VectorMAME machines

[shawnzilla]

  Of course, I've had to tell my wife a couple of times to "stay far away from that cute little suction cup inside of the monitor".

This is becoming a sickness. I can't stop thinking about vector monitors! 

Now I want a B&W one (other than my Vectrex). Not that I'd want to buy another ZVG just for my Vectrex, but it'd sure make a fun little bartop machine. Something to the effect of putting it in a box with a nice bezel, and making the control panel detachable so that the monitor can be rotated.

But it is a good sickness.     I had originally planned to stop with just the 6101, but I thought about it too much and I decided to get the 19V2000 and build seperate machines(It helps that both monitors can do dual-duty as spares in my dedicated vector machines).  So, I know of the vector madness... But on the plus side, vector monitors are pretty easy to fix.

[shawnzilla]

Zonn (creator of ZVG) just gave me some really good advice about zvgtweak settings for the WG6101. He said that the ZVG default values are best for it, because the ZVG was created using a WG6101 as a testbed.

It had already made a HUGE difference in the clarity of my screen. The vertical dimensions are a little bit outside the range of my screen, but that's easy to fix. Space Duel looks BEAUTIFUL now!

I can also post his suggested Vectrex settings if anyone is interested.

[XtraSmiley]

Zonn (creator of ZVG) just gave me some really good advice about zvgtweak settings for the WG6101. He said that the ZVG default values are best for it, because the ZVG was created using a WG6101 as a testbed.

It had already made a HUGE difference in the clarity of my screen. The vertical dimensions are a little bit outside the range of my screen, but that's easy to fix. Space Duel looks BEAUTIFUL now!

I can also post his suggested Vectrex settings if anyone is interested.

Yes please.

[shawnzilla]

Here it is (this is a copy of the email Zonn sent me about Vectrex settings):


Here's what I use:

First off, ignore the User Guide, you can run it nearly as fast as the WG6101,
so set the speed jumpers to:

 On J3:
   Only SP1 & 1284 installed

 On J4:
   Only Y-SP1 & X-SP1 installed

 On J7:
   Nothing installed on X-LIN & Y-LIN
   (The other 2 pins are no connects, you can
   use them as place holders for the jumpers)

 On J8:
   Only NOPIN installed

Make sure you have set the ZVGPORT environment variables to include the
parameter M29 along with the proper port settings.

The ZVGTweak settings are:
  Z-Axis Shift:      50
  Z-Axis Overshoot:  45

  Maximum Intensity: 255
  Minimum Intensity: 128
  Point Intensity:   30

  Screen Size:       85

  Jump Speed:        35
  Settling Time:      1

(Be sure to press the 'S' key to save these settings in the EEPROM.)

Then adjust the size and centering pots to fill the screen with the chopped off
logo. (And of course adj the line length pots so that the endpoints line up.)

Unfortunately the ZVGTweak menu was written for the arcade monitors, which can
handle more contrast between bright and dark vectors.  When the Vectrex
brightness control is set correctly for MAME, you'll barely see the ZEKTOR logo.

So turn up the Vectrex's brightness a bit when using ZVGTweak, and then down a
bit when you go back into MAME.

The Maximum Intensity is the maximum brightness a Vector can be displayed. The
Minimum, is obviously the minimum brightness that can be displayed, but you can
think of it as a contrast control.  If the minimum intensity vectors in a game
like TacScan are too dim, you can turn up the Minimum intensity a bit, oh say
160, to brighten them up a bit.  Just adjust to suit your taste, and variations
in Vectrexes.

Have fun!

-Zonn

[ArcadeMaze]

For me, it's anything that would allow me to use USB!  Analog through the gameport is still giving me problems I can't seem to get around.  My analog stick works just fine in SW, but no go in Red Baron.  I desparately want to be able to use the apac.  Also, I have an Act Labs shifter I could use for Speed Freak, but that is USB also.  Finally, another consideration for me is that Top Gunner is very slow in dmame .100 and the while the driver has been updated, dmame has not.  Everything is just a little easier in winmame, and what it would add up to is less messing around and more playing...

Did you have to do anything extra to get your gameport to work?   I have been fighting this for a few days and I am not seeing how to get VectorMAME to recognize my joystick.  I am using the DOS soundblaster drivers from the EasyMAME Cab web site.

[Matthew Fisher]

For me, it's anything that would allow me to use USB!  Analog through the gameport is still giving me problems I can't seem to get around.  My analog stick works just fine in SW, but no go in Red Baron.  I desparately want to be able to use the apac.  Also, I have an Act Labs shifter I could use for Speed Freak, but that is USB also.  Finally, another consideration for me is that Top Gunner is very slow in dmame .100 and the while the driver has been updated, dmame has not.  Everything is just a little easier in winmame, and what it would add up to is less messing around and more playing...

Did you have to do anything extra to get your gameport to work?   I have been fighting this for a few days and I am not seeing how to get VectorMAME to recognize my joystick.  I am using the DOS soundblaster drivers from the EasyMAME Cab web site.

I don't recall that I did.  Once I got the sound working, the gameport worked as well.  I had to physically move my card to another slot to get it work, but I honestly can't tell you exactly what I did that finally made it work.  All I know is that I haven't fiddled with it AT ALL since I got the sound working...  I can shoot you a copy of my settings if you think that would help at all. 

Finally, I almost hate to ask (and please forgive me if this is insulting ), but do you have "joystick=standard" set in the mame.cfg?   

[ArcadeMaze]

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