Video sync problem with some games

[kevinsl]

Hello, first thanks for such a great project! After a few years break I'm getting back into my Mame project and found GroovyArcade.

I have GroovyArcade Linux (GroovyArcade-Arch2013.02.24-x86_64.iso) installed onto my system. The chip has integrated Radeon HD 4250. And I'm connecting to a Taito Egret II cabinet via J-PAC.

Things are working well except some games do not show a stable picture. It just looks like a garbled picture, like no sync. I notice this happens on all games that use 320x240 resolution. But games that use other resolutions display fine.

For example ddonpach and raiden games show an unstable picture. But ddpdoj and ketsui display fine (they use 224 vertical resolution).

Does anyone have a suggestion on how to correct this?

[big10p]

Try tweaking the Horizontal Sync/Frequency pot on your monitor (the V Sync may need a tweak, too). There should be a 'sweat spot' that provides a stable picture in all modes.

If that doesn't fix it, GroovyArcade may be outputting a frequency/modeline that's out of the range of your monitor. Is the JPAC sync LED lit using the scrambled modes? I don't know how to set up GroovyArcade I'm afraid, as I've never used it.

[kevinsl]

Hi, thanks for the suggestions!

I watched the JPAC and when the video gets scrambled, the "Sync OK" LED changes from green to off. Does that mean the problem is in mame and not my monitor?

[big10p]

Yes, it means the JPAC is getting a signal from your graphics card that's out of the sync range of your monitor. This means that GroovyArcade has been setup incorrectly somehow for your monitor specs. I don't use GroovyArcade so am not familiar with the setup process (I use GroovyMAME and CRT emudriver on Windows). Hopefully a GroovyArcade user should be along shortly to tell you what needs to be done.

In the meantime, what monitor do you have and what positions do you have the jumpers set at on your JPAC?

[kevinsl]

I'm using a Nanao MS9. I'll double check on those jumper settings when I get back home tonight. thanks for the tips!

[Calamity]

Is your monitor horizontal or vertical?

Anyway, when the sync leds turn off, see what happens if you unplug the jpac from the usb and plug it again.

[big10p]

I'd make sure you unplug the USB end. I think I blew the keyboard encoder on my first JPAC by unplugging/plugging the PS/2 end whilst it was switched on. That may not have been the cause - I'm not sure, TBH - but just a heads up...

[kevinsl]

Thanks for the suggestion Calamity. I'll try that at home tonight.

And thanks for .161 !! Just saw the announcement.

[kevinsl]

Ok, just spent some time on this.

On the JPAC the jumpers for 15k and 31k are set (this is the default recommendation from Ultimarc). And when the video gets scrambled if I remove the usb power and re-insert it into the JPAC, there is no change. Still no Sync OK led.

[Calamity]

Ok, just spent some time on this.

On the JPAC the jumpers for 15k and 31k are set (this is the default recommendation from Ultimarc). And when the video gets scrambled if I remove the usb power and re-insert it into the JPAC, there is no change. Still no Sync OK led.

Ok, that's fine.

We still don't know if your monitor is horizontal or vertical.

[kevinsl]

Ok, sorry about that. The monitor is actually rotatable but it's in horizontal position now during setup. But in the GA setup I've set video mode to vertical orientation.

I've just done a reinstall and tried to keep everything as vanilla as possible. Here's where I'm at:

1. Install GroovyArcade and reboot
2. enable networking
3. copy over roms: ddonpach and ddpdoj
4. Video Setup: monitor type: Nanao MS9-29, vertical orientation
5. Start frontend (Advmenu)

at this point ddjdoj runs fine but ddonpach produces a scrambled signal and the JPAC loses Sync OK.

Then I went to LXDE desktop to run groovymame manually and capture the output. Here is it:

Running ddpdoj and works fine:

Code: [Select]

[arcade@GroovyArcade ~]$ groovymame ddpdoj

SwitchRes: [ddpdoj] (1) horizontal (448x224@59.17)->(448x224@59.17)
0: WiiMote0
1: WiiMote1
Value 1 not supported for option sound - falling back to auto
ddp3_igs027a.bin NOT FOUND (NO GOOD DUMP KNOWN) (tried in ddpdoj ddpdoj)
WARNING: the game might not run correctly.
Average speed: 99.95% (2 seconds)



Running ddonpach and I get bad video:

Code: [Select]

[arcade@GroovyArcade ~]$ groovymame ddonpach

SwitchRes: [ddonpach] (1) horizontal (320x240@57.55)->(320x240@57.55)
0: WiiMote0
1: WiiMote1
Value 1 not supported for option sound - falling back to auto
Average speed: 487.32% (18 seconds)
I hope this is helpful. thanks!

[Calamity]

Ok, set 'dotclock_min 8.0' in mame.ini (and ume.ini).

[kevinsl]

That did it. Brilliant!

In the future how would I know to adjust that value?