GroovyArcade live-CD 2020

[Calamity]

Stupid question, Calamity, but what is the v-sync patch for?

We found that with the newer version of the ATI driver (at the point the live-cd was done) it was not possible to achieve proper v-sync until some seconds after a mode switch. This made the games to run at crazy speeds, just to stabilize at 100% after a few seconds, ruining the emulation experience. It turned it this happens due to an apparently unrelated thing: http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.video.dri.devel/77884

For some reason the CRT is reported as being disabled after a mode switch, causing the v-sync to fail. This patch fixes the problem. I don't know if this bug has been solved since then.

[Calamity]

Ansa89, what does xrandr list as the lowest available resolution when using both the kernel and X patches?

With kernel patches and low-res patch:

Code: [Select]

$ xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 160 x 100, current 768 x 576, maximum 8192 x 8192

It would look like some extra modifications are required in some other places to force lower resolution modes (below 320x240) to be accepted in the newer versions.

[NightSprinter]

Ah.  I've been curious, given that on my system (whether I'm using an X300SE or an HD-6670) I'm still getting a minimum of 320x200 being reported.  I'll continue to play around with my linux system to see how it works out.

Also, another question:  what options were used in xorg.conf?  Would any special setup of the config file affect it?

[NightSprinter]

Alright, found the install issues for xf86-video-ati.  Turns out it's putting files into /usr/local/lib/xorg instead of /usr/lib/xorg.  Copied the files, and everything's showing up as Ansa89 stated.  Now to just get the kernel properly compiled (really trying to get 3.11 to work for its boosts to Radeon cards) so I can see how things will turn out.

[NightSprinter]

Some more updates: Kernel 3.11 just black-screens on my Archbang install completely.  Also have had somewhat good luck on a working 3.10.7 Kernel.  Certain very low-res games (Vs. Super Mario Bros and Robocop as horizontal, and Donkey Kong when rotated 90 degrees) look perfect.  Everything else just seems to want to keep itself in a small viewing area while in 648x480i resolution.  Once I get past 256-lines in horizontal resolution, that's when xrandr decides "nope, going straight to 480i".  Now out of curiosity, would the changeres patch for SDL have to be applied to version 1.2 or 2.0?

For Ansa89: how well has the resolution switching in GroovyMAME worked for you from just using the X.Org and kernel patches?

[Ansa89]

The resolution switch made by groovymame seems to be ok (in the past I got some problems only with nba-jam).
Moreover the kernel 3.11.0 seems to work correctly here.

[Calamity]

Hi NightSprinter,

May you post a log of a GroovyMAME game failing to run in its native resolution (going to 480i)? If possible, post what xrandr prompts too, because this is not cathed by the log. Just to get some idea of what could be happening.

The SDL patch should be for version 1.2, the one that MAME uses.

[NightSprinter]

So, yeah, at least found something unusual when using GroovyUME with the Genesis driver.  It switches up to 256x240 with no issues.  Then goes to a small viewing area at my current desktop resolution (which right now is 1024x768).  I've posted some pictures (albeit resized heavily to actually get uploaded) to show as proof.  Pardon the poor quality, as I just snatched up my Galaxy Nexus to do this o the quick.

[Calamity]

Ok, it's the dynamic resolution change what is failing there. This is because the SDL patch is not working or didn't get applied. This patch is required to enable dynamic resolution change: to be able to switch to a newly created resolution after an SDL instance has been loaded. So either disable the -changeres option or try to fix SDL.

The reason why Donkey Kong is trying to switch resolutions is because instead of setting the option "orientation rotate_r" or "orientation rotate_l" you have manually rotated that game by 90º from the internal UI. That causes a second mode switch right after the one done during initialization.

As for the Sega games, it's supposed to switch modes. To force it to use 320x224@60 use the -resolution option inside an ini.

[NightSprinter]

Strange.  Much like with the patched X driver, SDL1.2 decided to put itself into /usr/local/lib instead of /usr/lib.  I have applied the patch, and it showed no errors in either patching or compiling.  I'll see if I can patch/compile it from scratch and provide some config/compilation logs.

