Read Only Windows 7

[chunksin]

I think it might be worth creating a new thread for any questions that are groovymame specific, you are customising your setup now which is fine and good but can we leave this thread for questions specifically about the image please?

 

[Richard_Outrun]

About to try this in a week or so! I have all the parts needed I think to hook up to my Turbo OutRun Cabaret Cab.

Thanks!
Richard

Here's the link to new new image, instructions are below: GroovyTimePlus

The new version of the image includes updates of core components including an update of GroovyMame to the current release 0.207. I've written an installer wizard to take you through setting up a PC to run GroovyMame in 15Khz or there is also an option to run on an LCD screen but to get the most out of it, I'd highly recommend a CRT TV or arcade monitor.

In terms of PC spec I'd recommend anything from an Intel i3 3rd gen or newer processor, 3Ghz or higher in speed, 4GB of RAM and use an SSD if you can for best performance. You'll also need an ATI graphics card, I recommend either the HD6450 or HD7450, they only have one analog output which makes configuration easy and they are fully tested with the image. I would avoid the older cards, HD2000, HD3000 and HD4000 because you need to perform some manual steps to get your CRT running and for the price of a 6450/7450 it's worth grabbing one from eBay.

If you'd like to do the configuration in one go you'll need to have available both the LCD monitor where you'll start the process and the CRT where you'll finish it. You'll also need a way to connect your PC to both monitors via a VGA cable, if you're connecting to a TV or PVM I'd recommend a VGA to Scart cable or something like the UMSA board from ArcadeForge and for connecting to an arcade monitor your best bet is an Ultimarc JPac which also includes a video amp and a protection circuit just in case you accidentally send a high resolution signal to your arcade CRT which could damage the chassis. The amp is necessary because the video output from a PC video card is around 1v whereas the arcade monitor expects around 4v and you can also buy a standalone video amp from Ultimarc.

Further to this, just as a warning, you can damage a 15Khz monitor chassis by sending high resolution video signals so if you are connecting to an arcade machine you really need a JPac for peace of mind. If you are connecting to a TV or PVM you can add protection by flashing the BIOS on your graphics card using the ATOM-15 tool (available on the D: drive) to stop any preboot activity like your BIOS setup or boot screen sending dangerous resolutions. It will forcibly stop the graphics card from generating anything above 480i resolution outside of Windows so guarantees you some protection during the boot process. To flash the card you need to run the ATI WinFlash tool to extract the BIOS as a file, then run the ATOM-15 software to patch it and rerun the ATI WinFlash tool to write the flashed rom to the card. You'll need to reflash your original BIOS if you want to go back to supporting high resolutions. Ironically the tool requires you to run in 800x600 so you'll need to run the tool after you install the Calamity Drivers but before you go into 15Khz. You can safely minimise the installer wizard if you need to patch your card, it will automatically continue after you reboot.

More info here: http://geedorah.com/eiusdemmodi/forum/viewtopic.php?id=64

Download the GroovyTimePlus.7z file via the link and extract the .iso file to your hard disk, you'll need a 16GB USB memory stick to load the image onto the PC and I highly recommend using USB 3.0 if your PC has the capability, the restore time using a USB 3.0 stick and an SSD hard disk is only a couple of minutes. You then need to write the iso file to the USB drive, I use an app called Rufus in Windows and that has an option to create a bootbable USB disk by selecting the iso file.

Configure your PC to boot from the USB drive, this method differs on many PCs but you'll need to get into the BIOS setup by pressing a certain key on startup. Many PCs including most Dells also have a one time boot menu, usually by pressing F12, that lets you select the USB drive. This is good option as it will save you from having to go back into the BIOS to set the primary boot device back to your hard disk after you've finished restoring the image.

Insert the USB stick into the PC, if you have a USB 3.0 stick make sure you're using a compatible port, USB 3.0 are usually blue or have an 'SS USB' logo, and power the PC on. All being well you'll see a Windows 10 style boot screen and then be taken into the Macrium software. The first screen you see is the restore image tab and that's what we want to use. Use the 'Browse for an image file' link to find the image file, it will be on your USB drive which is shown in the lower section under Removable Media. Select the GroovyTimePlus-00 file and follow the restore image wizard through to restore it, it's fine to use all of the default settings and ignore the warning about overwriting existing disks.

Once the image has been restored, remove the USB stick and either close Macrium using the red cross in the top right or use the shutdown link in the bottom left to reboot the PC. You'll now be booting into Windows 7 - I've removed the branding so you might get a few minutes delay while Windows is setting everything up and you should see a row of blue boxes in the top left. Don't be tempted to power off at this point, it'll get there but it may take several minutes.

After that's done you'll get to a regional settings selection screen, choose your region then when prompted to create a user account create one called 'Groovy' - this is required by one of the setup scripts so please use that name or you'll run into issues. Don't create a password and in the Windows Updates section just choose remind me later.

