-- Atmospherical Heights MAME FAQ Page! -- ==================================================== *** M.A.M.E. Frequently Asked Questions V0.27 (6th of September, 1997) *** ==================================================== 0.0 Introduction 0.1 Who made this FAQ? 0.2 Why did I make this FAQ? 0.3 May I copy content from these pages? 1.0 What is MAME? 1.1 What does MAME mean? 1.2 Who made MAME? 1.3 Are there any other contributors? 1.4 What is needed to run MAME? 1.5 What are the homepages for MAME? 1.6 Is the sourcecode available? 2.0 What are ROM images? 2.1 I've got new ROMs, how do they work? 2.2 Most Wanted requests. 3.0 First time installation. 3.1 What are the correct gamenames? 3.2 What are the game options? 3.3 What are the ingame keys? 4.0 Known problems. 0.0 Introduction Welcome to the Multi Arcade Machine Emulator (MAME) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). I hope this will give you some help needed to get MAME to play your favourite games from the nostalgic past. 0.1 Who made this FAQ? This FAQ is maintained by me, John den Hartog, and is in no way affiliated to the original MAME project itself. I am not a programmer. I do not contribute to MAME in any way. I just maintain Atmospherical Heights which is dedicated at Arcade Emulation in general, and the MAME project in particular. These pages started months before the Official MAME Page surfaced on the Web. AH was the first MAME dedicated page on the internet, and lots of people mistakenly send me mails thinking I have it in my power to add certain items to MAME. 0.2 Why did I make this FAQ? I receive a LOT of email from people who either don't understand the README.TXT or just didn't take the time to read it fully. I made this FAQ for the sole purpose to send requests about howto things with MAME somewhere that has it all in writing, so that I don't have to type this stuff over and over again.The sole purpose of this FAQ is to give people some sort of direction when they start using M.A.M.E.and/or point out various related things. This FAQ will be updated periodically and will be available at Atmospherical Heights: http://www.xs4all.nl/~delite/arcade_mame.html. 0.3 May I copy content from these pages? No, you may not. I have spent countless hours making this site what it is today, try building a website yourself and watch it grow, it will ultimately give you more satisfaction. But, because I am a nice guy at certain times, if you would like something from me, try mailing me first instead and work things out together. Linking to the ROM files is NOT allowed at all. Traffic on Atmospherical Heights is allready way over the top, having files linked through other sites only raises site traffic, which in turn can result in termination of the site by my ISP. If you are a frequent visitor of Atmospherical Heights, and you know of any sites linking to mine, please mail the culprit and tell them what they are doing, or even better, mail me and I'll contact the person myself. As a last resort (since I know linking to files can't be stopped by just a warning message) I keep rotating the ROM files on different locations, just to piss off the culprits ;) 1.0 What is MAME? MAME is a program that emulates arcade gaming machines on your PC using the original ROM images from those same games, so that it looks, feels and plays like the original. So, if you ever looked at the page wondering how I got these pictures so sharp, they are taken with the build-in screenshot maker in MAME, so this is really WYSIWYG. 1.1 What does MAME mean? MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator. 1.2 Who made MAME? The project was started months ago by Nicola Salmoria who made a lot of standalone emulators for various games. After doing those emulators, he started on the Multi-Pacman-Emulator, which emulated all the various Pacman clones. M.A.M.E. came after that, incorporating all the different emulators Nicola made into one single emulator itself and started adding support for a lot of other (new) games as well. Currently the project is being towed by Mirko Buffoni, and is being supported by various talented coders (including Nicola Salmoria himself as well) who submit game drivers for the project. 