Tell me about your MAME setup

[kamiboy]

I have my USB encoder in Milan withheld by customs by more than a week by now. I know how you feel, just be patient.

I cannot believe that the package is still missing in action. It has been 25 days since it was shipped. I am pretty certain it has been lost in the system.

In any regard, while I wait I want to clarify one thing regarding the ArcadeVGA. It was suggested that one could just buy the original ATI card it is sourced from and flash its firmware.

But two different Radeon models were mentioned, HD5450 and HD4350. From their model number they seem to be a generation apart. So which one is it, the 5450 or 4350, or will they work with Atom?

[Thamiel]

Pretty sure Calamity's drivers support up to the hd 4000 series on win 7.

[donluca]

I discourage you from flashing the AVGA bios.

Really, just get an HD4350 (or whatever card you can find for cheap, just make sure it's a HD4xxx series), flash it with ATOM15 to get the boot at 15Khz and then use crt_emudriver. If you use AVGA you are stuck with the resolutions they put in IIRC, instead with crt_emudriver you can use up to 200 custom resolutions.

[kamiboy]

By flash firmware I was talking about Atom, so I'll go with a 4xxx then.

[kamiboy]

Looks like there is a cheap 5450 for sale locally. Am I wrong in assuming that the HD5xxx series can also be flashed with Atom15?

[donluca]

HD5xxx series is not supported by crt_emudriver.

Refer to this: http://geedorah.com/eiusdemmodi/forum/v ... .php?id=65

[kamiboy]

After 4 weeks of waiting I finally gave up on that part from china arriving and ordered an alternative from somewhere right here in Europe. In what I can only call a weekend miracle the part arrived in my postbox in a record 3 days, just in time for the weekend.

I quickly confirmed, to my infinite delight, that the motherboard, PSU and CPU that I had salvaged from the e-rubbish bin were in full working order. We are talking about an AMD SEMPRON 145 2.8ghz anno 2010-ish. Ah, the perfectly healthy electronics people toss out, gods bless them.

I am sure much faster PC hardware is available today, as such is the nature of that market, but for the paltry 5 Euro that it cost me to get the setup up and running I am not complaining. In fact I am certain the hardware is more than a match for any game, within my rough era of interest 1985-1995-ish, that I would wish to throw at it.

Now, the first thing I did was get DOS running from a 16gb USB flash to test out ADVANCE MAME. Alas, as I half suspected, that option is not viable. ADV does not play well with my onboard graphics card, so I had to install an old PCI graphics card in the lone PCI slot of the motherboard to get it to run.

It does run then, and run fine, but the next roadblock was that there was no sound. It seems my motherboard is too modern for the sound drivers of the obsolete DOS version of ADV. This could be solved by my buying an old compatible sound card, but trouble is that said card would have to go into a second PCI slot which my motherboard lacks.

So if you want the benifit of a MAME setup that boots in mere seconds I suggest getting a motherboard equipped with at least two PCI slots.

Now I have no choice but to install XP on that USB flash and go the Groovy Mame/Hyperspin route. Not optimal, but beggars can't be choosers as the saying goes.

Well, back into the trenches.

[donluca]

I'm using Micro2003 from Exper1ence. It's a Windows 2003 stripped down to the bare minimum, it boots within seconds and you have the advantage of the NT 5.2 kernel (the one used in Windows XP 64 bit) in 32 bit.

I highly recommend it, you won't regret your DOS setup.

[kamiboy]

Sounds interesting. If it works with the hardware and software I'll be using it sounds like a keeper. I'll check it out, thanks.

[donluca]

If it worked with winxp will work with 2003 most likely. if not there's always microxp (always from exper1ence) which is slightly less fast and robust (especially when opening your MAME roms folder with 30000+ roms )

[philexile]

I assume this 4350 would work well?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002AKKMNI/

[Fudoh]

there's a passive version of the 4350 as well (that's the one I got in storage in case I ever wanted to build a 15khz MAME rig).

[kamiboy]

Looks like the XP installation on a USB pen drive route is a bust. I can easily get past the first phase of a windows installation process where it asks for an installation drive and copies files over. But when it reboots to start the second phase windows shits the bed during the initial loading process.

From what I can gather of the blue screen of death that shows up this might be related to the fact that XP is being loaded from a USB drive, rather than a HDD. How annoying.

[donluca]

have you tried following one of the trillion guides available on the good ol' internetz?

