OLD VERSION: JClampy's 320x224 resolution 4x magnification Shadow Mask settings.

OLD VERSION:
This is an old version that is only for archival purposes at the moment and may get removed in the future.
Read about the NEW VERSION here;
http://gamingnos.blogspot.com/2011/11/new-jclampys-neo-geo-mame-hlsl-setup.html
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These settings are for 320x224 resolution of which is currently about 1,500 games including clones (includes all Neo Geo games as well) for display at 4x magnification.

First you need my 4x Aperture available from my previous post here;
http://gamingnos.blogspot.com/2011/10/thoughts-on-mame-hlsl-when-using-shadow.html

These are the settings you should use:
mame.ini
effect             none      (old visual effects off)
scale_effect    none      (old visual effects off)
switchres           1        (enable resolution settings)
sleep                0        (power saving sleep mode off)
keepaspect        1        (maintain aspect ratios)
prescale            1        (no software prescale)
hwstretch          0        (hardware stretching off)
filter                 0        (bilinear filtering off)
artwork_crop      0        (crop border artwork off)

For 320x224 original game resolution output to 1280x896 4x magnification, inside a final output display resolution 1280x960:
mame.ini
aspect ratio      4:3       (correct aspect ratio for our final display output)
resolution    1280x960   (our final display output resolution)
view         pixel aspect  (keep to games aspect ratio 320x240 = 10:7)

hlsl.ini
hlsl_prescale_x     4      (4x zoom)
hlsl_prescale_y     4      (4x zoom)
hlsl_snap_width     1280   (rendered snapshots resolution width at correct output ratio for game pixels to shadow mask alignment)
hlsl_snap_height     960    (rendered snapshots resolution height at correct output ratio for game pixels to shadow mask alignment)
shadow_mask_alpha        0.200000 (my personal preference)
shadow_mask_texture        JClampyAperture4xPatternC.png
shadow_mask_x_count       256
shadow_mask_y_count       128
shadow_mask_usize         0.465000
shadow_mask_vsize         0.500000


For 320x224 original game resolution output to 1280x896 4x magnification, inside a final output display resolution 1280x1024:
mame.ini
aspect ratio      5:4       (correct aspect ratio for our final display output)
resolution    1280x1024   (our final display output resolution)
view         pixel aspect  (keep to games aspect ratio 320x240 = 10:7)

hlsl.ini
hlsl_prescale_x     4      (4x zoom)
hlsl_prescale_y     4      (4x zoom)
hlsl_snap_width     1280   (rendered snapshots resolution width at correct output ratio for game pixels to shadow mask alignment)
hlsl_snap_height     1024    (rendered snapshots resolution height at correct output ratio for game pixels to shadow mask alignment)
shadow_mask_alpha        0.200000 (my personal preference)
shadow_mask_texture        JClampyAperture4xPatternC.png
shadow_mask_x_count       256
shadow_mask_y_count       128
shadow_mask_usize         0.465000
shadow_mask_vsize         0.500000


In both situations the game will be shown in correct aspect ratio at correct resolution of 4x magnification. It will appear in center of the screen and MAME will create borders around the outside; looking like this:

For Neo Geo games that only use the centermost 304 pixels you mant want to enhance the look of the bordering (because as you can see above sometimes there are small glitches). To do this you can use MAME's 'Border Artwork' feature or even use/create some custom borders.

Here are some standard black borders that I have put together; includes 'Upper Border', 'Centered Display', and 'Lower Border' variations. If you wanted to create your own custom border artwork then you could use them as a template.

For Neo Geo 320x224 original game resolution output to 1280x896 4x magnification, inside a final output display resolution 1280x960:
You can get the file from here: http://www.mediafire.com/?78b2fe1wg7kr728
Then follow these three easy steps;
1. Copy the .zip file to your Mame/Artwork folder.
2. Rename the .zip file so that it will have the same name as the 'MAME Game .zip Name' that you want to play. IE; "Twinkle Star Sprites" would be twinspri.zip this way the border artwork will be automatically initialised by MAME when you run that game.
3. Inside the .zip file you also have to rename the 'change name to game zip name.lay' file as well. So for this example rename it to: twinspri.lay
Then you are all ready to go!

Once you have the game running in MAME for the first time, you need to press the [Tab] key to bring up the 'in-game menu'. Then select and [Enter] into the 'video options' sub menu. From here you can select between the three new options; 'Upper Border', 'Centered Display', and 'Lower Border' by pressing [Enter] on them. Press the [Tab] key again to exit out of the 'in-game menu'. MAME will remember your selection from now on.


For Neo Geo 320x224 original game resolution output to 1280x896 4x magnification, inside a final output display resolution 1280x1024:
You can get the file from here: http://www.mediafire.com/?rsxxmyim3sd7sx8
Then follow these three easy steps;
1. Copy the .zip file to your Mame/Artwork folder.
2. Rename the .zip file so that it will have the same name as the 'MAME Game .zip Name' that you want to play. IE; "Twinkle Star Sprites" would be twinspri.zip this way the border artwork will be automatically initialised by MAME when you run that game.
3. Inside the .zip file you also have to rename the 'change name to game zip name.lay' file as well. So for this example rename it to: twinspri.lay
Then you are all ready to go!

Once you have the game running in MAME for the first time, you need to press the [Tab] key to bring up the 'in-game menu'. Then select and [Enter] into the 'video options' sub menu. From here you can select between the three new options; 'Upper Border', 'Centered Display', and 'Lower Border' by pressing [Enter] on them. Press the [Tab] key again to exit out of the 'in-game menu'. MAME will remember your selection from now on.