Other than my bad luck getting the 3.11 kernel to work at all for me, we seem to have at least finally narrowed down the problem.

[Ansa89]

Strange.  Much like with the patched X driver, SDL1.2 decided to put itself into /usr/local/lib instead of /usr/lib.

Did you pass "--prefix=/usr" while configuring the source?

[NightSprinter]

I did with the Ubuntu setup.  After reading all the options when I passed --help to the configure script I figured what I did wrong for installation..    It's just the whole deal of the new kernel not playing nice with my Radeon 6670 and the dynamic mode switching patch in SDL-1.2 I applied not working is what is confusing me. 

[NightSprinter]

Meh.. looks like so far I've had to copy the same files from the GroovyArcade CD just to make the damn thing work.  I've compressed the directory I applied the patch to and uploaded it to my box.net account (file is open-access). https://app.box.com/s/9dhacpe6q9l59aabzeec.  If you can compare things, do let me know what it looks like where I might have gone wrong.  For now, I'm going to reboot into Lubuntu and do the same thing to see if I can get it to work.

I'm still perplexed on why Kernel 3.11 isn't working.

[blontic]

Also Vas is there a possibility of adding the cave SH3 driver diff in your next release?.

Just wondering if you managed to find a solution in getting the cave-sh3 diff into groovyarcade? What are other people using for cave games? I am just about to setup a dedicated vertical cab and was hoping to try groovyarcade. I use groovymame on my other cab and love it.

Will I have to compile my own version of groovymame and run it on windows? or do people just use something like shmupmame?

Thanks

[jdubs]

Question for you guys.  I have a dual video card setup and use the output of the second card (and HD4550) to feed into my CRT under a Windows environment.  Right now, when I boot GroovyArcade outputs via my "first" video card.  I want to change this so it outputs to my second video card.

This works in Windows if I change the "screen" to (\\.DISPLAY5).  Can I do something similar with GroovyArcade?

Thanks,

Jim

[MonkeyJug]

Also Vas is there a possibility of adding the cave SH3 driver diff in your next release?.

Just wondering if you managed to find a solution in getting the cave-sh3 diff into groovyarcade? What are other people using for cave games? I am just about to setup a dedicated vertical cab and was hoping to try groovyarcade. I use groovymame on my other cab and love it.

Will I have to compile my own version of groovymame and run it on windows? or do people just use something like shmupmame?

Thanks

PM me...

[jdubs]

Question for you guys.  I have a dual video card setup and use the output of the second card (and HD4550) to feed into my CRT under a Windows environment.  Right now, when I boot GroovyArcade outputs via my "first" video card.  I want to change this so it outputs to my second video card.

This works in Windows if I change the "screen" to (\\.DISPLAY5).  Can I do something similar with GroovyArcade?

Thanks,

Jim

Nevermind...looks like it will (hopefully) end up as a feature in the next release.  Will make due with Windows until then.

-Jim

[HDgaming42]

I always try to research my problems before asking for help, and thought this might be a nice, clear, concise post to help the others that come after me with similar issues—saving you reading multiple pages to piece together solutions!

Video blank, or ROMs playing at >100% speed

Possibly the splash screen

IMPORTANT NOTE: As a rule, disable the splash screen, it causes the system to hang on boot on some systems. Either edit grub.conf manually or use the new option in the video setup submenu / video grub.

No sound

Potentially your soundcard priority. 

you can press F6 to identify and configure your default sound in alsamixer.

If that doesn't work for you (it didn't for me) run lsmod to get an idea of what modules are loading.  If HDMI is the problem,

Edit this file
nano /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

Add these lines

blacklist snd_hda_intel
blacklist snd_hda_codec_hdmi
blacklist snd_hda_codec

No USB joypad detected

You will likely have to disable Wii support

Joystick not configured by default, because it interferes with wiimotes.
Active joystick options, mame.ini and advmenu.rc , and disables all the wiimote on mame.ini.

Most of the above assumes a certain degree of familiarity with editing these files.  Would love to post step-by-step procedures here where applicable...

[HDgaming42]

I'll try all the above and update this post with my progress, but here was my experience installing to USB:

EDIT: followed the advice above and all issues sorted themselves out.  Now I'm going to try an installation of the 64-bit version--didn't initially think my computer was capable.

