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

[TheGunslinger]

Thanks SaliorSat, I will look for an ATI card around the house, I think I have one. If not, can you tell me where I can purchase the EDID dongle?

[The Big Man]

Hey sailorsat, I tried what you suggested, uninstalling soft15khz and reinstalling/rebooting, didn't make any difference but I have noticed something else, when I lost sync I tried unplugging the power to the arcade monitor and when I plugged it back in hey presto sync was restored! Now i'm pretty sure that this means its the arcade monitor thats causing the problem but I really don't know enough about them to determine whats wrong, some kind of ac power fault maybe as killing the power and turning back on seems to fix it?

[SailorSat]

Okay that sounds kinda reasonable.

Thats the downside of using old arcade screens. They never were meant to change resolutions every 5 minutes.

[The Big Man]

It may be old tech but its a brand new Pentranic monitor i've recently installed, guess its just not meant to be.

[Gray_Area]

It may be old tech but its a brand new Pentranic monitor i've recently installed, guess its just not meant to be.

Did you try a different video card?

[lole]

Hi
Here I am having trouble with the soft-15kHz

configuration/

- video card: ATI Radeon HD4850 PCI-E http://community.arcadeinfo.de/showthread.php?t=7925&page=5

- os: windows xp

- catalyst 9.2

- monitor 25" videocolor 15khz

what is strange is happening:

Catalyst installation, reboot, install the soft 15-kHz resolution 800x600 reboot.

From that time on first boot, but not all the time I get a display and sometimes I have a black screen, when I display if I restart again and I have a black screen this one is final, I can not get a display whatever resolution

I tested with another version of catalyst, and still have the same problem, I tested with another adapter DVI / VGA, always the same, I tested the install of usermodes, same problem, I used another versions of the utility Avres (Avres avres1, avres2) nothing changes.

by cons I did the test with the calamity drivers http://mario.groovy.org/GroovyMame/WindowsATIDrivers/, then everything works, but unfortunately, it does not allow me to use Hyperspin  

I installed VNC, I get no results, even if I change the resolution on rebooting I still get a black screen  

I went through the forum, and the world, to find a person who is the same problem as me .......................... nothing ....... ..................................... desert

help me please ............. I'm very thirsty  

Sorry for my very approximate English, I'm french.

lole

[SailorSat]

Try the OTHER output (if you have 2 dvi outputs)

[krick]

by cons I did the test with the calamity drivers http://mario.groovy.org/GroovyMame/WindowsATIDrivers/, then everything works, but unfortunately, it does not allow me to use Hyperspin  

That Hyperspin bug is a huge pain in the ass.  I really wish someone over there would make it a priority to fix it.  If they can't fix it themselves, they should reach out to the community for help.  I'm sure someone has the skills and the motivation to fix it.

Supposedly, if you use one of the older cards that is compatible with Calamity's patched Catalyst 6.5 drivers, Hyperspin works.  Here's a list of cards that work with the older drivers, though I believe that there are a few more models that aren't listed...

ATI Radeon  7000, 7200, 7500, 8500, 9000, 9100,
                    9200, 9250, 9500, 9550, 9600, 9700,
                    9800, X300, X550, X600, X700, X800,
                    X850, X1300, X1600, X1800, X1900,
                    X1950, ArcadeVGA 9200/9250, etc.

I believe that these two cards would also work based on the GPU:  X1550, X1650

You can find used X1300 cards on Ebay starting at 99 cents with free shipping, so it might be worth checking out.

[lole]

Try the OTHER output (if you have 2 dvi outputs)

On the first one I never obtain anything, I have an input signal 31khz, thus I always used the second.

I will test other DVI adapter, but I doubt the problem is there, but you never know .....

are there any specific brands of adapters??

Krick thank you for your valuable advice, if I do not work with the soft 15kHz I would consider this possibility, although I find the drivers calamity are less convenient to use the soft-15kHz

thank you again

[lole]

I forgot to specify, that I use a j-pac

[franklin_jackson]

Hi SailorSat.

