MAME...dang, sure would like to use it, but...

[Mirage]

I thought "MAME32" no longer existed. Isn't it "MameUI" now?

 

Could be, I haven't updated or looked in awhile.

 

Either way, the thing I'm seeing, and I don't mean this in a mean way, just an observation... if he is downloading that zip and thinking it's roms (see my previous comment), and with the other comments made, I don't think the biggest issue here is really getting MAME to work, it's just knowing what he's looking at at all. Because current version or not, that MAME32 I linked to absolutely is good, and isn't confusing at all. Unzip that, put a bunch of old zipped MAME ROMs in that ROMs folder and most if not all of them should work, even if they're not the right version (just because some change, but some do not). That MAME32 dl is what I use with no issues whatsoever.

 

I'm sure you'll (OP) get it working with some of the help here.

Edited January 2, 2013 by Mirage

[S1500]

You think MAME is difficult? Meet the next level end boss you have to defeat that's hader: pinMAME.

[NE146]

Could be, I haven't updated or looked in awhile.

 

It is. http://www.mameui.info/

 

"MAMEUI, formerly MAME32, is the GUI version of MAME. Originally authored in 1997 by Chris Kirmse,"

[Mirage]

Cool, he should use that then. I honestly just think there are other issues here from what I'm reading.

[Hatta]

In this particular version, there's a .sym file and nothing else, really...nothing that looks like a typical .exe file.

 

What do you mean "looks like a typical .exe file"? This should be unambiguous, it either ends in .exe or not. Is Windows "hiding extensions for known file types"? If so, turn that option off. That is one of the worst misfeatures in any OS ever.

 

My suspicion is that there's a MAME.ico file that looks like a .exe to you because you have extensions hidden.

[Mirage]

Exactly. That's why I don't think MAME is even the issue here. I'm going bow out on this one.

[Cynicaster]

In an age where everybody is accustomed to computers and OS’s that practically run themselves, it doesn’t take much inconvenience or learning curve to make something seem “user unfriendly” by comparison.

 

MAME definitely has a learning curve and is a tad archaic in its “user friendliness quotient”, but still, I can never understand why some people find it so exasperating. There’s really not much to it at all.

 

I bet 90% of problems newbies see with MAME are a direct result of mismatched versions of MAME and the ROM’s. MAME is not like, say, Stella where you have an old dump of an Atari cart that you downloaded in the 90’s and it still works on the current version of the emulator. You need ROM’s that are compatible with your specific version of MAME. For this reason, it’s easiest to search for full “rom sets” that are matched to a specific version of MAME. Due to the questionable legality of such practices I won’t say any more—suffice it to say, if you look hard enough you’ll find what you need.

 

Another issue to be aware of is video modes. By default, later versions of MAME want to use D3D rendering, but if you’re using an old (8-10 year old) PC, it probably can’t handle D3D, which causes the games to run abysmally slow (i.e., unplayable). Luckily, all you need to do is switch to DirectDraw mode, and you’ll be able to play just about anything using a crusty old P4 with a gig of RAM.

 

Another thing that I think intimidates newbies is the multitude of command line switches and parameters that are talked about in the readme file. The vast majority of those are only of any interest to hardcore users—ignore them.

 

As an example, let’s play some Asteroids. Here’s how:

 

Download the command line version of MAME.

 

Create a folder right off the root of your C: drive called C:\MAME.

 

Create a folder within that one called C:\MAME\ROMS

 

Unzip the contents of the MAME download into c:\MAME.

 

Locate a copy of asteroid.zip on the net, drop it in c:\mame\roms, leave it zipped.

 

Drop to the command line prompt, type the following:

 

cd\ [enter]

 

cd mame [enter]

 

mame asteroid [enter]

 

At this point, you should be presented with the so-called “nag screen” which may tell you to “type OK to continue” or something like that. Do it.

 

If you’re running an old PC and the game is overly slow, try this instead:

 

mame asteroid –video ddraw [enter]

 

Once you’re in, press 5 to insert a credit, press 1 to start shooting rocks.

