advance mame setup please help!!!

[tyweed]

hi i'm using a 33" tv in my cabinet and i'v heard for tv use advance mame is the best version to use. so i'm trying to get this thing configured and i'm already running into trouble. when i hit the advcg.exe i get this response in dos window
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No text modes available for your hardware.
Please check your `device_video_p/h/vclock' options in the configuration file.
Eventually add a specific modeline named 'default_text'

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please if anyone has a idea of what i can do to get this configured perfect at optimized settings i'd owe you big!

[Howard_Casto]

Question #1:

What are the specs of your machine?  

If it's halfway modern then dos actually HURTS performance over windows.  In this day and age you always want to put windows in a cab if the machine can handle it.  

Question #2:

Who threw you that line? ;-)

On a tv, at least... advance mame gives you little benefit over regular mame.  Advance mame is for arcade monitors, not tvs.

The error message is a generic message that advmame gives when something is configured wrong.  Advance mame is a powerful tool, but you shouldn't use it unless you have to (due to the compliacted setup)  and I think in your case you don't have to.    

[tyweed]

i'm using a 4 year old pentium 2 clone 400mhz 256 ram in a cabinet with a 33" tv. thanks for the help you really know your stuff wise one.....

[Howard_Casto]

You should be able to run 98 on that very well, and with the high amount of ram your using I would reccomend it. :-)


Btw I know nothing.... I just remember what other people said before me. ;-)

[tyweed]

i'm probably going to run games like street fighter and mortal kombat should i upgrade to like a pentium 4 would this help games run smooth. or would it make alot of the games ike pacman be in turbo mode? just not sure if its worth the cash

[Howard_Casto]

mk won't run on anything slower than about a 800 mhz, but sf2 will run fine on what you have.  

To keep games from playing to fast simply turn on throttle and the games are throtteled to their original framerate.  

I'm not sure if it's a dos option, but it is in the windows builds of mame.  

[Sprucemoose]

Tyweed,
Most games should work well with your current computer.  I wouldn't waste your money upgrading until you test everything.  My cabinet is running with an old computer similar to what you have and all my games run really well, including MK.

[Howard_Casto]

I have to disagree on this one.  Now the orignal mk might have lower system requirments, but mk2 and mk3 start loseing frames on about a 500-600 mhz machine and anything lower there is a noticable frame loss.  Also you are running a pentium clone, and amd chips (which most people here use) get a better performance than pentium based chipsets.    They might still be playable, but your going to see the difference.  

I do agree that you should wait on a upgrade though.  Get things the way you want them and then see if you want to upgrade.    

[DeathMonk]

Also agree..

I had a PIII-800 w/384MB of PC133 and MK2/3 didn't run as smoothly as I would have liked.