Dell GX620
ATI HD3450 on DVI (primary)
Sony PVM2530 via custom cable

LiveCD test showed 100% speed, did not have audio.  Installed to USB.  Booted off USB no problem Chose generic 15kHz (would something else be a better fit for a PVM2530?).  Added ROM paths.  Buttery smooth process!   

Could launch games but they ran at 200% speed (approx--didn't think to hit F11).  I would get the sound clips upon entering and launching games but no music, and no audio in-game. 

360 controller didn't work.  Will try above.

Rebooted a few times--tried changing audio via alsamixer but no difference.

This morning was going to try hitting F11 to get the exact speed games are running at but now I just get blank video, but now with music and audio clips.  However when I blindly launch a game, I get no video--and then no audio in-game either.

I'm dumbfounded as to how I can get audio in the GUI, but not within the games themselves...  As a side note some games I blindly launch will show an "X" in the middle of the screen before going black.  I wait forever but no audio or video.  Escaping out works--the system hasn't hung.

I run through a dumb switch so that I can protect my PVM from the initial 31kHz and send that to an LCD (so I can see it) and when the PVM leaves the command line all I get is a blank screen (with audio).  Switching to the LCD gives me nothing so I doubt it has reverted to 31kHz.  I will try escaping out of the splash screen and report back.

I'm confused as to why I would get such different boot results a mere 8 hours apart...

Although the games were running without sound and too quickly...they looked gorgeous.  I am so happy.  Thank you guys--this is nostalgia overload.   

[Calamity]

Hi HDgaming42,

From reading your post I'm not sure if you finally got your games running at correct speeds or they still run too fast.

[blontic]

Hi. I'm trying to load groovyarcade from CD and as soon as I select the video mode it gives me this screen. CD works on my other pc .

[Grobyc]

Hello, I'm having trouble fixing some problems, hopefully someone can help.

Hardware being used:

Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 950p ("native" res 1280x1024@85, freq range = H:30-96kHz , V:50-160Hz)
Graphics: Nvidia 9800 GTX+ (Using a DVI to VGA adapter)
Motherboard: MSI 760GM-P35
Processor: AMD Phenom II x2
(anything else I should specify?)

I've been mainly booting GroovyArcadeLinux after following the instructions for USB installation, the following are the problems that are plaguing me:

Resolution/Refresh: Upon loading the Live-CD, my monitor shows that it's running at 31.4kHz at 640x480@60 (which is what I prefer), I need to pick either of the SVGA/VGA/LCD Monitor options as the other options result in black screen installation menu. Upon loading into the GAsetup, my monitor shows that the freq has changed to 91K 1280x1024@85. No matter which monitor type I select (including 31.5kHz), the monitor doesn't change freq, which results in most every preloaded rom running at 142% give or take (Advmenu also shows 1280x1024@85Hz). After installation, changing the Video Card Output kHz doesn't seem to effect my situation, however, something stange (IMO) and interesting happens if I set that to VGA 31.5kHz and change the Video Boot-Grub to DVI 15kHz. After rebooting, now Advmenu changed to 640x480@60Hz!!! All roms ran 100% flawless!! But, when I try to exit into GAsetup, my monitor is black scanning for freqs. As far as I could tell, this means that unless I set my Paths up prior to this change, I can't get back to changing them. (I tried to navigate GAsetup blind, from memory, to revert this change, but couldn't haha, was easy getting back to Advmenu though with 'startx' after leaving the black GAsetup)

Hopefully I just missed something, because it would be fantastic to have the monitor change low in Advmenu, Emus etc., but back to a "normal" freq for GAsetup, LXDE etc.  (I'm pretty new to Linux in general, I'm finding my way around, but I hope you don't mind me needed help on that end if necessary)

USB controllers: My official Xbox 360 controller is recognized right away, but acts funny in Advmenu(everywhere else too). It's always holding to the left, trying other directions result only in it flickering back and forth between selections. I don't believe it's a deadzone issue as when I plug it in, it doesn't immediately move in LXDE, I can navigate fine, but anything involving thr bumpers or triggers ends up making the cursor stuck moving upwards, I have no control over it and must unplug the controller (I tried Rejoystick, but after the first launching of it, it gives back a "Segmentation fault (core dumped)" error) . <- This isn't as much of an issue for me right now, my main controller issue is:

USB Arcade Stick: Hori Xbox 360 Real Arcade Pro VX-SA Kai  isn't being recognized  . The lights just repeatedly blink and Rejoystick/Arch Linux don't see it.

