Some Beginner Questions

[ReelTechnoFreek]

Hey guys,

I currently have a Win 7 64 bit machine running Hyperspin front end, MAME and some other emulators, hooked up to my trisync monitor at 31k.

I am very interested to go the crt_emudriver and groovymame route but have some noob questions!

1) I see there are Win 7 beta drivers doing the rounds. Should I hold out for finalised versions of these or am I best to do a fresh XP installation with XP emudrivers?

2) What's the best/most recent ATI card to support emudrivers for Win 7 or XP. The HD 4890? (Need something beefy to run Hyperspin and the newer emulators like Demul etc)

3) How does the emudrivers manage with trisync monitors? I'd love to be able to have Hyperspin and other non-MAME emulators run at 31k but just switch to 15k for MAME.

All advice appreciated,

 

Thank you

[Calamity]

1) I see there are Win 7 beta drivers doing the rounds. Should I hold out for finalised versions of these or am I best to do a fresh XP installation with XP emudrivers?

The drivers are not going to change, just the supporting software.

2) What's the best/most recent ATI card to support emudrivers for Win 7 or XP. The HD 4890? (Need something beefy to run Hyperspin and the newer emulators like Demul etc)

Yes, the HD 4890.

3) How does the emudrivers manage with trisync monitors? I'd love to be able to have Hyperspin and other non-MAME emulators run at 31k but just switch to 15k for MAME.

No problem with tri-sync monitors. Maybe you need to tweak the existing presets for your specific monitor, that's all.

[ReelTechnoFreek]

Thanks Calamity.

I've no doubt you've been asked this a thousand times but an arcadevga set to trisync achieve the same results as the crt emudrivers as discussed above.

Let groovymame do its magic then?

[ReelTechnoFreek]

Just wondering can anyone help me. I have an arcadevga 3000 and hyperspin setup in my trisync cab. Always ran mame in the past at 31khz but got groovymame at the weekend so going to give it a go!
 
I created the new mame.ini, made a few adjustements primarily monitor type and ranges. Many games seem to switch resolution and I get lovely scanlines but I do have a few stubborn ones which I can't get my head around.
 
1) I have tried all of the Mortal Kombat games but I can't get a stable image. VHold maxed out but the image stills rolls.
 
2) Unless I am going made it looks like any vertical games I load up don't seem to have any scanlines. The monitor flicks like it has changed the res to 15k but the image is crystal clear like  a 31k image.
These games are rotated vertical for a horizontal monitor.
 
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[cools]

2) Unless I am going made it looks like any vertical games I load up don't seem to have any scanlines. The monitor flicks like it has changed the res to 15k but the image is crystal clear like  a 31k image.
These games are rotated vertical for a horizontal monitor.

This is correct, they are running in their native resolution.

Not sure what you are expecting as a result here - horizontal or vertical scanlines?

[ReelTechnoFreek]

I'm not sure either! Just presumed for no good reason that there would be scanlines like the horizontal games!

Should there be scanlines or would they only appear if the image wasn't rotated by groovymame?

(Noob alert  )

[Calamity]

Hi ReelTechnoFreek,

Before you go on, if you're using an AVGA 3000, make sure have these options set like this in mame.ini:

lock_system_modes 0
refresh_dont_care 1

Mortal Kombat games run at 54 Hz, make sure GM is picking the right resolution (look at the Switchres field in the startup screen or create a log). You may need to teak the v-freq/v-hold potentiometer to adjust the monitor to this refresh, this shouldn't be a big issue (50-60 Hz should be in the working range).

Regarding vertical games on horizontal monitor, unless the resulting rotated resolution is equal or below 288 lines, it won't fit in the 15 kHz range, so some compromise will have to be done, usually picking a higher resolution (either 15 kHz-interlaced or 31 kHz when available) and setting bilinear filtering.

[ReelTechnoFreek]

Thanks Calamity. Yeah made those changes in the mame.ini. also added the wei ya monitor type and the three crt ranges.

