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Why not just use MAME32??
Pasqualz:
I've been using MAME for almost 7 years now, and MAME32 for the last 3 years. Now that I'm finally building my cabinet and doing tons of research, I learn that there are seemingly dozens of graphical front ends for MAME and it seems that MAME32 is the least popular with cabinet builders!! I understand that some purists only want to use DOS, so that's the most compelling reason for not using MAME32, but what are the other reasons? MAME323 seems so easy to use (trackball/mouse compatible), and easy to configure (checkbox options per game!) So here are my questions:
1) What do front ends like MAMEWAH, Emulaxian, and other give you that MAME32 doesn't??
2) Why doesn't someone create a new ultimate front end that combines the best of all of the current front ends???
This has prolly been talked about before, but I couldn't find anythin with the search utility, so feel free to direct me to any previous threads!
TheGatesofBill:
The main reason to not use MAME32 in a cabinet is because the other FEs look much nicer. It takes away from the arcade experience to boot up your cabinet and see a a standard Windows window.
Pasqualz:
Ahhh, so some other front ends can be put in the "Startup" folder of Windows so that they run in fullscreen?? That makes sense! Another question:
- Do some front ends allow you to run multiple emulators?? For instance, MAME, DAPHNE, STELLAX.
TheGatesofBill:
Most FEs allow multiple emulators. Some are easier to set up than others.
REBIRTH:
Most of the other front ends can run multiplie emulators, look more "arcade-like", etc. My main reason for using standard MAME (not Mame32) and a front end (Emulaxian) is that the configurability of these other front ends are amazing. For example I have a rotating control panel setup with 3 panels, plus a rotating monitor. So I wanted to be able to have at least 6 sets of games that I could choose from - i.e. control panel 1 & horizontal monitor, control panel 1 & vertical monitor, control panel 2 & horizontal monitor, etc.. This way depending on the control panel I have "live" and the monitor orientation, I'll only see the set of games that match that configuration - so it makes it easy, I can pick any game on that list and know my current setup can handle it. When I reotate the panels and/or monitor, I get a new set of games to play. Mame32 couldn't do this the way I wanted to.