How can I shift the the game image in MAME per game?

[Wags]

I have a two player control panel, with a trackball and spinner in the middle, and when playing one player games I am off to the side a ways and for the vertical games like Galaga, I would like to shift the game to the left side of the screen so it is more in front of me.  Is their a way to do that with the MAME software?  I am using MALA front end, and I don't see an option there either.

For games like PacMan that don't use buttons, I use the player two joystick, and play with my right hand, so I am centered.  But games like Galaga, I use the player one joystick, and am not happy with the game not being in front of the joystick.

I did search, but maybe I used the wrong terms, any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Mark

[vwalbridge]

If you are familiar with Retroarch, you can achieve what you are looking for. You can position the game screen anywhere on the screen.

Here is a quick setup guide:

[Wags]

Thanks, I'll have to check it out.  I am amazed how many pieces of software I am loading to get this cabinet to work the way I want. 

[vwalbridge]

Check out my coleco video here:



Fast forward to about 10:50 of the video and you will see where I show you how I slid the super mario bros game screen down to the bottom. A little better for a horizontal game on a vertical screen.

Not exactly what you are trying to do but the concept is exactly the same. Retroarch is very flexible with screen ratios and placement.

[Wags]

Cool, I am assuming that it will work fine using a low resolution CRT display connected through S-Video.  Correct?

[matsadona]

Cool, I am assuming that it will work fine using a low resolution CRT display connected through S-Video.  Correct?

Based on your question about having the display output off center I assume that it is a horizontal screen. I'm not sure playing a vertical game on a horizontal low res screen will be a good experience (because of the pixel scaling etc). If it was a HD monitor it is more feasible...

[DarthMarino]

Another option is to make a simple .lay file.

[Wags]

Another option is to make a simple .lay file.

And how does that simply work?

As far as the horizontal monitor with vertical games goes, there are a crap load of people doing just that with great results, and by low resolution, I mean a 480i TV, which gives well over the 224 x 288 that games like Pac-Man use.   

[matsadona]

Ah, great. Thanks for the clarification.

Do you have any flickering issues with that setup? What's the hardware?

[DarthMarino]

And how does that simply work?

Something like this (adjust the values that best work for your screen):

<mamelayout version="2">
   <view name="Image Shift">
      <screen index="0">
         <bounds x="0" y="0" width="1024" height="768" />
      </screen>
</view>
</mamelayout>

Then just use the sliders in MAME to get the stretch and position to your liking.