Need Tips for MAME

[DC906270]

i find MAME annoying to use, mainly due to the (seemingly) lack of key shortcuts for various things, which is why i have posted this. can anyone help :

1) is there an easy way of reseting the game back to the title screen, rather than exit the rom, then re-load?
2) is there an easy way to ro-"tate" the screen, rather than having to go into the option menu?
3) is there a way to save your hi-score?

i might think of some more in a while...

[D]

No more MAME questions, we are serious arcade and console users and you can offcourse ask about emulation stuff, don't go overboard. All of your questions can be answered by just googling. This hardware forum should only be used for really difficult questions like mine
Sorry I've had just about enough MAME queries. Perhaps there should be a new emulation thread on this forum, that way I never have to see this again and a no-emulation discussion policy in all other threads
Who's in favor; raise hands

[Damocles]

i find MAME annoying to use, mainly due to the (seemingly) lack of key shortcuts for various things, which is why i have posted this. can anyone help :

1) is there an easy way of reseting the game back to the title screen, rather than exit the rom, then re-load?
2) is there an easy way to ro-"tate" the screen, rather than having to go into the option menu?
3) is there a way to save your hi-score?

i might think of some more in a while...

1.) F3
2.) You mean on the fly? Not really. I assume you're using Mame32 if you mention the option menu. You can set it to be game-specific, but little more than that.
3.) Hiscore.dat for many games that didn't originally save scores after power down. Of course, many already do.

[DC906270]

You can set it to be game-specific

how so?

[Icarus]

Display Options > Auto-Rotate Clockwise

[Damocles]

Instead of changing the global options, right-click on the game you want to rotate. Under properties you can change the rotation for just that game.

[elvis]

2) is there an easy way to ro-"tate" the screen, rather than having to go into the option menu?

Look in the mame.ini (or mame32.ini if you use it) for the "rol" and "ror" options. These are used to auto-rotate all games to a particular orientation (ror for right, rol for left).

MAME32 is the "mindless point and click" version of MAME. If you use the command line version of MAME and a good frontend, it's easy to set up all games to behave in a particular way by editing the .ini file. It's worth your time to sit down and read the documentation to find out exactly what you can configure (and there's a lot to configure if you really want to).

No more MAME questions, we are serious arcade and console users and you can offcourse ask about emulation stuff, don't go overboard. All of your questions can be answered by just googling. This hardware forum should only be used for really difficult questions like mine
Sorry I've had just about enough MAME queries. Perhaps there should be a new emulation thread on this forum, that way I never have to see this again and a no-emulation discussion policy in all other threads
Who's in favor; raise hands

There are those of us who happily collect PCBs *AND* play MAME, you know (me being one of many). See my other rants as to why MAME should not be considered a swear word and poo-pooed by diehard collectors.

The collection we've built at the shop is well over 500 PCBs now, but we still use and enjoy MAME. The two are not mutually exclusive, nor is MAME doing any harm to the PCB collector community.

[Daigoro]

3.) Hiscore.dat for many games that didn't originally save scores after power down. Of course, many already do.

do some MAME game save scores allready? ive never been able to save my score on any of the games ive played.

does Hiscore.dat work for MAME32 as well? i have never been able to get it to work properly. maybe im not putting the file it in the right place? ive tried to figure it out a few times, but i have no idea how to make it work.

The two are not mutually exclusive, nor is MAME doing any harm to the PCB collector community.

well said, i agree. its also easy enough to ignore topics that you dont like and just not post in them.

[Damocles]

do some MAME game save scores allready? ive never been able to save my score on any of the games ive played.

does Hiscore.dat work for MAME32 as well? i have never been able to get it to work properly. maybe im not putting the file it in the right place? ive tried to figure it out a few times, but i have no idea how to make it work.

Yep. On games where scores are saved automatically. As for the hiscore.dat, simply put it in the same directory as your Mame .exe. Keep in mind that some games aren't supported, but the list is growing.

[Soldato J]

do some MAME game save scores allready? ive never been able to save my score on any of the games ive played.

does Hiscore.dat work for MAME32 as well? i have never been able to get it to work properly. maybe im not putting the file it in the right place? ive tried to figure it out a few times, but i have no idea how to make it work.

Yep. On games where scores are saved automatically. As for the hiscore.dat, simply put it in the same directory as your Mame .exe. Keep in mind that some games aren't supported, but the list is growing.

