The latest version of MacFlight (version 1.3) now has limited multi-monitor support! You can get MacFlight from my earlier blog post.
Pre-requisites
Quadra 800 running Mac OS 7.6.1.
Configured with 128M of ram.
Due to the additional overhead of running multiple monitors you'll want as much memory configured as possible.
Configuring multiple monitors
To configure multiple monitors we'll need the Apple Macintosh Display Card 8•24 Revision B (MDC 1.2) rom. You'll need those googling skills to find the file nb_mdc824.zip which contains the rom.
Once you have it, copy the zipfile to your MAME roms folder.
Now we need to change the command used to run MAME, from:
mame macqd800 -hard1 mac761.chd -ramsize 32M -cheat -plugin macflightTo:
mame macqd800 -nbc mdc824 -nbd mdc824 -hard1 mac761.chd -ramsize 128M -cheat Note: Your hard disk image may be called something else.
macflight is removed as there's some additional configuration to do before we can run it again.
nbc is the first of two NuBus slots available on the emulated Quadra 800
mdc824 is the option for the Mac Display Card 8•24 Revision B.
nbd is the second NuBus slot, using the same Mac Display Card.
ramsize is increased to 128M , the maximum.
Run up the emulated Mac, you should see three emulated displays. The standard display (on the left) probably looks ok but the other two NuBus displays (centre and right) default to black and white displays.
Open up the MAME menu and select machine configuration. You'll want to set the same resolution across all three displays. MacFlight currently supports 640x480, 832x624 and 1152x870 resolutions. Set all three displays to the same supported resolution and reset the machine to apply the new resolution.
Next we have to set colours and arrange our monitors in Mac OS. If you've never done it before it's a bit tricky. Use the Monitors & Sound control panel app, this should open a window on each display. Use the Arrange button to see where the displays are in relation to each other.
Change each display to 256 colours and set the gamma to Mac Std Gamma for identical colour across all three. This also makes it easier to see where the mouse is and makes the next bit a little easier.
You want to use the Arrange button in combination with the 'Identify the monitor' button to line up the displays as shown below. If you struggle to get them all to line up horizontally you can use the Up/Down arrow to move the displays fractionally to get them all to line up. You can open a window and drag it across displays to make sure they are all lined up properly (a bit like the image at the top of this page).
Once they are lined up, it's time to move the menu bar. In the Arrange monitors window with the three display icons, you'll notice the menu bar is on the left most display icon. Click on the menu bar (in the display icon) and drag it to the centre display icon. Displays will refresh and the menu bar should disappear from the left display and reappear on the centre display.
Shutdown the Mac and restart MAME to make sure all display settings and the display arrangement has been saved.
Now all that remains is to run MAME with the MacFlight plugin enabled with:
mame macqd800 -nbc mdc824 -nbd mdc824 -hard1 mac761.chd -ramsize 128M -cheat -plugin macflightChanging resolution
Before you change resolution, you should first remove MacFlight from the MAME command.
You'll probably find the NuBus displays revert to black and white and need to be reconfigured and re-arranged again. It's a hassle but it gets easier with practice!
Once the displays are properly arranged, add MacFlight back into the MAME command.
Good hunting!