Nanao Monitor, Trident 3d Blade, Tview Micro

[D]

Well . . . to make a long story short.  Not the results I was hoping for.  Trident is not allowing hardware stretch in Mame 32, so MANY games are not displaying well . . . hell there aren't even displaying well enough to play.  

I purchased the Tview Micro instead of the SXGA version.  So, Optho's hack is out of the question.  

Question for all you that have treaded these waters before me.  What step should I take next?  

[NOTE] I was hoping for a somewhat decent picutre in Windows.  This would allow me to still use the computer for file storage/ftp server as well as an Arcade Machine.  If I go into dos I have 100 GB of storage and a whole lot of processing power just sitting there.

Any general or specific thoughts are more than welcome.

[Andy Geez]

You sure the Trident Blade doesn't support HW stretch?? Check your MAME.INI and make sure
hwstretch = 1 and
keepaspect = 0

Trident T64 from Ultimarc is the *BEST* arcade monitor solution, and offers the best possible picture (no altering of the picture, exact game frequencys +/-0.5%), allowing games to be at there true colour depth and there true frame rate.

[Trigger Happy]

I'm positive that the T64 does not allow hardware stretch in MAME32 .60.  I've done everything to try to make it work.  It never worked with the original Blade3D either.  I've reinstalled Win98SE and also the latest DirectX, with still no luck.

The Hardware stretch option is greyed-out (not-selectable) in all the latest MAME32 builds I've tried with the T64 card.

However.... based on another post I read, I found an old build of Kaillera that would allow hardware stretching, but none of the recent compiles will.  I have no idea why this one build in particular allows stretching.  I'll have to check for sure what version of Kaillera it was, but it was around the .56 time, I think.

[tom61]

Why don't you try the official MameW and see if that works?

[Andy Geez]

Yes, only use MAMEW, as this is the offical version of MAME for Windows 9x platforms.

MAME32 doesn't really support DirectX if I remember correctly, its more of a hack job.

[Trigger Happy]

BTW, I tried mame(w) .59 w/ emuloader and got the same results with my original Blade3D.  I'll try the .60 version with the T64 and see if it works.

Andy, can you say for certain that IT DOES WORK?  I can't tell if your post is merely a suggestion, or a statement that it does work.  I see lots of speculation and people posting that the T64 doesn't work w/ hardware stretch, but I haven't read a single post on any message board stating that the T64 DOES in fact support hardware stretching.

I'll give it one more try, and then into the trash it goes if it doesn't work... I'm getting really sick of messing with these Trident cards.

Thanks for the replies, guys.

[D]

People have posted that the Blade card is the best card for MAME.  I bought this card specifically on their recommendations (many worded similiar to Andy's post above.  

From these people, I am requesting more information regarding your setups.  Are you running 15hz monitors or 24hz?   Mame32 or MameW?  Mame versions, direct x versions, OS versions.  Frontends? etc.

[SNAAAKE]

okay i can help...use stretch mame 32...first download MAME 32 then get rid of MAME32.exe...then download streath mame 32...use that .exe instead...thats all i think.....i had some problem long time ago about streatching..and that did work..good luck man

[D]

On a related note, the color, brightness, saturation, etc. settings for the video card are also greyed out.  

I have just now realized that the high brightness/contrast settings are the reason for the amount of flicker on the arcade monitor, but I am unable to adjust these in Windows.

Anyone else have this problem.  What drivers are people using for their T64 cards?

[Andy Geez]

Use the control panel -> Display -> Settings -> Advanced -> Colour and change your RGB colours to whatever looks the best.

Please not the J-PAC doesn't correctly support the 640x480 interlaced signal yet, but we are working on a solution.

Best results has to be AdvancedMAME using AdvencedMENU as the frontend, because this supports the ability to create exact modes that match the games exact requirements and colour depth, also AdvancedMAME is noticably faster than any version of Windows MAME.

[Trigger Happy]

We seem to be going round-robin, but the biggest reason I went with the Trident T64 is so I wouldn't have to use AdvanceMAME.