[kamiboy]

I've read a good few. Most deal with booting the windows install disc from a flash drive. Almost none with actually installing and booting XP from a flash drive.

I am pretty certain now that it is in fact impossible. The reasons why are very technical though, suffice to say that XP was never meant to be used in such a manner.

I do think it is possible with the later versions of windows, just not XP. I'll need to resort to linux, #shudder#, or buy a SATA HDD.

[donluca]

mmm looks like possible but it's quite a pain in the arse:

http://www.unp.me/f140/make-bootable-pe ... ive-46352/

here's another one which is even more painful since it requires you to first install windows to a virtual machine:

http://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/110XPToGo


I know that it's doable since there's a small live windows xp installation on Hiren's Boot CD, you just have to do some research.

[kamiboy]

Well, I am calling it quits on booting XP from a flash drive. It has been 3 days of almost nonstop battle, but this war cannot be won. With a lot of dedication it can be made to work, but in the end the solution is far from ideal.

The microXP/Micro2003 route are very viable though. I took the HDD out of my laptop and ran a quick installation. It boots very fast, and takes up little space. Overall very nice, and highly recommended.

[kamiboy]

Using the HDD of my laptop as a temporary measure I finally got this groovy setup to the point where I can see emulated arcade footage on a CRT at 15khz. I have not purchased a 4xxx series Radeon yet, but as luck would have it this motherboard has an onboard Radeon 3000 as part of its chipset.

The 3000 does not perform as well as a 4xxx, since its dot clock cannot go as low and has to be configured to be minimum 8.0, but that might not be a problem. Time will tell as I am not sure what the side effects of that limitation are, if any.

Since I've yet to secure a candy cab I've been using a BVM-A20F as my test CRT, and all I can say is wow, it looks magnificent.

I had been a bit sour on this BVM-A since I thought low-res console footage looked too harsh on it, with very wide gaps between the scanlines. I believe I only tested an RGB modded Famicom on it though. But the arcade games that I have on this setup are all from the golden age of 2D gaming anno '85~95, and of a much higher fidelity than what your average 8/16 home system could compete with.

With these higher graphical fidelity titles the BVM really shines. The games look nothing short of breathtaking. I am kind of sorry that in the end I'll be playing these arcade games on what will most likely end up being a beaten up Nanao screen that has grown very long in the old tooth. Since I've also recently sampled the real life performance of what is considered a very good arcade monitor, the Nanao MS9 in a New Astro City, I can safely say that it bows before the magnificence of a SONY pro CRT.

There is no competition.

[donluca]

Welcome to the club. *fist bump*

[kamiboy]

I still have ways to go. What frontend are you using in your setup?

[donluca]

I'm using mGalaxy because it was the easiest to setup. I tried others but gave up at some points as something was always amiss.

[kamiboy]

I use HyperSpin for now. It offers a very decadent but also rather impressive frontend look. Too bad a lot of the themes for games use flash animation which renders things unresponsive.

Flash, what a rubbish piece of technology. I am glad it is all but dead.

One thing that does bother me is the brief hints of the windows UI during transitions from machine boot to HS, and between HS to MAME and back.

I think a program called Rocket Launchers is supposed to help mask Front End/Emulator OS transitions.

But the few seconds between the windows environment starting up, and the front end launching is unavoidable I think.

I want to remove all hints of a PC running behind everything gone to get as close to the PCB experience as possible. But if this hobby has taught me anything it is that emulation will always be a half-measure compared to the real thing.

[Shoryukev]

First post here, hi guys!

My mame setup is an old dual core CPU from about ten years ago that I upgraded the ram and graphics card (Before knowing about things like Arcade VGA...oops). Currently using a soft15k to force windows 7 to allow low-res modes and outputting analog VGA which I can converting to s-video through a little box I bought from monoprice. I built the cabinet and control panel myself with 3/4" plywood, it's nothing fancy but the t-molding and control panel graphics definitely help the look. Sanwa JLF sticks on player 1&2 (helps that I can switch the gates for 4/8 way, better quality.....and can't play shmups without the octagon gate right?!?!), and happ competition sticks on 3&4, happ buttons throughout with cherry switches. I bought a marquee from a SF Alpha big blue cabinet and wired a couple LED light strips to the computer's power supply to put behind it (also disassembled the front of the case and wired the power button to my control panel, little stuff like that makes a big difference IMO)

Spoiler

My problem is that no matter what I do it seems to be outputting 480i (blurry and flickery looking, and no prominent scale-lines), I think it might be the converter box I'm using for s-video. I have an old 32" sony consumer CRT at the moment, so I'm kinda stuck with that (until I find myself an NEC XM29 anyways).........I've been talking to support at Ultimarc (I use their i-pac 4 and have been debating buying their video card) and he suggested I try my luck with a jrok encoder. I've seen lot's of people use these with superguns so hopefully I can get something good out of it

If not I'll just have to sell/trade my neo geo AES for a consolized MVS (can't afford those AES carts anyways LOL) and one of those 60-in-1 jamma kits and learn to deal with a more limited selection of arcade titles.

