Cospefogo

Well, I used to think exactly the same. I used to pester BP to have custom settings per game. I used to lose nights of sleep hacking CoinOPS in several different installations just to have the games running under pixel perfect settings. I am the most lunatic pixel perfect and correct aspect ratio lover on face of the earth, and I assure you, my friend. CoinOPS is right on the spot now. I tested arcade game by arcade game, title by title, and all the time when the overscan happens, it is fully acceptable. Nothing really critical is lost on the image cropping... ...OF COURSE, TALKING ABOUT ARCADE GAMES. I see you point when you mention that Dragon Quest games have been badly affected by the overscan, and I understand this is a really awful situation, since Dragon Quest series is one of my favorite of all time... but then I suggest - keep playing classic console games on the Xport emulators. I do that myself, I don't like to mix things much. For me CoinOPS will ever be a ARCADE EMULATOR... My mind can't deal with the idea of opening a MAME emu to play Yo Noid! =D Hope you get my point, its just how I feel about it. CoinOPS became a piece of art, a superb marvelous jewel. The best of all time! Cheers, brother! Let's play DQ3 translated to English on Xport's. Ha ha! Regards, Cospefogo.

Yes, this is true. I also miss the 'screenshots' for screensaver options. But BP is already aware of that. If it is not there yet, for sure it will add. I am still at work right now, but I will be testing R8 in few hours. Cospefogo.

Hey BP, I will be providing VIDEO SETTINGS documentation, as I stated previously. I did write already the preliminary version, but since my native language is not English, my comrade PhilExile will be revising the text for us. He is a bit busy on the last 2 days, but soon it will be available, and I will share again! Grateful, Cospefogo.

Hey guys, I do not deserve any praises. Me and PhilExile just tested things that BP implemented for all of us. He is the champ here. Friends, I am totally A-MA-ZED with the results on the R7 & R8 version. The pixel perfect settings are A-TO-NI-SHING. Wait and you will see. Never, ever, a MAME emulator had such feature!!!! And better ----- right out off the box! Install, and TADÁ! Its there. SIMPLE and rocking. Cheers for everybody! A beer, dark ale, strong and bold, for BP. Cospefogo.

