Groovymame 0.243 - Switchres 2.002i

[Calamity]

What is GroovyMAME?

GroovyMAME is a M.A.M.E. fork aimed at CRT monitors, with a strong focus on CRT preservation, since this is the only display technology that accurately replicates the genuine video game experience. However you can use GroovyMAME to alleviate some of the annoyances associated to emulation on LCD displays, specially for those models which are capable of refreshing at custom rates.

GroovyMAME's main features as compared to official MAME:

• Improved video and audio synchronization that achieves truly smooth scrolling, tearing-free video and hiccup-free audio.
  
• Automatic generation of custom video timings for CRT monitors.
  
• Reduced input latency

Download:

Always get the most recent GroovyMAME's package from our github's site.

Important: in Windows, just unzip and run! Ignore instructions about downloading official MAME and replacing the binary.


What is Switchres 2.0?

Switchres 2.0 is a modeline generation engine for emulation. The Switchres project has become an independent library, and with it, GroovyMAME has been reworked, to hopefully achieve a cleaner and more robust integration.

New features:

• Multi-monitor support: Switchres 2.0 can handle up to 4 displays simultaneously, each with its own separate configuration. Default Switchres settings for all displays are read from MAME's usual .ini system, but now you can create specific per-display .ini files, named display0.ini, display1.ini, etc., that allow independent configuration for each display. Vertical synchronization (-syncrefresh) is always done to display #0.
  
  Most importantly, the user can decide which exact monitor the output will go to in a multi-monitor setup. While this is not a new feature, it now works reliably on both Windows and Linux. As usual, set the option -screen <screen> for that. Remind that in Windows <screen> is typically \\.\DISPLAY1, \\.\DISPLAY2, etc., while in Linux (SDL2) you have screen0, screen1, etc.
  
  
• Automatic LCD monitor preset: now -monitor lcd dynamically creates a fixed resolution preset based on your reported monitor timings, so GM can adjust output refresh rate to match game's refresh on supported graphic cards (Windows: AMD; Linux: AMD, Nvidia, Intel), within the Hz range defined by -lcd_range <min_refresh-max_refresh>. In Windows, it requires -allow_hw_refresh.

New options:

All platforms

• -switchres_backend <option>: Choose between different supported backends: ati, adl, powerstrip, xrandr, drmkms. Default (recommended) setting is auto. Notice that drmkms doesn't work yet but is expected to be a real alternative as SDL2 support gets better.
  
  
• -[no]modesetting: sets video modes directly bypassing the renderer backend. This is useful when the backend doesn't handle mode switching natively (BGFX) or uses a cached mode list so it doesn't see the modes we create at runtime (SDL2). Note that while mode switching on BGFX is now possible, synchronization with -frame_delay is still only supported on the following backends: d3d (Windows) and opengl (Linux).
  
  
• -[no]pixel_precision: greatly improves horizontal centering of video modes, by calculating horizontal borders with 1-pixel precision, instead of the default 8-pixels blocks that were required in the past.

Windows

• -[no]allow_hw_refresh: dynamically adds new modes or updates existing ones just like VMMaker does, even on stock AMD drivers. This feature is experimental and is disabled by default. It has the following limitations and problems:
  
  • Synchronization is not perfect yet and the new modes may not always be ready on time for mode switching, causing a wrong display output.
    
  • A plug-n-play audio notification will be present on startup and exit, if the explorer shell is used.
    
  • Refreshing the hardware is an expensive task that takes time, specially if the app has already entered fullscreen mode. This makes it unpractical for games that switch video modes more than once, unless -nochangeres is used, or alternatively super resolutions are forced (-resolution 2560x0) so that effective mode changes are neutralized (the later trick won't help for games that switch between interlaced and progressive).
    
  • When used on stock AMD drivers instead of CRT Emudriver, usual limitations apply: no support for low resolutions (below 640x480) nor low dotclocks. Not a problem however if you're using a 31 kHz monitor.
    
  Still, this feature is interesting enough to be provided as an option, and is a requirement for the new automatic lcd preset (as it's what makes it possible to refresh the current desktop mode).
  

Linux/X11

• -[no]screen_compositing: adjusts the crtc position each time a new video mode is set, maintaining the relative position of screens in a multi-monitor setup.
  
  
• -[no]screen_reordering: stacks the screens vertically on startup to allow each screen to freely resize up to the maximum width. Useful to avoid video glitches when using super-resolutions. -screen_reordering overrides -screen_compositing.

Dropped features:

• Magic resolutions (Windows XP). This old technique relied on a Windows XP's feature that was abolished on newer Windows versions and is no longer possible. It has been replaced in practice by super resolutions.
  

