Reply To: How to get scanlines and vastly improve picture quality: the best method

[patrickm]

“I found the overlays just made the whole picture too dark once applied.”

First, make sure you are using the correct overlay for the display resolution and integer scale that you are using.

Second, you can adjust the overlay strength by adjusting “opacity” under settings -> overlay settings

Third, you can adjust your LCD’s “backlight” control.

Fourth, and this should go without saying, but make sure you have calibrated the greyscale and color correctly on your display.

IMO the best effect is achieved with opacity at 100% and my backlight at 85-100% depending on if I’m using the 5x or 4x overlay. Some might prefer lighter scanlines, though.

“So even with patrickm’s scanline overlay method he still recommends integer scaling to be enabled?? If so i might as well just keep using crt-hyllian shader, as with that at 720p and integer scaling you get NO artifacts and the scanlines are perfect!!.”

You can do that but then you are dedicating a huge amount of screen space to letterboxing and overscan:
1080-720= 360 lines dedicated to letterboxing alone, or 1/3rd of the total vertical area.

With the right integer scale you can avoid this, or eliminate letterboxing/overscan completely to take full advantage of the display area.