Hooking up Monitor

[kuip64]

Anyone,

I have my full mame system with GameEX completely working on my comp. Now I put it in my cab and am going to hook it up to my 1986 Wells Gardener Monitor. I have the ArcadeVGA from Ultimarc. Can anyone give me instructions on how to do this hook up or a site with detailed instructions. Do I use GameEX's config at all? Do I use Tom's "set arcadeVGA res tool"? What order do I do everything in? I was hoping to just hook it up, load the drivers and let mame set the reselutions, but I dont think it is that cut and dried. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Kuip

[Tom Speirs]

Anyone,

I have my full mame system with GameEX completely working on my comp.  Now I put it in my cab and am going to hook it up to my 1986 Wells Gardener Monitor.  I have the ArcadeVGA from Ultimarc.  Can anyone give me instructions on how to do this hook up or a site with detailed instructions.  Do I use GameEX's config at all?  Do I use Tom's "set arcadeVGA res tool"?  What order do I do everything in?  I was hoping to just hook it up, load the drivers and let mame set the reselutions, but I dont think it is that cut and dried.  Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Kuip

It should in fact be very cut and dried. GameEx has buil in support for ArcadeVGA including resolution settings. Dont use the Set ArcadeVGA tool.

For GameEx:

1. Set the resoultion to 640 x 288

2. Enable the Use ArcadeVGA setting.

3. If your monitor does not stretch the screen vertically at 640 X 288 turn off Stretch 256 First (Under ArcadeVGA settings).

It really should be that simple.

Thanks.

Tom

[kuip64]

Tom,

I'm not positive on my screens resolution but it is not a vertical monitor. So would I still set the res at 640x288?

I really appreciate your help.

Thanks,

Kuip

[Tom Speirs]

Tom,

I'm not positive on my screens resolution but it is not a vertical monitor.  So would I still set the res at 640x288?

I really appreciate your help.

Thanks,

Kuip

640 X 288 is the maximum LOW-RES Arcade Monitor resolution with the AVGA card. Anything above 288 is too much for an old low res arcade monitor, it cant physically display it. Its nothing to do with Veritcal (which GameEx does not support anyway).

So yes. Or if your monitor wont display it properly then 632 X 264.

[David R Hilgendorf]

640 X 288 is the maximum LOW-RES Arcade Monitor resolution with the AVGA card. Anything above 288 is too much for an old low res arcade monitor, it cant physically display it. Its nothing to do with Veritcal (which GameEx does not support anyway).

So yes. Or if your monitor wont display it properly then  632 X 264.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Not quite entirely true. Most old arcade monitors can operate at 640x480i (interlaced) which is how I run mine. Though 640x288p (progressive) is the max prog scan resolution. For a detailed discussion of interlaced vs. progressive start reading up on some PC vs. TV forums or HDTV formats 1080i vs 720p.

There are plusses and minuses to both and I generally find that 640x480i is fine for GameEx/emulation frontends, though it is less than stellar for Windows navigation even though it can be viewed for short periods of time for config/tweaking.

[kuip64]

Will Mame and GameEX look much better on a computor screen then my 1986 arcade monitor. I am debating on weather to use a monitor or arcade screen. Any thoughts?

[David R Hilgendorf]

Arcade games look best on the equipment they originally ran on. Thus an Arcade monitor will look much better than a high res PC monitor for old low-res games if configured appropriately (use an ArcadeVGA card). However if you plan to play 3D PC games, or run a Media Center (DVD/video) extensively then a PC monitor is the way to go.

I personally run an arcade cabinet with an arcade monitor for MAME and a MCE PC hooked to an HDTV for multimedia/pc gaming. I don't believe in combining the two, but others do so and make the sacrifices.