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Topics - akafox

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31
General / Attract Mode 1.6.2 deb for ubuntu
« on: December 12, 2015, 08:51:59 PM »
Sorry about the wait folks no excuse this time :P

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32
General / Atractmode1.60 debs!
« on: November 21, 2015, 01:46:57 PM »
*Final Fantasy victory music plays in the background*
Yes! Finally I do not know why I had such a hard time....but they are here! :D

These are for Lubuntu (will work (tested)), ubuntu, and xubuntu (I am guessing) 14.04. They will not work on linux mint 17.1 or 17.2 Nope I do not know why not..it's really weird. (I ran mine on mint 17.1 for a long time..until 1.60)

I'll post them here until ray can get them posted on the main page.

Enjoy..and sorry about the wait.

(I'll try to make them easier to find..just having problems at the moment.)

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33
Emulators / Retro Gaming podcasts
« on: October 16, 2015, 08:21:46 PM »
Here is a list of "retro-gaming" podcasts. Game consoles only. If you want computer podcasts let me know. If you know of any retro podcasts I missed let me know! :) (Try to post current podcasts please) I am not responsible for anycontent in these podcasts, I DO NOT MAKE ANY OF THEM!


Atari 2600   Atari 2600 Game By Game Podcast

Atari 5200   The 5200 Super Podcast

Atari 7800   Atari 7800 Game By Game Podcast

Atari Jaguar Atari Jaguar Game By Game Podcast

Atari Lynx     Atari Lynx Podcast (dead)

Sega Genesis  Genesis Gems Podcast

Sega Master System  Master System Masterpieces

NES   NES Dudes

SNES   The SNES Podcast

Arcade  Diary of An Arcade Employee Podcast
             Tenpence Arcade
             No Quarter

Coleco Vision   Coleco Visions Podcast

Intellivision  IntelliVisionaries

Other   Retro Gaming RoundUp
            Retro Collect
            The Retro Junkies

34
Emulators / Pre-compiled MAC OS mame binaries
« on: September 02, 2015, 07:14:15 PM »
If you can or have a pre-compiled mame 1.64 no nag high score patched version please pm with a link so I can post it here! :)

35
Emulators / Pre-compiled windows mame binaries (updated)
« on: September 02, 2015, 07:10:33 PM »
MAME 1.66 compiled with no nag and high-score support

64-bit

Thanks Omegaman :)

Note that this will not tell you if a game does not work in MAME. If you are having problems with a game working, load it with a normal mame build to see if any errors pop up (red box). If so there is nothing that can be done to make it work! DO NOT bother the mame devs about it they can not help you and neither can anyone else! We all just have to wait till they can get it working!

36
Emulators / pre-compiled linux mame binaries here
« on: August 29, 2015, 08:11:52 PM »
These links are to compiled linux mame binaries. They have high scores save support and boxes removed. Get the one you need either 32-bit or 64-bit. Make sure to read the readme! Enjoy! :)

Note that this will not tell you if a game does not work in MAME. If you are having problems with a game working, load it with a normal mame build to see if any errors pop up (red box). If so there is nothing that can be done to make it work! DO NOT bother the mame devs about it they can not help you and neither can anyone else! We all just have to wait till they can get it working!

64-bit     32-bit

37
General / Setting up artwork in Attract Mode step-by-step
« on: August 17, 2015, 02:13:39 PM »
Setting up Artwork for Attract Mode is easy. If you understand the concept of setting up roms and the executable then you understand the basic concept of setting up artwork.

1. First take note of where your artwork is on your computer. Examples:
Windows C:\mame\marquees
Linux $HOME/.mame/marquees
MAC OS $HOME/mame/marquees

2. Start Attract Mode
3. Press TAB
4. Go to emulators
5. pick your emulator (example mame)
6. Go to marquees
7. Type the path to your marquees
8. Do steps 6 and 7 for other types of artwork (snap, wheel, ect.)
9. Press esc twice (you should be at the list screen now)

Your artwork should display now! :)

Note that you can set up two types of artwork on one line by using a semi-colon to separate the two paths. (example
Windows C:\mame\snaps;C:\mame\videos
Linux $HOME/.mame/snaps;$HOME/.mame/videos
MAC $HOME/mame/snaps;$HOME/mame/videos

This would make the video snaps show in the same place the still pictures do...however the videos will "override" the still pictures.
This is good because it will show a still picture even though you do not have a video.

Also note that for the artwork to show, it must be named the same name as the rom/game name! Try to use your artwork in the "basic" layout first. If you have problems then it might be attract mode not liking it. If everything works then change the layout. If you are having trouble with that then contact the creator of the theme and hope that they will fix it. Not all artwork will display in a given layout. It depends on how the layout was written..that is if it was designed to show other artwork or not.

Explanation of types of artwork:
Marquee - The top "strip" of artwork normally found at the top of an arcade cabinet
Snap - A still picture (snapshot) of the game. Sometimes video(snap) this would be a short video showing gameplay
Flyer - An advertising flyer for the game normally given to arcade operators (or others) to promote the new games
Wheel - Artwork made to have a fancy list instead of just plain text
PCB - The picture of the arcade Printed Circuit Board
Control Panel (CP) - A picture of the game's control panel
Icon - An icon for the game (not used with Attract Mode but some other front ends do use them)
Cabinet (arcade) - A picture of the arcade cabinet

Tip: For some console emulators you can find "banners" normally the scan of the top of the game cartage. Those can be used as "marquees"

Places to get artwork:

can be downloaded in packs:
video snaps http://www.progettosnaps.net/videosnaps/
snaps   http://www.progettosnaps.net/snapshots/
marquees   http://www.progettosnaps.net/marquees/
cabinets   http://www.progettosnaps.net/cabinets/
flyers   http://www.progettosnaps.net/flyers/
manuals   http://www.progettosnaps.net/manuals/
Control panels   http://www.progettosnaps.net/cpanel/
PCB   http://www.progettosnaps.net/PCB/

donation based*
all artwork http://www.emumovies.com (they have a program that will scan your roms and download the artwork for the games you have) *only for video snaps
wheel art http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/

other
http://www.arcade-museum.com/
http://www.arcade-history.com/index.php?page=database
http://flyers.arcade-museum.com/
http://www.arcadecrusade.com/gallery/main.php (mostly custom artwork..but worth a look!)

