unresolved audio issues im having- RE: Controlling mame volume

[aldub516]

Hello and as per usual, thank you before hand for all the insight and help i always get. I have a few questions in different topics and figured id compress them into one thread. Im building a cabinet/mame setup for my friend, and basically am trying to make the machine fool proof and consistant.. Turn the machine on, play games, hit the power switch, machine turns off. Here is a couple things im looking for advice on. Thanks for the help! By the way, i talk alot. I apologize for the paragraphs..

Volume:

Ok. heres the volume situation. Im using 2 computer speakers and a subwoofer in the cabinet. The speaker setup is one of those that comes with an external serial wired remote/knob.. Meaning you can keep that little nifty nob device on your desktop and adjust you music and plug headphones and such easily. Originally i was thinking of a cool way to uncase the knob, and find a cool way to mount it so you can physically change the volume on the whole machine.. But figured thats extra wood work and details i dont need right now. So the next easiest was to make a shifted set of keys on my control panel to control volume. My question is, in GAMEEX, is there a way to control the main volume in mame? I can control gameex volume in the menus and navigation with f6 and f7. But can i control in game volume? Mame default has - and = for vol up/down but that only works on a few games, like mortal kombat, where the games have built in default volume control. How can i set keys to control volume while playing games? Or should i try figuring out a way to map my keyboards special "media" keys for volume and just control my desktop volume.. basically, how do you maintain volume control throughout your gameex/mame experience?

Resolutions: Im using an nvidia geforce 8500 gt video card..

I know there is no simple answer or advice on this. Ive done tons of research, but im hoping for some simple easy work arounds to get my effect. Now, the cabinet has an lcd screen, "square" not widescreen.. I will provide any info on "native resolutions" or details about the monitor if needed. Anyways, for the most part im not a major stickler on resolution. Especially my friend.. Im sure hes not gonna turn on 1942 and be like "this looks a little choppy".. he doesnt care. But as i play games like Ultimate mk 3 and such, i realize i remember the game looking A LOT cleaner in the arcades. So heres my questions about games.. Ive somewhat read up on (i believe its called) soft 15khz or whatever. Is there a generally accepted method of achieving good game play images and graphics? Perhaps downloadable game.inis with proper settings? I was considering buying ultimarcs arcadevga, but ive put enough into this kids machine already, so for now, with my dell lcd display, whats your "simple" advice on the best/easiest way to edit the games resolutions? Id like umk3 to look somewhat like it did when my childhood was changed back in the day Same thing with scanlines and such. By simply editing and enabling the effects in mame.ini, it added scanlines and curved the screen..right away i loved it. Are there any generally accepted and beloved scan lines or settings people use to spice things up?

In game pause problem:

I have "p" set as the default in game pause in gamex and mame. When playing a game in gameex, I hit "P" And the game pauses and the screen slightly darkens, just like regular mame would do. But when i push "P" Again to unpause, the music plays for a moment, and after some seconds of lag, it goes to the menu screen where i can view art, controls, or "resume game".. Is there any way to just set it to pause and resume without going to a menu? Or if there isnt, what is the reason for that error with the pause. It doesnt go directly to the menu with "P":

and finally.. PC Backup

As i said, its for a friend whos paying me for my endless time in setting this up, and building him the cabinet. So i dont want him having to pull his hair out just to enjoy it. Along with making the pc error proof.. I wanted to know your suggestions on apps or methods to make FULL PC BACKUPS.. Meaning system files, documents, folders, settings. just an exact mirror of the entire pc harddrive, so if something ever happens, he can perhaps just plug a external HD in, and restore it to working order. Whats your take on that?

thank you for all the help. As i said, i write way too much. The support for gameex and the community is awesome.

[aldub516]

update for the volume issue.. i downloaded a program called volumetray which ive read works wonders and allows you to set hot keys for volume control. I did that, and set numpad - and numpad+ as vol up and down. It work when regularly running windows, but not in gameex. my IPAC setup is as follows.. COIN is set to "5" on my keyboard.. 5 is also used as my shift key.. and joystick up and down's shift keys have been set to num- and num+. When i test my keys with 5+the joystick up, it registers as num+. I just cant get this to work in gameex as it seems gameex overrides controls outside of gameex...

[Adultery]

Map a volume key under the Input Options in the Setup Wizard. :-)

[aldub516]

ive done all of that, and nothing worked.. although i have finally found a solid workaround.

I found the following on this forum (please forgive me if theres some sort of policy to linking other forums and such..

