***************************************************************************** MAMEnu v3.30 - (DOS) Front end for M.A.M.E. (v0.26 or later) Copyright (C) 1997 by Maurizio Zanello E-mail: i0100115@ingstud.univ.ts.it MaurySoft Homepage: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Way/3440 ***************************************************************************** M.A.M.E. - Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator Copyright (C) 1997 by Nicola Salmoria and Mirko Buffoni The Official M.A.M.E. Project Page: http://www.media.dsi.unimi.it/mame/ ***************************************************************************** VERY IMPORTANT: --------------- MAMEnu v3.30 does not longer support M.A.M.E. versions before v0.25!!! This is because now MAMEnu uses M.A.M.E. "-listfull" option to get the full list of supported games (instead of classical file-searching method). If you still want to play with an older version of M.A.M.E. you have to use the old MAMEnu v3.11. If you have upgraded from 3.2x and use "Packed settings" then PLEASE make sure you read the "README.NOW" file and the "WHAT'S NEW" section at the end of this file. IMPORTANT: ---------- DO NOT ASK ME FOR ROM IMAGES! DO NOT DISTRIBUTE MAMEnu WITH M.A.M.E. OR ROMS! Owning a set of ROM images for an arcade game that you do not own is a violation of copyright laws. FREEWARE DISCLAIMER: -------------------- This product is freeware. You may use it for your own game playing needs and that is it! I won't take any responsibility (directly or indirectly) to any damage (temporary or permanent) that this program or any associated programs may do. Also, you can freely distribute this program and its associated files as long as you respect the following restrictions: * That files "MAMENU.EXE", "MAMENU.ICO" and "MAMENU.TXT" are included in the same archive in an unmodified form; * It must NEVER be packaged in with M.A.M.E. or ROM images; * That no charge is made for copying or distribution of this program and its associated files (beyond reasonable access fees); * It may not be included in any commercial product or CD-ROM compilations without the author's express permission. FILES IN THIS ARCHIVE: ---------------------- The following files should be contained in this archive: * MAMENU.EXE MAMEnu, the main program (Another fine MaurySoft product); * MAMENU.INI The .INI file for MAMEnu, updated with descriptions for M.A.M.E. v0.26; * MAMENU.ICO Windows icon for MAMEnu (in multiple-icon format); * MAMENU.TXT This document file. If any of these files is missing, please get the latest, full version at my Homepage (at http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Way/3440). If you can't find it, then e-mail me and I'll send you a copy by e-mail or I'll tell you where to find it. FEATURES: --------- * DOS-native program (but works also perfectly under Windows and OS/2); * GUI-based (with a fast, nice graphic interface & mouse support) and EXTREMELY user-friendly; * Help and Topic Search for every game supported by M.A.M.E. (only with original M.A.M.E. "README.TXT"); * Support for long descriptions (max. 35 characters) for every game; * All descriptions and settings are saved to disk (using the .INI file); * M.A.M.E. error messages are displayed with an elegant dialog box; * Fully extendible (max. 200 games for now); * Support for additional user-defined M.A.M.E. options; * Support for (.RAR, .ZIP and/or .ARJ) compressed ROMs and sound samples (with "(UN)RAR.EXE", "PKUNZIP.EXE" and/or "ARJ.EXE"); * Support for packed settings for compressed games; * Only the games ACTUALLY present are listed on the menu (if you get only one game, you won't see the whole list, but only that game); * Support for games with specific settings; * Original, clone and "bugged" games may be displayed with three different colours (white, light gray & dark gray); * Support for normal (based on single-key searching) or advanced (based on string searching) navigation system; * Support for global or individual resetting of high scores and/or game configurations; * Support for auto-detect of description and samples file for new games; * Support for auto-detect of VESA v2.0 (in "Autodetect" mode MAMEnu will run games with "-vesa2l" option ONLY when UNIVBE is installed); * Last but not least: Freeware/E-mailware. REQUIREMENTS: ------------- * Any computer that has the ability to run M.A.M.E. (but if you just want to have a look at the program, you could run it on a 12MHz IBM PC-AT with 512kb of base-RAM, a CGA card and DOS 4.00 ...aaargh!!!); * To have "MAME.EXE", the original "README.TXT" and games subdirectories containing ROMs needed; * To support compressed ROMs: to have "(UN)RAR.EXE", "PKUNZIP.EXE" and/or "ARJ.EXE" in the PATH and the archive files of ROM images located in a directory specified in the environment menu (default is "ROMS"); * To support compressed samples: to have the corresponding ROMs compressed and the archive files of samples located in a directory specified in the environment menu (default is "SAMPLES"); * To support packed settings: to have the corresponding ROMs compressed and the settings files located in a directory specified in the environment menu (default is "SETTINGS"). INSTALLATION: ------------- To install simply unzip "MAMENU33.ZIP" into your M.A.M.E. directory. MAMEnu assumes every directory in the current directory (except "OBJ", "SRC", "ROMS", "SAMPLES" and "SETTINGS"), and every .RAR, .ZIP and .ARJ in the ROMs directory, is a game that can run and is set up to run via "MAME.EXE". When you are sure you are all set up, from a DOS prompt, type "MAMENU". IMPORTANT: DO NOT MODIFY OR RENAME THE ORIGINAL M.A.M.E. "README.TXT"!!! MAMEnu uses this file for the Help and the Topic Search. RUNNING PROGRAM: ---------------- A valid command line is: > MAMENU [options] [M.A.M.E. options] ...where options can be: * /? Display a brief help and info-version; * /ECHO Echo the M.A.M.E. command line and allow batch creation; * /NOVGA Disable VGA graphic characters. ...and M.A.M.E. options can be any additional emulator option. HOW TO USE: ----------- It's easy: select which game you wish to play with keyboard or mouse. You can use the cursor keys to select the game from the game list then press [Enter] to play. Or, you can use the mouse to choose which game then click on the "Play!" button (double-click has the same effect). You can also use [PgUp] or [PgDn] to move more quickly. If you want to move directly to the game you'd like to play, you can choice between two navigation systems: * Normal navigation: press the first letter of game's name and you will jump to the first (or the last, with [Shift] key pressed) entry in the list which begins with that letter. Keep pressing the letter and the selection bar will loop through all of the entries beginning with that letter; * Advanced navigation: just type the first few letters of game's name and you will jump to (e.g. type "GALAX" to play with "Galaxian", or type "MRL" to play with "Mr. Lo!"). N.B.: To select navigation system open the environment menu (using the [F4] key) and set "Advanced navigation" box. In the other windows, you can use the [Tab] key or the cursor keys to move the focus to the other controls, or you can click on them using the mouse. If you're familiar with professional GUI programs you will quickly notice what this program has to offer. ADDING AND DELETING GAMES/ROMS: ------------------------------- Remember that MAMEnu displays only the games ACTUALLY present, so: * To add a new game, siply create the corresponding directory or archive file (containing ROMs needed) and then run MAMEnu: if MAMEnu detects new games (Plug&Play?!? Naaaah!!!), it will ask you to describe them. Select "Cancel" to accept all of the new entries with default values; * To delete a game, simply remove the corresponding directory or archive file. HOW TO USE COMPRESSED ROM IMAGES: --------------------------------- If you want, MAMEnu can automatically uncompress your game ROMs when you play and remove them when you are finished (without losing .HI and .CFG files: MAMEnu stores them into settings directory). * Make sure that "UNRAR.EXE" (or "RAR.EXE"), "PKUNZIP.EXE" and/or "ARJ.EXE" are available in the PATH; * Create a directory for compressed ROM images (by default MAMEnu assumes "ROMS" within your M.A.M.E. directory); * Put