Hey BP, Some text to be used on the SCALING INFO on the FAQ. I hope it is not too much detailed. Since English is not my natural language, this is only a preview of the text. In the next step PhilExile will work on a revision. I think tomorrow it will be ready to be added to the FAQ. * * * ----------------------- SCALING OPTIONS (ADVANCED SETTINGS MODE) ----------------------- Understanding the 2 video modes: SD/480i-480p has a non-widescreen aspect ratio of 4:3, a vertical resolution of 480 pixels and a horizontal resolution of 640 pixels, that is 640×480. HD/720p has a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, a vertical resolution of 720 pixels and a horizontal resolution of 1280 pixels, that is 1280×720. * * * Understanding arcade screen sizes: Due to the different companies and producers, the arcades games have several different screen resolutions, being the most common for the horizontal games 304x224, 320x224, 320x240 and for the vertical games 224x320, 240x320. We have also many titles under the 384x224 screen size, they are widescreen games mostly produced by Capcom (CPS1 and CPS2) and few other companies. * * * Understanding the correct aspect ratio: Pixel aspect ratio is a mathematical ratio that describes how the width of a pixel in a digital image compares to the height of that same pixel. In terms of picture quality, the optimum pixel aspect ratio for any given picture dimension is 1:1. Any other pixel aspect ratio will cause the number of pixels in one direction (either horizontally or vertically) to be reduced and thus image will lose resolution and will contain less perceived detail. Displaying an image with a certain pixel aspect ratio and certain size different from its original pixel aspect ratio will cause the image to look unnaturally stretched or squashed in either the horizontal or vertical direction. Also, incorrect screen size displaying could cause pixel width and height dimension disparity, introducing a series of annoying visual artifacts, called as a aliased image. * * * Understanding the antialias filtering: In digital signal processing, anti-aliasing is the technique of minimizing the distortion artifacts known as aliasing (described above) when representing a image on a aspect ratio different from its original intended one. The anti-aliasing filter essentially blurs the image slightly in order to reduce the annoying visual artifact caused by wrong screen aspect ratio usage. * * * Understanding the pixel perfect feature: For the first time on a MAME emulator it is now possible to present the games on its own correct aspect ratios and correct screen sizes under SD and HD video modes. The pixel perfect feature automatically centers the image and displays the pixel size on a size 1:1, which means that all annoying visual artifact and distortions will be completely avoided. The image will be sharp, crisp and clear since CoinOPS automatically handles the antialiasing, accordingly to the rules described next. * * * Understanding the overscan: Overscan is extra image area around the four edges of a video image that is not normally seen by the viewer. It exists because older televisions and monitors were always highly variable in how the video image was framed within the cathode ray tube (CRT). Most of the companies and game producers planned their games taking this issue in consideration, so nothing really important to a scene could be placed there, it also had to be kept free of essential game information, being composed most of the time by a black or empty area or simple background artwork borders. * * * The advanced video modes option for CoinOPS: DEFAULT The screen will be displayed on the traditional way used on MAME emulators for a long time. The games will automatically fit to your screen adjustment for size and position. Antialias will be used to prevent any visual artifact or distortion to be present on the image. You will get a blurry result. SCALE STRETCH All vertical games will be stretched horizontally to fill entirely your television screen. Games like Tiger Heli, Raiden, Batsugun will be affected by this option. The antialiasing is automatically performed and you will not see any annoying visual artifact. You will get a blurry image and sometimes a squashed screen. PIXEL PERFECT X1 The image will be centered on the screen and presented on its original size and original aspect ratio. Running Shinobi on SD mode you will get a 320x224 screen image, centered in the middle. You will get small images and very tiny pixels, crisp and sharp. PIXEL PERFECT X2 The image will be centered on the screen and presented on double of its original size, but with correct aspect ratio. Running Shinobi under this option you will get a 640x448 screen image, centered in the middle. This option is not compatible with overscan. If the original size of a game is wider or taller than your video mode, the game display will be forced down to PIXEL PERFECT 1X. A game like Vigilante, when doubled to 512x512, will not fit on the height of 480 pixels of the standard SD mode. Then it will be presented on 256x256, or 1X size. You will get, most of the time, full screen images (when the original game is equal or smaller than your video mode), sharp and crisp pixels, no blur at all. Antialiasing is automatically turned off. When you are in HD/720p mode, most of the games under 2X will fit on the screen width and height, similar to what happens when you are in SD/480i mode and selects the Pixel Perfect 1X option. PIXEL PERFECT X3 The image will be centered on the screen and presented on triple of its original size. Running Shinobi under this option you will get a 960x672 screen image, centered in the middle. This option is not compatible with overscan. If the original size of a game is wider or taller than your video mode, the game display will be forced down to PIXEL PERFECT 2X. A game like Vigilante, when tripled to 768x768, will not fit on the height of 720 pixels of the standard HD/720p mode. Then it will forced to 2X size, on 512x512. You will get crisp and sharp images, antialiasing os turned off automatically. No blur. - PIXEL PERFECT AUTO FIT This feature will handle automatically the screen size of the game and and perform the best fit to 1X, 2X or 3X accordingly to your video mode (SD/HD). If 3X does not fit on your video mode, CoinOPS will try 2X, and if it does not fit, CoinOPS then will go for 1X. You will get sharp and crisp images, no blur, antialiasing automatically off. - PIXEL PERFECT OVER FIT This feature works on a similar fashion as Pixel Perfect Auto Fit, but this time it permits the overscan usage when displaying the image. It covers games that are smaller, equal and larger 25% on width and/or 25% on height than your current video mode (HD/SD). That means that games like Vigilante and Spartan X that are originally 256x256, would - through with pixel perfect and correct aspect ratio - to fit as 512x512 on a SD video mode and 768x768 on a HD video mode, with some overscan on top and bottom of the image. This overscan is perfectly acceptable on many games, since the cropped part of the image is just made by non-essential game graphics or even by black bars or empty areas. This is the most recommended feature for user using CoinOPS on regular SD video mode (480i/480p on CRT televisions). You will get crisp and sharp images, no blur, antialiasing automatically turned off. Important tip! For best results on Pixel Perfect settings, you should turn off/zero the FLICKER FILTER option. * * * New Anti-Alias Automatic setting: Now CoinOPS has a option that permits the automatic usage of antialiasing. Depending on what video mode you are using, the antialiasing will be dismissed or not. When the games are on their correct aspect ratio you will have sharpen graphics with no blur. When the games are on a stretched or any other custom sizes, you will have a antialiased image, smooth and blurry. * * * 10x11 Pixel Ratio support: 10x11 pixel aspect ratio is a feature the force the pixels to change its shape to from square to rectangle, narrow on width. By doing so you will get some extra space on left and right sides. This is a feature intended to SD/480i users, because it is extremely useful to correct small overscan to the sides that might happen on games with width equal to 320 pixels. We can take Gauntlet 1 and Gauntlet 2 as a example for this. When you turn on the Pixel Perfect Over Fit, Gauntlet will be perfectly displayed in full screen, sharp, no blur and no visual distortions. However, Gauntlet is one of the games that uses all portion of the game screen to present graphics, right to very edge of the borders, suffering from a small amount of overscan. In this case, the 10x11 pixel feature is useful because it narrows the width of the screen a little, almost getting rid of the overscan. Warning: This feature deals with the CoinOPS cores and require a reboot of your emulator. Also, this feature can't be used independently on game basis. If you turn it ON, it will affect all games. If you turn it OFF, it will affect all games too. By default it is OFF. * * * Fix for CPS1 and CPS2 widescreen games for non widescreens: As mentioned above, some game publishers (specially Capcom) designed games with wider screens of 384 pixels. If you are running CoinOPS on SD/non-wide screen this feature is useful to force the game to fit on your screen width through the Pixel Perfect rules. You will get a sharp and crisp screen, antialiasing off and no blur. This is a feature running under a evaluation period. The results are not 100% guaranteed on all 384 pixels wider games. * * * Vector Game Video options: CoinOPS now brings some vector options intended for games like Asteroids, Star Wars and similar titles.

