mame autores, arcadevga

[G1zm0]

setup.

p4 2.8ht,
512meg mem
160gb hd
arcade vga 1
asus motherboard
philips tv
mame scart
winxp (non custom)

when i boot to pc desktop it flickers and is in 640x480
and some games stay in higher res

how do i get avga to boot at lower res and mame to pick res for game?

the galaga ship has all different reses but dontknow what to choose?

using mala with mameui

[NOP]

I think you need to run the avres tool found here:

http://ultimarc.com/avgainst.html 

it creates ini files for each game, which specifies the correct resolution for them. 

There's a ton of information on that page which I think will help you.

[joeks]

have you installed the arcadevga videodriver? its on the ultimarc cd that came with the arcadevga. after that, all low-res arcade resolutions become available (not only 640 x 480)..
i did not have to use the avres tool to make all the ini files for the games. in fact, on your setup (same as mine) mame works better WITHOUT the use of avres (so without ini files)..

at least, thats my experience.

good luck!

[G1zm0]

yes i ran that tool, and if i select a res lower than  640x460 i cant see the full windows desktop (going to hide windows eventually), with the 640x480 my colours look washed because of the flicker, but at lower res looks ok.

[youki]

The flicker is normal.

It will flck for all resolution where the height is above to 288.  that's normal a 15khz screen can not display more than 288 lines.  So to display more it uses interlacing. It means it display the image in 2 pass , odd lines first and then even lines (or the opposite).  with a very small offset. so it is why you see flickering.  There is no really solution  to avoid that , or may be buy a Anti-Flicker but i don't know if it still exists...and how it can cost.

To reduce the effect , you can avoid to use White Color on your desktop.

For mame, you have to use the AVRES utility (or simular) to generate a set of INI file to each game you have with resolution optimised for the ArcadeVGa .   The autores feature of mame does not work really for the AVGA.

Most of all game have vertical resolution below 288 , so you want have flickering with them.  But more recent game have superior resolution  ,so for them it will flicker.

[ahofle]

Most of all game have vertical resolution below 288 , so you want have flickering with them.  But more recent game have superior resolution  ,so for them it will flicker.

The only thing I have found to flicker is Windows and standard Windows applications.  Even VGA res games do not flicker running interlaced on a CGA monitor from what I've seen.

[G1zm0]

thanx guys, ill change the desktop colours so it dont flicker as much, once i set it up to hide xp then it shouldnt matter.
just need to get my colours right, they look bit dull

[protokatie]

Most of all game have vertical resolution below 288 , so you want have flickering with them.  But more recent game have superior resolution  ,so for them it will flicker.

The only thing I have found to flicker is Windows and standard Windows applications.  Even VGA res games do not flicker running interlaced on a CGA monitor from what I've seen.

You must have been using a CGA (or similar) CRT that had a slow phosphor decay. (IE, when the phosphors were charged, they stayed lit for about 2 fields). I have dealt with CRT's in that era, and have found some to be very "flickery" even for 4096 or 262144 color video (I still say the only real computer is the AMIGA!!!!). I guess it depends on the amount of time that the phosphors emit light after being charged. Too long a latency and you get blur, to little and you get flicker.

Unless you are dealing with a modified Occiliscope turned to a monitor, then it shouldnt be too bad for blur... (BTW, most CGA-style monitors I have dealt with (IE the B/W ones) were meant for text or CAD applications of the time, so most likely had slow response times to make for an image that is much easier on the eyes.)


ps, Yes I do realize that CGA stands for "color graphics adapter", but what I am refering to are screen of 15 kHz that take standard analogue inputs (CGA, EGA, Composite, seperated luma/chroma, etc)

[ahofle]

I believe the main cause of flicker when running an interlaced video mode is having two high-contrast, horizontal, 1 pixel lines next to each other.  This is very common in Windows (look at the top of a button, or text box or window borders, or just look at the layout of this forum!).  If you run Windows interlaced the parts that really flicker and give you a headache are those types of horizontal lines if you look closely.  This makes it very easy to see every other line being 'drawn' in interlace mode.  The flicker is much less common in VGA games though since they mostly don't have long 1 pixel horizontal lines next to each other.  Some arcade games like Spy Hunter and Popeye were actually run at 480 lines interlaced.