On top of the bar...

o1s1n

Indeed. The SLG3000 is more of a device for adding scanlines to your consoles rather than sticking into a MAMEed PC.

If HLSL is causing issues, you should still be able to do standard scanlines in MAME without too much GPU use.

MrVestek

I'd ponder purchasing an SLG 3000 though so that I had uniform scanlines across all emulators.

That's just me being fussy though!

Steve X2

MrVestek wrote: »

I'd ponder purchasing an SLG 3000 though so that I had uniform scanlines across all emulators.

That's just me being fussy though!

You can easily have both. You can put a switch on the SLG to enable/disable the scanlines(you can buy it with and without the switch installed). Might be a nice option to have on a bartop.

MrVestek

Fundage is tight at the minute so I doubt I'll be shelling out for one for now.

I still think somebody should make a scanlines driver for Windows. :-)

Myrddin

Steve SI wrote: »

I've seen a nice 4:3 LCD running mame with HLSL and I've seen the same setup with the SLG. Hands down the HLSL looked better because of th CRT emulation and scan lines.

Really? From what I can see it is damn impressive (HLSL). I love the raybanding & the pincushion effect!

MrVestek wrote: »

I'd ponder purchasing an SLG 3000 though so that I had uniform scanlines across all emulators.

That's just me being fussy though!

I was initially thinking that too, why not buy an SLG3000 that will do for everything on the bartop, rather than just a new GFX card that will only benefit Mame/HLSL.

I'm leaning the other way now though, HLSL just looks too good to pass up. And considering Mame will be 90% of what the bartop will be used for, I think I'd prefer HLSL.

Like yourself, funds are a problem so I'll battle on & come back to this in a few weeks I think.

Steve X2

Myrddin wrote: »

Really? From what I can see it is damn impressive (HLSL). I love the raybanding & the pincushion effect!

Yeah, and the fact you can change every little thing to be the way you want. I have 2 HLSL profiles, the nice one that looks great(still a work in progress), and a really messy one to emulate a really old and used 80's arcade screen.

The Last Bandit

All this bartop talk has me hankering to build another, can't decide between a vertical 60-in-1 or a horizontal mame jobbie.

Myrddin

The Last Bandit wrote: »

All this bartop talk has me hankering to build another, can't decide between a vertical 60-in-1 or a horizontal mame jobbie.

Steve SI it

Myrddin

I wonder if something like this would suffice? - http://www.amazon.co.uk/GeForce-Graphics-Express-DirectX-Dust-proof/dp/B008BEYO4U/ref=sr_1_101?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1392402558&sr=1-101

Steve X2

Myrddin wrote: »

I wonder if something like this would suffice? - http://www.amazon.co.uk/GeForce-Graphics-Express-DirectX-Dust-proof/dp/B008BEYO4U/ref=sr_1_101?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1392402558&sr=1-101

Hmm, you might end up spending the cash and being no better off.
I'd say a AMD Radeon HD 7850 would do the job really well and its considered a pretty decent budget card. But still costs a decent amount more than that one you linked to

Myrddin

Steve SI wrote: »

Hmm, you might end up spending the cash and being no better off.
I'd say a AMD Radeon HD 7850 would do the job really well and its considered a pretty decent budget card. But still costs a decent amount more than that one you linked to

Yeah not a hope I'm dropping that kinda money on a card to basically sit there & do nothing but generate scanlines Maybe something 2nd hand might be a possibility...though I'm not a fan of buying used gpu's

Steve X2

Myrddin wrote: »

Yeah not a hope I'm dropping that kinda money on a card to basically sit there & do nothing but generate scanlines Maybe something 2nd hand might be a possibility...though I'm not a fan of buying used gpu's

AMD 6670 based cards are also very good. And about half the price or less of that one.
I use a special low profile one in my candy at the moment and it runs everything great (as in non mame stuff). But I don't use HLSL on it as its already on an arcade screen, so i can comment on how good it is at that.

Great little card though I must say.

Myrddin

Steve SI wrote: »

AMD 6670 based cards are also very good. And about half the price or less of that one.
I use a special low profile one in my candy at the moment and it runs everything great (as in non mame stuff). But I don't use HLSL on it as its already on an arcade screen, so i can comment on how good it is at that.

Great little card though I must say.

Interesting, cheers. Looking at something like this now - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Radeon-Graphics-PCI-Express-GDDR5-Dust-proof/dp/B004XANO24/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1392465905&sr=1-1&keywords=hd+6670

The price point is a bit more palatable alright. The only thing is I don't know how HLSL taxes a gpu, is it better to have more of the slower gddr3 ram (2GB gddr3 cards), or less of the faster gddr5 ram (1GB gddr5 cards). For gaming I think I'd prefer the 1GB gddr5 cards, but for HLSL...I'm a bit baffled what'd be better.

