2020 - Back in the Game with some Questions

[SteveJ34]

The cab I built many many moons ago I used a 27" CRT 4:3 TV. That machine saw its last software update in 2004 and is still running on the same hardware I built it with.

It resides in my son's man cave and is still actively played today. Other bartop and basic desktop machines I helped friends with I based on 19" 4:3 LCDs.

My nephew and I are working on what will likely be a pedestal with LCD TV on the wall. I've put together an I5 Windows system and have been tinkering with front ends and other software components.

I dusted off an old one player stick from my storage that I originally built/modified by upgrading the joy and buttons to Happ parts in a fighter stick sold by Red Octane.

That was an original XBOX controller that I added a USB adapter for connecting to PC. The XBOX card inside seems to have been faulty so I swapped in a Reyann USB Encoder.

Glad to report I can still kick butt in Galaga after all these years.

Given that the machines I have had experience in building were all 4:3 based displays, what is the impact of using 16:9 displays of today?

I am still getting my feet wet again but it seems that the basic vertical game seems to be just a tad "Squished" top to bottom, like the space between the extra ships at the bottom and the active ship seems just a tad too close together. Not completely out of proper proportion but not quite the same as if it were on a 4:3 screen.

Is this just my old man eyes playing tricks on me?

I've tried to use google search "site:arcadecontrols.com" to research as I'm sure this is a topic that has been beat to death before which I know can be upsetting to some with the same repeat questions.

Pointers to threads that discuss how to configure things to look as accurate as possible using a 16:9 format screen or any other suggestions/feedback from those that have systems built upon more recent display formats are solicited and appreciated.

[Seob]

I still use 4:3 displays for my builds. But when going with 16:9 you can still set the image to appear in 4:3. You will get black borders left and right. You can also opt for going with 4:3 with bezel art. There is a topic somewhere here that has the bezels for the games.

[PL1]

Mr. Do's site has a great selection of layout files and in-game artwork.

  Regular 4:3 - https://mrdo.mameworld.info/mame_artwork_ingame.php

  Widescreen 16:9 - https://mrdo.mameworld.info/widescreen.php

I've tried to use google search "site:arcadecontrols.com" to research

I get pretty good results using "site:forum.arcadecontrols.com".   


Scott