Boot CD installs DOS, Vantage, Raine, MAME (1 of 7 versions) and Game Launcher

[spystyle]

Hello from Maine,

In an effort to make DOS "so easy to install that anyone can do it", I have made my own version of Fraggal's boot disk.

With this boot disk the user never needs to learn DOS, or leave the C:> prompt - there are batch files that launch everything they need (for example to edit mame.cfg they only need to type 'setup')

The disk is based on Fraggal's so it automatically formats, runs fdisk, installs DOS 7, installs CD-rom support, mouse support, and sound drivers.

I made it so it installs Game Launcher and optionally MAME (any one of 7 versions), Vantage, or Raine; or all three.

After trying many DOS front ends I settled on Game Launcher - it is solid, displays screen shots, is compatible with many emulators and can go vertical. What more could you ask for in a DOS front end?

The readme is in the next post

SpyStyle DOS boot CD
Version beta 1 M
78 MB, 7zip compressed, ISO disk image.
You can grab it here:
Click here

Tell me what you guys think, help me to make it better.

Lets keep DOS alive! Less BSOD, no GUI, no muss, no fuss!

With it we can use inexpensive computers to power our cool cabs :)

Cheers,
Craig

p.s. I am not a DOS guru and this is beta. Help and suggestions are greatly appreciated :)





-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE : I have abandoned this project for MAME-XP, but it is open source :) You can use and modify it all you like. I will still answer any questions that I can :)

Here is MAME-XP, it is 1 GB in size on account of driverpacks :

Click here

[spystyle]

SpyStyle boot CD, beta 1 J
August 24 2007

1. What is it?
This is my version of Fraggal's famous boot CD. With it you can get your DOS based arcade machine running with no knowledge of how to operate DOS!

2. What does it do?
It installs DOS 7, emulator(s) that you choose*, Game Launcher (front end), Sound drivers***, CD-Rom driver, Scitech display doctor (video driver), mouse driver, and some useful batch files to automate DOS tasks**

*you can choose from

1. Install MAME only
2. Install Vantage only
3. Install Raine only
4. Install Vantage & Raine
5. Install MAME & Vantage
6. Install MAME & Raine
7. Install MAME & Vantage & Raine

If MAME is chosen these releases are available to choose from:

1. MAME .36
2. MAME .55
3. MAME .65
4. MAME .75
5. MAME .85
6. MAME .95
7. MAME .100

and each release has the follwing versions to choose from:

1. Pentium II / III / 4 or Celeron (i686)
2. Pentium I (i586)
3. DOS MAME (best compatibility)

**you can automatically do the following at the C:> prompt (notice, all commands are without quotes)

"update" to add ROMs and snapshots from CD-Rom. This command will copy all contents of a CD to the mame directory exactly as is (so put your ROMs in a  folder called "roms", and snap shots in a folder called "snaps")

"updateR" same as above but for Raine

"updateV" same as above but for vantage

"setup" to manually edit mame.cfg (MAME's configuration file)

"setupR" to manually edit raine.cfg (Raine's configuration file)

"setupV" to manually edit vantage.cfg (Vantage's configuration file)

"scan" to run Game Launcher's "MAME scan". This is done once, after you copy your ROMs, so Game Launcher will know what ROMs are present.

"setupGL" to manually edit glaunch.cfg (GameLauncher's configuration file)

"scandisk" Will check your hard drive for data errors and physical damage.

"speed" "quality" and "default" to optimize MAME. If your games are running slow try typing 'speed', on a fast computer try typing 'quality', or return to default by typing 'default'
(see explanation below at #7)

***Supported sound cards:

SoundBlaster ISA (recommended)
SoundBlaster Audio PCI 128
Creative AudioPCI
Sound Blaster 16 PCI
Sound Blaster PCI 128
Sound Blaster AudioPCI
Creative Ensoniq AudioPCI
Creative Vibra 128
Ensoniq's 1370, 1371, 1373, and 5880 chipsets
Sound Blaster Live! and Sound Blaster Audigy pci cards
VIA AC'97

3. Required hardware:
A computer with CD-rom drive, hard drive, and a sound card.

4. Why?
After trying to simplify DOS install, to illustrate in my arcade building tutorial, I came across Fraggal's boot CD. It had an exceptional concept but was very limited. Only the "foundation" from his original disk remains, I have replaced everything else. What is the concept? A CD that installs DOS and your emulator for you! You don't need to know how to operate DOS

Why DOS?
DOS is great for an arcade machine!
No Windows to crash and take a long time to load.
No Windows to hog system resources with things that aren't needed on a cab.
DOS can turn an old "anchor" computer into the "engine" of a home arcade machine.

One of the most common questions I am asked is "How much does it cost to build an arcade machine?". That really translates to "What is the least expensive method?". With DOS you can use a very inexpensive PC to play games on your arcade machine.

Or maybe you just like DOS because it is simple, small, and fast.

5. This is "beta" software, so if something is brok3n let me know and help me fix it

---------------------------------------------------------------------

MAME emulator is optional during install

*To use MAME*

1. Insert a CD containing MAME roms in a folder called 'roms'
and optionally a folder called 'snapshots' containg the snap shots

2. type 'update' at the C:> prompt to copy the files to raine directory

3. after, type 'scan' at the C:> prompt. This is done once so GameLauncher will know what MAME roms are present.

