Retroarch: Wii : Wrong colours in menu

[Wiimpathy]

Description

The colours are wrong as you can see :

Bisect Results

It started with this commit : https://github.com/libretro/RetroArch/pull/7779/commits/f603d4ec302769ffd89e3659e126f29d07460aa9

Version/Commit

I've tested the nightly and also compiled the latest commit: db36f08920774ec07da26d47a467b61ed7e2c59a

Suggested Fix

The Wii has a special RGB5A3 format.
http://wiki.tockdom.com/wiki/Image_Formats
https://craftedcart.github.io/SMBLevelWorkshop/documentation/index.html?page=tplFormat12

So maybe, add a GEKKO ifdef seperate from PSP https://github.com/libretro/RetroArch/blob/master/menu/drivers/rgui.c#L429:

static uint16_t argb32_to_rgb5a3(uint32_t col)
{
unsigned a = ((col >> 24) & 0xff) >> 5;
unsigned r = ((col >> 16) & 0xff) >> 4;
unsigned g = ((col >> 8) & 0xff) >> 4;
unsigned b = ((col & 0xff) ) >> 4;
return (a << 12) | (r << 8) | (g << 4) | b;
}

I've tested this code and it seems to work. But, I'm not 100% sure it's correct...

[orbea]

@jdgleaver Any help you can provide would be appreciated!

[twinaphex]

Hi there @jdgleaver,

now we finally have confirmation that the current colours aren't working out for Wii.

I believe @Wiimpathy provided a solution above, try to see if you can commit that. You can use a GEKKO ifdef for it.

[twinaphex]

@jdgleaver @Wiimpathy pushed this commit -

https://github.com/libretro/RetroArch/commit/60533b10b7f613859a40a7b20a32ab83fa88b6c9

@Wiimpathy Can you test if this works for you? Thanks in advance.

[jdgleaver]

@twinaphex Sorry I missed this yesterday - I don't always have internet access! Thanks for pushing the commit (it looks good to me).

@Wiimpathy Thank you so much for reporting this, and for providing a fix! None of us knew the correct pixel format for the Wii, so the recent updates relied upon the scheme defined in some old (and apparently misleading) legacy code. Now we can finally handle all platforms correctly.

Just for completeness, I'll run a quick simulation to check whether the limited alpha precision will have any discernable negative effect on background/border colours. If so, I'll try to wrangle a workaround.

[Wiimpathy]

Yes, it's working, the colors are good. It's a little brighter than before but it's not a problem since we can change the gamma in the settings.
However, there's a bug related to gamma setting. The value is not saved since it's using a bool (config_set_bool) instead of int. I'll send a fix when I have time.

[twinaphex]

Ah OK, glad to hear. Will be looking forward to that fix for the gamma setting.

[jdgleaver]

Okay, I've determined that the background and border colours on Gekko platforms are ~7% brighter than intended (due to the difference in alpha precision). I'm going to make a PR that should (hopefully) fix this.

[Wiimpathy]

Tested on real hardware and it's almost the same brightness as before. It's still a bit brighter. Screenshots made with Dolphin :

Before Custom Colours

Now with your gamma improvement

[jdgleaver]

Great, thanks for testing this. Yes, the ~7% difference in brightness is subtle - but your screenshot shows that you're now getting the same colours as on all the other platforms (or as close as it's possible to get).

I think the underlying issue is that menus on the Wii were always too dark! The previous colours were some arcane, hard-coded legacy values which didn't really tally with anything (when I first started to add full colour customisation, I couldn't make any sense of these values at all...). Now all platforms are equal, which I think is a good thing...?

If you don't like the brighter green colours, please do check out the new themes under 'Settings > User Interface > Appearance'. There are 32 to choose from, with varying brightness, contrast and hue levels.

If you still don't like any of the new themes, please feel free to make suggestions! I would be happy to add more presets to the menu.

[orbea]

fwiw I agree that the first screenshot is too dark and the new one looks much better, but I don't have a wii...

[Wiimpathy]

Yes, it's a good feature for those who want to customize the Gui. I guess there are enough presets to make everyone happy. I played with the menu_bg and menu_border values too and it's very close to what it was. There's also a gamma setting...
You're right it was a bit dark but not so much on TV. In fact, back in 1.2, the text was brighter and a bit clearer (or is it just my eyes?):

[orbea]

Yes, its a slightly different shade of white, with the screenshot of the master I am getting #F5F5F5 while with 1.2 I am getting #FFFFFF. I think its extra noticeable because 1.2 also has a much higher contrast.

[jdgleaver]

Hmm! It looks like you have linear filtering turned on in the 1.7.5 screenshot, and off in the 1.2.2 screenshot. That would certainly explain the difference in text clarity (and probably the different white levels too).

Does the current Wii build have the option to turn linear filtering off under 'Settings > User Interface > Appearance'?

[Wiimpathy]

Yes, there's a bilinear filter setting. I don't remember if this 1.2.2 custom build had this setting to Off by default.
But, with or without this filter, it's more white and clear on this old release.

[RobLoach]

Yes, there's a bilinear filter setting. I don't remember if this 1.2.2 custom build had this setting to Off by default.

I tried to disable Bilinear Filter by default... It hurts my eyes and makes everything look like soup. There are people who love it, but that's nay I.

[Wiimpathy]

You're right, the bilinear filter is particularly blurry on Wii too. However, the real advantage of this platform is the '240p' mode or native resolutions. It's very close to the original on CRT(with real scanlines) or with OSSC + LCD screen.

[jdgleaver]

Yes, there's a bilinear filter setting. I don't remember if this 1.2.2 custom build had this setting to Off by default.
But, with or without this filter, it's more white and clear on this old release.

Oh! That actually smells like a bug, then.

This is what RGUI looks like on Linux (you'll need to view these full size for a proper comparison):

• Menu linear filter ON (blurry and horrible, like your 1.7.5 screenshot):

• Menu linear filter OFF (sharp and clear, like your 1.2.2 screenshot):

If the Wii ignores this setting, perhaps it's a platform gfx driver issue...?

[Wiimpathy]

Please disregard my comment about this 1.2 being clearer. It was a custom build I made with bilinear always Off. Also, note that screenshots are made with Dolphin. Perhaps, it doesn't reflect exactly what it looks like on Wii and TV. That'd be cool if someone else could test it on real hardware because my eyes start to bleed...
Personnally, I think it's good as it is now.

[orbea]

Personnally, I think it's good as it is now.

I guess we can close this, if anyone tries it on real hardware and thinks it could be further improved please let us know!