38
Emulators / Game fixes
« on: August 12, 2015, 10:24:14 PM »
midway games. (These games are from Mortal Kobat II on).
Volume fix.
1. After starting the game wait for the test screen to run all the way though.
2. Now press the F2 button.
3. Now move down to volume adjustment. Now you can turn the volume up where you want it. Then press a button. It will put you back to the "test screen" Now press TAB go to the dip switch options
4. The first one should say "service mode" turn it to off. Your game will restart. These settings will stay as you set them unless you delete your nvram files.
Some games affected are:
Mortal Kombat II
Mortal Kombat III
Mortal Kombat IV
OpenIce Challenge
Judge Dread
NBA Hang Time
NBA Jam
NBA Jam Tournament Edition
Pigskin
Rampage World Tour
Strike Force
Super High Impact
Total Carnage
Trog!
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
Wrestle Mania
War Gods
Killer Instinct
Killer instinct II
(and more..if you find one that I have not listed please share)

Space invaders
No background sound and the ufo screams making your ears bleed
1. Start the game and press TAB. Now goto slider controls
2. Turn the discrete up (right) to bring the background sound up
3. Turn the SN76477 down (left) to bring the sound down

(Thanks to bsoder for this one)
Simpsons bowling
1. Start the game
2. As soon as it starts hold the F2 button.
3. Continue holding it all the way through (this will take at least 5 minutes) until the game writes itself
4. once done quit the game
5. restart the game

older midway games
one first start it might seem like the game gets stuck. Reset the game F3 or quit and start the game again
(ex. joust, defender, ect.)

Freeze (Atari) (prototype, English voice, 96/10/25)   (freezeat) make it english
1. Press F2
2. On the screen goto game options.
3. The first choice change it to english.
4. Now exit that screen
5. Now press TAB
6. go to the dip switch settings turn it to off
7. Reset the game

Dragons Lair (Daphne)
Game cuts out scenes
Use the dle21 rom not the "default"

Have anymore I missed? Tell me. :)

39
Emulators / Mame settings
« on: August 12, 2015, 07:20:01 PM »
If your game is running poorly there are a few things you can do for speed boosts.

First the lower your monitor/screen resolution the easier it is for mame. Note that these games did not run in high definition so it really doesn't if you have an hd card/monitor or not (in fact your graphics card makes little difference...mame uses RAM and CPU). On a fresh mame.ini mame will make the game the resolution that your monitor is when you start it.
 
Second if you are using shading effects turn them off (this does use more of your graphics card to overlay the effect and some CPU).

Third you can lower the sound-settings (again most games did not have top notch sound). This is done by looking at the mame.ini and looking for the core sound settings:

#
# CORE SOUND OPTIONS
#
sound                     1
samplerate                <-- here
samples                   1
volume                    0

change the samplerate. 48000 or 44100 or 22050 or 11025 are your best choices.

Forth is your core video options:

#
# VIDEO OPTIONS
#
video                     <-- here
numscreens                1
window                    0
maximize                  1
keepaspect                1
unevenstretch             1
centerh                   1
centerv                   1
waitvsync                 0
syncrefresh               0
scalemode                 none

Change the video setting here. Linux use opengl or soft. Windows use d3d or ddraw. Mac (someone tell me so i can fill it in) Choose either and see which one works better.

Last is the frame skip. You can press F8 while in game to cycle down or F9 to cycle up. You skip drawing frames every number of frames that you pick. You gain speed but too much can make it choppy and unplayable

It can be harder on your system to run it too fast for too long..you have been warned.

To make the changes permanent so that you don't have "to skip every time" look for this in the mame.ini:

#
# CORE PERFORMANCE OPTIONS
#
autoframeskip             0
frameskip                 <---- here
seconds_to_run            0
throttle                  1
sleep                     1
speed                     1.0
refreshspeed              0

Change the frameskip from 1-10. Note that this will set frame skipping for ALL games if used this way. To change it for a particular game that is outlined later on

If you simply can not get it to run then you need a better (faster) computer, mame does not support it at full speed yet (nothing you can do but wait) or you can try another emulator.

Final Burn Alpha http://www.fbalpha.com/ (mame version 0.168 based?)
Raine http://raine.1emulation.com/download/latest.html (uses it's own sets (can be converted from mame roms))

Note: the above will do arcade games..but are "selective" that is they will not run ALL games so they may or may not run the game you want.

Advance Mame http://www.advancemame.it/ (mame version (0.106 based)
Fast Mame http://www.zophar.net/mame/fastmame.html (mame version 0.94 based)

(Note that these emulators DO NOT use updated mame sets! You will have to have the right version of the rom for the version of the emulator!)

The mame .ini file:
     This file is a configuration file for mame. Any changes made here after being saved will take effect the next time you start mame. however other ini files work with mame also as long as they are the same format as the original. (easiest way is to copy the mame.ini and rename it.)

