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

[SailorSat]

Well Well...
As for now, Soft-15kHz Build 44 is up.

New features are actually a Vista Support for NVidia, though It only works with 31kHz and higher. Can't do any further tests as for some reason I can't install Vista on my new test rig (simply "stops" at finalizing installation).

Also I fixed a small bug here and there, nothing really inventive.

PSremote is coming along quite fine, but for some reason PowerStrip seems to ---fudgesicle--- around something on my x1650.

[Martijn]

So sailorsat, if i use my imagination on this PSremote, we can pre launch this application for a rom to correct the screen size and then play the game without borders ?

[SailorSat]

No, you switch to a specific resolution via quickres, and then "move and size" it till it fits your screen.
After that, this resolution will be saved so you don't need powerstrip anymore.

At least thats my current "goal"

[Martijn]

even better 

[bent98]

Well Well...
As for now, Soft-15kHz Build 44 is up.

New features are actually a Vista Support for NVidia, though It only works with 31kHz and higher. Can't do any further tests as for some reason I can't install Vista on my new test rig (simply "stops" at finalizing installation).

Also I fixed a small bug here and there, nothing really inventive.

PSremote is coming along quite fine, but for some reason PowerStrip seems to ---fudgesicle--- around something on my x1650.

Keep up the good work. I cant wait to use your completed PS Remote and tweak with my X1950XTX

Does Powerstrip allow ATI users to use Vista 64 are very low resolutions?

[SailorSat]

Yes, but they will be added as 30hz or whatever to windows.

[Haggar]

- Project "PSremote" -
A "remote control" for PowerStrip to move/resize the image "on-the-fly" without rebooting or messing with the modelines.

Step 1: Move it!... *DONE*

Step 2: Resize it!... *DONE*

Step 3: Nice UI ala AdvV... *under construction*

Step 4: Go for world domination!

--

Well my first real achivement is that I can move the image on screen without touching anything.
Next will be "resizing" of the screen, which most likely will be a little more complicatet that it seems.

As for now, It is just a "remote control" using PowerStrip (which is running the background to provide low-level access).

Stay tuned

 
GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   
This is finally "THE" killing feature. After that we can ask nothing more.

I feel that soon I can definitively archive advancemame 

[Ummon]

 
GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
This is finally "THE" killing feature. After that we can ask nothing more.

I feel that soon I can definitively archive advancemame 

Yeah, maybe. Still have to create a bunch of special modes, for those who want to (and can) preserve refresh.

[Haggar]

Right. The refresh is an important thing. I hope we can also adjust the refresh rates, like advv does

[EDIT] Regarding refresh: Mortal kombat builted in refresh (401 x 256 @ 53Hz) is wrong. From some mame releases, MK refresh rate is 54.81 

There are several games where we can adjust refresh rates: Bubble Bobble (256x224 @ 59Hz), Snow Bros (256x224 @ 57.5Hz), R-Type I/II (384x256 @ 55Hz), Street Fighter saga (59.6 Hz), many NeoGeo games (320x224 @ 59.1Hz) and many others. With the new tool, all will be perfect

[SailorSat]

Don't count on it. If you resize the image in height, you also alter the refresh rate.
If you MOVE it, timings stay the same.

For gods sake scrap that "perfect refresh" thingie. You don't win anything from it.

[SirPeale]

Did you get those Intel modes in this release?

[SailorSat]

Nope. Actually I don't have any Intel Board available atm.

[SirPeale]

Blast!

*eagerly awaits*

[Haggar]

If you resize the image in height, you also alter the refresh rate.
If you MOVE it, timings stay the same.

Exactly. That's the reason why you have to mantain black borders (top / bottom) for many res. With Advv I use vertical resize to adjust the refresh rates.

For gods sake scrap that "perfect refresh" thingie. You don't win anything from it.

Ok, but if you run MK with that wrong refresh and v-sync enabled (and v-sync is very important imho), you will get stuttered choppy audio.