3. In GameLauncher press 'Left CTRL' to change the game list to MAME

4. You can edit MAME's configuration file by typing 'setup' at the C:> prompt.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raine emulator is optional during install

*To use Raine*

1. Insert a CD containing Raine roms in a folder called 'roms'
and optionally a folder called 'snapshots' containg the snap shots

2. type 'updateR' at the C:> prompt to copy the files to raine directory

3. In GameLauncher press 'Left CTRL' to change the game list to Raine

4. You can edit Raine's configuration file by typing 'setupR' at the C:> prompt.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vantage emulator is optional during install

*To use Vantage*

1. Insert a CD containing Vantage roms in a folder called 'roms'
and optionally a folder called 'snapshots' containing the snap shots.

2. type 'updateV' at the C:> prompt to copy the files to Vantage directory

3. In GameLauncher press 'Left CTRL' to change the game list to Vantage

4. You can edit Vantage's configuration file by typing 'setupV' at the C:> prompt.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

7. What does the MAME "optmizations" do?

It automatically changes these lines in mame.cfg

"fast"
triplebuffer = no
samplerate = 11025
resolution = 320x240

"quality"
triplebuffer = yes
samplerate = 44100
resolution = auto

"default"
triplebuffer = no
samplerate = 22050
resolution = auto

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notice:

I have set up mame's configuration file to expect a "sound blaster 16" sound card

This is a line in mame.cfg

If you are not using "sound blaster" sound card you must edit mame.cfg line:

soundcard 1

to edit mame.cfg type "setup" (without quotes) from c:> prompt

Here are mame's soundcard codes:

0. Silence
1. Sound Blaster
3. Pro Audio Spectrum
4. Ultrasound Max (CS4231 codec)
5. Ultrasound
6. Windows sound system
7. Ensoniq Soundscape

Example, if you have an Ultrasound card you would change the line to:
soundcard 5

Note:
Running "optimizations" will reset mame.cfg to soundcard 1, so you will have to edit this line every time you run an optimization.

--------------------------------

Notice: I have set up Raine and Vantage to expect a "soundblaster 16" sound card. If you are using a different sound card you must edit their configuration file to reflect the sound card you have. Type 'setupR' to edit Raine's configuration and 'setupV' to edit Vantage's configuration.

--------------------------------

How to run MAME and Game Launcher "vertically"

It's very easy to rotate the screen in DOS. You just have to tell mame (mame.cfg) and your front end (in Game Launcher's case glaunch.cfg) that you have a vertical cab.

Edit those two files and you're vertical.

I'll do it now on my virtual PC MAME 36:

type 'setup' at the C:> prompt

change the following lines:

ror = ('yes' if rotate right, 'no' if rotate left)                   
rol = ('yes' if rotate left, 'no' if rotate right)

then to save and exit - press 'alt' 'enter' scroll down to 'exit' and press 'enter' twice

then type 'setupGL' at the C:> prompt

change the following lines:

menu_orientation = 1

Notice : if you run "optmiziations" you will have to re-edit mame.cfg each time (by typing 'setup' at C:> prompt)

Note : Vantage and Raine can also be run vertically

---------------------------------

Scitech display doctor (SDD)

I have included SDD as a generic video card driver. We all use a sound card driver so why not a video card driver? It is optional during install. In many cases it will speed up the video, but in some cases it may cause trouble.

It requires registration. All information must be capitalized. The registration information for it is:

"full name of owner"
MAME     

"registration ID"
00000-BACF0141-00000

If you messed up the registration at install you can try again later by typing "reg" (without quotes) at the C:> prompt.

--------------------------------

Happy Gaming!
Craig

--------------------------------

p.s.

Legal:
This disk contains files from Windows 98 CD, do not use it unless you own a copy of Windows 98  - Most of us have that disk so it's not a big deal, if you don't have it you can pick up a used copy at the local computer store for a few dollars.

[BobA]

Thanks for your effort.   Will download it and give it a try.

    BobA

[8way]

Yes Thank You for making this . I tried to install it and I ran into a problem. Well the install seems to go smoothly, but when I restart I get the error

[loadman]

[8way]

[spystyle]

I think if Game Launcher loads too fast at boot it won't load.

I fixed that by editing the autoexec.bat, change this line:

"c:\glaunch\glaunch.exe"

To this:

c:
cd glaunch
glaunch.exe

Thank you for bringing that to my attention - I fixed the disk image

[8way]

I think if Game Launcher loads too fast at boot it won't load.

I fixed that by editing the autoexec.bat, change this line:

"c:\glaunch\glaunch.exe"

To this:

c:
cd glaunch
glaunch.exe

Thank you for bringing that to my attention - I fixed the disk image

Thanks that solved the problem . Another issue im having is, the text flickers. Its like the flicker you get with an interlaced image. This is on a PC monitor, and it only does it on the game select menu.

[spystyle]

That's Game Launcher's page flipping, apparently it's incompatible with your setup.

To fix that type 'setupGL' at the C:> prompt

scroll all the way down with the arrow key

change the lines:

animation_method = 0

Run Game Launcher and if you find it slow change this line:

use_vsync = 0

Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I have changed that in the disk image just in case.

Cheers,
Craig

[BamBam]

Thanks for your efforts.  I am downloading it now.  I have two old P3 500 computers gathering dust.  Now I have a use for them.
Thanks again.

