modding asteroids deluxe space duel MAME ROMs for better colors/sound

[madscijr]

Two things annoy me about the Atari vector arcade games Asteroids Deluxe and Space Duel (inside MAME):

1. the thrust sound in Space Duel is high-pitched and lame; I would like the thrust sound to be like the original Asteroids

2. the green colors in Asteroids Deluxe; I would like the super-bright vector display colors of the original Asteroids (or at least the color to be white/gray like the original)

Does anyone have the knowhow to make these changes to the ROM files?  I think this would improve those games.

Thanks

[PL1]

2. the green colors in Asteroids Deluxe; I would like the super-bright vector display colors of the original Asteroids (or at least the color to be white/gray like the original)

Does anyone have the knowhow to make these changes to the ROM files?

The ROM has nothing to do with this.

The original looked like it did because it was on a vector CRT.

Your LED/LCD (?) display won't look as good as the original CRT, but it can look a lot better than what you get with MAME's default settings for vector games.

You don't mention which version of MAME you are running, but newer versions have more/better display controls than the older versions.

In MAME's "Video Options" menu choose "Color Overlay" for color or "Standard" or "Pixel Aspect" for B+W.

You can tweak the overlay color in the layout file. (default.lay file in the astdelux.zip artwork file)

Code: [Select]

<element name="overlay">
<rect>
<bounds x="0" y="0" width="1" height="1" />
<color red="0.5333" green="1.0" blue="1.0" />
</rect>
</element>
In MAME's "Slider Controls" menu there are some simple adjustments like Screen Brightnesss, Screen Contrast, Beam Width.

If those aren't enough, search for threads with keywords like "vector settings".


Scott
EDIT: Forgot to mention that you may want to consider using AAE instead of MAME for some of the vector games like these.
Unfortunately, AAE hasn't been updated since 2008 so the required ROMs will be from a late-2008 version of MAME. (may require a bit of trial and error to find the right ones)