MAME that works on Windows 7

[Derek]

I asked this question back in June, and I appreciate the responses but coudn't make heads or tails of most of what people said I should try. So I'll ask for some help again now that we are back to freezing to death season and there is much time to tinker with computer things.

 

According to the main MAME website, each new version corrects problems and recognizes more and more roms. Have to disagree with that. I find just the opposite as I have tried completely wiping everything off my computer and trying another version only to have games that worked stop working. All I brought over from the old computer were the rom files and none of them work till I "Audit all games" then I get more or less the same results. Some of the games are suddenly missing files that are needed to run. Where did they go? Choosing to run as though my new machine is xp , that is 32 bit versus 64 in Windows 7,didn't help. All the vector games are the main problem. None of them work, same file that worked on the old xp machine. Right now I'm using MAMEUI32 0.154 (July 2014) and it recognizes 306 of the 458 roms that worked on the xp machine. That's a two year old version of MAME and is as close to being able to play all 458 games that I could get to work. None of the other 152 roms which are complete (as they worked on XP) will work on 7. "Fatal error: one or more of the required files are missing." Well, they aren't missing, the file works on the xp machine, which was only replaced as the integrated sound card stopped working. Yes, I could play the games with no sound, but why can't I play a version of MAME that works on Windows 7?

 

Or is there another emulator besides MAME that will recognize these rom files and let me play ms pac man like it was 1982 and I was 11 again?

 

Thanks in advance for any constructive thoughts!

 

 

[+Random Terrain]

You could always try playing online:

 

archive.org/details/internetarcade

[+HatNJ]

I mainly use MAME 32plus 0.83 June 7, 2004 with 2546 games that work if i find one that doesnt i Download from one of he mame sites

 

been working pretty solid for a 11 year old version on Win 7 64bit and Ms. Pac Man and other namco games from that era work and look great

 

[Andromeda Stardust]

I asked this question back in June, and I appreciate the responses but coudn't make heads or tails of most of what people said I should try. So I'll ask for some help again now that we are back to freezing to death season and there is much time to tinker with computer things.

 

According to the main MAME website, each new version corrects problems and recognizes more and more roms. Have to disagree with that. I find just the opposite as I have tried completely wiping everything off my computer and trying another version only to have games that worked stop working. All I brought over from the old computer were the rom files and none of them work till I "Audit all games" then I get more or less the same results. Some of the games are suddenly missing files that are needed to run. Where did they go? Choosing to run as though my new machine is xp , that is 32 bit versus 64 in Windows 7,didn't help. All the vector games are the main problem. None of them work, same file that worked on the old xp machine. Right now I'm using MAMEUI32 0.154 (July 2014) and it recognizes 306 of the 458 roms that worked on the xp machine. That's a two year old version of MAME and is as close to being able to play all 458 games that I could get to work. None of the other 152 roms which are complete (as they worked on XP) will work on 7. "Fatal error: one or more of the required files are missing." Well, they aren't missing, the file works on the xp machine, which was only replaced as the integrated sound card stopped working. Yes, I could play the games with no sound, but why can't I play a version of MAME that works on Windows 7?

 

Or is there another emulator besides MAME that will recognize these rom files and let me play ms pac man like it was 1982 and I was 11 again?

 

Thanks in advance for any constructive thoughts!

 

 

Older MAME ROMs don't work with newer MAME. Newer MAME ROMs don't work with older MAME. Doesn't help that there's a billion different versions of MAME and when browsing the usual online ROM repositories, it's a total crapshoot as to which MAME version the file you are downloading is compiled for. Worse yet, some MAME ROMs are dependent upon source data files that only exist in other MAME ROMs. For instance, if you download PACMAN.ZIP, you will find that files are missing. Without PUCKMAN.ZIP, Pacman will not operate correctly. Just cherry picking your favorite games may appear to be broken if they depend on files contained within other ROMs. So unless you download a "complete" set for your specific version of MAME, many games might not work due to missing files as a result of cross dependencies. It's a real clusterfuck.

 

Compare that to say the iNES ROM format that worked flawlessly in 1997 and still works today. Sorry if I sound cynical. There's really no excuse for breaking compatibility and requiring users to update their ROM collection with each new release. No other emulator program does this...

