Changing MAME screen size

[swerv]

i recently finished work on my cabinet with a sansui 27" svideo tv.  i find that the 27" seems to be too big when playing games.  what i would like to do is adjust the screen size so the picture would be as small as a 24-25" tv.  is there a way i can get that done?  i'm currently using win xp with mame32 and mamewah/mame installed.  i tried to change the settings within these programs but the only options i can find are resolution (which distorts the pic) and aspect ratio (which doesn't effect the vertical size).  i also tried to see if the tv had any adjustable pots but the only ones i see are for focus and color.  an extensive google search for a service code menu for my tv came up with nothing.

would a program like powerstrip help me change the size?  or is there an option in mame that i completely missed???

thanks

[Tiger-Heli]

What graphics card?  I'm thinking you can probably do it through the Nvidia or ATI graphics card drivers, but I can't say for sure.  That's the place I would start, though.

[swerv]

What graphics card?  I'm thinking you can probably do it through the Nvidia or ATI graphics card drivers, but I can't say for sure.  That's the place I would start, though.

thanks.  i am using an old ati all in wonder 128 pro.  i'm wondering if anyone has come up with their own solution to this problem aside from buying a smaller monitor/tv  

[Howard_Casto]

Use game artwork.....  It will shrink the games down to proper sizes.  

Also if gameart isn't available you can still use it to shrink the size of the game..... Make yourself a black bezel with an alpha channel.  (Easily done in any image editor, check the mame docs.)  Now for the art file simply make the position 0.1 ,0.1 ,0.9 ,0.9  Poof!  The bezel you made takes up 10% of the screen and thus the game is shrunk to only cover 90% of the screen.  Zip that baby up and write yourself a batch file to copy and rename it to match any games you are having trouble with.  Your problems should be over.


For the record your drivers probably aren't the solution... they only offer very minimal adjustments that are basically there to correct syncing issues which can cause an offset.  The amount of shrinkage you are wanting would be just a little more than they can handle.  

[Tiger-Heli]

Use game artwork.....  It will shrink the games down to proper sizes.  

Also if gameart isn't available you can still use it to shrink the size of the game..... Make yourself a black bezel with an alpha channel.  (Easily done in any image editor, check the mame docs.)  Now for the art file simply make the position 0.1 ,0.1 ,0.9 ,0.9  Poof!  The bezel you made takes up 10% of the screen and thus the game is shrunk to only cover 90% of the screen.  Zip that baby up and write yourself a batch file to copy and rename it to match any games you are having trouble with.  Your problems should be over.


For the record your drivers probably aren't the solution... they only offer very minimal adjustments that are basically there to correct syncing issues which can cause an offset.  The amount of shrinkage you are wanting would be just a little more than they can handle.  

Good suggestion.  The calculations are more complex, but this could also give you a smaller image at the bottom or top of the TV screen instead of centered, if that would be helpful to you.

[Howard_Casto]

Actually the calculations arne't complex at all.  The way mame does artwork files:

Screen Width=1
Screen Height=1

This is regardless of screen aspect, resolution or orientation.  

so .1,.1,.9,.9 is always gonna effect the screen the same way.  

Edit:  

Correction on the coordinates, I had my head wrapped up in the viewer version of mame when I posted this.  

They would be -0.1,-0.1, 1.1,1.1  but the exact same concept and ease of use applies.

[Tiger-Heli]

Actually the calculations arne't complex at all.  The way mame does artwork files:

Screen Width=1
Screen Height=1

This is regardless of screen aspect, resolution or orientation.  

so .1,.1,.9,.9 is always gonna effect the screen the same way.  

Edit:  

Correction on the coordinates, I had my head wrapped up in the viewer version of mame when I posted this.  

They would be -0.1,-0.1, 1.1,1.1  but the exact same concept and ease of use applies.

My point was that your coordinates will probably work to take 10% off the entire screen, but you could use different coordinates to take 20% off the TOP of the screen leaving an image 80% of original size at the screen bottom.

I can never come up with the numbers in my head, but I could make an art file and make them work if I needed to.

[swerv]

thanks guys for all the help.  the artwork solution helped out alot!