OSD video modes and HyperSpin

[mamenewb100]

I recently decided to bite the bullet and change from Windows 7 and Arcade VGA to WinXP64 and ATI Radeon 4550 to be most compatible with GroovyMAME. The video card made my computer 300% quieter than the AVGA, since it has no fan. Setup was very easy. All I had to do was give the program the path to the MAME executable. It made an awesome difference, with all games running full screen now at the right resoutions and refresh rates. Well.. as long as I have triplebuffering on. I still have the same issues with inconsistant frame rates on certain games with TripleBuffer off. No matter what my monitor settings are. But the difference is so slight with TB on vs off that, I'm just fine with that.

The problem of course is Hyperspin. VMMaker found over 500 video modes and cut it down to 120, which I presume is the windows and ATI max. How many would I need to get down to for Hyperspin to work and how would I go about removing them? There are many video modes that I do not need. If I need to cut too many I may just have to use another Frontend until Hyperspin 2.0 comes out. (if it ever does)

Also when I ran ATI setup in VMMaker 1.3c (latest version I could find) it detected my card as a HD 4350 when it is a 4550. May not matter but was worth noting.

[mamenewb100]

One last thing. I lost my 800x600 desktop resolution after running WMMaker. The closest available is 768x512. How would I create it?

[krick]

To get around the Hyperspin bug, you can try using "Magic Resolutions".  This thread has some info...

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,121216.0.html

[mamenewb100]

Thanks allot for the Magic Resolutions info Krick. It worked and was amazingly simple.

Now something odd I discovered is that it allowed me to pick a true 720P Resolution (1280x720) at 50 HZ. It actually displays fine with of course allot of flicker but still better than interlaced. The text is suprisingly readable and webpages are much less annoying not needing to scroll left and right to read. Now my monitor claims the MAX is 800x600. Will it damage my monitor to run it at this resolution or is it fine as long as it displays fine?

I'm thinking since the Vertical frequency is so low that it is able to display with a high Horizontal frequency. It is displaying at 37 Khz, which is within the 30-40 range of the monitor.

[Sledge]

Rather than create a new thread for the same thing...
I've tried to use Hyperspin too, but it refuses to run..
i set up VMMaker the same as in that other thread, but it still reported 120 modelines created.. does this mean i've missed something?

How many do i need to limit it to for Hyperspin to work? (edit: currently cut it at 60 now)

[Calamity]

Hi Sledge,

Make sure you're using the last version of VMMaker (1.3c).

[Sledge]

Yup, i am...
Just downloaded again before i tried using the magic resolutions with hyperspin..

[Calamity]

I'm thinking since the Vertical frequency is so low that it is able to display with a high Horizontal frequency. It is displaying at 37 Khz, which is within the 30-40 range of the monitor.

That's it. Refreshing at 50 Hz allows it to keep below the 40 kHz limit, so for the monitor this video mode is just fine. Monitors care about frequecies, not resolutions. But since most people don't understand the limits expressed in kHz, a typical max resolution is advertised too, which only makes sense if you also state the vertical frequency, and can be misleading, e.g.  800x600 at 75 Hz, would be out of your monitor's range.

[Calamity]

Yup, i am...
Just downloaded again before i tried using the magic resolutions with hyperspin..

Could you attach your vmmaker.ini here for me to have a look?

[Sledge]

Here you go

[Calamity]

Use these values:

   ModeTableMethod_Custom = 1
   ModeTableMethod_XML = 2

Here, also change the minimum yres so you don't have issues with Capcom games and such:

   XresMin_XML = 240
   YresMin_XML = 224
   YresRound_XML = 4

[mamenewb100]

Ok while I can use Hyperspin with the magic resolutions, I've noticed there is allot of wasted resolutions that I don't need like 1224X400 (Unless this is used for Vector games?). Also there is allot less useful resolutions like in the 720x480 ballpark for use with SNES, NES type of games.

Is there some ini file I could make and point too, that allow me to choose which resolutions I want and don't? Or can I manually erase the ones I don't want in windows registry?