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Author Topic: Emulators not switching resolution  (Read 2886 times)

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strontium

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Emulators not switching resolution
« on: February 06, 2018, 05:08:31 am »
Hi I have my cabinet working perfectly with groovymame but recently I decided to add a few other systems SNES (zsnes) Genesis (Gens)

When I run them in 256*224 they are not switching resolution and I just have a box that is small on the screen running the game. Is there something I'm missing maybe in the config setup in attractmode or command line options etc..

I really appreciate any steer / help to resolve this issue

Thanks

Strontium

haynor666

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Re: Emulators not switching resolution
« Reply #1 on: February 06, 2018, 12:13:20 pm »
According to http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,149052.0.html ZNES should be fine. Gens might suffer from the same problem as Kega Fusion.

Doozer

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Re: Emulators not switching resolution
« Reply #2 on: February 07, 2018, 10:55:11 am »
Hi I have my cabinet working perfectly with groovymame but recently I decided to add a few other systems SNES (zsnes) Genesis (Gens)

When I run them in 256*224 they are not switching resolution and I just have a box that is small on the screen running the game. Is there something I'm missing maybe in the config setup in attractmode or command line options etc..

I really appreciate any steer / help to resolve this issue

Thanks

Strontium

Hi Strontium,

I assume you are looking for dynamic resolution change feature for those emulator. You will have to use either the standalone switchres application (not updated for a long time) or set the resolution using the xrandr command separately (game dependant).

The Genesis [320×224 (NTSC), 320×240 (PAL)] and SNES [224×256 to 448x512 ] are not sharing the same resolutions and you can experience in-game resolution switching as well.

The way forward (simple solution) would be to create a script to change the resolution and call the emulator. By selecting the most common resolution for each emulator, you will be in a position to have acceptable rendering for most of the games. Hope it helps.




strontium

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Re: Emulators not switching resolution
« Reply #3 on: February 07, 2018, 12:18:12 pm »
Hey Doozer thanks for outlining this it helps. What I don't understand is that my xorg.conf only has a single modeline in it:

ModeLine          "648x480x60.00" 13.129200 648 672 736 840 480 482 487 521 -HSync -VSync interlace

and when I run: DISPLAY=:0 xrandr after starting the xorg server I only see one resolution as shown:

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 648 x 480, maximum 8192 x 8192
VGA-0 disconnected primary (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DIN disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DVI-0 connected 648x480+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
   648x480x60.00  60.00*

would you be able to help me with the xrandr command I could try to see if I can get the resolution manually and then I can work on the script.

Thanks

Strontium

Edglaf

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Re: Emulators not switching resolution
« Reply #4 on: February 08, 2018, 04:21:15 am »
Hi,

May be youd'd better use MAME/(mess) to emulate those roms. Al least, the megadrive driver status is apparently perfect...

haynor666

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Re: Emulators not switching resolution
« Reply #5 on: February 08, 2018, 05:56:42 am »
Quote
32X (Console)
MAME Driver Status: Preliminary
Best Emulator: RetroArch (PicoDrive Core)
PicoDrive represents a solid, open-source 32X emulator which appears to be roughly on par with Steve Snake's closed-source Kega Fusion. In fact, PicoDrive only has troubles with a few titles that are no problems for Kega Fusion. That said, while NonMAME mainly focuses on accuracy, Kega Fusion's status as a closed-source emulator tilts the balance slightly in favor of PicoDrive. While PicoDrive is an excellent standalone emulator, RetroArch offers an even better overall experience across more platforms.

For further information regarding RetroArch, see our RetroArch write-up.

Regarding the MAME driver, Kale stated in his blog dated 12/23/2012:

"Again, timings are annoyingly strict on this one too, and there might be SH-2 core bugs in a bunch of spots (Sangokushi or Virtua Racing Deluxe, for example). Games on this system are mostly written in pure ASM code, unlike most of the other SH-2 based systems, so there's an higher change of core bugs happening. It's otherwise usable, although it needs a very high end CPU if you want to play anything. A bunch of games (like WWF Raw) does illogical stuff like writing to the ROM region on the copyright screen. Enabling the ROM to be writeable makes the background logo to appear (and I think it should), if it's a joke it's a very good one..."
MAME Edge Case Examples:
Star Wars Arcade (doesn't start)
Virtua Racing Deluxe (graphics problems)
X-Men (black screen before entering game)

Quote
Sega CD (Console)
MAME Driver Status: Preliminary
Best Emulator: RetroArch (Genesis Plus GX Core)
Genesis Plus GX represents a solid, open-source Sega CD emulator which appears to be roughly on par with Steve Snake's closed-source Kega Fusion. It even emulates "Pier Solar and the Great Architects" while its closest open-source "competition" PicoDrive doesn't, and features a cycle-accurate audio core. While Genesis Plus GX is an excellent standalone emulator, RetroArch offers an even better overall experience across more platforms. However, were it not for PicoDrive's lack of CHD support in RetroArch's PicoDrive core, we'd recommend that over this one now, as it's gotten accurate enough to "compete".

For further information regarding RetroArch, see our RetroArch write-up.

The MAME driver has been making progress but is far from mature. As Kale observes in his blog dated 12/23/2012:

"Stock Mega CD (the Japanese one) doesn't load anything for now (it was working before), you need to use megacd2j if you want to play a JP game. Compatibility ratio is otherwise hit or miss, due of the timings that have a huger impact on this than regular MD."

Last time I tested Megadrive it has some problems for example with Comix Zone game.

retrorepair

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Re: Emulators not switching resolution
« Reply #6 on: February 08, 2018, 10:54:38 am »
Would you mind sharing where you referenced those from? Seems a useful resource.
My arcade racing setup:
My Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/RetroRepair
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haynor666

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Re: Emulators not switching resolution
« Reply #7 on: February 08, 2018, 01:55:10 pm »

Doozer

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Re: Emulators not switching resolution
« Reply #8 on: February 09, 2018, 11:17:18 am »
@strontium

You can find help about the different modeline here : http://www.geocities.ws/podernixie/htpc/modes-en.html

AS an example, I will take SNES NTSC resolution 256x224

Here is the modeline definition: Modeline "256x224 NTSC (60Hz)" 5.370 256 274 299 341 224 236 239 262  -hsync -vsync

Let's activate it via xrandr. (you can also add it to your xorg.conf to start with this instead)

Add as many resolutions as liked
Code: [Select]
# add the new resolution(s) once
xrandr --newmode "256x224_60"   5.370 256 274 299 341 224 236 239 262  -hsync -vsync
xrandr --addmode VGA-0  256x224_60

Create a script to launch the emulator
Code: [Select]
# select a resolution
xrandr --output VGA-0 --mode 256x224_60

# launch your emulator
gens.....  <-- update to your need

# switch back to desk resolution, use xrandr command to check the default resolution name, this is based on your provided output
xrandr --output VGA-0 --mode 648x480x60.00