I'm pretty stumped for solving these issues, but first and foremost, I'd like to have games running at correct speeds, but also maintain my ability to modify .ini's, net browse, etc. I've tried Xorg'ing into different resolutions and rates, but it seems to only change the appearance of LXDE etc, my monitor is still displaying at native res/refresh.

I greatly appreciate any help!

PS. I've been reading around these forums about getting true hardware scanlines while using 120Hz, is that possible with my set up? How would I go about doing this? Such a thing isn't as important as getting the issues above resolved, but I do love me some scanlines!

[Calamity]

Hi Grobyc,

You need to keep away from the SVGA/VGA/LCD mode, otherwise the mode switching capabilities will be lost (it will default to normal OS screen mode autodetecting etc.). If you got it at 640x480 somehow by selecting the 15 kHz mode, leave it like that for now, and setup one of the vesa_xxx modes from gasetup. This will apply both to Advmenu and LXDE, as well as MAME. It's also possible to use a custom monitor mode to cover the 30-96 kHz range.

Regarding the controls, I'm afraid I can't help you there, remind this is Linux and your non-standard controls are not supposed to work out of the box (I know some people will hate me for saying this but this is my understanding after seeing so many reports about non working controls). So either try doing some research and be prepared to just accepting they may not work, or wait for a future release where these controls may or may not work, or use standard controls (=keyboard based, such as the JPAC).

[Grobyc]

Thanks for the response Calamity.

How would I go about setting up the vesa settings for 640x480 in my predicament? The trouble I'm having is that when I get 31k 640x480@60 (that's vesa_480 correct?) GAsetup isn't showing up, I assume because this monitor won't show 15kHz. So would installing under SVGA/VGA/LCD then switching to Vesa GTF 640x480 + DVI-1 15kHz work? Should I need to set my Video Card Output to 31.5kHz during this switch?

The controller issue is troublesome, but apparently there's something called XboxDRV that supports my arcade stick and works on Arch. Seeing how this is a AUR package, I don't know how install it (can't just pacman it    ). I tried, but I must have messed up something. Any info you could share on getting that up and running? Thanks again!

About the scanlines, if I get my issues sorted, how would I do something like that with 120Hz while maintaining game speed integrity?

[Calamity]

How would I go about setting up the vesa settings for 640x480 in my predicament?

Yeah that's a problem. First please test this in case you didn't: press escape as soon as the Groovy logo is shown on boot. As you probably know there's a bug in current GroovyArcade distro caused by the splash screen that makes the video driver corrupt for some reason. I'm not sure if it's ATI specific or not. If that restores normal behaviour, then make the change permament by entering Video Grub-> splash screen-> disable.

About the scanlines, if I get my issues sorted, how would I do something like that with 120Hz while maintaining game speed integrity?

GroovyMAME takes care of adjusting the speed properly when running at 120 Hz provided you use the right custom crt_range.

[Grobyc]

Yeah that's a problem. First please test this in case you didn't: press escape as soon as the Groovy logo is shown on boot. As you probably know there's a bug in current GroovyArcade distro caused by the splash screen that makes the video driver corrupt for some reason. I'm not sure if it's ATI specific or not. If that restores normal behaviour, then make the change permament by entering Video Grub-> splash screen-> disable.

Note: I had a nice detailed, long post ready to go.... *Browser crash* 

Back OT.. I've tried many combos of starting settings both with and without the Splash screen enabled. The results didn't change unfortunately. I only got 2 different, compromising results:
1. Advmenu shows at 31K/60, games run "perfect", but I can't see anything else = Type VGA 31.5, Output VGA, DVI-1 15K
2. Advmenu shows at 29.8kHz/60, games run perfect with variable freqs = Type Vesa*, Output VGA (or 15K), DVI-1 15K (better!)

