Square Theme Recommendation?

[YellowBirdAZ]

Are there any themes that would scale well (with minimal kludging) to a square display area (1080 x 1080 or 2160 x 2160)?

Weird question, I know... I explain why below if anybody wonders...

I am contemplating ditching my CRT... Maybe...

I know, it's heresy. But CRT shaders have become so good without being overtaxing (check out new Guest Dr Venom CRT shader in Retroarch, for example). Plus, I wouldn't have to commit to only horizontal or only TATE mode games (or displaying TATE games on horizontal CRT which requires fiddling with analog screen height knob). I could even run vector games and they would look good. I would reduce the weight of my cabinet by over 50 lbs., reduce power consumption, and I'm not an electrical engineer so keeping my CRT running isn't exactly in my wheelhouse.

I have figured out a 43" flatscreen would fit lengthwise in my cabinet at the same angle the CRT is currently mounted, but only a square portion of the screen would be visible. The rest would be hidden from view in the cabinet below and behind the marquee and speakers. (See my scribbled diagram attached...)

This way I could display games in 4:3 or 3:4 aspect centered within the visible square portion of the screen without physically rotating a screen.

If I went with 1080p, I would have a 1080 x 720 screen for games within a 1080 x 1080 visible area.

If I went with 2160p, I would have a 2160 x 1440 screen for games within a 2160 x 2160 visible area.

I have a 4K computer monitor, and I don't see much marginal improvement using CRT shaders in 4K over 1080p.

[keilmillerjr]

What tv do you have? Are you sure it will accept a 1080x1080 input? My KV32HS500 allows dvi 1080i and 720p, component 480i and 480p. There’s no way I’m going to a high 4:3 resolution. With that being said, lower resolutions look fine.

Crt’s are awesome. You just need to figure it out.

[zpaolo11x]

My Arcadeflow theme should adapt quite well to square screens, I usually set a custom resolution 1px larger in one direction to force the vertical or horizontal layouts, but other than that it works ok.

Also  you know the square EIZO monitor? That's a retro-gamer dream come true, although at a huge cost
https://www.eizoglobal.com/products/flexscan/ev2730q/index.html

[zpaolo11x]

This is Arcadeflow 3.4 at 1:1 screen ratio. Here it is in "1 row" option but it can be customized at will...

[YellowBirdAZ]

Just to clear things up, my CRT works fine. I am just weighing the pros and cons of going digital with shaders, which would allow more game options (more vertical shooters, vector games).

Also, I don't need a square screen (although that Eizo thing is sort of cool). I can make the right viewports on Retroarch to confine my games to a square portion of a regular 16:9 screen. (See my sketch above.)

ArcadeFlow looks promising for this. Thanks!

Not sure I am going to do this, just thinking through options.

[YellowBirdAZ]

I think I am just going to build another cab (maybe a slim form factor wall mountable thing) and keep the full-size CRT cab. Who knows when I will do this...

Thanks for the feedback though!

[keilmillerjr]

I play vertical shooters on my crt. It’s not perfect unless I rotate it vertically, but still better than lcd with shaders. Are you sure you don’t have a 4:3 crt? I never heard of a square one.