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

[awace]

I scanned a bit of that and don't really see how it has any bearing on this topic? The multiple posts aren't necessary and the wall of text in the last one isn't going to get read by anyone. Please stop spamming the topic.

Actually thanks Sometimes my filter goes bad LOL I edited lame ones and left the informative ones BUt if you actually READ the posts instead of scaning them you wuold mabie learn someghing about MAME32 like you can add all the versions of a rom to a zip file and not need so many versions of mame but have all versions of the rom instead like i did with dkong I even put the samples in the dkong.zip witch works w all mame verions i have ..

Also you can check 16.99 and get fullscreen streach working.. Just Read the whole posts and look at the example pictures on how to inject samples and roms to existing sets and mabie if you were not so apt to snap and read the whole post you would know Im just trying to help..

[awace]

shortct path then this

 

"mame32.exe" -ctrlr X-Arcade

[TheGameCollector]

The Ouya/Android version of MAME is the easiest version of MAME I have seen. You don't even need the parent rom for an alternate grayed out version to work. So if I wanted to exclusively put US roms or Japanese roms on my list for a while I could do that whether they were used as MAME's defined parent rom for that game or not. Example: for Pac-Man they use the Japanese Puckman rom for the parent rom, but in the Ouya/Android version you could just stick the US version of Pacman zip on there with nothing else and it will work. Sometimes versions of roms from other mismatched MAME version sets will work too.

Edited December 23, 2013 by TheGameCollector

[TwinChargers]

I've used MAME in the past, but had all sorts of problems finding working ROMS with whatever version I was using. Now I just use http://www.retrouprising.com/. It has pretty much any game I'd like to play on the arcade side of things plus plenty others. Its got a nice score saving feature also so I can compete for high scores against other members. It works really slick, so I thought I'd give those of you a heads up if MAME keeps giving you issues.

[Kombalar]

Thanks for the tip TwinChargers. Best site I've tried because you can redefine keys for the games. That is a major issue with most JAVA-based sites. I mean... how are you going to play Asteroids with the arrow buttons. It's a blasphemy. In this one you can redefine them just like in MAME... press TAB ingame.

 

I love that site. Just registered there and clocked a few high scores.

Edited January 7, 2014 by Kombalar

[TwinChargers]

Thanks for the tip TwinChargers. Best site I've tried because you can redefine keys for the games. That is a major issue with most JAVA-based sites. I mean... how are you going to play Asteroids with the arrow buttons. It's a blasphemy. In this one you can redefine them just like in MAME... press TAB ingame.

 

I love that site. Just registered there and clocked a few high scores.

 

Hey, no prob. I just sent you a friend request over there. I really hope we can get a few Atari Agers over there to compete. I log in scores pretty regularly. Its a really great site I hope many more check it out.

[Kombalar]

I'm there man... addicted.

[Rex Dart]

...you can redefine keys for the games. That is a major issue with most JAVA-based sites. I mean... how are you going to play Asteroids with the arrow buttons.

 

You use a gamepad or joystick, of course....

[Kombalar]

You use a gamepad or joystick, of course....

Hey man... that could work with the console versions like 2600... but with the arcades... no way!!!! Atari 5-button system is sacred. There's no other way to enjoy these machines in their original glory, imho.

 

For keyboard this is the perfect combo:

 

Z=LEFT

X=RIGHT

-=THRUST

SPACE=SHIELD

RIGHT SHIFT=FIRE

 

[JL]

Hey man... that could work with the console versions like 2600... but with the arcades... no way!!!! Atari 5-button system is sacred. There's no other way to enjoy these machines in their original glory, imho.

 

For keyboard this is the perfect combo:

 

Z=LEFT

X=RIGHT

-=THRUST

SPACE=SHIELD

RIGHT SHIFT=FIRE

 

 

"-=thrust" was that a typo? "?=thrust" I think would be much better.

 

As for myself I customized an old Hotrod SE game pan,; converting to USB, changing from micro switches to leaf and adding a button for hyperspace. A lot more work overall than I described and after all that I still can't break 50K. In that respect nothing had changed since I was 7

Edited January 7, 2014 by JL

[Cynicaster]

I agree on the Asteroids controls. I don't have the exact setup on my cabinet to match the arcade layout, but I use player 1 buttons for rotate and player 2 buttons for the rest. It might sound hokey but I played Asteroids Deluxe on a real cabinet this summer and I was able to adapt right away because the "muscle memory" was already in place for each button. After getting so used to the arcade style controls, I'd sooner never play Asteroids again than play it with a joystick.

 

I've also done the reverse and played various ports of the game on my cabinet using the buttons only control layout. It's actually a blast... the 7800 version is probably my favorite.

[Rex Dart]

Hey man... that could work with the console versions like 2600... but with the arcades... no way!!!!

