Ok after messing around with all settings one by one for 2 hours I finally made my own, it's not perfect but it's a start:
http://pastebin.com/TvRhDm7r
143u7:


Here's a picture from my previous 142u4 version:

Looks like your pastebin'ed settings are in the prior hlsl format, remove that section from mame.ini and do a mame -cc to get the current format to something like this:
#
# DIRECT3D POST-PROCESSING OPTIONS
#
hlsl_enable 1
hlslpath hlsl
hlsl_ini_read 1
hlsl_ini_write 1
hlslini foo
hlsl_prescale_x 0
hlsl_prescale_y 0
hlsl_preset -1
hlsl_write
hlsl_snap_width 1920
hlsl_snap_height 1080
shadow_mask_alpha 0.18
shadow_mask_texture aperture.png
shadow_mask_x_count 320
shadow_mask_y_count 240
shadow_mask_usize 0.09375
shadow_mask_vsize 0.109375
curvature 0.03
pincushion 0.03
scanline_alpha 0.50
scanline_size 1.0
scanline_height 0.7
scanline_bright_scale 1.0
scanline_bright_offset 0.0
scanline_jitter 0.0
defocus .5,.5
converge_x -.3,0.0,0.0
converge_y -.4,0.0,0.0
radial_converge_x 0.0,0.0,0.0
radial_converge_y 0.0,0.0,0.0
red_ratio 1.0,0.0,0.0
grn_ratio 0.0,1.0,0.0
blu_ratio 0.0,0.0,1.0
saturation 1.10
offset 0.0,0.0,0.0
scale 1.0,1.0,1.0
power 1.0,1.0,1.0
floor 0.0,0.0,0.0
phosphor_life 0.0,0.0,0.0
yiq_enable 0
yiq_cc 3.59754545
yiq_a 0.5
yiq_b 0.5
yiq_o 0.0
yiq_p 1.0
yiq_n 1.0
yiq_y 6.0
yiq_i 1.2
yiq_q 0.6
yiq_scan_time 52.6
yiq_phase_count 2

Thanks john, for posting your settings.

I'm trying to find a fine medium between jclampy, yours, and what I used to use previously.

@mesk if your following this thread I have switched to this right now and am still tweaking ;-)
It still needs more work FYI

http://pastebin.com/7LvMa4wk

I await your screenshot B2K24 to see your progress.

Thanks,I have been tweaking myself

Basically they are your settings with some minor changes.
I'm not sure if I'm really happy with them or not. perhaps I should just look for an Arcade monitor from somewhere.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10573028/mslug%20u7.png

http://pastebin.com/Kn7pmmwk

Hey B2K24,

It is looking alright.

We just got a issue with the 'shadow mask' with the HLSL filter so turning it down real weak seems to be best.

1) This will get rid of the moire (circle) pattern you have if you look on the top lefthand side of your screenshot, if you don't like that.

2) The 'hatch' pattern showing up all over the screen is tied in with how we have the 'shadow mask' settings as well.

To fix both issues you can lower the 'shadow_mask_alpha' number. Try 0.100000 or 0.050000 and see what you think in comparison.

Anything else you would like to try and change?

PS: can you open the 'artwork' file called mslug.zip and open the mslug.lay file and show me what this part looks like:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<mamelayout version="2">
<element name="bezel">
<image file="mslug_bezel.png" />
</element>
<view name="Upright_Artwork">
<screen index="0">
<bounds x="0" y="0" width="1280" height="896" />
</screen>
<bezel element="bezel">
<bounds x="0" y="0" width="1280" height="1024" />
</bezel>
</view>
</mamelayout>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I just want to check you have the resolution numbers set correctly.
<They won't look like mine because your border art is different to mine>
Cheers.

Thanks for the advice. I will keep messing with shadow_mask_alpha
and I notice shadow_mask_darkness also makes a significant change as well.

Don't get me wrong your settings are and look very good, but I believe they are just a bit too conservative. On some games it looks almost if HLSL is disabled. As you have already said there is no 1 master settings that can be good for all unfortunately.




mslug.lay shows this

Hey B2K24,

The difference in strength of HLSL is because of the difference in resolutions that everyone uses.

It can be even more blown out of proportion when using bezel artwork.

I guess you are using the default bezel artwork / mslug.lay file that is from the Mame collection. IE: not customized by you. I will check before I calculate some new numbers for you in the morning since is getting late where I am.

I probably out of my depth here but...

Can't the resolution artwork problem be overcome using:



As long as you set it to Clamp mode it shouldn't matter what resolution you are running at. They overlay will always be the same pixel size.