Soft15Khz w/ 640x480 interlaced and non-interlaced

[dmauro]

I am going to be connecting my PC to two different arcade monitors, one is capable of 15/31KHz, and the other only 15KHz. It is my understanding that Soft15Khz only allows for the 640x480 interlaced resolution if the 31KHz modes are not installed, but I need both. I need the interlaced res for the 15KHz monitor, and I will be playing PC games on the 15/31KHz monitor that run in 640x480. So how do I get both 640x480 interlaced and non-interlaced as available resolutions? Thank you!

p.s.

I want to run GameEx in 640x480 because I will be using the rotate feature since the 15KHz monitor is vertical and the other horizontal. Rotation isn't supported in any resolution lower than that.

[bkenobi]

The only thing I can recommend is to use 2 video cards. Use one with the standard monitor and then use an ArcadeVGA card with the arcade monitor. Windows probably won't allow you to adjust the video signal like that for the same card (assuming the card could even do it.

[dmauro]

I'm sure Windows won't allow me to by default, but I think quickres would be able to. I just need both of those resolutions to be available.

Well, worst case scenario is either a) run in GameLauncher mode at 320x240 (don't want to do because it has it's own weird problems sometimes) or b ) go with 640x480 non-interlaced and use the 31khz monitor to boot into games, and then switch over to the 15khz monitor. Perhaps I should try to get into touch with SailorSat and ask him about this though. In the meantime I guess I'll just fiddle around with it.

[bkenobi]

You can certainly have 2 monitors hooked up and switch between them. I thought you wanted both running at the same time though. I also was assuming you wanted to use a single, dual-head video card. I don't think you can have different refresh rates that vary that much on a single card, but I could be wrong. I don't think there would be as much of an issue if you chose to use 2 different cards since the settings would then be decoupled.

I would guess the BYOAC forum might have more expertise on this topic. Whatever you do, please let us know as it would be interesting to find out a workable procedure.

[dmauro]

Oh, okay. To be clear, I don't need these resolutions at the same time, I only need to be able to switch between them. I installed Soft15KHz with 15 and 31KHz options so now I don't have the 640x480 interlaced as an available resolution in quickres. Sometimes I will be using the PC in the horizontal cab and playing games in 640x480 non-interlaced, and sometimes I will be using the PC in the vertical cab and needing 640x480 interlaced for GameEx.

[bkenobi]

[The following assumes that you have 2 cabinets set up with both hooked up to the same PC. The PC sends video to one or the other, not both. If that's incorrect, my input may not be applicable.]

Oh, well that shouldn't be a problem then! You should be able to get Soft15KHz to work for you (from what I've read). I've never used it since I only have PC monitors and TV's in my stuff, but from what I've gleaned from here and there, this config should be no problem. You might consider building a script to switch monitors and resolutions so that it's a single step.

If you are trying to rotate the screen as well, might I suggest you using 2 gameex.ini files with a script set up as an application in each one. The scripts would simply kill GameEx, switch resolutions and monitors, then fire up GameEx with the alternate gameex.ini file where the display orientation is rotated. If you have separate lists of games (which you probably do since you will only want vertical games on the vertical cab), then you would use a second installation of GameEx rather than just the ini file.

The only thing that would be missing from this setup would be a way to include turning off the monitor and marquee. Those things could be done also if desired!

[dmauro]

Well, that might be beyond me. It sounds like a lot of work How would I change which version of GameEx is loaded simply with the joysticks and buttons? To switch which monitor the PC is plugged into, I'll simply be plugging in one VGA cable rather than the other (or even using a VGA switcher if I decide to do that).

I guess for Soft15KHz to work I'll have to do some custom stuff to get both the interlaced and the non-interlaced.

[bkenobi]

I was assuming you had 2 outputs on your video card that you might be using to display the same image on both monitors. I didn't really ask about your setup, so again I was making a misguided guess. You could still use a switch box and just toggle which monitor is active (like you said). As far as different versions of GameEx for different configs, it's really not complicated. Basically, you set up GameEx as you want it for one cab. Then copy "C:\Program Files\GameEx" to "C:\Program Files\GameEx (Vertical)" for instance. Then you can edit the setup for that new version to use only vertical games and rotate the monitor as needed.

Now, the complicated part is telling GameEx to quit and launch a different version. Tom had a script to quit GameEx and restart it, but I haven't gotten a copy of it yet. It shouldn't be hard to write one, it's basically just a script that will kill the GameEx process, change resolutions with soft15khz, then launch the other gameex.exe. You would want one for each version you want to switch between. Then, set these up in each version of GameEx as an application. Done!

[dmauro]

I was assuming you had 2 outputs on your video card that you might be using to display the same image on both monitors. I didn't really ask about your setup, so again I was making a misguided guess. You could still use a switch box and just toggle which monitor is active (like you said). As far as different versions of GameEx for different configs, it's really not complicated. Basically, you set up GameEx as you want it for one cab. Then copy "C:\Program Files\GameEx" to "C:\Program Files\GameEx (Vertical)" for instance. Then you can edit the setup for that new version to use only vertical games and rotate the monitor as needed.

Now, the complicated part is telling GameEx to quit and launch a different version. Tom had a script to quit GameEx and restart it, but I haven't gotten a copy of it yet. It shouldn't be hard to write one, it's basically just a script that will kill the GameEx process, change resolutions with soft15khz, then launch the other gameex.exe. You would want one for each version you want to switch between. Then, set these up in each version of GameEx as an application. Done!

That would be perfect if you get a hold of that script. Now the only trick is finding a way to launch that script with a key combo on the joystick+buttons because if I feed the image over to the low res monitor and it's in 640x480, I won't be able to see it (so I'll need to be able to launch by just hitting a combo rather than navigating to it in the menu).

I tried to add a custom 640x480 interlace resolution and it didn't work. I suppose 320x240 for the vertical one would be better anyways. The flicker on Windows in interlaced mode is really bad.

[bkenobi]

Yup, that will be a problem. If you feed an incompatible signal to a monitor it will be unviewable. Worse, depending on the type of signal, you could actually damage the monitor. I don't think that will be an issue here, but you should be aware of that and be careful.

[dmauro]

Any luck with a script to relaunch a different version of GameEx? Additionally, it would be really cool if there were some way to hold down a certain joystick button during boot up to get the alternate GameEx installation. Anyone have any ideas?

[bkenobi]

Actually, Tempest has been working on a script to launch GameEx unless a button is pressed, then Windows starts. This could be modified to launch a different version of GameEx depending on what key is pressed! Check out the thread here:

http://www.gameex.info/forums/index.php?showtopic=6901

EDIT: guess you already saw it!