32/64bit Groovy Arcade Linux LiveCD/Install

[bitbytebit]

When I select a game from advmenu, right before the game starts, I see an enlarged pic of the game I selected (cool)...but right before the game starts, I see a mouse pointer.  Did I do something wrong in my setup?  Is there anything I can do to keep from seeing the pointer before the game starts?

I also went through another 150 or so roms last night.  A couple of games run too fast.  It might be mame, but I'd thought I'd bring it up.  The games I found were Mace & Wayne Gretzky's 3d hockey.

Try to change device_video to fullscreen instead of auto, maybe that will prevent that.  I'll have to investigate the mouse pointer thing, I've seen it on certain games but not others although it might be that device_video setting. 

What are the rom file or short names of that and/or others, so I can look them up quicker.  There are a group of games in mame that are set to run at 76hz when they really are 60hz.  If you get the resolution they should be at, and make an ini file (zookeeper has one in there right now) with that resolution 640x480x32@60.00 for example, using the actual height and width (notice that in Linux it needs the extra x32 for depth).  I'm guessing the games are these types, and it's probably mame having the wrong information, but checking the specifically can pinpoint if true.  Also running 'switchres --calc romname' on the system might be interesting, seeing exactly what the resolution is it's choosing.

[dmarcum99]

Thanks for the advice biybytebit!

I'm not near my cab, but I checked online and both of these games have the same res and refresh rate

Mace: The Dark Age (mace.zip) 640x480X32@57.00
Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey (wg3dh.zip) 640x480x32@57.00

I'll make ini's for these games when I get home and I'll let you know how it turns out.

[bitbytebit]

Thanks for the advice biybytebit!

I'm not near my cab, but I checked online and both of these games have the same res and refresh rate

Mace: The Dark Age (mace.zip) 640x480X32@57.00
Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey (wg3dh.zip) 640x480x32@57.00

I'll make ini's for these games when I get home and I'll let you know how it turns out.

That's interesting that they are 640x480, might be another issue then.  Seems like it's possibly choosing the desktop resolution, which it shouldn't because it should be set to 648x480 so would not overlap them.  Possibly running the game, and the remotely checking the resolution setup by doing `DISPLAY=:0.0 xrandr -display :0.0 -q --verbose` through an ssh session, will show details on what is going on.  

Also possibly getting a good log and posting it, running manually from an xterm with -verbose and -md 4 added to the groovymame command line.  You'll need to set the front end to be fvwm or lxde for that.  Or actually could run it like that from an ssh session possibly, just add the `DISPLAY=:0.0 groovymame -verbose -md4 <romname>` so the DISPLAY environment variable is set to go to the console output like the above xrandr method.

[Calamity]

I've attached some logs, have been able to reproduce the 9250 issue here, good news at least as I'll be able to test it directly.

[bitbytebit]

Fixes for the older Radeon 9200/9250 cards and possibly others for lower dotclocks and 15khz modelines.  Installation has dropped the separate /home/ partition, seemed to cause more issues than it helped.  Xrandr automatically detects the connector for the cards output, may have been the problem for some people.

27032011 - 1.536 Release
         - Install should work on drives smaller than 8 gig again, and refuse on ones too small like < 4 gig
         - No longer need to specify connector type for xrandr, auto setting with figure it out for you
         - Patch added to Linux kernel hopefully will fix ATI 9200/9250 cards pll values
         - During install ask about Video setup too, reorder of roms drive setup
         - Fixes to ir_ptr.2 and joystick setting in mame

[dmarcum99]

Hi guys!,

Regarding the two games I found runnig too quickly....I made ini's for the mace.zip & wg3dh.zip roms.  Unfortunately, this did not help as they ran at the same speed.

I got the res info from KLOV...but when I check game info with in MAME, I get different res's listed on both games...??

Since I'm so new to linux I haven't quite figured out how to remote in, but I'm working on it.  I also haven't ran groovymame fom the terminal yet...hopefully I can  get to it in the next day.

FYI... I am still running v.1.515 64bit.
Keep up the great work!!  YOU GUYS ROCK!!!

[Calamity]

Regarding the two games I found runnig too quickly....I made ini's for the mace.zip & wg3dh.zip roms.  Unfortunately, this did not help as they ran at the same speed.

Those games run at 640x480@57, are you getting 105% instead of 100%? That would mean a default video mode is getting in the middle. Anyway, try to set the ini for 641x480@57 or even better 640x488@57, and see if it makes any difference.