BP, As you requested, here is the information you need: After a clean install: - I start the emulator - I don't touch the screen adjusment at all - I just set the video mode to Pixel Perfect Over Fit - And then, although the screen is PERFECT on aspect ratio, there is a ghostly geometric distortion that points to the center of the image. BEFORE my tweak to correct, here is the info of the values right from the clean install: ScreenUsage_X = 0.950000 ScreenUsage_Y = 0.950000 ScreenPos_X = 0.000000 ScreenPos_Y = 0.000000 And now, with a tiny tiny "sliding" of the top+bottom borders "one d-pad touch" to the top, I get this: ScreenUsage_X = 0.948438 ScreenUsage_Y = 0.947917 ScreenPos_X = -0.001563 ScreenPos_Y = 0.004688 This change on the coordinates corrects 100% ANY problems regarding Pixel Perfect stuff. I am sure of that, tested several times. If you can apply this automatically when you set up the emulator for the first time (on the clean install) we will get rid of that ghost. HOWEVER, looks like the ghost found on the wider 384 tweak is stubborn. He does not want to leave. Ah, I also was able to find the very same ghost when I do achieve to get a pixel perfect setting MANUALLY on COINOPS, and also, it happent too on FBA-XXX on manual adjustment! Looks like something related to the very own Xbox video internals. Very strange. Cospefogo.

576/288 is THE NUMBER! CPS1 and CPS2 got a very nice result when scaled. Next build is promising. I will be helping on the documentation to explain a little more about all the new pixel perfect stuff and other pertinent subjects. Also, I will do a Portuguese translation of the FAQ. I know there is a lot of Brazilian users of CoinOPS. Cospefogo.

Hey guys, I never tried the video stuff for CoinOPS, but I think it could be interesting to have this running as screensaver mode! However, I can't find XMV to download ANYWHERE in the net. I found the full showcase pack, but I will not download the full 9.8GB stuff just to get 5 or 6 XMV from it. Does anyone can help me? Just need few movies like: - Shinobi - Shadow Dancer - Golden Axe - Eswat - Bad Dudes - Sunset Riders... Things like that. (And I hope it is not illegal to request for XMV! If so, my apologies... a MOD can lockup my post!) Cospefogo.

608 is a good number indeed. 608 / 2 = 304. 304 on width is one of the most used resolutions for games out there. I think more than a half of NEO-GEO games are under 304x224. And the other half is under 320x224. So, I don't want to pester BP, but to end this subject for once and all, two tests: 608 and 576. And I promess I will never bother anyone else with this subject again. Or at least for some time. Ha ha ha. Thanks guys. I am very excited to perform this xperience. C.

