New VECTOR GAME Emulator (AAE)

[Le Chuck]

All of that being said... the new hlsl effects are quite powerful and can do a lot more than just simulate low dot pitch.... I think somebody that knows what they are doing could write a good glow effect script for mame.

Got somebody in mind?  Do they need motivation? 

I think your explanation of why it hasn't been done is right on the money, are we just down to finding a concerned party with the chops to execute? 

[Howard_Casto]

Pretty much. 

There was some source submitted to mame sometime last year that added a lot of improvments to vector rendering....phosper glow was added, flicker and fade were based on actual draw pattern, ect....looked pretty damn amazing... better than AAE, better than any attempt I've seen.  The only problem was it was all done in software and hlsl had just been added to mame. 

I know a lot of people don't realize this, but due to the way vector games are drawn they take a lot of resources to render properly.  Adding these effects on top of already resource intensive vector rendering slowed the games to a crawl at high resolutions... which btw are needed for proper vector simulation.  I believe R. Belmont suggested to the guy that submitted it that he convert it to hlsl so that it would work well.  I don't think anything ever came of it out after that.  The guy probably took his ball and went home, misunderstanding mame's rejection of his code in the current form with rejection of the idea.  I see that a lot.  Somebody that keeps up with mame's inner-workings could give you more info though... I just lurk in the shadows mostly.

This code is what we need to base any vector-based hlsl effects on.  I only wish I could help with it.  DirectX, even unmanaged DirectX is easy... but shader-based manipulation releases the magic blue smoke in my brain and I have to sit in the corner for a few hours.   

[Gravitar]

Pretty much. 

There was some source submitted to mame sometime last year that added a lot of improvments to vector rendering....phosper glow was added, flicker and fade were based on actual draw pattern, ect....looked pretty damn amazing... better than AAE, better than any attempt I've seen.  The only problem was it was all done in software and hlsl had just been added to mame. 

Here are the files. The 2nd download probably requires MAMEWORLD membership though.

http://www.robertsworld.org.uk/files/vector_142.diff
http://www.mameworld.info/ubbthreads/download.php?Number=256401

I couldn't run this at all on my older dual core machine. The effects were way too heavy for my processor.

[Gray_Area]

As I recall, that dude said he couldn't do shader stuff, either.

[Nightbring3r]

His stuff was cool, but I got the impression he wasn't likely to be able to do the shaders either. Unfortunately it doesn't patch cleanly past 0.144u4 so it will eventually kinda fade away I imagine. RobertJ's code didn't do any antialiasing either, so it looks like hell on a lower DPI monitor. I still prefer aae for many of the games once you tone down some of the effects. And before Xiaou2 yells at me, I have an AD cocktail so I do know what a vector monitor is supposed to look like. 

[RobeeJ]

Oh hai there!

I've been heavily working on my website recently, as a result of which I've been looking for 404s and noticed the link from this thread. I forgot to allow downloads from the files directory, so the diff would have resulted in a 404, it should work now.

Needless to say I haven't abandoned the idea of patching MAME, and in fact I actually begun looking into it again a few months ago.

I did a fair bit of googling for a HLSL shader that gives a nice glow effect, but none of the ones I found I can get to work. :/ And alas this isn't my area of coding expertise.

I'm also having a bit of a scaling issue, I think there is an element of MAME code I'm misunderstanding.

Anyway, don't expect miracles in short time periods, but likewise I haven't completely abandoned the idea of doing this with the newer MAMEs.

[Nightbring3r]

... I haven't completely abandoned the idea of doing this with the newer MAMEs.

Good to hear! This is definitely an area that mame is lacking and your patch is an impressive proof on concept. When I first came across your patch I had hoped one of the mamedevs would pick it up and run with it, but I guess that wasn't meant to be. Wish I could help, but all the graphics stuff is way out of my area of expertise.

[shrunkenmaster]

Looking at using AAE for my upcoming Battlezone scratch build. Couple of questions:

1) What PC specs/GFX card works well?
2) What resolution are you running?
3) Can you run Battlezone without the bezel overlay? If so, does it still show the radar, etc? I read somewhere that turning off the bezel also took out the radar, which would not be good for me.

Any help would be great.

[Gravitar]

Looking at using AAE for my upcoming Battlezone scratch build. Couple of questions:

1) What PC specs/GFX card works well?

Any modern PC and card work well. I have GeoForce 9800 GT and it runs flawlessly.

3) Can you run Battlezone without the bezel overlay? If so, does it still show the radar, etc? I read somewhere that turning off the bezel also took out the radar, which would not be good for me.

Yes and yes.

However, high score saving doesn't work in AAE BattleZone, for whatever reason. It works fine on most other games.

[shrunkenmaster]

Thanks Gravitar!

[dmckean]

Been away for a while, has the Vector HLSL in MAME caught up to/surpassed AAE? Is there any reason at all to still run it?

[MikeNZ]

Been away for a while, has the Vector HLSL is MAME caught up to/surpassed AAE? Is there any reason at all to still run it?

Yes, and curious to also find out what other user's best HLSL settings are for the most realistic vector look?

[lamprey]

They are talking about a graphics overhaul. I don't know what that means however, but something to keep an eye on.

But, Mame vs AAE depends on the game. HLSL, is great for most of the games and the artwork system works (if you want bezels and such). AAE is still king in my book when it comes to Asteroids and Asteroids Deluxe. A little tweaking and it looks fantastic! Unfortunately, AAE artwork system is lacking. Also, if you are using a joystick control there are some compatibility issues. But, those can be overcome with joystick to key mapping.

[dmckean]

They are talking about a graphics overhaul. I don't know what that means however, but something to keep an eye on.

But, Mame vs AAE depends on the game. HLSL, is great for most of the games and the artwork system works (if you want bezels and such). AAE is still king in my book when it comes to Asteroids and Asteroids Deluxe. A little tweaking and it looks fantastic! Unfortunately, AAE artwork system is lacking. Also, if you are using a joystick control there are some compatibility issues. But, those can be overcome with joystick to key mapping.

The B&W vectors need their own overhaul. B&W CRT monitors were fundamentally different from color ones.

[alexportugal1212]

Please update this GREAT EMULATOR, fix all high scores to workd