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the state of mame
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CheffoJeffo:
What I got out of it is that a bunch of people who use MAME far more than I do (come to think of it, I don't currently have a MAME cab other than my 48-in-1 and 60-in-1) are far less appreciative of what they have been given than I am.

Contrary to the sense of entitlement that users seem to feel, the project is properly guided by the developers.

I note that, when the opportunity arose to build a database of technical details on specialty controllers (in order to preserve the knowledge and make it easier for folks to build reproductions), none of the people who talk about how important those controllers are (myself included) signed up. The initiative died and the right to ---smurfette--- at others died with it.

 :cheers:
RandyT:

--- Quote from: shateredsoul on January 06, 2011, 06:15:42 pm ---Randy, I agree with most of your argument about your business still being profitible regardless of mame, but you wouldn't have made certain products (keywiz and ipacs i.e.).  Unless.. people want to play grand theft auto, and call of duty on joysticks on their pc.  So it would be hit somewhat... maybe those products aren't a major part but oh well.

--- End quote ---

Those products, I am quite sure, still would have been made.  Have you seen these?

Namco Museum 50th Anniversary
Taito Legends
Taito Legends 2
Arcade's Greatest Hits the Midway Collection 1
Arcade's Greatest Hits the Midway Collection 2
ATARI ANNIVERSARY EDITION
Atari Arcade Hits #1

Those are just the mainstream commercial offerings that are out there with MAME in existence.  It wouldn't be a stretch to think that without MAME, there would be even more of these (if the manufacturers still managed to actually do it without MAME's help.)  By time one were to add on all of the arcade-style games available from console emulators and native coded PC-games (no, not GTA and COD...there are other games out there :D), there would still be way more than enough to justify the building of one's own arcade machine and / or panel.  Therefore, products which currently exist for doing so would still be immensely useful, and therefore marketable, even without the existence MAME.  This community would be a little different, with more emphasis on re-creation of classics, and helping others to find cabinet friendly games, but it would still be thriving.
bitbytebit:

--- Quote from: Haze on December 21, 2010, 11:10:13 pm ---
--- Quote from: AndyWarne on December 21, 2010, 05:39:43 pm ---
IMHO there is one huge issue with Mame which should be high on the "TODO" list.

Its currently not possible to exactly emulate a game in native resolution unless DirectDraw is used. Direct3D does not work when this is attempted. This is a big drawback because DirectDraw is going out of support and is very buggy under Windows 7.

Its a major part of the principles behind Mame that the games should be emulated as exactly as possible and using a native resolution (or a close fit with equalized borders) is a major part of this.

When using Direct3D there is no option to turn off stretching, which distorts the image and loses the advantage of native resolution, ie 1:1 pixel mapping. Rather than adding small equal borders to fill out to the nearest available resolution available on the hardware, the picture is always stretched to fit the screen.

--- End quote ---

I think one of those problems is that as well as DirectDraw going modern OS's are doing what they can to get rid of the concept of 'resolution' (or at least the ability to change it to something non-standard) completely.

You've only got to look at current technology which due to it's nature is 'locked' to a single resolution (the native display res) and frequency.  If you want things bigger / smaller these days it's done by scaling the graphics, not changing the resolution.

Supporting such things is fighting against the tide, and you might quickly find Linux to be a better option if you want more control over them (although I don't know, it might already be worse there, I can't say I've paid much attention)

Does SDLMame do a better job on Windows?


--- End quote ---


Yes currently Linux is going the opposite direction with respect to Windows in opening up the ability to control the video hardware directly in the kernel layer.  There are employees of the major video card companies (ATI has one hired just for that purpose) actually writing the code to interact with the video cards, so we are now able to get SDLMame to do a near perfect job at resolution display and refresh rate compared to Windows.    It's very new and within the last month really ready for the ATI cards, in the stable kernel probably in March this year for page flip vblank timestamp support there.

I see the concept of resolution being being somewhat left behind even in the Linux developments but am myself able to support kernel patches to open it up fuller than it's been in Linux or Windows in the past (there's a few little issues they put in there to work around with 15khz console display and group of 'default' resolutions to step around).   I've talked with the ATI developer and he's open to listen but still admits they are as everyone else focused on high end displays and HDTV's, but there is still the ability to program modelines without restriction in the Linux DRM layer and ATI drivers (and others either mostly done or in the works).
Vigo:

--- Quote from: CheffoJeffo on January 07, 2011, 12:19:12 pm ---What I got out of it is that a bunch of people who use MAME far more than I do (come to think of it, I don't currently have a MAME cab other than my 48-in-1 and 60-in-1) are far less appreciative of what they have been given than I am.

Contrary to the sense of entitlement that users seem to feel, the project is properly guided by the developers.

--- End quote ---

I really don't see a lack of appreciation from anyone except a couple people here. Most of us just want to see MAME do better...and not die. :dunno Sorry for putting out ideas and opinions on a forum* without being part of the Mame "secret circle"  ::)

...and you can say the project is properly guided, but how hard is it to guide nobody? To quote Haze:

--- Quote ---in reality progress is a trickle, and it’s a trickle because there is no real MAME development team left.
--- End quote ---


*forum
1. A public meeting place for open discussion.
2. A medium for open discussion or voicing of ideas, such as a newspaper, a radio or television program, or a website.
Paul Olson:

--- Quote from: Mikezilla on January 07, 2011, 11:52:23 am ---
--- Quote ---MAME accurately emulates the PCBs the games ran on to a degree of accuracy deemed appropriate by the developers of the project.  NOT by you.  Next are you're going to tell us we should emulate all the atoms, just to make sure?


--- End quote ---

So, what if the developers are feeling lazy? Doesnt that contradict what the project is supposed to do? What if I want to become a developer, and just slack off?  :dunno I think Im done with this thread. All I got out of it was Haze contradicting himself,whining a little bit, and porobably wanting some credit for being a developer and a bunch of programming mumbo jumbo that I dont know anything about.

--- End quote ---

I think a lot of developers slack off at different times. That is part of a hobby endeavor. It is not a job, so they contribute when they want to. A few of them contribute regularly for extended periods of time. Whether you agree with Haze or not, his dedication to the project for, I don't know - the last decade or so, has been pretty amazing. One thing I have never heard from him is contradiction. He still describes the project just as he did when he was the maintainer. He deserves as much developer credit as anyone who has worked on the project. To the MAME team, it is a programming project to document arcade pcbs. Any discussion with any of the devs will include a lot of programming talk, because that is how MAME is described. The documentation is in the source code, which is a bit amazing in itself. the main difference between Haze and the rest of the developers is that he is willing to entertain these discussions.

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