[dmarcum99]

Regarding the two games I found runnig too quickly....I made ini's for the mace.zip & wg3dh.zip roms.  Unfortunately, this did not help as they ran at the same speed.

Those games run at 640x480@57, are you getting 105% instead of 100%? That would mean a default video mode is getting in the middle. Anyway, try to set the ini for 641x480@57 or even better 640x488@57, and see if it makes any difference.

Neither the 641x480x32@57.00 or the 640x488x32@57.00 helped.  I forgot to mention that when I made the ini's for the 640x480x32@57.00 that the picture got squashed.  The pic was rectangular...widescreen`ish.  When there is no ini file, it"s fullscreen again...just playing too fast.

I wish I could figure out the ssh task.  I got stuck when PUTTY wanted a username and password.  user-admin and password- arcade didin't work.  If I was doing this in windows this would be much easier, but since this is my first go at linux...I'm having point & click withdrawls.   

Has anyone else had the same problem with the games I'm mentioning?

[bitbytebit]

Regarding the two games I found runnig too quickly....I made ini's for the mace.zip & wg3dh.zip roms.  Unfortunately, this did not help as they ran at the same speed.

Those games run at 640x480@57, are you getting 105% instead of 100%? That would mean a default video mode is getting in the middle. Anyway, try to set the ini for 641x480@57 or even better 640x488@57, and see if it makes any difference.

Neither the 641x480x32@57.00 or the 640x488x32@57.00 helped.  I forgot to mention that when I made the ini's for the 640x480x32@57.00 that the picture got squashed.  The pic was rectangular...widescreen`ish.  When there is no ini file, it"s fullscreen again...just playing too fast.

I wish I could figure out the ssh task.  I got stuck when PUTTY wanted a username and password.  user-admin and password- arcade didin't work.  If I was doing this in windows this would be much easier, but since this is my first go at linux...I'm having point & click withdrawls.   

Has anyone else had the same problem with the games I'm mentioning?

Password for ssh is 'arcade'  and username is 'arcade', not admin that's just for the webmin interface where it's admin. 

If you can get the output of `xrandr -display :0.0 -q` at the console it might be interesting to see.  Also one question is what output of your video card are you using?  Is it VGA-0 or DVI-0, what do you have set in the mame.ini for the monitor_connector setting?  That is one thing that isn't automatically setup in the version of the ISO you have, I just made that setup automatic in the newest groovymame now.  I'm wondering if it possibly has something to do with that.  The xrandr -q output will show what interfaces are connected, and what modelines are configured for them.

You can actually login remotely as 'root' and password 'admin', if you want to have full administrator access, but probably not necessary for checking the couple things, just to know in case you run into any permissions problems.

[dmarcum99]

OK...I was able to remote in via ssh....yippee!!
I am attaching the xrandr output and the groovymame out files in txt format.  Both of these were captured via ssh. 
I'm also attaching my mame.ini in txt format.
My ASUS 4350 is attached to the monitor via VGA-0
Hopefully this helps...

[bitbytebit]

OK...I was able to remote in via ssh....yippee!!
I am attaching the xrandr output and the groovymame out files in txt format.  Both of these were captured via ssh. 
I'm also attaching my mame.ini in txt format.
My ASUS 4350 is attached to the monitor via VGA-0
Hopefully this helps...

Seems like your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file isn't being created, or set to the wrong input instead of VGA-0.  It's getting default modes in there, and that most likely is the issue.

If you run `sudo gasetup` and re-run the Video Settings and choose the monitor type again (on the console), it might fix this I am thinking.  After you do that, if it still shows issues, send the xorg.conf file mentioned above, it might show what is going on.

Thanks,
Chris

[dmarcum99]

Thanks for the help...so it sounds like this issue is isolated to my setup.

May be a dumb question....I also have an ATI 9250.  Can I use this card with the 64bit groovymame linux live CD or do I have to use the 32bit live CD?

If you had to choose between the ATI 4350 and the ATI 9250 for the groovymame linux live cd, which one would you use?

I'll hang up and listen....   

[bitbytebit]

Thanks for the help...so it sounds like this issue is isolated to my setup.

May be a dumb question....I also have an ATI 9250.  Can I use this card with the 64bit groovymame linux live CD or do I have to use the 32bit live CD?

If you had to choose between the ATI 4350 and the ATI 9250 for the groovymame linux live cd, which one would you use?

