Bezels and Overlays

[ArPiUser]

I am not able to get Bezels and/or Overlays to work with Mame 078 or Advmame 106. I know that in 106 and prior, it uses a combination of PNG and .art file to tell it how to work with the overlays and bezels and screen coordinates. I know I am using the right .art and PNG file for the older 106 and prior versions of Mame. However, whenever I start a game using Advmame 106, I get a screen that looks like a series of horizontal lines. I can't really see the game and it certainly is not playable. If I remove the corresponding .art and PNG artwork, the horizontal lines are gone and the game displays and plays fine. At the minimum, I know it is reading the artwork for the game and the .art file is telling it where to find the bezel and/or overlay, screen coordinates, etc. I think it has more to do with a resolution mismatch or perhaps wrong PNG file size? If anyone has done this and can provide a step by step instruction, that would be greatly appreciated.

In Mame 078, it would appear that it is using a different format using PNG for the overlay and/or bezel and cfg files which provide instructions for how to handle the artwork and where to find the PNG file. For example, game abc.zip has a corresponding abc.zip.cfg file in the same rom directory. My problem is I think I am not pointing to the right artwork location for the PNG file. I may also be putting the .cfg file in the wrong directory. It is currently residing in the same directory as the rom file. When I start a game in Mame 078, nothing changes. No overlay, no bezel, etc. If anyone has done this and can provide a step by step instruction, that would be greatly appreciated.

I haven't tried it with FBA. Anyone have experience with this? Which format does it use .art, LAY, CFG or some other configuration?

I was successful in getting Bezels and Overlays to work with Mame 172/192 (uses LAY files). Once the game artwork is in a zip file and is in the artwork folder and you tell it where the artwork folder is in mame.ini for both 172/192, then the game loads with the Bezel/Overlay automatically and you can change the settings via the in game video control. Works as expected with one glaring problem, in games that flip (set to cocktail mode in dip switches) for sit-down cabinets with a monitor in vertical position, the game flips for the other player, however the Bezel/Overlay does not flip so while the game is oriented correctly for the second player, the bezel/overlay is upside down! Does anyone have a fix for that?

[dee2eR]

I have extremely limited experience here but it sounds like, for AdvMAME at least, you may need to use non SDL rendering for the overlays to work. From your description it sounds like using the overlays is causing the same rendering issue that effects most early Williams (and some other) games when rendering via SDL 1.2 dispmanx. Does it work if you try a game that is in the nosdl array in /boot/launchers/advmame.sh ? (or if you add one of the games you were trying to that array?)

No idea with the Retroarch emulators, sorry. Any advice you can find for RetroPie or other Pi builds using Retroarch should be applicable though you will have to be aware of the difference in file locations etc.

I don't believe MAME flips bezels or overlays in cocktail mode, I remember hitting that issue with overlays a while back. Not sure if there's a fix available but I didn't find one at the time (over a year ago though so maybe its been done since).

[cool_factor]

Been trying to figure this out as well, lots of dead space on a 25" CRT.

[Matt68061]

I realize this is an older thread, but I recently was working on this very thing. For AdvanceMame (106)...

You need to edit the .rc file. AND make sure you have zipped artwork files in the "Artwork" folder. This ia also pointed to in the rc file. (I moved my artwork folder to the boot partition so it was easier to access).

The rc file is located at - /home/pi/.advance/advmame.rc
The file location for artwork is set after - dir_artwork

Turn on or off the artwork -
display_artwork_backdrop yes | no
display_artwork_overlay yes | no
display_artwork_bezel yes | no
You can also crop it if needed -
display_artwork_crop yes | no

If needed you can set per game settings as well..

Artwork files can be downloaded at MrDo's website - http://mrdo.mameworld.info/mame_artwork_faq.php
(Note the "newer and older" sections... mame 106 uses the older.

Hope someone finds this helpful.

[cool_factor]

Yes, thanks. I've been trying to figure out using bezels as a 25" CRT has a lot of dead space

[Matt68061]

Yeah, I am doing the same thing for vertical games on a 25 inch monitor.

Cant decide if I like it or not.

Way easier to do in Mame 172 in my opinion.

[cool_factor]

Matt, Any info/how to you could provide on the diff versions would be great for us struggling noobs.. This forum has helped me vastly improve my knowledge regarding mame, Arpicade and Linux. THX!