ArcadeVGA resolutions & Auto-Panning

[LeedsFan]

Just got my Mame cab up and running today for the first time. I'm using the ArcadeVGA with J-Pac. However, when I play classics like Galaga, Donkey Kong etc. the top line is cut off almost. "1UP" & "HI-SCORE" are chopped in half and cannot be read properly. I've tried all the monitor adjustments in the cabinet but to no avail.  Am I just not selecting the correct resolution for the games?  I did read somewhere that the ArcadeVGA automatically selects the correct resolution for whatever game you play. Is this correct?

Also.... what is auto-panning? I've copied this from the Ultimarc site and I haven't got a clue what it means.

"Enable Auto-Panning in Windows XP and 2000.

Click Display, Properties, Advanced, Displays. Click on the active (top left) Monitor heading. In the "Max Resolution" drop-down, select "648 X 288". The desktop will now be a clear non-interlaced display, which auto-pans up and down. If you wish, click on the ATI taskbar icon and increase the desktop resolution to 800 X 600 or 1024 X 768. To turn off auto-pan, select 640 X 480 in the "Max Resolution" drop down box, as above."

If I select a maximum resolution of 640 x 288 then why would I suddenly change to 800 x  600?  I didn't think an arcade monitor could display that?  I really don't understand this.

And finally.... to run 640 x 288 in MameWah I need to change the 640 x 480 in the MameWah.cfg to read "640 x 288".   But I can't see that line anywhere in MameWah.cfg...... or anywhere else for that matter.

Any assistance on these points will be greatly appreciated. 

[Will]

Im kind of new to mamewah but I think you need to look in your ini folder for the word document to change your resolution.Regarding your resolution issues try the arcade vga resolution tool,it should pick the right resolution for you.
http://mamewah.mameworld.net/downloads.html

[Hiub1]

In the Mamewah.ini there should be an entry about what layout you want to use. The resolution will change automatically with whichever layout you pick. So if you use "Classic 640x288" Layout that is the resolution that mamewah will be displayed at.

[AndyWarne]

Firstly, the important thing to realize is that a 288-line resolution will always be taller than a 240-line. This is unavoidable as the spacing between the lines on the monitor will never change, unless you adjust the height control. The only way to get an absolutely true resolution for running vertical games on a horizontal monitor is rotate the monitor. So running vert on horiz, we are starting out with a compromise. So, what I do is adjust the monitor so the horizontal games have small top/bottom borders and the verticals are slightly cut off, not enough to affect the game.
Another way is to adjust the monitor for perfect horizontals and enable hardware stretch for the verticals. Then the verticals will fit exactly but will be degraded to the quality of a regular VGA card.

The auto-pan is only useful on the Windows desktop. All it means is that you can run at a low non-interlaced (hence no flicker) resolution, and then pan around the screen, rather than having the whole desktop visible but flickery. Note that arcade monitors cannot display more than 300 lines so 640 X 480 must be interlaced.
It is just about possible to display 800 X 600 interlaced but it's pushing the monitor timings and some picture distortion might occur because the beam might not have enough time to fly back to the top after each frame.