MAME Save States For Practice?

freddiebamboo · Post by **freddiebamboo** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 12:43 pm

Anyone use save states in mame to practice over and over again certain levels or bosses?

Is it even possible to do this? The DDP Hiscore thread's discussion on a MAME replay using save states got me thinking you could use them like a level select for practicing ie Ikarugas home conversion.

Any thoughts or ideas on if this is possible would be appreaciated

brokendivide · Post by **brokendivide** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 1:00 pm

It's perfectly possible, and can be very useful imo

Practicing final boss attacks for example is much, much less of a chore if you don't have to play through 5 or 6 levels in order to have one or two attempts surviving an attack.

Save states shouldn't be relied upon, but can have their uses. For a few bosses in gradius gaiden I used them; then went back on the PS and things became much clearer.

TWITCHDOCTOR · Post by **TWITCHDOCTOR** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 1:59 pm

"Save States" are a crutch...be a man!!!

FRO · Post by **FRO** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 2:06 pm

^^

Everyone's entitled to their opinion.

I have used save states on occassion w/ R-Type Leo just so I could play through and see more of the levels. The more I play that game, the more I like it and wish there was a home conversion.

freddiebamboo · Post by **freddiebamboo** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 2:20 pm

How do you use them?

I know slightly less than sod all about MAME and how it works

brokendivide · Post by **brokendivide** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 2:25 pm

In Mame32, Shift+F7 will prompt you to choose a save slot - press 1 to 0 on the keyboard to choose. To load, press F7 followed by 1 to 0.
You could keep a different save on slots 1-6 for each corresponding level, or boss - see what you find best.

Ha, I used to be completely against save states, but for practicing the flying head statue boss of Esprade, it seemed like a severe waste of time playing through what I knew I could already do, just for a few seconds of practice near the end...

snap monkey · Post by **snap monkey** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 4:09 pm

brokendivide wrote:In Mame32, Shift+F7 will prompt you to choose a save slot - press 1 to 0 on the keyboard to choose. To load, press F7 followed by 1 to 0.
You could keep a different save on slots 1-6 for each corresponding level, or boss - see what you find best.

It's not just limited to the numbers, most of the keys on your keyboard can have a savestate assigned to them. Organization is helpful though. For instance, if you want to play a game with different ship types, grouping ship A's savestates apart from ship B's in a manner that makes sense to you is the way to go so you can quickly access the part of the game you want with the ship you want.

It allows for a lot of control in your practicing. You can break a level up as much as you want. Making save states for bosses and particularly difficult sections can help you improve a lot more quickly than restarting at the first level every time.

[EDIT] You also can reassign the keys to save and load your states to something more convenient. Just hit TAB and go into the general settings and you can reassign those operations. [/EDIT]

Jon · Post by **Jon** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 4:49 pm

Heh. Save states are the only freakin way I would have ever seen the end of Truxton II.

That being said I am pretty sure that is the only shmup I have ever used mames save feature on.

roushimsx · Post by **roushimsx** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 7:56 pm

Save states in MAME are the reason I was able to 1CC Gigawing in the arcade. I'd play in the arcade each day and then at night fire up save states to practice individual stages over and over again that I was having trouble with earlier in the day.

Many people use save states as a crutch, but with a little motivation and self control, they can be used as an awesome training tool.

Recap · Post by **Recap** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 8:04 pm

FRO wrote: Everyone's entitled to their opinion.

He's right, though.

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 8:34 pm

Ha, I used to be completely against save states, but for practicing the flying head statue boss of Esprade, it seemed like a severe waste of time playing through what I knew I could already do, just for a few seconds of practice near the end...

Yup. Metal Slug stage 6 is such a bitch, compared to the rest of the game. The console ports have a level select, but that involves quite a bit of loading...mame made perfecting that stage much less tedious in that respect.

You have to be careful, though. In most shooters you might not get to the desired stage with the same amount of bombs/lives each time...just make sure you're doing it right. 'perfect practice makes perfect' after all.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 9:41 pm

Don't like using them. I'm still in a mindset from years back when MAME save states weren't implemented correctly yet and sound or the whole game would mess up upon reloading.

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 9:46 pm

It still happens on some games, Garegga, and Super Street fighter 2 turbo. only minorly though.

I got sick of playing SSF2T because it constantly crashes in MAME. I'll buy the b board, or perhaps settle for the PSX port depending on how good that is.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 10:01 pm

Wouldn't the DC Matching Service be the best version? It lets you choose different versions of ST, set any dip switch, and even adds Shin Akuma (CPU Akuma with incredible speed and double Zanku Hadokens) as well as the ability for Akuma to use Shun Goku Satsu.

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 10:50 pm

Hmm, I read it was really rare, if a copy shows up maybe I will. If it's for a ridiculous price I might as well get the b-board so it's not in CPS2 > DC stretch-o-vision (tm).

edit: And why the fuck make Akuma MORE powerful? I mean damn.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 11:07 pm

It's fairly rare but easily findable for $60 new/mint like the rest of the Matching Service games. Shin Akuma may have been an original dipswitch setting for something. Having a super is probably just for the "Raging Demon r0x0rz" fans out there. Well, no competitive player is gonna playing him anyway so no problem there.