1.3 Are there any other contributors? Yes there are a lot of skilled coders and people who knew valuable information on certain games out there who made several drivers for MAME possible.Without these nostalgia heroes MAME wouldn't have been the same as we are used to today. The hall of fame (names taken from README.TXT): Allard van der Bas , Marcel de Kogel , Marat Fayzullin , Alex Krasivsky , David Hedley , Fabrice Frances , L.C. Benschop , Shawn Hargreaves , Carlos Hasan , Robert Schmidt , Chuck Cochems , Valerio Verrando , Ville Hallik , Michael Cuddy , Ishmair , Ron Fries , Dick de Ridder , Brad Oliver , Mirko Buffoni , Richard Davies , Nicola Salmoria , David Dahl , Jarek Burczynski , Ville Laitinen , Ivan Mackintosh , John Butler , Ed. Mueller , Brian Levine , Mike Coates , Chris Hardy , Marc LaFontaine , Steven Hugg , Fabrice Frances , Sergio Munoz , Paul Swan , Gary Walton , Paul Johnson , Simon Walls , Lionel Theunissen , Andy Milne , Toninho , Paul Leaman , Kevin Brisley , Gary Shepherdson , Robert Anschuetz , Jakob Frendsen , Conny Melin , Michael Strutt , Jim Hernandez , Gabrio Secco , Dave Spicer , Marc Vergoossen , Edward Massey , Pete Rittwage , Tormod Tjaberg , Dave W. , Doug Jefferys , Philip Chapman , Thomas Meyer , Steve Scavone , Bernd Wiebelt , Stefano Mozzi , Matthew Hillmer , Shaun Stephenson , Maurizio Zanello , Al Kossow , Eric Smith , Hedley Rainnie , Sean Trowbridge , Steve Baines , Frank Palazzolo . 1.4 What is needed to run MAME? MAME originated on the PC as a DOS emulator. However, since the MAME development team makes their sourcecode available to the public, it's ported to nearly every suitable system around. I personally use a P90/16MB/WIN95 and the DOS version runs like a dream really on nearly all the games. Nicola developed MAME on a 486/DX100 so my guess is that it runs well enough on that as some sort of a minimum configuration. 1.5 What are the homepages for MAME? * DOS http://www.media.dsi.unimi.it/mame/ * W95/NT http://www.media.dsi.unimi.it/mame/ * MAC http://www.primenet.com/~bradman/mame/ * UNIX http://www.dit.upm.es/~jantonio/mame/ * AMIGA http://www.stud.ntnu.no/~matsha/ * ACORN http://www.elecslns.demon.co.uk/MAME/ 1.6 Is the sourcecode available? MAME always had its source code released right from the beginning, giving other people to take a look on how it's made, contribute or how they could make their own emulator. Get the source code at the Official MAME page 2.0 What are ROM images? ROM images are the actual software packets stored on ROM (Read Only Memory) chips placed on a circuit board inside an arcade game cabinet. People having access to both the original PCBs and a (EP)ROM reader can read the images and transform them into chunks of code. MAME emulates various CPU's and by using gamespecific drivers to address the ROM images, the software (ie. the ROMs) actually think they are working with the real thing. MAME emulates the real thing, and performs the tasks that were programmed into the ROMs. 2.1 I've got new ROMs, how do they work? They don't. Without a proper gamedriver been implemented into the core of MAME itself, a new game will not run at all. You have two options, the first one is to download the source code, and program a driver yourself, or like most of us do, sit back and pray to the emu gods that someone out there with the needed coding skills likes the same game you do. 2.2 Most Wanted requests. On the Most Wanted page there are a lot of requests for many games not yet being emulated by anyone. This list is not about what is going to be inserted into new releases of MAME, it's only what the visitors of Atmospherical Heights would love to play once again. Sending me the ROMs, schematics, pictures or anything related will NOT speed up development on these games, as I stated I am not one of the MAME programmers. If you are desperate about getting 'your game' emulated and you have access to tonnes of valuable stuff, please consider starting a homepage dedicated to that particular game, I will be more than happy to point everyone to your site as a guide to getting it emulated. 