[Martijn]

If you resize the image in height, you also alter the refresh rate.
If you MOVE it, timings stay the same.

Exactly. That's the reason why you have to mantain black borders (top / bottom) for many res. With Advv I use vertical resize to adjust the refresh rates.

For gods sake scrap that "perfect refresh" thingie. You don't win anything from it.

Ok, but if you run MK with that wrong refresh and v-sync enabled (and v-sync is very important imho), you will get stuttered choppy audio.

for choppy audio you can use

http://community.arcadeinfo.de/showthread.php?t=9555

SoundSync

[Haggar]

Right I know, it's a great thing when you can't have right refresh rates. It has been also included in Mameui32FX (borrowed from SailorSat's).

[Ummon]

Don't count on it. If you resize the image in height, you also alter the refresh rate.
If you MOVE it, timings stay the same.

For gods sake scrap that "perfect refresh" thingie. You don't win anything from it.

Hahhaahhah. I like really smooth game display. Besides, Pac at 51hz just blows.

[SailorSat]

Reminds me on my "double Refresh" experiments... Pac-Man @121 Hz is pretty fun and very challenging

[Ummon]

How did you manage that?

[SailorSat]

throttle 0
frameskip 0
tripplebuffer 1

and an 120hz modeline

[Chase]

Hello SailorSat (and Everyone Else!),
I must say I love your software, and everything appears to be great!  But I do have a couple of questions:

First my specs:

D9400 WG 27 Inch Monitor
ATI Radeon X600SE 128mb (Running 6.5)
Installed Soft-15KHz

Questions:

1.)  Should I be creating a custom15khz file for my card?   Are there more resolutions that my card and monitor could support that I might be missing?

2.)  When I get a game that displays "Out Of Range" on the screen, what 'close' resolution should I set it for?   I'm getting this message on games like NBA Hangtime and WWF Wrestlemania and want to get them to display.

Thanks your your help Sailor (and everyone else!)

- Chase

[Xenepp]

I have a problem with Pacman, Space Invaders and older games, they seem to be split into 4 sections in the one screen? By that I mean on the screen there are 4 copies of the same game.

Do I need to add/remove custom resolutions? I'm using a geforce 6100 if that makes any difference.

Might I add though, Soft15khz is awswome and I can't thank you enough for it SailorSat!

[SailorSat]

First my specs:
D9400 WG 27 Inch Monitor
ATI Radeon X600SE 128mb (Running 6.5)
Installed Soft-15KHz

Nice setup

Questions:
1.)  Should I be creating a custom15khz file for my card?   Are there more resolutions that my card and monitor could support that I might be missing?

2.)  When I get a game that displays "Out Of Range" on the screen, what 'close' resolution should I set it for?   I'm getting this message on games like
NBA Hangtime and WWF Wrestlemania and want to get them to display.

1. there are thousands of resolutions, but most if not all are covered by the default ones.

2. Hm... should be the 401x256 resolution. Guess I'll generate a new one for you. You'll get a PM later.

[Chase]

You'll get a PM later.

Thanks Sailor!

[SailorSat]

Wow...
Just happend I "accidently" got lowres modes workin on a GeForce 8400.

First what happend...
I installed the 8400GS, installed 15kHz modes and rebooted.
I get 640x480 in all its interlace glory, but no resolutions below. (as expected)

I pluged in a DELL 17" VGA Monitor and rebooted again.
As windows boot up again, the VGA shuts off as expected, I plug the arcade back in and have 640x480 interlace.
Taking a look at quickres I was pretty amazed to see 321x240 and co.
I tried several of those lowres modes and they all work fine.

After a long night tinkering around it seems that the forceware strictly limits resolution to default if no or an invalid EDID is received

The bad new is that I don't know how to fake a valid EDID or disable this limit.

For some unknown reason this only applies to GeForce 8, 9 and the newer 200 Series.