 

If you don’t know what buttons/keys do what in terms of controls, no matter—set them to what you want.

 

With the game loaded, press TAB to enter into a rather self-explanatory menu and you will see options for setting controls universally in MAME, or specifically for the game you currently have loaded. Whatever you do here will be saved so you will not have to do it again next time you play.

 

If this works, start collecting roms and dumping them in the folder alongside asteroid.zip. No need for individual subfolders or unzipping. As mentioned, some games require “parent ROM’s” which can get confusing. For example, if you locate a ROM for Rush N Attack, it won’t work unless you also have the ROM for Green Beret. This is yet another reason why, IMO, it’s advisable to hunt down a full working ROM set so you don’t have to be bothered with such nonsense—you’ll know that all such dependencies are already accounted for.

 

There are a few other command line switches that might come into play depending on your specific situation (USB joysticks, trackballs, etc.), but start here and you can add the others as they are identified as necessary.

Edited January 2, 2013 by Cynicaster

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

MAME definitely has a learning curve and is a tad archaic in its “user friendliness quotient”, but still, I can never understand why some people find it so exasperating. There’s really not much to it at all.

 

I bet 90% of problems newbies see with MAME are a direct result of mismatched versions of MAME and the ROM’s.

 

100% AGREE !

[Mirage]

Yes, it has become more clumsy over time.

 

Really seems to me there are basic computer-use confusion issues going on here above and beyond the scope of MAME specifically, which is exacerbating the situation.

 

I love that word, exacerbating.

[Keatah]

This is where old-school computer skills come into play. The ability to use the command line, understanding shortcuts with options, understanding hierarchies of ini files. Which configurations take priority over others. Not only that, but knowing what each option does and how it interacts with other options is also important. Does enabling one option disable another? Which settings override which. How do mame configurations interact with your hardware drivers (sound, video, volume, resolution), and how do Windows' settings interact with both those, mame + your hardware.

 

For example, what happens if you have Both [D3D] and [DDraw] enabled? And do [screen_aspect] and [resolution] effect how either of those behaves? Or do they do nothing? Does [waitvsync], [tripplebuffer], [hwfilter], [hwstretch], [prescale], [keepaspect], [syncrefresh] affect any of the main graphics API's, DDraw & D3D? If so, how, and what options do nothing or cause only minor performance speedups and slowdowns. And in what combinations? On what size screen? To make it more complex, what about your monitor and graphics card settings outside of mame? And this doesn't even touch on HLSL post processing options.

 

And if you think this is all technobabble, just wait till you get into doing controllers! You're gonna love it 5 ways to heaven!

 

This is where thinking old-school style is golden. Keeping in mind that any specific knowledge from old-school reference manuals can't be used, of course not. But the thought processes required to gain the necessary understanding required to operate old systems is exactly the same for configuring mame, today. Perhaps things are a little more layered and there's "more" of it, but it's essentially identical nonetheless.

 

If you grew up with iOS-like devices and pretty interfaces that dumbed you down - expect to have a rough time tweaking mame precisely & exactly how you want it. And it is here that this, this, this.. This conundrum creates a cognitive dissonance. For all their sophistication and whizbang wizardry, modern computers are making you dumber. And it shows when you try to run mame.

Edited January 2, 2013 by Keatah

[Mirage]

I agree with everything Keatah said. But, MAME is not so complex that it requires a rocket scientist to use it or set it up, even though it's gotten worse over the years. Other than not having used it in the last year or so, I used it very frequently for many years prior to that. And no time in recent history have I ever needed to use the command line with any of the more recent GUI's for it. That's the whole point of the GUI. I think this is about having some basic computer skills and understanding, not anything complex.

 

Other than that, I think Keatah's last paragraph is so absolutely true. This why I am going to have my kid go through the paces of understanding command lines, the history of how computers and OS's evolved and so on. So he truly understands what is happening behind all the pretty icons.

 

But that aside, I think the OP has been given some good advice by some in this thread and can hopefully figure it out from there. Good luck!

[cybercylon]

100% AGREE !

