Main > Software Forum

MAME resolution q' -> Should I expect games to fill arcade monitor?

<< < (2/7) > >>

Hiub1:
Well, looks like 1942 is the same resolution as Wonderboy is, and it looks like you are getting the same effect as me somewhat. When I get home today, I will try and run 1942 on my arcade monitor and see what the heck it does. I'll take some pics, and tell you what resolution I am really running it at. Also, are you using an ArcadeVGA or just a regular video card?

quarterback:

--- Quote from: Hiub1 on May 05, 2006, 02:31:09 pm ---Hm... Ok. We need to determine if this is caused by the hardware (monitor) or the software (mame). When the game doesn't fill the screen like that, and you rotate the h-position pot on the monitor, does just the blue lit up part move, or does the whole thing, including the back border move? Or does it look like the black border is actually the color black being displayed by the monitor?
--- End quote ---

I think there are probably two things at play here, but let's start with the software end.


--- Quote ---In my case, some resolutions fill the screen more than others. Say, the Neo Geo games, which are 324x224 I believe, leave a bit of a gap on the top of the screen. Other games, like the Capcom games which are 384x224, fill the screen completely. My borders are nothing unbearable, and with a smoked plexi like I have, you cannot even notice them.
--- End quote ---

Okay, this answers the overall/most significant confusion in my head.  I couldn't figure out how all these random resolutions were somehow filling arcade monitors fully when the arcade monitor isn't the same aspect ratio (it's a different 'shape').  If you're telling me that (in their native, unstretched, resolutions) they DON'T magically become the same aspect ratio of the monitor, then I feel vinidcated in my understanding of squares and rectangles :)


--- Quote ---In some cases, like when I try to play Wonderboy which has a very low horizontal resolution of 256x224, I run it at 320x224 and this will cause the screen to have a black border on either side.
--- End quote ---

In Vantage, I don't think I have the '-resolution' option (at least it's not mentioned on the Vantage website).  My understanding is that this is because Vantage is set up to run games at their correct resolution.  But in dmame, I should be able to tweak/reshape the games to more suitably fit the screen.... even if it means they're not 100% identical to their 'native resolutions'.


Okay, as far as hardware, I think I need to tweak the hardware (monitor) as well because I think the ArcadeOS test screens don't fit the monitor to the edges either (as far as I remember).  That being said, I was really more concerned with clearing up my questions about the shape (aspect ratio) of the screens than the hardware end of things because I was starting to think I was crazy :)

Thanks Hiub1.  I'll probably be back after I start messing with my monitor's settings.

Hiub1:
You might have to find a happy medium for your monitor settings, since with all the different resolutions that keep changing, its going to be almost impossible to have them all fill the screen and be centered completely. I am guessing this is a cocktail, but you should really look into having some sort of tinting done to the glass. I have a smoked plexi, and it really hides everything very well, while giving you a nice looking picture to boot.

I really don't have any experience with Vantage, but in Mame you should be able to specify the resolution. One thing you need to make sure is that the resolutions that you are specifying actually exist on your display driver. I am using powerstrip, and created about 10 resolutions that cover all of the games that I want to play, and then I used the Mame Resolution tool to best approximate each of the games to the available resolutions. A couple, like Robotron, I had to tweak manually, but they all came out great for the most part. Are you using an ArcadeVGA or a regular card?

quarterback:

--- Quote from: Hiub1 on May 05, 2006, 03:00:19 pm ---I really don't have any experience with Vantage, but in Mame you should be able to specify the resolution.
--- End quote ---

Yeah, and this brings up other confusing issues I have with MAME's settings.   For example:  If I run 1942 (on my PC monitor) with the -rol (to run it vertically) and the -auto setting, it'll be 'short' (just like the pictures above)

However, if I run it with the "-resolution 320x240" "-640x480" "-800x600" etc, it will STILL be "short"   Even though I'd think forcing those resolutions would cause it to be the correct aspect ratio to match my PC monitor... they don't seem to do anything.

So, MAME .36 (the one I'm using) by default uses the "-stretch" parameter.   I can change that to  "-nostretch" and then those resolution settings just make the game progressively smaller, but still don't change the 'squareness'. 

Why doesn't setting the resolution to 640x480 make the screen play back in a rectangular aspect ratio that would correspond with 640x480?



I'm using a 'regular' video card and not an ArcadeVGA  but my confusion about this "-resolution" thing is as PC monitor based as anything.  I've had no luck with Powerstrip either.  Even though I finally got the most recent version to load up without errors (most of the time) I still can't get it to output arcade monitor resolutions even though my video card can clearly do as much.

Hiub1:
Ok. I can give you a hand with Powerstrip. I don't think that you are running the right resolutions. I really need to write a FAQ for this, maybe this will be the beggining of it. Here are a couple of things that you need to understand.

The -Resolution tag in MAME will display at whatever resolution you indicated AS LONG as that resolution is loaded in your display driver for Windows. I haven't touched DOS or AdvMAME in ages so everything that I will tell you has to do with Windows XP.

So for example. Here is what I do to add a resolution in Powerstrip.

First, turn off your PC and reboot it with no monitor plugged in. This will ensure that we are working on the Default Monitor display driver, which will be the one that the Arcade monitor boots up in.

Now, make sure that you have the latest version of powerstrip, and run it. I would suggest starting from scratch, so uninstall Pstrip if you had it before and reinstall it. Now exit powerstrip and go to the folder where you installed it and open the pstrip.ini file.

Under the General Settings (Or something like this) heading, you have to add the line:

minlines=200

And also, add this under the custom resolutions heading if it exists, or just paste it with the header on there at the end if it does not exist.:

[Custom Resolutions]
240x224=240,8,40,16,224,4,3,31,4779,7
240x240=240,8,40,16,240,4,3,15,4779,7
256x224=256,8,40,16,224,4,3,31,5030,7
256x240=256,8,40,16,240,4,3,15,5030,7
256x256=256,8,40,16,256,3,2,1,5030,7
321x224=321,8,48,24,224,4,3,31,6304,7
321x240=321,8,48,24,240,4,3,15,6304,7
321x256=321,8,48,24,256,3,2,1,6304,7
384x224=384,8,56,32,224,4,3,31,7546,7
384x240=384,8,56,32,240,4,3,15,7546,7
384x256=384,8,56,32,256,3,2,1,7546,7
392x240=392,8,56,32,240,4,3,15,7671,7
640x240=640,16,64,48,240,4,3,15,12073,7
640x288=640,16,64,48,288,5,3,19,12338,7
641x480=641,16,64,48,480,8,6,30,12089,15
801x600=801,24,80,56,600,4,3,21,15088,15

Courtesy of [Mad]!

Now that the custom resolutions are in there, turn on Powerstrip, go to configure under display profiles, then to Advanced Timing Options, and then to Custom Resolutions. Now, click  on the button that says "User Defined Resolutions", you should see all the resolutions that we pasted on there before. Add one of the resolutions with 224 vertical lines, just to try. When it prompts you to restart the computer, accept, and reboot the computer again without a monitor plugged in.

Now, close powerstrip, and go to the Ultimarc site and download the utility called QuickRes. Once you run that program, you will get a little Galaxian ship right by the clock. When you left click on that, it will come up with a list of the available resolutions for the display driver. Click the resolution that you just added, and now the card should be outputting the right signal for the arcade monitor.

Plug in the Arcade monitor and see some windows goodness in whatever non-interlaced resolution you picked!


Let me know if this works for you, and also let me know what video card you are using specifically.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page

Go to full version