First off thank you so much for soft 15kHz. Outstanding work.

My question, what process in widows is running soft 15kHz? I know soft 15kHz begins when windows starts (XP in my case), but what is the actual process that windows initializes to begin running soft 15kHz.

I am looking to shell into the soft 15kHz process and then on to my front end.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[SailorSat]

Err... Actually none.

Soft-15kHz is only active after you doubleclick the exe, until you close it.
It modifies the display driver itself.

[franklin_jackson]

Hi SailorSat,

Thanks so much for the reply. I am kinda new at the whole 15khz / arcade monitor thing and I greatly appreciate the help. Here is where I am at. I am pretty much done with my build (an old Die Hard Arcade cab with working original monitor).

Soft 15khz combined with the jpac have worked awesome. I want to finish by hiding windows xp as I have done in my other builds using instantsheller (other builds did not use an original arcade monitor).

In short I, want to instantshell into a ahk .exe that runs soft 15khz then hyperspin (or another frontend in case someone else wants to do the same thing).

Your thoughts?

Thanks again.

[SailorSat]

You don't need to run Soft-15kHz once it is installed. It works as soon as windows loads the display driver (long before any shell kicks in)

[franklin_jackson]

Outstanding!!! Made my day

I will give it a go tonight and let you know how things go.

Thank you so much and have a wonderful day.

[apocalypto]

Hi Sailorsat, I hope you can help me with a problem I am having using Soft15khz.

I have a Radeon 9550XL card which is connected to a 'VGA-to-CGA Converter Card' and then to my Sanyo 20ez Monitor.

I installed Soft15khz, the desktop resolution was set to 640x480. I rebooted, and after the windows boot screen, the screen went crazy with lines, colors and looked scrambled. I also had a vga computer monitor plugged in which then said out of sync range and had a black screen.

here is a picture of the Sanyo:  

What I am wondering is if the converter card is splitting the 15khz signal in half, like it does with the 31khz signal. This is just speculation. Do you have any experience using these cards alongside soft15khz?

The only reason I am using soft15khz as well is so that I can run older games in low resolutions such as '224x256'.

Any ideas??  Thanks!  

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

Soft15kHz is allowing the video card to generate the signal the monitor is expecting.. I don't think you should need the extra convertor in there.

[Gray_Area]

Soft15kHz is allowing the video card to generate the signal the monitor is expecting.. I don't think you should need the extra convertor in there.

Definitely yes and no, respectively.

[tcancian]

SailorSat, congratulations on your work. 

I would like to ask about the syncs at soft15khz. I need to connect my Radeon 9550 to a SCART RGB to YPrPb converter box. I found a VGA breakout cable that split VGA in RGBHV, but I need RGBs to connect it to the RGBs to SCART adapter. If I combine the HV would I obtain s or do I need some sort of extra circuitry? Does soft15khz or ATi drivers support composite sync through VGA? 

[SailorSat]

Both ATI driver and Soft-15kHz support C-Sync, but you'll have to edit ALL modelines.

Easy way would be the H+V Twist

[tcancian]

The breakout cable has BNC outputs, if I pick a dongle and merge HV and would it work then? I read at winmodelines

"Specifications of synchronization signals for Scart and VGA differ significantly, so they are incompatible and cannot be connected. There are important differences: scart composite sync expects a 0,3 V sync signal and has a low input impedance of 75 ohm while VGA outputs 5V TTL separate sync signals and expects high impedance loading. "

I'm scared that it will explode my  38 inch baby into pieces. 

[kefka13]

Hi, No anwser to my previous question

About my card that doesn't display anything below 640x480 that seems to need EDID dongle (where can I buy one )

Thanks

[SailorSat]

Hi SailorSat,

Do you make and sell EDID dongle ? I have a card that prevent me to get resolutions under 640x480 and apaprently we must use a dongle to prevent that (I imagine you can't hack this in soft15khz ...)

