wolf black screen

[kernzy]

hey guys,
since having to use my older pc, i cannot run new versions of wolfmame.
i have wolf147 on my pc, and works fine.
i have downloaded fresh copies of wolf150, 151, 152 and 153, and none of them work.
when i start a game, the screen turns black, and then stays black. nothing starts.
i have compared the ini files between 147 and the others, and all looks fine to me.
any idea's? it is very annoying!
thanks in advance.

[mahlemiut]

No sound or anything? No controls? Same thing happens running in a window?

There are known issues with older Intel GPUs which no longer work with D3D, occurring from an HLSL update from somewhere around 0.149. Using -video ddraw allows it to run.

[kernzy]

Hey Barry,
thanks for replying.
i never tried in a window. will do that later when i have to get off this laptop.
yes, no sound, nothing, just a black screen.
it's confusing. i copied mames from this good pc onto ext. HDD, and put them on the other pc, and they did not work. i have about 50 different MAMES on it, and they all work up to (like you said) 149!!! even the MAMEUI's (153, 152, 151) don't work either. i've been using MAMEplus plus 0.144 to play with!!
the faulty pc has a pentium Dual core chip.
i will try that command.
so what do i type? : record raiden -video ddraw raiden? lol!

I've been making video's (when i get the laptop) on 153 using : mame raiden -playback raiden.inp -aviwrite raiden.avi successfully, but i can't seem to get it to work on wolf106, which is a shame, as i have a tonne of replays i want to convert. can't be playing all those games again!!
heres my latest. remember these?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-yzFXAHIU0

[mahlemiut]

so what do i type? : record raiden -video ddraw raiden? lol!

Almost. record raiden raiden -video ddraw
Syntax for either record.bat or playback.bat is: record <gamename> <INP filename, no extension> [extra commandline switches]
If you want to make the option more permanent, then edit mame.ini, change the value after video from 'd3d' to 'ddraw' (without quotes).

[kernzy]

WHAT DID I TELL YOU????? 88 MILES PER HOURRRRRRRR!!!!
It worked a treat Barry!! absolutely brilliant!
i wish i could download some of your mind!!
wanna swap some?? peer to peer!!
cheers man. problem solved.

[kernzy]

hey matey,
do you have any idea why inp's converted via -aviwrite get rendered into a very narrow screen?
all is well using wolf 147 on any computer, but using wolf153 on our good up to date pc will not convert nicely, as you can see here. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EKa8fepiXw
i'm wasting a lot of time and bandwidth trying different methods!
thanks alot, mate.

[mahlemiut]

Like with screenshots, AVI are, by default, rendered in 1:1, rather than the usual 4:3 (or 3:4 for vertical monitors). Use -snapsize XxY to force the resolution output by screenshots and -aviwrite. This will be needed for systems where the game resolution can vary (eg: PSX hardware).

[kernzy]

nice one Barry, i will give it a shot!
i have only experienced this recently. all my other videos (a few hundred) turned out ok using much older MAME's.
you're the best!

[kernzy]

ok, it did not work.
these commands are getting long and confusing!
i used this: >mame galaxrfgg -pb galaxrfgg.inp -aviwrite galaxrfgg.avi -snapsize XxY.
is this correct? i bet it isn't!
cheers!

[BeeJay]

i used this: >mame galaxrfgg -pb galaxrfgg.inp -aviwrite galaxrfgg.avi -snapsize XxY.

I can't test this currently, but I'd imagine you actually need to provide numbers for the X and Y values of the -snapsize XxY rather than leaving the XxY exactly as is.

ie: If it's pixels then something like -snapsize 1024x768 if it's ratio then something like -snapsize 3x4

I'll have to leave you to work out which it should be as I don't have Mame or the docs handy currently ... I suspect it's more likely to be pixels though ...

Cheers,
BeeJay.

[mahlemiut]

XxY should be replaced with the pixel size of the output you want. eg: -snapsize 640x480 will stretch or shrink the output to 640x480, regardless of the actual resolution the game is running at.

[kernzy]

Thank's alot, you guys.
i am trying different resolutions as i type!
Hey Brian! long time no speaky speaky!
I was wondering when you were going to start
"THE ADVANCED EDUMACATION OF KERNZY PART 1"
LOL!
I am very happy to be learning the in's and out's of this fabulous program. it seems there is more involvement using command line than the UI.
it really is brilliant.
Without you guys, i am literally nothing!!!!!
Cheers very much!!

[kernzy]

ok!
so far, no matter which resolution i choose, the rendered file size is MEGA HUGE!!! Far bigger than a normal AVI file.
i have been using a 20 second video for trials, and it is coming out at over 6GB!!
large-o!
It works though, like a treat! thanks again!

[mahlemiut]

MAME produces uncompressed and unencoded AVIs. This is because video codecs are licensed software. Use a video conversion program to convert it to a compressed AVI, such as avidemux or Super.

[kernzy]

yeah, Barry,
I use Super. always have done. it is very good. i recommend it.
but, most of my youtube video's are a tiny bit fuzzy, and will be looking into screen capture software instead.