And you can use the save states for the others...just make it a habit to save state before exiting and to load when starting a game.

[FatCobra]

I don't know why you PCB elistists poo on us MAMErs, sure the actual thing is much better and legal, but not all of us have the money or space to build our own arcades. Plus, MAME + Laptop = Portable arcade!

[elvis]

I don't know why you PCB elistists poo on us MAMErs, sure the actual thing is much better and legal

See my numerous rants on PCB vs MAME "legality" both here and elsewhere.

The laws were invented to ensure that copyright holders get a fair day's pay from items they invent. Third-hand PCBs selling for exhorbitant amounts on eBay do not give the original copyright holder any financial gain whatsoever. In fact, they help to keep the leeches of the second-hand market alive instead - people who have nothing to do with the games industry. Granted second-hand sales are a nice incentive for arcade operators to get some return on their investments (ie: games), but once you hit third-hand that's all out the window.

In the case of old PCBs, copyright and licensing laws fail miserably to do what they were originally intended to do.

Arcade-centric companies should consider licensing more of their old titles via software distribution schemes after a specified date (say, 10 years +). We're seeing the start of this via things like XBLA and Wii Virtual Console, but more needs to happen.

[FatCobra]

Nice article, BTW.

I can't take copyright laws seriously if they are misspelled and full of engrish, i.e. TO THE EXTENT OF THE JAM.

Some say emulation makes companies loose money. Sure, an arcade owner may loose a few dollars worth of quarters everytime someone fires up a ROM in MAME (do arcades even exist in American anymore?). But I'm sure as hell if you see the game there you'd put a few quarters in anyway. (Or buy the PCB if you're a rich bastard).

Emulation preserves our gaming past so future generations may enjoy them. Digital data can last forever, hardware doesn't.

Call me a pirate, call me a "dirty bastard" because I partake in this so-called black art. Hey, I'm not the jackass who wasted $300 on a console that plays nothing but shitty games with good graphics (Dammit, another mainstream bash! Will it ever stop? God help me!)

MAME is also good pratice for the real thing, so you wow your friends next time you're at the arcade.

As for copyright laws, let me get this straight; I'm curious about your past games, and am willing buy a copy for whatever much you charge it for. But stores don't sell it anymore and Ebay auctions have insane prices, plus you ain't porting it anytime sooon. What am I to do? Nothing, except emulate.

Example: Now that I've played the Raiden Fighters series, I'm pissed that the Xbox port got cancelled!

That's my rant for now. Sorry if I offended anyone. Besides, without emulation, how would most of you discover all these great shmups you've never heard of.

[Damocles]

I forgot to mention this earlier, but as for saving high scores, another member mentioned using a save state right before you exit. Well, I'm not sure if it's in normal Mame32, but in Mame32fx there is an option to automatically create a save state upon exit. Just so you know...

[FatCobra]

I forgot to mention this earlier, but as for saving high scores, another member mentioned using a save state right before you exit. Well, I'm not sure if it's in normal Mame32, but in Mame32fx there is an option to automatically create a save state upon exit. Just so you know...

I think I mentioned it because I was having problems with MAME saving my high scores. My history.dat file was out of date.

Using a save does allow you to skip those annoying rom loads however.

[Daigoro]

thanks for the tips. ill try getting this thing working again.

[Daigoro]

so i got the save state thing working, thanks! i kind of allways thought that it was just for saving games mid-level and progress saves etc. but i did get it to work to save scores on a few games i tested (save state did not work on a few others i tested).

i still havent figured out the highscore.dat thing, but maybe the games ive tested it with just dont support it. still working on it, but im half pc illiterate.

thanks for the help.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

By using the frontend ArcadeOS for DosMame, it really does work wonders with that setup...it's the configuring that if done properly, really shines.

My Jamma compatible Gamebox PCB uses the ArcadeOS version 2.71 frontend to bring the entire list of roms to select via joystick by simply scrolling up or down to select your favorite arcade rom to play. Another utility program, ZSNES, is used to register the arcade joystick movements + the arcade push button registers as well. ^_~

I just need to look for a good Dos Soundcard for my Gamebox PCB and I'm back in business "sound-wise" since it doesn't have sound drivers installed. I do recall that with out sound, DosMame does run super fast though. Step up to the highest audio output of 44100 kHz and performance could end up dropping (slower framerates & the like). ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~