Smoothmame?

[Popcorrin]

I tried using smoothmame under the assumption that since it plays most games at 60fps that it would prevent screen tearing but while playing side scrollers I still get screen tearing.  Could someone please explain to me why this happens and what can be done to prevent it.  Thanks.

[Lilwolf]

Not what it does... kinda...

It changes the fps to 60... So you don't get a jump or a skipped frame.

IE, you have a game that produces 58 fps.  well... 2 fps are just ignored.

add triplebuffering and you will remove your tearing.

[Popcorrin]

Thanks for the reply.

[Serpent]

Not exactly. SmoothMAME modifies game's drivers which have a frequency different from 60hz. If a game runs at, for instance, 57 or 55 hz, and your screen refresh is set to 60hz, those games will move jerky, due to the missmatch (when synced: using vsync or tripple buffer, for good scrolls and not tearing). You could adjust your screen refresh to match those games, but that's a mess, because there are dozens of different refresh rates and many games affected. It's much easier to tweak refresh rates of the emulated games rather than the refresh rate of your own card. Games will run a little faster (depending on the missmatch), but you will not have to worry about jerky scrolls or setting refresh rates anymore. This is even more interesting if you use native screen modes (ArcadeVGA), because you will be using many screen modes for different games, which have been set to 60hz.