Roger on the vertical games. That's ok.

Regarding Mortal Kombat, I did adjust the vhold pot on the remote board. Couldn't get a stable image at any point.
I'll check the log tonight and see what else is going on.

Is there anyway to set the resolution at 640*480 for all games? Appreciate that this would not produce the optimum image but would it reduce the fiddling with pots somewhat?

[Calamity]

Is there anyway to set the resolution at 640*480 for all games? Appreciate that this would not produce the optimum image but would it reduce the fiddling with pots somewhat?

You really don't want to do that. Non-optimum is euphemistic here. But anyway:

-resolution 640x480

[ReelTechnoFreek]

Ha. I know! It just makes things easier when flicking through and testing lots of games!

Can I just add that line to mame ini as I'm using a front-end?

[ReelTechnoFreek]

Mortal kombat log if you could take a look and see why it's not syncing vertically.

Thanks in advance!

[ReelTechnoFreek]

Seems like I've fixed the mortal kombat syncing issue.

I was trying a few different things but I think installing and enabling powerstrip did the trick.

That sound right?

Will double check it tonight.

[Calamity]

In your log everything looked fine. The only odd bit is that the resolution 400x256 reported a refresh of 52 Hz, instead of the expected 54 Hz. Maybe such a low refresh was the cause of the issue. Powerstrip should adjust the refresh to 54 Hz for Mortal Kombat. However, using Powerstrip for all games may cause some resolutions to be unstable in some cases.

[ReelTechnoFreek]

Thanks Calamity. Raiden also gave the same problem but powerstrip resolved. I'll do a bit more testing and at some stage I'd like to get a standard Radeon card and use the emudrivers and hopefully avoid all of this.

On the arcadevga site it mentions to make the following adjustments in the mame.ini
These also apply to groovymame?

#
# VIDEO OPTIONS
#
video ddraw
numscreens 1
window 0
maximize 1
keepaspect 1
prescale 1
effect none
pause_brightness 0.65
waitvsync 0
syncrefresh 0
#
# DIRECTDRAW-SPECIFIC OPTIONS
#
hwstretch 0
#
# FULL SCREEN OPTIONS
#
triplebuffer 0
switchres 1

[Calamity]

These also apply to groovymame?

No, GM already takes care of this, leave the default options as generated by "groovymame.exe -cc", and only change this for AVGA:

lock_system_modes 0
refresh_dont_care 1

[ReelTechnoFreek]

So I created a fresh mame.ini and just adjusted the two settings above. I also uninstalled power strip.

Mortal kombat works rather surprisingly, no vertical rolling. Don't know why!
Need to test more games to make sure.

I haven't add a resolution line to the ini but I find most games fit the horizontal.
As discussed the vertical needs adjustment from game to game.

Pincushion too. Anything in the ini that could adjust the Pincushion without going to the pot?

[cools]

No.

[Calamity]

Pincushion can only be adjusted from your monitor chassis (don't expect perfection however).

[ReelTechnoFreek]

In the process of setting groovymame up.

Just have a few questions please.

I'm currently testing on my pc monitor at the moment as my cab is in parts!
Running Windows 7

1) what is the option in the vmmaker ini to disable magic resolutions
2) when I run vmmaker I get the message no compatible video drivers found. What does this mean?
3) when I run groovymame I get the message switchres missing parameter in modeline 1. Why is that, what do I need to fix?
4) should the test mode watermark always stay in the bottom right hand corner on the desktop?

Thsnks in advance

[ReelTechnoFreek]

In the process of setting groovymame up.

Just have a few questions please.

