A downloadable tool for Windows

ShaderGlass

Overlay applying retro shaders on top of Windows desktop

Features

  • applies shader effects on top of any window on the desktop in realtime
  • includes 300+ 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)


See GitHub page for more details:

https://github.com/mausimus/ShaderGlass


New in v0.9 (10 Aug 2023):

  • refresh of RetroArch shader library
  • new Shader Browser window
  • bug fixes
StatusReleased
CategoryTool
PlatformsWindows
Rating
Rated 4.9 out of 5 stars
(79 total ratings)
Authormausimus
TagsEmulator, Retro, Shaders
Code licenseGNU General Public License v3.0 (GPL)
LinksSource code

Download

Download
ShaderGlass-0.9-win-x64.zip 13 MB

Development log

Comments

Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.

Viewing most recent comments 1 to 40 of 68 · Next page · Last page

Just short question - are you planning on further development of this absolute gem of a software - at some point? Loving it so much.

(1 edit)

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.

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.

(+2)

requires DX11? no linux? that sucks, guess i won't be using this with aseprite.

(+4)

Can you add the option to update Retroarch shaders and the option to add shaders manually? I think it would be a great improvement.

(2 edits) (+4)

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!!!

(+1)

yellow square fix doesnt work, lame

Works great!

(+1)

the best

Its cool! Although it makes some text nearly impossible to read. But its still super cool and fun!!

(-2)

Can you use full screen with f11 with it? It would suck if not.

(+1)

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!

(1 edit) (+1)

Probably stupid question but how to add ReShade? I would appreciate if you explained it in greater detail for noob like me ;)

I was wondering if such thing even exists and here I am :D Fantastic job! I do miss c-64 monitor shader but I cant complain. Amazing piece of software!

OH ME GOODNESS! Now I can play N64 GAMES LIKE HOW THEY USED TO BE!!!!! (ONE MY FAVORITE MARIO 64 ROM HACKS IS B3313..... Imma use it 4 it ;3.... ) THANKS YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS LITTLE PROGRAM :D

Wow, this is so cool! great job 👍

Is there any way to have the mouse also affected by the shader? I found where it copies the mouse but the normal mouse is still displayed on top of it.

Sugerencias:.1.En vez de pulsar tabulador para activar o desactivar el filtro,poder definir una tecla del teclado,pues interfiere con ciertas aplicaciones y es muy practico ver el filtro activo y desactivo.2 Poder concatenar varios filtros a la vez de forma sencilla.Por ejemplo aplico el filtro blur y luego  el resultado aplicarle el filtro crt.

Tips:.1.Instead of pressing Tab to activate or deactivate the filter, you can define a key on the keyboard, as it interferes with certain applications and it is very practical to see the filter active and deactivated.2 To be able to concatenate several filters at the same time in a simple way. For example, I apply the blur filter and then the result apply the crt filter to it.

no le tenia tanta fe, pero la verdad es que se ve muy bien

(+2)

Would love to see this on Mac!

(2 edits) (+3)

I really wish this was available for macOS.

You could sell it on the (macOS) App Store and make a killing

Wow... Handheld Shader has been dissappeared.... was my favorite....

(+1)

For people having issue with the yellow bar and who want to full screen, try to run things in a window then use "Borderless gaming" I had good results, even managed to watch old shows with VLCs using this.

I love this! For some reason though, every time I try to use it in full screen mode (no mater if it's on a game or by itself like when using google), if my mouse goes either to the left or superior edge the click through stops working and it goes back to the app itself, any help anyone can give?

This is one of my favorite. Incredible work!

Can you fix simplitex lcd shader? Because it is not working as intended.

And can you add Gameboy shader in handheld section?

its very niceeeeeeeeeee work!But how to reduce input lag?Even i play fullscreen still input lag.

Hello! This software is incredible, but for some reason if I don't set my computer DPI for both monitors to 100% (which is too small for me to read anything), I'm only able to capture a portion of the screen with the rest showing as black, even if I change the DPI settings in ShaderGlass. I would send a screenshot if it weren't for the strange issue of the program not showing up in screenshots.