I'll hang up and listen....   

Yeah it'll work with the 64 bit live CD just fine, newest one actually just fixed issues it had and seems to be good now.

I'd choose the 4350, I have one and it works great, plus is more modern so you'll have some more power and plus a newer ATI Atom bios instead of the older combios which is a good thing at a technical level.

[dmarcum99]

update...sort of

I reran the video setup like you suggested, but no improvement.  I thought perhaps I had done something wrong on the 1.515 install so I  re-reinstalled using the newer version. 1.536....no difference at all.

So I remembered you mentioned you asked about the xorg.conf file.  I opened the file and the only entry was:  "# Unsupported video card!!!"

So...I tried using the DVI input with the dvi/vga adapter...no difference
So...I tried my ATI 9250....couldn't get it to work after the boot screens.  I tried the 9250 with the dvi input using the dvi/vga adapter...would not show a picture after the boot screen.
So...I went in the mobo bios and activated the on-board ATI 4200...same results as the ATI 4350 (only tried VGA input). My mobo is using the amd 785G chipset
Bear in mind I went in the setup screen and redid the video setup for every combination listed.  Also there was no change in the xorg.conf file even after trying 3 different video card options.  I had also created an ini file for the game (wg3dh) using 640x480x32@57.00 and added/removed for each combination of video cards too...

When I hit the F2 button in either game (mace & wg3dh) the service menu is identical.  So noone is having any issues with either of these games but me?  wierd...

[bitbytebit]

update...sort of

I reran the video setup like you suggested, but no improvement.  I thought perhaps I had done something wrong on the 1.515 install so I  re-reinstalled using the newer version. 1.536....no difference at all.

So I remembered you mentioned you asked about the xorg.conf file.  I opened the file and the only entry was:  "# Unsupported video card!!!"
So...I tried using the DVI input with the dvi/vga adapter...no difference
So...I tried my ATI 9250....couldn't get it to work after the boot screens.  I tried the 9250 with the dvi input using the dvi/vga adapter...would not show a picture after the boot screen.
So...I went in the mobo bios and activated the on-board ATI 4200...same results as the ATI 4350 (only tried VGA input). My mobo is using the amd 785G chipset
Bear in mind I went in the setup screen and redid the video setup for every combination listed.  Also there was no change in the xorg.conf file even after trying 3 different video card options.  I had also created an ini file for the game (wg3dh) using 640x480x32@57.00 and added/removed for each combination of video cards too...

When I hit the F2 button in either game (mace & wg3dh) the service menu is identical.  So noone is having any issues with either of these games but me?  wierd...

What is the output of `lspci -v|grep VGA`?  If it says it isn't supported, then that means it's for some reason not seeing the video card. It might be my method of finding the card, and I suspect it's a difference in the way your PCI is done in the motherboard which my method isn't discovering the video card type properly.  

Also check this...
`find /sys/devices/pci0000\:00/ -iname card\*-\*`
See if /sys/devices/pci000\:01/ works gets something if that fails.  Also check to see what the output is that does work and possibly post it.  I think this might just be an issue with the built in video card causing things to think it's the right card, although seems like if pointing just to it like you tried that would then work.  So might be more likely the path that find arg is using for some reason on your system would need to be different, which I may have to alter it to work for it.

Also the script used to create xorg.conf is /usr/local/bin/xorg.sh, so running it should produce the same message you see in xorg.conf. 

[dmarcum99]

I put back in my 4350 using dvi via dvi/vga adapter.  I plugged in the commands you requested and here's the output....trying the one command "find /sys/devices/pci0000\:01/ -iname card\*-\* did not yield any results.

arcade@GroovyArcade ~ $ lspci -v|grep VGA        Flags: bus master, VGA palette snoop, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV710 [Radeon HD 4350] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])

arcade@GroovyArcade ~ $ find /sys/devices/pci0000\:00/ -iname card\*-\*
/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/0000:01:00.0/drm/card0/card0-HDMI-A-1
/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/0000:01:00.0/drm/card0/card0-VGA-1
/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/0000:01:00.0/drm/card0/card0-DVI-I-1

arcade@GroovyArcade ~ $ /usr/local/bin/xorg.sh
mount: only root can do that
# Unsupported video card!!!
arcade@GroovyArcade ~ $

[bitbytebit]

