MAME for newbies...info?

[atarilovesyou]

Where's a good place to start in the wonderful world of MAME?...I've done some googling, but there's a LOT of stuff out there. What are the basics?

 

I've used NES emulators years ago, I recall you had to download the player and then find the ROMS....is this similar to MAME?...please, anybody who can help me out, let me know! Do I have to buy anything?..do I have to worry about viruses similar to music downloading? Anything else? Thanks!

[Flojomojo]

http://www.mame.net/mamefaq.html

[jay2068]

www.arcadecontrols.com is good for arcade building but it has a great forum on running MAME and MAME front-ends.

 

Torrent site is torrent.mametitles.co.uk They have everything emulation. The entire MAME rom set is arounf 11 Gigs.

 

Also not sure if this is allowed in the forums here. So delete my post if need be.

[atarilovesyou]

..and I don't know about the legality of it all either, if I'm outta line, for sure delete the post. Just looking for info!

[Lord Helmet]

MAME in itself is legal, but like the NES emulators you use, haveng a rom for any game you don't own is illegal.

 

I'm sure you knew that already though

[maibock]

www.arcadecontrols.com is good for arcade building but it has a great forum on running MAME and MAME front-ends.

 

Torrent site is torrent.mametitles.co.uk  They have everything emulation. The entire MAME rom set is arounf 11 Gigs.

 

Also not sure if this is allowed in the forums here. So delete my post if need be.

964895[/snapback]

 

 

Thanks for the link - this winter, one of my employees and I are building MAME cabs from scratch. We can use all the help we can get being the first either of us have built. Any other handy links by chance?

[+remowilliams]

Torrent site is torrent.mametitles.co.uk  They have everything emulation. The entire MAME rom set is arounf 11 Gigs.

964895[/snapback]

Actually a "full" set is around 46 gigs at the moment.

 

Oh and MAME cabinets RULE!

[Ze_ro]

Well, it's around 11 GB or so if you leave out the CHD files. You need a top of the line PC to even consider playing most of the CHD games anyways, so leaving them out is understandable. My entire MAME 0.101 collection (including samples, marquees and etc) totals around 46 GB though.

 

--Zero

[Mindfield]

Easiest primer out there:

 

http://www.mameworld.net/easyemu/

 

Click on "MAME" in the left-hand nav bar. It'll take you through everything you need or want to know about getting started with MAME (and MAME32).

[jay2068]

Yeah 11 GB torrent will get you the core ROMS and be more than plenty to play

[atarilovesyou]

So my 150 gig hard drive at 3.0 GHz won't cut it?...I didn't really buy it for gaming, in fact, just music and such, so it doesn't have a sweet video card. Any hope?

[Tempest]

www.arcadecontrols.com is good for arcade building but it has a great forum on running MAME and MAME front-ends.

 

Torrent site is torrent.mametitles.co.uk  They have everything emulation. The entire MAME rom set is arounf 11 Gigs.

 

Also not sure if this is allowed in the forums here. So delete my post if need be.

964895[/snapback]

 

It keeps telling me that I am not permitted to view torrents...

 

Tempest

[jay2068]

www.arcadecontrols.com is good for arcade building but it has a great forum on running MAME and MAME front-ends.

 

Torrent site is torrent.mametitles.co.uk  They have everything emulation. The entire MAME rom set is arounf 11 Gigs.

 

Also not sure if this is allowed in the forums here. So delete my post if need be.

964895[/snapback]

 

It keeps telling me that I am not permitted to view torrents...

 

Tempest

965657[/snapback]

 

 

You have to register as a member.

 

And it's a ratio site. That means if you download 1GB you should upload greater than 1GB. If you use torrent sites you should know how it works. Read there FAQ page.

[Ze_ro]

That torrent site is a little difficult... the ratio is hard to get, since any worthwhile torrent ends up with over 50 seeds there, pretty much guaranteeing that your upload rate will be basically zero. Once you start the torrent, you'd best leave it open for a good month of uploading or so, otherwise you'll be at risk of being banned from future torrents there.

 

I used this torrent after my hard drive crashed and it worked great, but then I got banned from it... so I just get my updates from the newsgroups now.

 

--Zero

[Flojomojo]

Not if you've got a fat pipe for an upload.

[jay2068]

Yep! I have a decent ratio there 1.01 (ok it's not decent but it works!).

 

Yes I made the mistake of downloading the MAME torrents a few diffrent times and with 50 plus people sharring it you don't get much upload ratio. Just keep them open for as long as you can.

 

ANd I get most of my stuff from newsgroups too. There will always be more than one way to skin a cat...