I agree with the comments about Hyperspin too, I've been using it for a little while and it just isn't exactly the most fluid/responsive system ever. I need to find a frontend that's more basic and runs in something like 320x240

[kamiboy]

This MAME setup has been an unpleasant trip down memory lane for me, reminding me why I was so excited to show PC's my ass and go with Macintoshes so long ago.

I managed to source a cheap local 4xxx series Radeon HD, a 4650. This is where things started going south. Long story short it seems HyperSpin, my frontend of choice, is causing this graphics card hardware problems. So, I have to give it up after investing so many hours in it.

MGalaxy will not work as it is one of those shitty programs that requires the .net framework to be installed, version 4.0 to be exact. Oh, I hate those kinds of programs, and especially when I do install that bloated extension and the program still refuses to work.

I am going to have to weigh my options now. I am tempted to toss the HD4650 and go back to the onboard 3xxx series which gave me less trouble. Either that or use a simple but abandoned frontend like MaLa which I finally managed to get to work.

[FinalBaton]

Can someone provide me with some info for a 15kHz MAME rig?

I'm a complete n00b when it comes to this. I've found this post wich seem like a good overview of the basics :
http://forum.arcadeotaku.com/viewtopic.php?t=24216

But there are still a couple of info I could not find :
-What are the required computer specs for MAME and GroovyMAME?
-Tell me a bit about CRT_EmuDriver's installation. Will the steps mentionned in my link make it so that whenever I boot my PC, the video output is by default on the 15kHz mode? (or the mode of my choice)

So far, I have a computer laying around that has Windows XP installed. I understand that I will need a new video card. I've seen a few mentionned on this thread so I'll order one of those. Is there a consensus one that is recommended?

[kamiboy]

That 4650 that I bought was a waste of money since it wont work with Hyper Spin. But I guess it should be fine with other frontends.

Furthermore, a tool included in the crt emu driver zip lets you change your desktop resolution so that windows will boot into a 15khz resolution of your choice. But that is only when windows is finished loading. From a cold start to the end loading you'll need to use atom15 to make a custom 15khz bios for your ATI card.

[FinalBaton]

That 4650 that I bought was a waste of money since it wont work with Hyper Spin. But I guess it should be fine with other frontends.

Furthermore, a tool included in the crt emu driver zip lets you change your desktop resolution so that windows will boot into a 15khz resolution of your choice. But that is only when windows is finished loading. From a cold start to the end loading you'll need to use atom15 to make a custom 15khz bios for your ATI card.

Ok, my n00b is gonna show here but here we go : what does 'front end' refers to when it comes to computers?

[kamiboy]

Frontend is the program you use to scroll through and choose a game that you want to play via mame.

Groovy mame comes with its own rather crude frontend. Just a simple list of game names. But if you want something more fancy looking and sleek than that you are going to have to rely on an external program.

Try searching for Hyper Spin mame on youtube to see what it could look like.

[kamiboy]

After a bit of testing I figured out what part of HyperSpin is causing my HD4650 to choke. It is the videoplayer. If I remove all gameplay preview videos then HS runs fine without any problems.

This must be some sort of odd issue with CRT emu drivers and the HD4650, or the 4xxx series specifically since the HD3000 that is part of the motherboard chipset does not have this issue.

I am not sure how to proceed from there. I really like the look of the Hyper Spin frontend, with nice custom themes for every arcade game. I guess I must toss the 4650 and go back to the onboard 3xxx.

[joeh]

I'm also getting the itch to replace my 9 year old MAME computer. In addition to the CAVE games, I'd really like to play the Golden Tee Fore games at full speed. I was thinking about picking up a used i5-2500k, but the references to the G3258 have piqued my interest. Does anyone know if the G3258 can run the GT Fore games at full speed, or should I upgrade to the i5?