MAME Bezel artwork and menus fuzzy/blurry

[RyanPow]

Hi,

I bought a refurbished HP DC7800I that has Win 7 on it with an integrated Intel Q35 video card. I'm using a 24" widescreen LCD monitor displaying at 1920x1080. I'm using MAME 0.160.

"-video d3d" doesn't work work. I get sound but no video (I have tried updating drivers). I suppose the video card just isn't capable enough. When I use "-video openGL", it looks nice and crisp, but I only get ~25% speed with lots of audio stutter and lag. I'm now trying ddraw.
ddraw works at full speed and the bezel artwork (which is also 1920x1080) fills the screen as it should, but the bezel artwork and the text menus (when you press 'tab') are blurry/fuzzy. The games themselves seem to be displaying (i.e. not blurry) and working fine.

Any ideas how I can use ddraw with crisp bezel art and menus?

Thanks!

[haynor666]

You can disable hardware stretch. Video mode D3D should work by default. Try different drivers.

[Howard_Casto]

Integrated video, particularly an intel card is NOT adequate for mame if you wish to do any kind of scaling or stretching, especially artwork, which require high resolutions to look right.  Get a real video card and then try again.  Even a 30 dollar bargain bin card is better than an intel one. 

[haynor666]

If it's Intel on board card with Q35 chipset than it's slower than HD2000. I'll also recommend to buy HD4350 or similiar.

[RyanPow]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the suggestions.

Using ddraw, the games run fine (100% speed), just the bezel art/menus were fuzzy. I didn't know if it was just a setting that needed to be adjusted or if it truly was a graphic hardware issue.

After researching more, it was suggested that an HD6450 will fit in this low profile case and also work with the small power supply (240W). Hopefully that will make this a workable system. I found a refurbished card for <$30.

Thanks again for your suggestions!

Ryan

[flylear45]

I bought one of those refurb HP SFF computers from Micro Center for $65 with W7Pro on it open box. (The store is local for me.) I  took off the top case cover, removed the pci slot extension, cut the back panel with shears and installed a regular full size video card in it with HDMI out that was mothballed from a past build.

Ugly but effective, and cheaper than buying an OS by itself! A PI2 would work for me, but I like the DRM enable I get for passing along cable TV with HDHomerun 3 tuner card through Media Center.
The only way to get Media Center is with W7 or W8 with Pro or Ultimate. Upgrade to W10 and kiss it goodbye! 

This cheap rig becomes my gameroom HTPC and the I5 machine will go to the gaming build.