does maximus arcade run mame32 or even a second version of mame ?

[The Lumberjackass]

hi,

im a newcomer to the whole mame game and the only problem im having at the moment is trying to get some games i love to
work properly. some work on mame32 and others work on the latest mame version only. an example would be sega's columns .
it works fine on mame32 , but wont load on ordinary mame ( latest version )

so the option im looking at, for a set-up i'd be more than happy with, is to have MA run both mame and mame32.
but at present, MA doesnt want to run mame32. so that leaves me with finding an old mame version which will run the games i want.

so to sum up, is it possible to run 2 versions of mame through MA ? if so, could someone point me in the right direction ?

cheers,

dave.

[nickynooch]

Does mame32 run in maximus?
Yes, check this link for the versions of mame compatable:
http://maximusarcade.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=41&Itemid=55

Can you run 2 versions at once?
Sort of.  I have certain games that only work with older mame games under my "batch files".  Of course this would be for the games that simply don't work properly in later versions of mame. My actlabs guns wont work in the newest version of mame with Alien 3 the gun game, however all the rest of the games work fine so I have a batch file to run an old mame just for Alien 3 the gun game.  The rest of my mame games run the latest mame under the usual mame setup in maximus arcade.

I'm sure the forums on maximus would be more help than what I have given you but sadly they have been down for a couple weeks now.  Ugh.

[The Lumberjackass]

hi nick,

cheers, 
i must read up on that to set everything up correctly.
it never dawned on me to check the docs section  , as i thought all the info i was looking for
was listed in the forums of ma. and i tried looking there first, ( the forums ) but i was hit by a brick wall .

i'd say the ma forums are gone for good to be honest. as i read in the main section of this site that
the guy who created it, is disheartned by the piracy of his programme and has become distant to the project.

but it doesnt help that i only purchased the programme 4 days ago and need minor help. so the forums
on that site would have been an excellent source of knowledge for me

anyways, thanks for your help once again. i really appreciate it !!

[shateredsoul]

Hey Lumber,

You may be right, but there's a few of us here who can always help.  Don't worry, you can pretty much do anything you want with the current version.  I started a blog that has some tips on maximus arcade and more advanced options (like adding in other systems not supported by maximus).  I started the blog as a way to help my self remember tricks, if there's anything else you think might be useful let me know. I made some random updates recently, but have decided to not update on random stuff and focus on emulation tips, or other helpful guides related to gaming.

http://maximizedemulation.wordpress.com/

As a precaution you might want to

1. download the docs section onto your pc (in case the website goes down)
2. Download the latest Max version and keep it and your registration info somewhere safe (in case you need to reinstall)
3. don't worry, Maximus can still do most things well

[The Lumberjackass]

thank you for the info shateredsoul 
i will download all the info i can from the site. i think its the best thing to do anyways , seeing as the forums went down.
and i will visit your blog as soon as i can . any help or tips for MA is exactly what i need right now.
i do want to change the theme of MA at some stage also , so every bit of info i get is like gold

but just on a side note, i need to ask :
i tried getting ma to launch mame32 last nite . it just gave me a blank screen.
just to recap ( so im not making a mistake ) , im pointing ma in the direction of > c:/ mame32 / mame32 . ie , im pointing
ma to launch the little arcade cab logo which is in the mame32 folder.
if i could get this to work , along with the ordinary mame , my cab would be 100% complete.

thanks in advance

[shateredsoul]

so under executable you're pointing it to mame32.exe? right?

What do you mean by little arcade cab company?  Just point the executabe to the mame.exe and point the media(roms) to the folder where you have your games located. You don't to setup the other directories unless you want images, movies, and marquees to show.

[The Lumberjackass]

above is a screenshot of the mame32 folder when i open it.
and as you can see, i have the icon circled , which i believe it to be the mame32.exe.
this is the icon i point ma to.
if i try and point it to the mame logo ( 2 icons to the right of circled icon ) , it wants to re-xtract itself.

im guessing i have the wrong version of mame32 ?

thanks

[shateredsoul]

can you run mame without using Maximus Arcade? If you click on the icon you circled, does it launch mame?

so... that is the mame.exe so that part is right, but you don't want to point maximus to what you call the "mame logo", you only have to point it to the folder where you have your games (it has to be a folder).  Where did you save your games?


So Maximus uses the mame.exe to run your games, but Maximus Arcade needs to scan your games first, that's why you need to point maximus to wherever you have your games (it's the software(rom) option).