compressed ROMs into here; * Run MAMEnu, open the environment menu and define ROMs directory. IMPORTANT: Each game must have a separate archive file containing all of the required ROM images for that game, and the archive file must have the same filename as the game's directory (e.g. "Burger Time" has a directory called "BTIME", so the .ZIP file would be called "BTIME.ZIP"). Remember that you don't have to create the game's directory: only the archive file. Also, remember to put the archive file into the ROMs directory! GAMES LOADING PRIORITY: ----------------------- The priority during loading of games is: * uncompressed directory games; * .RAR archive files; * .ZIP archive files; * .ARJ archive files. HOW TO USE COMPRESSED SOUND SAMPLES: ------------------------------------ There are some games (like "QBERT" and "QBERTJP", or "INVADERS" and variants) that use the same sound samples. If you use compressed ROMs for these games, you can avoid to store the same samples in lots of archive files (and then save your disk space) using a separate archive file. Also, in this way you don't need to re-pack them every time a new version of samples comes out. * Create a directory for compressed samples (by default MAMEnu assumes "SAMPLES" within your M.A.M.E. directory); * Put compressed samples into here; * Run MAMEnu, define samples directory into the environment menu, then describe all of the games that will use those samples (using the [F2] key) and set "Compressed samples" with the name (without the extension) of the archive file of samples (wildchars "?" and "*" are allowed). EXAMPLE: Put "QBERT.ZIP", "QBERTJP.ZIP", etc... in "ROMS"; Put "QB-SAMP.ZIP", etc... in "SAMPLES"; Set "Compressed samples" (of Q*bert and Japanese Q*bert) with "QB-SAMP" (or "QB*"). HOW TO USE PACKED SETTINGS: --------------------------- If you use compressed games, you can avoid to lose a lot of disk space (due to the slack space used by all .HI & .CFG tiny files) using packed settings. In this way MAMEnu can automatically store all settings files in one file: "SETTINGS.PAK". * Run MAMEnu, open the environment menu, set "Packed settings" box and wait "a moment": existing settings will be packed (or unpacked if you unset the option). GENERIC AND SPECIFIC SETTINGS: ------------------------------ By default, each game uses generic settings: in this way you don't have to set them for every game. However, some games require particular settings (like a different graphic mode or frameskip) that could bother the other games. In this case you can use specific settings feature. To define specific settings in a game, simply describe it (using the [F2] key) and set "Specific settings" box. When a game is set up to use it's own settings for the first time, MAMEnu will assume values from the current generic settings. To open the settings menu use the [F6] key. THE .INI FILE: -------------- The main purpose of the "MAMENU.INI" file is to store the games descriptions (when they are different from directories names) and settings for MAMEnu and all of the games supported by M.A.M.E. This is a plain text file and can be edited with DOS EDIT (or with Windows Notepad). However, I'd suggest you not to modify this file unless you know what you're doing, and to do all of the changes you need within MAMEnu. If you delete the file, you'll lose all of the games descriptions and settings. SUPPORT FOR OLDER VERSIONS: --------------------------- I will no longer provide support for MAMEnu versions before v3.30. If you have an old version, please get the latest one at my Homepage. WHAT'S NEW: ----------- 3.30 Jul 26, 1997 I finally found out and fixed what was causing hang-up in v3.2x: my .INI-handling routines weren't able to read very big files (this was caused by the HeapMax limit I've set with the {$M} directive). So I have introduced my personal compression format to replace previous "MAME-HI.INI" & "MAME-CFG.INI" with the (binary) file "SETTINGS.PAK". ****************************************************** MAKE SURE TO UNPACK YOUR "Packed settings" WITH MAMEnu v3.25 BEFORE OVERWRITING IT WITH MAMEnu v3.30 !!! ****************************************************** Added