Is there a way to.....

[Buzzin69]

Hey all, Does anyone know if there is a way to have MAME auto change displays? To be exact, I have a Pinball style arcade (Vertical Display and a Horizontal Display). I am now running MAME on the (Playfield) Vertical Display and would like to know if there is a way to have MAME run Vert games on Display 1 and Hor. games on display 2. To make it even more interesting.... I DO NOT want to run all roms on BOTH screens, I would like the unused screen to stay black.

Any ideas????

Thanks in advance.

P.S. If you look at the cabinet in my Signature you will understand more clearly what I am striving to do.

[B2K24]

In case you didn't know, PinballX has MAME support so you could run all the MAME vertical games on your playfield display using PinballX

http://www.gameex.info/forums/topic/15343-upload-all-650-vertical-games-parents-only-mamexml/

Then just somehow setup GameEX for the horizontal games on your other display.

You could make a copy of your MAME folder (not ROMs or CHDs) and have PinballX pointed to 1 location and GameEX use the copy that you've made.

Then you can utilize these options to make it do what you want

Per-window options
------------------

-screen <display>
-screen0 <display>
-screen1 <display>
-screen2 <display>
-screen3 <display>

Specifies which physical monitor on your system you wish to have each
window use by default. In order to use multiple windows, you must have
increased the value of the -numscreens option. The name of each
display in your system can be determined by running MAME with the
-verbose option. The display names are typically in the format of:
\\.\DISPLAYn, where 'n' is a number from 1 to the number of connected
monitors. The default value for these options is 'auto', which means
that the first window is placed on the first display, the second
window on the second display, etc.

The -screen0, -screen1, -screen2, -screen3 parameters apply to the
specific window. The -screen parameter applies to all windows. The
window-specific options override values from the all window option.

-aspect <width:height> / -screen_aspect <num:den>
-aspect0 <width:height>
-aspect1 <width:height>
-aspect2 <width:height>
-aspect3 <width:height>

Specifies the physical aspect ratio of the physical monitor for each
window. In order to use multiple windows, you must have increased the
value of the -numscreens option. The physical aspect ratio can be
determined by measuring the width and height of the visible screen
image and specifying them separated by a colon. The default value for
these options is 'auto', which means that MAME assumes the aspect
ratio is proportional to the number of pixels in the desktop video
mode for each monitor.

The -aspect0, -aspect1, -aspect2, -aspect3 parameters apply to the
specific window. The -aspect parameter applies to all windows. The
window-specific options override values from the all window option.

-resolution <widthxheight[@refresh]> / -r <widthxheight[@refresh]>
-resolution0 <widthxheight[@refresh]> / -r0 <widthxheight[@refresh]>
-resolution1 <widthxheight[@refresh]> / -r1 <widthxheight[@refresh]>
-resolution2 <widthxheight[@refresh]> / -r2 <widthxheight[@refresh]>
-resolution3 <widthxheight[@refresh]> / -r3 <widthxheight[@refresh]>

Specifies an exact resolution to run in. In full screen mode, MAME
will try to use the specific resolution you request. The width and
height are required; the refresh rate is optional. If omitted or
set to 0, MAME will determine the mode auomatically. For example,
-resolution 640x480 will force 640x480 resolution, but MAME is free to
choose the refresh rate. Similarly, -resolution 0x0@60 will force a
60Hz refresh rate, but allows MAME to choose the resolution. The
string "auto" is also supported, and is equivalent to 0x0@0. In window
mode, this resolution is used as a maximum size for the window. This
option requires the -switchres option as well in order to actually
enable resolution switching with -video ddraw or -video d3d. The
default value for these options is 'auto'.

The -resolution0, -resolution1, -resolution2, -resolution3 parameters
apply to the specific window. The -resolution parameter applies to all
windows. The window-specific options override values from the all
window option.

-view <viewname>
-view0 <viewname>
-view1 <viewname>
-view2 <viewname>
-view3 <viewname>

Specifies the initial view setting for each window. The <viewname>
does not need to be a perfect match; rather, it will select the first
view whose name matches all the characters specified by <viewname>.
For example, -view native will match the "Native (15:14)" view even
though it is not a perfect match. The value 'auto' is also supported,
and requests that MAME perform a default selection. The default value
for these options is 'auto'.

The -view0, -view1, -view2, -view3 parameters apply to the
specific window. The -view parameter applies to all windows. The
window-specific options override values from the all window option.

[Buzzin69]

Great idea B2K24, and something to ponder...... I will look into it over the weekend

Just realized... Mame in PinballX would be a bit of a drag to others using the Cade (they are mostly kids of friends and whatnot). I will have to tinker some more, or figure a way to hack the MAME.ini I think.

[u-man]

You dont need to "hack" the mame.ini . You can use a horizontal.ini and a vertical.ini and make so changes to them, that it fits to your configuration i.e. telling which screen is used based on orientation of the games.... easy as that .

For your info (sadly i dont know where the horizontal.ini / vertical.ini order belongs, but I am sure that they will override the mame.ini):

All settings defined in the mame.ini file, are global settings. These settings are the first, that are read by MAME. However other .ini files can overwrite those settings.

MAME reads the following .ini files in order:

- mame.ini
- debug.ini (if the debugger is enabled)
- vector.ini (for vector games only)
- <driver>.ini (based on the source filename of the driver)
- <parent>.ini (for clones only, may be called recursively)
- <gamename>.ini

[Buzzin69]

Thatsound like EXACTLY what i need to do! Thanks u-man 😄. I guess i know what I'm doing this weekend lol

[B2K24]

You dont need to "hack" the mame.ini . You can use a horizontal.ini and a vertical.ini and make so changes to them, that it fits to your configuration i.e. telling which screen is used based on orientation of the games.... easy as that .

For your info (sadly i dont know where the horizontal.ini / vertical.ini order belongs, but I am sure that they will override the mame.ini):

All settings defined in the mame.ini file, are global settings. These settings are the first, that are read by MAME. However other .ini files can overwrite those settings.

MAME reads the following .ini files in order:

- mame.ini

- debug.ini (if the debugger is enabled)

- vector.ini (for vector games only)

- <driver>.ini (based on the source filename of the driver)

- <parent>.ini (for clones only, may be called recursively)

- <gamename>.ini

This is 100% true and very good information.

If you put your mame.ini in the ini directory and rename it to vertical.ini, you can even intentionally change the rompath to something totally incorrect. Then when you launch a vertical game you will get the error files are missing even though the correct path is in your mame.ini

So think of it as a 100% override

[Buzzin69]

God I LOVE this site!!!!! You guys are amazing. I set up the .ini (Copied the mame.ini and edited out all that didn't matter. Saved as Vertical.ini). Then went into Mameui64 and set my prefs for Horizontal and BAM! works like a charm.

Thanks for the help guys! I am a happy gamer