newbie...having first problem...

[mudmonkey]

I

[_) (V) (-)]

Hi Simon,
Welcome to the forums!

Have to tried starting up your old version of Mame32 to see if it still works?

The new versions many times require new (or updated) ROMS. That may be the problem. Or something isn't configured properly in your new version of Mame32. 

I am rather new here myself and from what I've seen, there isn't much support for Mame32 to be had here, I guess because it just works.

Just started looking at MameWah and Mala but am having trouble with each of them. In fact I pulled in the latest command line version of Mame to use with them and am getting the same results you mentioned with Mala, no luck at all with Mamawah. Haven't had time to look at them yet but will soon. I Hope.

[gamecreature]

Yep, sounds like the rom is out of date. Check out the "new and changed" listing on MAWS - http://www.mameworld.net/maws/ to find out which roms need updating.

[Tiger-Heli]

Danger Will Robinson !!!!

Okay, your problem is almost definitely older ROMS not working with the newer MAME version, but I also see a LOT of other problems here.

I’ve been slowly reading through all the FAQs and Tutorials here. After nearly 2 weeks of reading each night I downloaded MAME32b.109. I’m still far from feeling like I know everything I need to in order to complete this project but, I decided to start by getting MAME working on the machine I’ve chosen to be the PC I use.

Unless you REALLY want to use the new bezel artwork, I wouldn't run MAME 0.100 or above on anything less than a 1G processor.  With a 600 PIII, you would do better to run something like MAME 0.53 or MAME 0.66 or so.

I’m using a Compaq Presario 7598, Pentium III processor, 598 MHz, 256 MB of RAM – running Windows XP Pro.

MAME is heaviest on CPU load and then on system RAM, and those specs are barely enough to run Windows XP itself, much less MAME on top of it.  You would do much better running that machine under Win98.

I tried to set MAME32 up on another machine I have first- it is much older. It was running Windows 98 and MAME worked well, but the machine was very slow…so 1943 was in slow motion…  so I decided to change the Compaq above.

The PIII 600 was your faster machine???  (J/k).  I used to run MAME on a Pentium 200, but it was an older version of MAME and 1980's games with no artwork under Win98.  On a serious note - You can get a Sempron 3000 mobo/processor combo for $80 on Pricewatch - you might do better seeing if anyone on here would donate an old Duron 1100 or so before going much further with the project.

The problem I’m having is this…when I have the GUI (the window that lists all the games?) open and I double click on a game the GUI disappears as if it’s opening the game…then a few seconds later it reappears and no game starts (this also happens if I right click and select “Play whatever game” or select it from the file menu).

Typically, if the game shows up in MAME32's list, then you have rom paths configured correctly, but if not, that could also cause the errors.  Your best bet is to make sure you have current ROMS (for at least one game) and then get that to work and go from there.

I’m not sure if this has to do with the Video card (which is the stock card that came with it and is apparently not very impressive…but I can’t seem to find any specs for it). I’m fairly certain that I installed it correctly (same as I did on the slower machine).

Video Card won't matter much to MAME unless you are using the new Bezel artwork.  Even then, a five-year old card is fine.

[mudmonkey]

Thanks so much for the advice guys.

I decided to try and run an earlier version of Mame...i think it is the .66.
It all works pretty great now. I still think i will take Tiger-Heli's advice and load win98 on the machine.

I've had these two old boxes sitting in a closet for a long time and the prospect of being able to use one of them for just about anything sounds great. It may be that i stick to the 80s games with this machine. I'm hoping it's the first of a few arcade projects that i would like to build.

(and yes, believe it or not the PIII 600 was the faster machine...ack! - i'll go take a look at pricewatch)

Thanks for the link gamecreature, i'm going to go read about it now.

again, thanks for your time and advice guys.

[Tiger-Heli]

Thanks for the link gamecreature, i'm going to go read about it now.

The MAWS link is okay for single games, but you really want to run ClrMAME on your rom collection.  There is a guide for it on EasyEmu.  Do a google search for it after mameworld comes back up.