   Mame reads ini files this way:
  game.ini example dkong.ini when you start this game mame will look for this game name.ini file..if found it uses that ini file and ignore the mame.ini file. Thus you can make the game act, sound or look different.
   system.ini Example neogeo.ini This will effect *ALL* games that use this driver. Example here would be all neogeo games. For my neogeo games I like to use the uni-bios. So I would open my neogeo.ini and change the bios settings:

#
# CORE MISC OPTIONS
#
drc                       1
drc_use_c                 0
bios                      unibios30
cheat                     0
skip_gameinfo             0
uifont                    default

Now when I start any game it will use the unibios on start without me doing anything. It will not effect other games though. If you change the mame.ini and use the uni-bios to try to load say frogger, mame would halt (frogger can't use the unibios). More on the unibios here : http://unibios.free.fr/

vector.ini having this will effect only your vector based games. You can use this to add more effects to make them look more arcade like..will only effect vector games (e.g. asteroids, tempest, star wars) This is done so that you can tweak vector games differently than raster games (e.g. pacman, donkey kong) You can tweak vector games to have more "glow" like they used to look in the arcades. That is outside the scope of this writing.

At the top of the mame.ini you will see this:
#
# CORE CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
#
readconfig                1
writeconfig               0

Changing the write config to on (make it a 1) will tell mame to write a new config or ini file every time a game is started (Thus it makes a "game.ini" file..If you turn that on and start frogger mame will make a frogger.ini file.)

"I hate the box that comes up every time telling me about the game information!" You can turn that off.

#
# CORE MISC OPTIONS
#
drc                       1
drc_use_c                 0
bios                      unibios30
cheat                     0
skip_gameinfo             0 <-- make that zero a 1
uifont                    default

Note: the copyright notice can not be turned off and it will never be made to be turned off. That was the agreement. However it will only come up the first time you start load a game. On your second start the same game it will not be seen again.

"Why are my high-scores not being saved?"
  That was removed from the official version of mame. Why? I have no idea. You will have to download a version that supports that feature or compile your own and "patch it in" yourself.
    Here are some helpful pages to read on that:
   http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,64298.0.html
   http://mrdo.mameworld.info/compile.php
   http://highscore.mameworld.info/
 

40
General / How to set up attract mode on a PC step by step
« on: August 11, 2015, 12:25:19 PM »
How to set up Attract Mode:

   History of computer interfaces in a nut shell (you may skip this if you wish):

     Attract mode is called a "front-end" in technical terms. It can be thought of as a Graphical User Interface or (GUI, gui) for emulators. Think of it this way: The windows desktop is a gui to DOS (well it started that way, but that topic is not what this writing is about). DOS was text based. You had to type and memorize computer commands, or code words sort of speak. You would type them in to make the computer do stuff. A GUI does the same thing it just interfaces differently using clicks of a mouse or trackball. It looks pretty and makes it easier to run your computer. That is all it does.

   All modern operating systems have a command line interface (CLI, cli). You can run your entire computer from just the CLI. However it is not natural, it is not easy, and sure doesn't look as good! Your emulator uses the cli whether or not it has a gui interface or not. This is how Attract Mode gains is usefulness.

    Attract mode works much the same way as a computer desktop does to the command line. Instead of clicking with your mouse and needing a keyboard attached to your arcade cabinet or game machine (e.g. your home entertainment computer) you can use just a joystick. That is the idea behind a front-end like attract mode. It becomes a gui for your games.

Things to know:

Note: you MUST set up and configure your emulator separately from attract mode. Attract mode does not configure any emulators. All it does is make a list of games or systems that you have nothing more!

First you need to download your version that you need. I am going to assume that you have done that or you would not be reading this.

Default keys are as follows:
   TAB key enters the configuration menu from list mode (the main screen). Arrow keys move selector in that direction. The left ctrl key or enter key selects your choice. Esc key backs out to previous menu.
 
Getting started:

      When you first start attract mode it will ask you to pick a language. Do so. Then it takes you to the configuration screen. Here is where you will set up Attract Mode with your emulator. For this write up we will use MAME. If you have not configured mame you can read this thread to get it working. http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?board=8.0

At the top of the list you will see the word emulators. Choose that and then you will be taken to a list of pre-configured emulators. Find mame and select it. There you will see a list of items to fill in. We will go step by step through this process:

1. Emulator Name
You can not change this. It is there so you can find this configuration from the previous list.

2. Executable
This is where you will put your path to mame so that you can start the program. Examples:
Windows C:\mame\mame64.exe
Linux /usr/games/mame
MAC OS ex. $HOME/mame/mame

3. Command arguments:
This is where you put any extra switches you want it run you game with. For now use [name]

4.  Rom paths:
This is where you put the path of your roms/games. Examples:
Windows C:\mame\roms
Linux $HOME/.mame/roms (notice the dot there before mame)
MAC OS ex. $HOME/mame/roms

5. Rom extensions:
This will very by emulator. For this write up you may leave it as it is. More then one extension can be used if separated by a semi-colon. (ex. .zip;.nes;.7z) If you do not add an extension that type of file will not be included in your list.

6. System identifier:
This is used in conjunction with the system/source scraper below when using the games.db selection.You would enter your system name here. (ex. arcade)

7. Info source scraper:
This is used to grab information for your list. Press up or down to choose from mame, mess, or gamesdatabase.db. Mame is used for the mame emulator, mess is used for the mess emulator, gamesdatabse.db grabs info from the Internet.  (here we choose listxml)

8. Additional import files
Type the path name of the files. Here you can use any files you want to add extra information to your list. This can be skipped but you will not be able to filter games if you skip this step. Valid files are nplayers.ini (number of players), catver.ini (category), controls.ini (controller types)

9. Minimum run time
This is used for steam games to set a delay. We can skip this.

10. exit hotkey
This can be used to set up a hot key to quit your emulator if you emulator does not close the way you need it to. For mame this can be skipped.