 

Shoot, good point. Like playing Tempest with anything but a spinner, or Defender with a 4-way stick. It's just wrong.

[Kombalar]

"-=thrust" was that a typo? "?=thrust" I think would be much better.

I have European keyboard. That might be different. My - button is left to RIGHT SHIFT.

 

But of course any right hand thrust button next to fire is ok. I think RIGHT SHIFT is perfect for fire. SPACE for shield of course (use with your right thumb like the real thing).

 

About the Atari 5-button system: It's the most precise controlling mechanism there is for these games. I wish they'd make more of them. I simply can't play them otherwise.

[rotarydialz]

 

Hey, no prob. I just sent you a friend request over there. I really hope we can get a few Atari Agers over there to compete. I log in scores pretty regularly. Its a really great site I hope many more check it out.

I'm new here. I tried retrouprising but alas, games will not load ...error...no luck. I do have MAME working on my computer and enjoy asteroids, asteroids deluxe and starcastle. I actually play more often at MindJolt. http://www.mindjolt.com/atari-asteroids-deluxe.html

[Nebulon]

Well, as I tell everyone who wants an easy MAME setup, simply go with:

MAME32 .035

The ROM Zip files go straight into the ROMs folder. Do not decompress the zips.

Then double-click the Mame32.exe file and you're good.

Click [Available] to see a list of games that are actually available to play.

Right-click a game and choose Properties to adjust its settings (resolution, sound, etc...)

In game:

TAB - to configure the game's keys

3 - add coin

1 - start

P - Pause

ESC - Quit back to menu

That's pretty much it.

I recommend an older machine like a Pentium II or PIII and Windows 2000 or XP. Some newer video cards will scramble the colors.

Lots of stuff comes up if you Google MAME32 .035

[JL]

I agree on the Asteroids controls. I don't have the exact setup on my cabinet to match the arcade layout, but I use player 1 buttons for rotate and player 2 buttons for the rest.

That is what I do. The only way to get exact would be original or custom panel.

[atarilovesyou]

I agree on the Asteroids controls. I don't have the exact setup on my cabinet to match the arcade layout, but I use player 1 buttons for rotate and player 2 buttons for the rest. It might sound hokey but I played Asteroids Deluxe on a real cabinet this summer and I was able to adapt right away because the "muscle memory" was already in place for each button. After getting so used to the arcade style controls, I'd sooner never play Asteroids again than play it with a joystick.

 

I've also done the reverse and played various ports of the game on my cabinet using the buttons only control layout. It's actually a blast... the 7800 version is probably my favorite.

 

Are you talking about customizing the XArcade controls, Cyn? It's kinda shameful but I still haven't bothered to figure out how to do that, as every time I try I screw it up

[Cynicaster]

Are you talking about customizing the XArcade controls, Cyn? It's kinda shameful but I still haven't bothered to figure out how to do that, as every time I try I screw it up

I wasn't talking about X-Arcade specifically, but the concept still applies.

 

No need to configure X-Arcade; all the configuration is done in MAME itself.

 

- Start up asteroids*

- hit tab to enter MAME config menu

- go down to "Input (this game)". This is where you go in to map controls specifically for the selected game (will not apply to others)

- go down to the various controls (e.g. rotate right, rotate left, etc.) and map them to whatever buttons you want**

- exit config menu

 

Once this is done once, you should not have to do it again.

 

* these changes will only apply to the specific romset you select, and there are multiple available for asteroids. So, make sure you either apply the changes to all of them, or always be sure to select the same one.

 

** the typical process for this is as follows:

 

- go down to the one you want to change, and notice that on the right side of the dialog box it shows what the current key mapping is.

- hit enter to indicate you'd like to re-map. The previous entry should disappear, as the software waits for you to select the new mapping. Press what you want it to be and it should appear in place of the old mapping. If you goof up, just hit the delete key and the mapping will clear.

- do this for all controls you want to change

 

 

I'd urge you to give it a try. It really is simple once you see how it works, and from there you can go and configure all of your favorite games to use control layouts that you find comfortable.

[atarilovesyou]

Thanks for the in-depth help, Cyn. I think my issue with the XArcade is that each of its buttons (joystick inputs, everything) corresponds to a keystroke on the keyboard. And I don't really know what's what, and the manual is...lol, you see my laziness! I've tried some quick setups, but for the XArcade at least, you have to know what the original config is (as I understand it). So I'd have to remap the 'left joystick' which corresponds to an unknown (for now) keystroke press, which then needs to be mapped to the new button on the XArcade (which presents the same 'problem'). From what I recall, it's not like I can open Asteroids, see that 'rotate left' option in the controls and just swap it to another button on the XArcade...or maybe I can?...all the times I've tried to wing it have come up fruitless, and then since I know I might unintentionally save something screwed up, I just hit 'exit' and carry on

 

But now I've gotta figure it out, out of spite Thanks again!