I put back in my 4350 using dvi via dvi/vga adapter.  I plugged in the commands you requested and here's the output....trying the one command "find /sys/devices/pci0000\:01/ -iname card\*-\* did not yield any results.

arcade@GroovyArcade ~ $ lspci -v|grep VGA        Flags: bus master, VGA palette snoop, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV710 [Radeon HD 4350] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])

arcade@GroovyArcade ~ $ find /sys/devices/pci0000\:00/ -iname card\*-\*
/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/0000:01:00.0/drm/card0/card0-HDMI-A-1
/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/0000:01:00.0/drm/card0/card0-VGA-1
/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/0000:01:00.0/drm/card0/card0-DVI-I-1

arcade@GroovyArcade ~ $ /usr/local/bin/xorg.sh
mount: only root can do that
# Unsupported video card!!!
arcade@GroovyArcade ~ $

Interesting, whats the entire output of lspci -v?  That first part, the Flags... line, seems like it might be the issue.

Update: Here's a new xorg.sh script, unzip and put it on the system (you'll need to be root, run `sudo -s` first, also that'll help execute xorg.sh better too), place it under /usr/local/bin/xorg.sh.  Then rerun the video config setup, see if that helps. 

[dmarcum99]

I reran the lspci -v|grep VGA command, and there was no additional info.  I was worried that I left something out, but after running it several times it looks like I copied all the info on the output.

I reran the /usr/local/bin/xorg.sh with the new file you provided and it had a lot of info this time....here's the output:

arcade@GroovyArcade ~ $ sudo -s /usr/local/bin/xorg.sh
# Config for generic Monitor and ati Video Card

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "DVI-0"
        VendorName      "Unknown"
        ModelName       "Unknown"

        HorizSync       15-50
        VertRefresh     40-80

        Option          "DPMS"  "False"

        Option          "DefaultModes"  "False"
        UseModes        "ArcadeModes"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "Card0"
        VendorName      "Unknown"
        BoardName       "Unknown"

        Driver          "ati"
        BusID           "PCI:01:00:0"

        Option          "ModeDebug"     "true"

        Option          "monitor-DVI-0" "DVI-0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "Card0"
        Monitor    "DVI-0"
        DefaultDepth    24
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     8
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     16
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     24
        EndSubSection
        EndSection


Section "Modes"
        Identifier      "ArcadeModes"
#  648x480@60.00 15.7500Khz
        ModeLine          "648x480x60.00" 13.230000 648 672 736 840 480 484 490 525 -HSync -VSync interlace

EndSection

[bitbytebit]

I reran the lspci -v|grep VGA command, and there was no additional info.  I was worried that I left something out, but after running it several times it looks like I copied all the info on the output.

I reran the /usr/local/bin/xorg.sh with the new file you provided and it had a lot of info this time....here's the output:

arcade@GroovyArcade ~ $ sudo -s /usr/local/bin/xorg.sh
# Config for generic Monitor and ati Video Card

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "DVI-0"
        VendorName      "Unknown"
        ModelName       "Unknown"

        HorizSync       15-50
        VertRefresh     40-80

        Option          "DPMS"  "False"

        Option          "DefaultModes"  "False"
        UseModes        "ArcadeModes"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "Card0"
        VendorName      "Unknown"
        BoardName       "Unknown"

        Driver          "ati"
        BusID           "PCI:01:00:0"

        Option          "ModeDebug"     "true"

        Option          "monitor-DVI-0" "DVI-0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "Card0"
        Monitor    "DVI-0"
        DefaultDepth    24
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     8
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     16
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     24
        EndSubSection
        EndSection


Section "Modes"
        Identifier      "ArcadeModes"
#  648x480@60.00 15.7500Khz
        ModeLine          "648x480x60.00" 13.230000 648 672 736 840 480 484 490 525 -HSync -VSync interlace

EndSection

Yep that should do it I think, put that under /usr/local/bin/xorg.sh and rerun the gasetup, I am guessing that may make things a bit better.

[dmarcum99]

I certainly appreciate all the help.     Donation worthy without question.   

Running these two games (mace & wg3dh), they're still running too fast.  A few post ago you asked me to ssh in and get an output while the game is running.  I did this again since I got a new xorg.sh file.  I also attached the groovymame verbose info.  This info is from wg3dh...and I had a ini set to 640x480x32@57.00

**note** as soon as I "tab" into the mame control panel, the game slows down....I almost dare to say that it slows to the correct speed.

[bitbytebit]

I certainly appreciate all the help.     Donation worthy without question.   

