Solution (maybe?) -- Will Mamewah rotate vertical?

[bdsjake]

Hi, thinking of building a second cab, vertical.  Using Mamewah in my first one, oriented horizontal.  I know how to get mame to rotate vertical.  but will the fronted also rotate easily?

I have a newer WinXP machine with Radeon card that will rotate will simple mouse click.  However, I was hoping to use an older 400 machine with Win98 (free) and can't rotate the Radeon card in Win98, that I know of.

So, if I want to use Mamewah and Win98, what are my options for getting the fronted to rotate to vertical?


EDIT:  don't know why I didn't do this first, went downstairs to my cab with Win98/Geforce 2 Mx/D9200, downloaded the latest driver from nVidia, and...it rotates!  Bad news is it locked up so I couldn't load Mamewah, I am hoping that is just a D9200 issue, I will have a chance to test this on another computer in the next month.


Thanks,

[SirPoonga]

been asked many times, I'm sure the answer is still no.

[bdsjake]

thanks for the quick response, I will look for another solution.

ps, I did do a search for "mamewah AND vertical" and recieved only one hit that did not answer the question.

Thanks,

[Minwah]

Unfortunately SirP is right, it will not natively rotate...

Using hardware rotation (eg Radeon), software rotation (eg PivotPro) and a custom vertical layout, it is possible however

[paigeoliver]

Also, if you are looking to do it "cheap" the newer drivers for older Nvidia cards (geforce 2 for sure, and maybe older) have software rotation built in. It works acceptably, I have used it.

[bdsjake]

Paige, will the older cards with newer drivers work with Win98, or do you need XP?  I had a geforce 2 for a while, and didn't think I could get it to rotate w/o XP, but its been awhile since I worked with it.




ps, paige, I'm from Rolla, tried to email you once.

[bdsjake]

Paige, thanks for the tip, newest driver for my Geforce 2 MX rotates under Win98.

Thanks,

[paigeoliver]

If you emailed me and I never answered, then email again, sometimes my incoming mail vanishes (especially on the weekend) because my disk quota is filled up with 142 KB virus emails (of which I get at least 50 per day).

[bdsjake]

quick update:  downloaded pivot pro, installed and worked first time ok (on a win98, cel400 machine, some type of ati rage video card).  But, mamewah was stubborn and although windows rotated vert, Mamewah rotated itself back horz!  Mame would run the games correctly of course wtih the right tweaking.  Some report Mame32 won't load games rotated, I found that it would run vertical and load *some* games, but they might be funny sizes or run really slow (pacman e.g.).  

Been playing with gamelauncher and arcadeos, may use one of those for may vert cab.

ps, Minwah if you are reading, you still have a cool product and I intend to keep using it on my main cab.  Thanks for your hard work and contibution to the hobby!

pps, hope you get it going "v" soon!

[Minwah]

quick update:  downloaded pivot pro, installed and worked first time ok (on a win98, cel400 machine, some type of ati rage video card).  But, mamewah was stubborn and although windows rotated vert, Mamewah rotated itself back horz!  Mame would run the games correctly of course wtih the right tweaking.  Some report Mame32 won't load games rotated, I found that it would run vertical and load *some* games, but they might be funny sizes or run really slow (pacman e.g.).  

Been playing with gamelauncher and arcadeos, may use one of those for may vert cab.

ps, Minwah if you are reading, you still have a cool product and I intend to keep using it on my main cab.  Thanks for your hard work and contibution to the hobby!

pps, hope you get it going "v" soon!

Did you read my post above?  ie did you make a custom vertical layout?  If not, MAMEWAH will rotate back to horizontal, you need to make a layout such as 480x640, 600x800 or whatever

[bdsjake]

>>Did you read my post above?  ie did you make a custom vertical layout? <<

ah, I did read but must admit "make a custom layout" sounded like computer programming and over my head.  Last language I programmed in was Fortran if that says anything!

I give it a try tonight, thanks

[Minwah]

>>Did you read my post above?  ie did you make a custom vertical layout? <<

ah, I did read but must admit "make a custom layout" sounded like computer programming and over my head.  Last language I programmed in was Fortran if that says anything!

I give it a try tonight, thanks

No worries, let me know how well it works - I'll be interested to hear

[bdsjake]

Another update:  junked pivit pro. bought a cheap Geforce 2 card and d/l latest nVidia driver with rotation.  Works great.  

Mamewah's designer program turned out to be very simple to use, at least to create a simple looking vertical layout, nothing fancy...but.. it works!

now, maybe have to start another thread on this if I can't figure it out, but once the desktop is vertical, and I load mamewah with my vertical layout, loading a game just gets a blank screen.  I can hear the game running in the backgroud.  same result with mame32 while desktop is vertical.  Can't seem to figure out which mame setting to tweak.

any ideas???

thanks,

[Minwah]

Another update:  junked pivit pro. bought a cheap Geforce 2 card and d/l latest nVidia driver with rotation.  Works great.  

Mamewah's designer program turned out to be very simple to use, at least to create a simple looking vertical layout, nothing fancy...but.. it works!

now, maybe have to start another thread on this if I can't figure it out, but once the desktop is vertical, and I load mamewah with my vertical layout, loading a game just gets a blank screen.  I can hear the game running in the backgroud.  same result with mame32 while desktop is vertical.  Can't seem to figure out which mame setting to tweak.

any ideas???