Steve X2

Myrddin wrote: »

Interesting, cheers. Looking at something like this now - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Radeon-Graphics-PCI-Express-GDDR5-Dust-proof/dp/B004XANO24/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1392465905&sr=1-1&keywords=hd+6670

The price point is a bit more palatable alright. The only thing is I don't know how HLSL taxes a gpu, is it better to have more of the slower gddr3 ram (2GB gddr3 cards), or less of the faster gddr5 ram (1GB gddr5 cards). For gaming I think I'd prefer the 1GB gddr5 cards, but for HLSL...I'm a bit baffled what'd be better.

Sure hang on for a day or so. I've more or less the same card in my candy. I'll hook it up to an LCD and run my HLSL MAME on it and see how it goes.

Myrddin

Steve SI wrote: »

Sure hang on for a day or so. I've more or less the same card in my candy. I'll hook it up to an LCD and run my HLSL MAME on it and see how it goes.

Sweet, much appreciated Steve

MrVestek

The settings work perfectly on my card anyway. Gonna record some footage of it later to show you what it's like.

*edit*

There's a guy selling a second hand version of the card that I have on adverts:
http://www.adverts.ie/other-computers/msi-rx3870-t2d512e-oc-radeon-hd-3870-512mb-256-bit-gddr4-pci-express-2-0-x16-hdcp-ready-crossfirex-support/4663272

With this you'll have the added benefit of it being powerful enough to run the likes of Super Street Fighter IV etc.

MrVestek

Here you go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeetIIVA3Ys

Best to watch in 1080p so that you can see the difference.

You can't really see the emulated CRT brightness in the video but you can see the blur and the scanlines. They really look the part, good job Steve_SI.

Steve X2

Myrddin wrote: »

Sweet, much appreciated Steve

Haven't tested on an LCD yet, but I ran my MAME with HLSL on that card tonight on the candy (but just using the arcade screen@640x480). Wow does HLSL look really crap on a CRT

Anyway, 60fps solid on loads of different games and when I unlocked the fps limiter it ran at about 600-1000fps
Will test it on an LCD tomorrow if I've time at a higher resolution and post results here.

This is the box for the card I've got in the candy by the way.




Edit:
Two quick direct captures of the normal HLSL settings and my HLSL settings. Few frames dropped on one of the vids because of stupid fraps.
You should be able to see the difference a bit better in these vids than the previous pics.

The good sharp settings:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVYbXzCueJ8

The peasant blurry settings:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GViFl8xOaMI

Source 60fps files not raped by youtube compression and limits:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B8aWLXavqJuIbXBMNENkQkxtaUE&usp=sharing

Myrddin

That's great guys, many thanks, it takes a lot of the doubt from making a purchase. Mr Vestek, does that card you have need an additional power connection to the psu?

MrVestek

Myrddin wrote: »

That's great guys, many thanks, it takes a lot of the doubt from making a purchase. Mr Vestek, does that card you have need an additional power connection to the psu?

Yes.

Myrddin

MrVestek wrote: »

Yes.

Ugh, it gets better. New psu needed now too :rolleyes: It's grand, at least I know what I need now & I can get them in a few weeks. Gonna focus now on getting the other emu's up & running, then get plexi & a bezel from urbanledge. Thanks for the vids dudes, much appreciated

Final question re HLSL, does it work for vertical games? Can each game have its own ini, so that no fiddling with settings is needed once all is complete?

Star Lord

I've got a graphics card that was in use in my own system for a couple of years (but is absolutely problem free) that might help, have dropped you a PM.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_r5770_hawk_review,1.html

Mods, don't worry, not trying to sell things!

Myrddin

DamoElDiablo wrote: »

I've got a graphics card that was in use in my own system for a couple of years (but is absolutely problem free) that might help, have dropped you a PM.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_r5770_hawk_review,1.html

Mods, don't worry, not trying to sell things!

The awesomeness of DamoElDiablo, literally, knows no bounds

Star Lord

It knows plenty of bounds, trust me!

Myrddin

And I wasn't planning on bothering with many console roms...I'll be testing & renaming for days by the looks of things...

Steve X2

Myrddin wrote: »

And I wasn't planning on bothering with many console roms...I'll be testing & renaming for days by the looks of things...