Running these two games (mace & wg3dh), they're still running too fast.  A few post ago you asked me to ssh in and get an output while the game is running.  I did this again since I got a new xorg.sh file.  I also attached the groovymame verbose info.  This info is from wg3dh...and I had a ini set to 640x480x32@57.00

**note** as soon as I "tab" into the mame control panel, the game slows down....I almost dare to say that it slows to the correct speed.

Well it does look like it's now correctly setting up the xorg xrandr modelines, doesn't have the default ones anymore, and says it's choosing the right resolution.  It is getting it from an .ini file, might remove that just to double check, but I don't think that matters.  What percentage speed does it run at when you push F11?  That might give some clue as to what refresh rate is really being used, oddly though I can't see where it wouldn't be working with the xrandr and mame output.  Try to run with the monitor type 'cga' just to see, when forcing it to use strict 15khz resolutions.  Also the bottom of the xrandr output is trimmed off, that part shows the xrandr view of what the vertical refresh is so double check that number and see that it's 57hz just to be safe. 

[dmarcum99]

Sorry for all the hastle.

I ran the game (wg3dh) and used the F11 key (I forgot about that function) and the game menu starts around 105 percent, but when the demo continues it goes anywhere to 200% to 245%.  The same situation happens without the ini file.

I also ran the other game (mace) using F11, and it acts similar.  The intro starts at 105% and then the demo goes anywhere from 142% to 195%

Another thing regarding the ini files.  When I set them up at their native resolution (640x480x32@57.00) I'm expecting a full screen.  This does not happen on both games.  Instead, the screen gets squished.  When not using an ini file, I had a larger picture, but same game speed results as when they were using the ini file.

I'll try the CGA monitor option later....at work now....gotta go! 

YOU GUYS ROCK!!!                 

[bitbytebit]

Sorry for all the hastle.

I ran the game (wg3dh) and used the F11 key (I forgot about that function) and the game menu starts around 105 percent, but when the demo continues it goes anywhere to 200% to 245%.  The same situation happens without the ini file.

I also ran the other game (mace) using F11, and it acts similar.  The intro starts at 105% and then the demo goes anywhere from 142% to 195%

Another thing regarding the ini files.  When I set them up at their native resolution (640x480x32@57.00) I'm expecting a full screen.  This does not happen on both games.  Instead, the screen gets squished.  When not using an ini file, I had a larger picture, but same game speed results as when they were using the ini file.

I'll try the CGA monitor option later....at work now....gotta go! 

YOU GUYS ROCK!!!                 

Using fvwm as the window manager, run the program `glxgears` and see how fast it runs.  Basically it should follow vsync and run at 57hz or fps, if not then it's your cards vsync that isn't working for some odd reason.  See what message it prints to the xterm, and if it says it's following the framerate or not.

[dmarcum99]

I'm not sure that I'm using the right syntax.  How do I tell the program to run at 57hz??  I'm at the terminal and I type 'glxgears -geometry 640x480x32@57.00'

It's outputting 60.034 fps....

[bitbytebit]

I'm not sure that I'm using the right syntax.  How do I tell the program to run at 57hz??  I'm at the terminal and I type 'glxgears -geometry 640x480x32@57.00'

It's outputting 60.034 fps....

It doesn't take args, but that just confirms that vsync does work for your setup.  Its odd since all looks technically good in the logs and settings from what I can tell.  Has to be something else going on but not sure what it is.

[dmarcum99]

I'm not sure that I'm using the right syntax.  How do I tell the program to run at 57hz??  I'm at the terminal and I type 'glxgears -geometry 640x480x32@57.00'

It's outputting 60.034 fps....

It doesn't take args, but that just confirms that vsync does work for your setup.  Its odd since all looks technically good in the logs and settings from what I can tell.  Has to be something else going on but not sure what it is.

Is this program supposed to run @ 57hz by default?  I just figured that the fvwm is running @ 60hz and running the program verifies it.  Should I run the wg3dh program and then remote in and try to run glxgears?

[bitbytebit]

Is this program supposed to run @ 57hz by default?  I just figured that the fvwm is running @ 60hz and running the program verifies it.  Should I run the wg3dh program and then remote in and try to run glxgears?

Yeah try to remote in, use the same DISPLAY=:0.0 on the command line for it.  It runs at whatever the screen modelines refresh is.