 

I'll also add that, once you get a working ROM set with a matching version of MAME, it is pure awesome sauce. I run MAME4ALL on Raspberry Pi with a full MAME v37b5 ROM set...

[ClassicGMR]

I'll also add that, once you get a working ROM set with a matching version of MAME, it is pure awesome sauce. I run MAME4ALL on Raspberry Pi with a full MAME v37b5 ROM set...

 

There's also no reason to keep trying to stay current if the version you're using plays the games you want. Unless you're insane the release that plays 2 new Japanese slot machines doesn't interest me in the least and not worth updating for. I think I stopped updating around 0.138 when I realized I'm just making myself nuts and alerting my cable company by downloading 40 GB of data.

 

As for compatibility with 7/8/10 I don't believe I ran into any issues at all. I've had the same set across all three OS and worked fine every time.

[Flojomojo]

In case it's not clear from the responses already here: you need to match your ROM set with the version of MAME you're running.

 

As others have said, the old versions have plenty of stuff to play, so you really need to worry less about compatibility with your OS and work on matching up your software.

[phoenixdownita]

I bit the bullet and let someone else do the work for me:

http://www.mamedvds.com/

 

The guy never replied to any of my emails, but once I paid I got my DVD relatively quickly (I believe 3 weeks) and they worked on the version of Mame they claimed to be compatible with.

I plan to buy another set in a few months (he updates the set pretty regularly as new versions of Mame come out) as it is not that nowadays they add very many new roms anyway.

[+Random Terrain]

I bit the bullet and let someone else do the work for me:

http://www.mamedvds.com/

 

The guy never replied to any of my emails, but once I paid I got my DVD relatively quickly (I believe 3 weeks) and they worked on the version of Mame they claimed to be compatible with.

I plan to buy another set in a few months (he updates the set pretty regularly as new versions of Mame come out) as it is not that nowadays they add very many new roms anyway.

 

I clicked on that link and got this:

 

 

 

 

[fujidude]

The requirement of matching a ROM set with the MAME versrion is very, very unfortunate I think. A ROM dump should be a ROM dump, and once done is done. The fact that it isn't suggests that the so called ROM dumps are not just ROM dumps, and instead include emulation software. The emulation software should be independent. Only in MAME and its ilk do I see this. You don't get a new version of Altirra and then have to hunt for some "matching" ATARIOSB.ROM, ATARIXL.ROM., or STARRAID.ROM.

 

But... what we may wish was true isn't. MAME has this unfortunate characteristic, and you need to be aware of it when upgrading etc.

[goldenegg]

The fact that it isn't suggests that the so called ROM dumps are not just ROM dumps, and instead include emulation software.

Absolutely not! It definitely doesn't suggest anything of the sort.

 

ROM dumps get updated over time for various reasons. It could be that older dumps aren't clean or it could be that new information came to light which requires ROMs be renamed. In cases where ROMs have simply been renamed, you can simply use programs like ClrMamePro to rebuild your set for the new release.

[Derek]

Thanks for your thoughts all. The problem isn't really new versions of MAME or updated roms, it is still the same problem I started with. XP is 32 bit and Windows 7 is 64. I realize you can ask your computer to pretend that it is running xp, and that should let the version of MAME and all the roms that worked, continue to work, but it doesn't. There will still be 150 roms that are now incomplete, which should work if I the machine is pretending to be running xp, but they don't.

 

It's a shame that MAME is the only thing that will even try to utilize the rom's. I'm sure that if there were other options that one could download then the MAME team would stop their foolishness that it is not meant to be a means of playing your favorite games, but a tool for understanding how the machines worked. Whatever. Nobody on the planet uses MAME to study how Asteroids was configured and analyze lines of code. 99.9% of us don't understand that in the least, we all just want to play the f@#$;ing games that make us feel like it is 1982 again.

[goldenegg]

The operating system has absolutely nothing to do with the problem you're experiencing. Errors about missing\incorrect ROMs is simply due to not having ROMs for the version of MAME you're running.

