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Issue with Windows 7 and native resolutions.
bitbytebit:
Also the newest groovymame does things now slightly different. Basically the default is to just run with vsync, you would try that first (basically a fresh mame.ini) and might want to set soundsync to 1 also since it'll be used only if necessary. Then if that doesn't work for a game like asteroids, you might want to make a .ini file for it with triplebuffer 1 in it. See if that helps, any game running slow might need that set, it signals groovymame to act more like my previous version did in a sense but also turns off vsync too and throttle on (which may just be necessary for games that don't match the vertical refresh rate of the ArcadeVGA modelines). Then of course if you alter the resolution with the ArcadePerfect utility and get the refresh correct you probably can then remove the need for triplebuffer in that game.
Calamity has an idea of how to do this a bit better in the future where triplebuffer could be avoided if desired or used, and signal this type of change with the syncrefresh option. So Things might change to use that method, but I'm curious how the current method works for you and others to see where to go from here. Basically the changes I have made recently allow it now to run in vsync mode by default even if the refresh isn't perfect, since with soundsync it may be slightly slower but tear free and best scrolling. Then from there can choose triplebuffer if you want better refresh but possibly some issues that happen with triplebuffer, it's always going to be a compromise without a modeline that perfectly matches the refresh rate.
krick:
--- Quote from: Calamity on April 18, 2011, 05:13:52 am ---
But, if you accept my advice, you guys that really want to do serious emulation, keep away of Windows 7. You already have Windows XP-64 for a complete 64-bit OS, why build your CRT cabinet system with such a bloated OS targeted to flat screens? I mean, Windows 7 is the OS you'll expect to find in your wife's laptop today, and possibly in any office computer in the near future, but I see no benefit in using it for arcade systems, rather a lot of new problems.
--- End quote ---
I've considered XP64, but there's two issues that I can think of off the top of my head...
1) A copy of XP64 costs about $250. I got a 3-computer license for Win7 for $130.
2) I don't know if XP64 will work with SATA devices, especially an SSD boot drive.
I really didn't want to go with Windows 7, but it seemed like the easiest/cheapest path to 64-bit. All the computers in my house are still running XP32, if that gives you any indication of my feelings for recent Microsoft OS offerings.
Persuade me to switch. :)
Calamity:
--- Quote from: krick on April 18, 2011, 05:37:51 pm ---
I've considered XP64, but there's two issues that I can think of off the top of my head...
1) A copy of XP64 costs about $250. I got a 3-computer license for Win7 for $130.
2) I don't know if XP64 will work with SATA devices, especially an SSD boot drive.
I really didn't want to go with Windows 7, but it seemed like the easiest/cheapest path to 64-bit. All the computers in my house are still running XP32, if that gives you any indication of my feelings for recent Microsoft OS offerings.
Persuade me to switch. :)
--- End quote ---
Yeah I see your point. And Windows 7 is becoming ubiquitous these days, probably hardware compatibility will be the final reason for everybody to move. It's only that, imho, it's going to take years until we achieve in Windows 7 the same level perfection we've got now in XP, if it's even possible, as most of the low-res/crt/15Khz state of art is based on hacks and similar stuff over the existing things, that needed A LOT of work and research, which you can benefit from at zero cost.
And of course I'm not trying to persuade anybody, just wanted to bias people decisions a little bit :) As you may have a good reason for using Windows 7, but I feel that many people in the arcade scene are moving uncritically to this system without actually knowing of its flaws when it comes to advanced emulation on crt devices. In fact I'm getting tired of the Windows thing altogether, it's a never-ending battle trying to bypass the hardcoded behaviour of the system that gets in the middle of your hardware actual capabilities. Thanks God we have Linux, it's free and we have the source code ;D
krick:
Well, I managed to track down a copy of XP X64 sp2. It took me a little while to get it set up properly, and when I installed it and went to Windows updates, there were 99 (!!!!) critical updates. LOL
Then I had two ArcadeVGA issues....
1) The fan has stopped spinning. I fired off an email to Andy and he's sending me a new fan. You gotta love the service! That's why I'm a repeat customer. In the meantime, I have an 80mm fan on an adjustable bracket directly over the ArcadeVGA, blowing downward to keep it cool.
2) I absolutely could not get the drivers from the CD to install no matter what I tried. Eventually, I became convinced that my Ultimarc installation CD didn't have XP x64 drivers on it at all. I just assumed that the drivers for vista/win7 were used on XP64, but it turns out that's not the case. I googled for drivers and found this page... http://www.ultimarc.com/avgadrivers.html
After downloading the XP x64 driver zip file, I was unable to unzip it with Windows built-in zip support, WinRAR, or 7zip. Every time I tried, I kept getting a single file with no extension. On a whim, I renamed the single file and added a .zip extension and tried to unzip THAT file. Finally, success. The original downloaded zip file must be some sort of non-standard double-zip solid archive format. Possibly from a newer version of Winzip or something. Man, I hate Winzip. Anyway, once I had the actual XP x64 drivers, the install was flawless.
The first thing I tried was groovymame running Asteroids, and it ran fine. So, that definitely implicates either Windows 7 itself, or the ArcadeVGA drivers on Windows 7 as the culprit on that 30Hz refresh rate issue.
Doing a diff between the two output logs, I noticed that the Windows 7 driver seems to have a resolution that the Windows XP x64 does not. 512x512. I had gotten used to using that resolution sometimes when configuring windows because of the "tall" resolution. You have less dialog boxes getting chopped off at the bottom of the screen. I also noticed that XP x64 has a 1024x768 virtual desktop mode that pans around. It's still interlaced though, so it's hard to read on my monitor. I guess it might be useful sometimes. The highest resolution available on Windows 7 is 800x600. I think that XP x64 might also have a 320x200 resolution that Win 7 doesn't but I can't remember for sure.
bitbytebit:
That makes sense, I think in Windows 7 they've somehow broken interlaced modelines, and these are probably some of the results of whatever Microsoft broke.
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