[dmarcum99]

Is this program supposed to run @ 57hz by default?  I just figured that the fvwm is running @ 60hz and running the program verifies it.  Should I run the wg3dh program and then remote in and try to run glxgears?

Yeah try to remote in, use the same DISPLAY=:0.0 on the command line for it.  It runs at whatever the screen modelines refresh is.

I used DISPLAY=:0.0 glxgears and it reported 57.022FPS

I am going to try the onboard video (ati4200) again and see if that help any.  I don't believe I tried it after you gave me the new xorg.sh file

[bitbytebit]

Is this program supposed to run @ 57hz by default?  I just figured that the fvwm is running @ 60hz and running the program verifies it.  Should I run the wg3dh program and then remote in and try to run glxgears?

Yeah try to remote in, use the same DISPLAY=:0.0 on the command line for it.  It runs at whatever the screen modelines refresh is.

I used DISPLAY=:0.0 glxgears and it reported 57.022FPS

I am going to try the onboard video (ati4200) again and see if that help any.  I don't believe I tried it after you gave me the new xorg.sh file

So it's just certain games that do this, or all?  I'm going to have to look at this since I in theory should be able to reproduce the issue here.  Does that game do resolution changes?  That could be a part of the problem if so.  Seems like the video card is probably ok, it seems to be centered around the actual running of mame and either resolution switching or it's not setting up vsync right.  I'm guessing more likely the game and/or resolution changing, also do you have the monitor=d9800 sections in mame.ini?  Your using a d9200 or d9800?  The log files are each different from mame, once you had the .ini file in use it's stuck at 640x480@57 but the game may want to change resolutions, try to remove the .ini file for the game too and let groovymame do it, since it should be able to figure it out and that's possibly causing some issues I think (since when setup in an .ini file it no longer will change resolutions).  I'm looking at that game here too in a bit, will see what I can find and if I can reproduce the issue.


Update:
  Yeah it does the same thing here, and it does change resolutions to 512x256x57.00 actually.  Does it work in Windows, and really at vsync or just throttling there or with triplebuffer?  I'm guessing this is an issue with this and probably other games in mame that switch resolutions and possibly wanted different refresh rates but of course it seems mame doesn't help us out (at least that I know of) with knowing the new refresh rate.  Would be interesting to really figure out though what it wants, do you have verbose logs of it working with groovymame in Windows properly, or regular mame?  That would be interesting to see.

[dmarcum99]

At first I thought I found a bug and wanted to help you out by testing them. That's why I kept posting... Then we found out that my setup was skewed a bit and you got that sorted.

The problem is only with a couple of games I found.  I've tried maybe 200 roms and those two games (mace.zip & wg3dh.zip) were the only ones I spotted.  I feel much better that you were able to reproduce the symptoms.  I deleted the ini files and even tried the throttle setting in a new ini file and it still ran 200%.

I haven't hooked up my XP hard drive for a couple of weeks, but I can hook it back up to see if the same problems exist in windows.  This linux setup is so sweet I can't believe this thing hasn't went viral yet.

My mobo must be doing something....no matter what I try I can't get my pci ATI 9250 to work with the 64 bit Groovymame live cd.  It works great in windows...just cant get past the setup screen on the live cd...?  I don't feel so bad cause the ati 4350 is working fine.

[bitbytebit]

At first I thought I found a bug and wanted to help you out by testing them. That's why I kept posting... Then we found out that my setup was skewed a bit and you got that sorted.

The problem is only with a couple of games I found.  I've tried maybe 200 roms and those two games (mace.zip & wg3dh.zip) were the only ones I spotted.  I feel much better that you were able to reproduce the symptoms.  I deleted the ini files and even tried the throttle setting in a new ini file and it still ran 200%.

I haven't hooked up my XP hard drive for a couple of weeks, but I can hook it back up to see if the same problems exist in windows.  This linux setup is so sweet I can't believe this thing hasn't went viral yet.

My mobo must be doing something....no matter what I try I can't get my pci ATI 9250 to work with the 64 bit Groovymame live cd.  It works great in windows...just cant get past the setup screen on the live cd...?  I don't feel so bad cause the ati 4350 is working fine.

It's definitely interesting to see how it acts in Windows, I suspect it's the same, I got it to act the same in non-modeswitching and throttling, guessing it's just a broken game for now. 