 

 

It's a shame that MAME is the only thing that will even try to utilize the rom's. I'm sure that if there were other options that one could download then the MAME team would stop their foolishness that it is not meant to be a means of playing your favorite games, but a tool for understanding how the machines worked. Whatever. Nobody on the planet uses MAME to study how Asteroids was configured and analyze lines of code. 99.9% of us don't understand that in the least, we all just want to play the f@#$;ing games that make us feel like it is 1982 again.

 

Ugh ... I'm so tired of this self entitled BS. Yes, MAME is used as an instructional and research tool by MANY people. Just because you don't use it that way doesn't mean that it only exists to pirate games.

 

Arcade games are a very different beast to emulate than consoles and computers. There ARE other arcade emulators and they all work the exact same way, requiring romsets that match with specific versions of the emulator.

Edited November 23, 2015 by goldenegg

[phoenixdownita]

 

I clicked on that link and got this:

 

 

 

mal.png

 

I have not seen that before.

I do not own the site nor make anything out of it, I do not know the owner either, I just bought a set in Feb and that was it and it went alright with no suspicious activity on my CC either.

[+wongojack]

I think I answered you back then too . . . I have the exact same answer now - learn to use CLRMAMEPro

 

Anyway, I read in Jackass Monthly that the ROMs have to match because MAME isn't emulating a single hardware platform. Unlike an emulator for a console, it is having to emulate a lot of different HW configs. That means the changes may be significant enough that the ROMs need to be modified when MAME is updated. An update to a console emulator can just read the same dump, but the MAME ROMs undoubtedly do have something else in them that helps MAME know what hardware platform to use for emulation.

 

Anyway Jackass Monthly is where I get a lot of my ideas about technology. I'd say its right at least 40% of the time.

[ZylonBane]

Arcade games are a very different beast to emulate than consoles and computers.

 

No, they really aren't. There are edge cases that utilize novel arcade-specific hardware, analog circuits, etc, but for 99% of cases it's just like emulating a game console. Lots of arcade games and home consoles even use the same chipsets.

[goldenegg]

 

No, they really aren't. There are edge cases that utilize novel arcade-specific hardware, analog circuits, etc, but for 99% of cases it's just like emulating a game console. Lots of arcade games and home consoles even use the same chipsets.

The main difference is in the games themselves. They're not contained on a single chip. Most game have multiple ROMs which must be dumped. These ROMs are named as they exist on the board and it must be hard coded in to the emulator as to how these ROMs must be loaded in order to play the game.

 

It's the challenge of managing these multiple ROMs per game which adds a level of complexity you don't have on consoles and computers.

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

Thanks for your thoughts all. The problem isn't really new versions of MAME or updated roms, it is still the same problem I started with. XP is 32 bit and Windows 7 is 64. I realize you can ask your computer to pretend that it is running xp, and that should let the version of MAME and all the roms that worked, continue to work, but it doesn't. There will still be 150 roms that are now incomplete, which should work if I the machine is pretending to be running xp, but they don't.

 

It's a shame that MAME is the only thing that will even try to utilize the rom's. I'm sure that if there were other options that one could download then the MAME team would stop their foolishness that it is not meant to be a means of playing your favorite games, but a tool for understanding how the machines worked. Whatever. Nobody on the planet uses MAME to study how Asteroids was configured and analyze lines of code. 99.9% of us don't understand that in the least, we all just want to play the f@#$;ing games that make us feel like it is 1982 again.

 

Sorry NOPE nothing to do with it! I run Windows 7 64bit, before that XP 32 bit, same MAME, frontend and ROM set. Any issue with incomplete ROMS is down to matching version of MAME and ROMSET, perhaps configuration etc.

[Andromeda Stardust]

The main difference is in the games themselves. They're not contained on a single chip. Most game have multiple ROMs which must be dumped. These ROMs are named as they exist on the board and it must be hard coded in to the emulator as to how these ROMs must be loaded in order to play the game.

 

It's the challenge of managing these multiple ROMs per game which adds a level of complexity you don't have on consoles and computers.

Most NES games have multiple ROMs and a multitude of mapper hardware and cartridge configurations. This is all solved by an iNES header that contains only 16 bytes of data.

