Removing some VMMaker modelist resolutions?

[steveggz]

Would removing resolutions in VMMakers Modelist.txt prevent groovymame from ever using those resolutions again? Im not sure if groovymame only uses the modelist.txt for its resolutions or not. And what if I run a game that requires the resolution I deleted? Will it simply not run or will it use another resolution?

If deleting resolutions in the Modelist.txt file doesn't prevent mame from using those resolutions is there another file in VMMaker I should edit?

Im using Calamity's 9.3 drivers and ran VMMaker and set monitor type to custom in mame.ini.

[mazinger-z]

VMMaker calculates the resolutions and stores them in the Registry, so they are available to any program that wants to use them. You can even set your desktop's resolution to one of those, so no, it's not like GroovyMame would pick the resolutions from a text file.
Basically, you don't want to delete a specific resolution, but rather set VMMaker so that it only generates resolutions useful for you, when you run it. Ideally, you set everything up and then run VMMaker as the last step.
"ResList.txt" is one thing you can tweak: if you think one or more modes are not needed, just delete them before running VMMaker.exe.
The mandatory thing is editing VMMaker.ini. You do this to:
1) Tell the modeline generator the specifications of the monitor you're going to use, either by using a preset configuration or a custom one, so that it won't generate resolutions out of your monitor's range.
2) Specify the minimum resolution and minimum dotclock supported by your video card.
3) Choose if you want the generated modelines embedded in the driver, so that you already have them when you next install it.
3) Set the path to the mame executable, so the program can generate a list of supported games and their resolutions, in order to generate the most useful modes. Since generating the list takes time, you can choose to generate it just once and reuse it for subsequent executions of the program.

[Calamity]

Thanks mazinger-z, I couldn't have given a better explanation.

[steveggz]

Great explanation. But I still need a little help figuring out what values to put in the VMMaker.ini file.

I had monitor type on CUSTOM (I have a multi sync arcade) and would like to keep it on that because almost all the games display perfectly. The values Im guessing that would need to change would be on the line monitor_specs_0 = "15625-16200, 49.50-65.00, 2.000, 4.700, 8.000, 0.064, 0.160, 1.056, 0, 0, 288, 448" Where "HfreqMin-HfreqMax, VfreqMin,VfreqMax, HFrontPorch, HSyncPulse, HBackPorch, VfrontPorch, VSyncPulse, VBackPorch, HSyncPol, VSyncPol, ActiveLinesLimit, VirtualLinesLimit".

I just can't figure out what to set the HfreqMax value to in order to get 640x480 @ 60hz as my max resolution? I obviously need to also change the 65.00 to 60.00 for VfreqMax.

Can someone please help me?

[Calamity]

I just can't figure out what to set the HfreqMax value to in order to get 640x480 @ 60hz as my max resolution?

Why would you want to do this?

Edit: Anyway. There's no direct way to set a maximum resolution in GroovyMAME because what's actually important is to limit frequencies, not resolutions. Anyway, next implementation will have direct control on the total number of lines.

Some users feel uneasy for the fact that there are native resolutions higher than 640x480. We just can't remove them anyway but they're actually useful because very often we may need to plug a PC monitor so it's good to have support for everything.

Some others feel uneasy because they don't understand why they need all those 720x544 etc. custom modes, and they struggle to get rid of them. Well those modes are created for virtualization of lower resolutions that just wouldn't fit within the defined monitor_specs. This feature is in fact one of the biggest achievements of GroovyMAME. It's my fault not having explained it enough. Defaulting anything that doesn't fit to 640x480-stretched is a common mistake. Virtualized modes use the highest possible resolution within your monitor_specs to match a given refresh, so they usually provide a much nicer picture for interlaced modes than just using 640x480.

Anyway if you still think you need to remove those modes use Winmodelines (last version) and just delete the modelines as you like.

[steveggz]

The reason I wanted to remove the higher resolutions is because Im using an arcade monitor that has a maximum resolution of 640x480 so I figured that by removing those higher resolutions it would make more room for VMMaker to generate lower custom modlines in the 120 limit.

[Calamity]

The reason I wanted to remove the higher resolutions is because Im using an arcade monitor that has a maximum resolution of 640x480 so I figured that by removing those higher resolutions it would make more room for VMMaker to generate lower custom modlines in the 120 limit.

Arcade monitors don't have maximum resolutions but maximum input frequencies, that's the point.