I run all my emulated games at 320x240 (Commodore 1084S-D1): Is this correct?

[c0dehunter]

Hello all,
Thanks to mazinger-z, ahofle,SailorSat and Calamity, I have managed to get my MSI 4350 up and running under Windows XP Pro SP3. I have installed CRT_Emu drivers 32bit and 15KHz on top of it for additional modelines, and everything seems to be working (according to SailorSat when I launch a NEO GEO game, as long as I see it and it runs, it means that it is working!)

I have connected my system to a Commodore 1084S-D1 monitor, via a custom ]VGA->RGB cable (http://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?topic=127.0)

The questions that I have:

1) I run all my games at 320x240. Every emulated games, in SNES. NES, GENESIS, MAME, NEO GEO, PSX, PS2 runs great, but I wanted to know if I should raise/change/modify the resolution on any of these games for even better gaming experience maybe?

2) If the answer is no, then why didn't I stick with Windows 7 Ultimate x64, when 320x240 was the only resolution that I needed? since some of you recommended to switch back to XP for more resolutions/modelines)

[Calamity]

1) I run all my games at 320x240. Every emulated games, in SNES. NES, GENESIS, MAME, NEO GEO, PSX, PS2 runs great, but I wanted to know if I should raise/change/modify the resolution on any of these games for even better gaming experience maybe?

Hi c0dehunter.

I remember how confusing all this stuff was for me at the beginning so I can understand your doubts. Never mind, as you gain experience with video emulation you'll understand why you were recommended the hacked drivers and Windows XP in the first place.

Of course, you must not use the same resolution for all games/systems. That involves stretching which is a BAD thing.

What we do is to use the specific native resolution of each game. There are literally hundreds of these native resolutions required for emulation.

The problem is triple: creating this huge amount of resolutions, storing them, and assigning them to the right games.

There are several ways to achieve this task with different levels of accuracy/difficulty. I recommend you the GroovyMAME path, although you may want to come back to this when you have more experience with other systems.

[c0dehunter]

Hello Calamity,
Thank you so much for taking the time and responding to my message. Does GroovyMAME also handle other non MAME systems? (i.e. SNES, SEGA, etc.) If yes, is there tutorial, how to for it? Is it all command line base?

I remember in one message, ahofle mentioned that  GroovyMAME automatically detects and adjusts the correct resolution. That is great! I want to learn about it and use it.

You see, for each game console, I have installed and use their individualized emulators running at 320x240, obviously if GroovyMAME can do that, then I will everything under one system then.

Do I need a fronted for GroovyMAEM? How do I use GroovyMame? I opened a CMD prompt and I got this:

SwitchRes v0.013f: [] (1) horizontal (640x480@30.00)->(640x480@30.00)->(640x480@
60.00)

-----------------------------------------------------
Exception at EIP=0149A8FE (not found): ACCESS VIOLATION
While attempting to write memory at 0005B6C8
-----------------------------------------------------
EAX=00000000 EBX=00000021 ECX=773F2FFA EDX=00000022
ESI=00000000 EDI=00000000 EBP=0000003C ESP=0022EFE0
-----------------------------------------------------
Stack crawl:
  0022EFDC: 0149A8FE (not found)

Is there a userfriendly readme for GroovyMAME? I am a bit frustrated since I have everything setup and ready except the software part!

Maybe a step by step, beginners guide to use GroovyMAME? Please direct me to resources, so I can learn and then use GroovyMAME! thanks!

Can I use Linux per-compiled build on my XP machine? doe it automatically install it for me?
http://code.google.com/p/groovyarcade/


Thanks a million.

Thanks!

[Paradroid]

I remember playing Street Fighter II on a SNES hooked up to my Commodore 1084S as a teenager. I seem to remember adjusting a dial at the back to stretch the game to fill the screen (vertical size, I guess). I haven't used a 1084S for at least 15 years but if I'm recalling correctly, this kind of control over the vertical size of the image would make the 1084S a great choice for GroovyMAME use.

[c0dehunter]

Provided that someone be kind enough and show me some resources as to how to run GoovyMAME! 

[ahofle]

Unfortunately, groovymame is only available in command line form.  That means you'll either need to configure a frontend or you'll have to type out the command on the command line, just like regular MAME (eg: 'groovymame.exe romname').

[c0dehunter]

What frontend do you recommend?

[ahofle]

I've really only used Hyperspin so far, but there are plenty of them around.  Search for "best MAME frontend" or check here
http://www.koenigs.dk/mame/eng/mamefrontends.htm

[MaxVolume]

Guess I'm late to the party... I have a 1084S-D2, and I just use an S-Video output to feed Y/C to the monitor.  Would I be gaining anything by using an SVGA-to-RGB cable and/or using GroovyMAME?  I don't want a lot of screen flickering during mode changes, but it does bother me (a little) that I never seem to have noticeable scan lines unless an object is moving.  Wouldn't want to blow up the monitor, but I do have a spare I could try it on first.

[mazinger-z]

The purpose of having an RGB connection is to run each game at its original resolution/refresh rate and to synchronize the emulation to the monitor's refresh, thus allowing such things as perfectly smooth scrolling.
There's no point in MAMEing with an S-Video or Composite connection. Such connections only allow for one single video mode for everything and this gives you a stretched picture (which is ugly) and an unsinchronized screen refresh. A VGA CRT monitor is a much better choice in my opinion, as it allows many games to run unstretched at vertical frequencies very close to the original ones.
If you really want to exploit your Commodore monitor, use an RGB connection with it. As far as I know, it has separate horizontal and vertical sync inputs. You should be able to easily make an RGB cable that will perform a million times better than the S-Video connection you have now.
If you have an ATi video card, definitely use an RGB cable, CRT_EmuDriver and GroovyMAME.