[The Lumberjackass]

yes, mame32 program runs when i click that arcade cab logo .

as for ma, when it asks for the emulator for mame , eg - mame32 , i put that " icon " as the .exe
i then point ma to the roms folder , eg : mame32 / roms and the snaps folder is also arranged the same way.

but you do realise that mame32 has its own front-end already installed . does that make a difference ?
that is what the version of mame32 i have is like :

so basically, when i double click on the arcade cab icon , this is what happens ,

[The Lumberjackass]

well, im downstairs in front of the cab at the moment and surprise , surprise , mame32 now works through ma 

i checked that all the paths were correct first, they were , and then launched.

30 seconds later : ma appears and has mame32 running. sweet

i now need to get this and version 0136b working on the cab.

thanks for all your help so far shateredsoul . i can now see why your soul is shattered though.
having to try and problem solve issues which shouldnt even be issues in the first place. but oh well , thats software

[shateredsoul]

Ha ha, Glad it worked! Is Mame 32 going to be your the main version you want to use? if you are only using mame 32 for only a few games I would suggest you setup the newer version of mame through the mame setup and setup the few games that don't run in the new version using the computer games launcher using the batch files setup (that's how I set up Donkey Kong 2 through misfit mame).

well, im downstairs in front of the cab at the moment and surprise , surprise , mame32 now works through ma 

i checked that all the paths were correct first, they were , and then launched.

30 seconds later : ma appears and has mame32 running. sweet

i now need to get this and version 0136b working on the cab.

thanks for all your help so far shateredsoul . i can now see why your soul is shattered though.
having to try and problem solve issues which shouldnt even be issues in the first place. but oh well , thats software

[The Lumberjackass]

mame32 , wont be the main emulator for mame .
im planning on using ordinary mame ver 0136b , as it seems to run more games and better ( only max's about 23% to 40% cpu usage , 30ish average ).

whereas mame32 is running at 50% cpu regardless of what game i play , so yes, any games that can be run , will go through 0136b for performance , and
the others which only work through mame32, will be few and far between. either that, or i download older mame versions and test roms one by one which wouldnt be nice.

it'd be great if there was such a thing as a full working rom-set with a certain version of mame , pre-packed and ready to go.
well, i'd say there is, but i dont trust torrents or other download sites like that. god only knows what you could be downloading.
but yeah, im happy enough at the moment.

i have also just set up an imon soundgraph for external programs , so it will control volume , music , launch ma , exit ma and so on.
i dont even have a keyboard connected to my cab , i have joysticks , buttons and a remote control . completely seamless

take a look if ya like :
( part 5 is on the way , it'll show the imon working and how easy it'll be to navigate / use , but this vid shows the finishing touches )

[shateredsoul]

I had no idea what an iman soundgraph is.. is this it?

http://shop.soundgraph.com/ItemDetail.aspx?PDSEQ=36

If that's the case, wow! Do you have any plans on how to keep people from messing with your pc settings? That would make a great screen for a jukebox app.  You should check out Zen Point Digital Center (I like it for it's jukebox functionality, but you can use it also to watch movies, listen to internet radio, and look at pictures (I disabled everything but the jukebox option). 

[shateredsoul]

by the way, I really like your cabs design.  Looks very sleek and clean.  I'll be checking out your other vids later 

[The Lumberjackass]

by the way, I really like your cabs design.  Looks very sleek and clean.  I'll be checking out your other vids later 

cheers man

the imon soundgraph is designed to run a htpc . basically, its this product right here :
http://shop.soundgraph.com/ItemDetail.aspx?PDSEQ=4

except i took off the volume knob and fitted it flush. the remote will control the volume from now on.
and pretty much everything else for that matter , hehe . i have the remote customised to launch either
my music collection ( using the imon player , works like windows media player but looks like apple software ) or i can launch maximus arcade.
the cab will boot to the desktop as normal and from there i can then choose which program to run. its easy to use anyways, thats the main thing.


anyways, you'll get a first hand demo of it soon. it should be nice when fully complete, hopefully

[shateredsoul]

can you do me a favor? Can you try the demo of this media center application and let me know if it works with the imon and remote?  If it's compatible I will probalby start saving for one . It's cool if you're too busy, but if you get bored i'd appreciate it.

http://www.zenpoint.org/

[The Lumberjackass]

the imon is configurable , so no matter what program it is, it'll launch it and exit it . but just to be sure, i will check it for you.
the only main problem i could see, is the media buttons like play, stop , skip etc etc may not work. it all depends really.

i have 2 imons, i have one in my pc upstairs ( http://shop.soundgraph.com/ItemDetail.aspx?PDSEQ=6 ) and the ordinary vfd in the cab.
believe it or not , the vfd is the better hardware , and the software is easier to use with it . all the imon software has been updated
and they made a mess of it , so if you bought the vfd for instance , and it came with a disc with the new software and interface ,
my reccomendation is that you roll back to the version of software i use , as the interface is clean and works well.

i will go do that for you now. give me about an hour , as the cab uses wireless and the download could take awhile