John

[spystyle]

Groovy!
I hope all together we can make DOS easier than AOL

Craig

[loadman]

[spystyle]

Here are step by step instructions for using the DOS boot disk:

1. Boot from spystyle cd
2. Select 1 "complete"
3. In FDISK, select Y, press enter
4. Choose 3 and delete all partitions
5. Choose 1, 1, Y, esc
6. Reboot computer
7. Boot from spystyle cd
8. Select 1 "complete"
9. Fdisk starts : press enter
10. Press esc to exit fdisk
11. Formatting : y, enter, y, enter
12. Volume label : arcade (or whatever)
13. Choose mame version, press enter
14. Select cpu, press enter
15. Free roms (optional)
16. CD-rom support (yes)
17. Mouse (optional)
18. Sound card (note: Soundblaster ISA works best in DOS mame, available at any shop for $5 I bet)

19. Write down the info, press any key
20. Write down the info, press any key
21. Done - remove CD and reboot
22. Upon reboot Game Launcher is loaded but not yet aware of your roms, so exit it by pressing F12

23. make a CD containing your roms in a folder called "roms" (without quotes) and your snapshots in a folder called "snaps" (without quotes). Insert the CD and type "update" (without quotes).

24. Once it is done copying press 2 to exit, then type "scan" (without quotes) so GameLauncher will learn what roms are present. After, Game Launcher will start, select a game from the list and press enter to launch the game.

Cheers,
Craig

[cartman222]

I am geting this when i try to run it


shutting down allegro
exiting due to singal SIGSEGV
page fault

[diverdown]

Sweet

I am d/l it now.

I have been using a mame cd like fraggal's but called "Darren's mame cd"


i think its a great idea to allow us to select mame vers.  i also like the idea of a cd/dvd containing a folder for roms and snaps..... the other two versions i have seen require roms or snaps to be in root of cd.


I have not tried this FE so i will be happy to have it so I can give it a whirl.


Well done...

It's a pity mame no longer supports DOS
these boot cds are a great idea.

How hard would it be to create one which could be installed onto a clean XP PC?

[spystyle]

I am geting this when i try to run it


shutting down allegro
exiting due to singal SIGSEGV
page fault

e-mail me with details and I will try to troubleshoot with you

[Havok]

I am geting this when i try to run it


shutting down allegro
exiting due to singal SIGSEGV
page fault

e-mail me with details and I will try to troubleshoot with you

No BSOD, huh?

 

Seriously though, I think that error is related to the sound card. Since this disk installs SB support, maybe the sound card you have is not compatible with the installed driver?

[spystyle]

I love no BSOD

I appreciate the simplicity and stability of DOS, but to me the best part is people with a "tiny hobby budget" can put together a great cab with a computer that was almost free.

Unfortunately it is not very user friendly. But with a boot disk we can make it so. I'll need help though because I am not a DOS guru and have very little time as a single working father.

As for the cost - I'd like to help make this hobby "budget optional", using an old computer with an old version of MAME can still yeild over 1,000 games, that's allot of games.

I'd like to integrate Raine and Vantage eventually too, from what I've read those have very small system requirements.

Dig it?
Craig

[spystyle]

One of my beta testers reports that he is using a fast computer (more than 1 ghz) and Game launcher would not load, he solved the problem by adding "pause" before "glaunch.exe" in the autoexec.bat

So the bottom of the autoexec.bat would look like this:

c:
cd glaunch
pause
glaunch

---------------------------

If you don't know how to add that do this: from the C:> prompt, type "edit autoexec.bat" (without quotes), scroll down to the bottom and add "pause" (without quotes) as seen above, then press ALT, ENTER, scroll down to exit, and press ENTER

[diverdown]

I installed this today.   My hdd died during fdisk but i thik it was due to drive.

Popped another drive in  and tried again and voila  up popped game launcher

Brilliant 

Just installing roms/snap now waiting  ...... waiting

done

trying it..........

  aha


what version of roms should i be putting in

I installes mame 107 roms.......hmmm no games in list in game launcher


how do I fix this?

[spystyle]

Did you run Game launcher's scan? You have to before Game Launcher will see what roms are present, to run the scan, from the C:> prompt type

scan

If you did and it didn't detect any roms make sure that the roms are in a subdirectory of mame called 'roms'

to do this, from the C:>, type

cd mame
cd roms
dir

you should see many .zip files

then type

cd\

to get back to the C:> prompt

If the roms are there you can test mame by typing

cd mame
MAME digdug -soundcard 0

(assuming you have dig dug in there it will test mame bypassing sound, we may as well bypass sound to simplify the test)

If it dosen't work you may need to convert your 107 set to ____ with ClrMamePro or RomCenter. Where "____" is the version of MAME you chose to install.

Cheers,
Craig

[johnm160]

Hey Craig,

are you going to be adding the option of installing the newer version of mame? Or do they not play well with DOS?

John

[spystyle]

I can add any DOS version that I can find, I don't think there is a newer than 100 DOS version right now.

[johnm160]

Craig I was referrring to newer versions of mame, .108 or .109

 

[spystyle]

So was I,

I can add any DOS version of MAME to the disk, if you find it I'll add it. But I do not think there is a newer than .100 DOS version right now.

Cheers,
Craig

[johnm160]

So was I,

I can add any DOS version of MAME to the disk, if you find it I'll add it. But I do not think there is a newer than .100 DOS version right now.