Hello

That's a very impressive application, I'm stunned by the variety of options and possibilities.

One question: I tried to start a rather ancient 3Dfx-game (Myth: The Fallen Lords).  It's one of those games that looked much better on a blurry CRT-screen. Now while I can start the game in software mode and use ShaderGlass, that's not possible if I start the 3Dfx version (emulated by nglide's .dlls): The glide wrapper overrides ShaderGlass. Is there a way to prevent this?

Thank you for your work.

(1 edit)

Is there any way to have shaderglass work in a full screen game like how RTSS crosshair does? It works great but on modern titles playing on borderless fullscreen through glass mode causes lack in performance.  Maybe there is a way already and I just don’t know how to do it? Id say it’s definitely possible tho either with another third party program or the right coding.

Edit: I’m using reshade on shaderglass which is why it’s more intensive and has more input delay. I’ve noticed that hovering over shaderglass while in a fullscreen game fixes input delay like a screen filter. But I don’t know how to have shaderglass stay in a fullscreen game. Clicking on shaderglass while in full screen just shows the yellow border lines which makes me more convinced it could work. 

I am looking to use this for the Fix it Felix Jr game to make it look like crt. all is working amazing but what I want to do is turn on the PC and it would auto load this exe, and also the saved settings (rotated, crt geom) and load the game exe as well using a script).


When i load this up, just normally, i have to click load profile and run it in fullscreen manually then. Is it possible just to load and attach itself to the running exe game and load the saved profile automatically?

its just so that i can just power up the pc and this will autoboot and load everything in without having to click other options etc

thank you

Hey, yes you can pass profile file name on command line as well as auto-enable full-screen, please check the README on GitHub page.

Thank you for your reply. I just spent literally 2 hours trying to get the cmd script to work but what is happening is that I have written a basic script to launch shaderglass.exe with the profile and fullscreen and fifj.exe but shaderglass loads, and cannot see the game running. I believe that running the two exe's at the same time, its not enough time for shaderglass to see the game running to load it, so its just an empty screen.

So then i thought.. lets try this script -

"@echo off

cd "C:\Users\USERNAME\Desktop\Fix It Felix Jr" 

start ShaderGlass.exe -f fix it felix.sgp

timeout /t 5 /nobreak > nul

start FIFJ.exe

exit"

I thought, put in a delay where the exe for the game would load 5 seconds later (not ideal as id miss seeing the rom check load screen) but the script just ends at timeout /t 5 /nobreak > nul... (even tried without > nul)

The game exe wont load after this. So just totally stuck to try and get it to boot with the game at the same time. Any help would be very much appreciated!! thank you

I really appreciate you making this - I've been wanting to find a decent CRT filter for my screen for some time, for retro gaming and such! You rock!

The option to remove the yellowboarder is grayed out. Any suggestions?

(+1)

Did you manage to figure it out?

Sadly I did not. Apparently it is required by Windows to have a yellow border when you're recording/taking a picture

In Windows 10, all research points to the yellow border being a built-in security feature when screen capturing, and it is not possible to disable it. In Windows 11, it is apparently possible. Here's a link with instructions (Look for the snipping tool info, not the Narrator info): https://techyorker.com/how-to-remove-yellow-border-around-screen-in-windows-11/

This is wonderful work, thank you for making it open source with the GPLv3!

Any thoughts on how this can be made to work on other operating systems?

(+1)

This is pretty fantastic. I'm promoting it on twitter! Thank you!

If you're still taking requests, it would be nice to have a custom input where you just set the window size manually, and also get to hide the border/buttons/etc and have just the shader if possible.

(+1)

Hello https://itch.io/profile/mausimus ! Could you make this program works for windows 7 too?. I can pay for your work.

Viewing most recent comments 1 to 40 of 68 · Next page · Last page