Gameboy Color - Desaturated Colors

Weario
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Gameboy Color - Desaturated Colors

Unread post by Weario »

Hello, I have the Mister FPGA for a while and I've been lurking these forums for some time too. I have a question about the color (pallette?) being used for the Gameboy Color Core. It seems to me that the colors are a bit desaturated, as if there is a filter over it. I know it is possible to change the pallette in the NES core, would this also be possible for the Gameboy Core? I personally prefer to play with the 'real' colors instead of the desaturated colors.
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dmg
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Re: Gameboy Color - Desaturated Colors

Unread post by dmg »

Hello,

There are palettes available for the Gameboy core, here is a .zip link from the Gameboy_MiSTer GitHub containing a few palettes you can use:

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Gameboy ... 200714.zip
Weario
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Re: Gameboy Color - Desaturated Colors

Unread post by Weario »

Thanks for the response. :) I'm probably not using the right term here. I'm aiming at what others call 'lcd colors'. And in this case It's what I see is being used by the Gameboy Color.

This a (simulated) example of what I see when using the Gameboy Core:

CKzSZnL.png
CKzSZnL.png (2.47 KiB) Viewed 14091 times

And this is what I prefer, which are the real colors without a filter:

3Zs7m9m.png
3Zs7m9m.png (2.41 KiB) Viewed 14091 times

Is this possible to implement for this core?
dshadoff
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Re: Gameboy Color - Desaturated Colors

Unread post by dshadoff »

Having played Gameboy Color original equipment during its heyday, I'd say that the desaturated one more closely resembles original hardware...

But that may not appeal to everybody, as there are lots of upgrades available these days.
Please post your favourite palette once you've found one.
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Re: Gameboy Color - Desaturated Colors

Unread post by FPGAzumSpass »

The Gameboy Color mode uses this:

Code: Select all

	if (isGBC) begin
		r_tmp = r10[8:1];
		g_tmp = {g10[6:0],1'b0};
		b_tmp = b10[8:1];
where the R/G/B10 come from:
wire [31:0] r10 = (r5 * 13) + (g5 * 2) +b5;
wire [31:0] g10 = (g5 * 3) + b5;
wire [31:0] b10 = (r5 * 3) + (g5 * 2) + (b5 * 11);
This change was done by brNX in 2018:
https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Gameboy ... fb04b55aa1


I can create a test-RBF with OSD option to switch between both color modes.
Weario
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Re: Gameboy Color - Desaturated Colors

Unread post by Weario »

That would be great, thank you! I'd love to test that out and see how it looks.
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Re: Gameboy Color - Desaturated Colors

Unread post by Alkadian »

I would love to test it too! Thanks!
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Re: Gameboy Color - Desaturated Colors

Unread post by SegaSnatcher »

+1 Would love to test this.
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Re: Gameboy Color - Desaturated Colors

Unread post by SegaSnatcher »

I took some pics.

My IPS modded GBA playing Wario Land 3.
image0 (7).jpg
image0 (7).jpg (1.83 MiB) Viewed 14338 times
MiSTer GB/GBC core playing Wario Land 3.
image0 (8).jpg
image0 (8).jpg (1.55 MiB) Viewed 14338 times
Weario
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Re: Gameboy Color - Desaturated Colors

Unread post by Weario »

Those IPS look like what I prefer. Thanks for those pics! Someday I'll get my own gba modded with and IPS screen too, it looks really good.
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Re: Gameboy Color - Desaturated Colors

Unread post by FPGAzumSpass »

RBF is attached.
Wario Land 3 comparison below.
20210107_065247-Wario Land 3 (World) (En,Ja).png
20210107_065247-Wario Land 3 (World) (En,Ja).png (1.47 KiB) Viewed 14266 times
20210107_065255-Wario Land 3 (World) (En,Ja).png
20210107_065255-Wario Land 3 (World) (En,Ja).png (1.47 KiB) Viewed 14266 times
Attachments
Gameboy_colors.zip
(1.23 MiB) Downloaded 268 times
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SegaSnatcher
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Re: Gameboy Color - Desaturated Colors

Unread post by SegaSnatcher »

Just tried it, now the colors match a lot closer to my IPS GBA! BTW, the color option effects the standard GB core. I don't know if this is supposed to happen.

Anyways here is the comparison now between my IPS modded GBA and MiSTer with new color choice. Last photo is the previous colors on MiSTer.

image0 (9).jpg
image0 (9).jpg (1.83 MiB) Viewed 14257 times
image1 (1).jpg
image1 (1).jpg (1.6 MiB) Viewed 14257 times
image0 (8).jpg
image0 (8).jpg (1.55 MiB) Viewed 14257 times
Weario
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Re: Gameboy Color - Desaturated Colors

Unread post by Weario »

Thank you for this version! I have been testing it for a while.
The 'original' colors look exactly like I prefer, this is great!
I did some testing with other options and I have one bug to report: Custom palette options do not work properly when the colors are set to original. I can still see the screen, but it is very very dark. I suppose this option affects the custom palette mode.
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Re: Gameboy Color - Desaturated Colors

Unread post by SegaSnatcher »

This is great since so many people are modding their original Gameboy Color and Gameboy Advance systems with IPS LCD screen kits and will be used to the Raw RGB colors, so would be a nice option for users.
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Re: Gameboy Color - Desaturated Colors

Unread post by SegaSnatcher »

Beat Super Mario Land 2 DX for the first time with the new raw colors, looks so great.
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Re: Gameboy Color - Desaturated Colors

Unread post by Peredonov »

Just for clarification, the default colors on this core are not "desaturated", but are meant to simulate the specific color space used in the original reflective GBC screens. What the topic creator called "real" colors, or "raw"/"original", are technically incorrect for GBC games, but they are also what many people are used to from using some emulators, IPS mods, the AGS-101 GBA, DS Lite, 3DS, etc. So it's good to have these colors as an option, like on the GBA core.

But it's good to keep in mind that GBC games were designed with the non-raw RGB color space in mind, so the corrected colors should remain as default for this core.
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Re: Gameboy Color - Desaturated Colors

Unread post by dshadoff »

Yes, terminology should be something like "reflective LCD" versus "IPS".
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Re: Gameboy Color - Desaturated Colors

Unread post by SegaSnatcher »

Peredonov wrote: Fri Jan 08, 2021 7:57 pm But it's good to keep in mind that GBC games were designed with the non-raw RGB color space in mind, so the corrected colors should remain as default for this core.
I agree, Corrected colors should stay default and I don't think anyone would argue this. I just prefer raw for a lot of official games and color hacks.
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