do 3d mame games need d3d on?

[lodoss118]

or should i still have direct draw on?

[Calamity]

You can use either ddraw or d3d, it doesn't make any difference for 3d games in MAME because everything is software rendered.

[TheShaner]

I have noticed that all of my 3d games run like garbage.  Starting with MK4 all the way to Gauntlet legends.  They almost echo, but are really just jerky.  It sounds exactly the same on all of them.  It is really weird.  Im running a Makvision 29" with an ArcadeVGA3000.


 I am digging for a solution right now.

[mamenewb100]

I have noticed that all of my 3d games run like garbage.  Starting with MK4 all the way to Gauntlet legends.  They almost echo, but are really just jerky.  It sounds exactly the same on all of them.  It is really weird.  Im running a Makvision 29" with an ArcadeVGA3000.


 I am digging for a solution right now.

Pretty sure that's just MAME. It was never designed to handle 3D games since it just uses your CPU for emulation. It doesn't use any of your video cards hardware acceleration, or very little if it does.

[krick]

I have noticed that all of my 3d games run like garbage.  Starting with MK4 all the way to Gauntlet legends.  They almost echo, but are really just jerky.  It sounds exactly the same on all of them.  It is really weird.  Im running a Makvision 29" with an ArcadeVGA3000.

That sounds like an underpowered CPU to me.

I think the suggested minimum CPU among the MAME devs is an Intel Core2Duo 2.5GHz or better.

MAME doesn't run very well on AMD chips.  Or conversely, it runs much better on Intel chips.  Some MAME games are up to 30% faster on Intel.

Also, running a 64-bit OS with a 64-bit version of MAME is a huge performance boost.  When you're talking about 3D games in MAME, you need all the performance you can get.

[TheShaner]

Cool thanks.  I was running 64bit previously, but I had problems with the video card.  I might try again.  I have a 2.6 dual core AMD chip, but might go ahead and keep my eye on eBay for something a little better.  Is there a range I should shoot for?  3.2-3.6 for example?  It would be a shame to have this whole setup but not be able to play MK4!

[Calamity]

Hi TheShaner,

For 3D games (ONLY), enable -triplebuffer in an ini file for the specific game. Make sure -multithreading is enabled too. That will use your CPU at its full potential. The default setup is -syncrefresh, this is perfect for games that run fluently on your CPU, but should only be enabled if your CPU is fast enough to run the game at constant 100%, otherwise it will kill performance. Don't expect miracles, many 3D games won't be even playable on the fastest CPUs.

[krick]

Cool thanks.  I was running 64bit previously, but I had problems with the video card.  I might try again.  I have a 2.6 dual core AMD chip, but might go ahead and keep my eye on eBay for something a little better.  Is there a range I should shoot for?  3.2-3.6 for example?  It would be a shame to have this whole setup but not be able to play MK4!

For a cabinet setup, the only real 64-bit option is XP 64-bit edition.  Windows 7 has issues with resolution switching and interlaced resolutions.  I assume Vista has the same issues as Windows 7 but I haven't personally tried it.

Most "wolfdale" dual core Intel chips can be overclocked fairly easily and should be showing up on Ebay now that the Core i3/i5/i7 are saturating the market.  I'm running an Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5GHz CPU overclocked to 3.5GHz on a crappy motherboard that has almost zero overclocking options.  Generally, the chips with higher multipliers are more flexible because you can drop the multiplier if necessary to get a more stable overclock.  In my experience, most wolfdale chips top out at about 3.5GHz, though some people report getting up to 4GHz on better motherboards with better cooling.

Unfortunately, Intel marketed the Wolfdale core under several different names including "Core 2 Duo", "Pentium Dual Core", "Pentium", and "Celeron" over the life cycle of the chip, so it requires a bit of work to figure out which CPUs are actually wolfdale.  Some info here...  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfdale_%28microprocessor%29

There's various models with varying amounts of L2 cache from 1MB to 6MB, obviously, ones with larger cache will be slightly faster at the same clock speed, but I don't think the difference is huge.

You could also pick up a cheap Core i5 motherboard, cpu, and memory for around $400, so I wouldn't spend more than that on anything used from Ebay.  Here's my current "want" list from New Egg ($395.97 total) if you're curious...

ASUS P8Z77-M LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
$129.99 -- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131832

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K
$219.99 -- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL
$45.99 -- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314


Another option would be to try to pick up a cheap Core2Duo CPU *only* on Ebay, then buy this motherboard for $55, along with some cheap DDR3 memory...

ASUS P5G41T-M LX PLUS LGA 775 Intel G41 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
$54.99 -- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131794

Note that I said DDR3 memory, not DDR2.  DDR3 is really cheap now.  You can get name brand memory 4GB (2x2GB) for less than $30 or 8GB (2x4GB) for less than $50.