11. Flyer, marquee, snap, wheel and add artwork
We can skip this for now

12. Generate Collection/Rom List (See "My list is blank or I don't have a list: 4. You are using a Retroarch core and do not get a list" for more info if you are using retroarch)
   Press enter here and Attract Mode will start to build your list. The time will vary depending on your info source, how big your collection is, and how much extra information you wish to add. Just grab a cold drink from the fridge and come back it should be done.

13. Scrape Artwork
   If you have chosen gamesdatabase this option will attempt to match your game games with artwork and pull it down so that you can use it in attract mode. (the odds of it being perfect or working very. There are other ways to get artwork.) You may skip this if you wish.

14. Delete this emulator
    use this if you want to remove this emulator from your list

15. Back
    Takes you back to the emulator list (choose this)

Select back from the emulator list (or press esc) to go back to the main configuration menu and again to leave the configuration menu. Now you should be looking at your new list. From here you can press up or down to select a game and enter to start it. Hope this helped you and happy gaming! :)

Troubleshooting:

My list says funny things like dkong or mrdofix or sf2ua:
    You need to make sure that your path to your mame.exe is correct. For windows and mac you must have the full path and program name listed! The examples above are just that examples. You put your own information to your path..where ever it is you have put your mame program! Sometimes in your gui file program you can go to the folder and there is a "address bar" or "location bar" that information there is what you need to put in the executable line of attract mode. Linux users can just put mame no need for a full path. You need to make sure the you have chosen the right info source. Use listxml in this case.

I don't like the parentheses in my list:

    Goto the general option in the configuration menu and then make "hide brackets in game title" change it to yes

Ok the display is great but I am bored of it now:
    Go to the displays option in the configuration menu and choose your emulator from the list. from there choose the layout option. Now you can cycle the list of layouts you have and choose the one you want. Questions about individual layouts should be addressed by the author.

Attract mode does not cover my entire desktop:

   This is set up by default as a safety measure and convenience. Once everything is set up the way you want you can change to full screen. Once in full screen everything is covered and you can not get to any other programs or computer settings! You want it this way so that other people can not get to your computer and mess up your hard work. Go to the general option in the configuration menu. Then go to window mode.

Window - make Attract mode a windowed program.You can minimize it and move and resize it like you would any other windowed program. (Great for trouble shooting and such)
Fill screen - will fill the screen but leave the task bar (or side bar in the case of ubuntu) visible but hide the desktop.
Full screen -will hide everything and make attract mode the center of attention. (If you are building a dedicated game machine/cabinet that is the one you want.)

My list is blank or I don't have a list:

 1. Did you generate a list? (configuration menu. Then emulators. Choose your emulator. Then at almost the bottom you will see generate collection/rom list press enter and wait. Once done it will put you back where you were.
2. Do you have your rom path set up right? Your rom path must be entered correctly or Attract Mode  can't find anything to make a list from.
3. Do you have the right extension(s) in the extension line?  the format is . (dot) extension (ex .zip) to add more than one  extension you use a semi-colon ( ; ) (ex .zip;.nes)
4. You are using a Retroarch core and do not get a list
You will need a REAL mame binary to make the list PERIOD. Attract Mode looks for the mame.exe file to make the .exe file cough up the xmllist file then Attract mode uses that information to build a list. Retroarch cores are not real mame binaries...thus you will not get a proper list from Attract mode. After you do that then you can change the executable back to the retroarch mame core settings if that is how you want to run mame.

I saw a video on (insert website name here) and it had movies and pictures and stuff. I want that too!
     Ok we'll set that up in the next write up. This was basic so that people could understand what they are doing and how attract mode works.


 Links (these are external links!)

catver.ini http://www.progettoemma.net/?catlist
nplayers.ini http://nplayers.arcadebelgium.be/
controls.ini http://controls.arcadecontrols.com/ if anyone knows of an updated one please let me know!

41
Emulators / Mame setup for MAC OS
« on: August 10, 2015, 01:53:59 PM »
Thanks goes out to ladysephiroth for help with this!

MAME: Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator

This is what most people want. After all what is a arcade cabinet with out arcade games right?

MAME is one of the easier emulators to set up..and can be the hardest to "get right". MAME is very customizable and can be tweaked down to the last detail.

First off we are going to assume that you know what mame is and have it installed. If you you have no clue what i am talking about go here http://mamedev.org/release.html

(Note: Tihs is written for basic mame and some knowledge of the "command line" is needed. Most front-ends use the command line version of mame..thus they act like a gui (graphical user interface)

To begin:

First this write up assumes that you have a folder called mame in your home folder (ex. /home/mame) where your mame program is. That will be our "base" folder.

   When you first start mame you will get an error stating no games found. Go ahead and exit. Once you have found games, or roms, (you can get test roms here http://mamedev.org/roms/ place them in your 'roms' directory. If you don't have one you can make one. (Normally in your mame folder to keep everything organized.) Now you'll need to open a terminal.
Press command+space bar and type terminal.

   Once there type
Code: [Select]
cd mame then type
Code: [Select]
mame -cc this will create a mame.ini file in the folder that you are in. Now open the new mame.ini in your text editor.