Dropped options:

• -orientation <option>: This option has been removed since experience has proved it caused confusion to new users because it collided with MAME's native rotation options. So now, all orientation settings are handled through MAME's options. Leave the default settings for an horizontally mounted monitor, and use either -autoror or -autorol for a vertical one.
  
  
• -connector <option> This option was meant to achieve multi-monitor support on Linux but was never properly wired and now has been superseded by the more correct integration with MAME's -screen option.
  

[Calamity]

What's new in Switchres 2.002i (April 2022)

- Fixed wrong scaling of vertical games in certain cases.

- [Linux] Internal changes to support libdrm hook (experimental feature).


What's new in Switchres 2.002g (January 2022)

- New option -switchres_ini. If enabled, GroovyMAME will try to parse switchres.ini and use it for its configuration. Options priorities, in increasing order: mame.ini < switchres.ini < display#.ini < orientation.ini < ..... < command line.

- [Linux] Improved support for mode switching on KMS.

- [Linux] Fixes toggling fullscreen on/off (still imperfect but functional).


What's new in Switchres 2.002f (December 2021)

- [Linux] First release ever to support mode switching on KMS. It needs Substring's patched kernel and SDL2 (>=2.0.16) available on GroovyArcade's repository.


What's new in Switchres 2.002e (October 2021)

- Properly fix configuration saving from the ui.


What's new in Switchres 2.002d (October 2021)

- [Windows] Fix bug that caused interlaced modes to lock screen updates.

- Fix bug that caused an exception when saving configuration after doing changes from the ui.

- Make -vsync_offset slider setting not propagate between different games when launched from the ui.


What's new in Switchres 2.002c (September 2021)

- [Windows] Fixed bug that caused games using interlaced modes run at double speed.


What's new in Switchres 2.002b (June 2021)

- New option -[no]syncaudio: Make audio synchronization (resampling) optional. Default is enabled. Disable to avoid sound wobble with erratic emulation speeds (like that caused by frame delay on some systems).

- New option -[no]autostretch: Make auto stretching feature optional. Default is enabled, so GM will apply the scaling mode (fractional or integer) that best fits the situation.

- New option -[no]autofilter: Make auto filter optional. Default is enabled, so GM will apply bilinear filtering when fractional scaling or an interlaced mode are used.

- New option -[no]interlace_force_even: Calculate all vertical values of interlaced modes as even numbers. Required by AMD APU hardware on Linux

- [Windows] Implement asynchronous rendering through native D3D9ex api (replace for old multithreaded -triplebuffer). This mode is selected automatically by -autosync. You can force it manually with -waitvsync -nosyncrefresh.

- [Linux] New option -sync_mode <0-4>: In combination with -syncrefresh, select the synchronization mode that offers the lowest latency based for the specific video driver. The default value is 2, which gives good results for both amdgpu and radeon on X11 and kms mode. Other modes are provided that could be useful with other hardware/driver combination.

Code: [Select]

sync   algorithm        amdgpu          radeon          radeon/kms      amdgpu/kms
mode
   0  -Swap(1)          perfect(1)      perfect         smooth          smooth
      -glFinish                                         lag 1 frame     lag 1 frame

   1  -Swap(0)          tearing         tearing         perfect         tearing/
      -drmWaitVBlank    perfect w/fd                                    stuttering
      -glFinish

   2  -Swap(1)          perfect(1)      perfect         perfect         perfect(1)
      -drmWaitVBlank
      -glFinish

   3  -drmWaitVBlank    tearing         perfect(2)      tearing         tearing
      -Swap(0)
      -glFinish
               
   4  -drmWaitVBlank    half speed      half speed      smooth          smooth
      -Swap(1)                                          lag 1 frame     lag 1 frame
      -glFinish

- Swap(x), x = Opegl swap interval (0 = immediate, 1 = v-sync)
(1) Low frame delay performance
(2) GM's pre-0.232 implementation
perfect = smooth + subframe latency

Note: amdgpu on X11 has tearing with mode 1, however tearing can be removed with frame delay, and when done, it offers better performance than mode 2.


What's new in Switchres 2.002a (March 2021)

- Fixed crash on emulated systems with 2 or more screens.

- Correctly update game video information after machine initialization.

- Properly account for refresh scaling & black frame insertion with frame delay.

[Calamity]

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[Calamity]

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[donluca]

First! 

Good stuff, I'm really interested in what other emulator developers will be able to do with the new standalone switchres... I might ping the blast'em developer about this... 

