Work around for ArcadeVGA and Win 7 64 bit?

[BigDaddyE]

Just upgraded my processor and motherboard, the motherboard has an on board ATI Readon 4250 HD and the damn ArcadeVGA software hangs up every time I try to install. From what I have been reading, the Readon software is finicky and I would imagine it does not like going backwards for compatibility.

Anyone have a work around for this? I am about ready to whip the ArcadeVGA against a wall.

Thanks.

Eric

[bitbytebit]

Just upgraded my processor and motherboard, the motherboard has an on board ATI Readon 4250 HD and the damn ArcadeVGA software hangs up every time I try to install. From what I have been reading, the Readon software is finicky and I would imagine it does not like going backwards for compatibility.

Anyone have a work around for this? I am about ready to whip the ArcadeVGA against a wall.

Thanks.

Eric

I'd just use the Radeon 4250 and Soft15Khz, it's really the exact same thing and you just don't get a bios boot screen yet everything else plus more flexible resolutions.

[BigDaddyE]

I was thinking of that last night before I went to bed! I'll try it later today and see what happens!

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it!

Eric

[S_Akuma]

I upgraded as well and Win 7 64bit did not work well for me with soft15.  I could only display resolutions 600 and bellow in my CRT arcade monitor.  I need it 720 x and 800 x res...  I used three different ATI 4000 cards and all different versions of Catalyst.  At the end, windXP 64bit was what worked for me.  It was not a video card or Catalyst problem.  Somehow it was a Win 7 64bit problem. After winxp 64bit, I could display 720 x and 800 x resolution and below res.  I moved from and arcadeVGA to an ATI 4550 but I love the arcadeVGA cards, it just that this time around I need it a more powerfull video card for my cab.  Stay away from Win 7 64bit.

[ahofle]

Just upgraded my processor and motherboard, the motherboard has an on board ATI Readon 4250 HD and the damn ArcadeVGA software hangs up every time

Are you using the newer ArcadeVGA 3000?  Have you disabled the on-board 4250 adapter in your BIOS and completely removed the existing ATI drivers before trying to install the AVGA?  

And no, the onboard video with Soft15khz is not exactly the same as the ArcadeVGA.  You will still get non-CGA resolutions on POST/boot screens (before Windows loads).  The ArcadeVGA filters those out.

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

And I'll second the issues with Soft15Khz under Win7 64 bit. I had several resolutions not show up and several show up that were not valid. Switching to XP64 was a 'solution', as Soft15Khz worked fine in it, but it still wasn't what I wanted to do.

[BigDaddyE]

Hmm....

I haven't tried soft15 yet, not home from work yet, doesn't look like the solution.

No, I don't have the ArcadeVGA 3000, I unfortunately bought the last version, just befroe the 3000 came out, although I'm sure Andy would probably say I am fine with the older version.

I did disable the 4250, but I did not do anything in the BIOS, that kinda scares me. I'm not a computer programming guy, although, with this hobby, programming should be a prereq! I will probably dive in to the BIOS and see what I can find and hope I don't screw anything up too bad.

I did have the ArcadeVGA working just fine for about a week and now it is all screwed up!

Thanks again.

Eric

[BigDaddyE]

  Unflippin believable.

Uninstalled all video drivers, reloaded only the ArcadeVGA, loaded fine, thought I had it made. Now DirectX is screwed up!

I can play everything just fine on a flat panel, switch to the crt and MAME can't find directdraw. And I wanted the real arcade experience....

I throw myself to the mercy of the court.

Eric

PS, ran DXDIAG and everything checks out fine 

[ahofle]

If I were you I'd contact Andy at Ultimarc.  His service is excellent.
Also, I didn't think previous AVGA cards had Win7/Vista support.

[BigDaddyE]

Andy has pointed me in the direction of some new drivers Ultimarc has created for the ArcadeVGA 2 card. They are Win7 64 bit versions.

I will try out tonight and let everyone know.

Eric

[BigDaddyE]

New drivers didn't work with CRT, screen was unreadable at windows desktop, fine in the BIOS screen and Windows load screen.

Mame worked when switched over to flat panel, but for games like Nostalgia, Windows could not find DirectX, even though it is there and enabled.

Eric

[BigDaddyE]

I am slowly panicking.

I have been in contact with Andy and he says there are some out here using the VGA2 card and the vista64 drivers with no problems. It's not working for me.

Mame works fine on flat panel, switch to CRT and it can't find DirectDraw. Nestopia doesn't work on the flat panel, but roms start on the CRT, but then freeze up. Nostalgia runs occasionally on each, and the error when it doesn't run is a d3d error. Stella works, but when I back out, the resolution goes crazy, like 640 x 480 to 200's. Ran the directX utility and everything checks out fine and dandy.

What am I missing? something in the ini's? Something in Hyperspin?

Help? Please?

Eric

[headkaze]

Any particular reason you're running MAME in Direct Draw mode?

