Newbie with some questions ...

[SteveMAME]

Hiya,

I'm afraid I'm going to be one of those annoying newbies with questions - sorry! I HAVE looked on the web for answers, but am still confused, so even if you only have the time to answer part of this post I'd be really grateful :-)

I've set up an original Smash TV cabinet (great artwork!) with a 15hz WG monitor using an ArcadeVGA and J-Pac and running Windows XP, MAME32 and Gamex (FANTASTIC program, especially looks and ability to customise - kudos to Tom Spiers!). Almost everything is working fine, but I still want to sort out the following:

QU 1 - Most games run fine, but a few games have a rolling picture and a few have the top and bottom half of the screen swapped. The settings I have in Gamex are "ArcadeVGA on" and "Do not change resolution". If I download the "MAME Resolution Tool", then will this work with Gamex and allow me to change the settings for individual games to correct the picture, or is there a better way to do this ... ?

QU 2 - I saw on this forum a thread about LCD Topguns being very good. My WG monitor is 15hz and is set at quite an angle (probably 45 degrees) - is this likely to cause problems with the gun ... ?

QU 3 - When you scroll through the list of games in Gamex, most of the games don't have a screenshot (bottom left-hand corner). Ideally I would love to have a little video clip in the corner for each game, and for any game where a video clip isn't available I'd love to have a screenshot. Could someone please write me a short idiot's guide to doing this, as I'm really confused. In Tom Spiers' "Extras" section, I've noticed that there are 3 different video links - one is hosted on Tom's own site, one on Retrogames, and one on EmuMovies. What's the difference - do they overlap with each-other or do they cover different games ... ? Which one do I want ... ? Also, for any games without a video, where do I get the screenshots from ... ? I've noticed that "The Arcade Flyer Archive" has 1000's of arcade pictures in 5 different packs, but would these provide screenshots, or something different ... ? Finally (sorry for so many questions!) - for whatever videos/screenshots you recommend I download - where do I put them ... ? Do I put them in a Gamex folder, a MAME32 folder, and do I leave them zipped, or unzip them ... ?

Sorry for the million and one dumb questions - I've managed to figure out most other things so far (small step for most of you probably, but giant leap for me!), but am really confused about the above issues, so would be extremely greatful for any help anyone can give me.

Thanks very much :-)

Steve

[Mike_Fu]

Not sure about Q1 and Q2. I do have a LCD TopGun and it works pretty well for me though my TV is not at an angle.

For Q3 though I'd head over to http://full.pleasuredome.org.uk/index.php and check it out. They have a torrent for "Mame Extras" which contains screenshots, artwork, etc. for all MAME games up to version 1.06. They also have a torrent for videos too. It's pretty nifty.

And sorry in advance if I'm not supposed to post links like that.

[JamminJ]

Question 3= Go here and get the snap.zip http://www.fileplanet.com/dl.aspx?/hst/j/h/jhardyiv/Snap.zip

Unzip this and place in your MAME snap folder. Tell GameEx the location of these snaps. Sorry can't help with other 2 questions

[SteveMAME]

Thanks very much "MIKE FU" and "JAMMINJ" for your suggestions - much appreciated

As an update, I downloaded the PleasureDome videos (EmuMovies) and Crashtest's MNG videos. Both are superb and make an amazing improvement to Snaps. At a pinch, the Crashtest ones are probably better at showing the gameplay right at the start of the video, which is useful if you're scrolling through the list of games quickly, although there are a few missing games (might be because of 98-106 Mame changes).

The light guns - I'm probably just going to go ahead and buy and hope they work on my tilted monitor.

The resolution / frequency problems. This is an interesting one ... some of the games (mostly vertical ones) are unplayable when I play them via GameEx due to rolling screens,or swapped top/bottom screens. However, when I loaded up the same games via Mame32 directly, they worked! Do I have a setting in Gamex wrong ... ? (I'm using an ArcadeVGA and J-Pac with 15hz arcade monitor).

Anyway, thanks again for your help

Steve