[The Lumberjackass]

well,

i downloaded that zen player.

first off, yes , it does work . but the software is so cumbersome it detracts from such a nice interface.
basically, imon can launch it , control it and play anything you want with it. but the catch is, the overall control
of the player is horrible.

you see, located in the middle of the remote, is a joystick with arrow directions. this controls the pointer ( i.e the mouse ).
the bad thing about this, is that the zen player exclusively uses the mouse to go from one function to the next . it makes using the
remote cumbersome and tiring . you'd actually be better off buying a pointer , eg - what they use in conferences to control windows, like a wii-mote.

to be completely blunt, i think the zen player is bloated software and the userability is limited .
so even if you bought an imon, yes, it'll still work with it, but the bundled software with the imon ( yes , the software i said was crap ) is
far better than that zen media center. now i know its just windows media player they use to play all files , but its the control and use of the interface that lets such a good looking programme down.

using the imon software is right to the point. press the " imedian " button , up comes the interface . press the " music " button , up comes your albums ( it actually looks similar to zen here ) ,
press " play " on the remote , music plays. its faster by a full 30 seconds than if i was to control zen with the remote. but thats my take on it , i just dont like the zen software 

[shateredsoul]

Hey LUmber,

Thanks for the info! This is very good to know.  I only use zenpoint as a juke.. it just looks nicer than most others i've tried albumplayer, sk juke, and many more.  I'm really interested in the ability of the controller to turn off the pc. I will only be using it for for the juke... is the controller much use for the maximus frontend?

Hmm.. maybe this is a better option for a juke? hmm

[The Lumberjackass]

as for the use of the remote through Ma, yes, it'll launch the front-end, it'll select a game, launch it and then can exit that game.
it can also be set up ( like i have done ) , to send custom commands like " ctrl + q " to exit Ma and return to desktop.

then i can launch the media player for imon and play music, movies or look at pictures.
i can even launch internet explorer with the remote and browse, but having said that , its awkward cause
internet explorer needs a mouse , and using the remote as a mouse is time consuming.

but the next vid will show you it working anyways, so hold off untill then. i'd say maybe another 2 weeks maximum untill the vid is up tho.
this is due to the cost of the side art , how long it'll take to recieve it and how long it'll take me to edit the vid

but regardless of what media player you choose , imon can launch and exit it. its like a front-end in your hand , hehe .

[shateredsoul]

hey lumberjackas,

I was wondering if you had more detailed info about how you installed your imon? I plan on leaving my pc inside the tower and don't want to take it apart, would you still recommend the imon? would it be easy to install? I don't care about it powering on or off through the control.

Also, does it display the game names while playing (or is that possible to configure somehow?)

I'm thinking about getting one.. I have a lot of empty space underneat my monitor.

[The Lumberjackass]

if you have alot of room you can install the bigger imon , it takes up 2 cd-rom sized slots on a pc.
but i recomend the one i have , it works better provided you get the correct driver and software.

as for installing it, its easy enough.
all you need to worry about is the motherboard power connector. as if you have a dell in there you will
need to splice wires or solder onto the proprietary board. otherwise , its all plain sailing if your pc is
a standard type , eg , you built it yourself.


if your wondering about installing it onto the cab , you will have to figure it out for yourself.
as your cab will be set up differently to mine and you'll need to plan ahead on how to mount it.
the only explaination i can give you on how i mounted mine , was to use L brackets and cut through
the imon plate so it would attach to the cab. i'll post a pic later as im in bed at the mo with the lappy , hehe

[shateredsoul]

hmm, I have an hp..so the imon can't get power through usb? I thought connecting to the mobo connector was only if you want to be able to poweroff the pc through the control (which I really don't care about).

I guess the other options is a 7" LCD, but I'm not too interested in that since it causes issues in some games, and some games (like Blaz Blue) will just not work with 2 LCDs

[The Lumberjackass]

the imon needs to be connected to the pwr switch / pins on the mobo.
i too, thought that all i needed was the usb and main power for it to work. but, no , it wont work untill you have it connected
to the mobo power pins or the switch. i think something within its bios detects whether or not the wires are connected.

if you can, splice into wires, but if they arent available ( i dont know what way hp pc's are manufactured ) you'll need to
find the correct pins on the proprietary board and solder them on. its easy to do anyways. but as for mounting it , thats another question.

here's a pic of how i mounted the imon to the cab.


but as for your original question of displaying game names whilst playing , well , that i dont know to be honest.
my belief says everything is possible , but for this , im thinking you may need to alter the software in some shape or form to get it to work.
then again, it could do it quite easily , but im not interested in trying to get it work so i wont go there
i dont want to screw anything up you see. the drivers are flaky enough as it is , hehe