MAME made easy for a new user

Erik · Post by **Erik** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 8:47 am

I read a lot of awesome stuff regarding playing games in MAME, but I have no clue where to start.

Actually I am not too much in difficult PC tasks and emulators where you have to do a lot of technical stuff to get things running. Example : I can run CCS64 for the C64 as it is very easy. But looking into a few MAME shots, where I had to put the ROMS in the BIN's, saving them as this and that and converting them etc. it looked hugely complicated to me.

Is there an a site which can make it easier for a new user, so I can have a look? I did a search but could not find this easily.

moozooh · Post by **moozooh** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 8:56 am

Using MAME with graphical user interface (MAMEPlus, MAMEUI) or a frontend (EasyMAME, etc.) is actually easier than most other emulators out there.

You don't have to do anything with ROMs, you just put them exactly as you downloaded them (i.e., in .zip archives) in the ROMs folder, run the emulator, and select "Available games" from the game list. Then you double-click any of them, et voila.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:01 am

Agree with above. Its really easy.

Although, some ROMS have missing bits and don't work. But thats some plank putting up incomplete ROMS and has nothing to do with the software itself.

emphatic · Post by **emphatic** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:10 am

When you put new roms into the "rom" folder, you will have to press F5 in your MAMEUI to refresh the games available.

An easy way of avoiding getting hold of the "wrong" roms, go here: http://maws.mameworld.info/maws/

It has a list of all games, and beneath the screen shot of the game, it's stated whether it's a "clone" or a "parent" rom. It's the parent you want to get. If you want to play a clone, you'll need the parent rom as well, as that generally holds all the resources, such as graphics and sound. Also, make sure you own the PCB's of the roms your downloading, as it's illegal do do so otherwise.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 10:40 am

Only caveat I'd add to this is that you can get mixed up with MAME Plus! if you download just the latest thing, which doesn't include all the files needed to run. Last I checked, you had to have the 0.132 version, and I assume the latest pre-release from them was meant to be copied over the straight 0.132 versions.

Some other things:
-Highly important if you're using a GUI: right-click the categories along the top and sort out the ones you don't need, i.e. "Type" (of display), "Trackball," anything else. This makes displaying the list of games and scrolling manually through MUCH faster.
-Set up the various controllers to use Mouse unless you have something better; paddle, trackball et. al really shouldn't be controlled by the mouse
-turn off the bilinear filtering (should be in Display, second or third tab)

Nothing else immediately comes to mind, so enjoy

Ka0tiK · Post by **Ka0tiK** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 11:15 am

When I used to be in the ROMs scene, I'd rely on MAME burners to get me copies of the latest and complete sets available for MAME. But of course, if you don't want the entire library, it is easier to just search for it yourself.

I can't remember for sure, but there was a program that could verify if the ROM was indeed up to date/compatible to your MAME. No clue.

emphatic · Post by **emphatic** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 1:12 pm

Best way of actually ENJOYING emulators is to have a maximum of 15 roms to choose from, and even that is pushing it IMHO. DDP is way more fun than the playing the Game List Browser game.

Udderdude · Post by **Udderdude** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 1:21 pm

Or just go through MAWS and search by genre/whatever until you find something that looks interesting.

MAWS = Awesome.

http://maws.mameworld.info/maws/

FIL · Post by **FIL** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 2:10 pm

Mawsome.

Erik · Post by **Erik** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 4:30 pm

Blimey... it worked!

Ed Oscuro wrote:-Set up the various controllers to use Mouse unless you have something better; paddle, trackball et. al really shouldn't be controlled by the mouse

Could someone explain to me how to use a joystick? The option "enable joystick input" under controller tab is ghosted, does this mean it is not supported?

emphatic · Post by **emphatic** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 4:53 pm

Is your joystick detected in Windows/ your O/S as a DirectX gaming device? Keep it plugged in before running MAME, and the option should be available. If you're using some kind of keyboard emulator, just reprogram the keys inside MAME by hitting the [TAB] key.

Erik · Post by **Erik** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 6:59 pm

Cool, that worked as well. Thank you all.