[dmckean]

-[no]pixel_precision: greatly improves horizontal centering of video modes, by calculating horizontal borders with 1-pixel precision, instead of the default 8-pixels blocks that were required in the past.

Nice!

[haynor666]

Fantastic news Calamity. Thanks for all hard work

[pmc3]

Thanks, changelog for 2.001b ?

[Calamity]

Thanks, changelog for 2.001b ?

The code for versions is 2.001 (SR) + b (GM integration)

So SR's is still 2.001 (no changes upstream), and "b" is the second release. We'll see how well or bad this works.

The commit history can be checked here. The relevant change of "b" from the user's point of view is "Add 1 decimal precision to CPU overclock slider". This feature was already in 0.017t but was missing in 2.001a. I'll post a changelog anyway since the commit history is not meant to be used for that.

Once we update SR, the new version will be 2.002a, etc.

[Paradroid]

Amazing!!! Well done and thank you for your ongoing efforts! Looking forward to giving this new version a spin.

[Arroyo]

Thank you Calamity for keeping at it.  A great experience made even greater!

[dth930]

This is a great update!

With all of these changes, is the update procedure still to overwrite all the files from the prior version besides the .ini's in the root directory?  Or are there other files we need to retain or regenerate?

[pixel69]

 
great great job 

[m.andrade1]

Hello Calamity
Thanks a lot for your wonderfull effort to make our hobby great!
I´m trying to run 0228b but some strange reason it doesnt want to run, cannot even create a log file, so i will attach a photo so maybe anyone can figure out what is going on.
Strange thing that 0227b runs perfectly fine, on same config.
Using win7 , crt_emudriver 2.0 15, with an ati 6450, display 15khz on \\.\DISPLAY2, and regular dvi with a lcd on \\.\DISPLAY1

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Tqo1hjBRPqsUVoDk6

Thanks for help
Marcos

[Calamity]

Hi Marcos, is that my full package from github?

[reeone]

my amd gpu 6310 with crt_emudriver_&_tools_2.0_beta_15_12.6_W.7.8.10-64 also cant run groovymame64_0228.001b_win-7-8-10,if edit mame.ini,switchres  0,it can run,but game only run at 480i

my another pc,amd a6 with r4 gpu,crt_emudriver_&_tools_2.0_beta_15_16.2.1_W.7.8.10-64,it run groovymame64_0228.001b_win-7-8-10 very good

[Max_FS]

I have the same problem. GM 0228.001b (full package downloaded from Github) but with additional patch by Haynor won't start with switchres set 1 in mame.ini. With switchres deactivated, I can run mame but there is nothing displayed on my second screen.

ASUS Z87-A Mainboard
Intel Pentium G3258 CPU
Sapphire Radeon HD 6450 GPU with CRT EMU-Driver, flashed with Atom-15
Windows 7
Sony Trinitron CRT as first screen
Stretched LCD as second screen

[Calamity]

@reeone and @Max_FS,

Are you using Emudriver based on 12.6? If so, please try with version 16.2.1.

[m.andrade1]

Hello Calamity
Thanks again for your fast reply, i used to mix mame´s dev version and them with yours.
But now as you suggest i unpacked your´s Github only, but unfortunelly same issue.
I saw your help for another user i have instaled 12.6 with ATi 6450, do you think i can install 16.2.1 with that card ?

Thanks
Marcos

[Calamity]

I saw your help for another user i have instaled 12.6 with ATi 6450, do you think i can install 16.2.1 with that card ?

Yes, 16.2.1 is the recommended version for your card. 12.6 is just provided for backwards compatibility with pre-HD 5000 cards.

[fred92]

hello,
i post here too my request because for the first time, groovymame doesn't work with games.
with all latest releases there were no issues at all.
I'm working windows 7 64bits,groovymame 0.228 downloaded on github.
my videocard is ATI Radeon HD 5450 with Calamity drivers CRT emudrivers WDDM 1.20) for few years without issues.
VMMaker says CRT Emudriver 2.0 12.6 found.
i don't remember if it's beta 14 or 15 (how to check it ?) but i think it's the beta 15.
Any help welcome.
 i saw you speak about 16.2.1.
where can this driver can be found, and, should i re install all modelines etc. ?

And i want to thank Calamity for this great job, i use my old arcadecabinets for years in pixel perfect !!
Fred, From France.

[m.andrade1]

Hello Calamity
Thank you so much for your feedback again!
Will definely try 16.2.1 with my Ati 6450 !
Tried to download drivers but seems site is down : http://geedorah.com/eiusdemmodi/forum/index.php

Thanks
Marcos

[Calamity]

Use this link for 16.2.1 for non-GCN cards.