You should get to the Windows login screen now with two user accounts to choose from. You want to log in as Admin, the Groovy account will be removed as part of the setup. The first job is to make sure you have all of your hardware drivers installed so it's worth downloading them in advance and putting them onto your USB stick so they are ready to go. Grab all of the core drivers, no bloatware or helper type apps are needed, and don't download or install any graphics drivers, they will be installed during setup.

You need to access the Windows Device Manager by opening Windows Explorer and right click on My Computer then choose Manage. The Device Manager is in the list on the left hand side. You may see some unknown devices or devices with warnings against them in the list that appears on the right, these will disappear as you install the various drivers for your hardware.

Once the Device Manager looks good and you don't have any warnings you're ready to start the installation wizard. I've added a link to the Start Menu called GroovyTime Installer, launch it to start the wizard which will step you through the whole process from start to finish. I've written the installer to be as simple and lightweight as possible and it tracks your progress using flags in the operating system so whatever state the PC is in you can run it and it should get you back to the right place every time.

The first step is to install the Calamity Video Drivers, you need to know the model number of your graphics card and follow the prompts to make the right selection when asked. That will launch the correct installer, simply install and reboot and the wizard will continue where you left off.

Now is the time to run the ATOM-15 flash tool if required (see above).

You now need to switch to 15Khz unless you want to continue with the LCD monitor in which case follow the prompts, to switch to 15Khz just answer yes when asked if you are ready and the graphics card will then change to outputtng 15Khz and shut the PC down. You now need to plug your VGA cable into your CRT TV or monitor via the methods mentioned above and switch on the PC to continue.

The next process is to install the graphics modelines, again the wizard will run on startup and take you through the process, you just need to click two buttons when prompted and the PC will reboot once more for the final part of the configuration.

On reboot the wizard will launch the InstantSheller app, follow the instructions to enable it and click OK at the last prompt to reboot again.

During the next reboot you should see no evidence of Windows at all, boot directly into AttractMode and have no games in your list. This is a good time to configure your controls, press Tab on the keyboard and go into the Controls menu, set these up however you like, the default setting is up/down moves the game selection, left and right move up and down one page of games in the list. You can add button presses to move up and down one letter in the alphabet if you like or change the current filter - I've added some arcade manufacturer filters to get you started but you can configure this however you like, AttractMode can be customised to the nth degree!

To add some games you can either run them off a USB stick in a folder called 'roms' or you can transfer them to the hard disk using the new Utility Menu. Press the U key to access it and you'll see the various options available. For more details see the Utility Menu Help option, but here is a quick rundown:

Set Screen to Horizontal

Rotate Screen 90 Degrees

Rotate Screen 270 Degrees

Copy Roms and Videos from USB

Enable 15Khz

Disable 15Khz

Upgrade Mame

Restore Windows Interface

Enable Read-Only Mode

Enable Read-Write Mode

Utility Menu Help

Shutdown

To scan your roms and add them to the menu press tab and choose Emulators, choose MAME and then Generate Collection/ROM List. Press escape a couple of times to go back to your game list, you should now see them all listed. If you'd like to add video previews to your menu you can, create a folder called 'videos' on the USB stick and run the Utility Menu option to copy them over. If there is no video present for a game it will display the screenshot instead.

At this point you can enable Read-Only Mode using the Utility Menu option, this will prevent Windows from writing to the C: drive so you can safely power the PC off without shutting down. If you need to make any changes like backing out of AttractMode and going back into Windows you need to change back to Read-Write mode first so that the settings are saved, most menu options will involve a reboot so just be aware of that.

I've added an Upgrade Mame option, copy the new mame64.exe from the latest GroovyMame onto the root of a USB stick, plug it in and run this option. It copies the exe across and generates new XML files for modeline generation and to update the rom list in Attract Mode. You can also downgrade Mame in the same way if you need to!

And that is pretty much it for now, I'll add a quick video tutorial soon.

 

[badgerme]

Has anyone got the original SF4 running from the D drive on this image? I initially had issues with it installing the .NET framework v3 - but even after I manually installed it it still refuses to open the sf4launcher

Do I need to enable / add some Windows features or something?

Or does anyone have any steam games running from this build?

Cheers

 

[uberpixel]

This build is for games that run at a certain resolution at 15hz - not for modern games like SF4 and Steam PC games.

 

[badgerme]

I have this build now working perfectly using 15khz/24khz/31khz modes as this is a supported option inside of CRT_Emudriver - so now I can play everything from Bubble Bobble to Naomi Games (Marvel vs Capcom 2) and now Street Fighter 4 all using the correct mode lines.

The thing that was tripping me up was that I couldn’t add .NET v3.0 for SF4 due to it being an embedded image so I had to manually install it by extracting the dxsetup.exe files and bypass the wizard.

Also I had to use an Ultimarc vga amplifier instead of using the JPAC as I couldn’t get it to sync on 31khz no matter what I tried. I had tried removing all jumpers and blobbing the H and V sync together but it just wouldn’t sync... (this is on a Sanwa PFX)

Also it’s important to set Retroarchs default output resolution to 640x480p so that it returns to this resolution after loading 240p games.