I agree, Phil. But I really would like to test a 576 one also. Let's test both!!! I am impressed how FBA-XXX 1.28 did deal my CPS screens amazingly correct. C.

Hey guys, At least on FBA-XXX configuration screen, I was able to have a perfect screen with the 576 value on width (2X of course) If 384, then goes back to 288. Or doubled: 768 goes back to 576. I know that is resizes down a bit, but we should test it. In FBA-XXX it did work. C.

Providing the XXX number right now. Just a second.

BP, I do miss the "screenshots" item on the screensaver mode options. Is that possible to bring it back? Thanks! C.

Hey guys, The best 20% is a number different from that one we made tests that night. I performed some experiences with FBA (that permits the screen adjustments) on the fly and with the game running on BG and got a better result. Just did not take note of the exact number. I will find it again and post later tonight yet. Cospefogo.

Yes, it will be fine to have a WARNING. Great. BP, I have a question. I did edit my skin and find the part of the code where it deals with the screenshot displaying. As far as I tested, when can only show the screenshots on a pre-determined size, the same size for all of them. Is this correct? Body.ScrollArea.SingleRow.Detail.Screenshot.Area = 254,3,574,267 (This is a value I am using myself) Body.ScrollArea.SingleRow.Detail.Screenshot.Color.UpperLeft = 255 0 0 0 Body.ScrollArea.SingleRow.Detail.Screenshot.Color.UpperRight = 255 0 0 0 Body.ScrollArea.SingleRow.Detail.Screenshot.Color.LowerRight = 255 0 0 0 Body.ScrollArea.SingleRow.Detail.Screenshot.Color.LowerLeft = 255 0 0 0 I wanted to display each screenshot on its original size in the romlist menu. The vertical ones, vertical, original. The horizontal, original as well. And so on. Thanks!! Cospefogo.

Hello guys! My turn to post the results of my tests. But first, let me explain the source of everything. BP achieved the impressive result of correct and pixel aspect ratio displaying on a MAME emulator. In the next version, if you turn this feature on (it has some variants too) and turn off the flicker filter, you can play your games on their native appearance, on the way they looked on the tradicional arcade machine back in the past. But using the Pixel Perfect feature brings us a serious problem under SD/CRT TV mode (480i/480p). All Capcom CPS1 and CPS2 games (and some others) have their width too wide, and a larger part of the image is cropped out of the screen. Then we started some tests to find a way to correct this problem, and the first thing comes to our minds were the 10x11 Pixel Aspect ratio. As you might know, this feature narrows/shrinks the screen horizontally without destroying the pixel aspect ratio. But, the sad news are that the 10x11 pixel feature helps too little on CPS1 and CPS2 games. It's a pity. HOWEVER - it is a MARVELOUS feature to be used on so many other games, like the ones with 320 pixels on width. 10x11 corrects the horizontal overscan caused by the Perfect Pixel feature. AMAZING. Here are some pics of my tests: So, BP, even with the not so good result on the 10x11 used for CPS1 and CPS2, I think it will be nice to keep the 10x11 feature in the advanced panel. It works great to correct small overscan on SD 480i/480p mode. Take a look on the Gauntlet image. The game is MARVELOUS now!!! Thanks for everything, Cospefogo. PS. PhilCo my man, was out most part of the day today. Let get in touch tomorrow!

Hey Phil, Very nice examples. I really think it will be useful for HD users. Imagine the PIXEL PERFECT + SCANLINES on 720p/HD modes. It will be superb. It gives me some hope of happiness on the future day when I will be forced to migrate to LCD's and things like that. (Our CRTs will not last forever, ha ha) BP my man, I think this could be a nice addon for the HD users. I am not using it now, but I might be in the future. I like this feature. I am on it. Are you too? Cospefogo.

Hey Phil, I have bad experience with scanline simulation filters on SD CRT TVs. The results never were good. And I am counting the minutes to test the 10x11 aspect ratio. Cospefogo.

