General Arcade and Retro Chat - Insert Coin -

An interesting piece on input lag (Snes Mini versus RetroPie versus Retroarch on PC) - https://forums.libretro.com/t/an-input-lag-investigation/4407/585

Shapey Fiend

You know I was waiting forever to play Tempest in the flesh, finally did this weekend and I wasn't quite as blown away as I thought I would be. Asteroids, and the Vectrex game whatever it was, looked amazing with that glowing clarity. The monitor on the Tempest looked quite pixely by comparison. Maybe it wasn't very well calibrated I don't know.

CiDeRmAn

Shapey Fiend wrote: »

You know I was waiting forever to play Tempest in the flesh, finally did this weekend and I wasn't quite as blown away as I thought I would be. Asteroids, and the Vectrex game whatever it was, looked amazing with that glowing clarity. The monitor on the Tempest looked quite pixely by comparison. Maybe it wasn't very well calibrated I don't know.

I used to play the excellent Spectrum port years ago, and little prepared me for Tempest 2000 via RGB on the Jag. But my eyes be blessed, Tempest 3000, via the Nuon

, on a Plasma display is just jaw dropping

Pixellated vector game? Something tells me you were playing an emulated version.

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Pixellated vector game? Something tells me you were playing an emulated version on a non vector screen.

A slight correction

Would the arcade version even work on a non vector screen?

Shapey Fiend

I googled that earlier and no, you can't run the original hardware on a raster screen.

Battlezone, Asteroids and the Vectrex looked great.

But colour vector monitors are pretty thin on the ground so not beyond the possibility that they'd emulate and use a raster crt I guess.

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Would the arcade version even work on a non vector screen?

Wouldn't the screen type determine the visual output though? If you were emulating ON a vector screen, the game would look as it should; if you were emulating a vector game on a crt screen, it's not going to look as it should.

Skerries

Crash (Spectrum mag) to finally get it's 100th issue on Kickstarter

http://www.retro-now.com/breaking-news-crash-issue-100-announced/

Inviere wrote: »

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Would the arcade version even work on a non vector screen?

Wouldn't the screen type determine the visual output though? If you were emulating ON a vector screen, the game would look as it should; if you were emulating a vector game on a crt screen, it's not going to look as it should.

No. Vector monitors work totally differently to a crt and with hardware at the time being so basic you really had to work to how the display device worked.

A crt draws line by line using a rastered electron beam. A vector monitor gives the beam a coordinate on the screen then an end point and a line is drawn between them. If you send that display information to a crt it just wouldn't work.

If it was an emulated version I'm sure you could be able to set it up to send vector information but I'm not sure how easy that would be.

Retr0gamer wrote: »

If you send that display information to a crt it just wouldn't work.

That's what I'm saying, in that, any pixelation isn't being caused just because "it's emulation", it's being caused because the vector game isn't being played on a vector screen. It's being played on a crt screen, two completely different technologies.

If it was an emulated version I'm sure you could be able to set it up to send vector information but I'm not sure how easy that would be.

It can be done, there are patches for Mame to do it - https://trmm.net/Vector_games_32c3

Tom Mann Centuria

Skerries wrote: »

Crash (Spectrum mag) to finally get it's 100th issue on Kickstarter

http://www.retro-now.com/breaking-news-crash-issue-100-announced/

The annual they did was excellent, so hopefully this will be as good. They are definitely doing a zzap 64 one too this year, if you're that way inclined,(though I think it might still be illegal in this country, and if it's not, it should be

)

o1s1n

Any time I read up on vector monitors it gives me flashbacks of doing higher level geometry for the leaving cert :eek:

o1s1n

All this talk of vector monitors has me wanting a Vectrex again...

Anyone know what the going rate is these days? Seem to be a few on ebay in the UK for in and around the £150 mark?

o1s1n wrote: »

All this talk of vector monitors has me wanting a Vectrex again...

Anyone know what the going rate is these days? Seem to be a few on ebay in the UK for in and around the £150 mark?

No sure the going rate, but if you get one there's some nice hardware and hacks out for them these days if the Vectrex facebook group I'm in is anything to go by.

o1s1n

Good to know! The last time I had one there wasn't too much in that regard, just a few extra homebrew games like Protector and that was it.

Do many folks on here still have one? I remember there was a time when we could have rented a room somewhere and had a Vectrex convention

o1s1n wrote: »

Good to know! The last time I had one there wasn't too much in that regard, just a few extra homebrew games like Protector and that was it.

Do many folks on here still have one? I remember there was a time when we could have rented a room somewhere and had a Vectrex convention

I've two working(although one is very loud) and one faulty Vectrex. Haven't played them in ages, but as soon as the move is done I'll definitely have a bash.

I think all the issues people had with the system scared everyone away.

For those on Facebook, "Vectrex Fans Unite!" is the group you want.

Jack burton

My veccy crapped out and I some it on, think someone here bought it. Such a cool little system but too problematic for my tastes

Doge

Still have mine, it takes about 2 mins to turn on so needs a recap but the vector alignment is perfect on it.

I'm finding all sorts of stuff I forgot about while packing up the old house. I'm not sure what my plan for this was, but I'm sure I had one

wheresmahbombs

A PSP dev tool. Nice.

L1m1tless

Just bought a new cab. Came with no keys however. Any tips on getting this bad boy open? It's got the usual type locks.

Optimus Prime

Drill right through the lock. I used the drill through then twist the drill wildly until the lock falls in the cab method a few times.

Pretty impressed with rpcs3 at the mo, just had a blast of Super Stardust HD (love that game) & was flawless. The emulator has made huge progress over the last few months, & gets better all the time.

Cemu too, BotW in 1080p @ 60fps is a sight to behold. My next playthrough will be via Cemu. Another incredible emulator.

L1m1tless

Optimus Prime wrote: »

Drill right through the lock. I used the drill through then twist the drill wildly until the lock falls in the cab method a few times.

I'll give it a go thanks.

Jack burton

Seen this and thought it was going to be an awesome B movie based off the game

CiDeRmAn

Primal Rage is great, but it's no Dinorex, that's for sure