Guardian
New Technician
You are what you eat!
Posts: 19
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Post by Guardian on Jan 6, 2004 20:57:27 GMT -5
Hey, I am looking at your advmenu.rc file comparing it, and it seems that the advmenu and advmame.rc files are very close, and have a LOT of redundant information in them.
This makes me think that I do not really need both directories to use advmenu. Is this correct?
I started last night to just take the advmame.exe and stick it into the advmenu dir, and try it out. But there is one difference, and that is in the folder structure of the two programs.
Right now I have two seperate folders, and in the advmenu.rc I point to the advmame folder for the advmame.exe file.
What is the best (Cleanest, not sure if you noticed I like to keep it clean, where I can always go update/upgrade something quickly without a lot of work cleaning stuff up later.) way to run AdvMenu?
Thanks,
G.
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Post by Jonathan Leung on Jan 6, 2004 22:16:38 GMT -5
Guardian,
You are exactly correct! A lot of people do not split up their advancemenu and advancemame programs and instead run them in the same directory. The only reason I split them is for organization sake. I like being able to go to, for instance, advmenu to edit my advancemenu files and advmame for the advancemame files. However, AdvanceMenu will be more than happy to run in the exact directory of the mame version you are using.
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Guardian
New Technician
You are what you eat!
Posts: 19
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Post by Guardian on Jan 7, 2004 0:20:11 GMT -5
Ok, cool enough, I will keep them seperate as well. I guess hopefully the last questions I have is regarding the difference in the two files more in depth. 1. You have your ADVMENU.RC file posted. Is this by chance from an early version? I am using the newest version of AdvMenu and some things aren't matching up, or I am doing something wrong. Ex: emulator "mame" mame "c:\mame\mame.exe" emulator_roms "mame" "c:\mame\roms" emulator_flyers "mame" "c:\mame\flyers" emulator_cabinets "mame" "c:\mame\cabinets" emulator_marquees "mame" "c:\mame\marquees" emulator_titles "mame" "c:\mame\titles" emulator_icons "mame" "c:\mame\icons" emulator_include "mame" Excluding the roms,flyers,cabinets, marquees, titles and icons, you are left with the 3 important folders I imagine. emulator "mame" mame "c:\mame\mame.exe" emulator_roms "mame" "c:\mame\roms" emulator_include "mame" When I have these 3 lines in there, I get an error. Off the top of my head it is something about an exclude mame missing blah blah, I will hook it back up and have to get back to you. But it doesn't seem to like this layout for some reason. The default that is created when starting advmenu doesn't have these lines, and I am guessing because I have in my Path=Statement in autoexec, I have advmame, and advmenu so maybe it doesn't need it? Oh, one last thing, are you using the normal mame.exe or advmame.exe? I would assume your using the more advanced one. 2. You put a boarder of 60 all the way around your monitor. This is a black border? And does it cover the edge of the game, or make the game fit inside the boarder? Also, is this different from the boarders I see posted, and the CBR(Cheezy Boarder Remover) how do those play in to this setting? 3. Lastly, there are a lot of lines that don't have an explanation to them, that don't seem common sense like that I am not sure if I should change. I have a feeling the readme may have it, will be looking through that more tomorrow, just didn't know if you had a link to anyone that has a line by line explanation of the advmame.rc and advmenu.rc. I am wondering if having the same info in both could be slowing down the processing time, or just being redundant. There is what like 80% of the same lines in both? Thanks, hope these aren't Newb Questions  hehe G. |
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Post by Jonathan Leung on Jan 7, 2004 1:01:26 GMT -5
1. You have your ADVMENU.RC file posted. Is this by chance from an early version? I am using the newest version of AdvMenu and some things aren't matching up, or I am doing something wrong. Ex: emulator "mame" mame "c:\mame\mame.exe" emulator_roms "mame" "c:\mame\roms" emulator_flyers "mame" "c:\mame\flyers" emulator_cabinets "mame" "c:\mame\cabinets" emulator_marquees "mame" "c:\mame\marquees" emulator_titles "mame" "c:\mame\titles" emulator_icons "mame" "c:\mame\icons" emulator_include "mame" Excluding the roms,flyers,cabinets, marquees, titles and icons, you are left with the 3 important folders I imagine. emulator "mame" mame "c:\mame\mame.exe" emulator_roms "mame" "c:\mame\roms" emulator_include "mame" When I have these 3 lines in there, I get an error. Off the top of my head it is something about an exclude mame missing blah blah, I will hook it back up and have to get back to you. But it doesn't seem to like this layout for some reason. The default that is created when starting advmenu doesn't have these lines, and I am guessing because I have in my Path=Statement in autoexec, I have advmame, and advmenu so maybe it doesn't need it? Oh, one last thing, are you using the normal mame.exe or advmame.exe? I would assume your using the more advanced one. Answer Q1: Make sure that you replace the path above with the path where your advmame program is. Also, make sure that you add those statements to the default configuration of advancemenu (if not, delete the current configuration, run advancemenu again and then add the statements). Also, this particular advmenu.rc file came from the Windows 98 computer I told you about earlier that used an ArcadeVGA so it did not need to use advmame just regular mame for windows. 