 

MAME contains a ZIP archive format where each ZIP contains a selection of ROMs used within the hardware. The contents and CRC values of these ROMs do not change, so why the flipping hell does each new version of MAME require the ROMs contained in the ZIP archive to be reformatted and renamed? It's stupid.

 

Yes, I get that bad dumps are updated and fixed. I get that older versions of MAME required sample WAV files for certian sound effects because they analog circuitry reproducing the effects was not easily emulated in realtime, and ten years later those samples may be unnecessary. But a verified good dump of every ROM contained within Donkey Kong or Pacman in 1997 should still be a verified good dump in 2015, as the data contained within the ROMs has not changed. I really don't understand what the flipping deal is. The data within the ROM chips remains the same, yet every time a new release of MAME comes out, the entire freaking collection needs to be reformatted and updated. And this is only made worse by game ROMs which require files from other game's ZIP archives in order to run. For instance, PACMAN.ZIP won't run without PUCKMAN.ZIP. Better download everything to ensure you can play your favorite games...

 

This is what I don't understand. Is it so hard to contemplate that ROMs are permanent chunks of data that don't change over time?

[goldenegg]

Most NES games have multiple ROMs and a multitude of mapper hardware and cartridge configurations. This is all solved by an iNES header that contains only 16 bytes of data.

 

MAME contains a ZIP archive format where each ZIP contains a selection of ROMs used within the hardware. The contents and CRC values of these ROMs do not change, so why the flipping hell does each new version of MAME require the ROMs contained in the ZIP archive to be reformatted and renamed? It's stupid.

 

No, the NES case is not quite the same. Rather than getting in to more specifics here, I'd rather spend my time addressing a larger misconception which many people seem to have.

 

It is NOT the case that massive sweeping changes happen to the MAME romset for each release. It is also NOT the case that this happens on any regular basis. It is also NOT that case that changes to the romset requires new ROMs to be downloaded.

 

While it's true that earlier versions of MAME had more regular changes regarding their romset, that was simply due to the dev team figuring out the best way to manage arcade ROMs. Since that time, the ROMs change very infrequently. As previously mentioned, they mainly change when there's a discovered bad dump or the naming changes for one or more of the ROMs for the game.

 

Bad dumps aren't rare at all and don't only affect arcade games. Look at the No-Intro SNES set. For years, people thought we had a clean dump of all the games. It wasn't until Byuu, developer of BSNES, started finding issues that it was realized how bad the situation actually was. His response was to purchase every US release for the system and dump them himself. When differences were found, those ROMs were shared with the community. I believe somewhere in the range of 25% - 35% of all the ROMs previously considered good dumps were actually bad. In your Donkey Kong example, the data for that ROM has only be updated once in MAME. That was back in July 2001. Pac-Man hasn't had a change in data since Sept 1998.

 

I've attached a TXT file to this post. It contains a list of all ROMs that had data changes, along with what MAME release the change occurred in. You'll find that changes are much less common than you're making them out to be.

 

Renaming ROMs is the most common reason for changes in the romset. This occurs on older dumps where the person dumping the ROMs didn't collect appropriate information or they collected wrong information. It can also occur when new versions of a game are found, which contain additional or different chips. Naming is the piece that changed a lot in the earlier years, but that's been pretty much locked down for over a decade now.

 

The case of bad dumps is the only time when someone needs to download a new ROM for an updated release of MAME. When ROMs are renamed, you can easily rebuild the romset using a ROM manager like ClrMamePro. If the ROMs you're downloading aren't working right off the bat, blame the site you're downloading them from and learn to use a ROM manager.

 

The bottom line is that ROMs for games fully supported in MAME are pretty much static. They don't change from one release to another unless something bad is found about them. Too many people are trying to rely on romsets from releases when things were massively in flux. Of course those aren't going to work today. Get yourself a set that's been released in the past few years and you'll find that 99% of the popular retro arcade games you're interested in will work.

 

 

And this is only made worse by game ROMs which require files from other game's ZIP archives in order to run. For instance, PACMAN.ZIP won't run without PUCKMAN.ZIP. Better download everything to ensure you can play your favorite games...

