ShaderGlass
A downloadable tool for Windows
ShaderGlass
Overlay applying retro shaders on top of Windows desktop
- applies shader effects on top of any window on the desktop in realtime
- includes 800+ shaders from RetroArch library covering:
- CRT monitor simulation
- image upscaling
- TV / VHS simulation
- softening, denoising, blur and sharpen
- works with most emulators and retro platforms (in windowed/borderless modes) including DOSBox FS-UAE Altirra ScummVM AGS any many more
- you can even use it on top of YouTube or Twitch, albeit with some option tuning necessary to clean up video scaling
- works with OBS (in Game Capture mode)
Check out README and FAQ for detailed instructions.
Source code on GitHub.
New in v1.0 (21 Feb 2025):
- refresh of RetroArch shader library
- back-end extensions to support more complex shaders (MegaBezel)
- improved fullscreen with letterboxing and aspect ratio preservation
- quick access to Recent Profiles from menu
- FPS display in title bar
- selection of best shaders in Browser window
- bug fixes
Download
Development log
- ShaderGlass 1.0 released!9 days ago
- ShaderGlass 0.9 releasedAug 10, 2023
- ShaderGlass 0.8 releasedJun 04, 2023
- ShaderGlass 0.7 releasedDec 19, 2021
- ShaderGlass 0.6 final releasedOct 31, 2021
- ShaderGlass 0.6 beta releasedOct 17, 2021
Comments
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I might just be using it wrong but it appears crt-guest-advanced-ntsc (my personal favorite) doesn't appear to be working correctly, at least on the ares emulator. I've tried to mess with pixel scaling but it only made it look worse. Top image is ares' default librashader implementation and bottom is shaderglass with (I'm pretty sure) default settings. (Open the images in a new tab)
I'm loving this so far!
Am having an issue with Steam games however. I set ShaderGlass to Fullscreen, then click in the game (which is also Fullscreen) and my computer goes into the steam game Fullscreen, bypassing the ShaderGlass. Any tips?
Thanks, try putting game into borderless fullscreen first, then press Ctrl+Shift+G (it's global shortcut) to make ShaderGlass fullscreen on top without the game noticing, should work most of the time. Alternative is to run game in windowed mode, set Input -> Window in ShaderGlass, switch to game window to give it focus, and finally Ctrl+Shift+G to make ShaderGlass fullscreen.
It just give me Error: (0xc0000481)
I run Windows 8.1 with NVidia Driver Version: 30.0.14.7362
If you need me to provide any more System Infos, please let me know.
This is amazing, and I have been asking for something like this for ages. My only minor gripe is that there doesn't seem to be any support for Retroarch video and audio filters, which would make this perfect. If I could run CRTGuest, a good NTSC filter, and an RF audio filter, this would be nigh perfect. Even without audio filters, if possible, please look into video filters.
And I do realize that some shaders include basic NTSC filtering, but they're not remotely as good as the RetroCrisis NTSC filters.
Impressive! I like this! I will try this on some new-genre Fighting games and see what happens!
Fantastic, I heard about this from Video Game Esoteric. Thanks for your hard work.
Looks amazing, cant wait to try it out! Thanks a lot man!
Did you leave her for free? !!! My respect for you
Nice! Now I just need something to make my audio sound like ass and I can relive my childhood
This is amazing. I was thinking about making something like this to distort my screen a little bit to help with my eyes strain while at work but didn't know what to do past a certain point. Is there a shader that is just like noise? I couldn't find one.
This is great, and just what I've been looking for thank you for making this! I hope to see in a future version the ability to save/load shader parameter settings as a new shader to use, and/or the ability to insert downloaded retroarch shaders. Thank you again!!
Thank you so much! You can already save shader parameters as profile files and load them. Ability to load new shaders is on the list.
Cool.
Too bad I just officially ditched Windows for Linux this past weekend XD
Very awesome, I'm going to use this all the time!
This is one of the greatest programs I've seen in years, brought back a lot of memories playing Atari and NES on some janky TV's!
This is my new favorite thing. Thank you for doing this! Also +1 for CRT Beam Simulator.
would it be possible to make a version that uses something other than windows capture api? i love the program but the yellow borders on windows 10 ruin it for me
Thank you!
