Arcade Monitor resolution

[speedklz]

Ok, I have an Arcade monitor and I am running soft15k with mameplus and mamewah front end. The games all have different res`s, so they dont all fit on the monitor correctly, some have alot of over or under scan. HOw is the best way to get them all to fit and look decent on the monitor. I have my desktop set for 640 by 480 but I have tried setting it to the games closest res that is available to me.

[ahofle]

Personal opinion, but when I had a CGA only monitor, I set the vertical size so the 256 line vertical games (Centipede, DK, etc) went just past the top/bottom.  The horizontal games will then have a small black bar on top/bottom.  For 288 line+ verticals (Pacman, Galaga, etc) you can run 640x480 with hardware stretch.  It's a compromise, but I felt it was the best one.

[speedklz]

So no real way of making them all fit.. With out going with a different monitor.

[Ummon]

REad the monitor wiki

[ahofle]

You can make them all fit, but with either:
a) small black bars on top/bottom
b) one category of resolutions (like 288 line games) running with hardware stretch.

To be honest, pacman/galaga at 640x480 + hardware stretch is not that bad.

[speedklz]

Read the wiki.. No answers....My problem is that with GT`s the bottom of the screen is off screen, and I have to adjust the actual monitor and then the other games are really short. If I change the res to make it work then avery other games gets screwed.. I cant find a Happy medium with them. 

[tyson171]

Hey m8, need to do some research here on this site also (its all here).  Need to use a program called arcadeVGAres to go through and set up a custom list of .ini files for everygame (and it will go ahead and set the closet resolutions for all of your games too. Problem solved!  Also need to set mame up correctly, there are tutorials everywhere, but really quick my mame .ini file has the following settings:  Also check out the ultimarc site and just set it up like you have the arcadevga card, but just with soft15hz running instead.

#
# WINDOWS VIDEO OPTIONS
#
video                     ddraw
numscreens                1
window                    0
maximize                  1
keepaspect                1
prescale                  1
effect                    none
waitvsync                 0
syncrefresh               0

#
# DIRECTDRAW-SPECIFIC OPTIONS
#
hwstretch                 0

#
# DIRECT3D-SPECIFIC OPTIONS
#
d3dversion                9
filter                    1

Finally good luck!

[speedklz]

Yea I set mine up that way also, but I did find that if I hook my mame box to a different monitor that all the games are sized correctly, SO i may have a problem in the monitor, but the original Golden Tee 98 board works fine with no over or under scan its just some of the Mame games have either one or the other So I beleive that the monitor I have in the cab will only work properly with a specific res. At least that sounds about right.

[tyson171]

I've got an older wells 7100 series that came out of a mortal kombat cab, and it works/looks great.  Only problem i have is with pacman and just a couple of other games, can't find a res where i can see the score and how many men you have(cuts both the score and men in half), but i just adjust the vert horiz and its an easy fix, then adjust back when i'm done playing that game, only have to do it for 10 or so games, every other game the res is fine. I don't like using hwstrech on pacman either because then it doesn't look like an aracde monitor anymore. I don't like pacman at 640 by 480, i think i use something like 356x288 or something close to that, but for games like merc i actually use 640 by 420 i think it is, doesn't have screen jump like 640 by 480.  Also when u say you hook your mame box to another montior....is that a pc monitor by chance or another arcade monitor? You MUST make sure you have direct draw setup for an arcade monitor, and i use d3d for vert games at 640 by 420.

[Ummon]

http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Video

particularly the links in 'Video Overview'


If you don't understand those, it doesn't mean they didn't have the answers you needed.

Technical data generally requires a technical mind.

[speedklz]

http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Video

particularly the links in 'Video Overview'


If you don't understand those, it doesn't mean they didn't have the answers you needed.

Technical data generally requires a technical mind.

The problem i was having there is no answer in there that will work other than thats how it is and live with it..
  Yea I hooked it to another arcade monitor, a WG 7131 and it works in all the games. Its a 25" the other one is alot smaller and the screen has alot of over or under scan depending on the game. It is easy on the 7100 series to readjust the vert and horiz with the extrenal controls but on my otherone I have to take the back off the cab.

[Ummon]

E-heh heh heh heh heh heh heh. Unfortunately, some things, while they consist of certain variables, overall result in quite absolute conditions.

[speedklz]

Actually I found am old thread on here where someone else had the same problem with a small monitor, its just inherent of the old monitors.

[Ummon]

The deal is, any analog monitor, by virtue of how it's designed, ordained by conditions of physics, will not be able to natively size significantly different resolution images.

Hell, maybe I should post that in the wiki as a summary.

[speedklz]

And the smaller the monitor the more that statement applies..  I have since test this on several size monitors and tv`s and its completely true. Wikki it....Wikki It

[Ummon]

It seemed to me a standard res tube was a standard res tube. Not that I'd bother with anything smaller than 19". Hell, I don't really care for anything but uprights or cockpits.

[speedklz]

This is just a 13 inch.