ArcadeVGA Vertical Hold Issues

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OK after a day of fooling around with my new ArcadeVGA in my cabinet, I've found that if I configure MAME to have 'switchres' on, the monitor's vertical hold goes out the moment I start a MAME rom within GameEX. I have to manually adjust my arcade monitor's V-hold know, which is a scary experience considering it's an original RCA/Wells Gardner in a 1985 Gauntlet II cabinet.

I'm using Mame32, latest version, ddraw on, switchres on, direct3d off, hardware stretch off. I can run games with switchres off, and the vertical hold issue never arises, but the games look so small and crappy when I do that. Is the issue with my old monitor, or my settings? It seems If I adjust the V-hold dial so that MAME games look right, the V-hold looks awful the moment I get back to GameEX or windows. I'd rather not have to adjust it every time. I've searched the forum for a while now I see similar problems but nothing that I can really relate to.

Help?

[bkenobi]

I don't have an arcade monitor in either cabinet for this very reason. From the research I did a while back, it looked like there was no way around having to adjust the monitor. I had 2 arcade monitors and got rid of both in favor of a TV and a CRT monitor for this reason and the fact that I could hook those up to the PC a lot easier, cheaper, and more reliably.

Now, with that said, I know there are a lot of people here who DO run arcadeVGA cards. So all hope isn't lost as some of the smartest people here have opted for that route, which means that there is a will so there must be a way

[battletoads]

Thanks, I hope somebody here knows a solution, I just dropped $200 on an ArcadeVGA, Ipac and Jpac for my cabinet, I'd rather not leave the back of the cabinet off permanently with the monitor exposed just so I can adjust the v-hold dial every time the cabinet is used; I have children and old monitors like that are a safety risk.

Is there a mame and monitor friendly resolution that I can set windows to? I guess that would eliminate the problem, but It seems most resolutions that I pick from the little icon in the system tray make the monitor go crazy, and unfocusable

[shaunopp]

Have you emailed Andy at Ultimarc? He's really helpful and since it's his product and he's very knowledgeable about monitors I bet he could either suggest a solution or confirm that it's unfixable with that monitor. There are also some real monitor guru's on the byoac forums.

I run an ArcadeVGA card with a 27" Betson monitor (although it's new) without any issues and wouldn't dream of going back to a TV or computer monitor. For reference, I run windows and GameEx at 800x600. It's a beautiful thing once it's setup and working correctly so hang in there, it's worth the effort!

[bkenobi]

As far as I know, the newer arcade monitors have better designs that don't require adjusting vhold and such. Some people solve this by relocating the vhold (and other controls) to a location that's easier to access such as behind the coin box door or under the CP. Hopefully though, Andy will have a better solution than that.

[Orclord]

With the vertical hold on older monitors you have to find the "Sweet spot"...

That is tweak it by minute (and I mean minute like in a gnats nad sac) until you get it stable in all resolutions....

It takes patience and some time.....

[battletoads]

Thanks guys, I'm going to see if Andy can lend a hand.