2. You put a boarder of 60 all the way around your monitor. This is a black border? And does it cover the edge of the game, or make the game fit inside the boarder? Also, is this different from the boarders I see posted, and the CBR(Cheezy Boarder Remover) how do those play in to this setting? Answer Q2: Yes I did, The border was actually for a background that you can see if you go to www.timsarcade.net/Pictures/CLMAME.png. The menu fit in the black spot of the picture and looked pretty cool. Not really sure about the CBR thing, something to research. 3. Lastly, there are a lot of lines that don't have an explanation to them, that don't seem common sense like that I am not sure if I should change. I have a feeling the readme may have it, will be looking through that more tomorrow, just didn't know if you had a link to anyone that has a line by line explanation of the advmame.rc and advmenu.rc. I am wondering if having the same info in both could be slowing down the processing time, or just being redundant. There is what like 80% of the same lines in both? Answer Q3: As far as processing time goes, you have to remember that if you are running both programs, they both have to access some file. Whether they access the same file or different files, they will have the same processing time because the file does not load into memory. Each program reads the file at execution and writes the settings after. There is a lot of similarity in the rc files because of the nature of the files, they both use the same video, sound, etc. However, having one file for both programs will be about the same as having the two files. Well I'll have to say that you have really challenged my thinking in a couple of spots, Guardian. Slow down will ya!  |
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Guardian
New Technician
You are what you eat!
Posts: 19
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Post by Guardian on Jan 7, 2004 1:12:06 GMT -5
Hehe, ok, I am full force into this mame project right now once again, sorry, for the flurry. Get some rest, I won't sleep tonight, and probably have a TON of questions tomorrow for ya! hehe. No, I promise to read over the docs from the homepages of mame and advmenu first. I know the folders were correct, not sure I follow you on why both apps have to run, seems Advmenu would build whatever mame needs into its source, or the other way, and advmame would handle menu settings. So, I may be way off using AdvMame, is that bad? Should I in Dos or XP use the regular mame and AdvMenu? This I have no idea on. GoodNight,  G. |
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Post by Jonathan Leung on Jan 7, 2004 1:20:02 GMT -5
"I know the folders were correct, not sure I follow you on why both apps have to run, seems Advmenu would build whatever mame needs into its source, or the other way, and advmame would handle menu settings." Yeah, in a perfect world it would. However, if advmenu detects something it doesn't use in the configuration file, it will let you know, trust me! Had this problem a couple of times in the past. However, might be a way to fool it, definitely worth the try. "So, I may be way off using AdvMame, is that bad? Should I in Dos or XP use the regular mame and AdvMenu? This I have no idea on." Ok, quick answer here: DOS = AdvanceMAME Windows = MAME for Windows Explanation: There is not a really good utility in DOS to control monitor output so AdvanceMAME is good because it does it for you. Powerstrip works pretty good in windows so you can rely on it to kick out your 15khz, hence you don't need anything like AdvanceMAME and regular MAME will do just fine. Sound like you have a lot of great ideas, I really can't wait to see some pics of this up and running. I hope I am giving you the answers you need, this stuff is coming off the top of my head so if it seems a little weird sometimes, that might be why.  |
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Guardian
New Technician
You are what you eat!
Posts: 19
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Post by Guardian on Jan 7, 2004 20:50:47 GMT -5
Hey Jonathan,
I was just messing around with your advmenu.rc, loaded it up, I think it belched about something updated the advmame.xml file, then started up, my pc monitor went blank, switched to arc mon, and the picture was there. I admit, I think I will like the app once I get to where I am just messing with menu's etc.. But I am experiencing one thing that I did not get with ArcadeOS, I thought you may have seen before.
When I load a game, the game starts fine, the problem is when I hit the esc key to get out and go back to the menu.
The first thing it does, is the screen splits in half, like its running some other resolution (Like it is going to Dos, then reloading the app, if I had to guess). Then it flickers over to a small box about 3 inches wide, all the way across the top of the screen. This seems like a video glitch? or something like its loading the colors in a small area in the top to load back into Advmenu. This all last only about 2 seconds, but its pretty disturbing. Once those two things happen, it flashes right back into advmenu and everything is fine.
