[RESOLVED] Screen Flashing

[Koop]

Sure it does! FS Res!

Can be changed from Auto to your resolution. Can give that a try but not sure if that would resolve this issue.

D'oh! I changed it to 800x600 which is my GameEx resolution, but that didn't work. Then I changed it to 1280x720 which is my desktop resolution and that didn't work either. I also upgraded to Stella version 3.5.

I'm not so sure it's a Stella problem anymore. Because, even when I exit GameEx after the flashing beings, when I reopen GameEx the flashing continues. When I restart my computer and reopen GameEx sometimes the flashing still continues! But usually this fixes the problem. I haven't tried that many times, but whenever I shut down my computer that always fixes the problem (until I run Stella again). So in other words, when I start GameEx the flashing can start even before I launch Stella. It's like there is something happening with GameEx that doesn't get reset until I restart my computer.

Perhaps it is a graphics driver issue. Unfortunately, I don't know if there is a graphics update for my onboard graphics or not. I just bought this motherboard from a friend and he gave me the latest drivers he knew of because you can't find them on the internet very easily. I think it is because this motherboard was originally part of a pre-built system (like a Dell or something like that).

[Koop]

I tried setting my desktop, GameEx, and Stella to 800x600 but that didn't help. I don't think it is a resolution issue.

But I also tried the emulator z26 and that works and doesn't cause the flashing. Maybe I'll just go with that emulator instead. For some reason it seemed like the z26 emulator was running too fast, but that may have been my imagination. I'll keep testing. Also the z26 says it doesn't support save states. At this point I'm not sure if that's a big deal for me or not.

Has anyone done a comparison between Stella, z26, and MESS? Any preferences?

[Koop]

Sorry for the multiple posts.

Z26 definitely runs faster. It also seems to jump from time to time, so I'm not really liking it. But guess what, I found out that if I run a Stella game, the flashing starts, then if I run a z26 game the flashing stops! To my knowledge, this is the only emulator that will stop the flashing. I've tried running a MAME game after the flashing started and that doesn't stop it.

[fRequEnCy]

DGringo,

Did you ever solve this problem? I'm having the exact same symptoms, it's only happening with Stella.

Draco,

There is no option for DirectDraw. The only other option is "software". When I change it to software I can still run games fine from the emulator. But when I boot up GameEx and run it, I get the same flashing problem. Then when I return and run Stella by itself I notice that the setting has been changed back to OpenGL again! I've attached my log file.

log.txt

The reason it reverts back to OpenGL is because that's what you have in the command-line. That needs to be changed and probably will fix your issues all together since this seems to be an OpenGL renderer thing and your graphics.

Please try the following in GameEx and report back:

Stella.exe -video soft -fullscreen 1 "[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]"

We'll tweak as needed from there if this helps.

[Koop]

The reason it reverts back to OpenGL is because that's what you have in the command-line. That needs to be changed and probably will fix your issues all together since this seems to be an OpenGL renderer thing and your graphics.

Please try the following in GameEx and report back:

Stella.exe -video soft -fullscreen 1 "[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]"

We'll tweak as needed from there if this helps.

AHH YOU DID IT!! haha, sorry. You fixed the flickering problem with Stella. Thank you so much.

I had a feeling at one point that it might have something to do with the command line resetting the config, but I didn't know how to fix it. I'm still learning how GameEx works, but I'm learning fast.

I'm really happy because I was just trying MESS and that emulator has problems too. It runs as the correct speed unlike z26, but it's all blurry.

I didn't start this post, so I can't mark this as resolved, but I have a feeling this would fix the original poster's problems as well.

[fRequEnCy]

AHH YOU DID IT!! haha, sorry. You fixed the flickering problem with Stella. Thank you so much.

I had a feeling at one point that it might have something to do with the command line resetting the config, but I didn't know how to fix it. I'm still learning how GameEx works, but I'm learning fast.

I'm really happy because I was just trying MESS and that emulator has problems too. It runs as the correct speed unlike z26, but it's all blurry.

I didn't start this post, so I can't mark this as resolved, but I have a feeling this would fix the original poster's problems as well.

Yay! Glad that worked. I was unable to test since not on my machine but just read the documentation. Enjoy!

[DGringo]

Wow, resolved! Thank you all, especially Koop for bringing this topic back to life and fRequEnCy for the fix!