 

Again, blame the site you're downloading the ROMs from, not MAME. MAME supports two different types of romsets: split and merged. What you're describing is a split set, where separate ZIP files are used for child ROMs. What you want is a merged set, where parent and child ROMs are contained in a single ZIP file.

ROMupdates.txt

Edited November 24, 2015 by goldenegg

[fujidude]

I think it is a very valid criticism of MAME the way the ROMS have been handled. For one, PACMAN shouldn't have a dependency in PUCKMAN. Both ROMS should have the needed information. Redundancy is better than dependencies. There is more than one reason for that. The first reason is that one may wish to only collect a few certain specific ROMs and not wish to deal with the hassle and research of collecting others just to make the one(s) they want work. Perhaps MAME having it's roots in a time when data storage was more precious than it is today is the root of this poor decision. But IMHO, it was a poor decision even at that time, and now it is galactically stupid (ode to "A Few Good Men"). Another reason is that, supposedly to be 100% assuredly legal, one must only use ROMS for which they have the original machine for. Well, if you own a Pac Man machine, but not a Puck Man one, what are you to do if you really want to be 100% legit like the MAME project pretends to want everyone to be? And a third reason is that it just makes things more complicated than they need be.

 

Now, on to the complaint about having to reformat the ROMS, even if the actual contents don't change. Well, that's kind of dumb. It is said to just use this wonderful tool "ClrMAMEPro". If that tool can examine a ROM that would still work, but for the need to reformat it, and then make it work with the latest MAME.. then why the hell can't MAME itself do the same damn thing? I believe it should. I have never heard of this tool before, and I doubt it was around back when I first got into MAME around the turn of the millenium. This ROM crap turned me off so badly that I pretty much quit MAME. I really haven't heard a good reason not to make MAME so that it only requires people get ROMS that have actually been updated. I wouldn't have minded that so much. That is totally reasonable. Now that such a tool exists, I might give things a try some more.

Edited November 24, 2015 by fujidude

[goldenegg]

I think it is a very valid criticism of MAME the way the ROMS have been handled. For one, PACMAN shouldn't have a dependency in PUCKMAN. Both ROMS should have the needed information. Redundancy is better than dependencies. There is more than one reason for that. The first reason is that one may wish to only collect a few certain specific ROMs and not wish to deal with the hassle and research of collecting others just to make the one(s) they want work. Perhaps MAME having it's roots in a time when data storage was more precious than it is today is the root of this poor decision. But IMHO, it was a poor decision even at that time, and now it is galactically stupid (ode to "A Few Good Men").

 

Did you bother to read what I wrote above?

 

Dependencies only exist in split sets. Don't want to have files dependent on one another? Use merged sets. It's really not that difficult. You also have the ability to create split sets without dependencies, where child ROMs contain all parent ROMs as well. Again, people need to stop blaming MAME for the way illegal ROM sites post their files.

 

 

Another reason is that, supposedly to be 100% assuredly legal, one must only use ROMS for which they have the original machine for. Well, if you own a Pac Man machine, but not a Puck Man one, what are you to do if you really want to be 100% legit like the MAME project pretends to want everyone to be? And a third reason is that it just makes things more complicated than they need be.

 

 

 

If you did dump your own ROMs, you wouldn't have any dependency issues as you'd have all the required data. Simply tell MAME to load your ROM with the appropriate driver and you're good to go.

 

 

BTW, ROM managers like ClrMamePro have been around for 15+ years.

 

Bottom line, the easiest way to get MAME up and running is to get the latest romset from one of the few 'official' sources and download the appropriate version of MAME. If you want to get the most out of MAME, spend some time to learn the hows and whys about its functionality. Understand that there's a lot of VERY talented people working on the MAME project and they're not out to make your lives difficult. There are very good reasons for the way things are and why pretty much every other arcade emulator works the exact same way.

Edited November 24, 2015 by goldenegg

[Vaughan]

My 2 cents.

 

As others have said, it doesn't always pay to have the latest and greatest. If you have all the games you want, why change anything?

 

Basically I have two complete sets of ROMS. A version for .149, and a version for .160. I have mulitple front ends installed, one for each set of ROMS.

 

My folder structure goes like this: I have a folder called MAME. Under that I have three folders. MAME149, which contains a frontend for .149, MAME160 which has a frontend for .160, and MAME FOLDERS.

