SPLIT for 2 players and not for 1 vertical

[matt4949]

I apologize if this has been answered somewhere, but after much searching I am still lost. I am running MAME32UI with MALA 174 on a vertical cocktail cabinet. Is it possible to play horizontal fighters with the full screen for one player and split for two? I played around with dip switches and didn't achieve my goal. I did get a second emulator on MALA (copy of MAME) with one version running full verts and the other running splits, but that doubled the size of my gaming file and is a bit complicated to navigate on the front end. I want to be able to play a game full screen if I hit 1PLAYER START and have it automatically split if I hit 2PLAYER START. Thankyou in advance for putting up with NOOB question and any help will be greatly appreciated.

[juggle50]

Hey Matt,

I'm a vertical cocktail user. I use an earlier version of MAME (107) but I believe the settings are still the same.  When you want a head to head split screen, hit "tab" when you are in the game then hit "video options" then hit "cocktail". 
You can access these settings through the UI as well but I use them on the fly while I'm in the game.

Unfortunately, I don't think you can set it up to split just by hitting the "player 2" button. You have to adjust the settings on the fly while you are in the game. Hope that helps.

[matt4949]

I will try it thankyou and let you Know how it works. Seems like a viable option but would have to add a tab button or shift for tab onto the control panel. I have never attempted to write a line of code in my life but it seems like you could  do something like 1 player start = vertical display
2 Player start = split display
I am willing to experiment a programmable version of mame but would need some coaching and alot more Knowlage of the basics before proceding. Please if this can be done on a GUI setup for MAME let me know.

[matt4949]

Hey Matt,

I'm a vertical cocktail user. I use an earlier version of MAME (107) but I believe the settings are still the same.  When you want a head to head split screen, hit "tab" when you are in the game then hit "video options" then hit "cocktail". 
You can access these settings through the UI as well but I use them on the fly while I'm in the game.

Unfortunately, I don't think you can set it up to split just by hitting the "player 2" button. You have to adjust the settings on the fly while you are in the game. Hope that helps.

[matt4949]

So this seemed to work except I can't get back to full screen. I think because I am set for save game state. Can I have two Identical ROMS With different names. say StreetFighter and StreetFighter Split? That way they can be on the MAME emulator in MALA?

[matt4949]

OK I have figured out how to rename games by placing the in gamelists and the right clicking a gamelist and editing the name. I am quite pleased with this. My next mission will be to place duplicate roms in my rom folder with different gamestates saved for different setups of identical but different named versions of a game. (TRY SAYING THAT 5 TIMES FAST)
I still wish I could make this happen by hitting either 1player or 2player start but I am alot happier than when I started.

[juggle50]

Having two versions of the same game is a great option. Nice work around.