Cheers,
Craig

Ha Ha, Sorry, I was having one if my "special" moments again......I mean I did know that there is no .100 dos version....LOL

[daywane]

I have a small P1 I am tinkering with.
I will try it out.
Just down loaded your disk. and disk jug put it on CD.
when I get home I shal try it

[spystyle]

I would use .36 on a P1

Also Vantage if you like vertical games

[diverdown]

Did you run Game launcher's scan? You have to before Game Launcher will see what roms are present, to run the scan, from the C:> prompt type

scan

If you did and it didn't detect any roms make sure that the roms are in a subdirectory of mame called 'roms'

to do this, from the C:>, type

cd mame
cd roms
dir

you should see many .zip files

then type

cd\

to get back to the C:> prompt

If the roms are there you can test mame by typing

cd mame
MAME digdug -soundcard 0

(assuming you have dig dug in there it will test mame bypassing sound, we may as well bypass sound to simplify the test)

I believe i tried this... I will again tonight

Interestingly I have reinstalled the cd again (including format)  I selected to install the three free roms. I have done nothing else at this stage

When gamelauncher first starts there are a number of games in the list. (I do understand they are not "really" there

When i exit and run the scan bat  all these game names go and are not replaced by gridlee robby etc....

Should they not be in the new list?



Also  i have d/l both the apps you suggest but may have to start a new thread asking for a dummies guide as i cant understand either.

[sphetr2]

I have a P2 400 mhz, with 300 MB RAM.

Should I use .55 or .65?

[spystyle]

I would go with .55 for that

[sphetr2]

When I boot the computer, the MAME video shows, and then it beeps. After the beep, I see nothing for a while. Then my monitor says "Incorrect frequency" or "incorrect signal" or something like that.

Is there a way to change the frequency output? I'm guessing this is preconfigured for arcade monittors, but I'm using a PC monitor.

Thanks

EDIT: I pressed F12 repeatedly at startup. For a second it displayed the DOS Prompt, then it beeped and showed Game Launcher.

But how do I get it to work w/o pressing those keys?

EDIT: OK, the message that the monitor says is "OUT OF SCAN RANGE"

[spystyle]

What is the model # of the monitor? Maybe we can google up it's specs.

Do you have another monitor to test?

[spystyle]

I found .36 set at <no ROMs links please --- saint>
That should run groovy on just about any computer

oops, direct link removed.

Check out this indirect link:
http://tinyurl.com/yotcxx

[robot8319]

i recently downloaded a disk on here from spystyle..

i figured it would be easy to use with all the comments i was seeing..boy was i wrong..

ok here is what i done i formatted my 475mhz k6 with the spystyle bootcd then let it install mame 0.55.

after all that i then copied my games to the rom folder..

now here is the problem..

gamelauncher works just fine an dandy its just that i cannot see ANY of my games on the screen..

what in the world am i doing wrong i know my way around dos is there something i am supposed to modify or edit??

please someone help me with this..

[javeryh]

It would help if you posted your config file.  You have to specify the folder where your roms are located for them to appear in the list of games.

[spystyle]

Hi there,

Did you type "scan" (without quotes) from the C:> prompt? This will make Game Launcher look for your roms. Game Launcher dosen't know what roms are present until it scans.

Also, does your romset match your version of MAME?

Cheers,
Craig

[saint]

(merged topics)

[robot8319]

i get a long error messages that says something like this

EAX opcode error SIGILL
13323dfsdf
dsfdwrew42

and more jibberish and then it crashes back to the c:\prompt

i tried SCAN and it did the same and then it crashed with the same error...

i am using the standard mame roms for mame version 100

please let me know what i can do to fix this nuisance of a problem..

thanks.

[spystyle]

If Game Launcher is crashing on your system I guess I would try a different front end, or Fraggal's boot disk (which installs arcadeOS as a front end).

Fraggal's boot CD

http://tinyurl.com/yxxesl

Another option (that is much more user friendly) is using an "optimized" (stripped) version of Windows, like MAME-XP (see the Nlite XP thread in the software forum)

[spystyle]

Well I have received many e-mails about this disk, I am pleased it is working for some, but others are having trouble with the ISO

How to burn the ISO:

Download burn4free*, it's free. Install it, then go to add/remove programs and uninstall it's toolbar. The program remains

start burn4free, click: drive > burn iso

use it to burn the ISO "as" a disk

some users accidentally burn it "to" a disk using other programs, that is why I recommend burn4free

Cheers,
Craig

*
http://tinyurl.com/b8mco

[stuzza]

Thanks for an awesome disk Spystyle! 
I've managed to get it all up and running on a couple of old Pentium II machines I had lying around at work.  Had a few issues trying to get some old creative ISA sound cards working with the default settings from the cd but after running the drivers setup program in the dosdrv directory managed to get them to work!

I've got mame 0.55 setup but am wondering if anyone knows how to get a smaller list of games in Gamelauncher?  I've tried using the GameLauncher (http://hem.passagen.se/robert.palmqvist/Downloads/downloads.html) Mame tool and mame content manager, however they seem to need a catver.ini file which only goes back to 0.56?

Anyone know how I can create a Gamelauncher list of just a few hundred classic games that will run on a PII with maximum 3 buttons??  Also anyway to remove the OK screens and warnings from old dos mame version without having to recompile?

[spystyle]

Glad you like the disk! I hope it makes DOS easy :)

As for the roms - You can sort the roms on your regular computer before putting them on your cab.

Cheers,
Craig

[IG-88]

Thanks for an awesome disk Spystyle! 
I've managed to get it all up and running on a couple of old Pentium II machines I had lying around at work.  Had a few issues trying to get some old creative ISA sound cards working with the default settings from the cd but after running the drivers setup program in the dosdrv directory managed to get them to work!