Your mame.ini will look something like this:

#
# CORE CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
#
readconfig                1
writeconfig               0

#
# CORE SEARCH PATH OPTIONS
#
rompath                  <-here  (ex. $HOME/mame/roms)
hashpath                 
samplepath     
artpath                 
ctrlrpath                 
inipath                   
fontpath                 
cheatpath                 
crosshairpath           

   The rompath is the only thing we are worried about right now. You can erase the entire line up to but not including the word rompath. Then type your path to your roms. Now save the changes now type in your terminal mame and start it. You should see a blue box with a list of games you have. You can press enter to start a game or press esc to quit. Your mame now works! you can from a terminal start a game directly (which is how front ends like attract mode work) by typing mame [game name]. (e.g. mame carpolo) in a terminal will start carpolo)

Rom problems:
   First never unzip a rom unless you know what you are doing! MAME can not load an unzipped rom. Roms can be gotten singlely or in "update"packs. You need to have all the needed files in the zip and all te needed zip files.
Example namco's Galaga you have galaga.zip but there are other files it needs (.zip) to start. Why not just put them all together? Well you can and mame will be happy and load fine. However, some of these files are in other namco games (e.x. mappy, rally X, ect.) so now you have them twice...or more..and it's a "waste of space". Loading mame from a terminal MAME will spit out any errors of missing files and tell you
the extra roms you need. For more go here: http://www.xente.mundo-r.com/mame/Update286.html pdf version here http://www.xente.mundo-r.com/mame/pdf/Update286.pdf

Missing sounds:
   With some older games you need what are called sound samples. These are not  emulated sounds per say but raw sound files called by mame at the appropriate time. With ot them you do not hear the sounds in the game. Play galaga without sound samples and when you die your ship explodes without a sound..Who wants that!? So after you find the sound samples you put them in your folder (e.g
mame/samples) and in your mame.ini change your sample path:

#
# CORE SEARCH PATH OPTIONS
#
rompath                   $HOME/mame/roms
hashpath                 
samplepath               <---here (ex. $HOME/mame/samples)
artpath                 
ctrlrpath                 
inipath   
             
Now you will have all your sounds!

chd files:
   Compressed hard drive (or compressed hunks [of] data..depending on who you are talking to.) are large (some are HUGE) data files. Mostly this is a hard drive image (ex. killer instinct) or a CD-ROM (ex. street fighter III) or a laser disc (ex cliffhanger). These need to be placed in a sub-folder ( just make one) in your roms folder with the name of the rom. (e.g. /mame/roms/kinst/)

Basic Tweaks:
   
   For vector games open your mame.ini and save it as vector.ini Now any changes in that vector.ini will only effect vector games (e.g. asteroids, tempest, star wars) This is done so that you can tweak vector games differently than raster games (e.g. pacman, donkey kong) You can tweak vector games to have more "glow" like they used to look in the arcades. That is outside the scope of this writing.

   If your game is running poorly there are a few things you can do for speed boosts.

First the lower your monitor/screen resolution the easier it is for mame. Note that these games did not run in high definition so it really doesn't if you have an hd card/monitor or not (in fact your graphics card makes little difference...mame uses RAM and CPU).
 
Second if you are using shading effects turn them off (this does use more of your graphics card to overlay the effect and some CPU).

Third you can lower the sound-settings (again most games did not have top notch sound). This is done by looking at the mame.ini and looking for the core sound settings:

#
# CORE SOUND OPTIONS
#
sound                     1
samplerate                <-- here
samples                   1
volume                    0

change the samplerate. 48000 or 44100 or 22050 or 11025 are you best choices.

Forth is your core video options:

#
# VIDEO OPTIONS
#
video                     <-- here
numscreens                1
window                    0
maximize                  1
keepaspect                1
unevenstretch             1
centerh                   1
centerv                   1
waitvsync                 0
syncrefresh               0
scalemode                 none

Change the video setting here. (someone tell me the options so i can fill it in please)

To go fullscreen

#
# VIDEO OPTIONS
#
video                     
numscreens                1
window                    0
maximize                  1
keepaspect                <---here
unevenstretch             <---here
centerh                   1
centerv                   1
waitvsync                 0
syncrefresh               0
scalemode                 none

Change keep aspect and uneven stretch to one (1)

I hope that will get you started with some basics of mame. Happy gaming!

mame for mac is here:
http://sdlmame.lngn.net/

gui based
http://qmc2.arcadehits.net/wordpress/

42
General / translators
« on: August 09, 2015, 09:50:11 PM »
would anybody be interested in helping to add other languages to attract mode?

Ray can that be done without much sweat tears and beer? (would you mind?)

43
Emulators / Daphne emulator setup
« on: August 08, 2015, 02:25:55 PM »
Thanks to Bsoder52 for help on this!

Dahpne (named after the princess in Dragon's Lair) is a laserdisc emulator. (Yes we have a had "CD technology" for years before CDs were popular!) It is a "one-system emulator" that is all it emulates is laserdisc games.

First off the games (discs) are available to purchase or if you actually have a laserdisc player (and disc) you can use that. From my understanding you do not need the discs to play all the games run by daphne. The games are downloaded via torrent through the emulator itself. However, to play Dragon's Lair, Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp, Space Ace, or Thayer's Quest you must have the disc!

The default daphne.cfg works but I had some problems wit daphne being started from attract mode. Seems to be the -bank switches. These are dip switch settings and are different for some games. So I made each game a "emulator" so that the entire correct command is sent right so that daphne does not freak out. It took work and some time but it worked great! I added them to my MAME list and deleted each game list so they do not show when I cycle other emulators.