You'll need to reinstall your modelines. If you prefer you can "export" your modelines first. In VMMaker->Video card tab:

- Import modes from driver -> OK
- Export modes to file

Then once in 16.2.1:

- Import modes from file
- Install modes

[m.andrade1]

Hello Calamity
Drivers 16.2.1 on my Ati 6450, fix the crash issue on 0228b.

Only thing i noticed on 0228b have a bigger horiontal widht screen, and on 0227b had a short Width.

Thank you so much for your time and help!
Marcos

[fred92]

Use this link for 16.2.1 for non-GCN cards.

You'll need to reinstall your modelines. If you prefer you can "export" your modelines first. In VMMaker->Video card tab:

- Import modes from driver -> OK
- Export modes to file

Then once in 16.2.1:

- Import modes from file
- Install modes

hello Calamity, thanks you so much for your advice.
it now works.

Just a word, when a game is launched, the info screen is not very readable... but all works, that's enough.
Thank you for your quick answer and all the job you've done for us and our common passion: arcade games and pixel perfet.
Fred.

[Max_FS]

Hi Calamity,

basically it also worked for me (many thanks for that), but unfortunately, I still have some trouble.

First of all, installing 16.2.1 made it a lot better and now GM runs with switchres activated.

However, it only works, when GM is being started from a frontend. When I try starting it directly, it produces error messages ("Switchres: Could not find a video mode that meets your specs"). Maybe that's not a problem at all but still leaves me confused.

Next thing is, that directly after installing CRTEmuDriver, it assigns my CRT to DISPLAY5 and my LCD (used as a second screen for marquee artwork) to DISPLAY4. After a restart of Windows, it is suddenly DISPLAY2 and DISPLAY1. This also may not be a problem but maybe is worth telling.

Now it comes to a bigger problem which is with regard to my second screen (the LCD besides the CRT to display marquee artwork). After changing to CRT EmuDriver 16.2.1 and GM0.228 nothing is displayed on the second screen, while GM is running. However, other artwork, like bezels, work correctly.
While the frontend is runnig, there is artwork displayed on the second screen. First it was in a wrong position but I was able fix that.

If anyone could help me with the last problem, I would be really grateful.

Best regards
Max

[reeone]

oh，my gpu is too old to install CRT EmuDriver 16.2.1

[Calamity]

oh，my gpu is too old to install CRT EmuDriver 16.2.1

Have you tried?

[reeone]

oh，my gpu is too old to install CRT EmuDriver 16.2.1

Have you tried?

CRT EmuDriver 16.2.1 or nieg find no compatible devices with hd6310

[Max_FS]

Hi Calamity,

basically it also worked for me (many thanks for that), but unfortunately, I still have some trouble.

First of all, installing 16.2.1 made it a lot better and now GM runs with switchres activated.

However, it only works, when GM is being started from a frontend. When I try starting it directly, it produces error messages ("Switchres: Could not find a video mode that meets your specs"). Maybe that's not a problem at all but still leaves me confused.

Next thing is, that directly after installing CRTEmuDriver, it assigns my CRT to DISPLAY5 and my LCD (used as a second screen for marquee artwork) to DISPLAY4. After a restart of Windows, it is suddenly DISPLAY2 and DISPLAY1. This also may not be a problem but maybe is worth telling.

Now it comes to a bigger problem which is with regard to my second screen (the LCD besides the CRT to display marquee artwork). After changing to CRT EmuDriver 16.2.1 and GM0.228 nothing is displayed on the second screen, while GM is running. However, other artwork, like bezels, work correctly.
While the frontend is runnig, there is artwork displayed on the second screen. First it was in a wrong position but I was able fix that.

If anyone could help me with the last problem, I would be really grateful.

Best regards
Max

When I start GM via FrontEnd and then press TAB (to enter the menu) and then ESC I get back to the frontend without GM being closed (To leave GM and to get back to the frontend I normally use another key). However, when doing so and then closing the frontend and getting back to windows, GM is still running and when I maximise it, GM displays the artwork on the second just fine.

I really do not understand what's happening there. 

[Calamity]

Max_FS,

Since SR is now fully multi-monitor, you need to configure it properly. You say your secondary screen (marquee) is an LCD. So you need to configure it like "monitor lcd" in a separate .ini file, named display1.ini where you should just put "monitor lcd". That should fix the error you're seeing on command line. If it doesn't, please post a log here. I need your results from command line, not from the frontend.

