Overscan in MAME when launched with GameEx

[insane]

I noticed this start happening quite a while ago, so unfortunately I don't know what version of gameex or mame changed this behavior... Currently many MAME games when launched from GameEX are stretched beyond the screen limits on the TV in my cabinet. My desktop is running at 640x480 and GameEx has been configured both for 640x480 and use what windows is set to with the same results. Some games are fine (mostly vertical games) but many are extended off screen so I can't see the insert coin dialogs or score at the top. If I launch mame using the same parameters from a cmd prompt, it's displayed normally.

The GameEx log shows:

cmd.exe /c C: C:\mediacenter\MAME\mame.exe area51 -rompath C:\mediacenter\MAME\roms -skip_gameinfo -triplebuffer -nowindow -lightgun -dual_lightgun -offscreen_reload

Again, if I paste this directly in a cmd prompt when GameEx isn't running it displays fine. Any suggestions?

[Tom Speirs]

I noticed this start happening quite a while ago, so unfortunately I don't know what version of gameex or mame changed this behavior... Currently many MAME games when launched from GameEX are stretched beyond the screen limits on the TV in my cabinet. My desktop is running at 640x480 and GameEx has been configured both for 640x480 and use what windows is set to with the same results. Some games are fine (mostly vertical games) but many are extended off screen so I can't see the insert coin dialogs or score at the top. If I launch mame using the same parameters from a cmd prompt, it's displayed normally.

The GameEx log shows:

cmd.exe /c C: C:\mediacenter\MAME\mame.exe area51 -rompath C:\mediacenter\MAME\roms -skip_gameinfo -triplebuffer -nowindow -lightgun -dual_lightgun -offscreen_reload

Again, if I paste this directly in a cmd prompt when GameEx isn't running it displays fine. Any suggestions?

That's very odd. All I can think is its your display drivers. What happens if you try to set the mame resolution on that command line? Or if you tell gameex not to change resolution.

Can you please give a little more accurate information. If you paste that directly into a cmd line it wont work.

[insane]

That's very odd. All I can think is its your display drivers. What happens if you try to set the mame resolution on that command line? Or if you tell gameex not to change resolution.

Can you please give a little more accurate information. If you paste that directly into a cmd line it wont work.

As for the command line, I initially tried:

C:\mediacenter\MAME\mame.exe area51 -rompath C:\mediacenter\MAME\roms -skip_gameinfo -triplebuffer -nowindow -lightgun -dual_lightgun -offscreen_reload

and then to make sure it wasn't the spawning of a new prompt, I tried:

cmd.exe /c C:\mediacenter\MAME\mame.exe area51 -rompath C:\mediacenter\MAME\roms -skip_gameinfo -triplebuffer -nowindow -lightgun -dual_lightgun -offscreen_reload

The extra C: had to be removed.

I'll look into the ini file to see if I can figure out how to tell GameEx not the change the resolution for MAME if that's what you're asking. I did tell GameEx not the change the resolution for itself without change in behavior.

I currently have:

XResolution=640

YResolution=480

MameOptions=-skip_gameinfo -triplebuffer -nowindow -lightgun -dual_lightgun -offscreen_reload

DontSwitchRes=True (I assume this is from telloing GameEx not the change the desktop resolution.)

The only others in see in the big blob related to resolution or stretching are:

VectorResX=632

VectorResY=264

AlwaysStretch=410x256

AllowWindowResize=True

DeadZoneX=0

DeadZoneY=0

[Tom Speirs]

As for the command line, I initially tried:

C:\mediacenter\MAME\mame.exe area51 -rompath C:\mediacenter\MAME\roms -skip_gameinfo -triplebuffer -nowindow -lightgun -dual_lightgun -offscreen_reload

and then to make sure it wasn't the spawning of a new prompt, I tried:

cmd.exe /c C:\mediacenter\MAME\mame.exe area51 -rompath C:\mediacenter\MAME\roms -skip_gameinfo -triplebuffer -nowindow -lightgun -dual_lightgun -offscreen_reload

The extra C: had to be removed.

I'll look into the ini file to see if I can figure out how to tell GameEx not the change the resolution for MAME if that's what you're asking. I did tell GameEx not the change the resolution for itself without change in behavior.

I currently have:

XResolution=640

YResolution=480

MameOptions=-skip_gameinfo -triplebuffer -nowindow -lightgun -dual_lightgun -offscreen_reload

DontSwitchRes=True (I assume this is from telloing GameEx not the change the desktop resolution.)

The only others in see in the big blob related to resolution or stretching are:

VectorResX=632

VectorResY=264

AlwaysStretch=410x256

AllowWindowResize=True

DeadZoneX=0

DeadZoneY=0

I dont think its a gameex setting causing it. It must be some kind of conflict. GameEx should not override MAME settings unless there specificed on the cmd lind. Can you try running runititgame.bat in the data directory. That is exactly what GameEx runs.

Could you post your log, and let me know what mame version your using.

[insane]

I dont think its a gameex setting causing it. It must be some kind of conflict. GameEx should not override MAME settings unless there specificed on the cmd lind. Can you try running runititgame.bat in the data directory. That is exactly what GameEx runs.

Could you post your log, and let me know what mame version your using.

I added -resolution 640x480 to MameOptions= and the screen is now sized correctly and not cut off (at least on Area51). The only thing I see in runitgame.bat is that it's changing directories to my mame folder (I wasn't doing this). I'll play around with it a little more, but at least with the -resolution setting, my problem appears fixed, though I don't know if this will give me problems in other games or provide me with a non-optimal display. Thanks for your help, and your app is great.

[insane]

Sorry for wasting your time and thanks for pointing me to runitgame.bat. If I just launched mame using the command line exposed in the log while in my user directory, it worked as it appears it looks for mame.ini in the current directory. When changing to the mame directory and launching the same command line, it uses mame.ini for additional configuration options. I was able to remove -resolution 640x480 from the mame options in GameEx and rename my mame.ini to get back in working order. I'll sift through the ini later to see what got set away from the defaults that was causing this behavior. Thanks again.