Individually change resolutions using SwitchRes?

[arcadeswede]

Hi!

Last week I decided to fix the software in my mamecab to make it work a little bit better than before.
So instead of Hyperspin I now use Mala. Instead of 15khz drivers I use CRT Emu drivers. Instead of MameUI I use Groovymame+SwitchRes.
I use a regular PC with a homemade VGA - SCART cable, ATI graphcard and a CRT TV (Panasonic TX-28CK1F).
Everything works, I got picture and every game in my Mala list works.

But! Even though I'm really happy with what SwitchRes does I would like to individually change some games resolutions.

For example:
My TV seems to love the resolution 320x240 because when I start Metal Slug (which starts with a 320x240 resolution) it looks absolutely perfect. The scanlines and the picture is sooo crisp. The game isn't stretched to the edges of the screen but I can live with that, as long as the picture is clear and crisp.

Now, I know this game is meant to be played on a vertical screen but when I start DonDonPachi, the picture is not as good as Metal Slug. The picture has this little "blurriness" to it and not even close to what I get from Metal Slug. Even som other games like Forgotten Worlds (which I think is meant to be played on a horizontal screen) is also like this and I can't see any scanlines.
There's alot of other horizontal games that have this issue.

So, is there a way to change these games resolution or is this the way it works. You just can't get a good picture when trying to play games with a resolution different than what you're TV likes?

I need to know so I can go on with my project and face the facts.
Thanks!

//Victor

[Calamity]

Hi arcadeswede,

You can force GroovyMAME to pick any existing resolution, by manually passing the -resolution option, either by command line or inside a game specific .ini file. Make sure to pass all the required parameters: width x height @ refresh, e.g: 320x240@60

Regarding the refresh, you need to use a value that's actually reported by your system in combination with the resolution, use ArcadeOSD to find suitable values.

However, it's unlikely you're going to do better than GroovyMAME regarding resolution picking. You can't expect a game like DonDonPachi which is 320x240 vertical to display on a horizontal monitor without loosing information because you can't do 320 lines on a 15 kHz monitor, that's why we need to use interlaced modes, this is lesson #0 of CRT gaming. Now it's quite odd that Forgotten Worlds is using interlaced modes too, this would point to not having created the required resolutions to start with.

Post a log of this game:

groovymame romname -v >romname.txt

[arcadeswede]

Ok! That makes sense. I understand that vertical shooting games is not possible but as you said, Forgotten Worlds should look better and I also tested Marvel vs Capcom and it's the same thing.
I ordered a UMSA since the colors with my VGA to SCART cable doesn't look right. Do you think the UMSA will improve the resolution options?

Post a log of this game:
groovymame romname -v >romname.txt

Sorry for being a noob here but I don't know what to do?

[Calamity]

I ordered a UMSA since the colors with my VGA to SCART cable doesn't look right. Do you think the UMSA will improve the resolution options?

The resolutions are created by software, there's nothing your UMSA can do about this. Learn about VMMaker and how to create the required video modes.

Post a log of this game:
groovymame romname -v >romname.txt

Sorry for being a noob here but I don't know what to do?

Haha, don't worry. You are supposed to do that from command line, replace "groovymame" by the actual executable name and "romname" by the actual rom name you want to lauch, that will create a file which you are supposed to attach here using the options under the edit box when you write a post.

[arcadeswede]

I haven't got to the arcade since last post but I've been reading some threads and blogs.
I think I will run VmMaker and then some people say you can edit your custom resolutions in ArcadeOSD but when I do nothing is changing. I realised, I didn't have the latest update for the VmMaker, maybe that's why nothing is happening to the custom resolutions when I test and edit them?
Is it a good idea to use Mame Resolution Tool (after I get the "edit custom modelines" to work in ArcadeOSD) to test resolutions to different games in my rom folder and then write the .ini files?