Soft-15KHz - slim new tool for 15KHz on normal vga cards

[SailorSat]

The stock modelines are fine for 99.9% of all monitors.

Some gfx cards have problems with one ore two stock modelines (mostly nvidia though).

Modelines for "special" cases exist, say an Atari 2600 modeline (160x260 60Hz) or for multisync monitors.

[Chunce DeLeone]

Cool i gotcha, im a little slow with this stuff,.....so i'm looking at the vid cards you have tested and wanted to know which one you think is the best, the one that will require little if any tweaking,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125253

this one below is nice and cheap and what im looking for but not sure if it matches the one you tested on page four on 21-03-2009, 02:24 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121310&cm_re=ATI_Radeon_HD4350-_-14-121-310-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125277&Tpk=ati%20radeon%20hd4670

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125253&cm_re=radeon_4650-_-14-125-253-_-Product

Does it matter who makes the card, if its a 4350 will it work whether its made by saphire or Gigabyte? 

[SailorSat]

No it does'nt matter.
The chip itself is the same. Only memory type/size/speed differs.
Also the drivers are the same. So basically you can't do anything wrong.

[Chunce DeLeone]

Sweeeeet!  thats great news....My wallet just smiled,  i'm about to pull the trigger if you have time just let me know what you think about this one card.  I think i can buy this and it will go under the wife-radar and even if it is caught its not that crazy, also the only pc game i really would want to play is the EA sports games like tiger, nhl, virtua tennis and any version will do, not looking to Doom3 in 7.1 with face melting sprites all over.....

anyway this looks like a good one, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125251&cm_re=radeon_4350-_-14-125-251-_-Product

i can't help it one more or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102867&Tpk=radeon%204350

[Chunce DeLeone]

I was just reading some stuff about the x550 and it seems that this is the chipset in the Avga.  So maybee i just have the wrong drivers.  I have been using 6.5 catalyst, does anyone know what the best drivers are to use with a ATI X550 chipset?  

Also i have been reading this thread and things i've noticed that i need to check before buying a new card:  1. I didn't use the latest soft15k 2.  i installed 15 25 and 32 resolutions eventhough my monitor only takes 15k.  I need to undo those things and see if my problems persist.  Also gonna try different drivers, some new some old 6.1 6.5 10.2 and 9.12


Later in the night everything is working!!  just uninstalled soft15k, re-installed the newest version and didn't install the 25k and 32k resolutions and it works.  One problem is that at 640x480 my desktop is a little overscanned, how can i fix that and should i if everything else is working.  Golden tee and other games like that i could not find a good resolution for yet.

[SailorSat]

As for the overscan problem...
Well, arcade monitors were made with running one game at a time in mind.
Usually the operator would install a new game, then adjust the monitor to match it.

As sad as it is, every single monitor behaves a little different.
If you maximize 240 (and 480) line modes, you most like will "cut off" 256 and 288 line modes.

I'd recommend start at 320x240 and then try other resolutions, reduze the size if you have overscan, and continue on. Your "final" setting should allow you to run every resolution with small borders but everything visible.

[Chunce DeLeone]

Cool, i will try that and i found some custom mode lines for GT from you in here, i will try adding those to the soft15k as well. 

[SailorSat]

You shouldn't need one.
The first runs in 256x240 and the later ones in 384x256, both are stock modelines.

[Chunce DeLeone]

I tried a bunch of resolutions, not all, for GT and SHST and couldn't get a good one.  Could be doing something worng, going to check again.  I want to try 640x432 but that rez is not showing up in Quickrez or list all modes in windows.  Is there a way to add that rezolution to my card with a modeline?  Why isn't it there already? 

[SailorSat]

Where did you read about that resolution? Most likely it is not there because 640x480 will be fine. On the other hand thats not even a standard resolution anyway.

Possible to add it is...
But not set any resolution yourself you should...
Let MAME select the correct resolution.
Except for Galaga/Frogger based hardware that should work fine.

[Chunce DeLeone]

I got 640x432 from other areas of this forum, namely gettting a tv to work with mame, and 640x432 is less overscanned than 640x480 for a desktop.  but you are right that is niether here nor there, mame will choose the best rez, and now that im thinking about it I 99% sure i was wroking in the wrong ini, so i will re-try everything hopefully tonight again.  FYI the rez that MAME chooses for GT and SHST makes the bottom scrunched with a bright white line at the very bottom, SF looked the same way until i tried a rez that you suggested, now all is perfect.  Jsut need to try the rez that you suggested for GT and shst and make sure im in the right ini.   

