Please note this is still work in progress and I am still adding to this FAQ everyday to accommodate new questions etc.
Believe it or not, not everyone knows how to get MAME up and running on there system. Hopefully this guide will help those people get MAME32 up and running with some simple step by step instructions with diagrams included.
Index
1) How to get hold of MAME32 (and other useful things for MAME)
2) How to install MAME32
3) How to set up MAME32 (Controls, Graphics, Tate'ing monitor etc)
4) How to use MAME32
5) FAQ's
1) How to get hold of MAME32 (and other useful things for MAME)
Before you start no I will not help you get roms, that would be illegal so I would suggest trying Google for that.
Anyway lets cut to the chase, here is the official homepage for MAME32. Unfortunately this site is owned by Gamespy thus they will make you either pay their monthly fee to use there premium download service or make you wait ages to download the thing using the free service.
If you can't be bothered with all of that bollocks then I would strongly suggest checking out The Emulator Zone's MAME32 download page as you don't have to cue or pay for a premium download service to download the damn thing, groovy!
Another really useful page you might want to know about is actually on the official MAME website (yes the original DOS MAME). It contains links to all the extra little files that you might be interested in. I would suggest downloading history.dat and hiscore.dat as they are very useful. History.dat shows the user information about the game like the game's controls, tips and tricks, arcade specs and design information. Hiscore.dat allows the player to save their hi-scores even on games that would not normally have a hi-score save feature.
Before we get started though there is also another version of MAME that Windows users might be interested in. It's called WolfMAME and essentially it's a version of MAME that built for tournament play so cheats and save states while "input recording" are not allow etc. You can download the WolfMAME here and to my knowledge it works the same as MAME32. ~ Thanks to Icarus for reminding me of it's existence!
2) How to install MAME32 on to your computer
Installing MAME32 itself is not really all that hard. Once you download the emulator on to your computer (I would suggest downloading the install on to your desktop as you can locate it easier then and just delete it right after installing!) just click the install file twice quickly with your left mouse button (also known as 'double clicking') then you encounter this...
make sure you install the emulator in a nice easy place to find it once you do you locate the folder and 'double click' it, you should get something like this on your screen...
Notice the great big lime green box well those files that are inside it are the hiscore.dat and history.dat and do not come with the basic MAME32 installation so please look at the previous section of this guide to find out were to get them. Once you have downloaded them to install them all you have to do is unzip the zips in to the main MAME32 directory as shown an hey presto! You've successfully installed hiscore.dat and history.dat in to MAME32.
Right that's all the basics down to installing the essentials on MAME32. Next it's the tricky bit, setting up the emulator!
3) How to set up MAME32
3a) Finding you way around
Right now is the time we start setting up MAME32 which means booting up the emulator the first (and helpfully not the last) time which is simple enough just double click the icon with the arcade cabinet in it. You should be confronted with this window*...
* Minus the bright coloured boxes!
Before we can start I am going to have to give you a guide around the MAME32 GUI (short for Graphic User Interface) or what is known to you and me as the emulator window. Anyway you've probably noticed the return of the brightly coloured boxes so I will now explain what each of the contain.
The green box contains the tool bar which is essential if you are planning to use MAME32 and set it up properly. Every time I say "go to the toolbar and..." it means "go to the area were the bright green box is in and..." so now you know.
The yellow box contains all the different "filters". Filters essentially allows the user to filter out certain games for example if you click the "available" filter the emulator will only show games you have the roms for in the middle box which is were the red box is situated.
The red box give the user the complete run down of all the games that fit the criteria of the filter the player has selected. You will notice at the first time you boot up MAME32 that it's on "All Games" which will list all the games MAME32 can currently emulate which is quite a lot. If you change the filter chances are this list of games will get shorter and it will be easier to find the game you want. If you double click on any of the games names you will load that game up if you hit the right mouse button you'll bring up this tiny box...
It's all pretty self explanatory but the main things you should notice are "Play and Record Input", "Properties" and "Custom Filters" but we will get on to that much later on in the guide since we are not going to try and run before we can walk.
On final thing about the games listed in the red box is that you should pay attention to the boxes to the left of each of the games name. There are three main colours of that box you should be aware of. Black means you don't have the rom for that game, Green means that you do have the rom for the game and it's working while Red means you do have the rom but for some reason it's not working 100% or at all in some extreme cases.
