MiSTer FPGA Forum

Hey,
can anyone shed more light on the option to force 256px in the snes-core.
I sort of can't see a difference while switching it on or off, except for the picture displayed moving a slight bit to the left/right.

Should I always leave the option on?

I'm guessing this has to do with the handful of games that used high-resolution 512 wide mode. Like the menu in Secret of Mana. Not too many games made use of it though and even then, not necessarily for gameplay. Not sure exactly what it does but that's the only time I know of when the SNES isn't doing 256px.

This option is helpful with Scale: HV-Integer settings.

The SNES core outputs a 512 pixel wide picture by default, even in 256 wide games (nearly all games). Possibly so you don't have to switch resolution for the modes and games that do use the high resolution modes?

Since this double-width also affects the HV-Integer scaling, using Force 256px will give the scaler more flexibility in matching pixels to your output resolution. It's probably not necessary otherwise.

One other thing to note regarding this setting - if you use filters, the SNES-specific ones were tuned for the double-wide picture. Since the setting disables this, you can use the generic filters with Force 256px.

I'm not sure that is completely true anymore. At least a few games I tried (SMW, Metroid) report 256 as the analog output resolution, even with force 256px off.

Rudras no Hihou uses it, without it the screen will flicker every dialog, enabling it eliminates the issue, only downside is the text will look slightly off.