MAME help needed

[bildad]

Hi, I have been given a a MAME arcade cabinet that looks like it is only missing the hardrive.
the Motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-EP43-UD3L, SATA 2.
so basically where do I go from here?
what Windows Operating sysytem do I need for basic early emulations XP,windows7-10?
I'm pretty lost when it comes to setting these things up.
I understand that I need an Operating system, that I need a front end and Roms downloaded.
so if someone can point me in the right direction to start, it would be greatly appreciated.
thanks.

[PL1]

Hi, I have been given a a MAME arcade cabinet that looks like it is only missing the hardrive.
the Motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-EP43-UD3L, SATA 2.
so basically where do I go from here?
what Windows Operating sysytem do I need for basic early emulations XP,windows7-10?
I'm pretty lost when it comes to setting these things up.
I understand that I need an Operating system, that I need a front end and Roms downloaded.

A quick search on the GA-EP43-UD3L motherboard shows that it was designed for Win7 so that would make sense for the OS.
- It's got an LGA 775 socket so there's a good chance that it has a 64 bit processor installed.
- XP might be tolerable, but 32 bit XP means 32 bit MAME and 64 bit XP had some driver issues with some devices IIRC.

Once you get the OS installed, confirm what speed processor you have installed on it so we can help you choose a reasonable range of MAME versions -- there's a good chance that it won't run demanding games in the latest versions of MAME smoothly.

The version of MAME you want to run depends on two things:
1. The processor speed.
- Faster processor==>newer MAME.  A MAME version released several years after your processor was should run just fine.
2. The version of MAME that you can find ROMs and BIOSes for. (per Rule 5, you're on your own for this part)
- Keep looking until you find a ROMset and BIOSset for one specific version of MAME.
- If you have any games on your list like Killer Instinct or Dragon's Lair that had a hard drive/CD/laserdisc, you'll need to find the CHD (Compressed Hunks of Data) file.  Don't bother trying to download the entire set of CHDs -- it's HUGE and most of the dumps aren't working yet.  Just find a source that allows you to download the files individually.  You can compare the CRC of the file you find against the CRC listed on http://adb.arcadeitalia.net/.  For example, to find the SHA1 CRC for the CHD for Killer Instinct (v1.4) in MAME v0.175, scroll down to the XML tab and select v0.175 from the pulldown menu to find "<disk name="kinst" merge="kinst" sha1="81d833236e994528d1482979261401b198d1ca53" region="ata:0:hdd:image" index="0" writable="yes"/>".

Next step is to download and install the version of MAME that corresponds with the ROMset and BIOSset that you found.
- If you have a CRT and a compatible GPU, you'll want to get GroovyMAME (follow the install guide in that sub-forum), otherwise your best bet is to stick with mainline MAME. (current release or older releases)

I keep a full ROMset and BIOSset in a "..\mame\roms\archive\" directory and copy the ROMs\BIOSes for my desired game list up to "..\mame\roms\" or some people use favorites lists to avoid dying of boredom trying to scroll through all of MAME in search of a decent game to play.   

*** Do not start with a "no-nag" MAME build. ***
- The messages when you start a game will tell you if you're missing a ROM, BIOS, or CHD.
- Get all of the desired games running right in MAME THEN you can rename the MAME executable (keep it handy for troubleshooting any new games you might want to add) and drop in the "no-nag" executable.

From there, pick a Front End that has the look and features that you want.  Launch Box/Big Box is one popular option.


Scott

[GeoMan]

Or you can download Recalbox or Batocera, install to an external hd, copy your roms and boot the PC from this.