 

Probably. Even with older versions of Mame circa 2002, rom sets were likely an issue, but perhaps Mame was more tolerant then. People were pretty much used to Mame32/Mac Mame which were close to plug and play. I poked at this last evening. For us Unix/OS X folks, it's SDLMame. Found a front end that wasn't too hard to figure out, and with some tinkering, got it to work. It was the tinkering part that I don't remember having to do too much of.

[atarilovesyou]

Roms? It isn't a ROM set. There isn't a single rom included in that archive, so there's nothing to 'jive' or to be missing (other than all of them). It is self-standing MAME32, you just add ROMs and go. Especially older roms should work fine with that. I checked it out, that archive of MAME32 was just fine.

 

Whoops, I'm mixing up different links. My bad!

[atarilovesyou]

I'm going to get started on this right away. I appreciate the patience you're all having with a noob like me! The last time I used a PC emulator was back in 99 with a SNES emulator. We had no issues back then, lol...although I don't think it required any knowledge of command line interface, and I can say I haven't touched any of that stuff since way back when. When?...well, I guess back when I was 'playing' Falcon 3.0 on my buddy's 486 circa 1994ish...lol.

 

The last time I honestly tried to mame it up was in 05...I had no luck then, but I was getting my gaming itch scratched using the Playstation2 collection of old school games. But I always wanted to get into mame.

 

I think that once I figure out all the info on this thread, I'll be good to go. The difficulty is definitely not with mame, of course (ok, it's frustrating to deal with all the details), and I'm a lot more used to my old XP based computer when it comes to using Windows. Thanks for all the help and patience.

[Keatah]

I've recently taken a seemingly backward & complex & unorthodox road to configuring mame. I use a separate command-line via Windows shortcut for each game. I'm now using the basic Windows Explorer as my front end. This gives (to me) a straightforward avenue to tweaking each game just so. And since I don't have 50,000 Yottabytes of ROMZ I can take the time to tweak each game to perfection.

 

I feel that doing mame this way makes good use of its primitive interface and allows for great customization, if tedious. Useful are the separate .ini files for each game, the .cfg files, and so on and so forth. Even different versions of mame itself and different directories all fall into place under such a scheme. Use of appropriate environment variables in my shortcuts gives me great portability too!

 

If I need to make global changes I can use a utility to span across multiple .ini files, but that's rare. And the multiple levels of configurations and ".ini file" priority mitigate even that. Maybe if I get a new computer that has funky graphics or something, then, maybe, special global editors would be needed.

 

Alas, this method is good if you jam to a handful of games. Not thousands. But once set-up, a single click lets you play to perfection, circumventing breakage from rom-name and mame-version changes.

 

I think I get much MUCH more enjoyment this way as opposed to doing thousands of games and making one master configuration to rule them all. Do whatever works 4 U.

[UberArcade]

Get a modded xbox 1 running coinops. There are usually some for sale in the Marketplace. I messed around with mame on pc's for years and hated it. My xbox setup is so much better.

[S1500]

MESS unfortunately has the same options that is a hassle to work with. Try changing the key assignments for rotating the direction buttons on the Atari Lynx. There's just a stackable key absorber, but no way to undo the keys to it. I eventually just gave up on it.

 

For MAME, the Options drop-down menu top has got to be the worst I've ever seen. How often do you need to change the colors on the icons? It's like trying to use a new TV remote each time.

[cybercylon]

Get a modded xbox 1 running coinops. There are usually some for sale in the Marketplace. I messed around with mame on pc's for years and hated it. My xbox setup is so much better.

 

Isn't the version of Mame for the Xbox 1 quite old? Would it even handle recent rom sets?

 

By recent... I mean ones that have been formated for the last several versions of Mame... not newer games.

Edited January 3, 2013 by cybercylon

[NE146]

Honestly I still think mame is still plug and play more or less.. especially something like MameUI where all "tweaking" aside, you just 1. unzip it 2. put roms in \ROMS subfolder 3. Launch the darn thing, find the game and play! That works for the most part.

