Ms. Pacman at 240x240? GroovyMAME 146u4, D9200, and ArcadeVGA 3000

[dgame]

Current Setup:
Windows XP, GroovyMAME 146u4, D9200, ArcadeVGA 3000
Fresh mame ini (-cc), Monitor type changed from cga to D9200.

When I run Ms. Pacman GroovyMAME choses –resolution 240x240 and does some kind of shrinking/scaling thing.
How do I get it to use the 224x288, 352x288, or 388x288 resolutions for mspacman?
Most 256 tall vertical games look fine, but the 288 tall vertical games are shrunken and scaled.

Thanks!

PS: I also have an ATI X600 that I tried with Calamity Drivers and VMmaker. With that setup mspacman looks fine but CPS games like SF2 were off.
Should I continue with the ArcadeVGA or switch the X600 and work on the CPS problem?

[krick]

I would use the ATI x600 and worth through the SF2 issue.  I think there was another thread recently with someone that had a problem with SF2.  I'll see if I can find it.  What, exactly, was wrong with SF2 in your case?

[dgame]

It finally got it to work with the ArcadeVGA. It seems the mame.ini entry for monitor is case sensitive.

Monitor type changed from cga to D9200.

I changed the monitor line from  D9200 to d9200 and it works as advertised. Very nice.

As for the X600 although it has 100+ resolutions it does not have the 392x240 I like for CPS so it chooses another resolution that is scaled.


EDIT: D9200 was the correct setting.

[krick]

Hmmm.  That doesn't sound right.

You should post a GroovyMAME log for that game and attach it here so that Calamity can look at it.

groovymame.exe romname -v -md 4 > romname.txt

[Calamity]

Yes, please post a log.

I'm going to do specific testing of the new patch with ArcadeVGA-like mode lists, so I'd need all possible issue reports to get everything fixed.

Thanks!

[krick]

Calamity,

He's been experimenting with two cards, an ArcadeVGA 3000 and a stock ATI Radeon x600.

He has an issue with the ArcadeVGA 3000 with vertical games like Pac-Man, which may have been fixed by using lower case "d9200" in the mame.ini file.  I'm not sure.

He has an issue with stock ATI Radeon x600 with 392x240 for SF2 (and other CPS games).

[Calamity]

Ah, I see.

Why 392x when cps2 games are 384x wide? Isn't vmmaker producing 384x resolutions?

[dgame]

Calamity,

krick is correct. The ArcadeVGA 3000 works with the d9200 setting. CPS and Pac-Man look good, though Mat Mania looks off.
And of course with using the ArcadeVGA the game speed will be off depending on the refresh rate. So I use triple buffer and turn off vsync.

As for the x600 I was using the 6.5 drivers and the games just didn't look right.

Since "didn't look right." and "looks off" are not helpful trouble shooting terms I will post my INI files and a series of -v -md 4 log files for both setups.

Games to test (resolution/look and F11 for speed):
sfa2, mspacman, gyruss, matmania, frogger, magdrop3

Setup 1:
ArcadeVGA 3000, GroovyMAME 146u4, D9200
Will start with fresh mame.ini and only change cga to d9200
1. Test games with [groovy]mame.exe romname -v -md 4 > romname.txt
2. Post results here.

Setup 2:
ATI X600, GroovyMAME 146u4, D9200
Will start with fresh mame.ini and only change cga to d9200
EDIT: Set syncrefresh to 0 in vertical.ini to force all vertical games to 100%
1. Install X600 with crt_emudriver_6.5_1.2_xp32_multisync driver (reboot)
2. Copy vmmaker_1.3c_arcade_osd_1.3b into crt_emudriver_6.5_1.2_xp32_multisync folder
3. Edit VMMaker.ini:
MameExe = "C:\arcadia\mame\mame.exe"
IniPath = "C:\arcadia\mame\ini\"
MonitorType = "D9200"
Also, try with:
   YresMin_XML = 224 (this might solve the cps2 issue)
4. Run VMMaker (reboot)
5. Test games with [groovy]mame.exe romname -v -md 4 > romname.txt
6. Post results here.

