Arcade Monitor

[Saraph]

Hello! This is more of a general question in regards to how others have their system set up. I'm going to be putting LaunchBox into an existing arcade machine (Mortal Kombat II) and just want to know what types of issues I'll be facing. I'm running a Windows 7 PC, have the interface between the arcade controls and PC working except for the player 1 & 2 buttons for some reason, will need to work more on that... Anywho, Hyperspin is already working but I want LaunchBox as my front end now. Lots of software changes will be happening as RetroArch will be my primary emulator on this machine as opposed to separate emulators for each system. All systems I have imported work just fine on my windows PC. I believe I have NES/GB-SNES/GBA, Master System/Game Gear-GenCd32X, FBA, MAME that I'm putting on here.

Main concerns, will LaunchBox 4:3 work well with an old CRT like this? Since I'm using RetroArch, I'm sure it'll be easier configuring controls but are there cores that work better on CRT? Has anyone had success doing a job like this?

[Lordmonkus]

I can't give you any specific answers but I can tell you that others have setups using Launchbox in 4:3 with a theme that supports that aspect ratio.

As far as emulators are concerned that will be dependent upon the emulators themselves. Specifically regarding Retroarch people set it up to work on 4:3 CRTs so you may want to take a look over on their forums for more detailed information.

[SentaiBrad]

Most emulators should fit to any resolution you desire. However, if you try and play systems who's aspect ratio is wildly different (like PSP or DS), then you're gonna get letter boxing. So if you keep the aspect ratio options turned on to enforce aspect ratio correctness, then keep this in mind. For most systems, there won't be too much of an issue, the ratio mismatch wont be big enough for you to spot it, or you can turn on stretching for the close enough systems to make it completely fill in the screen, and the image shouldn't stretch in too many odd ways. This will just need to be something for you to play around with.

LaunchBox and Big Box should work in a 4:3 environment right away, but like @lordmonkus said, there is a 4:3 tailored Theme here on the site that someone has created, that helps Big Box display properly in 4:3. The program will shape it's self to any aspect ratio, but it is built with a widescreen format in mind.