You can change it by opening mame.ini and changing

Code: [Select]

video                     ddraw
to

Code: [Select]

video                     d3d
What is the exact error when you say "it can't find DirectDraw"? This doesn't sound like an issue with the AVGA card. Sounds like you need to install the latest version of Direct3D.

[BigDaddyE]

Ok, didn't know I could there was the possibility of changing this in the ini. It has always worked fine with directdraw there. I will try that.

Is Direct3D different than the latest version of DirectX?

If so, this would make sense, since all emulators and roms ran fin with MAME 0.128 on a 32 bit system and I upgraded to MAME64 on a 64 bit system. Any other watch outs here?

From all the reading I did before switching to Mame64, it seemed that if I got the MAME version that matched roms and Win7 64 bit with propper updates, I would be fine.

Sorry if these seem like dense questions.

Thank you very much for the continued information.

Eric

[ahofle]

Ok, didn't know I could there was the possibility of changing this in the ini. It has always worked fine with directdraw there. I will try that.

If you are using an arcade monitor and native resolutions, you do not want direct3d as it stretches and artifacts the screen.  It's good for high resolution monitors but not good for native low resolutions.  I'd stick with directdraw.
I agree with headkaze though, you should try reinstalling directX.

[BigDaddyE]

I have reinstalled directX about 4 different times (untinstall too). I have the lastes one off teh microsoft site.

Andy is thinking its an issue with direct draw and win7. He is going to give me some exe's to put into the ini's.

Yikes!

Eric

[Gray_Area]

I can see DirectDraw becoming more of an issue in the coming years - similar to the issues in native resolution display in MAME in general.

[BigDaddyE]

Not exactly sure what that means, but I can tell you I am pissed at DirectDraw and Microsoft!

Those two left me with a steamin pile of worthless crap.

Can't get anything to work right now, Video card is pissed at Windows, Hyperspin is pissed at the computer and I am pissed at the whole thing! Looking to probably ditch Win7 64 and go back to Win XP SP3. At least I could play some games then!

Eric

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

Go XP64. Best of both worlds.

[BigDaddyE]

After a week, I have let my anger subside and I am trying again.

I have been doing more reading and found this:

"""Biostar came out with a 890gx board now.

from biostar

"ATI Hybrid CrossFireX boosts PC performance by enabling the AMD Chipset's integrated graphics processor and a discrete GPU (ATI Radeon™ HD 2400 Series ATI Radeon™ HD 3400 Series)"

http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/...n.php?S_ID=474

notice they say HD 24xx and HD 34xx"""

Could the mobo be trying to Hybrid the ArcadeVGA HD 2400 and by doing this get screwed up?

When the 2400 is not in and I run on the flat panel, everything is fine and all emu's work as they should. When the 2400 card is placed in and drivers placed in, all kinds of funky stuff happens. I am going to go through the BIOS and try to just have the PCIe slot there to start......

I have XP64 too, but I am holding that as the last resort......

Thanks.

Eric

[headkaze]

Just had a look at the manual for your MB's BIOS (yeah how crazy is that I'm RTFM?) and there is a setting to set the "Primary Video Controller". I would give that a try.

[BigDaddyE]

I have the manual and can't find that!

What page? I think I did this already, but a couple of eyes are better than 2!

Eric

[gazz292]

Don't be frightened of the bios, it's all basic stuff in there,

yes you could screw up the pooter, but you'd have to be changing lots of things at once for no reason to do so, and even if u did, just set them back to normal next boot,

anyhoo, get into bios the usual way... F1 at start up usually,

then navigate thru the screens, theres help on the right hand side of the screens telling you what to do, obviousely you have to use the keyboard as mouse dosent work till drivers have loaded.... sometimes a usb keyboard wont work on the bios, but nowadays they tend to.

When you get to the setting for enable or disable onboard video, or slect the adaptor to use, change it to suit, i.e. if it's enable or disable onboard video, set it to disable,
if it's select the adaptor to use, select the avga one... may be listed by the slot type..... i.e. it'll sya onboard, or AGP/PCIe slot,

save and exit from bios, and hope it works.

i must admit i had problems setting my avga 3000 up, was running xp sp3, 32 bit, and it screwed up as i was using an anologe monitor via an adaptor on the dvi port of the avga,

the latest drivers sorted that issue out for me, but the web page with the updated drivers isnt publicaly accessable... or it wasnt a few months ago when i needed them, but a few people have posted here they are on the ultimarc site.

[headkaze]

I have the manual and can't find that!

What page? I think I did this already, but a couple of eyes are better than 2!

Eric

It's a pdf so your pdf viewer should have a search function. The way I found it was to search for "video".

[BigDaddyE]

Ok. Tryin something different.

Switched over to WIN XP 64. Got mostly set up but need the ArcadeVGA XP 64 drivers.

I have emailed Andy, but he is probably sleeping, you know us, can never wait!

Anybody got them?

Thanks-

Eric

[BigDaddyE]

 

Hmm.... Looks like I'm screwed any way I cut it.

I guess I didn't do enough research.

