Setting windowresolution=720x348 with no scaling and no aspect correction should render the Hercules graphics pixels of KQ1 AGI as sharp as your monitor possibly can. 😉

Seriously, though, I suppose what you're looking for is advice on scaling methods. Have you tried SVN with output=opengl, scaler=none, glshader=sharp ?

I agree with you that DOSBox's Hercules emulation is, um, rather "raw" and not close to the output of a TTL monitor.
However, that's the case with all known PC emulators.

A usual TTL CRT had a green, amber or white phosphor screen.
Depending on the colour, different phosphors were used, each with a different persistance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphor

In practice, the green monitor was the one with the longest persistance.
In the radar fields, phosphor with an even longer "after glow" was used.

Thing is, that focus, intensity etc also have an effect of the sharpness/clarity of the screen.

What DOSBox would need is a shader that's as sophisticated as Cool-Retro-Term.
And the ability to stretch the image a bit, to correct the aspect ratio, IMHO.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cool+retro+term

It has a CRT emulation that comes close to a real amber/green monitor, even though the default settings are a bit overkill.
You can check against some of the Hercules videos in my channel, if you like. 😀

Edit: Never mind. My reply was a bit too late. 😅

ripsaw8080 wrote on 2021-07-05, 12:15:

Seriously, though, I suppose what you're looking for is advice on scaling methods. Have you tried SVN with output=opengl, scaler=none, glshader=sharp ?

I've been trying to get this to work, but the result is pretty much the same.
Even with the scaling, glshader and the fixed resolution .

Obviously I'm mucking up somewhere, so this will be default, line by line.
I will be diving into this deeper when I have more time on my hands.

Thanks for pointing out the scaler and shaders.
Never worked with those before 😄

Jo22 wrote on 2021-07-05, 12:25:

I agree with you that DOSBox's Hercules emulation is, um, rather "raw" and not close to the output of a TTL monitor. However, th […]
Show full quote

I agree with you that DOSBox's Hercules emulation is, um, rather "raw" and not close to the output of a TTL monitor.
However, that's the case with all known PC emulators.

A usual TTL CRT had a green, amber or white phosphor screen.
Depending on the colour, different phosphors were used, each with a different persistance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphor

In practice, the green monitor was the one with the longest persistance.
In the radar fields, phosphor with an even longer "after glow" was used.

Thing is, that focus, intensity etc also have an effect of the sharpness/clarity of the screen.

What DOSBox would need is a shader that's as sophisticated as Cool-Retro-Term.
And the ability to stretch the image a bit, to correct the aspect ratio, IMHO.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cool+retro+term

It has a CRT emulation that comes close to a real amber/green monitor, even though the default settings are a bit overkill.
You can check against some of the Hercules videos in my channel, if you like. 😀

Edit: Never mind. My reply was a bit too late. 😅

Thanks, for the write up. It is always nice if someone puts in a little time to help out.
And I will be checking out your channel sir! 😃

KQ1 looks decent in Hercules mode, but why would you want to play a 16 color CGA capable game in Hercules mode? Or did you have another game in mind?

@ripsaw8080 Thank you, too, for taking your time and writting back and the tips, too! 😎
I'd like to say that you and the others did a very good job over the years,
even though times weren't always easy and quite a few people were using DOSBox sources without giving proper credits.
If it wasn't for DOSBox, the DOS and Windows 3.1 eco system were likely forgotten by the public about 15+ years ago.

Akuma wrote on 2021-07-06, 21:41:

Thanks, for the write up. It is always nice if someone puts in a little time to help out.
And I will be checking out your channel sir! 😃

You're welcome! And thanks, too! ^^

Peter Swinkels wrote on 2021-07-07, 14:48:

KQ1 looks decent in Hercules mode, but why would you want to play a 16 color CGA capable game in Hercules mode? Or did you have another game in mind?

Ah, yes. Composite CGA with/without the NTSC colour artifacts! 👍
I love it, too, despite for my slightly aversion for CGA's 320x200 resolution modes sometimes..
For some reasons, the super low-res 160x200 resolutions doesn't look as eye straining as the normal ones.
The output is kinda.. organic. It looks more natural, even though there's less information on screen. Hm. weird.

Speaking of Hercules, I can think of one reason, at least: The text via Hercules mode is much more readable in KQ1. 😉
On the other hand, Composite CGA does look quite interesting on a monochrome video monitor, too.
Unless it uses artifact colours, of course. They don't work on a monochrome sceen, since they require the NTSC decoder circuit.

PS: The early Sierra On-Line titles that used the AGI system are using 160x200 graphics only.
So even if normal CGA or EGA was used, the graphics didn't take full advantage of the PC's abilities.
I assume this was related to portability. Sierra, I assume, perhaps intended to port their titles to as much home computers as possible.
Some screenshots: http://sierrahelp.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3965&p=51800

Well, say what you will but Sierra games, especially early ones ran on a multitude of systems. Too bad their later non-AGI games got increasingly bug-ridden. They eventually got their act together, fortunately.

Peter Swinkels wrote on 2021-07-08, 12:34:

Well, say what you will but Sierra games, especially early ones ran on a multitude of systems. Too bad their later non-AGI games got increasingly bug-ridden. They eventually got their act together, fortunately.

+1

Personally, I found the SCI0 games to be the most interesting. 🙂
They had a slightly better image quality and mouse support,
but still supported a text based parser.

Yes, and those still had relatively few bugs. Quest for Glory IV was more modern and an excellent game story and puzzle wise. It was also an example of a bug-ridden Sierra game just about as bad it could get.