for people without the latest PCs

lilmanjs · Post by **lilmanjs** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:23 am

so I'm a fan of shumps like crazy, but I want to get some mame games but the ones I have except for Viper Phase 1 don't run very well on my pc. my pc is from 2000 and is slow, so I'm creating this thread to see if there are any good ones to get for mame that would work on my pentium 3 800mhz pc.

I'm Alec · Post by **I'm Alec** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 1:22 am

hmmm. well, mine is a few years newer than that, but i get some frame skips once in a while.

Since VP1 is on the Siebu hardware, you might want to try other games that run off of that same hardware. Maybe give the Raiden Fighers series a go. Those are good fun, no doubt.

Pixel_Outlaw · Post by **Pixel_Outlaw** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 1:39 am

Have you tried ctrl + alt + delete to get an idea of the resources you are using and amount of RAM you are using? There should be a graph. Also what are the exact spects of your computer? A simple year doesn't say much.

BryanM · Post by **BryanM** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 2:20 am

I remember being able to play Metal Slug 3 with my Athlon 500 Mhz... the initial load time was somewhat long, and the end battle was atrocious, but 'sides that..

Maybe it's a settings deal, maybe Viper Phase is on some weird hardware, maybe an earlier version of MAME will get you better performance...

captpain · Post by **captpain** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 7:05 am

Doesn't the command line version of MAME run a bit faster than MAMEUI32? Maybe try that, because it seems to me like there must be people out there with older computers in MAME cabinets and the like.

worstplayer · Post by **worstplayer** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 8:25 am

What i found is that older MAME versions work better on slow machines. On my second computer (AMD 800MHz) MAME 0.99 seemed to work best. Pretty much all shmups run full speed with exception of:
Raiden Fighters and VP1(surprisingly)
Cyvern (although it's close, there's maybe 10% slowdown)
Radiant Silvergun
Brave Blade
Gunbird 2 and all Psykio games on same hardware.

So try 0.99 and if it doesn't work, try Final Burn alpha (although it only runs 68000-based games(ie. mostly Toaplan, Cave, Raizing and Takumi shooters))

Jockel · Post by **Jockel** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 8:46 am

worstplayer wrote: Radiant Silvergun

Well where does it work on mame?

Mortificator · Post by **Mortificator** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 1:56 pm

worstplayer wrote:What i found is that older MAME versions work better on slow machines.

That's very true. It's explained a bit on Aaron Giles page, with accompanying chart:

Like WP said, the late .90's seem to be the sweet spot for older computers.

lgb · Post by **lgb** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 4:18 pm

The earlier Psikyo games (tengai and everything before) seem to work okay with an 800mhz. Anything after that (strikers ii, sol divide and onward) may provoke frameskipping/slowdown.

lilmanjs · Post by **lilmanjs** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 7:07 pm

thanks for the info guys. I've got version 103 of mame. also with the older mame versions do I lose games or do I still have the same amount of games as I havein version 103. I don't need to get viper phase 1 as I have an actual arcade machine of it(thrown away in a dumpster and still works perfect) and I have the raiden fighters series already. are there any good cave shooters from the early 90s.

ChurchOfSolipsism · Post by **ChurchOfSolipsism** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 8:25 pm

Jockel wrote:
worstplayer wrote: Radiant Silvergun
Well where does it work on mame?

I'm quite sure it doesn't, too.

lilmanjs · Post by **lilmanjs** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 8:32 pm

ChurchOfSolipsism wrote:
Jockel wrote:
worstplayer wrote: Radiant Silvergun
Well where does it work on mame?
I'm quite sure it doesn't, too.

I thought this game worked but had graphics problems.

worstplayer · Post by **worstplayer** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 8:34 pm

ChurchOfSolipsism wrote:
Jockel wrote:
worstplayer wrote: Radiant Silvergun
Well where does it work on mame?
I'm quite sure it doesn't, too.

It works. Most sound effects are missing and it slows down on even most powerful computers, but it works.

lilmanjs · Post by **lilmanjs** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 9:22 pm

why would you want the mame version anyways when the sega saturn version is just as good.

Mortificator · Post by **Mortificator** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 9:30 pm

lilmanjs wrote:with the older mame versions do I lose games or do I still have the same amount of games as I havein version 103.

MAME started out with five games and now has close to 4000, so yeah, new games are added to new releases. Using an older version is a compromise for lower-end systems; you won't have as many games, but they'll run better. That said, I can only think of a couple games I play that were added post-.103, so you're not missing out on much.

lilmanjs wrote:I don't need to get viper phase 1 as I have an actual arcade machine of it(thrown away in a dumpster and still works perfect)

Awesome! My dumpsters just give racoons.

lilmanjs wrote:are there any good cave shooters from the early 90s.

All the Cave shooters that MAME emulates are...

DonPachi
DoDonPachi
ESP Ra.De
Dangun Feveron
Guwange
Progear

lilmanjs · Post by **lilmanjs** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 9:32 pm

thanks for the list of games. yes the local arcade had broken down into crap and was moved to the local bowling alley. then they got rid of most of the machines and I happened to find viper phase 1 in the dumpster. how sad.

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 12:30 am

lilmanjs wrote:thanks for the info guys. I've got version 103 of mame. also with the older mame versions do I lose games or do I still have the same amount of games as I havein version 103. I don't need to get viper phase 1 as I have an actual arcade machine of it(thrown away in a dumpster and still works perfect) and I have the raiden fighters series already. are there any good cave shooters from the early 90s.

The cheapest Cave shmup that affordable right now would be a USA region Donpachi PCB that was released in USA arcades courtesy of Atlus USA circa 1995. Plan on spending anywhere from $40 and up is the norm these days for a barebones one. Plan on spending even more if you happen to find a USA region DP PCB with the rare USA marquee signage. Atlus USA didn't make too many of them as they only came with USA region DP PCB kits anyways. ^_~

Glad to hear that you were able to rescue that Viper Phase 1 U.S.A. cabinet from the dumpster. The Seibu Kaihatsu SP1 mobo ain't too shabby in the audio department, especially if you can play the SP1 game carts in stereo mode via a stereo harness adapter and two speaker setup. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

No_not_like_Quake · Post by **No_not_like_Quake** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 12:52 am

My old p3 650 mhz with 3D Voodoo fx card has no trouble runing 95% of Neo Geo roms in MAME but something like Xexes runs at about 5 fps.

lilmanjs · Post by **lilmanjs** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 10:36 pm

since there are so many that I've downloaded last night that are crap, give me some that are good from 1993 and earlier.

BryanM · Post by **BryanM** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 8:11 am

GALAGA

PEW PEW PEW