anyone have problems with mame? which mame you're using?

infested_ysy · Post by **infested_ysy** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 12:02 pm

hay thar,

I've been playing shooters on mame for quite sometime already, but recently my HDD died, and I didn't backup the data on them. So, all of my data are wiped off. I remember using mame32plus! or something similar.

But anyway, I can't seem to find any links to download mame32plus as of now, and it appears that for some odd reasons, MAME32 and MAMEFX that I tried using would cause Strikers 1945 III and Dragon Blaze to 'lock' my keyboard input from time to time, causing me to go into one direction indefinitely for a few seconds at random.

I don't seem to have this problem before. Anyone have any idea how I could fix it, or could tell me where to get mame32plus!?

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 12:19 pm

Well, i'm not sure that we are allowed to link you anywhere but the official MAME site is the best place to look for the newest versions.

I doubt it's the MAME applications causing your directions to stick, but try resetting everything from the defualt game options tab. After that you may look into your control panel area in windows for keyboard settings.

Similarly - yesterday i was having the same problem with my control pad. I had to pop the directional button off and shave some rubber from the lining inside to get it to quit sticking left and right while playing Strikers 1945 II. Are you sure your problem isn't related to any physical sticking going on inside your keyboard?

infested_ysy · Post by **infested_ysy** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 1:07 pm

circuitface wrote: Similarly - yesterday i was having the same problem with my control pad. I had to pop the directional button off and shave some rubber from the lining inside to get it to quit sticking left and right while playing Strikers 1945 II. Are you sure your problem isn't related to any physical sticking going on inside your keyboard?

It's not related to my keyboard.

I could play Strikers 1945/II, Gunbird 2, DoDonPachi or any other shooters on mame perfectly, just Dragon Blaze and Strikers 1945 III have that keyboard stuck problem.

Middlemoor · Post by **Middlemoor** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 2:13 pm

I had that problem with my gamepad but it stopped happening, so I can't tell if it's a glitch, incorrect settings or some kind of sporadic conflict. Your best bet is to reset all your bindings and try again.

kong · Post by **kong** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 2:18 pm

It's no longer called Mame32 Plus. Search for "Mame Plus!" and you should find it.

Frederik · Post by **Frederik** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 4:44 pm

I simply use plain old standard command line MAME0.99b and it works fine. I found the mass of other distributions and variants too irritating.

Post by **Icarus** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 4:52 pm

http://www.mameworld.net/

For all your MAME needs. MAME+ is recommended, as it has autofire setups.

freddiebamboo · Post by **freddiebamboo** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 4:53 pm

Some versions after 0.99 don't support save states for several shooters.

I use 0.98 mame32 and it all worrks fine.

Damocles · Post by **Damocles** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 9:05 pm

For your sticking problem. Are you using USB? If so, that's probably the issue.

As for Mame itself: www.zophar.net

elvis · Post by **elvis** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 10:00 pm

Official MAME (command line version) site:
http://www.mame.net

Official MAME32 site (identical build to official MAME, but with an added GUI - no core modifications made):
http://mame32qa.classicgaming.gamespy.com/

Optimised MAME builds for unique architecture, as well as builds for testing/beta "U" releases:
http://redump.emubase.de/mame.php

With the above "sticky keys" problem, try one of two things:

1) As mentioned, delete all your key bindings and start again from fresh. Especially if you've upgraded MAME you need to do this, but sometimes it can be an issue if you've misconfigured something (say, accidentally bound two keys to the same function, or 1 key to two functions, etc).

2) Try a USB gamepad. Keyboards suffer from "ghosting", where if you press too many inputs at once (usually more than 3 - ie: UP + LEFT + SHOOT + BOMB, and there's your 3+ inputs). Keyboards will ract to this in one of two ways. Either they'll just ignore your imput, or they'll buffer it and spit it out later. The latter sounds like what's happening to you. The reason is that keyboards don't need to send all 141 inputs at the same time, so to save on costs, an input matrix is made to reduce the complexity of the device. End result is only 3-4 keys can be pressed at once, which is no problem for your average typist.

Get yourself a USB gamepad or digital joystick. Here's a stick I hacked up many years ago from a USB gamepad:
http://pcdb.overclockers.com.au/view.ph ... &page=pics

USB gamepads can send well over 100 inputs simultaneously and not suffer from ghosting or buffering.

If you don't want to go the USB path, look at either an iPac or a KeyWiz:

http://www.ultimarc.com/ipac1.html
http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/inde ... cts_id=199

Both use onboard RISC processors to send 32 interrupt-driven signals at the same time to your system. They appear as a standard PS/2 keyboard to your computer (ie: no special drivers needed for Windows/DOS/Linux). But they don't suffer from ghosting like your standard PS/2 keyboard input matrix does.

The iPac and KeyWiz is the standard sort of device you'll find in a MAME cab. I used an iPac in my first uprihgt cab:
http://benchmark.mameworld.net/cab1/

And a KeyWiz in my cocktail cab (yet to be documented, despite being 2 years old now). Both are great products, but a USB gamepad is cnosiderably cheaper for a single player.