Help with CRT_EmuDriver: Screen Rotation and HyperSpin

[twistedsymphony]

I'm running 32-bit Win XP with an HD4350 card and the latest GroovyMAME and CRT_EmuDriver. output to a Sanyo 20ez arcade monitor via J-PAC.

Before installing CRT_EmuDriver I had everything 100% working the way I wanted.

My setup relied on using the video driver to rotate windows 90 degrees so that even with a vertical monitor the windows UI looked right side up. HyperSpin, MAME, Fix-It-Felix and PC Ikaruga all ran perfectly in this mode.

after installing CRT_EmuDriver HyperSpin and HyperSpinHQ both refuse to launch and windows is back to displaying horizontally instead of vertically, and the option to rotate the screen is no longer available.

I read that HyperSpin wont work if there are over 160 Modlines activated, since I'm using "arcade_15" and there are only 120 modlines from what I've counted so I don't know why it's not launching.

MAME seems to launch fine and switch resolutions properly, however Fix it Felix and Ikaruga don't run properly due to to the screen rotation.

Any help would be appreciated as this is the last thing I need to do until my machine is complete. Thanks 

[twistedsymphony]

I ran VMM in an attempt to pair down the list of video modes (since I'm running less than 100 games).  after that HyperSpin Launches but now the Catalyst driver crashes the first time it tries to change video modes.

I also still have the rotation issue. the options are grayed out in both the tray options AND in the Catalyst Control Center. :-/

[twistedsymphony]

manually removed the Catalyist driver and control center, rebooted then reinstalled to fix the crashing problem.

downloaded iRotate to fix the desktop rotation problem... everything is working as it should now.

[Calamity]

Hi twistedsymphony,

Maybe you didn't install the exact required version of Catalyst. Here are the links that match the different versions CRT Emudriver:

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/archive/radeon-prer300-xp
http://downloads.guru3d.com/ATI-Catalyst-9.3-WHQL-Windows-XP-64-bit-download-2215.html
http://downloads.guru3d.com/ATI-Catalyst-9.3-WHQL-Windows-XP-32-bit-download-2216.html

Anyway, I don't like CCC because it's bloatware. If you find that iRotate does the job I prefer that solution, thanks for the pointer.

That said, rotating the desktop will probably prevent GM from working right. GM can't handle the mode list if they're returned in "portrait" orientation by the OS. It's a better idea to rotate the frontend and emulators if this is allowed, and keep the desktop on its native orientation.

As far as I know Fix-it-Felix allows any rotation.

[twistedsymphony]

Hi twistedsymphony,

Maybe you didn't install the exact required version of Catalyst. Here are the links that match the different versions CRT Emudriver:

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/archive/radeon-prer300-xp
http://downloads.guru3d.com/ATI-Catalyst-9.3-WHQL-Windows-XP-64-bit-download-2215.html
http://downloads.guru3d.com/ATI-Catalyst-9.3-WHQL-Windows-XP-32-bit-download-2216.html

Anyway, I don't like CCC because it's bloatware. If you find that iRotate does the job I prefer that solution, thanks for the pointer.

That said, rotating the desktop will probably prevent GM from working right. GM can't handle the mode list if they're returned in "portrait" orientation by the OS. It's a better idea to rotate the frontend and emulators if this is allowed, and keep the desktop on its native orientation.

As far as I know Fix-it-Felix allows any rotation.

I've been using v9.3 for 32bit from the link above since I've got a hd4350 on Win XP 32-bit.

As per my last post, since installing iRotate everything seem to be running fine.

GM seems to be running great with the desktop rotated... what problems does it usually cause?

[Calamity]

Would you mind posting a log of a random game (GM)? I'd like to see how the different video modes are being reported. If it actually works without the common issues then this iRotate program is quite a discovery.

[twistedsymphony]

here's the captured verbose output, I started in windows, then loaded mame,
I launched pacman then exited
then launched space invaders deluxe then exited
then launched visara 2 (a very modern shooter) then exited
then I quit mame

I'm not sure why I'm seeing switchres fire 50+ times on every change (is that normal?) but it seems to be finding the correct rotated resolution.

[cools]

Any chance of some photos to go with it?

[Calamity]

I'm not sure why I'm seeing switchres fire 50+ times on every change (is that normal?) but it seems to be finding the correct rotated resolution.

Switchres: Searching for custom video modes...
SwitchRes: Found 0 custom of 0 active video modes

As I thought, Switchres is not working at all, it can't handle the rotated modes. So it's defaulting to the desktop resolution.

I guess this situation should get fixed in the future, but for now the only way to get GM working fine is keeping the desktop in landscape orientation relative to the monitor (default), then setting each frontend/game/emulator to rotate 90º.

Thanks for your logs anyway.

[twistedsymphony]

that's annoying... hyperspin wont run in vertical mode without the desktop being rotated. so I'll have to fire an iRotate script to rotate the screen whenever I enter/exit mame.

[Sledge]

So, i'm about to get a second cabinet with a vertical screen, dedicated to vertical games...
What is the current best way to set this up for use with GM?

[twistedsymphony]

So, i'm about to get a second cabinet with a vertical screen, dedicated to vertical games...
What is the current best way to set this up for use with GM?

My solution was to simply run windows in horizontal mode, and setup GroovyMAME to NOT rotate, that way CRT_EmuDriver and windows reported resolutions in the right format and everything played nice.

As for HyperSpin, that was running as if it was on a horizontal monitor as well, so I had to make a custom theme that displayed everything rotated and then remapped the controls to be rotated.

I believe the newer versions of CRT_EmuDriver support rotated resolutions, which would allow you to run windows and mame in portrait mode but HyperSpin is still problematic... if you use a different front end that might make for a complete solution.

[Calamity]

GroovyMAME now supports rotated desktops (since SwitchRes v0.015c):

What's new in SwitchRes v0.015c

- Support for rotated desktops (Windows & Linux).
    - E.g. if you have your desktop rotated 90º, launch GroovyMAME like this: groovymame.exe 1942 -monitor vertical -aspect 3:4
      ("Magic" resolutions won't work with rotated desktops. If you're still using them we encourage you to move to "super" resolutions).

[Sledge]

Ok, back again, I've now got a new setup ready to go, but how do i rotate the desktop etc these days now that GM supports it?
How do i setup VMMaker etc too? what settings do i use for the modelines generation? same as before?
Do we still use the same crt_range0 etc as well?
With so much having changed since i last did all this i'm confused as to how to do it all now with the xml having changed etc..
Going to be using windows 7 x64 with a HD4350 and super resolutions.
Thanks!

[twistedsymphony]

the  control panel for your video card should have screen rotation options.

CTRL+ALT+ arrow keys should also rotate your screen, though I highly recommend disabling this shortcut in windows as it can cause accidental rotation if you're using the CTRL+ ALT keys for anything.

[Sledge]

Calamity's drivers don't come with a control panel?
Going to try using iRotate

[twistedsymphony]

if you use the switchres program it has options for rotated resolutions as well.

[Sledge]

So I've pretty much set this all up now.
It's really easy, just installed everything the same as usual, and used irotate to rotate the screen, set vertical in the mame ini, and she's up and running.
Hyperspin just runs in vertical mode no worries as well..