As I'm sure most everyone here is aware, the HLSL CRT simulation filter for mame helps achieve the old CRT look for arcade games running on high resolution displays, mostly LCD.
Similar filters have been implemented on other emulators (some harder to configure/find than others), and I love how it looks closer to the original games than sharp pixel perfection.
The thing is, not every emulator has it. Wouldn't it be simpler if one could simply run a program that filters the whole desktop screen to achieve that look and then run whatever game he wants?
I have found some hardware that intercepts the vga signal, processes it and releases a vga signal with scanlines added to it. But that only adds scanlines, whereas mame's use of HLSL adds a range of other effects needed to get that CRT look.
I have a component video output board that I can use to convert VGA to component and play any pc game on a real CRT tv. That is cool but not as practical as running a process so you can switch between both experiences. Plus, it lacks configuration.
Does anyone know a solution for this, or maybe knows how to implement it in a simple way? I don't know the technical details, but I figure that windows must have some sort of protection and forbid easy access to programs intending to alter the display signal. If that is the case, maybe you could capture the screen and display it on a separate window which could be seen in fullscreen mode? Not sure if that is even feasible, as it would be capturing itself... Maybe with dual monitor setups?