ability to detect the presence of a DPMI server. Added ability to detect VESA v2.0 (useful to run games with "-vesa2l" option ONLY when UNIVBE is installed). Added ability to generate a random name for MAMEnu temporary files (useful to avoid the "File Creation Error" message when ending the DOS task under Win95). Added ability to pass extra MAMEnu command-line parameter to M.A.M.E. (useful to use particular M.A.M.E. options, like "-log"). Added ability to assume the current generic settings when a game is set up to use it's own settings for the very first time. Added support for "-trak". Settings menu changed. Minor cosmetic changes. 3.25 Jul 06, 1997 Little bug (involving frequently system hang-up) fixed: I hate having to use dynamic variables under DOS! :P Added support for "-mouse". Improved auto-detect for new games. Settings menu changed. Minor cosmetic changes. 3.20 Jul 04, 1997 Sorry to be late, but I'm very busy at the moment... :P Updated settings menu, due to new M.A.M.E. options ("-224", "-ror", "-rol", "-nodouble", etc.). Added support for .CFG files (instead of .DSW & .KEY). Added support for compressed games with subdirectories. Added (optional) ability to "overwrite" directory games if compressed ROMs are present. Improved auto-detect for new games. Game loading changed: now MAMEnu will use "-listfull" to get the list of supported games. For this reason, MAMEnu does not longer support M.A.M.E. versions before v0.25! Settings menu changed. Environment menu changed. Minor cosmetic changes. 3.11 Jun 17, 1997 Little bug (involving mouse into settings menu) fixed. Updated settings menu, due to new video modes supported by M.A.M.E. ("-320" and "-512"). Added "Clear" button for additional user-defined options. Settings menu changed. Minor cosmetic changes. 3.10 Jun 12, 1997 Added support for additional user-defined options (useful to use future versions of M.A.M.E.). Added support for "-rotate" option (next to be implemented in M.A.M.E.). Settings menu changed. Minor cosmetic changes. 3.00 Jun 04, 1997 Ehm... I WOULD like to study this month... :P Added support for "-vesa2b", "-vesa2l" and "-nofm" options. Added ability to pack settings files (.HI, .DSW & .KEY) in .INI-style files (useful to save a lot of disk space for users who have large hard disk drivers). Little bug (involving TEMP variable under WinNT) fixed. Environment menu changed. Settings menu changed. Minor cosmetic changes. 2.51 May 27, 1997 Maybe one of the last releases of MAMEnu: very sorry, but I MUST study this month! :( Updated settings menu, due to new video modes supported by M.A.M.E. ("-640", "-800", "-1024", etc.). Added ability to specify the location of settings directory (useful for ZipFolders/ZipMagic users). Environment menu changed. Minor cosmetic changes. 2.50 May 22, 1997 Advanced navigation system improved: only alphanumeric characters are now used. Added ability to specify locations of ROMs and samples directories. Added Environment options menu. Settings menu changed. Added ability to skip samples decompression when no sound card is selected. Little bug (involving TEMP variable when it points to a root directory) fixed. A lot of cosmetic changes. 2.40 May 16, 1997 Added (optional) advanced navigation system. Updated support for (global or individual) resetting of key settings. Settings menu changed. Minor cosmetic changes. 2.30 May 12, 1997 Compressed games handling improved: added support for compressed sound samples. Original, clone and "bugged" games may be now displayed with three different colours. Added support for .KEY files. Settings and Describing menus changed. Minor cosmetic changes. 2.20 May 07, 1997 Updated Help and Topic Search handling, due to the new "README.TXT" documentation-style. Added support for .RAR and .ARJ archive files too. Added support for individual resetting of high scores and/or dip switch settings. Minor cosmetic changes. 