 

If it doesn't then you just have wrong roms (i.e. in MameUI hit ALT-A to audit the game and see what's wrong/missing). As said before that's most people's problem. They simply don't know where's the best place to get current Mamesets or use an app like ClrMamePro.

Edited January 3, 2013 by NE146

[Rex Dart]

Isn't the version of Mame for the Xbox 1 quite old? Would it even handle recent rom sets?

 

By recent... I mean ones that have been formated for the last several versions of Mame... not newer games.

 

It's older, sure, but how recent of a ROM set would you need? At any rate, CoinOPS works beautifully, and has replaced standard MAME on the Xbox for me.

[atarilovesyou]

It's older, sure, but how recent of a ROM set would you need? At any rate, CoinOPS works beautifully, and has replaced standard MAME on the Xbox for me.

 

I was considering going the soft mod route with an old XBox, as that's the first time I could see the power of mame years ago. The only problem was that some of the roms were odd, including things like cabinet art, or the graphic window was really small. And sometimes the screen would randomly start rotating on the x axis, lol...could never figure that one out. But for sheer simplicity of setup, it was the way to go. The final nail in the plan was the X-Arcade...I noticed considerable lag with my PS2, and I've come to the conclusion that the lag will more or less be there for any device you plug in between the stick and the controller port. I've read all kinds of reports how there isn't any lag, yet on my PS2 there was so I sent back the adaptor and considered the Xbox adaptor. Finally, I said screw it and am going to go the PC route, with hopes of being able to the get the best overall experience with my X-Arcade.

 

If I only had some more experience, I'd like to dive off the deep end, getting a cabinet and wiring my own controls (the X-Aracade is ok for now, though). We'll see! I'll do some more tinkering today as I haven't been able to try again recently. Thanks once more!

[Hatta]

CoinOPs is MAME, just heavily modified. MAMEoX was using a super old version of mame, .84 or something. I think CoinOPs uses several versions of MAME internally, depending on what supports the game best. They've put a lot of work into making CoinOPs really nice on the Xbox, if you have one it's worth trying out.

[atarilovesyou]

So after a few days of tinkering (and a lot of help from you guys) I've got some MAME action going on. It's pretty huge, the amount of stuff you need to consider to get what you're looking for.

 

With regards to matching the version of mame to the roms, lets say I have mame 0.147 (which I do). It seems like there's a lot of sets out there, but whenever I google .147 specifically all I get is the emulator itself. I've had to really dig and it is pretty time consuming.

 

Let's say I wanted to play Shinobi. Is the only real option to download every Shinobi rom I can find, and hope that it'll work? I'm trying to stick with the versions that work and delete the rest, but now that I know that some roms don't 'work' without the presence of a parent rom, it seems that the only sure thing to do is download ALL versions, and once it works, then leave it alone, lol! And remember the oddly-titled name of the file to remember next time. I'm not using a GUI or anything and the main screen only shows me 15 randomly chosen roms. I have to remember what I have, which isn't always easy, lol.

 

And then I read about 'merging' or something to that effect, of all the roms of one game. Say those Shinobis: there's some way to get the program to 'squeeze' them all together so that I don't have twelve different Shinobi titles (ver B, C, 2.323, etc), I just have ONE "Shinobi" and I click and Bang, off to the races?

 

And what do you think of what this guy offers:

 

http://www.us-lazarus.com/rom-burner/sets/index.shtml

 

Any comments?

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

 

http://www.us-lazarus.com/rom-burner/sets/index.shtml

 

 

I have dealt with them and similar services, they are dependable and can save you time , bandwidth (that is a concern for me) and much frustration. Copy over to hard drive in your current setup and write over everything, audit your roms and good to go.

[atarilovesyou]

I have dealt with them and similar services, they are dependable and can save you time , bandwidth (that is a concern for me) and much frustration. Copy over to hard drive in your current setup and write over everything, audit your roms and good to go.

 

Sounds simple enough!...currently my mame version doesn't have an audit function, but from what I read on his site, these roms are pretty much guaranteed to work with this version of mame (another reason it seems the easiest route).