Thought I'd update where I got to with this.
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I re-rolled my XP64sp2 ISO/USB with HP SATA drivers included, got my next machine up easily.
Then had problems with VMM crashing while generating modelines from Mame_0200 by .xml. VMM would crash after cropping redundant modes. This happened with both plainmame and groovymame, even when I compiled it myself or downloaded the xml file separately. It even happened when I recompiled mame with a workaround for the "non-power-of-two textures" issue with Mame from 0.180 or so (see below). I re-tested with GM 0.179 and all was fine. I guess I should get/generate a log file for Calamity to look at. (Looked: there's a log but nothing recorded in it! Pic below of where VMM got to before crashing)
As noted above, Mame_0200 and GM_0200 would not work on my XP64 as the Radeon X1050 64MB graphics card (this is what it calls itself in dxdiag now) is apparently too dumb for the vision of modern Mame that the Mamedevs have. So I had to re-compile Groovymame from source with an old-d3d-workaround patch applied. I also rolled the ARCADE32/MAMEUIFX mods/hacks/fixes in as well as they look pretty good (Thanks Haynor666!):
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,154799.0.htmlEverything worked fine after that (except the xml parsing for video modes bit)
Then I had some fun with using VMM to create video modes. It is very confusing at first, but once you get your head around it it is really very easy. The trick is to get a good set of basic video modes for your favourite games/systems (Calamity provides some to start you off) and get your monitor profiles right. Then just let VMM do the hard work of creating your remaining modes, and you can tweak them later with Arcade OSD. Then re-save/re-load your modes and have another go if you like.
Getting a monitor profile right for my Sony Profeel was not easy. Like a TV, it has vertical freq ranges based around 50hz and 60hz. So you need a monitor profile with 2 sets of specs, and for them both to play nicely together. #tip: 50hz accommodates more vertical lines up to 288 progressive (288p), but 60hz is mostly limited to 240p (maybe 248p). So 50hz goes first, put your 60hz spec line second, and just make sure the 60hz spec specifies less vertical lines that the 50hz spec.
monitor "Sony", "Sony Profeel", "4:3"
crt_range0 14500-16150, 49.00-51.50, 1.000, 4.700, 9.000, 0.064, 0.192, 1.024, 0, 0, 192, 288, 448, 512
crt_range1 14500-16150, 59.00-65.00, 2.000, 4.700, 9.000, 0.064, 0.192, 1.024, 0, 0, 208, 248, 448, 480
Getting the 2 spec lines right is important because otherwise VMM will make "junk" modes in the 52-58hz range, which the Sony can't do. But GM will think they are cool and give a game like "Flying Shark" a 55hz video mode and you'll end up with a blank screen, which would be very uncool. If you don't get the monitor spec lines right then you'll have to weed out the junk modes every time you generate a new set with VMM.
Once you get the monitor specs right, including porch settings to suit your gear, VMM generates mode to fit and does most of the work for you.
Turns out the Sony Profeel can handle some very low horizontal frequencies. I had her generating 288p modelines as low as 14.5khz/49hz! This girl sure can go low, but she tops out close to 16.2khz so I set the upper limit at 16.15khz.
I had some problems with choppy sound on Galaga/1942 once I got GM working. So I installed latest HD Realtek audio drivers. Still had problems. Then I went through mame.ini turned off all the main sync/refresh options except autosync (on the reasoning that GM takes over sync anyway). Set "frameskip 1". Everything was good (for a while).
Seeing Galaga play properly for the first time with Groovymame was a revelation! Amazing! Can't describe it, wow
Unfortunately, now I have choppy sound problems with Flying Shark, because it's natural video mode's refresh rate is nearly 55hz, which my Sony can't do. Originally I thought I'd gotten around the issue by setting "autoframeskip 1" and "frameskip 0", then Flying Shark was smooth again. But since then I've re-installed video modes and Flying Shark has choppy sound again. Hmmmmmm........
I think I might know the answer. fshark wants 320x240@54.XX (I can't remember exactly), and GM tries to run it in 320x240@60hz and fudge that down to 54.XX. I guess it is too much for my core2duo E7500 2GB RAM and it slows down. Reason why it didn't slow down so much previously, before I installed modes again, was that 320x240 was set @51.5hz, much closer to the target refresh rate. So I may need to make sure I tweak the mode list to accommodate this kind of thing.
I'd be interested to know more about how GM/switchres prioritises video mode choice when launching game. What is more important, geometry or vertical sync?
Anyway, I've still got a lot of tweaking to do, but hopefully the hardest parts are now over (phew!). Ultimately this first XP64 PC will go into a vertical cab with a Loewe 26" TV. That Loewe has it's own story.
Cheers, Zeb.