Care to elaborate on how exactly you did that? (the drivers setup program) I need some help in this area also! 

[stuzza]

Care to elaborate on how exactly you did that? (the drivers setup program) I need some help in this area also! 

In the SB16 folder there is a progam called "diagnose.exe".  I ran that and it goes through autoscanning your sound card - be careful though, the first time I did it I overwrote the entire autoexec.bat file with another, I think the key was to go through all the setup then F3 exit out before it modifies all the files or something. - I'll check the exact process tomorrow.

Anyway, it turned out that the settings I needed for my Soundblaster ISA card (model CT4170) in the autoexec.bat file are:

SETBLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H1 P330 T6

Which is slightly different to the line which the CD autoloads.
Hope this helps.

[spystyle]

Good job! DOS guru in the making

If you are worried your autoexec.bat will be overwritten you can back it up first.

To backup your autoexec.bat do this:

C:>copy autoexec.bat autoexec.bak

This will make a backup called autoexec.bak

Later you can edit the two and add/remove lines

C:>edit autoexec.bat

C:>edit autoexec.bak

Cheers,
Craig

[stuzza]

thanks for the extra info.  I've now got a games list of 533 classic only games which are running a treat on the old P2 333 with a 4GB hard drive!   Works so well I've gotton an identical P2 machine up and running aswell - just ghosted the first hard drive over and voila second machine up in under 10min!!

So last but not least, how do I get a mame 0.55 version with the OK and warning screens gone? (preferably without having to compile it myself)

[IG-88]

Care to elaborate on how exactly you did that? (the drivers setup program) I need some help in this area also! 

In the SB16 folder there is a progam called "diagnose.exe".  I ran that and it goes through autoscanning your sound card - be careful though, the first time I did it I overwrote the entire autoexec.bat file with another, I think the key was to go through all the setup then F3 exit out before it modifies all the files or something. - I'll check the exact process tomorrow.

Anyway, it turned out that the settings I needed for my Soundblaster ISA card (model CT4170) in the autoexec.bat file are:

SETBLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H1 P330 T6

Which is slightly different to the line which the CD autoloads.
Hope this helps.

Cool. A couple of questions. Why does it hurt to overwrite the autoexect.bat file if the original settings for the soundcard that come off the CD and put in that file are wrong anyway?

And second, should this diagnose.exe work for any Soundblaster card (I have several ENSONIC PCI cards that I think are Generic SB cards ??) or is this an ISA thing only?

[spystyle]

From what I've read - SB16 ISA is the best soundcard to use with Dmame (DOS mame, which I include with my boot CD)

However, I think PCI sound cards are supported in AdvanceMame, check their docs, Fraggal's boot CD installs AdvaceMame and ArcadeOS.

Also consider calling your local computer shop, it's likely they can dig up a SB16 ISA card for you for $5

Or bump up the RAM and install 98 (much better driver support). I show in the "nlite" thread (in this forum) how to get 98 to use 24 MB RAM only, MAME32 .36 needs 10 MB RAM, the rest is for the game rom. 256 should be ample, 128 should be fine.

Cheers,
Craig
 

[IG-88]

Can't go Win98 on these machines. They won't support that much Ram.

Are you saying then that PCI cards won't work with your boot cd?

I did go to on of my local shops and asked about ISA cards. They looked at me like I was from Mars.

What are the model numbers of the cards that you have gotten to work?

[spystyle]

The cards had "soundblaster 16" stamped on them

Here are some links to buy one

http://tinyurl.com/unsp6

http://tinyurl.com/yxqwrq

http://tinyurl.com/yxnh43

[IG-88]

Yip, Yip Yahoo! I got one to work! I found an old ISA card mixed in with a bunch of old network cards out in the garage. I believe the model # was C2940 but I'm not sure. I can check if anyone cares. Machine works like a champ. Now I just have to sort some roms like you guys talked about earlier and it's done!

I guess it's off to ebay to find some more of those cards!

Thanks guys for all your help!

[AlanS17]

Have you considered using FreeDOS? It doesn't require any MS licenses. As the name suggests, it's free. Otherwise, this sounds like a neat idea.

Also, AdavnceMAME offers support for non-Sound Blaster sound cards as well as other tweaks. It's what I use in my DOS setups. That might be over-complicating it, though. I haven't actually tried this disk for myself so I don't know exactly what it can and can't do.

[IG-88]

Just a small update. I have now tried several different PCI sound cards and have had all kinds of problems. I can (sometimes) get completely thru the set-up and put the roms onto the HD but never had any of the cards work. I've tried Soundblaster and Ensoniq both, and several different model #'s of each. Mostly tho I get strange error messages, lockups, hangs you name it when using PCI. Spystyle was correct in stating that DOS works best with ISA type cards.

I am waiting on getting some more of the model CT2940's (isa) off of Ebay to see if they will work as effortlessly as the first one did. I've also added darned near my whole set of v36 roms and I've only found slow down in a couple games so far. (i-robot comes to mind)

I've also tried using Fraggals Boot CD but it just locks up after install. EasyCab Cd seemed to work pretty well but I'll be damned if I can get the games to show up in ArcadeFe.  Both of these support the abundance of PCI cards I got. I wish there was some more support for the programs themselves. 

Anyway I'll post back after I've tried the CT2940's.

