ultimarc arcade vga

[mytymaus007]

  Quick question am i safe to say if im looking for scanlines that this card ultimarc arcade vga will do the trick if i have a pc monitor ?(CRT)

Thanks

[DrumAnBass]

Nope, the Ultimarc Arcade VGA allows you to hook up a PC to an arcade monitor, by outputting the 15khz frequency that an arcade monitor typically needs.

If you want scanlines on a PC monitor you need to change the settings in the MAME.ini file to simulate scanlines.

Some good info here: http://forum.arcadeotaku.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=3686

[GaryMcT]

If you really want scan lines, see if you can find a Wells Gardner d9500 monitor.  They aren't made anymore, but you may be able to find one if you post on forums.  This'll run at the original resolution of the games with the ArcadeVGA.  The only thing you aren't going to be able to do with the ArcadeVGA under Windows is get the correct refresh rate on all games, so you'll end up with either tearing or "juddering".

You can use a PC CRT if you are sure that it can run the 15KHz modes, but a lot of them don't.  If you can find an NEC Multisync, at least some of them'll do it.  You could also wire up an Amiga monitor to an ArcadeVGA.  You'll have to read around to see which ones are good for this.  This is a good thread for that:

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=117245&highlight=vga+pin

I actually got one of these recently to use with an fpga dev board and in a jamma setup, but I haven't wired it up yet.  I'll post my results when I get to it.

[Jack Burton]

Additionally it's possible to run in native resolutions on most CRT PC monitors if you run the games in double refresh rates.  You will run the game in 31khz@120 hz.  I suggest reading up on advancemame and soft 15khz if you want to do this.

[GaryMcT]

Also, if you want to run under anything that isn't Windows, stick with soft15khz instead of ArcadeVGA.  There aren't drivers for Linux, for instance (although it might run under DOS?  Not sure about that.)

If you decide to use soft15khz instead, I'd suggest looking on the wiki for this forum and finding the link on the German forum where there is a list of video cards that are known to work well with the ArcadeVGA.

I went through all of this to discover that the latency in Windows with Mame is too much for me. . . might want to make sure that is going to be okay before going down this road.  Mame is less latent on other platforms (the best example that I have is a little gp2x wiz handheld.)

[southpaw13]

"The only thing you aren't going to be able to do with the ArcadeVGA under Windows is get the correct refresh rate on all games, so you'll end up with either tearing or "juddering"."

So what is the best way to get rid of the "juddering".  I have an Arcade VGA on it's way, I have an LCD monitor that can refresh up to 75, and I was going to get Power Strip up and running. 

Am I on the right track?   (or another post I should be looking at?)

Thanks....

[GaryMcT]

"The only thing you aren't going to be able to do with the ArcadeVGA under Windows is get the correct refresh rate on all games, so you'll end up with either tearing or "juddering"."

So what is the best way to get rid of the "juddering".  I have an Arcade VGA on it's way, I have an LCD monitor that can refresh up to 75, and I was going to get Power Strip up and running. 

Am I on the right track?   (or another post I should be looking at?)

Thanks....

I don't really know of a way.  I tried for a while to get Windows to allow more than one refresh rate per resolution, and it's pretty painful.  AdvanceMame will do it under DOS or Linux, but last time I checked it's an ancient version of Mame that hasn't been updated.

I'd give it a try first. . it may not bother you at all.  There are a lot of happy ArcadeVGA customers that don't complain about this at all.

[southpaw13]

Thanks...
So are there any other Mame ports that help with this?
I remember the old FastMame fixing this issue...

Any thoughts???

[GaryMcT]

Thanks...
So are there any other Mame ports that help with this?
I remember the old FastMame fixing this issue...

Any thoughts???

AdvanceMame is the only one that I know of and it only fixes it under DOS and Linux.  SDLMame is probably the right place to fix it under DOS or LInux, but I don't know of anyone that is working on it.  Without changing the OS, I don't know how you could fix it on Windows.

[southpaw13]

What about SmoothMame?  I see it has been updated to version 135....
What will Soft 15 do with an LCD monitor....

Thanks...