Thanks.

Actually yes, but haven't build any for about a year.

What card is it?

[kefka13]

Don't remember it, but I will look after that as soon as possible I'm near this PC again ^^

Thanks

I also have a problem with another PC/card (I'd rather use the other PC that is 3 times much powerfull, but the card don't go under 640x480 with soft15k as said -> EDID dongle ?) with JAMMASd and soft 15k : I have made a video, but it is not so much visible on it ... it's like the picutre is lightly vibrant ... some video interference (PC power supply with arcade cab power supply ? Video mass issue ? soft15k issue ??)

Will investigate this to be more specific ^^

[vib_ribbon]

hi sailorsat,

i've found my way to this thread because i have been trying to get my laptop which has a geforce 8200 card to work with a jpac.
is it correct that what i need is a dongle to get my arcade monitor to accept a 640x480 signal?
at the moment it looks like this with quickres and soft15khz (on the jpac, 15 & 31 are jumpered)


if i go down to 320x240, it is okay, but then lots of games i can't play at such low resolution
can you offer any advice? many thanks.

[DirkDiggler_ESQ]

I am seeing a lot of posts that have some things in common with my issue, but not enough for me to get it fixed.

I have:

Wells Gardner K7400 (15 kHz)
Radeon HD3450 (Catalyst 11.5)
Windows Vista x64
J-Pac (jumpers on 15 kHz and 31 kHz)


DVI to VGA adapter is plugged into the DVI port.  PC boots and I see the BIOS screen split.  Windows loads and the screen is blank.  Connect a regular monitor, run soft-15khz, install the 15 kHz mode, re-connect arcade monitor, and I now see the desktop, but it is split and the top section is slightly skewed.  No changes of the horizontal position controls will get the two images to become one.

In Windows, the lowest resolution that is shown (in either that Catalyst Control Center or the built in "Change Display Settings" in Windows) is 640 x 480 and nothing lower.  What am I doing wrong?  I thought that once I installed the 15 kHz modes via soft-15khz, that I should then see resolutions lower than 640 x 480 in the display settings?

Would installing Windows XP make any difference?

[SailorSat]

First, use QuickRes to select lower resolutions.
Second. On the blank screen issue. Try the OTHER Port

Split Screen = 31kHz active.
You don't have to install it every time.

If it doesn't stick -- it should read "installed 15kHz" in the status -- try running s15khz as administrator.

[SailorSat]

hi sailorsat,

i've found my way to this thread because i have been trying to get my laptop which has a geforce 8200 card to work with a jpac.
is it correct that what i need is a dongle to get my arcade monitor to accept a 640x480 signal?
at the moment it looks like this with quickres and soft15khz (on the jpac, 15 & 31 are jumpered)

if i go down to 320x240, it is okay, but then lots of games i can't play at such low resolution
can you offer any advice? many thanks.

Well, you should have other resolutions available (check with quickres!).
you may have to to set the ports in nvidia control panel. vga out should be port #1.
As you can acutally see ONE screen currently, I don't think you need a dongle.

[vib_ribbon]

Well, you should have other resolutions available (check with quickres!).
you may have to to set the ports in nvidia control panel. vga out should be port #1.
As you can acutally see ONE screen currently, I don't think you need a dongle.

many thanks for your advice, i will check when i get home.

yes, there are many, many resolutions available on quickres, higher than 640x480 and lower than 640x480, but i have only found 320x240 to offer a stable and clear image on my arcade monitor, most of the other ones are just totally out of sync. - what i am doing is that i am cloning my laptop screen to the arcade monitor, not sure if there are any issues with that.

anyway, i will check the nvidia control panel and look for vga out and port 1 and report back.