Note: 1 preloaded game didn't run (can't recall name) and Pong seemed to break my switchres, my monitor is blank at Advmenu after exiting. I have to reboot to see it again.

I've solved my Arcade Stick and controller problem with Xboxdrv. It took far too long to get it configured and fully functional, but it works terrifically for me.
My current gaming launch goes like this:
1. Boot into Advmenu (if LXDE was my last frontend, nothing shows..), back out to GAsetup(now I'm blind), then into shell.
2. Alt+Right/Ctrl+Alt+F3 to tty3 and login, then run Xboxdrv with my config.
3. Alt+left/Ctrl+Alt+F2 to tty2 and "startx". Now I can enjoy games with my newly functional arcade stick!

I know my way through GAsetup blind now, so although it's pretty bothersome, I can set it to SVGA and reboot to make any changes necessary, then change back to DVI-1 and frontend Advmenu. After rebooting I can use my "launch sequence" to play again.

Of course I would prefer to see everything all the time haha. Is it possible to set Switchres on GAsetup/LXDE to something higher? I really don't understand how I can boot and see Advmenu using DVI-1 15K, but not LXDE, let alone GAsetup. Really, I'm up for any suggestions at this point.

Anyway, I'm ready to try out 120Hz settings now, speaking of which..

GroovyMAME takes care of adjusting the speed properly when running at 120 Hz provided you use the right custom crt_range.

How do I find out the ranges for my monitor in G.A.L? I know to set something like 30000-96000, 90.00-160.00 (correct so far?)... and I see some values under the Xorg log that match my monitors specs and manual, but I don't see anything about porch, pulse or polarity, some help deciding what to put there would be most welcome... Also, I have to set both Mame.ini and Switchres.conf to "Monitor=custom" right? Any other things I need to change to get my 120Hz setup? Nothing to change in Xorg.conf right?

I was more thorough in my aforementioned destroyed post... but it's been a long night, so I'll just leave this for now.

Thanks again!

[Grobyc]

  double post 
  UPDATE!!!

Took me awhile, but with a bunch of reading of older posts on here I was able to set up 120Hz!!! OH MY GOD, the scanlines are BEAUTIFUL. I know I haven't had the easiest start, mostly because of my set up but WOW.. It runs sooo well  !! Quick question about settings around 120Hz, should I enable syncrefresh, or something else? A couple of times small tears happened, but the speed was a constant 100% I'm thinking I need to set something in my Mame.ini but I don't know what. (Side question, do I have to enable the same CRT ranges for UME? I haven't set that up yet..)

Syncrefresh is Vsync right? So what's up with "wait for vsync" option?
What about Multithreading, I recall Calamity saying it shouldn't me enabled in main line Mame, so I should leave it enabled in Groovy?
Also about OpenGL under video options; is that the best(only?) setting for Linux? While reading I also saw some of Calamity's tests on input delay, is Linux stuck with the extra lag? That would be rather sad indeed   

So is there anyway to set GAsetup and LXDE to use higher kHz while maintaining my ability to use switchres for games?

On a serious note  I'm so impressed with these results, this is truly amazing. It's probably my Nvidia card that's holding me back from "fully" experiencing Groovy to it's full potential, but I must say the installation process is a snap, also using MC to setup paths is very easy. The same goes for using it for transferring files! I really don't know how to say thanks, Groovy is like a work of art. I've been recommending it to everyone I know that could be interested.

[Ansa89]

Communication for linux users: here you can find the 15KHz patches for linux 3.12.

[ves]

Hello, we could have solved the mistakes of plymouth, and to have 15khz more quickly.

Steps:

1-Edit mkinitcpio.conf.
         vim /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

2-Change.
         MODULES=""
for
         MODULES="radeon nouveau"

3-From terminal run
         mkinitcpio -p linux && reboot.

Thanks for upgrades Alsa89.

