Stupid questions about Groovymame

[Well Fed Games]

Hello, trying out groovymame based on recommendations I got from board members when I asked about screen tearing/sound stuttering in regular MAME. A couple of questions:

1. Is there some sort of guide or wiki for GroovyMame that will help me know how to configure things in the .ini? For instance, what are all my options for the "monitor" line under "Core Switchres Options"?

2. I have been playing around, but still can't seem to get rid of both screen tearing and sound stuttering. Two games I am using for tests are Jr. Pac Man and Quester. I will be outputting to a TV via composite (yellow) in my cab, but testing on a regular VGA LCD monitor for now. Does anyone have suggestions for settings I should try?

thanks in advance- I'm way out of my league here 

[Calamity]

Hi thefearsomefearful,

There's no sort of guide for GroovyMAME yet, unfortunately. It's still evolving so we haven't done any serious documentation. However, every single option has been explained in detail during this time, so the information is there buried in the main threads in this forum.

Anyway, if you just intend to get rid of tearing and sound stuttering by now, just enable -syncrefresh and -soundsync options in mame.ini. That should be enough.

If you plan to do any further use of GroovyMAME, be aware you won't be able to use custom modelines through the composite output, you'd need a RGB connection such as a SCART for that.

[Well Fed Games]

I was afraid that was the case. For some reason, -soundsync causes my PC to lock up whenever I have it enabled. Thanks, was hoping I might be able to get it to work.

Hi thefearsomefearful,

There's no sort of guide for GroovyMAME yet, unfortunately. It's still evolving so we haven't done any serious documentation. However, every single option has been explained in detail during this time, so the information is there buried in the main threads in this forum.

Anyway, if you just intend to get rid of tearing and sound stuttering by now, just enable -syncrefresh and -soundsync options in mame.ini. That should be enough.

If you plan to do any further use of GroovyMAME, be aware you won't be able to use custom modelines through the composite output, you'd need a RGB connection such as a SCART for that.

[Calamity]

I was afraid that was the case. For some reason, -soundsync causes my PC to lock up whenever I have it enabled. Thanks, was hoping I might be able to get it to work.

That's the first case I've heard of -soundsync producing any problem. You can also try CabMame which has the original -soundsync patch built in.

Also, try disabling -multithreading.

[Well Fed Games]

Thanks. Nope, no luck, although I think the -multithreading helped a little, whenever -soundsync is on I get a black screen when I run Mame I can't exit from. I'll see if CabMame does the same... might just be my old PC. Thanks again!

I was afraid that was the case. For some reason, -soundsync causes my PC to lock up whenever I have it enabled. Thanks, was hoping I might be able to get it to work.

That's the first case I've heard of -soundsync producing any problem. You can also try CabMame which has the original -soundsync patch built in.

Also, try disabling -multithreading.

[Well Fed Games]

Nope, must be my PC... running CabMame with default settings causes a lockup (or immediate reboot) as well.   

[Well Fed Games]

This has now become less of a groovymame thread but just wanted to mention rolling back to MAME .72 seemed to do the trick. Thanks!

[Calamity]

This has now become less of a groovymame thread but just wanted to mention rolling back to MAME .72 seemed to do the trick. Thanks!

That's fine. Yes, MAME versions prior to 0.107 don't have the sound stuttering problem, sound and video used to get synced without any hacking in those old versions.