3.0 First time installation. (Note: all following information is based on my personal usage of PC M.A.M.E., but I think that these procedures will be exactly the same in other versions as well) - Download MAME - Download some ROM images (as an example I will use Mr.Do! (mrdot.zip)) - Unpack M.A.M.E. into a directory of its own, for instance D:\MAME - Make the needed directories, for instance D:\MAME\MRDOT (Note: For other directories, use the command MAME -LIST , it will display a complete list of all the directories needed. Also, if you download the ROM images from my site Atmospherical Heights, you can use the zipname as a dirname, for instance the archive called POPEYEBL.ZIP will have to be placed in D:\MAME\POPEYEBL) - Enter MS-DOS mode and go the prompt in your MAME directory - Type MAME (gamename) (options) to start a game, for instance MAME MRDOT -NOSCANLINES 3.1 What are the correct gamenames? 1942 3STOOGES AMIDAR AMIDARJP ANTEATER ARABIAN ASTDELUX ASTEROI2 ASTEROID ATLANTIS BAGMAN BLASTER BLUEPRNT BOBLBOBL BOMBJACK BOSCO BTIME BTIMEA BUBBLES BUBLBOBL BWIDOW BZONE BZONE2 CARNIVAL CAVENGER CCASTLES CCBOOT CCJAP CCLIMBER CENTIPED CKONG CKONGA CKONGJEU CKONGS COMMANDO CONGO CRUSH DEFENDER DESTERTH DIAMOND DIGDUG2 DIGDUGAT DIGDUGNM DKONG DKONG3 DKONGJP DKONGJR DOCASTLE DORUNRUN DOUNI DOWILD EARTHINV EGGS ELEVATOB ELEVATOR ELIM2 EXEDEXES FANTASY FANTAZIA FROGGER FROGGERS FROGSEGA FRONTLIN GALAGA GALAGABL GALAGANM GALAP1 GALAP4 GALAPX GALAXIAN GALLAG GALMIDW GALNAMCO GALTURBO GALXWARS GBERET GNG GNGCROSS GORF GRAVITAR GYRUSS HANGLY HUNCHY INVADERS INVDELUX INVRVNGE JAPIREM JBUGSEGA JHUNT JOUST JRPACMAN JUMPBUG JUNGLEK KANGAROO KICKRIDR KRULL KUNGFUB KUNGFUM LADYBUG LLANDER LOCOMOTN LOSTTOMB LRESCUE MAPPY MARIO MILLIPED MISSILE MOONCRSB MOONCRST MOONQSR MPATROL MPLANETS MRANGER MRDO MRDOT MRLO MSPACATK MSPACMAN MTRAP MYSTSTON NAMCOPAC NAUGHTYB NIBBLER PACMAN PACMANJP PACMOD PACNPAL PACPLUS PANIC PANICA PENGO PENGOA PENTA PEPPER2 PHOENIX PHOENIX3 PHOENIXA PHOENIXT PIRANHA PISCES PLEIADS POOYAN POPEYEBL PUCKMAN QBERT QBERTJP QBERTQUB QIX RALLYX REACTOR REDBARON RESCUE ROBBY ROBOTRON RUSHATCK SBAGMAN SCOBRA SCOBRAB SCOBRAK SCRAMBLE SEAWOLF2 SEICROSS SINISTAR SNAPJACK SONSON SPACDUEL SPACEATT SPACEFB SPACEPLT SPACEZAP SPACFURY SPLAT STARFORC STARGATE STARTREK STARWARS SUPERG SUPERPAC SXEVIOUS TACSCAN TEMPEST THEEND TIMEPLT TURPIN TURTLES TUTANKHM UNIWARS VANGUARD VENTURE VULGUS WARLORD WAROFBUG WARPWARP WOW WWESTERN XEVIOUS XEVIOUSN YARD YIEAR ZAXXON ZEKTOR 3.2 What are the game options? -noscanlines use alternate video mode (not availble in all games). Use this if the default mode doesn't work with your monitor/video card. in conjunction with VESA modes, things get rather SLOW -vesa use a standard VESA 1.2 mode (default 800x600) instead of custom video mode. By default this simulates scanlines unless the above option ('-noscanlines') is given, or the game is too wide to fit on the screen. You probably want to try this if the custom modes don't work correct for you. Use PGUP/PGDN to scroll the game up/down if the game is too tall to fit entirely on the screen. -vesa2b same as '-vesa' except this uses VESA2.0 banked mode extension -vesa2l same as '-vesa' except this uses VESA2.0 linear mode extension (recommended if available since it is faster than VESA 1.2) -XxY where X and Y are width and height (ex: '-800x600') This is the preferred method for selecting the VESA resolution. For possible X/Y combinations see below -320 tell MAME to use a vesa 320x240 video mode If you get an error '320x240 not supported', you probably need Scitech's Display Doctor, which provides the 'de facto' standard VESA implementaion (http://www.scitechsoft.com) Note: this is a nice alternative to '-640x480 -noscanlines' -512 same as above, video mode is 512x384 -640 same as above, video mode is 640x480 -800 same as above, video mode is 800x600. If no VESA resolution is given on the commandline, this is the default mode. Since rotation modes (below) use VESA, this is also the default mode for them. -1024 same as above, video mode is 1024x768 -vesascan is obsolte and no longer supported. frontend authors: use '-vesa -800'. -vesaskip N is obsolete and no longer supported use '-640x480 -skiplines N' to get the old behaviour -skiplines N since most games use a screen taller than 240 lines, they won't fit in the screen. The parameter 'N' sets the initial number of lines to skip at the top of the screen. You can adjust the position while the game is running using the PGUP and PGDOWN keys. Note: this works _only_ if a VESA mode is selected, e.g. ('-640x480 -skiplines 10') -nodouble prevents pixel doubling, if