enoch

Mm. It may have nothing to do with the card. If it's not a software issue, then it could be how your monitor (what brand is it?) handles video modes. I don't recall having any issues like this with the avga - usually it'll just display the image interlaced - but with soft-15khz I have...though they're far more obscure (and higher resolution) games. First off, I'd try Mame32, or vanilla mame from the command line, and see what you get. If those display, then it's probly not hardware-based. If not, then try other resolutions. Then try those same resolutions/use the same files in GE. They should display. Also, did you try the card in your dell?...or did you just go by what others said?

....two questions first: 1) what kind of monitor are you using? 2) {for graffics} why are you using an avga?

Actually, they wrap them in tape.....gerbels.

I'm doubtful they don't know about it by now. Usually these things get jumped on pretty quick. I have a mind to think they're feeling smug at everyone shitting bricks.

bk: hahahah, it's not that much, really. Simply: old mame - switchres + scanlines = authentic look (and maybe slightly dimmer than without) but games don't fit the screen. old mame - hwstretch + scanlines = gradations of shaded scanlines and dimmer picture (again, some very few games look okay, though are still slightly dimmer - ex: Mortal Kombat), Bubbles is a good test game. new mame w/ D3D - depending on your monitor, the various 'scanline' png's will appear differently. On both my 21" Trinitron PC CRT and 27" CRTs, they look like pencil-drawn lines and are off-grid. If you've never seen native resolutions, then compare old mame scanlines, you'll see the difference. (Scanlines, scanlines 75x2, 75x4, etc, look like just a fine mesh texture, vs actual lines; I don't personally like this effect.) Benefit of new format: no effect on color/brightness quality. Disadvantage: above png's don't 'line-up'. I compared mame32 .112 and .119: the only difference I could see was on .119 scanlines 75Dx4 looked like it was pre-tty closely aligned, but still didn't look quite real. *Notice that with old mame + switchres (auto), your monitor will produce small natural scanlines, but not the same as native. Also, if you have a PC monitor, you actually CAN get native resolutions with soft15khz - if you add high horizontal refresh modelines. It's a simple equation, and you can get a 'native' resolution at 31khz (vertical refresh) and higher, if you up the horizontal refresh.

Hell, I found for free a 21" Gateway, some months ago. It has a small issue that I haven't deigned to repair, but otherwise is a fine monitor. I recently got a 27" presentation (fully switching) monitor for 30 bucks on ebay, and something happened such that I get reimbursed for the shipping. And people locally are GIVING away 15 and 17 monitors left and right on Freecycle - sometimes even 19" - although, I couldn't do less than 21", as they're measured like tv's, meaning 21" equals 19" viewable (vs arcade monitors which are measured by viewable area, so a 19 is 19). You just gotta look for the deals.

Yeah. I didn't get this at first, cos I had no idea why you'd need that for advmame, within GE. However, like mentioned above, always troubleshoot on its own, first. If it don't work, then you know where to start - in this case, not to use it, as it's out of development.

And prepare for them not to look as good. Actually, it's like this: in old Mame (ie - before the video re-write) if using switchres (say, 800*600) and using scanlines, they will look EXACTLY like real native resolution-produced scanlines (albeit perhaps not quite as bright). However, the cost of this is that different games will have different geometries relative to 800*600, and most won't fit the screen*. Alternatively, using the old scanline effects with hwstretch looks like ass in most games (there are a select few that, for some strange reason, look okay), or in golden age, mostly black background games suffer some color quality. New Mame, using D3D, has a different format. While there is no dimming of the image by the overlay - a problem in old mame - the scanlines don't 'match'. That is, the lines don't delineate text, etc, evenly. (Note, I'm only talking about scanline effects that produce significant 'blank traces', and not at all about aperture, etc, effects.) * the 'fractional' sub-parametre in advancemame fixes this, but there are sometimes distortions or artifacts in the game, regardless of other parametre's settings. Further, running a non-native resolution in advancemame is not the same as using switchres in regular old mame; although the scanline effects look correct anyway, the cost is color quality (that I haven't been able to rectify...but is okay if you're not comparing), more so than in regular mame with switchres and effects.

<just reposting> Still waiting for a plug and play solution, Tom.

This one is the best so far. And, slogan, people. Some of those are, like, product descriptions or ad banners.

See, if these were set up like Mame, with the option to cmd it in whatever way also (which I think it does, already), these things I think wouldn't be issues for people.

Were that the case. No, it's on by default, and I've always left it on. Then turned it off then back on to see if it might need to reset. Then someone suggested it might be because of the aspect ratio I run on vertical games - 5:4 - but that wasn't it, either. No idea, regardless of version, though I haven't used it since my last download (8.55, I think...maybe, not sure, it's been a week or so) cos it's just easier to run the individual programs until the day GE works how I'd like it to...if that happens. (note: no inuendos, etc in all that. I'm explaining my circumstance.)

Shit, I (sorta) wish I had this problem. It won't even display it on my system.

Advancemame/menu don't have configuration utilities (a bummer, there) so they take up little space and headroom. However, +100 gig external drives are cheap these days, so I don't see an issue, except that you'd have to install GE on the foreign computer...though there's probly a way to set it to run from the drive. Hizzout has been messing with this with a thumb drive.

Oh. I can see the double meaning of that. I meant it's pervasive across the gaming community vs by people.

Theme thread you mean?

Note: rom links are the most pervasive no-no.

I like sitting and watching the Mame attract mode, too. The thing is, it's just running Mame, and if you only press the coin button, it won't exit and you can play a game, which can be cute if there's something you see you wanna play. I don't know if the attract will continue after a period of no game playing, but if not, pressing exit will reset it to the menu.

I've always had greater CPU headroom with DD vs D3D. However, if this is a hardware issue (TV), then you might need powerstrip or google 'refresh force'. TV's require encoding; and the reason a PC monitor automatically syncs is cos of appropriate drivers inherent in Windows.

Na, that's cool. Hard to tell the organisational principles around here. Feel free to move, etc, any of my posts per your preference.

I just .50 and I'm have the following issues: 1. (following from the jukebox: full albums thread: I didn't think to check those categories, cos I was fixated with folders shown like in Mame.) The category feature would be fine, except that I get different content showing in different ones as well as truncated content - for example 'album' nothing showing for one, but in 'artist' one track (out of several in the actual folder) showing. However, the biggest thing is once a track starts - and it's an automatic random thing once the list loads - it sticks on that track. No others will play. 2. (long-standing) Except for not having most of the folder options (atari, golden age, etc) showing, I'm using default game listing settings, and there are games missing from various subfolders.

Vsync has never helped any issues I've had. Tripplebuffer has - BUT it depends on the game. Some games, particularly scrolling where tearing occurs, benefit from it. Others, say something simple like Pac-man, actually stutter with it, regardless of PC horsepower. And to corroborate what Tom said, upgrading hardware isn't a waste. You might be able to get by with older stuff - say a PIII...or even II - but why suffer?

Yup, they're like on crack, now. Smooth, but very fast.

I dunno. Mine hasn't yet. And like I said it not only solved some graphics issues on some new tables relative to my ATI card, it made some other tables (those by Scapino that otherwise required an app to release hardware acceleration) run smoother.

Mm, sorry. I mean there are video stutters during menu transitions. This is full screen. I hadn't thought to try windowed. This is on a late model 2.8 P4, 1gig of ram, 512mb ATI (PCIe arcade vga, actually), running XP Pro. If I load 8.23 there is no stuttering.