Woaw, well done, it's fantastic ... it had to ask for a sick work to do a like that ...
But ... the majority of Retro Gaming machines and systems are under Linux !!
Can we hope for a linux port of this project with OpenGL or rather Vulkan? It would be a madness ...
Thank you
First you blew my mind with RVX... now this! OMG, keep 'em coming man! This is awesome!
It would be awesome if it were possible to use all the shaders that can be used in RetroArch, like sonkun, retro crisis and others.
Can you import https://github.com/blurbusters/crt-beam-simulator ? By any chance, so you can use it on top of any game?
This supposedly helps in Motion Clarity and maybe- Latency.. But still wish the yellow border could be somehow disabled on win10... :(
I discovered something cool about this. you can inject reshade into the exe of this and run both at once with hardly any use of cpu/gpu use. super cool!
Fantastic, I guess I should put together a ReshadeGlass :)
Just short question - are you planning on further development of this absolute gem of a software - at some point? Loving it so much.
My workaround for win10 (yellow border),
*Output -> Clone
*Input -> "Name of your program"
*Scale -> Free
*Choose a preset with a background like "Maximus royale"
*Use the program in fullscreen mode "ctrl+shit+g"
Screen:
i now that you cant remove the yellow borders on w10, and its a good thing that you can save your preset config, but please make it so it loads automatically the last preset loaded, that would be great to avoid load them every time the app loads.
Hello
Will the Shaderglass 0.9 works for a computer with WINDOWS 11 ?
Thank you
It does, I am using it on Win11.
Thanks for this! I was wondering if ReShade could be used on Chrome then stumbled upon ShaderGlass and this is much easier to set up. Suggestion: when using the screenshot feature, have an option to take a screenshot of both the filtered and unfiltered picture at the same time.
pro tip: firefox has adblock support and isnt tainted by big companies like google
"...isnt tainted by big companies like google"
81% of Mozilla Foundation's income literally comes from Google to be their default search and a judge has already deemed that to be monopolistic practice.
protip: better start looking for a FireFox alternative when their well dries up.
Can you add the ability to record shaderglass with obs? I was messing around with dolphin post processing filters and made nsmbw wii look kind of like a snes game and the effect looked really good with shader glass on and i was trying to record it but it didnt work. Recording my desktop doesn't capture it and setting shaderglass as window capture doesn't work either.
requires DX11? no linux? that sucks, guess i won't be using this with aseprite.
Can you add the option to update Retroarch shaders and the option to add shaders manually? I think it would be a great improvement.
fantastic tool! I need to find the way to keep this on top of another fullscreen borderless window...
Edit: found it! I swear, this is the BEST way ever to watch old DVDs on modern 4k screens. xD
Steps to recreate:
1. Open dvd media in VLC and put it in fullscreen
2. Open ShaderGlass and select VLC as input window
3. Select Output -> Fullscreen (or Ctrl+Shift+G)
4. Profit!
While at it, I found crt-pocket to give the best results for my setup.
Thank you again so much for this incredible tool!!!
SMPlayer works with more formats than vlc, and you can watch anything in 4k all the way to 144p
yellow square fix doesnt work, lame
Works great!
the best
Its cool! Although it makes some text nearly impossible to read. But its still super cool and fun!!
Can you use full screen with f11 with it? It would suck if not.
It's a great program. Unfortunately, the shader that I most use isn't there. The 'crt-hyllian-ntsc.slangp' seems to be found only in the Linux version of Retroarch for some reason. I have no idea if the PC version is under another name. I even tried to compile the program to add this shader, but I had no idea what I was doing, lol.
It´s a fantastic tool, sadly Windows 11 inteferes somethimes with creating this annoying yellow Snapshot border but that is hardly your fault :-) The Shaderselection is also fantastic!
Thanks a lot for this! I've been wanting to relive classic PC games and my 2k-4k monitor ain't doing it for me, Also to get new CRT would take up my room (I already had one for classic console)
this app helps cure the itch. Massively boost my experience and enjoying classic like FO1-2, Diablo, Planescape, The Sims etc. as it meant to be.
For anyone wondering how to use multiple shaders, just add ReShade (make sure to select DX11). Works like a charm!
Probably stupid question but how to add ReShade? I would appreciate if you explained it in greater detail for noob like me ;)