[Nebulon]

Thanks for the in-depth help, Cyn. I think my issue with the XArcade is that each of its buttons (joystick inputs, everything) corresponds to a keystroke on the keyboard.

I know that on my X-Arcade unit, there are 3 or 4 user-programmable 'slots' and a switch at the back for selecting the one you want to use. It's a bit tricky, because when you switch from one to another you need to press a button. For the dual-stick X-Arcade unit, I press the button to turn the red light off, set the switch to the position I want, and then press the button again. When the red light is on, you're ready to play. You can test out your results by loading Notepad (or some other text editor). You'll see the keyboard letters appear when you move the stick or press the buttons.

 

To simplify things, I grouped games into types.

 

So for all the top-down shooters, I assigned their keyboard keys to:

 

W = Up

A = Left

S = Down

D = Right

, = Button 2

. = Button 1

/ = Button 3

 

Then I went to the X-Arcade and programmed those keys into it and saved it to switch position 1.

 

Now I know that if I want to play a top-down or side-scrolling shooter, I just make sure the switch is set to the first position. This same configuration could also work for games that don't use as many buttons like Mr. Do, Galaga, Joust, Gauntlet, .... If it was Galaga, you'd just ignore Up, Down, Button 2, and Button 3. It would be the same switch position though.

 

 

Next I made a map for Robotron and Black Widow:

 

W,A,S,D for the left hand.

 

I,J,K,L for the right hand.

 

Then I programmed that into switch position 2.

 

 

etc...

[atarilovesyou]

That sounds a lot more like the process, Nebulon, thanks. I'd like to have a template, like you mentioned, for most categories of games, but as it turns out I'm usually only playing for a few minutes at a time and don't ever bother to do so. So that's not really the fault of the hardware or software, lol, just my unwillingness to do it

 

I wish there was a simpler way, in the method that you can remap most other controllers. Each MAME menu for controls has a full blown array of buttons, even though rarely do I play games with more than three buttons And even then, I like to map them out a little more like they were in the arcades (and sometimes to use the 'triangle' shape of the XArcades lower-left buttons).

[Nebulon]

That sounds a lot more like the process, Nebulon, thanks. I'd like to have a template, like you mentioned, for most categories of games, but as it turns out I'm usually only playing for a few minutes at a time and don't ever bother to do so. So that's not really the fault of the hardware or software, lol, just my unwillingness to do it

 

I wish there was a simpler way, in the method that you can remap most other controllers. Each MAME menu for controls has a full blown array of buttons, even though rarely do I play games with more than three buttons And even then, I like to map them out a little more like they were in the arcades (and sometimes to use the 'triangle' shape of the XArcades lower-left buttons).

You're most welcome. I hope it helps.

 

And I totally understand what you're saying about trying to map the buttons to match the original arcade layout.

 

I'm now using three PCs with different interfaces attached in a feeble attempt to do just that.

 

One computer uses a trackball and the keyboard together in an attempt to properly run Star Trek: The Strategic Operations Simulator. I had no choice but to get that one right, since my brother is a pro at that game and if I didn't map things correctly, he'd tell me about it.

[awace]

 

You use a gamepad or joystick, of course....

do it all the time mame asteroids -1024x768 -noscanlines -skip_disclaimer skip_gameinfo using a usb stick boot to pci soundblaster w dos and use arrow keys and control to fire .

easy pezy .. Also I play using ps3 stick for atari too track ball or on my arcade coin op arkanoid motherboard i use a sideways optical mouse and slide back and forth so i put the mouse sideways and it works i soldered the mouse to 5v+ gnd then picked off up or down on mouse on square chip so now arcade coin op mouse goes sideways but you can play better didnt know how hard it was til i got better..

so you can almost use a optical mouse for a trakball but wont work but trakball works also does a thumbmouse trakball works on birdi king II arcade board too works better than wico one does..

Success loaded SP2 on xp to Puniter Computer pIII celeron 533 Mhz 128M avast and apeshareware and sio to atari serial works now the computer hooks to a VGA to tv Tv view external puts onto tv from vga then i switch to input on aTARI after load file any file here will be in .txt format but just rename to .atr lol as this blog softeare restricts to txt files but rename them to .atr and it will work in real atari800 you can read and write too using emulator and put h1: as a dir on the harddrive with atari.exe files and load them into real atari and list h1: dir 1 directory w dos2

also if anyone wants fixdump internal atari file let me know you can modify hex decimal with it also dos dup writer with modem files too .

you can take donkey kong © Nintendo 1980 and can change it to say for example adamkong instead of nintendo in title it left you modify sectors by sector of information ..

