CRT Theme and Video Download Help

[flightsim]

Hey guys! On what appears to be near the end of the setup so I can play some games! Have two quick questions:

Question 1: Bought an Emumovies account, for some reason GameEX will only download some of the gameplay movies. Any ideas as to why? Typically the first few of the day I scan over that don't have them.

Question 2: What theme would be easiest to read on a CRT screen? I have tried the 640x480 and its ROUGH on the eyes, and nearly impossible to read. Can't afford any "fancy" monitors yet

Thanks for the help guys!

[celly]

Congrats on almost finishing your project!

As for question 1, what are the rom naming conventions? The download manager searches based on your file path then the name. Usually it will find the correct artwork even if its closely named off the NoIntro/TOSEc/Good type sets. What systems arent you getting artwork for specifically?

[flightsim]

Why thank you! Of courses its never quite "finished", but its ready to be played. They are to the standard MAME format, and it will download some of the videos, but not all. Its for the MAME, as I have downloaded all the artwork outside of Gameex, just not the videos. It will start on the videos but stop not after many.

[celly]

Another alternative would be to try and download the MAME video snaps directly from the EmuMovies site. Im not sure how much content, if there is a limit or not, as to how much a free user can in one day. It may be a faster way but you will get ALL snaps unlike how the download manager gets snaps for just the roms you have.

[flightsim]

I was trying to avoid said situation due to a bandwidth cap by my ISP, as there are sadly no ISPs without a cap out here, and internet is terribly expensive. Hmmmm. Well thanks, good to know!

Any ideas to question 2?

[Draco1962]

To answer question 2, you will need to answer a question for us - what is your monitor's highest resolution? Can your setup handle 800x600 or 1024x768?

[flightsim]

It atleast seems to accept an 800x600 signal, but does not accept higher. It is indeed a television, and quiet ancient. Thanks for the quick response!

[Draco1962]

Have you looked into the Joust theme? It is formatted for 800x600. Also, you can use just about any theme that is formatted 640x480, 800x600, and 1024x768 interchangeably with little to no editing as they are within the same 4:3 resolution family.

[flightsim]

Hmmm didn't think about using other 4x3s, I tried some other funky resolutions and it seems to make them all the same res.

More or less, is there anything with BIG text so I can not burn my eyes to read it?

[Tempest]

Try the pacman theme.

[Draco1962]

You can also edit the font size by loading the theme via Theme Editor, under Edit, Options, and Font tab. Some of the older themes (Version 1 or 2) are not compatible and will require conversion to version 3 or 4,with 4 preferable.

[u-man]

you likely use a interlaced resolution. if you use a high contrast i.e. white font on black ground than it tends to jitter. also thin lines with 1-2 pixels are not good for interlaced resolutions.

i recommend to use a bigger, good readable font with a light, darker color. turn off outline fonts in the setup-wizard can also help. at least for me it worked.

we need to know, what resoultion you are using, cause i dont think you can display 800x600. it sounds like a old-fashioned 15khz CRT, where 640x480 would be the maximum, or 768x576 for PAL.

maybe your log-file would help.

[KRC]

+1 for the Joust theme.

[flightsim]

Thanks for the suggestions! Is there any way to force the 640x480 resolution with an nVidia graphics card?

[Draco1962]

Thanks for the suggestions! Is there any way to force the 640x480 resolution with an nVidia graphics card?

Depends on the card. You will have to consult with the documentation for your make/model.

[u-man]

Hi flightsim,

generally you have two options to force a 640x480 resolution with an nVidia graphics card. Either you will need "Soft15Khz" and hope that your Nvidia is accepted or you will need "Powerstrip" which is not Freeware, but for testing, you can download a Trial-Version. It MAY happen, that you will still need "Powerstrip", even if "Soft15Khz" is working, as there are sometimes problems with Interlaced Resolutions.

You need to be aware, that you need a Interlaced 640x480 Resolution, which is different from the "normal" progressive 640x480 Resolution. This is where "Powerstrip" comes in, as you can setup such a Resolution for sure.

I can confirm, that this works, as it is my setup in my MAME-Cab with a Nvidia Card.

Soft15Khz: http://www.arcadeinfo.de/showthread.php?8170-International-Overview

Powerstrip: http://entechtaiwan.com/util/ps.shtm