MAME video problems after Win98 reinstall

[swamp2]

Wow, fixing this has been hours wasted and I am making no progress. I had to reinstall Windows on my custom cab recently and ever since MAME games are not displaying properly. Previously all games would properly fill the screen and have the correct aspect ratio. It was seamless. Now most games appear to take up a small area in the middle of the screen very roughly about 1/3rd or less of the total screen area. My set up is basically Win98, ATI Rage graphics card out via S Video to a standard television. Details, if they will help:

-AMD Athlon XP 2400 system
-Windows98 SE
-ATI Rage II+ (S video out), VESA drivers installed and VESA modes enabled
-Standard, off the shelf, 27" Samsung tube TV
-MAME .74 and MAME32 UI

There must be a simple fix for this, but I've tried every option and combination of options in MAME32 and I'm making little or no progress. I can get one game to appear properly but that throws another right off. It basically appears that the stretch ("Clean Stretch") as it is called in MAME32 is not working. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Marsupial]

are you running the same screen resolution than before the reinstall?

[swamp2]

I believe so. Certainly in Windows I am running the same resolution. I've tried most of the fixed resolutions, stretching options and DirectX option in the MAME32 UI, all with no success.

[swamp2]

OK, not making much progress here. How about a bribe. Seriously, I will give anyone $25 if they can solve this problem. I will pay by paypal, pay immediately and cover the paypal fee as well!

[darkseraph]

Youve got mame32 setup to display the original correct arcade resolution which is smaller than normal tvs so it isnt filling the whole screen.

edit:just thought about it somemore is it only in games? or is in windows aswell.

edit2: try using DirectDraw as a video mode in mame.

[swamp2]

^

MAME32 has both fixed and auto resolutions. I've tried both. Some will make some games appear proper but then others are screwed up. It definitely was not this way before my Windows reinstall.

Windows itself is just fine and everything looks just as before.

There are a variety of DirectDraw options in MAME32 and I have tried most of them.

Thanks!

[Marsupial]

have you tried re-reinstalling??

[swamp2]

^ I think what I tried is fully equivalent to reinstalling. I had a virgin install of MAME available (the once I actually use regularly I compile myself with a couple of very minor tweaks). I tried many of the same games under that install and it exhibited the exact same bad/incorrect behavior.

[swamp2]

Bump.

$50 instantly by paypal for a solution. This problem is making my really nice custom cab totally useless.

Ugh. I thought I really knew quite a lot about Win98 and MAME/MAME32 before this problem.

Thanks.

[Marsupial]

how about changing computer?

but seriously, have you done a complete reformat of the disk before reinstalling?

[Gray_Area]

When using S-video, I have 'stretch using hardware' checked. 'Switch resolutions to fit' and 'switch color depths to fit' are un-checked. All games should match the resolution of your desktop.

[swamp2]

how about changing computer?

but seriously, have you done a complete reformat of the disk before reinstalling?

I have not tried changing the computer. I don't have another Win98 box to use. Anyway that is a pretty extreme solution if it worked.

[swamp2]

When using S-video, I have 'stretch using hardware' checked. 'Switch resolutions to fit' and 'switch color depths to fit' are un-checked. All games should match the resolution of your desktop.

Tried that thanks. No luck.

I think the total relevant set of options are:

Display Tab

Run in window (on, off)
Start out maximized (on, off)
Enforce aspect ratio (on, off)
Clean stretch (None, Full, Horiz, Vert)

Advanced Tab

Stretch using hardware (on, off)
Switch resolutions to fit (on, off)
Resolution size (auto, 640x480, etc.)

And again I have tried about every combination of things here I can think of...

It really must be something simple I am missing.

[swamp2]

A bit more trouble shooting information.

MAME without the Windows UI (MAME32) also behaves the same way. Running MAME from the command line gives a bit more insight. When trying to launch Galaga (which again takes up a small rectangle in the middle of the screen about 1/4 the proper stretched area) I see:

"There are known problems with this game
 The video emulation isn't 100% accurate."

It then tells me in the next screen:

"Screen Resoution:
288 x 224 (V) 60.000000 Hz"

Perhaps my VESA drivers are not working?

[AndyWarne]

Hardware Stretch is a function of the windows display drivers interacting with the card. So check the drivers are installed properly. They must be the correct ATI drivers for the card, not the standard Windows drivers which get loaded by default.

Some older video cards/drivers did not support hardware stretch at all, but I guess it worked before.

What are the VESA drivers you mention? These might be interfering with correct operation of the full Windows drivers so might be worth removing.