[sham69]

Recently got my crt tv working using a vga-scart cable on my radeon 9250 128mb card as suggested by sailorsat (thanks again)
Have to say it looks amazing but a few games are cropped at the top and bottom of screen.
I setup the custom15khz.txt uninstalled and re-installed and its still the same
3 of the games are Dkong, Bombjack and shinobi.
I think the 3 res I need are 256x224,256x240 and 288x224.
Could someone post me an example of how to do this please, I have tried a few different things so reckon I am just doing it wrong.
Thanks
Sham.

[bent98]

Wow...
Just happend I "accidently" got lowres modes workin on a GeForce 8400.

First what happend...
I installed the 8400GS, installed 15kHz modes and rebooted.
I get 640x480 in all its interlace glory, but no resolutions below. (as expected)

I pluged in a DELL 17" VGA Monitor and rebooted again.
As windows boot up again, the VGA shuts off as expected, I plug the arcade back in and have 640x480 interlace.
Taking a look at quickres I was pretty amazed to see 321x240 and co.
I tried several of those lowres modes and they all work fine.

After a long night tinkering around it seems that the forceware strictly limits resolution to default if no or an invalid EDID is received

The bad new is that I don't know how to fake a valid EDID or disable this limit.

For some unknown reason this only applies to GeForce 8, 9 and the newer 200 Series.

Anyway to contact nvidia driver team and ask? I assume this is just in XP and not Vista 64?

[SailorSat]

Actually this is only XP atm, yes.

I'm workin on an EDID Dongle right now.
this should fix that issue on XP and maybe also on Vista.

[bent98]

If only you can figure out how to get around the 32 modeline limitation.

Your a GoD salior.

[the720k]

I want to say thank you for this excellent piece of software.  I am having an issue, though, and was wondering if I could get a little bit of advice. 

I am in the process of waiting for a defective ArcadeVGA card to be replaced from Ultimarc (Andy is really good about resolving problems when they happen, BTW!)  So I'm not likely to use this utility permanently, but while I'm waiting for my card to make its way to England and back, I am trying to get Soft15KHz to work with my old nVidia Geforce2 MX card.  I'm getting mixed results.

I installed ForceWare driver release 90 on my machine, set my resolution to 640x480, rebooted, and then installed the Soft15KHz "15kHz" mode.  Rebooted again, plugged my hacked VGA cable into the arcade monitor, and Windows started up in 15kHz mode.  However, the screen is automatically set to an emulated 1024x768 resolution, and extends my desktop all over the place.  My mouse will not work properly, as it is configured for 1024x768, and the display is actually running a lower resolution and just extending the desktop offscreen.  I can move the screen down a little bit, but cannot even make it to the taskbar, where I need to access Quickres. 

I am almost 100% positive that nVidia's utility is the source of this problem, but am unsure of what I need to do.  Should I try an older ForceWare driver?   

If this turns out to be a really difficult issue, I can wait for my ArcadeVGA card to show up in a few weeks, but I miss my cocktail cabinet!  Plus, Soft15kHz is a really cool piece of code!

[SailorSat]

Wow, a series 90 forceware on a GeForce2 ?
Give the 71.48 (or something like that) a try.

[the720k]

Okay, I just switched to release 78.01, and similar problems.  I have set my resolution to 640x480, and only have about half the screen I should have.   To make matters worse, almost every resolution except for 640x480 throws my monitor out of sync.  It doesn't seem to matter if I change the resolution in Quickres or in the nVidia tool. 

I think I will have to try another card.  I know this should work with my current hardware configuration, but I'm not getting anywhere.  I thought I had a spare FX5200 lying around, but I think I may have given it away to a friend.

[SailorSat]

Well sounds like your MX card doesn't support interlace

[Ummon]

throttle 0
frameskip 0
tripplebuffer 1

and an 120hz modeline

Oh. Right, of course. I forget these simple things sometimes. Definitely more interesting to me than using the speed hack. That to me seems suited for lamo youngens who can't handle the 'speed' of the game but would be daunted by a full speed-up. Of course, you don't need the 120hz modeline to play it that way, right?...just turn off throttle and....no, that makes it run at a few to several hundreds of percent - vs only 200 - and it is insane.

