How to find proper resolution for individual games?

[MartyNg]

ArcadeVGA version 2
WG 25" arcade monitor
Win98SE
Fastmame .71

I've used the Mamewah resolution tool to generate the .ini files. Most of the games look fantastic and fit the screen good. However, certain games, such as Ms. Pac Man have defaulted to 640x480, which makes it REALLY tiny on my monitor. I think this is because I set the res tool to use 640x480 when the correct resolution was not found. Is this not a good resolution to use in the res tool for an arcade monitor? Should I use a different resolution? Thanks!

Also, are there exceptions to the "never use hardware stretching when running an ArcadeVGA" rule? Are there instances where I will have to set resolutions manually?

[MartyNg]

-bump-

Surely someone can answer this question! I'm probably missing a small setting somewhere!

[AndyWarne]

The res tool should pick all the correct resolutions for almost all games especially well-known ones such as Ms Pacman so I am not sure why its missing this one.
The other res tool that is linked on our ArcadeVGA pages has just been updated so maybe this one is worth a try.
There are some games which do still need hardware stretch using an AVGA with an arcade monitor. Mostly these are the games which originally ran at 25Khz as there are no suitable resolutions for these which will work on a 15Khz monitor.
Andy

[johnvv]

Ms. Pac looks fine, and is in the correct resolution, on my AVGA2 with mame .103 and mame32 using the auto settings for resolution.

[MartyNg]

I'll give the other program a try. What is the correct setting for the tool I've been using when "resolution can't be found"? Should I use 640x288? (25" wells gardner arcade monitor)

Could someone tell me the correct resolution for ms. pac man so I can stick it in the ini file myself?

I'm having a housewarming party and unveiling my cabinet tomorrow night. I definitely need Ms. Pac Man running at a visible size!

[johnvv]

According to mame .103, the correct resolutions for Ms. Pac are:

224 x 288(V) @ 60.60Hz

On my AVGA2, Ms Pac is overstretched a bit, cutting of a section of the bottom.  I have not yet figured out how to fix that.

[MartyNg]

The res tool should pick all the correct resolutions for almost all games especially well-known ones such as Ms Pacman so I am not sure why its missing this one.
The other res tool that is linked on our ArcadeVGA pages has just been updated so maybe this one is worth a try.
There are some games which do still need hardware stretch using an AVGA with an arcade monitor. Mostly these are the games which originally ran at 25Khz as there are no suitable resolutions for these which will work on a 15Khz monitor.
Andy

I did end up trying out the other resolution tool, and that seemed to work better. Ms Pac Man now fits on the screen (although like Johnvv said, the bottom of the screen is cut off a bit.)

Also, some vertical games (ie 1943 are stretched horizontally a little bit...not sure why, but they seemed to be the proper resolution with the other resolution tool.) Oh well, good enough for now. I'll keep messing around with it and see what happens.

 

[krick]

There are some games which do still need hardware stretch using an AVGA with an arcade monitor. Mostly these are the games which originally ran at 25Khz as there are no suitable resolutions for these which will work on a 15Khz monitor.
Andy

I don't remember the Mortal Kombat games needing hardware stretch on my cab but I guess they must since they were 25KHz.  Wait, doesn't the ArcadeVGA have a weird resolution just for Mortal Kombat and friends?

The other games that must have hardware stretch are the games that switch resolutions mid-game.  I think they're all on playstation based hardware.  The only one I can think of off the top of my head is "Xevious 3D/G".

[krick]

According to mame .103, the correct resolutions for Ms. Pac are:

224 x 288(V) @ 60.60Hz

On my AVGA2, Ms Pac is overstretched a bit, cutting of a section of the bottom.  I have not yet figured out how to fix that.

You have to adjust your monitor.

When I set up my cabinet, I used Gavin Benson's AVGRes utility to set up all the resolutions without hardware stretch (I manually add it to games that need it on a case by case basis).

Then I adjusted for "vertical" games...   I ran pac-man and adjusted my arcade monitor so that the image just fits on my screen without cutting any off the top or bottom.

Adjusting the monitor to fit vertical games has the side effect of very slightly squashing horizontal games.  There's a black area at the top and bottom, kinda like a letterboxed movie with much smaller black areas.

It's very hard to notice unless someone points it out to you and I think that it's totally worth it to be able to run vertical games without resorting to hardware stretch which tends to make them look crappy.