Vector games on a D9200...

[Tailgunner]

A question for those who has a D9200, how do vector games look on it? Anyone with a D9200 willing to make a few vector game closeups sorta like Oscar's Spyhunter shots?

[F|end]

i guess they look like the originals in the arcades!  

[Tailgunner]

It would make things a lot simpler if they did, I'd only have to build one cabinet.

Not a big deal if I end up needing two or three cabinets, but if that's the case I'd rather plan ahead for it and order things in bulk for the price breaks.

[Frostillicus]

They look better on a d9200 than on a standard arcade monitor...but not as good as a PC monitor running at 1600x1200....and not as good as a real color xy monitor

[jmcguire]

I know this is a rather subjective question, but I would really appreciate an opinion on the quality of vector games running on a D9200 at 640x480 vs. 800x600. My D9200 will not run at 800x600 (american gaming horizontal mount 2/03) and I am wondering if it  is worth investing more time/money to try to  correct the problem. The main reason that I went with the D9200 was to have the flexibility to run vector games at higher resolutions. I have traded several emails with Chuck Rabiola (WG tech), but I have not had any luck with the issue. Since WG does not "officially" claim to support 800x600, I can't claim that it is defective.

[shmokes]

I bet it does support 800x600.  I have read several posts from people who thought the same thing about theirs only to find that they could, in fact, move the resolution slider in the display properties up to 800x600.  I can't remember if they needed to install a new driver or not, but it seems to me that it's just a generic windows driver.  Maybe someone with a d9200 could be of more assistance...

[DeathMonk]

I had no problem viewing 800x600 on my D9200..  I have used the arcadevga and a geforce3...

[Frostillicus]

same here, no problems with 800x600.  maybe change the refresh rate and 8/16/24/32 bit color settings...?

[jmcguire]

No go - I have spent several days experimenting with a Trident Blade, ATI Rage, and  ATI Radeon using DOS (WIN98) and Win XP with a variety of settings. I am pleased with most vector games running at 640x480, but would really like to see them running at 800x600 -- screenshots would be great! Thanks for the support.

[StephenH]

Try setting your monitor to 60Hz when running at 800x600.

[jmcguire]

I purchased my D9200 in 2/03, but it was manufactured in 1/01 - it just is not capable of running at 800x600. The picture is very fuzzy and somewhat garbled - looks terrible. I have considered selling my cab (disclosing my video issue to the buyer) and starting a new cab project with a new D9200 - pretty drastic, so I would like to know if 800x600 vectors is significantly better than 640x480. Thanks again!

[Frostillicus]

Here is star wars on my d9200 - they look pretty similar to me.

[jmcguire]

Thanks Frostillicus! That really helps.  They are very close - I guess the dot pitch is the limiting factor. Looks like I will be sticking with 640x480 for a while. I was never really disappointed - just wanted them to look as good as possible. Maybe I will do a vector only project in the future using 1600x1200 svga. I looked at some of the XY monitor projects like Zector, but the XY monitor technology is a little intimidating - plus it is nice to have the color overlay effect on a PC monitor. Thanks again!

[PkingRoch]

I can echo that the D9200 doesn't always support 800x600.  I purchased my D9200 in June and it has a manufacture date of 2/03.  In 800x600 (with several different video cards), it starts out fine, but then starts flashing on and off basically making the monitor unusable.

640x480 works great though.

[RandyT]

Here is star wars on my d9200 - they look pretty similar to me.

Just an observation.  It looks like you used the same line width with both resolutions, which may give misleading results in a comparison.  Part of the advantage to using a higher res is the ability to use a thinner, more accurate line without the "stairstepping" and other problems.

If you did reduce the line thickness, then my apologies in advance

RandyT

[Frostillicus]

Here is star wars on my d9200 - they look pretty similar to me.

Just an observation.  It looks like you used the same line width with both resolutions, which may give misleading results in a comparison.  Part of the advantage to using a higher res is the ability to use a thinner, more accurate line without the "stairstepping" and other problems.

If you did reduce the line thickness, then my apologies in advance

RandyT

Well, I know I ran the one at 640x480, and the other at 800x600, like the picture says.  Changed the res in my vector.ini file.

[RandyT]

Well, I know I ran the one at 640x480, and the other at 800x600, like the picture says.  Changed the res in my vector.ini file.

You also have the ability to change the line weight (thickness) for vector games.  With low-res monitors, increasing this value can mean the difference between something that looks very jagged or missing pieces (especially in interlaced modes), and something that looks "ok", albeit somewhat "chunkier".

The smaller line width and less aparent jagginess is where monitors capable of the higher res modes really start to shine.  It might be worth it to experiment a bit with that setting.

RandyT

[Wade]

I had been running vector games with the default line thickness, brightness, etc. at 640x480 for around 6 months and I wasn't happy with the results.  I recently changed ti 800x600 and honestly, it made a big difference.  It still isn't as good as a real vector monitor (of course), but it is definitely a noticable difference.  Don't know if it'd be worth a large expense or not (I don't play many vector games).  

The pictures posted in this thread really understate the difference in appearance between 640x480 and 800x600.

Wade