you want.
• Truly cross-system: So far, every configuration I designed in MacOS also works on my iPad(!!) and under Windows. I will watch this closely down the road, but so far, everything works on all systems very well. 

These screenshots show the identical preset under MacOS and iPadOS, it adjusts as needed:

Alien Syndrome (Mac, 16:9, HDR)

 

Alien Syndrome (iPad, 4:3, no HDR)

Technical Documentation - shader configuration and further tweaking 

This shader package takes advantage of the RetroArch functionality that you can define game-specific shader configurations (e.g. 1942.slangp). Each game-specific preset references from the same stock koko-aio preset and only contains the changes made.

#reference "../../shaders/shaders_slang/bezel/koko-aio/monitor-slotmask-bloom-bezel.slangp"

(apparently I need a slotmask shader with a bezel)

The one thing I need to add manually in the .slangp file is artwork with the correct relative path:

bg_under = "../../shaders/shaders_slang/bezel/koko-aio/textures/arcade_textures/1942.png"

While the file bg_under draws behind the bezel and the screen, the file bg_over draws on top. You need to define them separately in the .slangp preset.

All further tweaking is done inside of the game with the shader presets, and that‘s so much easier and faster than editing text in MAME lay files.

After tweaking, save the changes as Game Preset, and you‘ll find it in the core-specific configuration directory, e.g. ~Library/Application Support/Retroarch/config/FinalBurn Neo/1942.slangp. If you are unhappy with the changes, always have a look into this file (text editor of your choice), it is very short, and by deleting some of the presets (e.g. a too aggressive boom that you don‘t like), the shader reverts to the reference koko-aio preset of the first line.

Based on this basic concept, if you are interested in tweaking the shader configuration, the documentation of the koko-aio shader is very well written and much better than standard. I plan to provide some specific hints relating to the arcade presets here, but strongly encourage you to head for the official documentation of the shader presets:

https://github.com/kokoko3k/koko-aio-slang/blob/main/docs.md