Andy

[swamp2]

Hardware Stretch is a function of the windows display drivers interacting with the card. So check the drivers are installed properly. They must be the correct ATI drivers for the card, not the standard Windows drivers which get loaded by default.

Some older video cards/drivers did not support hardware stretch at all, but I guess it worked before.

What are the VESA drivers you mention? These might be interfering with correct operation of the full Windows drivers so might be worth removing.

Andy

Thanks Andy. The ATI drivers are installed properly. I even reinstalled them just to make sure.

Indeed everything worked just fine before.

ATI has some VESA drivers that support a bunch of alternate low resolution modes. It is an optional/additional install after the main drivers. I'm fairly certain they were installed before my Windows reinstall and I reinstalled them again after install. I've tried MAME with and without these drivers.

[swamp]

Bump.

$100 instantly to anyone who can solve this problem. My custom multiple thousand dollar cab is largely useless (ast least for many of my favorite games). Perhaps anyone interested could have a look by a webex (web meeting) to have an actual look at my system and provide some advice.

Thanks in advance.

[krick]

For output to a television, you're always running at the same resolution as your windows desktop so you want to disable resolution switching.  You probably want to run MAME in D3D mode, and you want keepaspect on if it's not already.

[swamp]

^Thanks krick. Still no go.

In the MAME32 GUI I have the resolution set to 640x480 which is the same as the resolution setting for the graphics card and Windows.

I can never get any games to launch using D3D. It appears to start but immediately goes back to the GUI.

I have tried both the "Enforce aspect ratio" box both checked and unchecked.

By screwing around somewhat randomly with the plethora of video options I can get games to show up with different sizes it is just that most of the time vertical games are entirely wrong...

If anyone wants to try a quick web meeting to give this a shot I am dead serious about the $100 instantly.

[Calamity]

I can never get any games to launch using D3D. It appears to start but immediately goes back to the GUI.

Hi swamp,

Run dxdiag from command line, go to the screen tab and check that both DirectDraw and Direct3D acceleration are enabled, run the tests if possible. If some of those are disabled, there's a big chance either videocard's drivers or DirectX itself are badly installed. Don't look any further until you get those fixed.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=f70a3d7c-feac-4d9a-a803-278021061fec

As krick pointed, if you're using s-video there's no reason to switch resolutions, just run the games at desktop resolution using D3D and that's all (once you get D3D working).

[swamp]

Calamity: Where do I send the $$. PM me.

It did not go exactly as desired but the major hurdle has been crossed.

DirectX was installed and tested properly. D3D was not available. It did not become available until I set the graphics hardware acceleration to full. That actually got all my ATI specific tabs back on the advanced tab in the display options. Then the first dxdiag D3D test completed but the second one gave an error message. Back in MAME things were entirely back to normal by enabling DD but disabling D3D. Strange. Now I am also fighting some blue screeens on reboot. I might entirely reinstall my graphics drivers and DX/D3D.

I think half of the problem is that I don't use the system nearly enough like I did when setting it all up so I've forgotten some of the keys and tricks.

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

You know.... for the $100 you plan on sending him you could buy a decent newerish P4 system that would run WinXP and let you use more modern drivers..

[Calamity]

I'm with cotmm68030 here, you'd better invest in a newer pc. Thanks anyway, I wouldn't get your $$ for that, after all I just came at the end when the answer was pretty obvious, better have some beers!

[swamp]

^OK let me at least send enough $ for a courtesy 6 pack! I am super thankful!!

Today I regularly use XP and OSX 10.6 on my real computers. Win98 is for the cab only. Win98 was a pretty good system at the time I built my cab. It was actually even a bit outdated at the time. However, IIRC it was the best choice for the entire combination of old school emulation I wanted to do such as Atari, NES and MAME. I also tried a few different graphics cards in testing before building and settled on the ATI mentioned above. I felt it had the most true to original appearance with MAME, and again IIRC, drivers for it were not available for NT/XP.

I do still need to get this DX/D3D problem fixed. It also only reared itself after my OS reinstall. I completely reinstalled both my ATI drivers and DX 8.1 but can not get past the error during the second test in the D3D group of tests (again all in dxdiag). Microsoft had a specific article on this error but their fix did not work.

"failure at step 5 (get device caps): hresult = 0x8876086a 3-d not available" - Support article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/812491

Is there difference between DX 8.1 and 8.1b?

[Calamity]

Sounds there's something missing/faulty in your system if you can't get D3D fully working. Hopefully it's not a hardware issue. If it used to work before you reinstalled W98, I'd have a look at your motherboard drivers CD, specially AGP drivers, make sure everything is properly installed.