I will post them here..however do not copy and paste them and think they will work because the path is different for your setup I am sure. The part I am pasting..the -framefile switch you replace with your path to your frame file. (ex. C:\daphne\vpld\dlair\dair.txt) The -home directory switch you replace with your "working directory"..the path your your executable file (ex. C:\windows\program files x86\daphne) everything will work if you want to copy and paste them just make sure your paths are right!

us vs them
Code: [Select]
uvt vldp -framefile path/uvt.txt -blank_searches -min_seek_delay 1000 -seek_frames_per_ms 20 -homedir /home/path -bank 0 00000000 -noserversend -sound_buffer 940 -fullscreen -x 800 -y 600
 Super don xoite
Code: [Select]
sdq vldp -framefile path/sdq.txt -blank_searches -min_seek_delay 1000 -seek_frames_per_ms 20 -homedir /home/path -bank 0 00000001 -bank 1 00000000 -noserversend -sound_buffer 940 -fullscreen -x 800 -y 600 roadblaster
Code: [Select]
roadblaster vldp -framefile path/rb.txt -blank_searches -min_seek_delay 1000 -seek_frames_per_ms 20 -homedir /home/path -bank 0 00000000 -bank 1 00000000 -noserversend -sound_buffer 940  -fullscreen -x 800 -y 600 mach3
Code: [Select]
mach3 vldp -framefile path/mach3.txt -blank_searches -min_seek_delay 1000 -seek_frames_per_ms 20 -homedir /home/path -bank 0 01000001 -noserversend -sound_buffer 940 -fullscreen -x 800 -y 600 interstellar
Code: [Select]
interstellar vldp -framefile path/interstellar.txt -blank_searches -min_seek_delay 1000 -seek_frames_per_ms 20 -homedir /home/path -bank 0 00000001 -bank 1 00000000 -noserversend -sound_buffer 940 -fullscreen -x 800 -y 600 gpworld
Code: [Select]
gpworld vldp -framefile path/gpworld.txt -blank_searches -min_seek_delay 1000 -seek_frames_per_ms 20 -homedir /home/path -noserversend -sound_buffer 940 -fullscreen -x 800 -y 600 galaxy
Code: [Select]
galaxy vldp -framefile path/galaxy.txt -blank_searches -min_seek_delay 1000 -seek_frames_per_ms 20 -homedir /home/path -bank 0 00000000 -bank 1 00000000 -noserversend -sound_buffer 940 -fullscreen -x 800 -y 600 dragons lair
Code: [Select]
dle21 vldp -framefile path/dle21.txt -blank_searches -min_seek_delay 1000 -seek_frames_per_ms 20 -homedir /home/path -bank 0 11111000 -bank 1 00110111 -noserversend -volume_vldp 64 -sound_buffer 960 -fullscreen -x 800 -y 600 esh's aurunmilla
Code: [Select]
esh vldp -framefile path/esh.txt -blank_searches -min_seek_delay 1000 -seek_frames_per_ms 20 -homedir /home/path -noserversend -sound_buffer 940 -fullscreen -x 800 -y 600dragon's lair 2
Code: [Select]
lair2 vldp -framefile path/lair2.txt -blank_searches -min_seek_delay 1000 -seek_frames_per_ms 20 -homedir /home/path -noserversend -sound_buffer 2048 -x 640 -y 480 cobra commander
Code: [Select]
cobraab vldp -framefile path/cobra.txt -blank_searches -min_seek_delay 1000 -seek_frames_per_ms 20 -homedir /home/path -bank 0 00000000 -bank 1 01000000 -noserversend -sound_buffer 940 -fullscreen -x 800 -y 600bega's battle
Code: [Select]
bega vldp -framefile path/bega.txt -blank_searches -min_seek_delay 1000 -seek_frames_per_ms 20 -homedir /home/path -bank 0 00000000 -bank 1 00000100 -noserversend -sound_buffer 940 -x 800 -y 600badlands
Code: [Select]
badlands vldp -framefile path/badlands.txt -blank_searches -min_seek_delay 1000 -seek_frames_per_ms 20 -homedir /home/path -bank 0 00000000 -bank 1 10000001 -noserversend -sound_buffer 2048 -x 640 -y 480astron belt
Code: [Select]
astron vldp -framefile path/astron.txt -blank_searches -min_seek_delay 1000 -seek_frames_per_ms 20 -homedir /home/path -bank 0 00000000 -bank 1 00000000 -noserversend -sound_buffer 2048 -x 640 -y 480space ace
Code: [Select]
ace vldp  -framefile path/ace.txt -blank_searches -min_seek_delay 1000 -seek_frames_per_ms 20 -homedir /home/path -bank 0 00000000 -bank 1 00000001 -noserversend -sound_buffer 2048 -fullscreen -x 800 -y 600 thayer's quest
Code: [Select]
tq vldp -framefile path/tq.txt -blank_searches -min_seek_delay 1000 -seek_frames_per_ms 20 -homedir /home/path -useoverlaysb 1 -bank 0 00010000 -noserversend -sound_buffer 2048 -x 640 -y 480

break down line by line:

tq <-- this is the name of the rom

vldp -framefile <-- this stays the same

path/tq.txt <-- this part you change to your path on your computer and name of your framefile.txt

-blank_searches -min_seek_delay 1000 -seek_frames_per_ms 20 <-- this stays the same

-homedir /home/path <--again change this to reflect the path to your home directory for the daphne emulator

-useoverlaysb 1 -bank 0 00010000 <--don't change this part!

