CRT TV Reshade

R. P. D. Cathode Ray Tube (1998 CRT Overhaul)

The Concept

Resident Evil 2 is a modern rendering masterpiece, but survival horror was born on heavy, convex glass screens. This custom, lightweight ReShade script mathematically downgrades the clean RE Engine visuals to an authentic 1998 CRT television set. It radically alters the atmosphere of the game, making the R. P. D. hallways darker, grittier, and deeply nostalgic.

Engineering & Features

Unlike heavy preset packs that stack 15 different shaders and destroy your frame rate, this is a single, highly optimized .fx file written entirely from scratch.

Procedural Scanlines: Mathematical sine-wave scanline generation operating at strictly O(1) computational complexity per pixel. Zero FPS impact.

Glass Curvature: Authentic barrel distortion to mimic the physical curve of a 90s vacuum tube.

FOV Preservation (1. 1x Zoom): Custom rendering scales push the out-of-bounds black void off the edges of your monitor without sacrificing your peripheral vision or claustrophobia.

RGB Phosphor Bleed: Mimics the physical misalignment of cheap television electron guns.

Raw Integration: Subtitles and UI are subjected to the same distortion and scanlines as the 3D environment for complete immersion.

Installation Guide

Step 1: Install ReShade

Download the latest version of ReShade from reshade.me.

Run the installer and select re2.exe from your game folder.

Select DirectX 10/11/12 as the rendering API.

Crucial: When the installer asks about effect packages, uncheck everything except "Standard effects (by crosire)". You must install this specific package so the engine downloads the foundational ReShade.fxh library file, but you want to skip the others to keep your UI clean.

Step 2: Install the Mod

Download the CRT_TV.fx file from this mod page.

Navigate to your Resident Evil 2 installation directory.

Place the CRT_TV.fx file strictly into this exact folder path:

Resident Evil 2 BIOHAZARD RE2\reshade-shaders\Shaders

Step 3: Execution

Boot the game. You should see a ReShade banner at the top of your screen.

Press the Home key to open the overlay.

Skip the tutorial, and click the Reload button at the bottom of the window to ensure the compiler sees the new file.

Check the box next to CRT_TV to activate the CRT effect.