Scanlines in mame 0.139

[notroubleclubber]

Hi

Ive updated from mame 0.87 to latest 0.139 with new roms (not chds as havent got room!)
In the old mame i just enabled scanlines in the mame.ini folder "scanlines    1" but there is no option for this in mame 0.139.
There is an option of "effect" which im guessing ive got to put scanlines but then what?

[nitz]

Yep, you've got it. You need png files of scanlines now. You can download an effects pack from here:

http://mrdo.mameworld.info/mame_artwork_supp.html

Some of these are pretty decent. Much better than the old way of doing scanlines in mame IMO.

[Howard_Casto]

Yeah... the old scanlines are crap because you don't really want scanlines (which look silly) rather you want a dot-pitch filter (which looks authentic). 
I suggest you read up on it to understand what I mean.

Word of warning though, you need to set the resolution as high as possible to get the full effect of filters, especially the more advanced dot-pitch ones.

[notroubleclubber]

thanks. Ive used scanlines_rg or something which seems the most authentic on my crt pc 21" monitor.
 Personally though, i believe the older mame looked better with scanlines on.

[nitz]

In that case, I would use the old version of mame for the most part, and just use the new one for the games you upgraded for. I'm assuming you upgraded to be able to play more games and possibly for some games being better emulated.

[notroubleclubber]

Ive upgraded as i believe i was missing out alot between 0.87 and 0.139. Ive now upgraded my roms and enabled the scanline effect which seems alot better.

I would like to use CHDs but due to lack of space ive only got 0.87 CHDs. Is it possible to use these with 0.87 or would they just refuse to work?
CHDs like Area51 and Killer Instinct?

[nitz]

Ive upgraded as i believe i was missing out alot between 0.87 and 0.139. Ive now upgraded my roms and enabled the scanline effect which seems alot better.

I would like to use CHDs but due to lack of space ive only got 0.87 CHDs. Is it possible to use these with 0.87 or would they just refuse to work?
CHDs like Area51 and Killer Instinct?

I'm gonna assume you meant can you use them with 0.139, since of course you can use 0.87 CHDs with 0.87.

Short answer is no. Mame's CHD format has changed since 0.87. However, I *think* it may be possible to decompress these into their raw format using CHDman from 0.87, then recompress them back into CHDs using CHDman from 0.139. I'm not 100% sure that works though. You could search for more info on that or maybe someone more knowledgeable about it could help you.