Arcade Machine On Your Table

[DaveC]

[
Is that just tied to the type of monitor? I tried one version on my PC once but it insisted on scaling up to full screen (looked AWFUL on an LCD YUK!) . It didn't allow me to just make it display at an even 2X original resolution for example and leave borders. The windows version always wanted to fill the window so I needed to re-size to get it to an approximate 2:1 scale factor. It took alot of fiddling, not something usefull in an arcade setup. Is one version (DOS, Windows) maybe better for this and give you more options in this area? I admit I didn't play with it too much and get into details.

Like you, I'm a resolution aficionado. I would never recommend that anyone use MAME with an LCD monitor, because of all the interpolation associated with the various resolutions. Definitely go CRT monitor, TV via S-video (etc.), or arcade monitor. My cabinet uses a TV, and I'm very happy with it. I used the Windows version because I couldn't get video-out through DOS.


The problem is if I am making a semi-portable cabinet I don't have the space for a big bulky and heavy CRT. I agree that that would make it look the best but in this case it isn't practical.

I actually have a Sony PVM 2030 cube monitor laying around that would be perfect for a fullsize cabinet. It supports the standard 15KHz frequency that these games used and is *analog RGB* just like the arcade games used. That would be much sharper than S-video. It is just way too big for what I want.

Look at the GP2X, it uses an LCD and alot of MAME games look very good as long as you keep at 1:1.

An LCD would be ok IF you can set the scale factor to an even multiple like 2:1, 4:1 etc (4.5:1 would look awful). The LCD should not be real big either or the pixel size would be too much.

Can MAME set exact output resolution multiples somehow (EX: set a 320 x 220 game to display doubled even at 640 x 440)?

 

[saehn]

Can MAME set exact output resolution multiples somehow (EX: set a 320 x 220 game to display doubled even at 640 x 440)?

This should help

How do I get the best look with MAME on an LCD display?

http://www.mame.net/mamefaq.html#h14

 

[Trip]

Most versions of Mame allow you to set the resolution etc. however you like. Depends on what type of monitor you want to use.. TV, PC monitor or an actual arcade monitor.

Is that just tied to the type of monitor? I tried one version on my PC once but it insisted on scaling up to full screen (looked AWFUL on an LCD YUK!) . It didn't allow me to just make it display at an even 2X original resolution for example and leave borders. The windows version always wanted to fill the window so I needed to re-size to get it to an approximate 2:1 scale factor. It took alot of fiddling, not something usefull in an arcade setup. Is one version (DOS, Windows) maybe better for this and give you more options in this area? I admit I didn't play with it too much and get into details.

As far as I know.. the Windows version will give you a lot more options for resolutions. The Dos version will always try to stretch to full screen, as it lacks windowing capabilities.
If you want to use an arcade monitor then you really need the dos version, CRT monitors should look ok on both & LCD/Widescreen would work best with the Windows version.

 

[DaveC]

Most versions of Mame allow you to set the resolution etc. however you like. Depends on what type of monitor you want to use.. TV, PC monitor or an actual arcade monitor.

Is that just tied to the type of monitor? I tried one version on my PC once but it insisted on scaling up to full screen (looked AWFUL on an LCD YUK!) . It didn't allow me to just make it display at an even 2X original resolution for example and leave borders. The windows version always wanted to fill the window so I needed to re-size to get it to an approximate 2:1 scale factor. It took alot of fiddling, not something usefull in an arcade setup. Is one version (DOS, Windows) maybe better for this and give you more options in this area? I admit I didn't play with it too much and get into details.

As far as I know.. the Windows version will give you a lot more options for resolutions. The Dos version will always try to stretch to full screen, as it lacks windowing capabilities.
If you want to use an arcade monitor then you really need the dos version, CRT monitors should look ok on both & LCD/Widescreen would work best with the Windows version.



That is pretty dumb on the MAME team's part. They go on and on about the commitment to *accuracy* then they don't even allow you to set the output resolution resulting in ugly distorted images. Even GP2X emus allow you to do that. Not too impressed with MAME in that way. With all of the options they have and they have nothing for output resolution, odd.

You don't need windowing capabilities to set output resolutions either. The GP2X doesn't have windowing and you can set the emus on that to diferent outputs. Even MAME on the GP2X allows different options which includes unscaled. PC monitors are too big for unscaled but a 2X, 3X etc would be possible.

 

[saehn]

That is pretty dumb on the MAME team's part. They go on and on about the commitment to *accuracy* then they don't even allow you to set the output resolution resulting in ugly distorted images. Even GP2X emus allow you to do that. Not too impressed with MAME in that way. With all of the options they have and they have nothing for output resolution, odd.

You don't need windowing capabilities to set output resolutions either. The GP2X doesn't have windowing and you can set the emus on that to diferent outputs. Even MAME on the GP2X allows different options which includes unscaled. PC monitors are too big for unscaled but a 2X, 3X etc would be possible.

Dave, did you look at that link I sent you? It looks like the MAME FAQ talks about how you can specify the output resolution. Try giving that a shot; you might have to noodle around with it for a while to get your desired results.

 

[DaveC]

That is pretty dumb on the MAME team's part. They go on and on about the commitment to *accuracy* then they don't even allow you to set the output resolution resulting in ugly distorted images. Even GP2X emus allow you to do that. Not too impressed with MAME in that way. With all of the options they have and they have nothing for output resolution, odd.

You don't need windowing capabilities to set output resolutions either. The GP2X doesn't have windowing and you can set the emus on that to diferent outputs. Even MAME on the GP2X allows different options which includes unscaled. PC monitors are too big for unscaled but a 2X, 3X etc would be possible.

Dave, did you look at that link I sent you? It looks like the MAME FAQ talks about how you can specify the output resolution. Try giving that a shot; you might have to noodle around with it for a while to get your desired results.


I read that. It basically said to set MAME to the max res of the LCD then let it stretch to fit. I did find a "clean stretch" option though. What that does is scale as much as it can but keeps the pixels uniform. That is probably the best option for me.

BTW: I see some sites selling DVDs with the complete MAME set. That seems kind of dodgy to me. Do they just scam you by taking your dough and not delivering, or are they bait sites that will turn you in to get you pinched as soon as you pay?

What is the best front-end for use in MAME cabinets (joystick menus as no keyboard is exposed).

 

[Gruntfuggly]

I've always used ArcadeOS - I think it's a bit long in the tooth now, but it means you don't have to boot into Windows - it runs from DOS, so you can just switch it off without all the shutdown crap. It's fully controllable via the joystick too...

 

[DaveC]

I've always used ArcadeOS - I think it's a bit long in the tooth now, but it means you don't have to boot into Windows - it runs from DOS, so you can just switch it off without all the shutdown crap. It's fully controllable via the joystick too...

Can that be configured to run on a machine that has XP installed? I think the latest MAME version only has a windows command line version though. No DOS only that I found.

 

[Gruntfuggly]

Not sure. On my machine it just runs ArcadeOs directly from the autoexec.bat. If you quit ArcadeOs, you can then just start windows from the command line (WIN), so I guess you could start XP the same way?