I'm currently testing on my pc monitor at the moment as my cab is in parts!
Running Windows 7

1) what is the option in the vmmaker ini to disable magic resolutions
Update - I'm using Windows 7 and Hyperspin so I actually need magic resolutions to get HS to work
2) when I run vmmaker I get the message no compatible video drivers found. What does this mean?
3) when I run groovymame I get the message switchres missing parameter in modeline 1. Why is that, what do I need to fix?
Update - not a problem when ran from command line.
4) should the test mode watermark always stay in the bottom right hand corner on the desktop?
5) I disabled flash hardware acceleration. HS loads and the videos play but when I try launch a game nothing happens I.e. groovymame doesn't open. I checked the HS log and it attempts to load groovymame by command line but reports no error. Just back to HS.

Thsnks in advance

[Calamity]

Hi ReelTechnoFreek

1) Magic resolutions won't work on W7. You need "super" resolutions. Read the guide for super resolutions here: https://code.google.com/p/groovyarcade/wiki/Explanations_modelines

2) Edit vmmaker.ini, and set AnyCatalyst = 1

3) You're using and old mame.ini. Create it again by running groovymame.exe -cc

4) The watermark will stay there, I'm afraid. It only shows on the desktop, so it's not so bad after all.

5) You have something wrong with the config. I'd say GM is not finding the roms. Anyway, make sure to have GM up and running from command line, only then start messing with frontends that represent an additional layer of complexity.

[ReelTechnoFreek]

Thanks Calamity, I'm initally aiming for Windows 7 64 bit setup, groovymame and Hyperspin in my cab at 31khz.

With that in mind

1) Have the super resolutions partially setup alright but getting a bit confused with magic resolutions. I undertsand it is to be disabled for windows 7 but i read ModeTableMethod_XML = 2 needs to be set to get around Hyperspin issues?
Apologies for being thick here, I'm just not getting it!

2)Roger!

3)I defo created a new mame.ini and copied into the ini folder. I only got switchres missing paramter message if I double click the groovy exe
but not when I run from the command line it is fine. This behaviour normal?

4)Thats fine about the test mode. Just wondering had my install got stuck in that mode when it should knock itself out of it. Ovbiously not!

5)Groovymame is loading roms fin from the command line, Just fails when I try through Hyperspin. This is a mame installation I've had running successfully for some time. Just replaced the mame exe with the groovy one and pointed hyperhq to the new exe.

[Calamity]

1) Have the super resolutions partially setup alright but getting a bit confused with magic resolutions. I undertsand it is to be disabled for windows 7 but i read ModeTableMethod_XML = 2 needs to be set to get around Hyperspin issues?
Apologies for being thick here, I'm just not getting it!

Once you use "super" resolutions you no longer need ModeTableMethod_XML = 2  for HS because the mode list is kept short enough.

3)I defo created a new mame.ini and copied into the ini folder. I only got switchres missing paramter message if I double click the groovy exe
but not when I run from the command line it is fine. This behaviour normal?

5)Groovymame is loading roms fin from the command line, Just fails when I try through Hyperspin. This is a mame installation I've had running successfully for some time. Just replaced the mame exe with the groovy one and pointed hyperhq to the new exe.

If it runs ok from command line then GM is fine. If you're getting odd results invoking it in a different way it could be due to GM not being able to access its ini. Make sure you configure it so that the start folder is the same where the exe is.

Also, make sure GM has admin rights.

[ReelTechnoFreek]

Hey calamity, I decided to start with a fresh reslist, vmmaker.ini and mame.ini.

I seem to be getting better results but still encounter some issues when running games.
I get a switchres error and games seem to be running fast. See cmd prompt image below.

Just to not I'm running on a pc monitor 640*480 60hz as my cab is disassembled.
Also the switchres missing parameter in modeline 1 error I had previously doesn't occur in the groovymame build 150 but happens in 153.

I've also attached relevant files for reference.

[cools]

Why are you telling MAME to use 2480 wide resolutions when you haven't created any in resllist?

[krick]

3)I defo created a new mame.ini and copied into the ini folder.

Unless something has changed recently, I don't think that mame.ini belongs in the ini folder.