[tony.silveira]

yikes!

it seems the new norton update has killed the soft15.exe app.  i went to play around with it a bit and it was gone.  i downloaded from this topic and as soon as it's done, it gets quarantined.

god i hate norton

[SailorSat]

http://www.precisesecurity.com/threats/virus/suspicious-emit/

OMG! A encrypted file! Must be a virus!!!!
(wtf?!)

I'll upload it again without upx encryption later today...

[enter]

Hi Sailor, quick question for you if you get a minute. I was using soft15khz in a cab with a 19" WG, and a radeon x1650pro pci-e. Everything looked sweet, no flicker whatsoever, smooth bright & colourful graphics. However, I have since sold that cab and transplanted the pc into my other cab which has a 25" Hantarex Polo mk1.

Now its more or less running the same, except that Im getting fairly heavy flickering. I know windows will generally do this, but its happening during games too which is wasnt doing on the 19" screen. I havnt touched resolutions yet, its running at 640x480 @ 60hz according to windows.

Can you offer any advice?

Cheers

[SailorSat]

@tony.silveira:
I've reuploaded the stuff without UPX encryption.

@enter:
Are you sure you let MAME switch resolutions as needed?

[enter]

Thanks for the reply SailorSat - yep Mame is set for autochanging the resolution. Like I say, I havnt changed a signle thing software wise...Ive just moved the pc from one cab ot the next. I have a feeling its not Mame related though, as even the windows desktop flickers a lot more than than it did on the 19" screen. Im using the drivers you have suggested on the "compatability" thread, would it be worth updating the drivers?

[Haggar]

http://www.precisesecurity.com/threats/virus/suspicious-emit/

OMG! A encrypted file! Must be a virus!!!!
(wtf?!)

lol! 

[Chunce DeLeone]

Just a follow-up i had forgotten about D3d for GT/Shufshot games with all this resolution searching,  I know that goes against what we are trying to do here but for those few games that is what i am going to use, just to get them going. 

[enter]

Never mind SailorSat, a guy from okatu game me a custom modeline switch to add (which you gave him  )- seems to have done the job, cheers.

[aureo1e]

Got it working with my (unknown) Hantarex and an (old) GeForce4 MX 440 card.  Many thanks for producing and supporting this!

Most games work fine in MAME - I'd forgotten to set the switchres and disable HW scaling and bezels.  But: I seem to have a scaled down Robotron still - like it's doing the bezel stuff but the bezel isn't displayed?  Any thoughts?

[SailorSat]

iirc
some mame.ini settings

artwork_crop              1
use_backdrops             0
use_overlays              1
use_bezels                0

[hooperjaws]

Hi SailorSat - can I say a big thank-you firstly for making this software! Using this software I have been able to hook up a PC to my Jamma Cab and play my fave games like Bubble Bobble and Pacland with realistic graphics. Awesome!
I DID get some sound glitches with games, which was annoying, but reading this thread I also discovered you are the author of cabmame hacks (patches) and have since complied cabmame and now my games look, play and SOUND great. Much MUCH respect to you!
My cabinet has a Hantarex Polo. The documents suggest it can work in 25khz - but the two extra modes added via "install 25" didnt seem to work. Im not that bothered, but it would have been nice to play rampage without interlace. Generally, I cant really use the interlace modes at 15khz. This is a shame, because I would have liked my front end (Mala) to be in a nice pretty resolution. For some reason, the interlace is very very jumpy. The two frames seem to be "out" by a line or two - its almost as if frame one is where frame two should be, and vice versa. The screen on windows / mala is barely readable, you kinda have to navigate your way through mala config menus using memory..
Do you have any advice for getting interlace working "properly". I assume it should be able to work ok in theory, as when my machine boots up, the xp boot screen is clearly in interlace (although in 31khz, dual-screen as "featured" by the J-pac ;-)
Is there a magical modeline out there that could "swap" the interlace frame order..?

[SailorSat]

As for the interlace field order. No that can't be swaped at least I dont know how.

As for the Polo. There are several kinds of polos.
MOST Polos only do 15khz, SOME Polos can beswitched between 15 an 25 by hand.
The Polo2 does auto switch between.

[ac3]

Does anyone know if Soft15khz works with S3 UniChrome Pro integrated graphics (onboard)?.

Answered my own question, it's not possible to install Soft15khz using S3 UniChrome onboard graphics. 

[bent98]

Salior a news on CAbmame 138?

