Using whole screen for tated games in Mame

[Spacehog]

Hi,
and another question:
How can I use the whole screen when I play tated dodonpachi in mame on my 15in screen?
At the moment there are black bars on bottom/top and on the sides. I would like to have the correct aspect ratio but use as much as possible of the screen. Any ideas? (I am using command line mame 0.99)

[Ed Oscuro]

Get a modern MAME build (although I don't remember MAME 0.99 being that primitive).

[Spacehog]

That's from the Mame homepage FAQ:

"How do I get the best look with MAME on an LCD display?

LCD displays have a fixed resolution, and this resolution is almost always higher than most games in MAME. This means that somebody has to scale/stretch the video from the game's original resolution to the LCD's native resolution. In general, it is best to let your graphics card do this work. The default parameters for MAME are actually set up fine for this purpose.

What's important to know is that it doesn't make sense to ever "switch resolutions" on an LCD display. There is really only one resolution; all other resolutions are simulated via stretching. Thus, the default behavior of MAME is fine."

Do you guys think they have a point?

[Ed Oscuro]

Of course they have a point; they're pointing out the inescapable reality. If you are working with a system with fixed resolutions (unlike CRTs), you'll need to line double or stretch. I like line doubling personally. MAME 0.118 was current when that was written (roughly speaking), and I'm pretty sure that 0.99 is old enough that it doesn't have the modern screen features, and 0.118 should be new enough. Hence why I told you to get a newer MAME.

I've used MAME on a number of LCD screens, two of them 1200 pixels tall but a third with one of those funky LCD-only resolutions set (like 1024 pixels tall) and there is never a border above or below the image.

With newer builds of MAME, there are black bars on the sides (normally) with a vertical 3:4 image in the center. Modern builds of MAME can rotate the image in case you can set your screen sideways (I can; don't bother with it anymore though).

All I need to do with newer builds of MAME is turn off (in the options) bilinear filtering.

[Spacehog]

The problem with newer mame versions is that they don't support save states for dodonpachi. Will try some different mame builds then I guess...
thx

[elvis]

Any ideas? (I am using command line mame 0.99)

From the command line, type

mame -showusage | more

Scroll through that (enter for next line, space for next page) and find all options related to stretch and aspect ratio. Ensure you're using a DirectX/Direct3D mode, allow stretch and turn off enforce aspect ratio and switch resolutions (let DirectX handle the stretching rather than your monitor).

[Spacehog]

Thanks for tips!
Unfortunatly I haven't worked it out yet... I tried several of the option (d3d, stretch, enforce aspect ratio..) but didn't work so far.

With a newer mame version it automatically uses the whole screen when I start the game with: "mame ddonpach -rol"

But then I can't use save states... perhaps I should man up..

Are there any good newer mame builds that support save states for dodonpachi?

[captpain]

What do you need save states for?

[Spacehog]

Practice specific bits of the game (aka cheating).

[worstplayer]

In GUI version, you have to disable scanlines, Enable "stretch using hardware", and turn on "switch resolutions to fit". I'm sure there are command line equivalents of those.

[Spacehog]

Enable exactly the options you mentioned and i doesnt change a thing, weird ...

Which MAME GUI are you using? Any idea where I could download it? Would like to try that!