[ozfalcon]

I was wondering if someone knowledgeable could clarify some questions regarding the Live CD.
I am 99% sure this is the way it works, But just wanted to double check to be 100%

This is for Linux only, Not windows.
Regarding modelines and xorg.conf,
<Edit>After monitor setup, The xorg.conf file contains ONE modeline.
My understanding is GroovyMame will create the appropriate mode, Then switch into it.

I just wanted to get clarification on that part of the operation.
ie.
<edit>The only mode line in xorg.conf is the startup modeline?

[ozfalcon]

Big Hello to Ves, NightSprinter, Ansa89.
You guys are very much ahead of the pack for knowing whats what.
I'm just reading though all the posts in this thread.........To get upto speed on whats happening.

Any ideas on what causes this error (And solutions to it). This error is NOT Groovy specific.

X Error of failed request:  BadValue (integer parameter out of range for operation)
  Major opcode of failed request:  150 (XFree86-VidModeExtension)
  Minor opcode of failed request:  10 (XF86VidModeSwitchToMode)
  Value in failed request:  0xc0000e
  Serial number of failed request:  847
  Current serial number in output stream:  849

<Update>
After reading the thread, It looks like the "Dynamic Res Change" patch is what I am missing.
ie. Create & enter modes AFTER starting X.

[This concerns running in syncrefresh mode only]
I am creating the modes manually (With cvt & xrandr) and activating them.
Then running mainline Mame (With switchres turned off).
Which results in the above error (Game still runs - But syncrefresh doesn't work).

If the Option "PreferredMode" in xorg.conf matches the resolution I am entering and running Mame at, Then the error does NOT occur.
The game is synced to the speed of the refresh, All is good. (Manually creating modes in xorg.conf works also)

If I omit "PreferredMode" or use a different resolution to what "PreferredMode" is set to, The error occurs & I am unable to run Mame in syncrefresh mode properly. Mame changes the refresh rate to one of the EDID monitor reported rates (But keeps the current resolution) and syncs to that. (eg. 75hz)

I think:

This PreferredMode must be registered somewhere when SDL initiates. When SDLMame runs - It looks for any matching modes, If it can't find one it throws an error. Then proceeds to fallback to the same resolution, But selects a refresh available from the monitor EDID.

Relevant post:

"Dynamic Res Change"
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,130667.msg1387070.html#msg1387070

Ok, it's the dynamic resolution change what is failing there. This is because the SDL patch is not working or didn't get applied. This patch is required to enable dynamic resolution change: to be able to switch to a newly created resolution after an SDL instance has been loaded. So either disable the -changeres option or try to fix SDL.

<Added>
So if i wanted to run Groovy on other distro's I'd need to apply the SDL patch else the same issues would arise.

[ozfalcon]

One last question while I'm reading this thread and the new 151 patch thread.

How is the resolution implemented?
ie.
Run Groovymame <romname>

Groovy finds the best res & refresh for that rom.

Does Groovymame then call the external program switchres to change res or does it do it internally?
ie. There is a switchres program on the Live CD, There is also switchres code in the Groovy151.diff

[Calamity]

Hi ozfalcon,

GroovyMAME already contains the SwitchRes code, it doesn't call anything external, apart from xrandr, which it uses to enable the new modelines. You can see the details if you enable the verbose output in GroovyMAME (-v) .

SwitchRes, the standalone program, was used for this before it was integrated in GroovyMAME. It works as a launcher for emulators & modeline generator. Now, it is still used to create the modelines for the X desktop (xorg.conf), according to the selected monitor type. Besides, it is used to invoke other emulators like Mednafen, which do not have the integrated modeline support.

The errors you're seeing are probably because you're running GroovyMAME on a standard distribution, or with the wrong hardware. GroovyMAME assumes it's going to work in a "special" environment, with patched SDL, patched ATI drivers, and an ATI card (it's supposed to work with Nvidia now too).

ATI drivers need to be patched to accept low resolutions, otherwise xrandr will fail with an out of range error.

Also, using this in normal monitors with an EDID usually causes conflicts with the information taken from the EDID by the drives. It's possible to get around those issues by a wise selection of the working ranges in mame.ini, etc., however you only get the full potential with standard resolution CRT/arcade monitors.

[Calamity]

Hi Grobyc, sorry for my late answer.

