Single game (frogger) stretched very thin, how to fix without breaking other things?

RetroArch Windows devices
#1

For one single game, the arcade classic Frogger, the game screen is stretched very thin. It fills the whole screen vertically but is compressed horizontally with huge black borders on the side in both windowed and fullscreen mode. This with mame_libretro.dll and with all the other mame cores on nightly buildbot. I guess I have to change some aspect ratio setting etc.

What setting might do the trick? How do I set it without breaking things (aspect ratio) for other games?

I tried the same frogger romfile outside of Retroarch in mame.exe 0166 and there is no such error so this seems to be caused by something in retroarch or the mame core dll.

Here is a screenshot , http://i.imgur.com/KRdq7q3.png

#2

The verbose log in Retroarch prints this line during the startup of Frogger.

RetroArch [libretro INFO] :: :: ChangeAV: w:224 h:768 ra:0.750000.

#3

Apparently, this is working as intended, as far as MAME is concerned (there are posts about it elsewhere: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=102149.0). However, it’s not ideal for actual use. Standalone may be doing something to force the correct aspect ratio.

I think you’ll need to create a game-specific override with video_aspect_ratio of “0.75” (that is, 3:4) and set your aspect_ratio_index to “19” (i.e., Config). What is your aspect ratio set to in RetroArch, currently? Core-provided? 1:1 PAR?

#4

Thanks. I played around with the variables you mention and got it to work.

I had these global settings before I started (default settings I think) Settings > video > force aspect ratio: ON Settings > video > auto aspect ratio: OFF Settings > video > aspect ratio index: Config

To fix the frogger issue I only have to set Settings > configuration > Load override files automatically: ON and then create a plaintext file gamename.cfg in a corename subfolder in config i.e.

Retroarch\config\MAME\frogger.cfg

with one line of text

aspect_ratio_index = “7”

The number 7 stands for 3:4 aspect ratio. In case anyone else comes here looking for a way to set some other aspect ration: to figure out what index number to use temporarily change Settings > video > aspect ratio index in the main retroarch configuration. Save it and look up the corresponding number value of aspect_ratio_index in retroarch.cfg . Reuse that number as value for aspect_ratio_index in a per game configuration.

#5

Settings > video > aspect ratio index: Core Provided

And that’s OK for me, same as Mame standalone.

#6

Yeah frogger with MAME core is OK with that setting for me too when I try it now, same as with the override I did. But with no need for override file so simpler.

Out of curiosity why is “Config” then the default and not “Core Provided”? Any Core Provided downsides? Or maybe it is the default and I’ve managed to accidentally change it to Config?

#7

“Config” is the default, and I wonder why myself. :slight_smile:

I always put it on “Core Provided” and just change it for some exceptions (borders, strange aspect with overscan ON…).

#8

Ok, I’ll leave it at “Core Provided” for now.

I ran into another video issue with another game. Instead of making one extra new topic I’ll tag on a question about it here. The version of the X-Men game that had two screens in the original arcade version only displays the left side screen with the MAME core in retroarch and the other half is missing. But in mame.exe it shows both screen video outputs on the physical screen. Is there a setting in Retroarch to get games that originally had two screens to display on a single screen? Tweaking the aspect ratio settings does not make a difference it seems.

Here are the lines about that from the MAME xml database file about this game

    <display tag="screen" type="raster" rotate="0" width="288" height="224" refresh="60.000000" />
    <display tag="screen2" type="raster" rotate="0" width="288" height="224" refresh="60.000000" />
    <sound channels="2"/>
    <input players="6" buttons="3" coins="6" service="yes">
        <control type="joy" ways="8"/>

edit: Wait, I found it. The setting is in the in game mame core menu. tab > video options > dual side by side After that we create

Retroarch\config\MAME\xmen6p.cfg

with one line of text

                                                     aspect_ratio_index = "18"

which gives a 32:9 aspect ratio that looks ok.

#9

“Config” is the default because in the past, too many cores provided insane aspect ratios. That has mostly been remedied now, but I still prefer “Config” to be the default because the default config aspect ratio is an unbiased 1:1 PAR (square pixels).