MAME 'Screen Tearing' Issues

[Tempest]

A family member gave me their old PC that they were no longer using.  Since it's slower than the PC I'm currently using I've decided that I'm going to turn it into a dedicated MAME box.  While the specs aren't amazing, I think it should work for what I want to do:

 

Gateway DX4860-UB32P

Core i3 2120

Intel HD Graphics

6GB RAM

1TB Hard Drive

 

I plan on using the built in HDMI out to plug it into my TV (a 43" 1080p) and hopefully play some arcade games from the comfort of my couch.  I loaded it up with roms and MAMEUI but I'm getting some weird issues with side scrolling games (see video).

 

I've been told that this is screen tearing and I'm not sure how to fix it.  I've tried all the various advanced video options. but nothing seems to help.  I tried it on my 20" CRT monitor and a little 20" LCD monitor and they both had the exact same issue.  I've also tried just plain MAME, same issue.  I've tried it on my main PC (Linux on a 23" LCD with a decent video card), same issue.  I'm wondering if this has something to do with the computer itself (and it's built in graphics) or maybe the refresh rate.  Any ideas? 

 

[Cynicaster]

I've wrestled with stuff like this and frankly I find that if an answer doesn't present itself very quickly, it might be a lost cause.  Triple buffering and vsync have helped me many times, but not always.  

 

I have also had issues where a certain PC just did not like a certain display.  Sounds like you've tried multiple displays, all with the same result, though.  

 

Those PC specs are way more than enough to play the overwhelming majority of 80s and 90s games that are running well in MAME.  Not sure what version you're running, but you might want to try going back to an older, lighter-weight build.  I've been running v122 of MAME on my cabinet for 10+ years because I have the full romset, it runs great on old crusty computers, and all the games I care about run fine.  

 

 

[Tempest]

Yeah I'm going to just try it out and see.  Most of the stuff I want to play is single screen anyway so the scrolling issue shouldn't be a problem.

[Keatah]

Zaxxon do same thing?

[Tempest]

8 minutes ago, Keatah said:

Zaxxon do same thing?

I didn't try that one, I'll let you know.

[zzip]

Have you tried vsync settings in your video card driver? 

[Tempest]

47 minutes ago, zzip said:

Have you tried vsync settings in your video card driver? 

There aren't any as far as I can see.  The Intel HD 2000 has a very very limited control panel available.  All I can really do is change the refresh rate.

[zzip]

Some other suggestions that come to mind:

 

* try double/triple buffering command line options.   Looks like the Windows version has a triple buffering option

* try different versions of Mame,  some of the older versions work better on low spec system

* Retroarch?   It gives more video options and makes it easy to try different Mame versions.

[Keatah]

Another item that affected whether I had tearing (or not) was changing between the different renderers, GDI, OpenGL, D3D. Changing those seemed to cause mame to interact differently with my videocard driver.

 

I forget which one, but one of them will either grant or remove the ability of the emulated machine to run at unlimited throttle via F10.

Edited June 28, 2022 by Keatah

[R.Cade]

With MAME, you either get screen tearing, or audio stutter, or both. I've never found a way around it. There are custom builds that some people swear by that may help in some circumstances.