Whats with the game resolution that looks square?

[Magnet_Eye]

Some games like Moon Patrol, Jungle King, Rush'n Attack, etc always look very square on my screen...how the hell did these fit an arcade monitor at full screen? What can one do to emulate them at full screen? I know about Hardware Stretching, but i think it looks like crap.

I just wonder why these games look "square." The resolutions aren't exact each way (X-Y) so why are the damn games square? Is it just because of the PC monitor?

Any insight?

Cheers!

-M  

[Rocky]

I just aquired a mat mania game  (for free  )  and I noticed that it does't fill the whole screen on the arcade monitor.  It is a vertical game that has a resolution that is shorter than most "full" resolution games.

With tinted plexi, you just notice that there is a black area above and below the picture, since the video signal for that area is blank.

Not sure why some games are like that  


Rocky

[paigeoliver]

You need to adjust the horizontal width coil on your Mat Mania monitor. You need a little plastic tool to do it.

THe horizontal width coil is the little thing on the monitor chassis that pokes up and has copper wire wrapped around it

I believe www.therealbobroberts.com has instructions somewhere. The reason you need a plastic tool is that a metal one is likely to break it.

(Yes I know you are not getting vertical fill, but that is a vertical aligned monitor, which means you have to adjust the horizontal).

[MameFan]

> "I believe www.therealbobroberts.com has instructions somewhere. The reason you need a plastic tool is that a metal one is likely to break "


Actually, 3 reasons:
1) Metal is conductive. Putting metal inside a monitor with one end held by yourself, especially while on, is not a safe thing to do.

2) Metal is responsive to magentism.  The center of a horizontal width coil is made of ferrite (IRON) therefore placing anything else metal inside the coil shaft will affect what the coil does, and in turn, will affect the electrical properties of it.  Therefore if you use something metal while it's on, the fact you're putting the metal tool in will affect the picture, so you can turn it until it's "right", but as soon as you pull the tool away, it will be "wrong" since the tool affected the adjustment indirectly  (yes, you can actually "fix" some horizontal coils where some previous fool broke out and removed the ferrite core, simply by inserting and gluing in a small screwdriver into the center of the coil, at the appropriate depth. YES--I've seen it done!!!!! )

3) The ferrite core is fragile--it's iron but not hardened, and a hardened screwdriver/allen wrench will tend to break the core, rendering the coil bad.



Regarding Moon Patrol width.. Yes, arcade monitors, since they're analog, you can simply adjust the horizontal width coil, OR if it was vertical adjust the vertical height coil and make the picture "fill" the screen.   I though remember Moon Patrol in the arcades was never full width... but thats because arcade owners didn't want to futz with a width coil to make it full screen, or another cause is that over time, as a monitor ages, the capacitors affect the height and width of stuff, squishing stuff to a corner (look at how burn in occurs on some screens).   Owners only cared a game brought in money and at least displayed a picture. They wern't as anal as most collectors wanting to have a burn-free tube and expanding the picture to fill the screen exactly from corner-to-corner... it wasn't worth the effort.

[Rocky]

paigeoliver,

the horizontal width coil you say...

That's interesting.  Actually, I have some monitor issues.  When I got the monitor, all it was was a single vertical line of video.  I replaced the vertical deflection transistors to fix it, but it needs some more help.  I've got a cap kit for it and will replace them (when I get around to it )

Thanks for the advice.  I'll fiddle with it and see what happens.


Rocky