[Calamity]

CRT EmuDriver 16.2.1 or nieg find no compatible devices with hd6310

Yeah it looks like the HD 6310 is actually an HD 4330, so 12.6 should be fine because it would use the legacy ati interface instead of adl. But for some reason it's trying to initialize adl. This leaves this card somehow in a dead zone. Could you post a log of legacy GM with your card on 12.6?

[Max_FS]

Max_FS,

Since SR is now fully multi-monitor, you need to configure it properly. You say your secondary screen (marquee) is an LCD. So you need to configure it like "monitor lcd" in a separate .ini file, named display1.ini where you should just put "monitor lcd". That should fix the error you're seeing on command line. If it doesn't, please post a log here. I need your results from command line, not from the frontend.

Many thanks for that hint. I did so (creating display1.ini only containing monitor lcd) and suddenly it is possible to start mame directly by double clicking on it or via command line.
However, it still won't display any artwork on the second screen. Therefore I attached a log file. Additonally, there was a message saying "Warning: layout view 'Marquee_Only' contains deprecated marquee element". It appears three times, whenever I start the game...

OK, just found out that my .lay-files are a little bit outdated so I got the warning. However, that did not cause the problem. I build a new lay-file for one game but there is still no artwork displayed.

But when I start the game, press TAB, choose "video options" and then change display1 (my second screen) to "standard" and then back to "Marquee_only" the artwork suddenly appears. When exiting the game and starting it again, the artwork is gone.

[pakoman]

Seems like a great improvement! Thanks Calamity for the hardwork, nice to see the preliminary stock driver support implemented

What is GroovyMAME?
-[no]pixel_precision: greatly improves horizontal centering of video modes, by calculating horizontal borders with 1-pixel precision, instead of the default 8-pixels blocks that were required in the past.

This is a good one, how comes 8-pixels blocks are not required anymore? (if it is long to explain, just don't bother, I don't want to waste your time here)

What is GroovyMAME?
When used on stock AMD drivers instead of CRT Emudriver, usual limitations apply: no support for low resolutions (below 640x480) nor low dotclocks. Not a problem however if you're using a 31 kHz monitor.
Still, this feature is interesting enough to be provided as an option, and is a requirement for the new automatic lcd preset (as it's what makes it possible to refresh the current desktop mode).

I'm a bit (very) disconnected but Toasty's patcher (cru and so) easily removes those limitations on stock drivers (or at least it did a couple of years ago!). It doesn't add the ability to accept custom resolutions on the fly, though.

[Calamity]

@Max_FS

I think you also need to set "modeline_generation 0" in display1.ini. When doing so, please post your log again so I can compare.

[Max_FS]

@Max_FS

I think you also need to set "modeline_generation 0" in display1.ini. When doing so, please post your log again so I can compare.

Ok, here we go. I set modeline to 0 and created two log files:
asterix2.txt: Just started the game and quit
asterix3.txt: Started the game, changed Display1 to "standard" and then back to "marquee_only" and then quit.

[Calamity]

Ok, here we go. I set modeline to 0 and created two log files:
asterix2.txt: Just started the game and quit
asterix3.txt: Started the game, changed Display1 to "standard" and then back to "marquee_only" and then quit.

Can you see anything on the lcd?

[Max_FS]

Ok, here we go. I set modeline to 0 and created two log files:
asterix2.txt: Just started the game and quit
asterix3.txt: Started the game, changed Display1 to "standard" and then back to "marquee_only" and then quit.

Can you see anything on the lcd?

Yes, I can see the extended desktop under windows and i see correctly positoned artwork while the frontend is running.
Only when starting GM (via frontend, directly from desktop or via command line) nothing appears on the lcd. There is no reaction.
Once GM is running, there are two ways to have something displayed on the lcd:

1. After GM was launched via frontend, I would press TAB to enter the menu and then press ESC to go back to the frontend which happens without GM being closed. Then I would close the frontend and maximise GM and suddenly both screens are working correctly.
2. Pressing TAB to enter the "video menu", then changing Display1 (which is the lcd) to standard view and then back to marquee view. Suddenly both screens are working correctly.

However, when exiting GM, the effect is gone and I would have to repeat the described way.
As a conclusion we know that the lcd is working properly and GM can basically display marquees on the lcd but it doesn't happen as expected.
 

[Calamity]

@Max_FS,

Please ignore the frontend situation since that's beyond my control. I'm trying to simulate your case here but it's working fine, I'm just trying orunners with -numscreens 2, crt + lcd. Would you mind sending one of your marquee layouts so I can try? (calamity15khz@gmail.com)

[reeone]

ATI/AMD ADL init
ERROR: ADL Initialization error!