ykhwong wrote:

I am using d3dx9_42.dll released in 2009 instead. What's the matter with the shaders? I modified several shader files about two months ago so that they should work properly with it.

using the DLL from your build produces errors:

1D3D:Using triple buffering
2D3D:Error in pixel shader shaders\CRT.D3D.fx:
3Unable to create effect compiler from shaders\CRT.D3D.fx
4D3D:Pixel shader output disabled

Not sure how to get more details.
Using d3dx9_30.dll (renamed), it works fine - no other changes; .conf file and shaders\ dir contents are the same.

I also tried several other shaders with a modified date of July 5 (Lanczos.fx, bilinear.fx, Sketch.fx), and they result in the same error using the _42 dll, but work fine with _30.

VileRancour wrote:

Not sure how to get more details. Using d3dx9_30.dll (renamed), it works fine - no other changes; .conf file and shaders\ dir co […]
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1D3D:Using triple buffering
2D3D:Error in pixel shader shaders\CRT.D3D.fx:
3Unable to create effect compiler from shaders\CRT.D3D.fx
4D3D:Pixel shader output disabled

Not sure how to get more details.
Using d3dx9_30.dll (renamed), it works fine - no other changes; .conf file and shaders\ dir contents are the same.

I also tried several other shaders with a modified date of July 5 (Lanczos.fx, bilinear.fx, Sketch.fx), and they result in the same error using the _42 dll, but work fine with _30.

That is weird. What is your video card? Did you update your video driver to the latest version?

Nvidia geforce GT 240, with the latest drivers. (280.26)

Also tested on an older card, GeForce 7300 SE, with the latest driver version too, and got the same behavior with the DLLs... but that card can't handle the CRT shader anyway 😜
both are running on XP Pro SP3 machines, btw.

Great screenshots. It's like playing CGA games on Game Boy.

Seriously. I remembered in 80s, I watched a game on the PCjr equiped with a monochrome monitor in the store.

I wonder what it would affect in Tandy/PCjr mode with a mono monitor.

It works

it´s great! i´m using your cga_mono option and im playing just like my teenage times. thanks VileRancour

I fixed this patch, it will patch correctly with DOSBox SVN r4019.
And added paper-white color in CGA/Hercules mode, press F11 to cycle through green, amber, RGB-white, and paper-white.

Thanks, VileRancour.

Paper-white palette looks like actual white monochrome monitor.

Interesting, how did you derive the paper-white gradient?
The color values look like the 16 steps are tinted (in various directions) away from grey... and according to the 'Paper-White Phosphors' sidebar here, that may actually have some basis in how these monitors are designed. Didn't know that. 😀

just a quick note about the patch.
It's "wrong" to add to 2 different "SHELL_STARTUP_CGA" messages.
Just give them a different a different name and do the selection at the point where they are being printed. (so where the MSG_Get is used)

The updated patch works for green, though F11 doesn't seem to cycle through anything; Dosbox is locked into green monochrome for me. Pressing f11 causing the message "hue at -x.xxxxxx" in increments of 5 for each keystroke, but does nothing in the actual DOSBox window.

*EDIT*
Figured out the special keys problem, but F11 still does not cycle through the various palettes, and alt+f11 likewise has no function at all.

Deleted post. Patches should be submitted here or to the DOSBox sourceforge site, not to sites not affiliated with the official version of DOSBox.

To VileR, thank you very much! Now I´ve got the opportunity to play again Prince of Persia in amber monochrome again, like I´ve played as a kid. Thanks for the good memories.

javitz82 wrote on 2021-04-19, 16:53:

To VileR, thank you very much! Now I´ve got the opportunity to play again Prince of Persia in amber monochrome again, like I´ve played as a kid. Thanks for the good memories.

As someone who grew up with green monitors and b/w TV portables, I fully agree! ^^

It reminds of my younger years back in the 90s, when I used to watch VHS cassettes with
a little top-loading VHS player (just a player, no VCR) on an old green monitor in my papa's personal/hobby room (mansard).
Because, the player had no VHF/UHF modulator that could be used to connect to an unused old portable b/w television set.

The same video monitor was also occassionally used to play some games for the Sharp MZ-700 computer..
Later, I also had one of these little camping TVs. You know, these with cassette/radio/TV.
It was also monochrome. I've watched many films and shows with it via telescope antenna. ^^
I know, I know, that's a bit off-topic now. I just wanted to give an impression of how monochrome video was still relevant even in the early-mid 90s.

Because, that was a time when DOS was still around and when old 70s/80s technology was used in tandem with the roots of our modern digital age.
Monochrome video monitors were still being used in compact devices, also. Communications devices like the French Minitel phones had monochrome CRTs.
Same goes for the German Multitel devices. They could access to Videotex (no "t") services originally based on Prestel.

Cool.. what I got going when I was playing with XT class hardware in the early 90s, was mono CGA on a 10" black and white "security monitor" which was PAL, but had enough adjustment in vertical hold to sync the NTSC mono. But before that, the 8 bit was relegated to the black and white portable TV and I didn't get to play in color that often. The bonus was though, that you could get everything very sharp on a mono and it was better for eyestrain than a TV quality color tube. (Proper 15khz monitors like 1071 and 1024s were better of course)