Upcoming Changes in MAME

[Stiletto]

Upcoming Changes in MAME

 

We’re well on our way through the current development cycle, and MAME 0.237 is going to have some significant changes, not just in terms of emulation, but in the user interface and debugger. Don’t worry, no functionality has been removed. In fact, we’ve added several features. It just might take a little while to adjust to the differences.

 

First of all, we’ve added support for localised system name files, as used by front-ends like Retrofire, MxUI and MAME Plus! Popular files include mame32j.lst (Japanese) and mame_cn.lst (Chinese). You’ll be able to put your preferred system name file in the DATs (or “history”) folder, and select it in MAME’s UI customisation settings menu. UI localisation support is more complete, and MAME 0.237 will include high-quality Chinese and Greek translations, thanks to YuiFAN and BraiNKilleRGR.

 

Mouse/trackball navigation has been improved (you can even click DIP switches to toggle them), and the system and software selection menus have been tweaked to include more information and make better use of space.

 

Lots of debugger commands have been enhanced to work better with newer memory system features. We’ve also updated and expanded the debugger documentation, both on our web site and for the built-in help command.

 

If you’re compiling MAME yourself, Python 2.7 will no longer be supported: compiling MAME now requires Python 3.2 or later (this won’t affect you if you just use MAME, Python isn’t required to run MAME). Most operating systems have included Python 3 for years, and our MSYS64/MinGW build tools for Windows already include Python 3.8 – as long as you have a python3 command, you should be good to go.

 

Read on for a more complete list of changes:
https://www.mamedev.org/?p=505#readmore 

Edited October 20, 2021 by Stiletto

[Mik's Arcade]

I just want to come in here and personally thank you and everyone else who works on MAME.

 

I am reliving my childhood thanks to MAME.  I'll never forget the day of putting my first quarter into a space invaders machine, and I cannot believe all the games I have missed from those days, or just missed out on completely, since I discovered MAME.

 

Yes, I am that old...I was 11 during the golden age of the arcades.  Great times and I'm having just as much fun now in my 50's.

[Keatah]

Indeed. There was span of time when these classic arcade games were deemed lost and long forgotten. But with the inception of MAME in the 1990's that began changing one game at a time.