 

MAME FOLDERS contains all the frontend folders that can be shared among different front ends - such as ARTWORK, BEZEL, HI, HLSL etc.

 

Then I have a ROMS folder, which contains a 149 folder, and a 160 folder.

 

When installing a new front end, I just point it to use the shared folders and it works.

 

This has made it very easy to grab new things, and to do it without breaking what i had before. In truth I could delete all the 149 stuff, but I leave it there as a sort of backup. I even had all the CHD files once, but decided they weren't worth keeping.

 

I got all the 160 roms from a torrent - 32 GB or so.

[fujidude]

 

Did you bother to read what I wrote above?

 

Dependencies only exist in split sets. Don't want to have files dependent on one another? Use merged sets. It's really not that difficult. You also have the ability to create split sets without dependencies, where child ROMs contain all parent ROMs as well. Again, people need to stop blaming MAME for the way illegal ROM sites post their files.

 

 

I did read. Perhaps you lack some imagination. Maybe I think it's best if a person can just download the ROM for a particular machine/game without having to deal with unmerged vs. merged, one "version" vs. another (except of course in the relatively few cases where it it actually is different), etc. And just because a person might own a particular arcade machine/game, doesn't mean they have the tools or skill to properly "dump" it for use with MAME. So that shoots a hole in your "can dump it yourself" argument. And I say again, if a tool can make sense of an older formatted ROM and make it so it can work with MAME, then it is reasonable that MAME itself could do so as well (yet doesn't). It's fair criticism, despite your apparent desperate need to defend it.

Edited November 24, 2015 by fujidude

[goldenegg]

And just because a person might own a particular arcade machine/game, doesn't mean they have the tools or skill to properly "dump" it for use with MAME.

 

 

You're implying that someone who owns a cabinet is also entitled to play that game through MAME. They're not. There's no reason anyone should be spoon fed, simply because they're not willing to make the effort. All the information is available should someone want to learn. It should also be noted that owning a cabinet does not mean you're legally allowed to download and use a ROM from the internet.

 

You can have opinions about how you'd like things to work, but it's absolutely ignorant to ignore that things work certain ways for a reason. I've worked on MAME and within the MAME community for over 20 years now and I can't even count the number of times I've had this discussion. It's probably time I learned to just let people complain.

Edited November 24, 2015 by goldenegg

[fujidude]

You're implying that someone who owns a cabinet is also entitled to play that game through MAME. They're not. There's no reason anyone should be spoon fed, simply because they're not willing to make the effort. All the information is available should someone want to learn. It should also be noted that owning a cabinet does not mean you're legally allowed to download and use a ROM from the internet.

 

You can have opinions about how you'd like things to work, but it's absolutely ignorant to ignore that things work certain ways for a reason. I've worked on MAME and within the MAME community for over 20 years now and I can't even count the number of times I've had this discussion. It's probably time I learned to just let people complain.

 

No, it's not really me that implying it. That idea has been put forward a LOT, and I'm more or less going along with it. It seems to make sense, but I'm no copyright lawyer for sure, so I'll stipulate to that. However, it was you yourself who brought forward the argument of dumping your own ROMs as a way to have all that is needed to run a particular game under MAME. So I say to you, whatever scenarios you envisioned where someone dumps their own ROMs, my counter argument that is not always valid due to lack of tools or skill still stands.

 

And you still haven't really addressed the point that if a software tool can make sense of an older formatted ROM for use with a newer version of MAME, then MAME itself should also be able to do that. I perceived that you may have addressed it similarly to the way you addressed those who may be unable to dump their own ROMs; that is that basically too bad & so sad for them, and that you see what I see as quality and usefulness, as "spoon feeding." That says something about you I think. To me that suggests someone who is probably technically skilled, but not particularly big on seeing average user experience as very important. If that's true, then yes, we have a difference in philosophy there. That doesn't make either of us right or wrong, or good or bad. I appreciate that there is a MAME project. I appreciate that you may have contributed to it (sounds like you have). I think it all deserves a ton of praise. But that doesn't mean I think the way ROMs and new revisions of the software couldn't be handled better than they have been.