Turns out that there are no Win XP 64 drivers for ArcadeVGA 2 cards. So, after over a month of heart ache and pain, it looks like I am left with an ArcadeVGA 2 card that works up to Win XP SP3 (that is what it used to work in) and nothing else and I have to shell out 80 plus bucks for a "new" ArcadeVGA card, that may or may not work with XP 64 or Win 7 64, depending on who you listen too.

Anybody have any other ideas? I've been through the bios, tried every driver set, even the beta's, cussed, drank, thought "this is the last one, this has to work..."

All this cause I wanted the true arcade experience with a CRT.... I guess I got it, I now feel the pain of all those arcade owners in the '80s!!! I'd still own an Alladin's Castle though!

Thanks.

Eric

[BigDaddyE]

Before I order the ArcadeVGA 3000, can someone verify that they are having success using it on a CRT with WIN 7 64 bit?

Thanks.

Eric

[ahofle]

Wouldn't it be easier to just use 32bit XP?

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

Really that onboard radeon would probably work just fine under xp64 and soft15khz. Its not like your pc shows the bios screen all the time to matter if that isn't displayed right.

[BigDaddyE]

Yes, it would be easier to go Win XP 32!! I have thought about that alot! I spent the cash to upgrade, so I am doing everything I can to stay 64.

Which leads me to ---> soft 15. 

I haven't tried it yet and I am going to. Don't really understand what the difference is between ArcadeVGA and a card with soft 15, but if it works and it looks like my nights at Aladdin's Castle, then I don't really care.

I have to break for Christmas, so I will bring the thread back on the 27th.

Merry Christmas and thanks to everyone who are trying to help me!

Eric

[BigDaddyE]

At least I got a picture using arcadeVGA!

Here is my first attempts at soft15.

Eric

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

Just looks like the res hasn't been set yet. Boot with F8 and select 640x480 mode then pick a better resolution with quickres.

[BigDaddyE]

I have a feeling this is the case. I have been pointed to the WIKI, I would guess that I have to place some resolutions into the file, as the WIKI states (I will use the suggestions). I will also boot with F8 and play around and see if this makes a difference.

I am running at 640 x 480 resolution with Quickres, have 15,25 and 31 hz selected within soft 15.

I am hoping to have a little more time to play with it tonight.

Thanks again.

Eric

[ahofle]

What kind of arcade monitor are you using?  If it's a CGA/15khz only (ie. not a multisync) you can't select 31khz resolutions, only 15khz.  That would explain the garbled windows screen you posted.

[BigDaddyE]

Not at home, so I can't tell the exact monitor name or number, but here is what the supplier of my monitor says on their website:

"NVD introduces it's 24.8 inch Tri-mode (Standard, Mid, VGA) open frame monitor.
This is the prefect monitor for replacement of the no longer available 25" monitors as well as the ideal monitor for that "Mame cabinet"".

Eric

[ahofle]

Sounds like a Nieman.  If I'm not mistaken, you have to manually switch something on the monitor to go from 15khz to 25khz to 31khz.  It won't automatically sync because it's not a digital monitor.  Look for a switch of some sort that says 15khz/31khz.  If it's set to 15khz, I believe that you can't use 31khz resolutions (I could be mistaken though).  Another quick test would be to uninstall Soft15khz and reinstall it, this time only selecting 15khz resolutions and then reboot.  If you can see the desktop at 640x480 interlaced, then it's probably because you can't run the 31khz resolutions.

[BigDaddyE]

I did buy it from Nieman.

I will reset soft 15 to only 15 khz and see what happens first.

Eric

[BigDaddyE]

Before I start my rant, thank you to all who have helped me on this journey!

So I have  given up on Win 7 64.

I have placed a new hardrive in and have installed Win XP 32.

I have reinstalled the various roms and emu's, software, ARCADEVGA2 and drivers. Everything looks very good and works fine before placing the cpu into the cab and connecting to the CRT.

Once I connected to the CRT, it is Groundhog day! Almost the same issue as the Win 7 issues. I have included pics. Basically, the Bios, and Win XP screen are fine, the desktop is garbled. I have installed the trisync and the resolution bug, I am running at 640 x 480. Not sure if this makes a difference, when I first started the CPU on the CRT, I had a high resolution, 1000 something x something, got the mouse arrow and nothing else. Shut CPU down, changed the resolution (via flatpanel screen), shutdown and plugged back into the CRT.

I know the ARCADEVGA2 card works (it works on the other port and worked fine with the CRT before the new CPU).

Any thoughts on what is possibly wrong would be appreciated (and don't call me a dumba$$, I have that one taken care of already).

Eric

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

Have you booted in with f8 and 640x480 mode? Have you installed vnc so you can tweak the monitor while its running 'blind' like that?

[djvj]

Not sure if this will help at all, but when I upgraded my cab from xp-32 to win7-32, I had major issues getting the arcadevga drivers to install and found no help online anywhere. I eventually got them to install using one of the compatibility modes (I think it was the XP one). The drivers installed fine and card has been working great for awhile now. This is an old arcadevga too, like 4-5yrs old too.