Have you tried it with the new changed xorg.sh, that might be partly the issue I think.  Although not sure and since there's another video card on the motherboard it could be linked to that too.  In my detection code, it chooses the first video card on the PCI bus, at least should, and possibly the 9250 comes up after the main one while the 4350 trumps the main one for being chosen. 

Hopefully as small installation and other bugs get worked out like the xorg.conf one you saw, more people will be able to easily install/use it to see and enjoy it.  Right now I'm trying to mostly work on all the stuff like setup, not adding much extra new features besides to help setup things, partly from time constraints and also to hopefully stabilize things more and more.  Thanks for helping test it and enjoy it.

[Calamity]

Hi, I've been a bit disconnected for some days.

I've tried to run these wg3dh and mace games but it reports an error as it seems to need some chd files which I've never gathered for my system (too big downloads), am I right?

Yes, I also thought of a possible resolution switch issue, is it possible that Groovymame disables vsync just for the second resolution for some reason, maybe not getting close enough to the target vfreq or something?

ATI 9250 should work fine with GroovyMame 64 since the last patch, at least it does here and several folks in the Spanish forum reported it was working perfectly for them too.

On the NTFS drives for roms subject, the other day I noticed that even after mounting it from webmin, I couldn't select it from gasetup rom/snap drive option, it complained "no drive available" or something like that. It's not a problem as I manually edit advmenu.rc and mame.ini with the proper paths and it works fine, but I wonder if basic drive mounting could be performed from gasetup as I see it can actually see the drives in the system (in the partition menus, for instance). This is a feature I've dreamed of since this project started, to be able to visit a friend with my cd to boot his machine with, and be able to target his roms/snaps without attaching a network cable. I've seen a big progress in that direction but honestly don't know if it's supposed to do that already or not. Of course to make things easier one should have the path structure GroovyArcade is expecting. I think your using /roms/roms for Mame, I suppose there must be a special reason for that. Usually I setup my cabs with this path scheme, which I've found to be the clearest possible for me:

/roms/emulator (/roms/mame, /roms/snes, etc.)
/snaps/emulator (/snaps/mame, /snaps/snes, etc.)

Maybe all this has been already discussed, I don't intend to force this standard to everybody though But I think that from the implementation point of view, I can be easier to just tell everybody "use this path structure" than having users browse for their paths from gasetup.

[bitbytebit]

Hi, I've been a bit disconnected for some days.

I've tried to run these wg3dh and mace games but it reports an error as it seems to need some chd files which I've never gathered for my system (too big downloads), am I right?

Yes, I also thought of a possible resolution switch issue, is it possible that Groovymame disables vsync just for the second resolution for some reason, maybe not getting close enough to the target vfreq or something?

ATI 9250 should work fine with GroovyMame 64 since the last patch, at least it does here and several folks in the Spanish forum reported it was working perfectly for them too.

On the NTFS drives for roms subject, the other day I noticed that even after mounting it from webmin, I couldn't select it from gasetup rom/snap drive option, it complained "no drive available" or something like that. It's not a problem as I manually edit advmenu.rc and mame.ini with the proper paths and it works fine, but I wonder if basic drive mounting could be performed from gasetup as I see it can actually see the drives in the system (in the partition menus, for instance). This is a feature I've dreamed of since this project started, to be able to visit a friend with my cd to boot his machine with, and be able to target his roms/snaps without attaching a network cable. I've seen a big progress in that direction but honestly don't know if it's supposed to do that already or not. Of course to make things easier one should have the path structure GroovyArcade is expecting. I think your using /roms/roms for Mame, I suppose there must be a special reason for that. Usually I setup my cabs with this path scheme, which I've found to be the clearest possible for me:

/roms/emulator (/roms/mame, /roms/snes, etc.)
/snaps/emulator (/snaps/mame, /snaps/snes, etc.)

Maybe all this has been already discussed, I don't intend to force this standard to everybody though But I think that from the implementation point of view, I can be easier to just tell everybody "use this path structure" than having users browse for their paths from gasetup.

I think that wg3dh game is just like that, even with throttle and no -switchres or anything like that, it does the same type of odd activity running faster than it should.

The newest ISO hopefully will just mount an NTFS drive same as the native Linux ones using the Roms/Snaps drive option, hopefully it works, I've added the extra args to mount for them that should do the permissions issue you had and fix that.

Yeah the paths right now might be a little odd, but somewhat basic too.  If I make a menu option to go through and ask what the paths are it might help that, so a person doesn't have to hand edit advance menu configurations.  I like your paths you have, sound real easy to setup that way, I might move to that standard in the future when I work on the menu setup for changing the roms paths too.

