Kortek KT-2914 + Powerstrip + AdvanceMame = my brain hurts! ???

[brandon]

 Please help!!  I have been forum searching, googling, reading FAQs, etc and I'm going cross-eyed. (or is it my monitor?) 

I just bought a Kortek KT-2914, Im running XP with a Geforce ti4200, I've read dozens of posts and now I'm more confused than before I started.  I don't know a pixel clock from a monkeys uncle but I do know how to follow directions.. and so far that's not working.  If somebody tells me I need an ArcadeVGA then I'll scrape some money together and order one!  whatever it take to get this working before I hurt someone (likely myself )


I tried simply setting my monitor driver to a generic SVGA 800x600 and locking to refresh to 60hz.  I thought that if I run Mame32 I could at least get it to work correctly at resolution 800x600 and below but I guess not.  not unless I lock the resolution to one size and use hwstretch which defeats the purpose of buying an expensive monitor..

I tried AdvanceMame installed Svgawin ran advcfg etc but it just say missing device_video_clock in advmame.rc  etc... I'm probably doing something wrong but like I said.. None of this makes any sense I'm just following directions... which for the most part are mostly referring to AdvMame in DOS.

I want to try Powerstrip also but again.. all this about calculating modelines, pixel clocks.. blah..  Its totally over my head.  I thought the advantage of the trisync was it would run whatever you throw at it and you're good to go but that doesn't seem to be the case. 

Do I need a different vid card?

I have a ATI rage 128.. will that work better?

Will an ArcadeVGA be more hassle free or do I still have to be a monitor technician/computer programmer to get this working?

[Lord Hiryu]

Hi Brandon.
I don't know the specs of your Kortek KT2914, but I suppose that's a 15Khz monitor.
Ok.
Firts, when you unzip advmame in your folder, search a folder called "contrib".
In this folder, there's another folder called "modelines"
Ok. The only thing that you're to do is copy the correct modelines and config of the standard.rc on your advmame.rc and advmenu.rc.

The lines you need are:
device_video_pclock 5-50
device_video_hclock 15.75
device_video_vclock 50-60

Then, run Advcfg.exe to config your monitor.

Cheers.

P.D: Guys...sorry for my bad English...I don't know if it's understandable , but I preffer to practice my school-English typing myself better than use a net-translator.

[brandon]

Thanks Hiryu!   its actually a multisync  15-40khz according to the manual.. but I can still follow your direction    

I entered all that into the advcfg.exe program and got to the end and saved it but it didnt seem to do anything..  oh well, if I can put it in the .rc file manually that's fine with me

Thanks again!

[tetsu96]

Thanks Hiryu!   its actually a multisync  15-40khz according to the manual.. but I can still follow your direction    

I entered all that into the advcfg.exe program and got to the end and saved it but it didnt seem to do anything..  oh well, if I can put it in the .rc file manually that's fine with me

Thanks again!

I actually don't like using advcfg.  I've got the Kortek setup and I've got an older presentation monitor that I use, and I found that when I used advcfg, I'd end up with modelines that are further off center than if I just let it figure them out itself.  The important thing is to have your device clocks listed (and having a bit of knowledge with what is what helps as well, read the video section of the advancemame faq a few times over).

For my presentation monitor, it's covered with one line:
device_video_clock 10-150 / 24-64 / 40-120

For the Korteks, It's covered with 1 as well (from memory):
device_video_clock 10-150 / 15-38 / 40-160

The other important line to have is the one that sets the resolution according to the vertical requirements:
display_adjust generate_yclock

With those 2 lines all my games are set to run at native resolution assuming it's within the scan range (and if not the genrate_yclock goes to create a mode based off of the original - 224 becomes 448 or 672, etc).

As far as powerstrip goes, I use it with my presentation monitor because the beast only remembers the adjustments of a single position.  Not like smart multisyncs which remember adjustments for different settings (ie: the Korteks, most PC monitors).  So what I did there was adjust the physical display for advancemame, and then I used powerstrip to make the windows display centered and such.  Haven't really played too many windows games on it (mostly vpinball and games that don't change resolution), but then again I wouldn't be using a Geforce4 with it if I cared about PC games.

[brandon]

Thanks Tetsu.. that actually made sense to me   I somewhat understand monitors I guess I just didn't understand advcfg and whats going on there.. I guess mostly people use DOS with AdvanceMame though...  I'll have to give this a try when I get home from work.

About your Kortek... 

I just bought mine but it seem that the convergence is pretty awful on it.  thats the first thing I noticed.. everything seemed really "fuzzy" or out of focus but mostly around the edges.  I checked it with the Nokia monitor tester and convergence looks pretty bad.  I know its not supposed to be crystal clear like a PC monitor but since this is the only multisync monitor I've owned I'm not sure how much of this is normal.

I just wish I knew what was "in spec"  The only reason I think something might be wrong is because it doesnt seem to be much better (if any) than my TV-out setup..  but I guess that's a whole other topic...

[brandon]

I have another question... wouldn't these lines in the config be redundant?

device_video_clock 10-150 / 15-38 / 40-160


device_video_pclock 10-150
device_video_hclock 15-38
device_video_vclock 40-160

doesnt the first line contain all the info of the other 3?  so which would I use?   

[Lord Hiryu]

In older version of advmame/advmenu you only can use the second method.
In newer versions uses the first method (one line command only)

Cheers.

[Silver]

In addition, make a (mental) distinction between Powerstrip and Advancemame.

Advancemame is able to generate perfect video modes for all games (or near as poss) on its own - if you are lucky enough to be using a compatible VGA card and OS. When using windows (as you are) there appear to be EXTREMELY few (modern) cards that advancemame can successfully work with. However I believe you are lucky with your Geforce (there is only 1 card tha advancemame is tested with in windows, and its a geforce of some description. Don't even bother if you own an ati card from the past 5 years).

Powerstrip is a useful workaround for using arcademonitors/multi-sync presentation monitors when you want to use windows and advancemame is not option. It can also be used to control video modes in windows say for your frontend which has nothing to do with advancemame.

If thats all rather confusing (quite possible, its late and I'm tired) then all I'm saying is that with your monitor I don't think you need to even bother with powerstrip. Advancemame should handle everything mame, and it can display windows fine so you can use a frontend of your choice.

Setting up advancemame is not straightforward. It will not just run "out the box" at all - as mentioned above, the .rc file needs to configured. Try adding the device_video_clock 10-150 / 15-38 / 40-160 line and see if you can run the advvfg program....

[brandon]

Thanks guys!  I have it running now and aside from having to adjust the screen position and pincushion quite a bit (which I assume is normal)  everything looks pretty good!  The only games I havent been able to display are Pacman, Galaga, and any other vertical game in that resolution.  I dont know if its the video card or the monitor because it does display the picture but its split in half with the left part on the right and the right part on the left..  but if I can manually tweak that one resolution some how I think I'll be all set!   Well... except for the somewhat disappointing factory setup of the monitor itself (convergence, rotation, regulation) which hopefully I can tweak just a tad.. 


Thanks again for the help... you guys saved the day! and my aching head!