[redfivexw]

I am trying to install this now, i am getting similar problems to a previous poster, I see the mame splash screen but then the screen just goes black.  Also when i try to use the update command at the c prompt, i get a message that the computer cannot read from drive a, abort, retry, fail?.  I dont understand why it is trying to read the floppy drive.  any help is appreciated.  I am running a celeron 1200mhz with 256mb ram. 

[spystyle]

Howdy,

I'm sorry the disk didn't work for you. I just tested it again myself choosing MAME .36, Pentium II, and Soundblaster ISA - it worked perfectly.

I tested SCAN and UPDATE, they worked perfectly as well

I was using a CD made from "SpyStyle_boot_CD_beta_1d.iso"

But it may not be compatible with your system.

Instead you could use Fraggal's boot CD*, Win98**, or MAME-XP***. The latter 2 with MAME32**** work very well.

Cheers,
Craig


*Fraggal's boot CD
http://tinyurl.com/yxxesl

***Another option (that is much more user friendly) is using an "optimized" (stripped) version of Windows XP like MAME-XP. See the nLite thread in the software forum.


**For Win98

open c:\windows\system.ini , search for line [vcache] and change it to this:

[vcache]
MinFileCache=8096
MaxFileCache=8096

(This makes 98 use 8 MB RAM for disk caching, leaving more resources for MAME32. It also allows 98 to use more than 512MB RAM)

****To get MAME32 to start with Windows, Maximized :

Place a shortcut to mame32.exe in the startup folder

right click the shortcut, select properties, and change

"run : normal window" to "run : maximized"

[spystyle]

Windows 2000 may be desireable too because it has "hibernate" - allowing it to start up quickly. I've read that allot of the MP3 "car-puters" are using this.

[RXII]

Hi Guys,
             I have been emailing Craig with a few problems I have been having installing his awesome boot CD on my old HP 33mhz PC. I have not been able to get it to boot up properly. I have finally found the problem, the PC has a CDRW in it and the old bios musn't be able to see it as a proper reader. I couldn't set the CD as the 1st bootable source. I fitted a $5 CDROM into it then it let me set the 1st boot to be from the CDROM, put in the boot CD and away it went.
Thanks again Craig for all your help with this..you must get bombarded with emails when you put something like this CD together.

Cheers,
Simon.

[IG-88]

Were you able to get the games to list in Game Launcher after you intalled them? Thats the problem I keep having. I got it too work on one PC and then never again 

[RXII]

Were you able to get the games to list in Game Launcher after you intalled them? Thats the problem I keep having. I got it too work on one PC and then never again 

No I haven't had any luck with that either just yet, I am downloading the .36 set (I actually just picked the games I wanted for now) after reading that I may have to have the correct roms for .36 that I installed. Yeah initially the entire gamelist came up but then after I did the 'scan' there were no games in the list...not even the ones I installed off the boot disk. I went through the directory and saw that the roms I put in were actually in the mame/rom folder which they were. I will keep you updated on the .36 roms I get.
Have you had any luck?

Cheers, Simon.

[spystyle]

GameLauncher won't list the games?

That's odd

Make sure that mame is setup correctly in the first place:

From C:> prompt

Type

cd mame
mame digdug -soundcard 0

Assuming you have digdug rom in the roms folder this will test mame, if digdug launches then mame is not the culprit and you need to examine GL, if digdug does not launch you need to examine mame

There is a good site about DOS mame here:
http://www.mameworld.net/dosmame/

Also feel free to e-mail me.

Lastly, if you have a P2/500 or better, 98se "optimized" only takes 15 MB RAM and works well, I just added that step by step in my tutorial, also setting up mame32 (which only uses 10 MB RAM, ver36)

Cheers,
Craig

[RXII]

GameLauncher won't list the games?

That's odd

Make sure that mame is setup correctly in the first place:

From C:> prompt

Type

cd mame
mame digdug -soundcard 0

Assuming you have digdug rom in the roms folder this will test mame, if digdug launches then mame is not the culprit and you need to examine GL, if digdug does not launch you need to examine mame

There is a good site about DOS mame here:
http://www.mameworld.net/dosmame/

Also feel free to e-mail me.

Lastly, if you have a P2/500 or better, 98se "optimized" only takes 15 MB RAM and works well, I just added that step by step in my tutorial, also setting up mame32 (which only uses 10 MB RAM, ver36)

Cheers,
Craig

Hi Craig,
               I have now tried some .36 roms to try with my .36 install of mame and the gamelist still doesn't come up. I tried to run mame as you just said and it came up with this.........

Exiting due to signal SIGILL
Invalid opcode at eip=0020c817
eax=000000038 ebx=009974d4

It reels off a heap more numbers and letters like that and then at the end it says.....

Call frame traceback EIPs:
 0x0020c817

And then goes back to the prompt......
C:\MAME>

Weird huh?

This is on a 333mhz AMD-K6 with 96mg RAM, I chose the .36 mame and I also chose "install the soundcard later" option. I have check and all the roms are in the right place
Any Ideas??

Simon.

[IG-88]

GameLauncher won't list the games?

That's odd

Make sure that mame is setup correctly in the first place:

From C:> prompt

Type

cd mame
mame digdug -soundcard 0

Assuming you have digdug rom in the roms folder this will test mame, if digdug launches then mame is not the culprit and you need to examine GL, if digdug does not launch you need to examine mame

There is a good site about DOS mame here:
http://www.mameworld.net/dosmame/

Also feel free to e-mail me.

