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Author Topic: GroovyMAME for Dummies? (SOLVED)  (Read 9771 times)

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tommywright

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GroovyMAME for Dummies? (SOLVED)
« on: September 18, 2011, 03:27:26 pm »
I'm running an ArcadeVGA 3000 in Windows XP with a Makvision 2929D-72 (the 800x600 Makvision currently sold at X-Arcade).

I've been reading through the main thread about groovymame and have installed what I think is correct (groovymame32_0143.013.exe) into my mame folder.  I made sure I backed up my mame.ini file and ran groovymame with -cc from the command line (win xp) and it placed a mame.ini file on my C: drive.  I moved that file over to the mame folder with everything else (where my old mame.ini file was).

I can run groovymame only from the executable.  I tried to run it from Hyperspin and it just freezes up for a bit and eventually spins over to another game (maybe that's just it going into attract mode).  I tried both with and without the mame.ini file groovymame gave me and both have the same results.

When I run groovymame from the executable, it looks just like mame and I can select a game... but most of them do not run correctly.  I tried frogger right away because that and galaxian don't run at all on my ArcadeVGA 3000.  Frogger runs as if it was squashed (like a vertical screen run sideways).  I then tried Street Fighter 2 and it ran as if it was a vertical screen (so it squashed the sides).

I wasn't able to install the drivers (crt_emudriver_6.5_1.2_xp32).  I guess that doesn't work on the ArcadeVGA 3000.  From here, I don't know how to set anything up without being able to run VMMaker or Arcade_OSD.

The AVGA doesn't seem as smooth as groovymame and it won't play Frogger, Galaxian or Gorf for some reason.  I have the drivers for it... just doesn't seem to be the greatest for this monitor.

Should I just toss the ArcadeVGA card and find one that works well with crt_emudriver?  Does anyone else have this AVGA setup?

Anyone have suggestions?
« Last Edit: September 18, 2011, 06:47:21 pm by tommywright »

tommywright

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Re: GroovyMAME for Dummies?
« Reply #1 on: September 18, 2011, 06:13:07 pm »
One issue was solved! 

I can use Hyperspin now.  I changed the name of groovymame from groovymame32_0143.013.exe to groovymame32.exe.  Now Hyperspin runs the game.  It must not have liked the long name or something.


tommywright

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Re: GroovyMAME for Dummies?
« Reply #2 on: September 18, 2011, 06:45:23 pm »
I've officially, completely lost my mind.    :dunno

I went to lunch, came back and I've run through all the games again but this time through Hyperspin (with groovymame).  Somehow now, everything works.  Frogger, Galaxian and Gorf play exactly like they should.  The Street Fighter game I tested earlier that was squashed is now perfect.

I did nothing (that I know of) except change the name of groovymame and now all is right in the world.  There is no more fighting in the middle East and I think I saw a dog and cat snuggling together just a second ago.

Soooooo... I guess the guy at Ultimarc was right.  It just works.  I won't look a gift horse in the mouth.   :cheers:




wxman13

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Re: GroovyMAME for Dummies? (SOLVED)
« Reply #3 on: September 19, 2011, 05:44:50 pm »
I must be doing something wrong as well, new to all this Hyperspin and groovymame, I renamed groovymame as well, and still can't get a game to launch from Hyperspin using groovymame, the screen just goes black briefly then goes back to the wheel game selection screen in Hyperspin?
 ???

tommywright

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Re: GroovyMAME for Dummies? (SOLVED)
« Reply #4 on: September 19, 2011, 05:54:17 pm »
Try removing mame.ini (just rename it to mame.ini.bak).  I was also messing with that when it started working... but I really think it was the long name on groovymame.  I also took out something like autosave (in the same screen where you select groovymame in hyperspin setup).