init makes oss+ boots too

[Cynicaster]

Thanks for the in-depth help, Cyn. I think my issue with the XArcade is that each of its buttons (joystick inputs, everything) corresponds to a keystroke on the keyboard. And I don't really know what's what, and the manual is...lol, you see my laziness! I've tried some quick setups, but for the XArcade at least, you have to know what the original config is (as I understand it). So I'd have to remap the 'left joystick' which corresponds to an unknown (for now) keystroke press, which then needs to be mapped to the new button on the XArcade (which presents the same 'problem'). From what I recall, it's not like I can open Asteroids, see that 'rotate left' option in the controls and just swap it to another button on the XArcade...or maybe I can?...all the times I've tried to wing it have come up fruitless, and then since I know I might unintentionally save something screwed up, I just hit 'exit' and carry on

 

But now I've gotta figure it out, out of spite Thanks again!

Not sure how I missed this post, but are you still struggling with this issue?

 

The good news is, I think you’re making it out to be way more complicated than it is.

 

In the meantime, since my last post in this thread, I picked up an X-Arcade Tank Stick for a MAME rig in my garage. I was able to quickly copy my MAME configuration from my main MAME cabinet and tweak it to work with the X-Arcade.

 

As Nebulon mentioned, there is the capability to have 4 different configurations on the X-Arcade that are selectable by a switch, but I don’t know why anybody would bother with that or with reprogramming the X-Arcade encoder. I just leave the X-Arcade in its factory configuration and leave the switch in position #1, then program MAME to work accordingly.

 

To get things working, you don’t need to know what “keystrokes” are issued by the X-Arcade—you’ll see why in a minute.

 

I think the thing I neglected to mention in my last post is that the whole process works much easier if you also have an actual keyboard plugged into the computer along with the X-Arcade while you are setting things up, because the default MAME configuration uses “obvious” keystrokes for navigation of the menus (i.e., arrow keys to move around, ENTER to select, ESC to exit, etc.)

 

MAME allows you to configure what keys you want to use to navigate the menu system, so you can set it up in a way that lets you use your X-Arcade sticks and buttons to navigate the menus (note, this is completely independent of the game control mappings). At default MAME settings, the X-Arcade joysticks and buttons will not allow you to properly navigate MAME menus (at least, not in switch position #1), but all you have to do is use the connected keyboard to navigate to the “GUI controls” menu, and map them. At a high level, the process looks like this:

 

Enter MAME config menu (default for this is TAB key)

Use keyboard to navigate to “GUI controls” menu (note, this might not be the exact name, I’m going on memory here)

Go to the item you want to modify (for this exercise, let’s assume it’s “navigate up”)

Press enter on the keyboard [At this point, MAME is waiting for you to select what key press will be used to execute this function]

Go to your X-Arcade, and tap the joystick up.

 

Repeat for all directions. You’ll also need to re-map the “ENTER” and “ESC” keys to the X-Arcade. For these, I use the player-1 start button and left side “pinball flipper” button respectively. I also set it up so I can enter the MAME setup menu by pressing P1 Joystick Right + P1 Start. You don’t have to use that specific command, of course, but if you don’t somehow map this function to the X-Arcade, then you’ll need to connect your keyboard just so you can hit TAB any time you want to open the config menu.

 

Once all of this is done, you can use your X-Arcade joystick and buttons to navigate the menus, and can probably ditch the keyboard. As you can see, you don’t need to know what keystrokes the joystick issues—that all comes out in the wash, because you simply tell MAME “I want to map this function to my controller” then press the corresponding direction or button on the controller. The config gets saved, so you set it and forget it.

 

The same general principle works with configuring game controls. Assuming you’ve set up the GUI mappings as I mention above, you’d go into the config menu, go to one of the “controls” menus (there are two—described later), use your joystick to move up/down to the item you want to map (for example “Player 1 up”), press the P1 start button (because you mapped this to replace ENTER), then press the left joystick up to make the mapping. Repeat for all other relevant items. Once done, you press your left “pinball flipper” button to back out of the menus.

 

There are two ways to set controls—using a “master” configuration or a “game specific” configuration. You set one “master” control scheme that works as a default. I think this is called “controls (general)” in the MAME setup menu. These mappings will apply to all games unless you want something different for a specific game, in which case you load up that game, then go to the menu “controls (this game)” as I described in my previous post.

 

Keep in mind that you’ll also need to map functions such as P1 coin in, P2 coin in, pause game, etc. to the X-Arcade. Those two “extra” buttons that sit beneath the 6-button “Street Fighter” layout are convenient for this. I use the left one as pause game, and the right one as coin in, with an analogous setup for player 2.

 

With all this blathering on, it must seem complicated, but it really isn’t once you get into it and get a feel for how it works.