2.10 Apr 30, 1997 IMPORTANT: Changed name of the directory for the saving of the dip switch settings and high scores of compressed games: old "ROMSDAT" is now called "SETTINGS". Added ability to remember the last game selected. Added ability to ask the description for new games. Added reverse HotKey games selection (with [Shift] key). Improved "/ECHO" command line. Removed "Windows Zoom" option from Settings menu. Settings menu changed. Added original "README.TXT" checking. Help and Topic Search windows changed. Minor cosmetic changes. 2.00 Apr 21, 1997 Added the most frequently asked feature: each game can have specific settings or use generic settings. Added support for zipped games. Added differentiation of colours between original games and clones. Added "/ECHO" command line. Re-added "/NOVGA" command line. Settings menu changed. Minor cosmetic changes. 1.50 Apr 15, 1997 Added support for "-vgaskip" (skip 0 lines) and "-vsync" options. Hang-up bug fixed. Options menu changed. A lot of cosmetic changes. 1.40 Apr 07, 1997 Added support for "-vgafreq" option. Added new MAMEnu options. Removed "/NOVGA" command line (now available in Options). Options menu changed. A lot of cosmetic changes. 1.30 Mar 25, 1997 Added support for "-vesascan" option. Minor cosmetic changes. 1.20 Mar 21, 1997 Added Topic Search for games. Added HotKey games selection. Minor cosmetic changes. 1.10 Mar 18, 1997 If you had less than 14 game, MAMEnu couldn't run ("Unable to locate games directory"): removed. Minor cosmetic changes. 1.00 Mar 17, 1997 First public release. ACKNOLEDGEMENTS: ---------------- Thanks to the following people: * Nicola Salmoria (MC6489@mclink.it) & Mirko Buffoni (mix@lim.dsi.unimi.it) for the best Arcade Emulator available and for including my suggestions and modifications (at http://www.media.dsi.unimi.it/mame/); * Dave Spicer for the second best Arcade Emulator available; * Allard van der Bas (avdbas@wi.leidenuniv.nl) for the Arcade Emulation Programming Repository (at http://valhalla.ph.tn.tudelft.nl/emul8); * Thomas Hammel for his awesome Arcadomania (at http://www.datacomm.ch/~camelot/arcade.html); * Chris & Pete for The PC Arcade (at http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/dodge/); * John den Hartog for his mystic Atmospherical Heights (at http://www.xs4all.nl/~delite/); * Dave W. for his fabulous Dave's Video Game Classics (at http://www.gamepen.com/gamewire/classic/classic.html); * Everyone else who has contributed to the M.A.M.E. Project and to ALL OF THE OTHER EMULATIONS, frontends and associated utilities (in particular to Scott Stone, Paolo Nicoletti, Matt De Gabrielle and... Blood!, "whose ideas may have 'inspired' me"); * Everyone who has tried MAMEnu and sent me compliments, suggestions and bug reports: thanx dudes (in particular to Sal Bugliarisi, Ian Alexander, Ulrich Doewich, Bruno Altobelli, Paolo "Torakiki" Corsini, Luca Zuliani, Robert Holmes, Stefano Alloro, Thomas Beuler, Stuart Simpson, Frederic Vecoven, Gareth Hall, Dennis Weidner, Thomas Mand, Martin Schaefer, Mike Blair, John Stewart, Bernd Wiebelt, John Holmes, Christian Oliver, Rod Collen, Eric Linenberg, "CyberTaco" and anyone else that I've forgotten); * Juanjo Gil (juanjog@usa.net) for his brilliant suggestions about compressed sound samples; * Micro Dragon (micro@psyber.com) for the new (very nice!) MAMEnu icon; * Robert "XBoy" Cultrara, Gabriele "Jib" Dambrosi, Mirko "MiX" Buffoni, Massimo "Raid" Disnan, Alex "Harpo" Pericolo and "Sandman": my official beta-testers; * Vladan Bato for checking this document. MAMEnu PROJECT: --------------- MAMEnu was written entirely by me in my spare time, using the good old Turbo Pascal v7.0 (with a little of help from TP v6.0's WIN.OBJ) on my P100. SUGGESTIONS, COMMENTS, COMPLIMENTS, REQUESTS, BUG REPORTS, INSULTS: ------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm very busy at the moment and I don't know if I can answer to everyone... however if you have any of the above, please send them to me. IMPORTANT: To send any bug reports, please include "MAMENU:" at the start of the subject line. Thanks. THE AUTHOR: ----------- I'm a (hopeless?!?) student at the university of Trieste, in Italy. This program was written for my own use first, and then I thought it could help someone else... So here it is! If you happen to use this program, remember to send a little e-mail to me. Thanks for using MAMEnu. Bye! Maury