ArcadeVGA default drivers or CRT EMU drivers instead

[MarioSanchez]

Hi Guys,

Here is my setup:
I have a Blast City (Nanao ms-2930) connected with jamma -> pc with an ArcadeVGA 2 (not the 3000). Win XP 32bit installed with MaLa Frontend and the latest Groovymame version. Mame.ini monitor settings best for ms2930 added.

I installed the original drivers for my ArcadeVGA from the Ultimarc site but some games are still not full screen, certainly not 100 percent arcade perfect. Starforce and Bombjack for instance. This is a resolution issue as far as i know...., so maybe i should use the calamity drivers instead?

Many thanks.

Regards Mario
 

[mamenewb100]

You can't use CRT_EMU drivers with the AVGA as it's video modes can't be modified. Unless the AVGA 2 is somehow different than the 3000.
 
There is a utility called "ArcadePerfect" from Ultimarc that can get you closer to perfect but technically not perfect. 

[MarioSanchez]

Thank you very much. What i understand from your reply is that there' s a better alternative? if yes witch one?

Thanks again


regards Mario

[krick]

There were three different cards billed as the "ArcadeVGA 2"...

Radeon 9200 / 9250 AGP
Radeon X550 PCIe
Radeon HD2400 PCIe

According to Calamity, the Radeon 92xx AGP model works with CRT_EmuDriver. 
I'm not sure about the two later cards.

I'm pretty sure that the original ArcadeVGA Radeon 7000 AGP model works with Calamity's drivers as well.

The ArcadeVGA 3000 definitely does not work with CRT_EmuDriver.

[Calamity]

Krick is right, there several different models of ArcadeVGA 2, at least some of them should work, it's a matter of trying.

[MarioSanchez]

Thanks guys that's great news.
I am planning to post my mame.ini here and i hope you guys can help me out if i did good and
should be better.

Thank you ;-)

Mario

[MarioSanchez]

No luck with groovymame ;-( so I decided to turn back to my regular version of mame (0.143), with nag screen disabled and the highscore patch. Most of the games are full screen, no borders and look awesome on my CRT monitor but somehow the sound is choppy and repeats on a lot of newer games. My monitor is set to vertical btw because i play a lot of 'shmups'.

How come that my games are full screen compared to groovymame before?

Before i forget..., I have a new fast PC build in so there should be no slowdown @all or am i wrong here?


Here is my mame.ini setup

       
#
# CORE CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
#
readconfig              1
writeconfig               0

#
# CORE SEARCH PATH OPTIONS
#
rompath                 roms
hashpath                  hash
samplepath              samples
artpath                   artwork
ctrlrpath                 ctrlr
inipath                 ini
fontpath                  .
cheatpath                 cheat
crosshairpath             crosshair

#
# CORE OUTPUT DIRECTORY OPTIONS
#
cfg_directory           cfg
nvram_directory         nvram
memcard_directory       memcard
input_directory         inp
state_directory         sta
snapshot_directory      snap
diff_directory          diff
comment_directory         comments

#
# CORE OUTPUT DIRECTORY OPTIONS
#
hiscore_directory       hi

#
# CORE STATE/PLAYBACK OPTIONS
#
state                     
autosave                  0
playback                 
record                   
mngwrite                 
aviwrite                 
wavwrite                 
snapname                  %g/%i
snapsize                  auto
snapview                  internal
burnin                    0

#
# CORE PERFORMANCE OPTIONS
#
autoframeskip           0
frameskip               0
seconds_to_run            0
throttle                1
sleep                   1
speed                     1.0
refreshspeed              0

#
# CORE ROTATION OPTIONS
#
rotate                    1
ror                     0
rol                     1
autoror                 0
autorol                 0
flipx                   0
flipy                   0

#
# CORE ARTWORK OPTIONS
#
artwork_crop            1
use_backdrops           0
use_overlays            0
use_bezels              0
use_cpanels               0
use_marquees              0

#
# CORE SCREEN OPTIONS
#
brightness              1.00
contrast                  1.0
gamma                   1.00
pause_brightness        0.65
effect                  none

#
# CORE VECTOR OPTIONS
#
antialias               1
beam                    1.00
flicker                 0.00

#
# CORE SOUND OPTIONS
#
sound                   1
samplerate              48000
samples                 1
volume                  0

#
# CORE INPUT OPTIONS
#
coin_lockout              1
# ctrlr                 <NULL> (not set)
mouse                   0
joystick                1
lightgun                0
multikeyboard             0
multimouse                0
steadykey               0
offscreen_reload        0
joystick_map              auto
joystick_deadzone         0.3
joystick_saturation       0.85
natural                   0

#
# CORE INPUT AUTOMATIC ENABLE OPTIONS
#
paddle_device           keyboard
adstick_device          keyboard
pedal_device            keyboard
dial_device             keyboard
trackball_device        keyboard
lightgun_device         keyboard
positional_device         keyboard
mouse_device              mouse

#
# CORE DEBUGGING OPTIONS
#
log                     0
verbose                 0
update_in_pause           0
debug                   0
debugscript               
debug_internal            0

#
# CORE MISC OPTIONS
#
bios                     
cheat                   0
skip_gameinfo           0
uifont                    default
ramsize                   
confirm_quit              0