Go through those steps... it was strange because nothing worked, I went to lunch for about 2 hours and came back and everything worked.   :dunno

wxman13

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Re: GroovyMAME for Dummies? (SOLVED)
« Reply #5 on: September 20, 2011, 07:47:52 am »
Made some progress, now have some games working, I don't understand why when selecting the games through groovymame alone they don't look right? When I open them with Hyperspin which is using groovymame they appear to be closer to their normal resolution?  ???

tommywright

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Re: GroovyMAME for Dummies? (SOLVED)
« Reply #6 on: September 20, 2011, 12:34:00 pm »
You know I think I get the same thing... once I got groovymame working in Hyperspin, the games synced to the closest 2x resolution.  In groovymame they looked lopsided... vertical games tried to fill the screen and full screens got squashed into vertical games.

Did you figure out what was causing Hyperspin to not use groovymame?

wxman13

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Re: GroovyMAME for Dummies? (SOLVED)
« Reply #7 on: September 20, 2011, 01:56:40 pm »
You know I think I get the same thing... once I got groovymame working in Hyperspin, the games synced to the closest 2x resolution.  In groovymame they looked lopsided... vertical games tried to fill the screen and full screens got squashed into vertical games.

Did you figure out what was causing Hyperspin to not use groovymame?
It still wouldn't work after I renamed groovymame like you did, but once I ran groovymame -cc to creat the mame.ini file I was able to get it going, funny now I can delete the mame.ini and it still works. One game I can't get to work however is 1941 (World), can you try and see if you can get that one to work?

Also I can't tell any difference when using groovymame and mameui from within hyperspin, as far as picture quality?. Are you still using the Ultimarc drivers with the ArcadeVGA3000?

tommywright

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Re: GroovyMAME for Dummies? (SOLVED)
« Reply #8 on: September 20, 2011, 02:20:28 pm »
I only run the ultimarc driver (no Control Center).  I know groovymame is working because when I run regular mame, I can't play Frogger, Galaxian or Gorf at all.  The monitor will sync out of range.  With groovymame they look perfect.  Mame also would make games like SmashTV play shrunk down where groovymame takes it full screen.  Everything else ran really well with mame and the AVGA drivers.  Without the drivers it was terrible.  A lot of games played but there was really bad screen tearing.

I'll try 1941 World when I get home tonight and let you know.

thefooz

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Re: GroovyMAME for Dummies? (SOLVED)
« Reply #9 on: September 20, 2011, 02:28:37 pm »
A bit off topic, but I was just wondering if the arcadevga + groovymame provided any advantage over a regular ATI card with the calamity drivers.

tommywright

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Re: GroovyMAME for Dummies? (SOLVED)
« Reply #10 on: September 20, 2011, 02:31:54 pm »
My guess is no.  If I had it to do over again, I would probably go buy an ATI card that was supported and install Calamity's drivers and go from there.  This is mainly because I'm using the Makvision 2929D-72 monitor.  If you have a 15khz monitor, then AVGA would probably be the way to go.

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Re: GroovyMAME for Dummies? (SOLVED)
« Reply #11 on: September 20, 2011, 04:44:01 pm »
Hi guys, sorry I didn't answer before, I'm very busy these days.

Some hints:

- Don't launch games from the menu inside GroovyMAME, if you do that it will default to 640x480 and resolution settings won't be applied (this will be fixed in next release.

- What you have to do is to launch games using a full command line, like this: groovymame.exe romname

- That's what properly setup frontends do for you BTW, that's why launching games from HS is working fine.

- You actually need mame.ini there for things to be perfect, specially if you own some fancy monitor, otherwise only default settings for a CGA monitor will be applied.

- GroovyMAME can't dynamically recalculate modelines for the AVGA, so it will use native AVGA modes that best fit your monitor, provided, you let it know which monitor you have.

- Some games may still have issues, like 1941 you mentioned, check this thread about getting logs, those are highly helpful for us to fix existing issues:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=113382.0

Important note: posts reporting GM issues without a log will be IGNORED.
Steps to create a log:
 - From command line, run: groovymame.exe -v romname >romname.txt
 - Attach resulting romname.txt file to your post, instead of pasting it.

CRT Emudriver, VMMaker & Arcade OSD downloads, documentation and discussion:  Eiusdemmodi