MAME with old VGA monitor

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Archived from groups: alt.games.mame (More info?)

Working with a friend to get a MAME cabinet together
and the monitor is an early 90's Arcade VGA monitor
(Dynamo Solitaire). MAME runs on the PC fine, but
I'm running into issues with the frequencies or
resolutions this monitor can handle. Now, before
anyone gives me the obvious answer, we're using this
monitor because of it's small size, special arcade
mounts and he doesn't want to spend a dime on the
thing. Please cut me some slack, I'm just trying
to help a friend.

With that said, is anyone aware of a way to get
MAME to display the resolution it's trying to use
or force it into another? Said another way, is there
a way to test the specific resolutions and frequencies
this particular monitor will accept? I've manually
pushed MAME to 320x200, 320x240 and 640x480, but none
of the other resolutions seem to work (get the MAME
screen about the computer not supporting VESA, etc.
and the mode I'm trying to use not being VESA). I
know games like DK and Centipede use 320x256 and
256x224. According to the TWEAK file, there are
several 320x??? modes, but other than the 320x200
and 320x240 modes, MAME refuses to use them. I've
tried this on another computer and that issue seems
to be with MAME itself, and not the monitor. Oh, I
should say the 320x240 is too big for games like
DK and Centipede, since it cuts off the bottom 1/4
to 1/5 of the screen. 640x480 and the whole
screen is there, but really tiny. I'm using MAME
0.61, since he's using a PII class computer (probably
S3 based, but I'm not sure about that).

I should note that I tried adding Sci-Tech Display
Doctor 6.7 to the other PC, but I'm still getting
those VESA error messages and am no closer to
figuring out what modes this monitor will accept,
still allowing the game to look normal.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Scott C.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.mame (More info?)

On Sun, 03 Apr 2005 06:42:32 GMT, Scott Caldwell
<lscottcaldwell@excite.com> wrote:

>Working with a friend to get a MAME cabinet together
>and the monitor is an early 90's Arcade VGA monitor
>(Dynamo Solitaire). MAME runs on the PC fine, but
>I'm running into issues with the frequencies or
>resolutions this monitor can handle. Now, before
>anyone gives me the obvious answer, we're using this
>monitor because of it's small size, special arcade
>mounts and he doesn't want to spend a dime on the
>thing. Please cut me some slack, I'm just trying
>to help a friend.
>
>With that said, is anyone aware of a way to get
>MAME to display the resolution it's trying to use
>or force it into another? Said another way, is there
>a way to test the specific resolutions and frequencies
>this particular monitor will accept? I've manually
>pushed MAME to 320x200, 320x240 and 640x480, but none
>of the other resolutions seem to work (get the MAME
>screen about the computer not supporting VESA, etc.
>and the mode I'm trying to use not being VESA). I
>know games like DK and Centipede use 320x256 and
>256x224. According to the TWEAK file, there are
>several 320x??? modes, but other than the 320x200
>and 320x240 modes, MAME refuses to use them. I've
>tried this on another computer and that issue seems
>to be with MAME itself, and not the monitor. Oh, I
>should say the 320x240 is too big for games like
>DK and Centipede, since it cuts off the bottom 1/4
>to 1/5 of the screen. 640x480 and the whole
>screen is there, but really tiny. I'm using MAME
>0.61, since he's using a PII class computer (probably
>S3 based, but I'm not sure about that).
>
>I should note that I tried adding Sci-Tech Display
>Doctor 6.7 to the other PC, but I'm still getting
>those VESA error messages and am no closer to
>figuring out what modes this monitor will accept,
>still allowing the game to look normal.
>
>Any help is greatly appreciated.
>
>Scott C.

I started typing a detailed reply but realised i'd probably be wasting
my time without knowing....

which MAME port are you using?
which operating system are you using?
have you tried different video cards?


btw don't you mean SDD version 6.53 (or UNIVBE 6.7)?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.mame (More info?)

Tim, sorry about that. I was trying to be so careful
and include all of that info. I'm using Univbe 6.7
on MAME 0.61 for DOS (I mentioned 0.61, but not the
DOS part), under DOS 6.22.

Today, I used the univbe centering software to test
and configure each resolution. Even though 640x480
at either 8, 15 or 16 bit all looks good and takes
up the whole screen, I only get a small box in the
middle of the screen when I tell MAME to use that
resolution (IE. "MAME DKONG -R 640x480 -depth 8" or
something along those lines). The 400x300 is now
synced, but the top/bottom are stretch way off the
screen and I can't seem to bring them back (running
around 48hz, since the 60hz range won't sync.

I have tried the built-in card and another card,
but both give me the same results. I suspect most
of the issues are this old monitor, but it still
seems like if the univbe software can display a full
screen at 640x480 using 8, 15 or 16-bit, then MAME
should too. BTW, all of the horizontal games work
or have been adjusted to work, but the vertical
games are the problem. Some games like Donkey Kong
can be just crammed in, so the whole screen shows,
but Pac-Man, Galaga, etc. are the ones that stretch
off the top and bottom (yes, I've tried -nostretch
in MAME, but that doesn't matter when the univbe
software can get a nice, full screen at 400x300
using 8, 15 or 16-bit.