you like miniaturised arcade emulation. It's also faster than the standard pixel-doubling VESA modes. -vgafreq n where n can be 0 (default) 1, 2 or 3. use different frequencies for the custom video modes. This could reduce flicker, especially in the 224x288noscanlines mode. WARNING: THE FREQUENCIES USED MIGHT BE WAY OUTSIDE OF YOUR MONITOR RANGE, AND COULD EVEN DAMAGE IT. USE THESE OPTIONS AT YOUR OWN RISK. -vsync syncronize video display with the video beam instead of using the timer. This works best with -noscanlines and the -vesaxxx modes. Use F11 to check your actual frame rate - it should be around 60. If it is lower, try to increase it with -vgafreq (if you are using a tqeked video mode) or use your video board utilities to set the VESA refresh rate to 60 Hz. Note that when this option is turned on, speed will NOT downgrade nicely if your system is not fast enough. -rotate is obsolete and no longer supported -ror rotate the display clockwise by 90 degrees. This implies '-vesa -800x600' if not specified otherwise on the command line. It also provides authentic *vertical* scanlines, given you turn your monitor to its side. CAUTION: A monitor is a complicated, high voltage electronic device. There are some monitors which were designed to be rotated. If yours is _not_ one of those, but you absolutely must turn it to its side, you do so on your own risk. -rol rotate display anticlockwise -soundcard n select sound card (if this is not specified, you will be asked interactively) -nojoy don't poll joystick -nofm suppress FM support. If you have problems and don't have a soundblaster I suggest you to use this option -dir4 enable diagonal resolving algorithm -log create a log of illegal memory accesses in ERROR.LOG -help, -? display current mame version and copyright notice -list display a list of currently supported games -listfull display a list of game directory names + description -listroms display selected game required roms -listsamples display selected game required samples -mouse enable mouse support -trak enable trackball support -frameskip n skip frames to speed up the emulation. For example, if the game normally runs at 60 fps, "-frameskip 1" will make it run at 30 fps, and "-frameskip 2" at 20 fps. Use F11 to check the fps your computer is actually displaying. If the game is too slow, increase the frameskip value. Note that this setting can also affect audio quality (some games sound better, others sound worse). Maximum value for frameskip is 3. -vg changes the resolution used by vector games. For example, mame tempest -vesa2l -800 -vg will use an 800x600 VESA2.0 linear screen mode and stretch the vector game to fit the whole screen, instead of using the default dimensions. 3.3 What are the ingame keys? 3 Insert coin 1 Start 1 player game 2 Start 2 players game Tab Enter dip switch, keys and joy settings, and credits display menu Pressing TAB again will back you to the emulator, ESC exit from MAME. P Pause F3 Reset F4 Show the game graphics. Use cursor keys to change set/color, F4 to exit F8 Change frame skip on the fly (60, 30, 20, or 15) F9 To change volume percentage thru 100,75,50,25,0 values Keypad PLUS and MINUS change the volume with fine granularity F10 Toggle speed throttling F11 Toggle fps counter F12 Save a screen snapshot ESC Exit emulator 4.0 Known problems. Known Problems: ------------------- Wookie Wanted to toss an idea at you on the MAME faq, I ran into a small speed problem with my fps when running mame. I was getting around 26 fps (using an amd 5/133, while a friend was getting around 40 fps with his dx2/66. I have 16 megs, he has 8 megs. We both were running out of dos, defragged Harddrives..everything was about equal (or i had him beat) both computers had 1 meg video cards, etc. All came down to my video card, Manufactor: TSENG model:ET4000, didn't support vesa 2.0 linear buffering and that made all the difference. I didn't see this sort of problem mentioned in any of mame documentation or in any mame faq (doesn't mean it isn't in a mame faq somewhere, i could have overlooked it). Just thought I would pass this along incase you had never heard of the problem. I put a diamond stealth 3d in my comp and all is well now, except some of the roms play too fast now :} < Converted by HTMLess v2.4 by Troglobyte/Darkness. Only Amiga... >