[jimmy2x2x]

Hi, I have hacked a VGA to SCART cable together and I am experiencing sync issues with soft15k

Windows xp sp3
GeForce 6200 AGP with 197.45 WHQL drivers
Panasonic Quintrix RGB capable TV (confirmed 50/60hz)

I have installed soft15 with 15khz options only, set the resolution to 640x480 then rebooted

When I change the res with quickres, my LCD goes out of range (as expected) I switch over to the TV and the picture isnt synced at all on most resolutions, however I can almost get a stable image with a res of 288 vertical (512x288 for example) These resolutions have a solid horizontal sync, but scroll up the screen.

Any ideas on what the problem can be?

Thanks

[SailorSat]

Did you connect both vga pin 13 and pin 14? Sounds like you only connected pin 13 (hsync).

[jimmy2x2x]

I have the cable wired just like this http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=77370.0

Stripped the cable and re soldered, still the same

[SailorSat]

Well... You need to connect VGA Pin 14 to SCART Pin 20 as your card does NOT output composite sync but rather seperate h- and v-sync.

You could also combine VGA Pin 13 and Pin 14, and use only one wire to Scart Pin 20

[jimmy2x2x]

Well... You need to connect VGA Pin 14 to SCART Pin 20 as your card does NOT output composite sync but rather seperate h- and v-sync.

You could also combine VGA Pin 13 and Pin 14, and use only one wire to Scart Pin 20

That did the trick, you only had to say it twice lol!

Thank you so much for all your effort (and patience) with the project, very much appreciated

I now have glorious RGB low res heaven

[dmarcum99]

Hi Sailor!!

I have four questions...I apologize in advance if I seem green.  I have tried to figure it out, but I've confused myself even more.   

I'm using a NEC XM29 monitor for my cab.  I have a motherboard with the ATI 4200 IGP and I also have a Radeon 9200SE PCI card.  My cab is running 32bit XP.

1)  Which of my graphics cards would be best for my monitor for native resolutions?  The cab is strictly a daphne & mame cab......
2)  I hear talk about pixel clock and some cards can't go low enough for some native resolutions.  How do I find the pixel clock of my GPU's without using linux? 
3)  Outside of the AVGA, is there an "ultimate" video card that I should look for using my monitor if the sole purpose is for mame and native resolutions?
4)  Would I benefit using any special modelines for mame since I'm using the NEC XM29?

[kyoke]

Are the triad png files gone? They appear to be unavailable at the provided.

[SailorSat]

Looks like it...
Well I've reuploaded the stuff

http://images.arianchen.de/?x=filter

[jimmy2x2x]

Do I need to add interlaced modelines to my custom15khz.txt to use resolutions greater than 640x288 on my rig? (see sig)

I have soft15k installed with 15k options, created a custom15khz.txt removed a few resolutions that don't work for me, what's the next step to get higher resolutions than 640x288?

Many thanks

[SailorSat]

640x480 and 800x600 should work right out of the box

[jimmy2x2x]

640x480 gives me a side by side image (display is repeated twice horizontally)
800x600 is similar but unreadable

edit:

It looks like 800x600 is outputting at 31hkz as this res displays on my lcd
640x480 seems to be outputting at 15khz

2nd edit:

Should interlace modes show as 640x480i in quickres? mine doesnt have the i

[jimmy2x2x]

Managed to get 640x480i working

I installed powerstrip, set the 640x480i (arcade) setting

does anyone know the modeline for this setting, or how I can extract it from the registry?

[kyoke]

Thanks Sailor!

[orchidius]

Hi there,

After looking into what type of monitor I would be using in my first cabinet, I went with a RGB SCART cable on a normal CRT tv since I'm Belgian (Europe). I made the cable and gave it a first go without the Soft-15KHz program. It did give me some image, but it was flickering like mad (I presume due to the lack of the Soft-15KHz program). So I got the program on my normal desktop, put it on a USB stick and plugged it into my future cab computer... The program did run from the USB (as it did with all other computers around the house), but it didn't give me any options whatsoever... I tried running the program from the stick on some other computers around the house and there it did give me some options. Below a link to the graph. card on the cab-comp (ASUS EAX600PRO) and a screenshot of the "problem".

http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/pi/37-217488/Graphics-Cards/ASUS-EAX600PRO-TD-Radeon-X600-Pro-128MB-DDR-PCI-E-DVI-TV-OUT-Product-Info

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/3844/soft15khzasuseax600pro.jpg

Any ideas on this one?

Thanks a bunch!!

[SailorSat]

I don't know why, but it looks like you didn't install any driver for the gfx card Oo...

You give Catalyst 6.5 a try.

*EDIT* Yay! Page 47 xD
Is there a size limit to a thread?