LaunchBox on Arcade CRT (CRTemudriver needed?) Help Please

[rydin4life]

Hi all -  I've been running LaunchBox/BigBox in a cabinet specifically built for MAME with an LCD display for a couple years now.  I'd like to move the PC over to an arcade cabinet that I have already wired for JAMMA with a CRT and use a jPac for controls.  From what I've read so far, it seems that I need GroovyMAME and CRTemudriver for this to work.  I first thought that GroovyMAME was a front end product that would replace LaunchBox (bummer), but it seems this isn't the case and that it's a matter of layering MAME with GroovyMAME then CRTemudriver and finally launchbox which leads me to two questions:

 

1) Do I need GroovyMAME to use CRTemudriver?  I thought it was another front-end, but if not then I'm not sure what the point of using it is (unless CRTemudriver can't be used otherwise)

2) Right now I'm using the default BigBox theme and have the bezel art courtesy of Bezel Art Project.  When I move to the CRT, I won't need the bezel art nor would I want the image shown in that ratio.  Is there a good simple theme that works with a regular 4:3 arcade CRT?

 

If there's anyway to make this easier, or use something other than CRTemudriver that works better with LaunchBox, that's fine - I'm jsut trying to figure everything out ahead of time.

 

Many Thanks!

[casperthefriendly]

1) Do I need GroovyMAME to use CRTemudriver?  

In short - not compulsory. But if you have a CRT, then you'd want to use GM purely because it's the best way to make the games run on a real CRT.

whatever version of mame you end up using - that "just makes the games work". You will need a front end to make it usable without a keyboard and mouse - in your example this would be LaunchBox.

I use https://sourceforge.net/projects/attractmode as a front end.

Big problem with most front ends (including Hyperspin) is getting them to run at low enough resolution to be usable at 15khz. You're probably going to want to run 320x240p - it's not easy to find front ends these days that are designed to go that low.

HTH