Hi-Res Mode 7 Support

duralisis · Post by **duralisis** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 8:07 am

Exactly how do you get this feature to work anyway?

I've tried 32-bit and 16-bit windowed modes, turning the new gfx engine on and off, using various combinations of hi-res/interp/scanlines, running in full screen, and even using the DOS binary, but to no effect.

I remember from a long time back (earlier version) that you could run at 640x480x256 and get it running. The mode-7 plane was smoothed and blended (like a filtered texture in a modern 3d accelerated game).

SNES9x also had a hi-res mode 7 I believe. And it was the same.

But no matter what I do now, with the current version (1.40), I can't get it working. I've been testing with FF3.

blackmyst · Post by **blackmyst** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 8:45 am

I don't remember Zsnes ever using mode 7 biliniar filtering...

The high res mode 7 feature works fine for me in 1.40. You just can't have any filters enabled except interpolation (which will only work on the parts of the screen that are outside the mode 7 area).

byuu · Post by **byuu** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 8:55 am

The effect works in 1.40, it's just extremely hard to notice. You need to have filtering and scanlines turned off (although it will probably still work, it'll be harder to notice it). Set your video mode to 512x448DR for best visibility of the effect.
The effect only works on the y-axis, though. Thus, the resolution goes from 256x224 to 256x448. Keeping in mind that the screen is always 512x448, the image is still the same size (the image is stretched).

My best guess as to the reason it doesn't work on the x-axis is because the SNES has something called pseudo-512 mode that it needs to be able to support.

blackmyst · Post by **blackmyst** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 9:43 am

Oops, yeah, you can have any filter turned on except scanlines, apparently. Though, after zooming in on some screencaps on 1280x1024 with several different filters, I think I can safely assume that no filter actually affects the mode 7 area (often the bottom half of the screen).

I find high res mode 7 well-noticable though, and pretty too, especially on a TV-out. But I still prefer it in its original state. :>

duralisis · Post by **duralisis** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 9:45 am

For a comparison here are some shots from both methods:

-- ZSNES line doubling --

off: http://webpages.charter.net/phobos/emu/ ... es_off.png
on: http://webpages.charter.net/phobos/emu/ ... nes_on.png

-- SNES9X Bilinear filtering --

off: http://webpages.charter.net/phobos/emu/ ... x_none.png
on: http://webpages.charter.net/phobos/emu/ ... linear.png

(Note: These shots have the black bars cropped, but are displayed at a 1:1 resolution, so they are from the SNES high res 512 line mode).

And I do seem to remember an older ZSNES (maybe 1.2 era?) doing a 256 color mode with a smothed mode 7 plain similar to SNES9x, but the sprites not filtered.

blackmyst · Post by **blackmyst** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 10:30 am

The FF6 world map on foot is really bad for comparison, since it's nearly flat anyway, you can barely tell the difference.

Get on a chocobo (or run any other game where you can look off into the horizon) and you'll notice how much of a difference it makes.

Clements · Post by **Clements** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 9:17 pm

I requested this very feature on the previous boards, although it was not considered unless someone else could add it. Since it appears 1.40 is out (I've been away for two days) maybe a similar implementation to Snes9x's could make it in a future release. The Killer Instinct Intro (IMO) does look much better with Snes9x's Bi-linear filtering enabled.

Cloud Strife · Post by **Cloud Strife** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 9:49 pm

I use that sometimes, but it makes certain parts of the maps on RPGs look pixelated ala PSX. I just use SXSAI filtering and it looks a lot better than Mode 7, if you can even see it.

Clements · Post by **Clements** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 10:07 pm

This is what I'm talking about. Hq3x makes no difference to Mode 7 effects, so they remain completely unfiltered. If you like unfiltered, good for you, you will see no problems. But when I'm using hq filters it is very noticible. See below:

ZSNES, Hq3x, 800x600

Snes9x, Super 2xSAI, 800x600 Bilinear Mode 7

KaOSoFt · Post by **KaOSoFt** » Wed Dec 29, 2004 1:15 am

Oh God, what a difference! I mean, I had seen the difference in SD3 Mode 7 (with Flammie!~), but never that "close". It's a really BIG difference.

Oh well, let's hope things like that will be included in future versions.

kode54 · Post by **kode54** » Wed Dec 29, 2004 12:35 pm

blackmyst wrote:I think I can safely assume that no filter actually affects the mode 7 area

Except for interpolation, which will still filter the image horizontally, since the detail is only doubled vertically.

blackmyst · Post by **blackmyst** » Wed Dec 29, 2004 7:10 pm

kode54 wrote:
blackmyst wrote:I think I can safely assume that no filter actually affects the mode 7 area
Except for interpolation, which will still filter the image horizontally, since the detail is only doubled vertically.

I'm sure you know a lot more about Zsnes than I do, but I see no proof for that.

snkcube · Post by **snkcube** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 10:07 pm

blackmyst wrote:
kode54 wrote:
blackmyst wrote:I think I can safely assume that no filter actually affects the mode 7 area
Except for interpolation, which will still filter the image horizontally, since the detail is only doubled vertically.
I'm sure you know a lot more about Zsnes than I do, but I see no proof for that.
http://home.wanadoo.nl/blackmyst/mk1.png
http://home.wanadoo.nl/blackmyst/mk2.png

Wow, those are pretty different.

kode54 · Post by **kode54** » Fri Dec 31, 2004 10:33 am

Gee, must have been changed. I could have swore I saw that... but it was years ago, when I was using Linux regularly... Somebody must rectify this situation.