MAME 0.200 Released

[Tafoid]

MAME 0.200

 

Todays MAME release has two consecutive zeros in the version number! The only other time that happened was over twelve years ago! Although MAME version numbers are are just an incrementing number, by a series of coincidences, MAME 0.200 delivers several major changes. First of all, if youre building MAME with Microsoft Visual Studio (MSVC), youll need Visual Studio 2017. Weve dropped support for Visual Studio 2015. Starting this month, were building the official Windows binaries with GCC 7.3 this probably wont affect you (we still support building with GCC 5 and up). Were mirroring tagged releases at GitLab (source only) and SourceForge (source and binaries), so if for some reason youre unable to access GitHub, youll still be able to download official MAME releases.

 

MAME 0.200 includes replacements for the memory system and callback API. This will enable new functionality and make MAME development more straightforward. The artwork layout system has also had an overhaul which opens new possibilities. Weve tried our best not to break things, but if you do find something wrong, let us know at MAME Testers, or on our IRC channel #mame on the freenode network.

 

In arcade emulation this month, we have a number of new versions of supported titles, including a very rare prototype of Led Storm Rally 2011 and three more Street Fighter II': Champion Edition bootlegs. Dreamcast/NAOMI colours are greatly improved thanks to snickerbockers, and cam900 fixed some graphical effects in Gals Panic 3 and Billiard Academy Real Break. Enik Land improved emulation of the Sega Master System, Game Gear and Mega Drive VDPs, covering more corner cases.

 

The really exciting emulation improvements this month are on the computer side. There are lots of improvements for UK home computers, including better Camputers Lynx tape support (with lots of additions to the software list), re-worked Acorn System emulation, and support for Acorn Bus slot devices. Weve got a brand-new modernised Apple IIgs driver, with improvements in just about every area. Also, Wayder updated the Sharp 68000 software list, correcting and organising the entries and adding the latest clean dumps.

 

But even more exciting is the fact that, thanks to Patrick Mackinlays gargantuan effort and persistence, the CLIPPER-based InterPro 2000 workstation now works well enough to install and run CLIX (a UNIX operating system). As far as we know, this is a first for MAME. The improvements to SCSI, CD-ROM, and serial emulation also benefit other emulated computer systems. Instructions are on the MAMEdev wiki if you want to try it out.

 

As usual, you can get source and Windows binaries from the download page.

[80s_Atari_Guy]

Great they have got to 0.200. Still strange to see 0.200, since MAME is incredibly mature.

 

Is there a MAME that doesn't have MESS merged into in it ? And, no gambling games ?

[Trebor]

Is there a MAME that doesn't have MESS merged into in it ? And, no gambling games ?

 

Arcade

 

What's in it?

-Arcade games only

-NO mechanical games (pinball, crane games, etc)

-NO poker, fruit, slot or gambling games

-NO computers, consoles, terminals, appliances, etc

-NO games that display a black screen (skeleton drivers etc)

[JL]

I've been a MAME user since Summer 1997. Congrats to them on their efforts and milestone even if I still use .106 in my cab.

Edited July 27, 2018 by JL

[Petran79]

I've been a MAME user since Summer 1997. Congrats to them on their efforts and milestone even if I still use .106 in my cab.

I remember I had to use so many different emulators for every system back then.Now MAME has it all

[spacecadet]

Great they have got to 0.200. Still strange to see 0.200, since MAME is incredibly mature.

 

I still feel like it's pretty beta-ish. Ask someone with *no* experience to install and run it and they are going to be completely lost. I doubt they'll be able to figure out how to get most of it even working. I mean, I *still* can't figure out how to get the MESS stuff working, and I have been both using MAME since the very beginning (when it was 100% command line) and also was using MESS before it was integrated. But I cannot get any console games to work in MAME, and I have tried following the instructions I've seen here and elsewhere.

 

Its GUI is also just slow, clunky and ugly, unless this has changed now in .200. The fact that I still have to use a third party GUI for it to make it usable in 2018 is just kind of dumb.

 

Don't get me wrong - I've always thought the underlying technology in MAME is amazing, and it's a free program so I don't look a gift horse in the mouth. I just would have thought that in 20 years, there'd have been a little more progress on the UX side of things.

[mr_me]

If your on Windows, try mamui64. It has a great interface.

Remember most of the mess machines require bios rom files.

 

http://www.mameui.info/

(ignore the iv/play stuff)

Edited August 8, 2018 by mr_me

[negative1]

I remember I had to use so many different emulators for every system back then.Now MAME has it all

 

its very poor on the sega model 2, and 3 games.

 

i still use the m2, and super model emulators for those.

 

but yeah, for most other games, it has most of them.

 

later

-1

[Tanooki]

Looking at that dating that's probably about when I stopped using it was the last roll over. I think it was around that time they started getting really sloppy with continually renaming ROM sets so you'd have a small job before you each time it was updating basically having to toss everything out and go grab another set. I've seen the groaning online that's still the case, and when you get into it having all that unnecessary MESS fluff and big laserdisc (and other) type games it's a massive GB sized download to maintain it.

 

This hasn't changed has it?

 

At one point a couple years back it seemed that way still when I was hoping to just make a Neo cab copycat of the real thing I have on my computer. I could not track down all the MVS stuff exclusively and the download for the full set was insane so I backed off it. MAME has never been friendly with that or the UI in general if you have no idea how to approach it which probably is why it just hit 0.2 as it's very beta in style despite the 20 years it has been around.

[mr_me]

I've mentioned it before, I still use a .153 rom set with current mame, aside from a handfull of updated rom files. Rom sets don't include mess computer software or cartridge rom files. Rom sets are getting bigger because mame is emulating more arcade machines. Laserdisc and hard disk data are seperate from rom sets as well. Perhaps mame should never have bothered with a front-end ui at all, leaving it to third parties.

 

Mame is really good at maintaining the arcade side, fixing bugs quickly. But the home computer and console side is hit and miss. There's a lot of individuals involved and some projects seem stalled with old bugs not being addressed. You need to know which home computers/consoles are appropriate for mame and which aren't.

Edited August 10, 2018 by mr_me