-noserversend optional

-sound_buffer 2048 <-- can leave this the same

-fullscreen <--adding this will make it full screen on start instead of a window
 -x 640 -y 480 <- basically your screen size leave the -x and -y part just change the numbers
valid sets are (-x 640 -y 480)  (-x 800 -y 600) (-x1280 -y 1024) (-x 1024 -y 768)

The entire goes on your arguments line in AM. One for each game..make them each a single emulator. All the rest of the information you set up in the normal manner.

I know this sounds like a pain..and maybe I am making harder i don't know. All I know I had problems on my linux machine. The games were acting weird after being launched from AM for me

44
Emulators / Mame setup for Linux
« on: August 07, 2015, 03:41:32 PM »
MAME: Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator

This is what most people want. After all what is a arcade cabinet with out arcade games right?

MAME is one of the easier emulators to set up..and can be the hardest to "get right". MAME is very customizable and can be tweaked down to the last detail.

If you you have no clue what I am talking about go here: http://mamedev.org/release.html

(Note: This is written for basic mame and some knowledge of the "command line" is needed. Most front-ends use the command line version of MAME..thus they act like a gui (graphical user interface) If you want a gui version of mame see below.

When you first start MAME you will get an error stating no games found. Go ahead and exit if you have tried. Once you have found games, or roms, place them in your 'roms' directory/folder. If you don't have one you can make one. (Normally in your mame directory/folder to keep everything organized.) (Go here to get test roms: http://www.mamedev.com/roms/)

To begin:
   When you first start mame you will get an error stating no games found. Go ahead and exit. Once you have found games, or roms, place them in your 'roms' directory. If you don't have one you can make one. (Normally in your $HOME/.mame/ folder to keep everything organized.) Now you'll need to open a terminal. Press Alt+F2 in the popup box type terminal (it will very by distro).

Once there type:
Code: [Select]
cd .mame
then type:
Code: [Select]
mame -cc
this will create a mame.ini file in the folder that you are in. This will create a mame.ini file in the folder that you are in. (You can always run the mame -cc command again and have a new mame.ini if you mess it up real badly.)

Your mame.ini will look something like this:

#
# CORE CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
#
readconfig                1
writeconfig               0

#
# CORE SEARCH PATH OPTIONS
#
rompath                  <-here 
hashpath                 
samplepath     
artpath                 
ctrlrpath                 
inipath                   
fontpath                 
cheatpath                 
crosshairpath           

   The rompath is the only thing we are worried about right now. You can erase the entire line up to but not including the word rompath. Then type :

Code: [Select]
$HOME/.mame/roms
Now save the changes now type in your terminal mame and start it. You should see a blue box with a list of games you have. You can press enter to start a game or press esc to quit
Your mame now works! you can start a game from a terminal and start a game directly by typing mame game name. Example:

Code: [Select]
mame carpolo
 in a terminal will start carpolo without the gamelist (which is how front ends like attract mode work).

Rom problems:
   First never unzip a rom unless you know what you are doing! MAME can not load an unzipped rom. Roms can be gotten singingly or in "update" packs. You need to have all the needed files in the zip and all the needed zip files. Example: you have galaga.zip but there are other files it needs (.zip files) to start. Why not just put them all together? Well you can and mame will be happy and load fine. However, some of these files are in other namco games (e.x. mappy, rally X, ect.) so now you have them twice, or more, and it's a "waste of space". Loading  from a terminal will spit out any errors of missing files and tell you the extra roms you need. For more information go here: http://www.xente.mundo-r.com/mame/Update286.html pdf version here http://www.xente.mundo-r.com/mame/pdf/Update286.pdf

chd files:
   Compressed hard drive (or compressed hunks [of] data..depending on who you are talking to.) are large (some are HUGE) data files. Mostly this is a hard drive image (ex. killer instinct) or a CD-ROM (ex. street fighter III) or a laser disc (ex cliffhanger). These need to be placed in a sub-folder in your roms folder with the name of the rom. (e.g. /.mame/roms/kinst/)
   
Missing sounds:
   With some older games you need what are called sound samples. These are not  emulated sounds per say but raw sound files called by mame at the appropriate time. With out them you do not hear the sounds in the game. Play galaga without sound samples and when you die your ship explodes without a sound..Who wants that!? So after you find the sound samples you put them in your folder (e.g. .mame/samples) and in your mame.ini change your samplepath:

#
# CORE SEARCH PATH OPTIONS
#
rompath                   $HOME/.mame/roms
hashpath                 
samplepath               <---here
artpath                 
ctrlrpath                 
inipath   
             
Erase everything in front of where it says samplepath and type:

Code: [Select]
$HOME/.mame/samples
Now save the new changes. Now when you run a game like galaga you will have all your sounds!

Why is it a tiny screen! To go fullscreen look in your mame.ini for:

#
# VIDEO OPTIONS
#
video                     opengl
numscreens                1
window                    0
maximize                  1
keepaspect                <---here
unevenstretch             <---here
centerh                   1
centerv                   1
waitvsync                 0
syncrefresh               0
scalemode                 none

Change keep aspect and uneven stretch from a zero (0) to one (1)

I hope that will get you started with some basics of mame. Happy gaming!

other mame versions:
SDLmame   http://sdlmame.wallyweek.org ([ubuntu] debs and files archives)

wolfmame   http://replay.marpirc.net/ (pre-compiled mame for submitting official high scores) (outdated but works)

gui mame:
http://qmc2.arcadehits.net/wordpress/ (can install from the repositories..you need to have the command line version of mame installed)

45
Emulators / Mame setup for windows
« on: August 07, 2015, 03:32:32 PM »
MAME: Multipule Arcade Machine Emulator

This is what most people want. After all what is a arcade cabinet with out arcade games right?

