Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum

Software Support => GroovyMAME => Topic started by: CRTFTW on June 08, 2015, 07:39:34 pm

Title: GroovyArcade vsync/throttling broken with AMD 7970, everthing plays way too fast
Post by: CRTFTW on June 08, 2015, 07:39:34 pm
Booting from a live CD, I've tried a few of the different outputs available on initial setup (DVI-1, VGA-1, NTSC DVI, etc) and on all of them, there is no vsync and games play really fast. I went ahead and installed to a USB drive though, and tried different combinations turning off and on throttling, syncrefresh, and vsync via mame.ini and nothing changed.

Any clue why this is happening. My best guess is this is most likely due to GroovyArcade being intended for older ATI/AMD cards. Would it be possible to install propietary drivers from AMD to fix it? Would that then break the modeline switching?

For background, in Windows my 7970 has been working pretty well with a combo of GroovyMAME and the Custom Resolution Utility from ToastyX to play games on my Sony PVM monitor. I still feel like there is about 1 frame of lag, at least on some shooters like Battle Garegga, even with frame_delay set to 8. Was hoping running GroovyArcade would eliminate that last little bit of lag.
Title: Re: GroovyArcade vsync/throttling broken with AMD 7970, everthing plays way too fast
Post by: Calamity on June 12, 2015, 08:12:07 am
Any clue why this is happening. My best guess is this is most likely due to GroovyArcade being intended for older ATI/AMD cards. Would it be possible to install propietary drivers from AMD to fix it? Would that then break the modeline switching?

What version of GroovyArcade are you using? It sounds like the splash screen corrupting the video driver. Try disabling the splash screen from the boot menu.


Quote
I still feel like there is about 1 frame of lag, at least on some shooters like Battle Garegga, even with frame_delay set to 8. Was hoping running GroovyArcade would eliminate that last little bit of lag.

Battle Garegga has built-in lag of several frames, that's how the game is.

Moving to Linux is not going to improve things on this regard. I has been demonstrated that Windows 7 has the lowest input lag.
Title: Re: GroovyArcade vsync/throttling broken with AMD 7970, everthing plays way too fast
Post by: CRTFTW on June 12, 2015, 09:42:46 am
What version of GroovyArcade are you using? It sounds like the splash screen corrupting the video driver. Try disabling the splash screen from the boot menu.

I used the GroovyArcade-Arch2013.02.24-x86_64.iso

I'll try disabling the splash screen later and get back to you. Thanks for your help.

Battle Garegga has built-in lag of several frames, that's how the game is.

Moving to Linux is not going to improve things on this regard. I has been demonstrated that Windows 7 has the lowest input lag.

The main reason I want to use linux is because it can force arcade-perfect video timings from my video card. I can't use this feature in GroovyMAME Windows because I'm pretty sure my 7970 isn't supported by the CRT_Emu Driver (you need that to force arcade video modes, right?). What I've been doing instead is using Custom Resolution Utility to create something close from the info I can gather from internet. But I'm sure whatever refresh rates I'm creating there are off by a fraction of a percent or something.

And then I might not have good info on the proper timings. On the launch screen for Battle Garegga in MAME, it's reporting a video mode of 59.6xxxxx hz, and a SwitchRes resolution of 60hz (not sure what that means). Since other websites have reported a 60hz refresh rate for Garegga, the video mode I made in CRU is precisely 320x240 @ 60hz. But that might be totally wrong.

And on the lag thing, I have a demo for Battle Garegga on Saturn, and it definitely feels like it has 0 frames of lag or close to it. It's definitely a little laggier in GroovyMAME even with frame_delay at 8. So unless the Saturn version has less lag than the arcade version, I think MAME is adding something. And I did read on ShmupsForum that (vanilla) MAME emulation adds a frame or two more lag to Battle Garegga than most shooters, for some reason.
Title: Re: GroovyArcade vsync/throttling broken with AMD 7970, everthing plays way too fast
Post by: cools on June 12, 2015, 12:11:06 pm
Garegga/Batrider/Bakraid have noticeable lag on the PCB, it's matched in GM Windows and added to if you use Linux.