The blue box is the Snapshot and History section. Not necessary to point this out since this really has nothing to do with the installation process but I figured it would be good to anyway. Please note that if you have installed the history.dat in to your main MAME32 folder (see previous section of guide if unsure how to do that!) then you'll hopefully see a lot of text giving you information about the game you gave selected. The picture above the text is a Snapshot for the game and yes you've guessed it MAME32 does not come with those but you can simply make your own by playing the game and hitting the 'F12' key at any time you wish.
Please note if you have taken more than one picture of any game the emulator will just replace the final four letters of the picture name (normaly named after the rom) with four zero's.
3b) Setting up the emulator
Now the first thing you will notice every time MAME32 loads up is that it will check to see if there are any games in your predetermined rom folder. Since the emulator does not know were you've put the roms yet it you will have to go and tell the emulator were to find them and yes same goes for everything else like snapshots and samples etc. but I am getting way to ahead of myself so lets just concentrate on getting those roms working first shall we.
Right now left click on the options tab in the toolbar and you will be confronted with some options...
You will see I have highlighted 'Directories' well what I want you to do is click on 'Directories'. You should get another window pop up that looks something like this...
Oh look, looks like the emulator has brought up the roms directory first which is covenant to say the least. Anyway click the browse button and search your computer for were you have put the roms. If you put the roms in the folder I asked you to then you should have no trouble finding them as they will be in the roms folder of the main MAME32 directory.
Now if you click on the little rectangle with the downward arrow that I have highlighted you will bring up a load more directories that MAME32 would like you to point out...
Now it's not essential for you to point out were all these directories are but it will benefit you in the long run as it keeps MAME32 running smoothly. Use the same method with the rom directory to point out to MAME32 were you like to keep all this stuff. To help with what might seem like a daunting task I've drawn up this diagram. All you have to do is point MAME32 to the directories as followed and your laughing although most of it is self explanatory but for the bits that are not the pink writing will tell you what "directory" that folder is supposed to be for...
After you finished point MAME32 to all of those folders (it won't take long!) and click the OK button the emulator will load again searching for new games. If you have put any valid MAME roms in the roms folder then they will now show up once you click "available" filter were the yellow box is. If the game has not shown up then please check the following things...
* That you put the rom in the rom folder
* That you did not unzip the rom file while putting it in the rom folder
* That you downloaded the parent rom and not a "clone". Best way to tell which is the parent rom is to compare the size of each of the rom files. Rule of thumb that the parent is always the biggest in size.
* That you have downloaded the BIOs rom for that rom. In some cases some roms need other roms to work. Most famous example is the Neo Geo games which won't run unless you have the neogeo bios rom in your rom folder. The neogeo bios rom's zip is called neogeo.zip in case you are wondering. (A more expansive list of 'bios roms' will be made in the FAQ section!)
* That you directed MAME32 to the right directory folder (sometimes we all make silly mistakes!
)* Finally that you version of MAME32 supports the rom. As newer versions of MAME32 come out over time they start to support more games which are not supported in older versions. To check this go to the "All Games" filter were the yellow box is and scroll down the list of games in the middle box to see if your version of MAME32 has the game listed.
TIP: If at any time you want to refresh the game's list press the 'F5' key!
If you have clicked the "Available" filter in the yellow box and the games are showing up then quickly double click on the one of the games to see if it works. If you get some sort of warning screen asking if you should be playing the game then congratulations, you now have MAME up and running. But this is not the end in fact it's mearly the beginning as now we journey in to MAME32's options settings and configure the emulators settings so that you can get maximum entertainment out of MAME32.
3c) Configuring MAME32 to your liking
This is the part of the guide were I tell you how to get MAME32 the way you like it. Be it windowed, with full gamepad and mouse support or with a rotated screen hopefully this part of the guide will show you how (while keeping it simple) and yes there will be more pictures.
Anyway to get to MAME32's options you going to need to visit that toolbar again and click on the options tab...
Now this time I want you to click on the "default game options". You will then be confronted with a new window...