MAME is one of the easier emulators to set up..and can be the hardest to "get right". MAME is very customizable and can be tweaked down to the last detail.

First off we are going to assume that you know what MAME is and have it installed at ‘C:\mame’. If you you have no clue what i am talking about go here: [ulr]http://mamedev.org/release.html[/url]

(Note: This is written for basic mame and some knowledge of the "command line" is needed. Most front-ends use the command line version of MAME..thus they act like a gui (graphical user interface) If you want a gui version of mame see below.

When you first start mame you will get an error stating no games found. Go ahead and exit. Once you have found games, or roms, place them in your 'roms' directory/folder. If you don't have one you can make one. (Normally in your mame directory/folder to keep everything organized.) (Go here to get test roms: http://www.mamedev.com/roms/)

If you don't like to use a command line you can use a GUI based mame to set up your mame and to even start games. but remember Front ends like Attract Mode use a command line to start games NOT a GUI (basically your front end like Attact Mode becomes your gui to launch games)
See below for versions of GUI based MAMEs note however using a GUI to set up MAME is the same as using notepad+a command line..so the command line instructions need to be read still!

To begin in the command line do this:

You'll need to open a command line prompt:
Press Windows key+R key. A run dialog will pop up. Now type

Code: [Select]
cmd
Once there type:
 
Code: [Select]
cd C:\ then press enter.

Now, type:
 
Code: [Select]
cd C:\mame press enter.

Last type:
Code: [Select]
mame -cc press enter

This will create a mame.ini file in the folder that you are in. (You can always run the mame -cc command again and have a new mame.ini if you mess it up real badly.)

Now open that file with notepad: 

Your mame.ini will look something like this:

#
# CORE CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
#
readconfig                1
writeconfig               0

#
# CORE SEARCH PATH OPTIONS
#
rompath         <-here  (ex. C:\mame\roms, you may do multiple paths with ; at the end of the first line and the beginning of the second line)
hashpath                 
samplepath     
artpath                 
ctrlrpath                 
inipath                   
fontpath                 
cheatpath                 
crosshairpath           

   The rompath is the only thing we are worried about right now. You can erase the entire line up to but not including the word rompath. Then type your path to your roms:

Code: [Select]
C:\mame\roms
Now save the changes now type in your terminal mame and start mame by typing mame.exe and press enter. You should see a blue box with a list of games you have. You can press enter to start a game or press esc to quit.

   Your mame now works! You can start MAME from a command line to directly run a game by typing (as an example):

Code: [Select]
mame carpolo
 in a command prompt will start carpolo without the gamelist (which is how front ends like attract mode work).

Rom problems:
   First never unzip a rom unless you know what you are doing! MAME can not load an unzipped rom. Roms can be gotten singly or in "update" packs. You need to have all the needed files in the zip and all the needed zip files. Example: you have galaga.zip but there are other files it needs (.zip) to start. Why not just put them all together? Well you can and mame will be happy and load fine. However, some of these files are in other namco games (e.x. mappy, rally X, ect.) so now you have them twice or more and it's a "waste of space". Load MAME from a terminal and MAME will spit out any errors of missing files and tell you the extra roms you need. (For more go here on that: http://www.xente.mundo-r.com/mame/Update286.html pdf version here http://www.xente.mundo-r.com/mame/pdf/Update286.pdf)

chd files:
   Compressed hard drive (or compressed hunks [of] data..depending on who you are talking to.) are large (some are HUGE) data files. Mostly this is a hard drive image (ex. killer instinct) or a CD-ROM (ex. street fighter III) or a laser disc (ex cliffhanger). These need to be placed in a sub-folder in your roms folder with the name of the rom. (e.g. C:\mame\roms\kinst\kinst.chd)
   
Missing sounds:
   With some older games you need what are called sound samples. These are not  emulated sounds per say but raw sound files called by mame at the appropriate time. With out them you do not hear the sounds in the game. Play galaga without sound samples and when you die your ship explodes without a sound..Who wants that!? So after you find the sound samples (again leave them zipped!) you put them in your folder (e.g C:\mame\samples) and in your mame.ini change your sample path:

#
# CORE SEARCH PATH OPTIONS
#
rompath                   C:\mame\roms
hashpath                 
samplepath               <---here (ex. C:\mame\samples)
artpath                 
ctrlrpath                 
inipath   
             
Now you will have all your sounds!

It’s a little screen! To go full screen look in your mame.ini for:

#
# VIDEO OPTIONS
#
video                     d3d
numscreens                1
window                    0
maximize                  1
keepaspect                <---here
unevenstretch             <---here
centerh                   1
centerv                   1
waitvsync                 0
syncrefresh               0
scalemode                 none

Change keep aspect and uneven stretch to one (1)

I hope that will get you started with some basics of mame on windows. Happy gaming!

other related windows mame versions:

wolfmame   http://replay.marpirc.net/ (used for submitting high scores)
mameplus   http://sourceforge.net/projects/mameplus/files/releases/ (mame that has graphical enhancements, Outdated but usable with an old romset)
hbmame   http://messui.1emulation.com/index.html (used to run home brew mame roms)

             GUI mames:

MAMEXT   http://www.emulab.it/p_emulators.php (Outdated but usable with an old romset)
mameui   http://www.mameui.info/
mameuifx   http://mame32fx.altervista.org/home.htm replaced with Arcade64 https://arcade.mameworld.info/

To set up mame with a GUI most GUIs once loaded you choose 'Options' then 'Directories' and you can set up your paths from there. Basically this allows you to set up your mame.ini file from a gui instead of doing it manually.


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