Also looking at the screenshot in your other post, it's generally a bad idea to create folder names with a space in them.  So I'd change "MAME 150" to "MAME_150".

[ReelTechnoFreek]

Why are you telling MAME to use 2480 wide resolutions when you haven't created any in resllist?

Doh. Typo. Should be 2560x0 as per here. Good spot.
https://code.google.com/p/groovyarcade/wiki/Explanations_modelines

Can anyone confirm where mame.ini should be stored?

[Calamity]

Obviosly mame.ini goes in the same folder where mame.exe is.

Also the switchres missing parameter in modeline 1 error I had previously doesn't occur in the groovymame build 150 but happens in 153

You can't use the mame.ini created by version 150 with version 153. Back then "modeline" was a boolean option, now it is a string option. Your ini shows "modeline 1" which must have come from version 150, that's why it doesn't complain about it. Version 153 expects "modeline auto" by default.

[ReelTechnoFreek]

I always thought mame had its own ini folder, especially if you go creating an ini for every single game it keeps things tidy.

From what I can tell, mame and groovymame does read the ini even if it is in its own folder.

I'll move it to the root anyway. 

[Calamity]

Hi ReelTechnoFreek,

MAME has its own ini folder indeed, there is where you put the specific game inis.

mame.ini is placed just where mame.exe is. You can probably put it in the ini folder and it will be read. Anyway we all keep it by the mame executable because that's where it is created when you run mame -cc.

Anyway as I said above the problem is your mixing different versions of mame.ini vs mame.exe.

[ReelTechnoFreek]

Thanks Calamity. Yeah will move the ini into the root and correct that stupid super resolution typo. Should be in a good place then.

Interestingly I was full sure I created a new ini from the 153 build that I have . 

[Calamity]

Try creating mame.ini again and open it to make sure the modeline option is set to "auto".

[ReelTechnoFreek]

Will do.

Any thoughts on why some games have speeds a good bit over 100% but are fine in regular mame.
See image above.

Thanks again.

[Calamity]

Any thoughts on why some games have speeds a good bit over 100% but are fine in regular mame.

Wrong config. Mk3 running at 109% means it's using 60 Hz instead of 54 Hz. Create a proper log to find the reason.

[ReelTechnoFreek]

I created a brand new ini for groovymame153 in a totally separate folder to make sure it was fresh. VMmaker also references 153.

Modeline now says auto.

With regard to some games running fast, I've attached an mk3 log.

If you had time to review that would be great. 

[ReelTechnoFreek]

Update,

I also had created a new Vmmaker file and realised I hadn't updated the monitor_specs0 to reflect 31k monitor.

I copied the following from cools guide

Leave it on "CUSTOM" if you have a 31KHz monitor and make a few more changes:

    monitor_specs0 31400-31500, 49.50-65.00, 0.940, 3.770, 1.890, 0.349, 0.064, 1.017, 0, 0, 512, 800
    XresMin_XML = 512
    YresMin_XML = 400

Now when I try run groovymame from cmd or the exe I get the error
Switchres could not find a video mode that meets your specs.

One step forwards and two back 

[cools]

Post your VMMaker.ini

[Calamity]

Also post a log of whatever game. And check the Modelines.txt file to see what's been generated in there, post it here. If SwichRes says it can't find a suitable mode, trust it.

Regarding your previous problem with wrong speed in mk3, I think it has to do with a problem that's W7 specific and was already solved in SwitchRes 0.015b. Please update, everyone running GM in W7 must use a version based on SwitchRes 0.015b or newer.

[ReelTechnoFreek]

Ok, So I updated to Gm154 to make sure I had the latest switchres.I also update vmmaker to point to the new exe and created a new mame.ini. Games running at 100% now anyway so that's one thing fixed.

Switchres error message still there. So I've attached a number of files which hopefully will point out whatever stupid mistake I am making 

[cools]

You haven't set anycatalyst to 1 again.

Also get rid of everything except the super and desktop resolutions in resllist.txt