Mon-ARC

Mon-ARC PLUS

What is Mon-ARC PLUS? | Options | Running | Making Screens
Caution | Download | FAQ
What is Mon-ARC PLUS?
Mon-ARC PLUS is a TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) program that co-exists with the existing VGA BIOS, enabling the videocard to support any user defined modes. Allowing you to use Standard Resolution, Medium Resolution, Fixed Resolution monitors on your PC.

Its been developed by myself (Andy Geezer aka Andrew Lewis) and the Saka the mastermind behind VSyncMAME and the native videocard driver/code (to whom this program could not exist without, so a big thank you to Saka for all his work).

Mon-ARC PLUS is similar to Univbe/SDD.

Features:

Universal monitor support (supports fixed rate monitors and multi-scan monitors).
Support any combination of VGA, Tweaked Modes and VESA modes.
Support for any combination of refresh rates and scan rates.
Design your own modes to work perfectly with your monitor.

Supported Video Cards:

Voodoo Series (Banshee chipset, Voodoo3 Chipset and Voodoo 5500).
Trident Blade3D.
Matrox G400.

Now with Mon-ARC PLUS you can do the funky stuff check this out!

Create your own modes for your fav emulators/games.
Use your PC monitor to run games at the correct screen sizes and refresh rates.
Get those nasty ModeX tweaked programs working perfectly.
Dance around a swivel chair until you feel dizzy.

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Command Line Options
Mon-ARC PLUS supports various different command line options, here is a run down on each command does.

-h cmdline options.
-u unload and restore.
-e enable/disable Mon-ARC PLUS.
-v enable/disable VGA hook (for standard pc monitor).
-o enable/disable original 1024x768 VESA mode.
-p enable/disable own protected mode interface.
-d enable/disable DBCS 640x480 text mode.
-m<1-48> set default video memory (some old DOS games can't handle memory >1mb).
-w<1-255> delay before trying to reprogram ModeX modes.
-w0 ignore trying to reprogram ModeX modes.
-x<-16/16> screen horizontal position.
-y<-8/8> screen vertical position.
-1<1-3> horizontal sync delay.
-2<1-3> horizontal disp delay.
-i Information about the last ModeX mode called.
-l List all modes in memory.

You can run the Mon-ARC PLUS with any starting options, or you can change any option at anytime just by running the program again..

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Running Mon-ARC PLUS:
Running either v3tsr.exe or bladetsr.exe will put the Mon-ARC PLUS into memory, it comes pre-defined with the following custom modes (suitable for 15.75khz Arcade Monitors):

640x200 [15.75khz] [US Text Mode] [Recommended]
640x476 [15.75khz] [JP Text Mode] [Recommended]
320x200 [15.75khz] [VGA/VESA] [Recommended]
640x240 [15.75khz] [VGA/VESA] [Recommended]
640x480 [15.75khz] [VGA/VESA] [Recommended]
320x240 [15.75khz] [Pre-defined Custom Mode]
384x224 [15.75khz] [Pre-defined Custom Mode]
256x240 [15.75khz] [Pre-defined Custom Mode]

The recommended modes are used by VGA modes, and are recommended to be defined if using arcade monitors or a fixed rate monitor!

There are three .BAT files included in the download package.
setup15.bat [Empty]
setup31.bat [Contains all the above modes for 31.50khz monitors]
setup24.bat [Contains all the above modes for 24.80khz monitors]

for example:

Setup31 v3tsr

Will load the Mon-ARC PLUS (Voodoo version) and add all the modes in the .BAT file.

If you don't like the modes defined here, you can easily change them!

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Making Screens:
This is easily the most powerful function of Mon-ARC PLUS, but also the hardest to describe (best print this information out).
We design screens with the Utility MakeScr (written by Saka).

Launching MakeScr for 31.5khz monitors:

MakeScr

Launching MakeScr for 24.80khz monitors:

MakeScr -512x384@24

Launching MakeScr for 15.75khz monitors:

MakeScr -320x240@15

Please make sure Mon-ARC PLUS isn't in memory or enabled before running MakeScr!