Yes yes yes yes yes yes. Pixel perfect is working really perfect. I tried and I approved! You just open the game and it is there very sharp and beautiful! ROCKINGLY SOLID AND PIXELATELY SUPERB! Finally we have this on the best Mame emulator on the face of earth! But we still have few improvements to really let the thing crisp and sharp! Cospefogo.

Hey there BP. I like your proposals. Matter of fact 256 pixels on height is the maximum we can handle on pixel perfect and with acceptable overscan. For games taller than 256 (with very very few exceptions) the overscan will damage seriously the game play. Important game visual data will be cut off, troubling the gaming session. PixelPerfectX + 20% is now th PixelPerfectOverscan, correct? I think it will work flawlessly. I am ready to TEST. Regarding the 10x11 pixel aspect ratio, under PixelPerfectOverscan, maybe it could be automatically applied for games larger than 320 on width? Because, after all, I think this 10x11 aspect ration will matter only to person who wants to use the PixelPerfectOverscan. Perhaps you can have it merged inside the PixelPerfectOverscan feature and save room on the GUI settings menus. People who don't use pixel perfect will never care about 10x11 any way. if (width > 320) { apply(pixel_perfect_overscan(10x11)) } else { apply(pixel_perfect_overscan()) } (Ha ha... look! I am almost a C++ coder!) Well, that's it. I think we are almost there. PixelPerfectOverscan will make me throw out in the garbage all the 14 different CoinOPS I have, ha ha ha. Hours of work gone! =D Cospefogo.

Well, After some testing I am happy to say to everyone that finally it happened. Something the most adventurous guys ever searched. The super hyper PIXEL PERFECT feature on a MAME emulator. BP, you did it, my man. It is true. The solid truth. Shinobi, Shadow Dancer, Golden Axe, Moon Patrol, Jackal, every game under 320x240 pixels runs absolutely marvelous. 100% correct pixel aspect ratio. No artifacts, no distortion, no tearing, shimmering, bluering, yadda yadda yadda. Hats off to BP. But, of course - pardon me if I am becoming to abusive, but now you are father to a problematic child... the "screen size larger than 320x240 child!" Jokes apart - Is that possible to make the PIXEL PERFECT X option to be applied to ALL games out there, despite if it will have cropping on the image? Let me stand my point - Vigilante is a game that is perfectly playable with crop/overscan on top and bottom, but accordingly to our feature behavior (it is larger than 240/480 pixels) on height, so it is displayed on a tiny centered screen. The same happens with all wider games, like Street Fighter 1, R-Type 1 and R-Type 2. So, my suggestion is to make the feature be applied on games shorter than 256 pixels on height. We will cover a entire universe of games!!!!!!! And for games on the width as 384 pixels (the whole CPS1 and CPS2 universe), we could have the 10x11 Pixel Aspect Ratio. Do you think it is possible? So, on a quick summary: Shinobi - 320x224 - PERFECT, correct pixels! You did it! Moon Patrol - 240x224 - PERFECT, correct pixels! You did it! Jackal - 224x240 - PERFECT, correct pixels! You did it! Vigilante - 256x256... oops... It does not happen. Can you make it happen? Just changing the limit from 240 height to 256 height? And, if you can add the 10x11 Pixel Aspect Ratio feature... nothing to cerebral, just place it there with ON/OFF switch. We can handle the rest! THANK YOU SO MUCH, MAN. Right on the spot. Bull's eye. Cospefogo.

Wowwowow. Wait there... Does this really work? What a find!!!!! What a very nice find. Even with the new PixelPerfect settings, this could be very useful for something else. I will make my tests too on this. Also, I can provide size values and positioning for many many games. I have around 15 different CoinOPS set up in my Xbox. They cover around 400 games if I am not wrong. Cospefogo.

Thanks man, really thanks. Maybe it will not be necessary. Let me try again with more care today after the my work. I will be posting my results later tonight. Best regards, Cospefogo.

Aaah, I am still very curious! Anxious to get home and restart the tests procedure! But just to see you PhilExile's positive feedback I am already relieved! Maybe we finally got the holy grail for Mame in hands! Cospefogo.

Hey hey BP... Looks like I did fail on my tests, sorry. PhilExile just told me he achieved good results with the builds and I am very happy - although I have not made my second round of tests yet. In this afternoon, after the work, I will perform the xperiences again. Thanks man, for you prompt work! See you later! Best regards, Cospefogo.