Why all the renaming? You're not doing it manually are you :eek::eek:

Myrddin

Steve SI wrote: »

Why all the renaming? You're not doing it manually are you :eek::eek:

I had it in my head I would, as I'd only be bothering with a handful of console games. But things have gotten, em, slightly out of hand. I'll need to look at something to automate the process, clrmamepro maybe?

Steve X2

Myrddin wrote: »

I had it in my head I would, as I'd only be bothering with a handful of console games. But things have gotten, em, slightly out of hand. I'll need to look at something to automate the process, clrmamepro maybe?

I'm a lazy fecker, I don't rename any more. I just re-download

Myrddin

Steve SI wrote: »

I'm a lazy fecker, I don't rename any more. I just re-download

You're prob picking & choosing from a goodset/tosec are you? Some of the sites out there have some non standard naming mechanisms, which I think will cause issues for me.

Steve X2

Myrddin wrote: »

You're prob picking & choosing from a goodset/tosec are you? Some of the sites out there have some non standard naming mechanisms, which I think will cause issues for me.

I've loads of full sets etc and like to keep them updated(as in re-download as they get updated).
But I downloaded the hyperspin sets for all the consoles, updated them as versions come out(the 1.2 xml ones). No need to rename anything, hyperspin xml, hyperpsin formatted roms, drop and mostly go

And of course, I own the physical version of every game etc etc.....

Myrddin

"I'll go in & hand pick some SNES roms, & I'll keep it to a minimum" - 87 roms later :rolleyes: I'll say one thing, collecting the real carts is way more fun

Steve X2

Myrddin wrote: »

"I'll go in & hand pick some SNES roms, & I'll keep it to a minimum" - 87 roms later :rolleyes: I'll say one thing, collecting the real carts is way more fun

Just have the full set available in Hyperspin and then add them to your hyperspin favs as you play them, no?
Maybe one night you'll have a few mates over and they want to play a game you don't have on your setup because its not one you like. Problem solved if the full set is in there when required.

Myrddin

So, a quick blast of clrmamepro & voila, all Snes roms named as they should be. Really is a great tool that, I remember using it to update & repair my Mame set back yonder.

ZSnesw is also now set up & configured with Hyperlaunch & Hyperspin. Two slight issues, 1) Hyperlaunch is feeding ZSnes different video settings than I want, & 2) There's some roms missing from the wheel in Hyperspin.

I'll admit defeat for tonight, & come back to it in the morning. You would literally sink hour after hour into setting these things up the way you want them. Oh, Super Aleste is a f***ing great game too :cool:

MrVestek

Been trying to get complete Sega Dreamcast and Playstation One romsets up and running in Hyperspin for the past few days. Of course I own the complete sets on physical media so that's not an issue.

Anyway trying to get everything matched to the artwork is doing my nut in. About 500 of the 1500 PSX games get matched, Sega Saturn games are a lost cause and it can match three out of the 500 or so Dreamcast games.

Pain in the arse.

Anybody feeling generous and want to share the love?

Myrddin

So, video modes changing when launched with Hyper Launch is solved. I edited the HL config file manually to set the desired settings, & then made the Zsnes ini file read only, so HL can't over write it.

Missing games solved too. The games simply aren't listed in the latest xml...how the hell can that be? There's about 30 games missing out of 80, including the likes of Super Aleste. So I'll add them in manually, the only problem is if I update the xml down the line with a newer one, the additions will be gone. Why is it that the xml is missing so much?

Myrddin

Even using a no-intro Snes dat with clrmamepro, some of the rom names don't match up with the latest hs xml for the Snes for whatever reason. Manual editing begins:

1) Edit archive name
2) Edit rom name within archive
3) Edit name of rom with favourite list (I have all systems set to show favourites only on HS start, rather than a quadrillion games that I don't have/want)

The Last Bandit

Extract all the ROMs out of the zips.
Run Fatmatch, set its ROM folder to the Hyperspin wheel folder, sets its media folder to your ROMs
It will do a decent enough job of matching and renaming the ROMs to match the Hyperspin wheel art which it turn matches the XML files

Andrew76

Whenever you're done with all the setup I'd recommend you create a backup of the HS folder, or the entire drive if you have the space! Sure disk space will cost next to nothing in 3 years time. :P

Steve X2

Andrew76 wrote: »

Whenever you're done with all the setup I'd recommend you create a backup of the HS folder, or the entire drive if you have the space! Sure disk space will cost next to nothing in 3 years time. :P

This man, he speaks wisdom, take heed

I've got my hyperspin backed up all over the place, spent too long customising it not to. Backed up on drives, online storage and of course a few people have taken a copy of my setup as well.

