TI-GAMER Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 (edited) Hello, I am just getting back into MAME with an absence of almost 7 years and I am finding a heck of a time getting recommendations for the Best FrontEnd that is currently available on a Windows machine. Do you have any advice or recommendations on which Graphical Front End is the preferred or in your opinion the Best out there at the moment for a Dedicated Windows Machine that its sole purpose is setup in an Arcade Cabinet to only play Arcade Games? Thanks Edited June 2, 2015 by TI-GAMER Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenixdownita Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 (edited) MAME 0.162 just came out and with it the unification MAME/MESS so that could change the balance and how front ends will evolve. Some will keep Arcade only, some will keep Computers only, some will start having both ... it will be interesting .... some "arcade" cabinets will eventually have to integrate a keyboard (or allow a BT one) for the "occasional" home computer game Edited June 2, 2015 by phoenixdownita Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectorGamer Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 Kymaera is the only one I use. It's quick and easy to setup and you can make it look as pretty or dull as you like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TI-GAMER Posted June 2, 2015 Author Share Posted June 2, 2015 Kymaera is the only one I use. It's quick and easy to setup and you can make it look as pretty or dull as you like. Thanks for the advice. I will check it out and see if I like it. I had a few people tell me to try the HYPERSPIN FrontEnd also. Are you familiar with it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectorGamer Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 Thanks for the advice. I will check it out and see if I like it. I had a few people tell me to try the HYPERSPIN FrontEnd also. Are you familiar with it? The name doesn't sound familiar. I tried a handful of front ends by doing installs on my laptop and by the time I got to Kymaera I found it super easy to configure. I have Kymaera running on 3 MAME cabinets and I did a quick and dirty install where the front end just displays a text listing of the games available. You can get fancy with it and add artwork but that was just overkill for me. I wanted something to get me up and running fast so I could get to the important stuff: gaming. Here's the link: http://kymaera.sourceforge.net/ And if you look at the screenshots you can see what it is capable of. But, just to have a text listing was good enough for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TI-GAMER Posted June 2, 2015 Author Share Posted June 2, 2015 From the looks of it, Kymaera has not been updated for 10+ years. Does it work fine with current versions of Mame? It does look easy to use and I do like the fact that you can get a little detailed with graphics and etc. yet keeping it simple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectorGamer Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 From the looks of it, Kymaera has not been updated for 10+ years. Does it work fine with current versions of Mame? It does look easy to use and I do like the fact that you can get a little detailed with graphics and etc. yet keeping it simple. I can only tell you that I use Kymaera with a real old version of MAME (I run it because it lacks the nag screens found in newer versions of MAME) and with WolfMAME .106 that TG standardized on and it runs like a champ. I would just say try it out and see what happens. You won't spend much time testing it because it's easy to get up and running. Refer to the documentation but the gist of it is you point it to your MAME exe and dirs then you import a file that runs against the ROMs you have installed to create the game listing. I think generating the game listing is probably the make or break factor for you. All the games I run are older than dirt so it's not a problem for me. I don't know that it matters how new your MAME is as it appears to just launch an exe. So, if you try it let me know how you make out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 Hyperspin is awesome.. but prepare for a lot of work to make it "nice" unless you download a pre-configured set (which I did and it comes out to over 200+ gigs rar'd). That said.. if you're just looking for a simple front end, isn't MameUI (formerly known as Mame32) still around?? Did you not like that one? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 ok I see it's still around: http://www.mameui.info/ And I see they also have a regular front end known as "IV/Play" which is a front-end for command-line mame. I would imagine that could also work on older versions as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vaughan Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 Not easy for me. I use a PC, but it's not dedicated. To an extent all frontends are the same, so you're just down to cosmetic issues. However, there are two features I consider a just - an AUTOFIRE option (I'm too old for button mashing!) and Video FX, which smooth out graphics visually. I have tried MESS half a dozen times, and have yet to be able to get it to do anything. So - for me it's down to MAMEUI and IV/PLAY. MAMEUI doesn't have the video FX, but has autofire. IV/PLAY has both video FX and autofire - but the interface hates the XBox controller I use (random scrolling in the selection screen). I have appraised the games I play and it turns out I could be using MAME .95. But I really only play the early games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crispux3 Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 I use Mala. You can check it out at Malafe.net. I just got started into MAME/MESS and am building a cabinet. I use GroovyUME v 0.155 and Mala works fine with it. If you have decent photoshop/illustrator skills, it is also very easy to customize the look of the frontend to your liking. Over at build your own arcade controls forums, it seems to me that if users are not using hyperspin, they're using mala. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 The best front end is a good kick in the rear end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fujidude Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 The one I like the best that is multi-platform is QMC2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldenegg Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 The one I like the best that is multi-platform is QMC2. If all goes as planned, we'll be posting a new version tomorrow to accompany the release of MAME 0.163. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fujidude Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 If all goes as planned, we'll be posting a new version tomorrow to accompany the release of MAME 0.163. Are you part of the QMC2 project then? If so in what capacity? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldenegg Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 (edited) Are you part of the QMC2 project then? If so in what capacity? Yes. I'm responsible for the OS X builds. QMC2 0.53 was released this afternoon. Source code is immediately available and binaries will be posted on the main site (http://qmc2.arcadehits.net) shortly. As always, OS X binaries can be obtained from my web server - http://goldensdomain.com/qmc2 Edited June 24, 2015 by goldenegg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fujidude Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 Cool. So far I have used QMC2 on Linux only. I might try the Windows version yet, but do not have a Mac. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snstay Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 If you are just setting up mame hyperspin is the way to go. And its not that difficult at all. Best looking front end out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.