When you have some time, try the new ISO and test the NTFS support, or basically try to use the NTFS drive from the liveCD menu Snaps/Roms drive option, I wish I had a way to test that here but haven't gotten a testing setup for it, probably should, I think I need to get some linux tools for creating ntfs drives so I can make one in the virtual machine before install or something.

[Calamity]

Thanks, I'll test the new iso later today.

[bitbytebit]

Thanks, I'll test the new iso later today.

Also if it doesn't work, then if you could do the ntfs mount from webmin that does work, and send the output of the command `sudo mount` from the console/ssh/xterm, that'd help me see the options they use to make it work.

[bitbytebit]

02042011 - 1.546 Release
         - Added new option to groovymame named -monitor_specs that takes switchres monitor specs format
         - Now NTFS drives really should allow being used as the Roms/Snap folder
         - fixes for xorg.conf generation when lspci shows other interfaces with VGA in them
         - cwiid controller fixes
         - Really prevent extra setup on install if already done

[Calamity]

I've tested the new version. I've managed to mount my ntfs roms drive without using the network, directly from the menu with the drive mount option, very very nice. I've only missed an option in gasetup to open mame.ini and edit the roms/snaps path, similar to the AdvanceMenu one, nothing important as you can enter the lxde environment and do that.

I'm seeing an issue with twincobr, I think it might be the same one dmarcum99 is reporting for mace. I think that for those games the system is simply defaulting to the desktop resolution, even if it creates the right modeline, as you can see in the xrandr log I've attached, done while the game was running from ssh. So twincobr is running 109% (60/54.88). It's interesting because other virtualized games like 1945kiii seem to work perfectly with their right resolution, so it's really strange.

There's also a problem with menu fonts in GroovyMame, they look garbled for some reason, while they were perfect in previous versions.

[bitbytebit]

I've tested the new version. I've managed to mount my ntfs roms drive without using the network, directly from the menu with the drive mount option, very very nice. I've only missed an option in gasetup to open mame.ini and edit the roms/snaps path, similar to the AdvanceMenu one, nothing important as you can enter the lxde environment and do that.

I'm seeing an issue with twincobr, I think it might be the same one dmarcum99 is reporting for mace. I think that for those games the system is simply defaulting to the desktop resolution, even if it creates the right modeline, as you can see in the xrandr log I've attached, done while the game was running from ssh. So twincobr is running 109% (60/54.88). It's interesting because other virtualized games like 1945kiii seem to work perfectly with their right resolution, so it's really strange.

There's also a problem with menu fonts in GroovyMame, they look garbled for some reason, while they were perfect in previous versions.

Ah it's a bug, here's my mistake...

Code: [Select]

diff --git a/src/osd/sdl/sdlmain.c b/src/osd/sdl/sdlmain.c
index 9a138e6..66801ac 100644
--- a/src/osd/sdl/sdlmain.c
+++ b/src/osd/sdl/sdlmain.c
@@ -605,7 +605,7 @@ bool switchres_modeline_setup(running_machine &machine)
        if (machine.switchRes.resolution.ini == 0) {
                // Force resolution
                sprintf(machine.switchRes.modeLine->resolution, "%dx%dx32@%f",
-                       machine.switchRes.gameInfo.width, machine.switchRes.gameInfo.height, machine.switchRes.gameInfo.refresh);
+                       machine.switchRes.modeLine.hactive, machine.switchRes.modeLine.vactive, machine.switchRes.modeLine->vfreq);
                mame_printf_verbose("SwitchRes: Setting Option -resolution %s\n", machine.switchRes.modeLine->resolution);
                options_set_string(&machine.options(), SDLOPTION_RESOLUTION(""), machine.switchRes.modeLine->resolution, OPTION_PRIORITY_MAXIMUM);
        } else


I'm surprised that slipped by, but I guess it's from my d9800 never doing virtualized resolutions which is all it affected.  Definitely should make a difference with this change.

[bitbytebit]

Uploaded new ISO images that fix that issue with virtualized resolutions in groovymame, and also updated to the latest stable kernel 2.6.38.2.   

[Calamity]

Thanks! Downloading...

EDIT: Great! It's fixed, virtualized modes work fine now.
EDIT2: They're also reporting the monitor_specs options is working great for TV sets, allowing to center the picture for all modes.