What is the specific command line to run say Galaga
at 60hz, 640x480 at 8-bit? Univbe asked me when
setting that resolution which frequency to use, but
I can't figure out how to tell MAME (and have it
actually do it!).

Any ideas?

Scott C.

Tim Worthington wrote:
> On Sun, 03 Apr 2005 06:42:32 GMT, Scott Caldwell
> <lscottcaldwell@excite.com> wrote:
>
>
>>Working with a friend to get a MAME cabinet together
>>and the monitor is an early 90's Arcade VGA monitor
>>(Dynamo Solitaire). MAME runs on the PC fine, but
>>I'm running into issues with the frequencies or
>>resolutions this monitor can handle. Now, before
>>anyone gives me the obvious answer, we're using this
>>monitor because of it's small size, special arcade
>>mounts and he doesn't want to spend a dime on the
>>thing. Please cut me some slack, I'm just trying
>>to help a friend.
>>
>>With that said, is anyone aware of a way to get
>>MAME to display the resolution it's trying to use
>>or force it into another? Said another way, is there
>>a way to test the specific resolutions and frequencies
>>this particular monitor will accept? I've manually
>>pushed MAME to 320x200, 320x240 and 640x480, but none
>>of the other resolutions seem to work (get the MAME
>>screen about the computer not supporting VESA, etc.
>>and the mode I'm trying to use not being VESA). I
>>know games like DK and Centipede use 320x256 and
>>256x224. According to the TWEAK file, there are
>>several 320x??? modes, but other than the 320x200
>>and 320x240 modes, MAME refuses to use them. I've
>>tried this on another computer and that issue seems
>>to be with MAME itself, and not the monitor. Oh, I
>>should say the 320x240 is too big for games like
>>DK and Centipede, since it cuts off the bottom 1/4
>>to 1/5 of the screen. 640x480 and the whole
>>screen is there, but really tiny. I'm using MAME
>>0.61, since he's using a PII class computer (probably
>>S3 based, but I'm not sure about that).
>>
>>I should note that I tried adding Sci-Tech Display
>>Doctor 6.7 to the other PC, but I'm still getting
>>those VESA error messages and am no closer to
>>figuring out what modes this monitor will accept,
>>still allowing the game to look normal.
>>
>>Any help is greatly appreciated.
>>
>>Scott C.
>
>
> I started typing a detailed reply but realised i'd probably be wasting
> my time without knowing....
>
> which MAME port are you using?
> which operating system are you using?
> have you tried different video cards?
>
>
> btw don't you mean SDD version 6.53 (or UNIVBE 6.7)?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.mame (More info?)

On Mon, 04 Apr 2005 01:13:37 GMT, Scott Caldwell
<lscottcaldwell@excite.com> wrote:

>Tim, sorry about that. I was trying to be so careful
>and include all of that info. I'm using Univbe 6.7
>on MAME 0.61 for DOS (I mentioned 0.61, but not the
>DOS part), under DOS 6.22.
>
>Today, I used the univbe centering software to test
>and configure each resolution. Even though 640x480
>at either 8, 15 or 16 bit all looks good and takes
>up the whole screen, I only get a small box in the
>middle of the screen when I tell MAME to use that
>resolution (IE. "MAME DKONG -R 640x480 -depth 8" or
>something along those lines). The 400x300 is now
>synced, but the top/bottom are stretch way off the
>screen and I can't seem to bring them back (running
>around 48hz, since the 60hz range won't sync.

hmmm...maybe that was double-scanned...400x300 on a 31khz monitor
would have a refresh rate of about 95hz

you're not going to get this res @ 60hz on this monitor (the horiz
freq has to go to ~40khz)

>I have tried the built-in card and another card,
>but both give me the same results. I suspect most
>of the issues are this old monitor, but it still
>seems like if the univbe software can display a full
>screen at 640x480 using 8, 15 or 16-bit, then MAME
>should too. BTW, all of the horizontal games work
>or have been adjusted to work, but the vertical
>games are the problem. Some games like Donkey Kong
>can be just crammed in, so the whole screen shows,
>but Pac-Man, Galaga, etc. are the ones that stretch
>off the top and bottom (yes, I've tried -nostretch
>in MAME, but that doesn't matter when the univbe
>software can get a nice, full screen at 400x300
>using 8, 15 or 16-bit.
>
>What is the specific command line to run say Galaga
>at 60hz, 640x480 at 8-bit? Univbe asked me when
>setting that resolution which frequency to use, but
>I can't figure out how to tell MAME (and have it
>actually do it!).
>
>Any ideas?

I think you'd do a lot better using AdvanceMAME
http://advancemame.sourceforge.net/
It's a port of mame made specialy for connecting non-standard
monitors.

use the advcfg utility - select 31khz arcade/generic VGA (or custom)
then you can set each video mode individualy with the advv utility

when you run a game it can choose which resolution it thinks will best
suit it, use a set resolution, or create a special resolution based on
what's avaible (see display_adjust in the docs).