By the way, thought I'd share this with you. Recall I use Advancemame - well, in accordance with my monitor, for 224x256 games run horizontally it picks 18khz/59.9hz, and for 224x288 games run horizontally it normally picks 19khz/60.5hz and my monitor has a different mode for each. BUT, every now and then, for some indefinite period of time (neither of which I can figure out), it picks a 19khz/59.9hz for 224x288 games, in which case the two resolutions share the same mode - that .5 hz makes a difference - which is discouraging. It took me a few times to be sure I wasn't losing it, and that indeed it was changing and then changing back.

[the720k]

Okay, so I removed the Geforce2 MX and installed a Geforce 6200, used the 78.01 drivers first.  Installation went well, but now when I try to run Soft15kHz, I get a "Runtime Error '5': Invalid procedure call or argument."  Same thing when I tried the release 90 driver. 

 

Is there something I should be manually editing?  I'm lost here.

[Xenepp]

I have a problem with Pacman, Space Invaders and older games, they seem to be split into 4 sections in the one screen? By that I mean on the screen there are 4 copies of the same game.

Do I need to add/remove custom resolutions? I'm using a geforce 6100 if that makes any difference.

Might I add though, Soft15khz is awswome and I can't thank you enough for it SailorSat!

Any ideas? I found that also Ikari Warriors, Namco Classics Vol.1 and 2 and Galaga do this too.

Sorry to interrupt anyone else's questions.

 -Joel

[SailorSat]

Okay, so I removed the Geforce2 MX and installed a Geforce 6200, used the 78.01 drivers first.  Installation went well, but now when I try to run Soft15kHz, I get a "Runtime Error '5': Invalid procedure call or argument."  Same thing when I tried the release 90 driver. 

 

Is there something I should be manually editing?  I'm lost here.

Hm... Give http://files.arianchen.de/soft15khz/soft15khz_beta.zip a try

[the720k]

Thanks, SailorSat.  That worked.  I'm still having trouble with getting other resolutions to work, but I think it's related to the nVidia driver, and doesn't seem like anything I can't tweak.  Once again, great work on this handy piece of software.   

[sham69]

Recently got my crt tv working using a vga-scart cable on my radeon 9250 128mb card as suggested by sailorsat (thanks again)
Have to say it looks amazing but a few games are cropped at the top and bottom of screen.
I setup the custom15khz.txt uninstalled and re-installed and its still the same
3 of the games are Dkong, Bombjack and shinobi.
I think the 3 res I need are 256x224,256x240 and 288x224.
Could someone post me an example of how to do this please, I have tried a few different things so reckon I am just doing it wrong.
Thanks
Sham.

Sorry to be a pain but can someone help me out with this?
Dying to play Donkey Kong.
Thanks.

[Ummon]

Recently got my crt tv working using a vga-scart cable on my radeon 9250 128mb card as suggested by sailorsat (thanks again)
Have to say it looks amazing but a few games are cropped at the top and bottom of screen.
I setup the custom15khz.txt uninstalled and re-installed and its still the same
3 of the games are Dkong, Bombjack and shinobi.
I think the 3 res I need are 256x224,256x240 and 288x224.
Could someone post me an example of how to do this please, I have tried a few different things so reckon I am just doing it wrong.
Thanks
Sham.

Sorry to be a pain but can someone help me out with this?
Dying to play Donkey Kong.
Thanks.

Those are the three main resolutions of the golden age there. However, I'm assuming, you're talking about those resolutions in reverse - ie: vertical games run horizontally - which means you have to choose a 352x... variant respective to each one. They still may not fit - you could try a resolution with a higher horizontal pixel count. As for Shinobi, that game is 320x224.