MrVestek

So guess what I've decided that I have to bite the bullet and do...



I'm currently dying on the inside...

Doge

This is my first read through of the thread and I have to say that Bartop of yours looks mighty fine Myriddin!

Its great to see it all come together visually.

Myrddin

Mame, Model 2, & Snes now all complete (as in launching & closing properly, & all the games I want are working away. I'll worry about themes & vids when finished everything else). Onto Megadrive & Mega CD next...

Huge thanks to DamoElDiablo too, imagine finding someone kind enough to donate a gpu to you...only on boards! Thanks again man :cool:

MrVestek

Myrddin wrote: »

Mame, Model 2, & Snes now all complete (as in launching & closing properly, & all the games I want are working away. I'll worry about themes & vids when finished everything else). Onto Megadrive & Mega CD next...

Huge thanks to DamoElDiablo too, imagine finding someone kind enough to donate a gpu to you...only on boards! Thanks again man :cool:

What... no NAOMI? :-)

Myrddin

MrVestek wrote: »

What... no NAOMI? :-)

I'll get to it eventually, nostalgia is paving the way though How is Dreamcast/Naomi emulation these days actually?

MrVestek

Myrddin wrote: »

I'll get to it eventually, nostalgia is paving the way though How is Dreamcast/Naomi emulation these days actually?

Pretty solid actually.

I'm using NullDC for Dreamcast stuff as it's highly configurable and I think I'm using makaron for NAOMI emulation.

Makaron seems to run the games perfectly and at good speed but it doesn't have a GUI so trying to map my buttons is proving to be a giant pain in the (gr)ass.



The likes of Crazy Taxi run perfectly on it anyway.

My plan with the bartop itself anyway is to have a bit of a frankenbartop... mapping everything to the same keyboard buttons and then using XPadder to make the same controls map to PC controllers (for those games that don't suit the arcade controls) a steering wheel (for driving games) and then the EMS Topgun III for shooting games.

One day when everything is finished and configured and finalised it'll be a thing of wonder.

One day!

As you're starting to figure out building the bartop itself is the easy part. ;-)

Myrddin

MrVestek wrote: »

As you're starting to figure out building the bartop itself is the easy part. ;-)

It is indeed, the easiest & the most fun. The software config side isn't intuitive, it's not difficult once you know what to do, but that's not always apparent. As you mention though once you have it all working the way you want & see it in action, it makes it totally worth it.

As an aside, the scanline effects in ZSnes & Fusion are really, really nice. There's zero need for an SLG3000 from what I can see. Some may baulk, but honestly, the convenience of having all your systems in one box, one one screen, with crt emulation...would almost make you jump to the dark side...

MrVestek

Myrddin wrote: »

It is indeed, the easiest & the most fun. The software config side isn't intuitive, it's not difficult once you know what to do, but that's not always apparent. As you mention though once you have it all working the way you want & see it in action, it makes it totally worth it.

As an aside, the scanline effects in ZSnes & Fusion are really, really nice. There's zero need for an SLG3000 from what I can see. Some may baulk, but honestly, the convenience of having all your systems in one box, one one screen, with crt emulation...would almost make you jump to the dark side...

The only limits are your imagination! :P

It's handy that alot of newer arcade games tend to be PC based too so that as long as the encryption has been broken or the hard drive contents have been uploaded to the interwebs then it's faily easy to run them on a Windows based machine.

Provided of course you already own the original arcade machine you see. Of course.

Myrddin

Megadrive & Mega CD up & running. Mega CD requires a bit of fiddling, because Hyperlaunch has to be configured to use the 3rd party Daemon Tools in order to have the image mounted etc. Not too bad all in all.

I did have one issue, renaming the game image file & cue file to what the xml expected them to be somehow broke the image, & only the Mega CD music player would boot (not the game). I ended up taking the other route, & renaming the entry in the xml to match the file I have seems to have worked

MrVestek

Myrddin wrote: »

Megadrive & Mega CD up & running. Mega CD requires a bit of fiddling, because Hyperlaunch has to be configured to use the 3rd party Daemon Tools in order to have the image mounted etc. Not too bad all in all.

I did have one issue, renaming the game image file & cue file to what the xml expected them to be somehow broke the image, & only the Mega CD music player would boot (not the game). I ended up taking the other route, & renaming the entry in the xml to match the file I have seems to have worked

I had the same issue with my Saturn roms last night too. You need to open up the cue file in Notepad and change the name of the file in there too as it has a link to the .BIN file in there.

Your method works too. :-)

The Last Bandit

You need to edit the Cue file and rename the Img file within it (or the other way round - edit the little one)