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=69901.0

there, there is a link to an application called cabvol. Basically same as volume tray. Its a small exe you must keep running. Same idea, just set a key for volume up, down and if you want mute.. worked like a charm, even on top of gameex

Download cabvol.exe

run exe

set keys for volume up, and down, as well as any other simple options, and simply minimize the app. Obviously i added it to my startup folder to startup with windows. I set it to NUM - and NUM+. The volume goes up and down with those buttons, no matter what im doing, or what programs im in. After mapping my shift keys in winipac, Now with just holding down my "COIN" button, I can move my joystick up and down and control the volume any time i wish.

Problem 1 down

[slavearm]

Backups

For backups you have a ton of options. If the Cab is not going to be at your house, I would suggest an external or second hard drive. If you are using windows 7, the included backup tool works pretty well. If anything else, go with acronis or something similar. If your friend has WHS or some sort of NAS use the backup software included... ok last option, if you buy an external HD like from WD, it usually includes backup software.

Resolutions

I am not certain about your card, but on mine, I found that forcing AA on mame.exe in the Nvidia Control panel really helped to smooth things out on my 32" 1360x768 Vizio LCD. Might have some performance limitations with that card though. To be real direct though, on an LCD, using anything other than a native resolution is going to add additional artifacts.

Pause Problem

I don't experience that with my setup, it works as described. But, I did not define pause in GE. I only defined it in MAME.

[Tempest]

I use Macrium Reflect (Free) for system Images.

[aldub516]

So sound problem is all done. I can control mame by holding COIN and pushing up or down on the joystick

The resolutions, Ive decided to not be so finicky about. Im leaving my lcd at native resolution, and will toy with some scanlines and effects. Forcing AA on my pc made mame lag, which sucks. The games look normal enough for me. Ill show him the TAB button to adjust video of each game to his liking..thus also him editing his own game inis

Pc backup seems easy enough.

The pause button is the remaing issue. Now when I press P, It goes back to the menu to view art and such. When i choose resume game, It tries to resume, but ends up back at the game menu screen, with only "start game".. No more resume. Pause is a great feature for mame and id love to work this out. Can i bypass Pause going to the menu through some ini setting?

[DazzleHP]

You could try changing the Pause button in MAME itself:

> Load any game

> Hit TAB to bring up the MAME menu

> Input General >User Interface.

Pasue is the fourth option down (in .152, yours may be a bit lower). Change that to a key of your choosing that doesn't obviously conflict with any of your main buttons, then setup the key on one of your other Shift-buttons.

[aldub516]

Ahhh.. silly me. I had mame set to P for pause, as well as gameex.. That was causing the 2 different reactions of pausing, or going back to the menu. I disabled pause in gameex and let mame handle the pausing. That is resolved now!

Thanks all. Im learning new things every day

[slavearm]

<---- Sometimes that guy knows something

Really happy you got it working. As I got really frustrated early on, I totally know where you were coming from.

[aldub516]

Ok. So , back to frustration. I originally used cabvol, and set it as a startup program to add hotkeys to my volume. That worked, but i couldnt get it to start minimized and my ocd kicked in. I then used autohotkey, and produced a file that more or less, just installs hot keys. I set the file to run at start, and everything seemed Ok. Here is where i was stupid. I was testing it on my keyboard, not on my cp, and heres the issue. Picture this, at the top of my cp, we have 3 buttons in a row set up on my ipac as 1A(enter KEY) 1COIN (5 key for coins/credits) 1B(exit key).. I had created the hot keys to work as 5+UP = VOL UP. 5+DN= VOL DOWN. I used the coin key as a shift key because obviously it wont disturb game play when being used. So when i was testing is on my keyboard, it worked fine, because 5+u/d registers as such.. Silly me didnt think that on my cp, since 5 is shift, when i use the coin key, its shifting, not showing 5 pressed, therefore 5+u/d isnt happening. My solution to that was to not use the shift, and just set 5+u/p. The only small drawback was that when i press coin and up or down, the volume adjusts, but it also adds a coin and plays the games coin sound. I was ok with that. But now i have what seems to be a windows issue. When i adjust my volume in windows with the hotkeys, or even just up and down keys with the volume open, theres a huge lag. Meaning, i can press up which would normally just put the volume up with volume bar open... now when i hold up, nothing happens, then 5 seconds later, it shoots up, and vice versa. What can be causing this horrible lag? Its problem after damn problem. Worked for hours and hours and tests and tests yesterday.. now all of a sudden for the first time in years this pc volume lags. I cant win.

Edited September 14, 2014 by Draco1962
Locking post as issue may/maynot be resolved in later versions and OP has not pursued in > 8 months.