Keys:
Escape = Exit Program.
Cursor Up = Move Up through the options.
Cursor Down = Move Down through the options.
Cursor Left = Decrease selected value.
Cursor Right = Increase selected value.
PageDown = minus 10 on selected value.
PageUp = plus 10 on selected value.
Insert = Enable grid intensity.
Delete = Remove grid intensity.
Home = Enable border.
End = Remove border.
Enter/Return = Apply/test values.
U = Undo last action.
F1 = Set mode to 320x240 @ 60hz (15.75khz Monitor Std Res)
F2 = Set mode to 512x384 @ 60hz (24.80khz Monitor Med Res)
F3 = Set mode to 640x480 @ 60hz (31.50khz Monitor Hi Res)
Space = Save mode to scrmode.bat ready for testing/running!

Mode Guidelines:
A 15.75khz monitor can get about 300 visible lines if the refresh rate is 50hz.
A 24.80khz monitor can get about 480 visible lines if the refresh rate is 50hz.
A 31.50khz monitor can get about 600 visible lines if the refresh rate is 50hz.

I wouldn't recommended trying to get anymore than that!

MakeScr Options:
Horz ALL Changes all the Horz settings.
Horz Sync Changes just the sync settings.
HTotal Horizontal Total (the larger the gap bewteen HTotal and HDisp the smaller the screen becomes and vice versa).
HDisp Actual Display Width.
HSStart Horizonatal Sync Start. (Decrease value to move screen right and vice versa).
HSEnd Horizonatal Sync End. (Decrease value to move screen left and vice versa).

Vert ALL Changes all the Vert settings.
Vert Sync Changes just the sync settings.
VTotal Vertical Total (the larger the gap bewteen VTotal and VDisp the smaller the screen becomes and vice versa).
VDisp Actual Display Height.
VSStart Vertical Sync Start. (Decrease value to move screen down and vice versa).
VSEnd Vertical Sync End. (Decrease value to move screen up and vice versa).

Vert Hz Vertical Refresh Rate (used with VTotal to generate the Horizontal Rate).
DoubleScan Doubles the picture. For example 640x480 with DoubleScan on, becomes 640x240.
Interlace Interlace the display (on Voodoo just skips every other line), 640x480, becomes 640x960.
HPolarity Horizontal Polarity either Negative or Positive.
VPolarity Vertical Polarity either Negative or Positive.

Make sure HTotal and VTotal are at least 16 values larger than the HDisp and VDisp!

When you've created a mode or modes, you can either manually cut and paste them to the Setup15.bat, Setup24.bat or Setup31.bat, or you can just use ScrMode v3tsr for example.

If the mode is already in Mon-ARC PLUS, it will just be updated with the last version of that mode defined.

ModeX Modes:
Mon-ARC PLUS is not programmed to support any Tweaked ModeX modes as default (it just uses a default mode in memory which will make some games look weird or not function correctly).
If you have a ModeX program, run Mon-ARC PLUS in VGA monitor mode, then run the ModeX program, exit the Program and then use the -i option in Mon-ARC PLUS to report on the last ModeX mode use the Width and Height that it reports and create the Mode in MakeScr (to your frequency) and that should be it!

Use DoubleScan for small height screens on high freq monitors (to get 320x200 on a 31.5khz is impossible! You have to use 320x400 with DoubleScan which is 320x200!).
Use Interlace for large height screens on low freq monitors (to get 640x480, do 640x240 at the desired horizontal scan rate with the Interlace on).

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Caution:
!Caution! running under Windows 98 works, but remember if the program crashes you'll be dumped back into Windows, which could damage your monitor..

The Authors of Mon-ARC PLUS take *no* responsibility for damaging yourself or your equipment, use the program at your own risk.

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Download:
Goto the download page and download the required version.

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Mon-ARC PLUS FAQ section

Q: Does this program work?

A: Yes, off course it works, but remember you need a supported Video card.

Q: Okay I got the Video card, but it does Jack!

A: I can only try to help in this area, e-mail with a description of the problem.

Q: When will support for XYZ be added?

A: I don't know.. I've only got a set amount of time and resources.

Q: I got this great DOS game and it won't work :(

A: I haven't got too many DOS applications, and its hard to fix a game/app I don't own.

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