Lastly, if you have a P2/500 or better, 98se "optimized" only takes 15 MB RAM and works well, I just added that step by step in my tutorial, also setting up mame32 (which only uses 10 MB RAM, ver36)

Cheers,
Craig

Hi Craig,
               I have now tried some .36 roms to try with my .36 install of mame and the gamelist still doesn't come up. I tried to run mame as you just said and it came up with this.........

Exiting due to signal SIGILL
Invalid opcode at eip=0020c817
eax=000000038 ebx=009974d4

It reels off a heap more numbers and letters like that and then at the end it says.....

Call frame traceback EIPs:
 0x0020c817

And then goes back to the prompt......
C:\MAME>

Weird huh?

This is on a 333mhz AMD-K6 with 96mg RAM, I chose the .36 mame and I also chose "install the soundcard later" option. I have check and all the roms are in the right place
Any Ideas??

Simon.

Exactly the same thing mine did. MAME & GL both look identical in the machine that works and the ones that don't. It's got to be some kind of hardware issue.

[spystyle]

According to that site

"The error you're getting is an illegal instruction error, check you are running the correct version of MAME for YOUR platform or try running plain un-optimised MAME"

So try installing the disk all over, choosing a different Mame optimization.

ie: if the problem was K6, choose Pentium, and vise versa.

Good luck,
Craig

[RXII]

Hi,
     I have tried all of the different PC types as well as both .36 and .55 still no good. I did notice that after I have typed 'scan' all of those numbers and letters appear as in my last post before fading out and bringing up the gameless gamelauncher screen. Not sure if this helps. I might just install windows 98 and strip it down, then install gamelauncher and mame .36 manually?? Not sure which way to go. I am so close...it will be something simple that I can't see.

[spystyle]

Did you test Mame seperately in each case, with "mame digdug -soundcard 0"

Or is it GL crashing?

[RXII]

Yeah sorry I tried each mame version on each PC version and it was no good. I am currently loading win98 to try that. Do you have a link to your win98 mods that you do? I thinks it all under the Nlited XP thread. I will let you know how I go.

[IG-88]

It's like you are travelling that exact same road that I did. Craig's modified win98 works great but I can tell you that I didn't like the MAME32 v.36 on it. Compared to the GL that works on my one computer it's not even close visually. I am only running 160-200 MHz tho. And maybe GL will work on yours under win98. I'll be eager to see.

[RXII]

I had no problems getting mame to work after I had installed win98. I got mame.36 but the K6 version, put a few roms in there.....WALA! Even the sound works straight away. I haven't configured Game Launcher yet but I am happy it at least runs a few basic games which is all it has to do to be saved from the BIN! 

[Cheapskate]

Hay! Finally i can register to these forums lol

Awhile back i had been emailing Craig with the same problems that alot of people have been having with the Roms not showing up in the FE but like alot of yous never found out why or how to fix that problem. For the people that have it just hang after it beeps when its on the boot screen or if it goes to a black screen and just hangs try and put a pause in the autoexec.bat before the glaunch command

So the autoexec.bat will look like this:

c:
cd glaunch
pause
glaunch

For yous that are having trouble downloading TinyXP through the torrent i found a direct link to it but I'm not shore if i can post the link to the forum page with the link to the download on it... if its not allowed can you edit it out please.

<edited out ---saint>

Well I'm just getting back into converting my computer into a MAME machine and puting it into my cabinet as its the school holidays, so I'll be visiting on here regularly as i don't really have a life lol

L8az

[IG-88]

Good News! Craigs tip on using a different Mame Optimization worked on another machine.  This set-up is a 200mhz, 64mb ram, ISA soundcard, and an 85mb HD.

Craig. How large is your Boot CD when it's all unzipped? Just curious.

[spystyle]

This disk installs 25 MB data if Mame .36 and Sound Blaster ISA are selected.

Cheers,
Craig

[hsr]

Hi Guys,

Craig, just wanted to start by saying thank you for taking the time to set up your iso file.

I burned a copy to disc and installed first on a P1 233MMx.  Install went fine and was able to run the free rom games.  Setup 0.55.

Tonight, I used the exact same disc on a P3 733.  Once installed, I get the Mame splash screen and then nothing.

If I add "pause" to glaunch.bat, I am prompted to hit return before GameLauncher will run.  After hitting return, GL fails to launch and I get the following error:

Load Error: No DPMI - Get csdpmi*b.zip

In the C: directory, there is a file entry for CWSDPMI.SWP, but its size is 0.

Tried launching both GL and Mame from the c: prompt and get the same load error as above.

Scan from the c: prompt gives the same result then on the next line says cannot run _gl.exe.

Same error was present after loading .36, .55 and .100.

Anyone else seeing this?

Anyone making any progress on getting PCI sound cards to work in DOS?  I have several P3's available to me, but none with ISA slots.

IG-88,

What Ensoniq's did you try?  Reason I'm asking is http://easymamecab.mameworld.net/html/hardware.htm claims the Ensoinq should be the cure all.  I happen to be trying the 1373 in this particular P3 733 above.  Although the above problems persist with or without the card installed or configured.

RXII,

Can you elaborate a little further on your set up?  You said you have no issues after installing win98, even sound straight away.  Are you running DOS off boot or in a shell?

Last question for this post:  If I have to end up using a winMame on these P3's, do you recommend command line or Mame32?  Why?

Thanks in advance,

[spystyle]

...Tonight, I used the exact same disc on a P3 733.  Once installed, I get the Mame splash screen and then nothing.