I really hope your going to tell me that it should not be kicking back out to a Dos screen then back into the program, as that could be bad on the monitor over time.
Thanks, if you need I can take a few shots of the screen and forward to you, but I imagine you have seen this issue before.
G.
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Guardian
New Technician
You are what you eat!
Posts: 19
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Post by Guardian on Jan 8, 2004 1:20:35 GMT -5
One more update, I couldn't find an "Edit" post, so just replying again. I was somewhat wrong, After Starting Advmenu, when you select a game, it kicks back to Dos as well, and then loads the advmame screen where it shows the guys name who made the advmame, then kicks into the game. Thats bad, but worse is definitely that green bar at the top of the screen when exiting, and going back to the menu screen.  Thanks, G. |
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Post by Jonathan Leung on Jan 8, 2004 1:54:15 GMT -5
Guardian,
Actually, it's normal for it to kick to dos and then to the advancemame screen and back again. However, if memory serves me correct, if you want to make sure and keep the same output and resolution when it kicks it out to dos, you need to set video_restore to no to maintain the current graphics mode. Set this in both the advmame.rc and the advmenu.rc and see what happens. Hopefully, it will fix your problem.
Also, make sure that you have the correct hclock/vclock/pclock settings for your monitor in both advancemame and advancemenu. Consult your instruction manual for the settings.
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Guardian
New Technician
You are what you eat!
Posts: 19
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Post by Guardian on Jan 8, 2004 4:23:04 GMT -5
Sweet, I bet the bad looking green bar was because of it switching back out of the intended video mode. I will try that tomorrow morning. As for the best hclock/vclock/pclock, I am having the hardest time with this, trying to get it to work. I have went here: www.bestvision.co.kr/product/sub2.htmlMy monitor is the one on the right side, and also used this page: xtiming.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/xtiming.plBut I am not getting what I need, I think I am still missing something as I know nothing when it comes to monitors and refresh rates, even though I have been reading for 2 days now on just that In ArcadeOS, the .rc file had these 3 lines: device_video_format 15750 0.733333 0.116667 0.0666667 0.0833333 0.917563 0.0286738 0.0107527 0.0430108 device_video_pclock 5-90 device_video_hclock 15.75 device_video_vclock 50-60 And every game seemed to fit right into the screen without me having to move the vsync/hsync pots hardware on the monitor. If I just paste this into advmame or advmenu, it doesn't seem to give the same results. one game will be more to the left, one more to the right, etc.. That xfree site when I gave it the best numbers I had, gave this, which isn't even close, are these lines the same or different? Modeline "640x480@70" 28.75 640 672 776 808 480 489 495 505 I guess the ultimate goal is to get the best quality resolution without straining the monitor in any way.. Thanks, G. |
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Post by Jonathan Leung on Jan 9, 2004 3:00:41 GMT -5
Guardian,
Seems like you are at least on the right track. You might want to try running advcfg to configure your video modes. Sometimes this helps when you have different resolution games running.
Not really sure about the modeline question, in fact never even seen it before. Send me a link. let me see what you're talking about.
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Guardian
New Technician
You are what you eat!
Posts: 19
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Post by Guardian on Jan 9, 2004 3:22:30 GMT -5
Hey, I was messing with the differences in Advmame.rc and Advmenu.rc. If I can remember right, you can use the line only in Advmame.rc, as menu doesn't know what to do with it. device_video_Modeline "640x480@70" 28.75 640 672 776 808 480 489 495 505 Which I got from inputting info about my monitor here: xtiming.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/xtiming.pl. This is ultimately for Linux I believe, but seems to not be too bad for adding the device_video_ to the info it gives you. At least it let me know my V can go up to 70, and the whole Pin rate I have a lot to learn about... Oh, about the advv utility, I have used that before, but the recommendation is to choose all of the resolutions that work for you. My problem with that is I want just 1 resolution that all the games fit into. I wouldn't know where to start with all of the options they give you to pick one! thats why I used that app, if you have a better method, let me know, I am all ears! |
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Post by Jonathan Leung on Jan 10, 2004 1:49:25 GMT -5
Guardian,
The xtiming site is pretty cool. It is a good thing that you have the information for the monitor that you own. Most of the monitors we run mame on, we don't know the information for which makes it extremely hard. Most of the time we end up guessing which can be tricky. Seems like that is where advv comes into play, instead of trying to just guess at what you use, you can just select the ones that work. You're on the right track, more in the other post.
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hehe