#
# CORE MKChamp OPTIONS
#
disable_hiscore_patch     0
disable_nagscreen_patch   0
disable_loading_patch     0

#
# WINDOWS DEBUGGING OPTIONS
#
oslog                   0
watchdog                  0
debugger_font             "Lucida Console"
debugger_font_size        9

#
# WINDOWS PERFORMANCE OPTIONS
#
priority                  0
multithreading            1
numprocessors             auto
profile                   0
bench                     0

#
# WINDOWS VIDEO OPTIONS
#
video                     ddraw
numscreens                1
window                  0
maximize                1
keepaspect              0
prescale                  1
waitvsync               1
syncrefresh             1

#
# DIRECTDRAW-SPECIFIC OPTIONS
#
hwstretch               0

#
# DIRECT3D-SPECIFIC OPTIONS
#
d3dversion                9
filter                    1

#
# DIRECT3D POST-PROCESSING OPTIONS
#
hlsl_enable               0
hlslini                   %g
hlslpath                  hlsl
hlsl_prescale_x           0
hlsl_prescale_y           0
hlsl_preset               -1
hlsl_write               
hlsl_snap_width           2048
hlsl_snap_height          1536
shadow_mask_alpha         0.0
shadow_mask_texture       aperture.png
shadow_mask_x_count       320
shadow_mask_y_count       240
shadow_mask_usize         0.09375
shadow_mask_vsize         0.109375
curvature                 0.0
pincushion                0.0
scanline_alpha            0.0
scanline_size             1.0
scanline_height           0.7
scanline_bright_scale     1.0
scanline_bright_offset    0.0
scanline_jitter           0.0
defocus                   0.0,0.0
converge_x                0.0,0.0,0.0
converge_y                0.0,0.0,0.0
radial_converge_x         0.0,0.0,0.0
radial_converge_y         0.0,0.0,0.0
red_ratio                 1.0,0.0,0.0
grn_ratio                 0.0,1.0,0.0
blu_ratio                 0.0,0.0,1.0
saturation                1.0
offset                    0.0,0.0,0.0
scale                     1.0,1.0,1.0
power                     1.0,1.0,1.0
floor                     0.0,0.0,0.0
phosphor_life             0.0,0.0,0.0
yiq_enable                0
yiq_cc                    3.59754545
yiq_a                     0.5
yiq_b                     0.5
yiq_o                     0.0
yiq_p                     1.0
yiq_n                     1.0
yiq_y                     6.0
yiq_i                     1.2
yiq_q                     0.6
yiq_scan_time             52.6
yiq_phase_count           2

#
# PER-WINDOW VIDEO OPTIONS
#
screen                    auto
aspect                    auto
resolution              auto
view                      auto
screen0                   auto
aspect0                   auto
resolution0               auto
view0                     auto
screen1                   auto
aspect1                   auto
resolution1               auto
view1                     auto
screen2                   auto
aspect2                   auto
resolution2               auto
view2                     auto
screen3                   auto
aspect3                   auto
resolution3               auto
view3                     auto

#
# FULL SCREEN OPTIONS
#
triplebuffer            0
switchres               1
full_screen_brightness  1.00
full_screen_contrast      1.0
full_screen_gamma         1.0

#
# WINDOWS SOUND OPTIONS
#
audio_latency           2

#
# INPUT DEVICE OPTIONS
#
dual_lightgun           0

[mamenewb100]

No luck with groovymame ;-( so I decided to turn back to my regular version of mame (0.143), with nag screen disabled and the highscore patch. Most of the games are full screen, no borders and look awesome on my CRT monitor but somehow the sound is choppy and repeats on a lot of newer games. My monitor is set to vertical btw because i play a lot of 'shmups'.

How come that my games are full screen compared to groovymame before?

Before i forget..., I have a new fast PC build in so there should be no slowdown @all or am i wrong here?

Regular MAME uses D3D to stretch your game to fill the screen by default. It may look decent but nowhere near arcade perfect. Groovy uses the closest available resolution and keeps the aspect ratio. You can stretch the picture in Groovy but it kind of defeats the purpose of using it. You need to create your own resolutions if you want full screen perfection in Windows.

Even the fastest CPUs of today will have a hard time running new 3D games in MAME. MAME shoots for accuracy and compatibility with ALL games. There are other emulators you can use for just the games that run slow.

[krick]

No luck with groovymame

What do you mean?  What kind of problems were you seeing?

Did you manage to get the CRT_EmuDriver working with your ArcadeVGA 2?

What is your CPU?  Modern versions of MAME require a lot of CPU power or they will have choppy sound in some games.

[MarioSanchez]

Thanks guys.

With no luck i mean that  i am not  satisfied with the screensize
of the games. They work fine but most of the games have large
borders. I know they have different resolution but when i use
the regular mame patched i have fullscreen.

I have the 2400 pci-e variant so the drivers are not working for me ;-(

D3D act strange specially with vertical shooter. Ddraw works much better
so D3D is not an option for me.

My cpu is a phenom x4 amd with 4gb of mem.

That's why i asked you experts to take a look in my ini file.
Maybe i should post the groovy ini too but its almost the same
besides the custom monitor settings.

[MarioSanchez]

One other question.

Can i use soft15khz together with the arcadevga drivers?

Thank you ;-)

Mario