 

[badgerme]

Is anyone running this image and using the volume up and down via a JPAC successfully? For some reason I can't control the volume via the JPAC or via a normal keyboard with the hotkeys. It would be great to be able to turn the volume of Windows up and down using the jpac shift button.

I've checked that the Human Interface Device Access service is started which looks after this functionality, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. Has anyone come across this issue?

Cheers!

 

[VaderGB]

A big thank you to Chunksin for creating and maintaining this image.

I had some fun with a newer cpu/mobo that wouldn't allow USB support for anything until the USB3 driver was loaded. I had to find a PS2 Keyboard and a driver CD. Also Mame wouldn't start then I found an article that it needs audio output of some kind to start.

I'm gonna have a play with the image using a Bartop with LCD before I look at using it on a JPAC and 15kz Cab. Its been a while since I had a working Mame system.

 

[Retroman839]

yeh my setup don’t load roms from usb
also mame won’t run lots of the games and
i don’t know why?
but my guess is that because it’s using
the super resalutions switch res is wanting to use 480p or 280i amd my crt won’t show it..

 

[Vamino]

I had loads of issues using older cards such as HD3450 but once I switched to HD6450/HD7450 everything works great.

Thanks for doing this Rich.

 

[RygarR]

I had loads of issues using older cards such as HD3450 but once I switched to HD6450/HD7450 everything works great.

Thanks for doing this Rich.

Yeah, it seems that some graphics cards are more compatible than others.

I had some niggles with my last set up, but switching to Radeon 6450s seems to have ironed them out.

If you keep your eye on eBay, you can usually get one for about a tenner give it take a few quid.

 

[Venom]

Hi, I have bought one of these to have a play with of ebay

Dell OptiPlex 9020 SFF PC Core i5 16GB RAM 240GB SSD Radeon R7 2...

I have the windows 7 image and also have a copy of the 120gb retrocade image which also works on windows 7. I actually wil be using an LCD not a 15k monitor.

Out of interest do you guys leave the PC in the case inside the cabinet, or do you take the case off.

Just wondered if air flow is better keeping case on , or get the case off !!

Cheers

 

[tronbaby]

Hi, if you’re using an LCD monitor, you don’t really need this Win7 image, but at least you can benefit from the seamless front end loading.
For the PC, you can keep it in the case, unless it’s left on all day in the cab, I don’t think you’ll ever notice it getting too hot. All mine are in the PC case and they work fine

 

[Venom]

Thanks for the info may try both !!

Amazing how quite these PC's are now.

 

[lomoverde]

Ive had this running great on my cab for ages,after upgrading something in my pc,Ive done a fresh install and found Id forgotten how to do a lot of the things,eg: mame controls,LEDBlinky etc...

Ive finally got it back up and rocking as it was.Was now wondering if I can use Macrium to create an image of my setup (only few Roms used) and in future just run that image from USB.

Obviously starting with an LCD then at the end of install my CRT is running as it should be,all MAME settings and CRT range restored to how i want them ??

Not after instructions,just if its possible. Thank you.

Or any other back up program for that matter.

lomoverde2022-03-19 19:33:41

 

[Retroman839]

Help needed adding bios’s
i thought i could exit sheller
then just add some bios or configure paths in mame outside of the sheller ?

any help much appreciated thanks

 

[tronbaby]

If you press Control-Shift-Escape that will bring up Task Manager
Then go File > Run new task

Type explorer

This wil llaunch Windows

You can then add / edit anything you need.

You might have to use the keyboard to navigate at first. Find the "Mouse" control panel and select an arrow cursor so you can see it on screen, will make things easier.

Is that what you meant?

 

[chunksin]

Service Menu (press U in the main menu)
Restore Windows (or words to that effect)
Press space at the Undo prompt
Reboot

 

[Retroman839]

yeh i’m ok getting out of the sheller

i just can’t sort out something so simple
as adding neo geo bios ?

i have added mame bios pack zipped
inside the mame folder
and also unzipped in a folder called bios .
i have also chucked em in with roms ..
as on a pi image …

i seem to remember that mame would let you
configure file path to the bios folder
same way as configure file path to roms.
but i don’t see bios in choices in configure anywhere ..?

i have added some bios’s into the roms folder as well
just to try to get the roms to load.. no dice!

cheers for the help …
funny thing is i just added some fb roms they play ok
mushisama /pink sweets / cave shmups ok

but can’t get any neo geo to run at all ..
i just don’t see a way to configure bios..

outside of sheller so back in windows normal
i ran the mama64.exe and here i can configure mame ..
i also checked the bios’s and it isn’t a complete set
of mame bios.. neo geo bios isn’t present…

so i thought i would find a bios folder inside the mame folder
but i cannot find them anywhere ?

Retroman8392022-03-20 22:51:06

 

[chunksin]

They go in the roms folder, this should have everything you need, unpack to the roms folder: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1H2RIVvPrw5pqd5lBIRpBZvwW_PWk762J/view?usp=drivesdk

 

[Retroman839]

thank you

is it simply that they must be a up to date set of bios for mame 202 ?

thanks chunksin.. yeah all good now
think i just have chd etc to sort now

Retroman8392022-03-21 20:58:03