Quick question about settings around 120Hz, should I enable syncrefresh, or something else? A couple of times small tears happened, but the speed was a constant 100% I'm thinking I need to set something in my Mame.ini but I don't know what. (Side question, do I have to enable the same CRT ranges for UME? I haven't set that up yet..)

New version of GM (SwitchRes v0.015) has black frame insertion support, this is meant to be used with 120 Hz setups in combination with -syncrefresh. It provides the best experience in terms of smoothness for 120 Hz setups. A couple of 120 Hz default presets have been added too.

Syncrefresh is Vsync right? So what's up with "wait for vsync" option?

The waitvsync option is managed internally by GroovyMAME, so whatever you set there will be overridden. The option you want to use is -syncrefresh.

What about Multithreading, I recall Calamity saying it shouldn't me enabled in main line Mame, so I should leave it enabled in Groovy?

You can't leave it enabled in Linux, no problem, although it's perfectly fine to disable it.

Also about OpenGL under video options; is that the best(only?) setting for Linux? While reading I also saw some of Calamity's tests on input delay, is Linux stuck with the extra lag? That would be rather sad indeed   

Yes, this is something we have to live with by now.

So is there anyway to set GAsetup and LXDE to use higher kHz while maintaining my ability to use switchres for games?

You can actually define any modeline that you want in xorg.conf, this will be used for LXDE. This doesn't affect the ability to use SwitchRes for games. It's just that the automatic setup uses the same monitor preset both for MAME and for the desktop, so if you select a higher resolution monitor preset the same one will be applied to games (i.e. "vesa_768"). You can just select "vesa_768", this will allow you to run LXDE at 1024x768. Then manually edit mame.ini, and select the monitor settings according to what you want.

[ozfalcon]

Hi ozfalcon,

GroovyMAME already contains the SwitchRes code, it doesn't call anything external, apart from xrandr, which it uses to enable the new modelines. You can see the details if you enable the verbose output in GroovyMAME (-v) .

SwitchRes, the standalone program, was used for this before it was integrated in GroovyMAME. It works as a launcher for emulators & modeline generator. Now, it is still used to create the modelines for the X desktop (xorg.conf), according to the selected monitor type. Besides, it is used to invoke other emulators like Mednafen, which do not have the integrated modeline support.

The errors you're seeing are probably because you're running GroovyMAME on a standard distribution, or with the wrong hardware. GroovyMAME assumes it's going to work in a "special" environment, with patched SDL, patched ATI drivers, and an ATI card (it's supposed to work with Nvidia now too).

ATI drivers need to be patched to accept low resolutions, otherwise xrandr will fail with an out of range error.

Also, using this in normal monitors with an EDID usually causes conflicts with the information taken from the EDID by the drives. It's possible to get around those issues by a wise selection of the working ranges in mame.ini, etc., however you only get the full potential with standard resolution CRT/arcade monitors.

Great, Thanks Antonio.
Very helpful to know the progression & usage of these utils.

[Ansa89]

I updated the "allow_low_res" patch for nouveau 1.0.9.

[blontic]

I am looking at running GroovyArcade because WinXP doesn't seems to like my hardware but was wondering if I install the version on the website will I get all these updates? Seems like there is still a lot of post customization going on.

I was hoping to run Groovymame 151 but it sounds like I need to patch some extra things.

Thanks

[Ansa89]

Groovyarcade comes as live-cd, so just give it a try .
If you have a spare hd, then you can also install and test it.

[NightSprinter]

So, something is going wrong with upgrading to a patched SDL 1.2.15.  When running WarGods, the following error occurs:

Code: [Select]

SwitchRes: [wargods] (1) horizontal (512x400@57.35)->(1024x800@57.35)
sdlvideo_init: Initialization failed!
Will attach the log from groovymame, but what could have changed from 1.2.14 to 1.2.15 to make the patch not work properly?

[Calamity]

Hi NightSprinter,

Are you using all the patches available here?: https://code.google.com/p/groovyarcade/source/browse?repo=diff#git%2Fsdl-1.2.15-5

Can other games switch to their resolution properly or is a general problem?