Who here plays MAME and other Emus?

[Fungi]

I used to love using scanlines, but after 12 years of HDTV, I can't go back.

 

[Citizen]

I don't care for scanlines. Maybe it's because I grew up with 90s TVs and not stone age 70s/80s junk but scanline filters always seem over exaggerated to me. I don't remember playing classic games on CRTs looking that bad. So for me they don't even feel like a more authentic experience. Basically like Jeff said, forced and lacking subtlety. Like all of the pseudo-"retro" 8-bit-style indie games these days that don't actually look like how classic games looked at all.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Agreed with both of you. I think the only way you'd see scanlines even close to these filters when we were kids in the 80's/90's was if you sat like less than a foot away from the TV. I was nearsighted, but not to that degree heh.

If there was a subtle option that actually looked realistic, I'd consider it, but why bother if you can just get a clearer, better-looking image?

Some say the scanline filters help with the hard edges of the art, but imo the smoothing shaders do a great job of that on their own.

Even if I had an old CRT laying around, I don't think I would want to use it for old school consoles. In addition to the quality difference, my eyes would surely insta-dry out after just a few minutes. No thanks. Even thinking about using CRT monitors again for work and general PC use makes me shudder.

 

[SilverBalls]

I got MAME to play Asteroids in all versions, even though we don't have the same kind of monitors with trails after the vector-graphics it still is the game for me; not really into any other retro game than Asteroids

Although I have name in my arcade cab, specifically for Asteroids I use the AAE emulator which is a special build of MAME if my memory serves me right. It does a great job of recreating that unique bright trailing blur thing you describe:

It is the closest to a real machine I have experienced. . Just look at those glowing bullets.

 

[The loafer]

There is support in standard mame, added awhile back via HLSL. Yeah, check this out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wroAGOiQLVk&t=130s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcjY6_F3p_w

Probably the best how-to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKv30HpFC-k (includes non-vector games support)

Some feel AAE is still the best solution, I haven't messed with mame in a while so really can't comment but there ya go

 

[SilverBalls]

There is support in standard mame, added awhile back via HLSL. Yeah, check this out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wroAGOiQLVk&t=130s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcjY6_F3p_w

Probably the best how-to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKv30HpFC-k (includes non-vector games support)

Some feel AAE is still the best solution, I haven't messed with mame in a while so really can't comment but there ya go

Thanks loafer that looks great. I didn't know about that - will check it out. Cheers

 

[Narc0lep5y]

I've got an RPI 3 and making a mini mamecade for my daughter and i spent a lot of time looking at scan lines and bezels in RetroPie and some of the stuff coming out on that front is pretty cool. For those using widescreen monitors playing older games it's something worth looking at.

https://www.reddit.com/r/RetroPie/comments/8x51tc/the_bezel_project_automatic_bezels_for_every_rom/

 

[Jeff Strong]

I've got an RPI 3 and making a mini mamecade for my daughter and i spent a lot of time looking at scan lines and bezels in RetroPie and some of the stuff coming out on that front is pretty cool. For those using widescreen monitors playing older games it's something worth looking at.

https://www.reddit.com/r/RetroPie/comments/8x51tc/the_bezel_project_automatic_bezels_for_every_rom/

Now that is pretty awesome. I wonder if there's a way to get it to work without RetroPie

 

[Narc0lep5y]

Should be able to do via Retroarch on PC.

Edit: or not - I just read some of the youtube comments which have many requests for PC via RetroArch, not yet, there is hope that it will go eventually.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Yeah...after the 100 GB art pack download failed after letting it run overnight, I kinda gave up on it. Plus I just noticed I’ve almost hit my 1 TB xfinity monthly download limit. :/

 

[Hinph]

I love emulation. I do it all through my Shield TV with a voice search capable frontend, classic edition SNES and NES controllers modded with the 8bitdo DIY kit to make them wireless for retro console games, PS4 controller for 3D stuff, and arcade pads for Mame. Then I have my savestates backed up through Dropbox so I can play them on my phone as well and go back and forth between tv and handheld in a way my friend described as "ghetto Switch." It's pretty friggin' sweet.

 

[Narc0lep5y]

Discovered this one this week. I have a new Arcade machine goal

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=149109.0

 

[Jeff Strong]

That is pretty cool. Going through all that trouble of making an arcade cab from scratch and then only adding 4 buttons per player seems like a rather big mistake though.

 

[Narc0lep5y]

He said in the article that he didn't play fighters and wasn't going to do console emulation. I agree that if i was building one, I'd probably put that in but I also respect how clean it makes the control panel.

The attention to detail is amazing. The LED Buttons and Sticks light up for the proper control scheme for each game and he's using a custom front end to handle the 1080x1080 playfield display with all of those custom bezels. Too bad that marquee display at 1366x480 is like $700 if you can find one. There are other ways around this using ultrawide LED's and bigger playfield monitors but that just makes the thing super heavy too. I figured a 29" Ultrawide would need a 55" playfield oriented vertically to match it and that 55" alone weighs at least 35-40 lbs.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Yes, but there’s always going to be that buddy or relative that comes over and wants to play some SF or MK.

 

[Gabura]

Right on, cool to hear you’re digging it too. Sounds like a cool setup. Yeah, I haven’t tried messing with any coordinates, but it looks does look like a pain. I saw someone made a visual editor, but haven’t tried it yet:

http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=1729.0

So I finally got it working the way I want to with 3 screens, flyer on playfield, preview video on dmd and I've added an extra display to the layout for a marquee on the backbox. Pretty happy so far.

I uploaded a short video,

https://1drv.ms/v/s!Av_aRfZ8JAnggQg7t0z4i_LrT_Ta

Thanks again for the info on the layout

 

[Jeff Strong]

That looks really good! Nice work, man.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Question for you guys: what’s your favorite version of SF? I was a huge SF2 nut as a kid, but then I got distracted by girls, parties, and skateboarding and missed out on Alpha and III, so I’m rediscovering them now...and they’re badass.

Only issue is I’m actually better with a D-pad since SF2 was the first game I got on SNES back in the day, and while I was an arcade rat as a kid too, I defintiely mastered the SNES version since that’s what I had at home to obsess over. So now I’m playing the arcade versions and getting my arse kicked haha. Gotta brush up on my stick skills.

Curious to hear about your favorites and any fond SF memories you might have as well.

 

[Citizen]

Alpha 2
3rd Strike
Hyper Fighting
Super Turbo
Ultra IV

My top 5. Honorable mention to Alpha 3.

(And to the EX games for fun characters like Skullomania, Cracker Jack and Doctrine Dark, even if the games themselves suck.)

 

[Citizen]

Don't worry about trying to force yourself to master using a stick over a pad just because. I mean, if you want to, fine, but just saying, nothing wrong with using a controller. Lots of high end competitive players use controllers these days. Use whatever is most comfortable/effective for you.