[Blackjack]

So my 150 gig hard drive at 3.0 GHz won't cut it?...I didn't really buy it for gaming, in fact, just music and such, so it doesn't have a sweet video card.  Any hope?

965650[/snapback]

 

 

Don't worry about your video card, having a powerful one makes no difference in Mame, it's all about cpu power.

[Tempest]

I have a pretty decent rom set, but I'm not sure how complete it is. I've tried using those auditing tools in MAME 32, but they're confusing at best. Is there some tool that will tell me which games I'm missing and not all the individual roms?

 

Tempest

[dgo]

I have a pretty decent rom set, but I'm not sure how complete it is.  I've tried using those auditing tools in MAME 32, but they're confusing at best.  Is there some tool that will tell me which games I'm missing and not all the individual roms?

 

Tempest

965835[/snapback]

 

Clrmamepro will tell you exactly which romsets you have or not AND i've they

are complete compared to the mame version you're using. The most complete rom manager by far (and not only for mame as it works with DAT files available for loads of

sets)

But yes, it can't be confusing at first. But there's some FAQ for that though.

 

 

Regards,

 

dgo

[Flojomojo]

I have a pretty decent rom set, but I'm not sure how complete it is.  I've tried using those auditing tools in MAME 32, but they're confusing at best.  Is there some tool that will tell me which games I'm missing and not all the individual roms?

 

Tempest

965835[/snapback]

 

Clrmamepro will tell you exactly which romsets you have or not AND i've they

are complete compared to the mame version you're using. The most complete rom manager by far (and not only for mame as it works with DAT files available for loads of

sets)

But yes, it can't be confusing at first. But there's some FAQ for that though.

966503[/snapback]

The nice thing about grabbing a full set: when there's an update that only changes a few MB worth of files, you can run Clrmamepro and torrentzip on your existing set, rejoin the torrent at 99%, and up your ratio quickly and easily. Unfortunately it can be clunky and complicated to validate your current set, but there's a FAQ at the pleasuredome torrent site about that.

[atarilovesyou]

..hmmm, sounds complicated. Seriously!

[bcostin]

..hmmm, sounds complicated.  Seriously!

966813[/snapback]

 

Yes, it is complicated to get started. After that it just becomes tedious. The good news is that you don't really need to keep up with MAME releases unless there's something new or improved that matters to you. Of course, you may miss that thrill of discovering a newly supported game you've never played before.

 

You can also find reputable people online who will send you a full MAME set burned on DVD. Selling MAME itself or ROM sets is verboten, but most traders only charge for media and nominal shipping costs. It's been a while since I bought a set so I have no recommenations, but perhaps someone else will.

[Smiley]

I've been trying to run simpsons' arcade game through a final burn mame emulator with no success...Whenever I try to load the game, it says that it can't find it..and I did what the readme says: it says to put the unzip of the rom in the roms folder and then play...doesn't work...

[Quadhorn]

Using MAME itself shouldn't be that difficult; aside from grabbing MAME itself, there are a number of front-ends that provide you with easy-to-use interfaces for the OS of your choice. I have a personal like of EmuLoader (not that I've checked every front-end out there). It provides a simple filter-able list of all ROMs I have, a one-click ROM check and starting a game is as simple as double-clicking on it's line in the list. Most other decent front-ends are along the same lines. For those building MAME-cabinets there are other front-ends designed specifically for this; typically they use a button combo to allow you access to the MAME/front-end menus using the game controller (e.g. holding P1start, then the rest of the buttons access the menus), rather than having to include a keyboard, extra buton panel or other non-arcade controller for that purpose.

 

Btw, there's a fair sized community for building MAME cabinets, including cocktail tables. There are companies that sell complete MAME systems and those that sell kits for you to build one with minimal effort. Personally I'm intending to build my own Fablon and black vinyl cocktail table monstrosity when I have the time and money; for custom projects it's not that difficult to get hold of existing designs and mod them as required. "arcadecontrols.com" should set you in the right direction, with resources and links to example projects.

[Dones]

..hmmm, sounds complicated.  Seriously!

Yes configuring MAME is complicated. People who are not patient and proficient enough with computers will have trouble getting it running. At least the user needs to know how to handle compressed files. Those looking to use mame's artwork, other supplemental files, or setting up custom joysticks need to read the docs and be comfortable opening up text files. Auditing your roms falls entirely on the advance side IMO. Knowing to work the command line from Windows dos window also helps. For many guys here this stuff is second nature but there is always someone who isn't exactly a computer nerd.