CRT simulator shader released for high-refresh OLED, LCD screens

The light gun doesn't need a CRT per-se, but rather the lack of input latency. Games usually flash the targets one per frame, and then it knows based on light level if you were pointing at the target and which one. If it sees light on the third frame then the target must be the third one it flashed. That requires the console to be able to read the light level basically immediately after the console's done scanning out the image but before the phorphor fades out, so the timing is very tight.

If we made OLEDs with direct scanout/zero latency, the guns would work just fine. But because of scalers and filters there's usually at least one frame of latency which means at best you're one target off, or it thinks you're cheating and registers a miss (games usually do a full frame of black first to see if the gun's pointed at a light source, which if you have a frame of latency on the screen it'll register the last frame which will be bright and thus register a cheat/miss).

Add just a frame of latency to a CRT and it'll stop working there too. Later progressive scan CRTs that buffer two frames to deinterlace the signal also don't work with the light guns.

Here it is in action: https://youtu.be/V6XnSvB34y8

14 comments

That sounds nice! My OLED is only 165Hz, but I'll have to try it out.
Do light guns work with this?
- No, because lightguns require the electron gun in a CRT. Its how the gun knows where you are pointing it
  
  The light gun doesn't need a CRT per-se, but rather the lack of input latency. Games usually flash the targets one per frame, and then it knows based on light level if you were pointing at the target and which one. If it sees light on the third frame then the target must be the third one it flashed. That requires the console to be able to read the light level basically immediately after the console's done scanning out the image but before the phorphor fades out, so the timing is very tight.
  If we made OLEDs with direct scanout/zero latency, the guns would work just fine. But because of scalers and filters there's usually at least one frame of latency which means at best you're one target off, or it thinks you're cheating and registers a miss (games usually do a full frame of black first to see if the gun's pointed at a light source, which if you have a frame of latency on the screen it'll register the last frame which will be bright and thus register a cheat/miss).
  Add just a frame of latency to a CRT and it'll stop working there too. Later progressive scan CRTs that buffer two frames to deinterlace the signal also don't work with the light guns.
  Here it is in action: https://youtu.be/V6XnSvB34y8
This wouldn't work for my PC, but it's good to know that by the time CRTs completely die out we won't need them anymore.
Will this work on my 120Hz 19" CRT?