[vib_ribbon]

as this stands to be the best possible opportunity for me to get to the bottom of this problem, lemme give you, sailorsat, as much information as i can.

so i am on a laptop, with a nvidia geforce 8200 card built in with soft15khz is installed.


quickres offers a long list of possible resolutions, i pick 640x480


it is possible to select 240x240 and the laptop screen won't have any problems with it.


so with the jpac connected (jumpers on 15 & 31), i select clone (laptop screen as primary, arcade analogue screen as secondary)


as i have showed in the previous post, this is what i'll get:


if i make the arcade analogue screen as primary and laptop screen secondary, it is worse:


why it makes a difference, i dunno, but this is what it looks like:


the only success i've had, is select 320x240 res and then clone to the analogue screen (as secondary):


but that is no good to me, because i need 640x480 to play certain games.

can you see anything within nvidia control panel which i could try?
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2266/5790370257_c011c7d47d_b.jpg

not sure what is meant by "vga out should be port #1." does it simply mean make sure the arcade monitor is set as primary display?

i have also tried only having 15khz jumpered on the jpac and not 31khz, but that is also worse.

many thanks for being so patient, and your input is much appreciated.

[SailorSat]

Hm... Laptop as primary won't work for sure.

But I don't have a clue atm.

[vib_ribbon]

what is strange is that i tried making the arcade monitor the primary screen at 320x240, but it wouldn't accept it. seems like it doesn't like being the primary screen at all at any resolution. i also tried pulling out the 31khz jumper on the jpac, no luck at various resolutions. 

[vib_ribbon]

As you can acutally see ONE screen currently, I don't think you need a dongle.

i found the latest driver and installed that, didn't help, in fact it has removed all the lower res options. looks like i might have to revert back to the previous.

i noticed you mentioned ONE screen. when i click on the identify button, it actually shows that there the image on the arcade monitor is split into 2. is that what you were referring to?

many thanks for your assistance.

[Gray_Area]

i noticed you mentioned ONE screen. when i click on the identify button, it actually shows that there the image on the arcade monitor is split into 2. is that what you were referring to?

No. That means display number two is being displayed. The split screen is the JPAC allowing a non-15khz mode on your monitor.

[SuprSprint]

Anyone had any success with the ATI All-in-wonder board PN 109-52900-03?  It's labeled as a Rage 128, has one chip marked with AIW128, and has VGA, composite+L&R in/out, and cable TV interfaces.   Soft15Khz sees it but won't install.  I have what I believe are the latest drivers released for this card (2002).

It works fine at 15khz under Dos/TSR and AdvMame.  But I'd like to upgrade from AdvMenu to GameEx front end, and that means Windows.

[SailorSat]

If i remember correctly, Rage128 support display timings, but no custom resolutions. They won't work.

[greenoneten]

Hi,
Just to let everyone know that ati 4870 works fine with soft 15.
finally managed to trade 5570 which doesn't work for 4870 and all is now well.
Cheers for the great software.
Ian

[SailorSat]

Based on feedback (thanks MonMotha), build 51 is up, which features a new modeline for 640x490 that should be way more compatible.

[Sosetsuken]

So... I finally managed to do something again...
First thing was to install the retail Windows7 on my development machine...

Actually everything worked out of the box

Win7 Pro, Radeon HD3450, Catalyst 11.3

Hey SailorSat, so does Win7 x64 w/ ATi Radeon's work now (Out of the box)?  or do we need the EDID Dongle? :X

[rdowdy95]

I have a question about this software.  I have a radeon card connected to a TV via S-Video...Love my light gun games...

All my stuff is set to 640x480...

Nestopia however has screen tearing and none of the options work on it.  Meaning V-SYNC, Triple Bufferine, none of that stuff solves the problem. 

Would this software work on an S-Video TV? I have heard no matter what kind of software you use S-Video would only carry that 640 x 480 signal?

Anyone use Nestopia on an S-Video TV and not get the stupid screen tearing?