My setup process correct.

Thanks.


EDIT: Updated Step 2 with the working process. Works with ATI X600, GroovyMAME 146u4, and Wells Gardner D9200.

[Calamity]

Yes, everything is right.

ModeTableMethod_Custom = 1 <--- It has always been 0 before, but I read where setting it to 1 cleared up some resolution issues. What should it be?

Leave it = 0.

ModeTableMethod_XML = 1 (default, and everything else set to default settings)

This one is fine.

Also, try with:

   YresMin_XML = 224

(this might solve the cps2 issue)

[dgame]

Also, try with:

   YresMin_XML = 224

(this might solve the cps2 issue)

Thank you very much krick and Calamity, that setting solved the x600 problem for me.

It could have been something else, but previously I set it up as described in my previous post.

Now all games I mentioned and others I've tried use a good and proper looking resolution.

The speed still varies based on refresh rate (mspacman 400x288 only ~88%) so I use triple buffer to get 100% in all games. Looks good too.

So I am happy with the Calamity x600 and GroovyMAME with the D9200.  Now I can continue my project.


EDIT: Set syncrefresh to 0 in vertical.ini to force all vertical games to 100%

[krick]

You should be able to enable soundsync to get 100% on pacman.  It will slow the game down slightly to match the refresh rate.  The sound will also pitch down slightly, but it's not really that noticeable unless someone points it out.

I hope that someday, someone figures out how to digitally pitch the audio back up so that it sounds the same while soundsync is enabled.  There used to be a homegrown plugin for winamp built by one guy that did real-time pitch shifting, so it can't be *that* hard.

[dgame]

Update:
When I ran the mame.exe alone the resolutions were off again.

For some reason the monitor d9200 setting in MAME.ini was being ignored.

Starting with a fresh MAME.ini (mame -cc) I changed the cga to "d9200" with a capital D and it works.Everything else is default.

Then I only had to set syncrefresh to 0 in vertical.ini to force all vertical games to 100%.

The "-m 4" command line is equivalent to the "monitor d9200" setting in MAME.ini,
so while I was testing everything seemed fine even with the incorrect "D9200" setting in MAME.ini.

The sound seems okay but I haven't played a lot yet. I remember the soundsync option from CabMAME.
I prefer the change in pitch over choppy sound.

Thanks again for your help.


EDIT: Set syncrefresh to 0 in vertical.ini to force all vertical games to 100%

[dgame]

Yes, please post a log.

I'm going to do specific testing of the new patch with ArcadeVGA-like mode lists, so I'd need all possible issue reports to get everything fixed.

Thanks!

I went with the X600 but I did save a log for matmainia with the ArcadeVGA setup.

It chose 240x240 for mat mania (avga_matmania_bad_240x240_not_400x256.txt)
I set -r 400x256 from the command line (avga_matmania_manual_400x256.txt)

Everything works perfect with the X600 and I have not found a game that does not look correct.

Not having to use INI files to set resolutions anymore is very nice.

Thanks for your help and for GroovyMAME.

[Calamity]

Hi dgame,

Thanks a lot for your logs, they will be of help for preparing the new release.

[hexray]

I have a similar setup as you and was wondering if there is a thread or doc you could point me to that would help me get groovymame configured.  Here is my current setup:

Win XP Pro x64
ATI X600 XT
crt_emudriver_9.3_1.2a_x64_multisync driver
D9200 Monitor

I've already downloaded the mame source, applied the patches and built mame but now I'm not sure what to do next :-)

What config files do I need to create/edit ?
How do I create modlines or do I even need to ?

-hexray

[krick]

I have a similar setup as you and was wondering if there is a thread or doc you could point me to that would help me get groovymame configured.  -hexray

There's a post in this thread that explains the basic steps for setting up GroovyMAME and using VMMaker.  It starts out talking about the ArcadeVGA 3000, but then covers "normal" ATI cards...

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,121859.0.html