Using AdvanceMAME kinda defeats the whole purpose of using the T64, because I thought I would be able to get full screen games through Windows.  If I wanted to use AdvanceMAME, I surely wouldn't be using these Trident cards, as there are a number of other cards available.

I still haven't seen anyone come out and say that the T64 DOES support hardware stretch, and I certainly can't make it work, so I guess the answer must be "NO, it won't work".   Please somebody tell me I'm wrong and the T64 fully supports hardware stretch, and what I would have to do to accomplish it....  That would make me a very happy gamer!

[D]

Andy - are most games playable for you?  Mr. Do looks great.  Better picture than the PCB, but I can not get resolutions to work for Ms. PacMan, Galaga, Street Fighter 2.

What are your settings for these games?  Are you running anything besides just the blade.exe?  SciTech, Monarc? etc?  

I must be missing something here.

[Andy Geez]

I can get the picture to stretch on MAMEW, however it does keep the aspect ratio, so for example there black bars left and right for some games.

If you want perfect MAME emulation, why are you using Windows?!

Windows has the following modes (Unless you use Geforce cards which you can do you own displays), although note Geforce can't do 15.75khz modes as the Dotclock is not stable for that low Khz.

320x200
320x240
400x300
512x384
640x400
640x480
720x480
756x480
800x600

Yes, all video cards have them modes, and yes there freq will be capped to 60hz for normal monitors. Why on earth would you expect a game 384x224 for example to fit in 640x480?! Its not going to happen without noticable picture degradition, maybe I am a perfectionist, but I think the whole point of MAME and building MAME cabs is to keep the games as close to original as possible..

I use the T64 for Windows todo the following:

Play Modeller and other Windows only emulators, to play DVDs and Movies and sometime surf the net (1024x768 Interlaced Med Res monitor mode), not to use MAME when it is already enhanced and availabe for DOS.

D, I have no problems running any game, you have to not use the Generate function of AdvMAME though, I use the clock setting and create the modes using the Advv.exe utility.

If you need help, e-mail me privately for assistance..

Andy Geez

Off course it is also possible to create your own perfect VESA modes using MONARC+ for regular MAME

my old MonARC+ page http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.lewis5/arcade/monarc.htm
Dos Blade/Win Blade drivers
http://www.ultimarc.com/Blade.html

[Trigger Happy]

Thanks for the reply, Andy.

The reason I'm asking about hardware stretch isn't just for MAME, but I'm also trying to use other emulators that take advantage of hardware stretching, too.  I do know that stretching has adverse effects on certain resolutions, as you have indicated, and I'm not attempting to stretch all games.

Is it possible that you know more than you are letting on?  You wouldn't happen to know that that the T64 doesn't support hardware stretching, and this is why you are trying to get people to use AdvanceMAME or other MAME variants?  Or possibly you fear that such a disclosure will affect Ultimarc's sales of the T64?  If you do know this, please let me know so I can stop beating my head against the wall.   Perhaps I'm just being paranoid.... too many hours trying figure this out, my eyes are bleeding and my brain is going numb....

Thanks again.

[Andy Geez]

To be honest, I've only used MAMEW and Modeller for quick testing for the Windows Blade driver, I've not tested it with anything else, apart from the basic (Windows Overlays, Direct3D) I'll see if I can find out if it can or can't do Hardware assist stretching (as you know every card can do software stretching).

Thanks

Andy

[Andy Geez]

Just checked the Trident Blade/T64 driver caps and it has hardware stretch as unsupported..

So that explains why you've had no luck..

[D]

Thanks andy.  I guess that from the many posts on the boards I had arrived at or jumped to incorrect conclusions about the abilities of the card.  

I'll put the Nvidia card back in and use advmame.  

Thanks for your time and effort.

[Andy Warne]

There is no reason why Andy Geez should be concerned about Ultimarc's sales! He is not directly involved with us, just been kind enough to allow us to put his utilities on our site. His advice should be impartial, and he has a good knowledge of these issues.

Thanks for the reply, Andy.

The reason I'm asking about hardware stretch isn't just for MAME, but I'm also trying to use other emulators that take advantage of hardware stretching, too.