Now you have noticed that I have put green boxes around some of the options. Well those green boxes are the only options in this menu I would suggest touching in this section of the option as the rest of the options are pretty complex. Anyway it's all pretty self explanatory and I would strongly suggest enabling Direct 3D if your computer's graphics card allows it as it will help run games a little smoother thanks to the emulator using the graphic cards onboard memory. If you want to play games in 'TATE' mode then use to rotation option to suit your needs although having that option for every game would probably suck as not all games support it this is what you should do if you just want TATE monitor game's rotated...
*IGNORE IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO ROTATE YOUR MONITOR!!*
First of all got to were all the games are listed in the red box area and right click on the game that you want...
Once you right click on the game of your choice click "properties". A new window will appear and it will look exactly the same to the "default game options" window but this time all the options are just for this one game. All you need to do then is click on the 'display' tab then click on the 'rotation' option (which was in the green box in the picture above the last picture) in the graphics setting and change it to what ever rotation you want, simple really!
*FINISHED, PLEASE CONTINUE TO READ FROM THIS POINT ON!!*
Anyway as you have probably noticed at the top of the window there is a ton of tabs for you to click on. Let's click on the 'controllers' tab first as that's probably the most essental tab to configure at this time...
Now I think you proberbly know the drill by now. Make sure those check boxes inside those green rectangles are checked (left click on the box) and hey presto! now you've pretty much configured everything you will probably want. time to show you how to change the controls on your control pad which means your going to have to run a game in MAME32 I have chosen 19XX for this demonstration.
Now once you load up the game and have gotten past the warning screens press the tab button which is the button above the caps lock if you do not know. Anyway once pressed you will bring up a small box with instructions on screen...
Well this looks pretty simple now doesn't it! All you really need to do is use the arrow keys or joystick to highlight which option you want and the 'Enter' key or joystick to select it. I would suggest selecting the 'input for this game' option...
Well this is all self explanatory really. Change the buttons to what you by first highlighting the control you want changed then hitting 'Enter' then what ever button you desire then just hit the tab key to return to the game.
And there you have it, how to install and configure MAME but now comes the final and more importantly the fun part, playing the games. The next section will tell you all the essential keys you will need to play MAME.
4) How to use MAME32
Essential keys during play
'5' = Insert coin
'1' to '4' = 1 to 4 Player start buttons respectivley.
'P' = pause
'TAB' = emulation menu
'F2' = Dipswitch settings *not recommended for beginners!*
'F9' = Changes Framskip *not recommended for beginners!*
'F11' = Toggles FPS display
'F12' = Take Snapshot
'ESC' = Quits emulator
Well that's it! You should now (with any luck!) know how to successfully install, configure and run MAME32 but if you have any further questions then check the next section down.
5) FAQ's
This is the section were we try to sort out all those niggling little questions you might have about this wonderful emulator!
BIOS Roms
Here is the complete list of the Bios Roms. Remember some games don't work without them so make sure you check out any game you try to run for such an issue just in case...
Arcadia System (ar_bios)
CVS (cvs)
DECO Cassette System (decocass)
MegaPlay (megaplay)
Megatech (megatech)
Neo-Geo (neogeo)
Nintendo Super System
Nintendo Playchoice-10 (playch10)
Nintendo Super System (nss)
Polygame Master (pgm)
ST-V (stvbios)
Super Kaneko Nova System (skns)
System GX (konamigx)
Taito FX1 (taitofx1)
TPS (tps)
ZN1 (zn1)
ZN2 (zn2)
System GX (konamigx)
Konami System GX (in konamigx.zip)
How to get Forgotten Worlds dial controls to work
It's pretty simple really, press tab while the game is running and go in to the 'Input (this game)' option. You should get a box pop up looking something like this...
Scroll down the box using the arrow keys till you get to the input commands that are highlighted in white in the picture above. Now the easiest way is to use digital controls so highlight the 'Dial Analogue' and press 'Enter' then just press the 'Esc' key. Now you should have 'none' written next to the 'Dial Analogue'. Now look below 'Dial Analogue' you will see 'Dial Dec' and 'Dial Inc'. These are important as those are what you use to rotate your guys sights anticlockwise and clockwise respectively so change those controls and you done. Just remember to configure the fire button ('Button 1' as it's known to MAME32!) in a good place with your new dial setup.
More FAQ's coming soon...