[MaxVolume]

Thanks for the advice... I guess there's no harm in trying it with my spare monitor, but I don't want to blow my motherboard.  I'm using onboard video, and I'm not sure if it's ATI, NVIDIA, or something else.  Probably Intel now that I think about it.  I don't really have a good way to add a video card, since the mobo is just mounted onto a piece of wood.  The results I'm getting look fine to me, and I don't want to shorten the life of the CRT by having it keep switching modes all the time.  It's gonna have to switch every time it goes back to the menu, too.  I hadn't even heard about GroovyMAME, but I'll look into it.

[MaxVolume]

I looked through the DragonsLairFans thread, and I noticed that c0dehunter used a D9M/H15F gender changer... wouldn't all the proper pins be connected with such a device between them?  I'd really prefer to accomplish this using off-the-shelf cables instead of having to cut and solder.  I've bought enough power tools lately that I'll never use again, and a soldering iron would just add to that pile.

[c0dehunter]

The gender changer did not work. The pin layout is different. If you look at one of the threads that I started there, the proper pin layout is there. I am using my Commodore 1084S-D1 connected via this VGA->RGB cable and the image quality is astounding! Give it a shot, you won't be disappointed!

[MaxVolume]

Thanks for the info... I wonder if I could just open the gender changer and reconfigure the jumpers?  Anyway, I would like to do that and I will probably try it on my spare while I'm off from work next week, but even just changing screen modes caused too much flicker, so I re-did my MAMEWAH background to match my Windows resolution and let the games autoscale.  I get the "stretching is bad" thing, but when you think about a 384×224 resolution image, and you have say 1024x768 pixels onto which to map that image, I can't see how all that blocky goodness is noticeably distorted, even if they're not evenly divisible.  I would definitely love to have my "real" scanlines, but it's not worth watching the monitor freak out every time I switch games.  Just as with control panels, trying to be arcade-perfect for every game can end up ruining the experience.  Don't get me wrong, I love that crisp RGB look, but there are too many different resolutions to deal with to make my CRT keep switching when Y/C is nearly there and is rock-steady, even though some seem to think it's crap.  I think a lot of people lump Y/C in with composite and <gasp> RF, and it's probably better than most people realize.  I'll do my best to try it while I'm off, but I guess that's gonna mean building a cable.  If I get around to it, I'll come back and post my results.  I could very well eat my words, but at the moment I'm skeptical.

Again, I don't doubt the results achieved at all, I just don't think it's worth the cost for what I consider to be a relatively small improvement.  Of course I'm mostly talking about games like PAC-MAN, Donkey Kong, etc. because the cab that my 1084S-D2 is in just plays those simplistic kinds of games.  For stuff like NEO-GEO games, it'll be my current project, which has an SVGA CRT for maximum realism with vector games.  Software scanlines will be used for the raster games, of course.  Can't say I'm all that thrilled with the arrangement to be honest, but John IV's scanlines are really good and the priority is vector games, which are absolute crap on LCDs.

I've been looking for YouTube videos of GroovyMAME, and just arcade-to-1084 hookups in general, so feel free to post some or send me links if you know of some good ones.  I'm mainly interested to see how badly the CRT flickers when changing modes (which I guess may vary by model), and I'd love to be proven wrong about that.

[mazinger-z]

When switching video modes, the electronics must re-sync to the new frequencies, so some strange stuff is shown for a split second. Are you sure this stresses the components at all? Some components suffer much stress just because the monitor is turned on, and sooner or later the device will fail anyway. So why not get the best of it as long as it works?

[ahofle]

I don't want a lot of screen flickering during mode changes,

I'm not sure what screen flickering and monitor life shortening you are referring to?  Do you have a reference?  I don't notice any flickering when I switch resolutions on my CGA monitor.

[MaxVolume]

I don't want a lot of screen flickering during mode changes,

I'm not sure what screen flickering and monitor life shortening you are referring to?  Do you have a reference?  I don't notice any flickering when I switch resolutions on my CGA monitor.

See mazinger-z's reply above yours... I think that even if the monitor doesn't show any visible evidence (I'm really thinking this must vary depending on the monitor), I don't want to stress the components any more than absolutely necessary.  If it means 15 years instead of 10, that's worth it for me.  I actually hooked up the SVGA monitor in my new mini-cab and I have to say it does look beautiful.  Still, I have seen lots of actual arcade machines and aside from the newer ones that actually have VGA or SVGA monitors, they're not much clearer than the Y/C connection on my 1084.  In other words, you can't look at a Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga 20-Year Reunion machine and assume the monitor on either of those games was ever quite that clear.  In trying to do some research on this, I ran across a YouTube video where a guy was comparing the displays on his various MAME cabs.  He kept talking about how clear his SVGA and LCD displays were, and I would have laughed it off had it not been such a sad statement about the so-called "purists" that exist in this hobby.  I mean granted, the one he started off with was a VGA-to-TV converter and I agree that a setup like that is gonna look crappy, but I think way too many people are expecting a nice crisp image.  Scanlines and triplet pattern aside, I'm totally fine with how my monitors look.  I haven't completely dismissed the idea, but I have to put it way on the back burner for now.  Maybe one day I'll look into it and put a cable together so I can check it out.  I do appreciate all the info provided in this thread, though.

It's funny, though... there's one aspect of CRTs that I expected to enjoy, but I don't.  On the one hand, I got rid of all my consoles in favor of emulators because I can't bear to play these games without scanlines, but having enjoyed perfectly flat images on LCD screens for a while now, going back to rounded CRTs doesn't hold the nostalgia I thought it would.  I find myself genuinely annoyed at the spherical distortion instead of embracing it.  Weird.