Try launching MAMEWAH with the desktop horizontal - not sure if it will work, I know it works ok with PivotPro...

[Howard_Casto]

I'm not sure if you support this minwah, but what works for mine is to set the resolution backwards.  In other words 768x1024 instead of 1024x768... it keeps the scaler functions from getting confused.   Hey it's worth a shot right?

[Minwah]

I'm not sure if you support this minwah, but what works for mine is to set the resolution backwards.  In other words 768x1024 instead of 1024x768... it keeps the scaler functions from getting confused.   Hey it's worth a shot right?

Yep that's exactly how mine works too...I just haven't tested it with hardware rotation (lately) to see if the desktop res. has to be rotated before launching MW...it definately rotates itself when using PivotPro and a 'backwards' resolution

[Howard_Casto]

Then it'll work with hardware rotation too.  Mine does with those settings and ours are too similar for yours not to work too.  

[froggerman]

After reading this thread I thought I would give this a try as I want to build a dedicated vertical machine in a bit. I am using my laptop to test this and I have installed the trial version of PivotPro 7.61. I also went into the layout designer and created a 768x1024 layout. When I launch MAMEWAH the screen rotates and the PivotPro 'by me now' dialog displays. I click on buy later and the dialog closes. The MAMEWAH screen is the correct layout, I added some extra artwork so I could tell for sure it was picking up the new layout, but none of the keys work in the MAMEWAH window. The only way I can get out of MAMEWAH is to Ctrl+Alt+Del and then end it in the Task Manager.

Am I missing something basic here? It sounds like other people are getting this to work with no problem. I also tried pivoting the screen before launching MAMEWAH and that didn't make any difference. When the screen was pivoted, I was able to open Notepad and enter text in. Any help you might have would be appreciated.

[Minwah]

After reading this thread I thought I would give this a try as I want to build a dedicated vertical machine in a bit. I am using my laptop to test this and I have installed the trial version of PivotPro 7.61. I also went into the layout designer and created a 768x1024 layout. When I launch MAMEWAH the screen rotates and the PivotPro 'by me now' dialog displays. I click on buy later and the dialog closes. The MAMEWAH screen is the correct layout, I added some extra artwork so I could tell for sure it was picking up the new layout, but none of the keys work in the MAMEWAH window. The only way I can get out of MAMEWAH is to Ctrl+Alt+Del and then end it in the Task Manager.

Am I missing something basic here? It sounds like other people are getting this to work with no problem. I also tried pivoting the screen before launching MAMEWAH and that didn't make any difference. When the screen was pivoted, I was able to open Notepad and enter text in. Any help you might have would be appreciated.

I think I know what is happening here, since I recently installed the trial version of PivotPro myself...

When the 'Buy me now' box appears it takes focus from MAMEWAH.  When you click 'Later' the window closes but focus does not return to MAMEWAH - you must click on MAMEWAH (you can't see the cursor but it is there) to give it back focus - it should then work OK

Presumably with a registered version the pop-up box would not appear and therefore the problem wouldn't occur...

[froggerman]

Thanks Minwah. That is indeed what the problem was. The trial version of Pivot Pro is pretty much useless in this application though as the Buy Now dialog comes up between each game. Oh, well it isn't that expensive.

Thanks for the great front end by the way.

[bdsjake]

ah, minwah I should have said something, same thing with pivot pro for me, I just bought a cheap video card (but much newer than what was in the machine) that rotated with latest drivers.

Please keep us updated.  I've got a simple vertical layout that looks like it will work in the layout designer (when in horz mode) but I have fully got it working in vertical mode.  If fact, somehow I think I lost the config file, I will try to reinstall mamewah.

thanks,

[bdsjake]

Partial success!  See pic (if I get it attached!).  I set up a vertical layout, 480x640 with the Mamewah Layout Designer.  Windows is rotated with a geforce card with latest nvidia driver.

still getting blank screen when starting games though, can't figure it out.

Thanks,

[bdsjake]

ok, this is frustrating but here's what I've got:

1.  Gamelauncher, launched form horizontal desktop, goes vertical on its own, vertical games play vertical, everything's great.

2.  Mamewah launched from horizontal desktop comes up horizontal (even using the vertical layout, its stretched funny though).  Vertical games play in horizontal mode, shrunk to fit with black space on each side.  

3.  Mamewah launched from vertical desktop (rotated 90 degrees with nVidia software) launches vertically, looks great with vertical layout.  BUT...games still don't work, I can hear sound, but black screen.  

This is all with same mame config file, resolution set to auto.  I tried in mamewah to add -rol, -ror, -autoror, -autorol, with no success, same black screen.

I'm sure there is some simple mame setting I am missing.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

[Minwah]

This is all with same mame config file, resolution set to auto.  I tried in mamewah to add -rol, -ror, -autoror, -autorol, with no success, same black screen.

I'm sure there is some simple mame setting I am missing.

Try forcing specific resolutions for MAME.  You could do this as a test from MAMEWAH by adding '-resolution XXXxYYY' to the Default Options (this will be applied to all games).  If that works then make MAME INI files to force specific resolutions for each game.

BTW It looks like you should change your List Generation Method to get the proper game names displayed

[bdsjake]

BTW It looks like you should change your List Generation Method to get the proper game names displayed  

one step at a time!  I was just glad to get this far  

now, to get the games working...