If I add "pause" to glaunch.bat, I am prompted to hit return before GameLauncher will run.  After hitting return, GL fails to launch and I get the following error:

Load Error: No DPMI - Get csdpmi*b.zip

This happens if you do not restart the computer after initial install, because the installed software has not been loaded (it is set to load at startup)

If you are receiving this error after a restart it would seem that data is missing from the drive - either you selected an install option that doesn't work (this is a beta disk, maybe some don't work?) OR the hard drive is corrupt.

To check the hard drive for errors boot the computer and type

scandisk c: -autofix -nosave -surface

(at the C:> prompt)

It is also possible that the CD-ROM drive is malfunctioning on that computer.

That computer is fast enough to run Windows 98 (if you get sick of trying to configure DOS) 98 can be optimized to use only 15 MB RAM.

Cheers,
Craig

[hsr]

This happens if you do not restart the computer after initial install, because the installed software has not been loaded (it is set to load at startup)

If you are receiving this error after a restart it would seem that data is missing from the drive - either you selected an install option that doesn't work (this is a beta disk, maybe some don't work?) OR the hard drive is corrupt.

To check the hard drive for errors boot the computer and type

scandisk c: -autofix -nosave -surface

(at the C:> prompt)

It is also possible that the CD-ROM drive is malfunctioning on that computer.

That computer is fast enough to run Windows 98 (if you get sick of trying to configure DOS) 98 can be optimized to use only 15 MB RAM.

Cheers,
Craig

This was after a restart (and many more) after making autoexec changes.

I ran Boot and Nuke on all of my hard drives (uses DoD standards to write zeros to the disc), fdisk and long format, than ran the Western Digital Data Life Guard to verify the integrity.

I've got a pile of CD drives, so I'll throw a few more in there and see if any changes.

Due to the sound issues, I am now leaning more toward Mame for Windows.  I've been reading your posts in the nLite thread for the past week.

[IG-88]

IG-88,

What Ensoniq's did you try?  Reason I'm asking is http://easymamecab.mameworld.net/html/hardware.htm claims the Ensoinq should be the cure all.  I happen to be trying the 1373 in this particular P3 733 above.  Although the above problems persist with or without the card installed or configured.

To be honest with you, I don't remember. I pulled them and threw them in a box with a bunch of others. After getting a bunch of ISA cards off eBay, I have been having much better luck.

I have also tried the EasyCab boot cd and have had the same problem with games not showing up in the menu. I tried the ArcadeOS with DOS MAME PC option and the ArcadeOS with AdvanceMAME PC option and neither let the games show up. (on this one  PC I am trying) I then tried the AdvanceMENU with AdvanceMAME PC option and it worked great. Great that is until I ran the games and the audio was all screwed up. Visually they looked superb but it was like someone was tweaking the speed of the audio playback. Real weird. If I remember right it was a PCI soundcard I was using too. There is no ISA option in the setup.

Anyone else tried this CD yet?

[spystyle]

If you use a soundcard other than soundblaster ISA you'll need to change the "soundcard 1" line, in c:\mame\mame.cfg

0=Silence

1=Sound Blaster

2=Pro Audio Spectrum

3=Ultrasound Max

4=Ultrasound

5=Windows Sound System

6=Ensoniq Soundscape (Used By Soundblaster PCI Cards)

[RXII]

RXII,

Can you elaborate a little further on your set up?  You said you have no issues after installing win98, even sound straight away.  Are you running DOS off boot or in a shell?

The PC i am trying to get going in a HP4404 which is a AMD-K6 333mhz and it has 96mb of RAM. The initial trouble I had was I was trying to use a CDRW drive that the HP bios obviously didn't recognise so it wouldn't boot the CD. I have since put in a CDROM and it booted up fine. Since having trouble getting the boot disc going with GL and mame I decided to put WIN98 back on and run Mame32 v.36. It ran Mame fine and once i installed the audio drivers I was away. The main thing I wanted to make sure was that the PC was capable of running the games I wanted and that I was wasn't wasting my time with it.

UPDATE!
I thought I would persist with Craig's CD as it was obviously nothing to do with his CD. I reformatted the drive and reinstalled the boot CD. This time I tried a few more combinations of PC type and Mame versions. I stumbled on using Mame .55 and Pentium 1 and IT WORKED! I did the scan and the PC actually had a think about it instead of bringing those error numbers and letters as on one of my previous posts and bought up the 3 installed roms off the CD! YAY!
BUT I still cant play the game through GameLauncher. I can play them staright from Mame but through GL when I press 1 or Ctrl the menu slides away but then just comes straight back....sort of like when you first install the disc and it brings all of the games that aren't really there. So I need to find out why this happens. Its obviously a config setting in GL...not sure where to start looking though and haven't had time to check it further. But I am sure I am on the right track now!

[IG-88]

Good job! A quick question I have....did you use v.36 roms with that or did you use v.55?

[RXII]

I have the full v.36 set and picked a few of my favorites to try....I just used those.

I cant find the v.55 set anywhere. I may have to learn how to use Clrmame???

[Twinbee]

Just a quick question.

No matter what I try, I can't get this old P1 133mhz to boot from the CDROM drive, it will only boot from C or A. It is currently running Windows 98 and I can see the CD from there.

Also, If I boot from the Windows 98 boot disk (which installs the drivers for the CDROM) I can CD to D: and start the installation by typing DOS but when it gets to installing it trys to install to A:

Is there any way I can get this to run and install by first booting from the A drive?

Thank you!

UPDATE:   After trying some other CD's, I can boot from the Windows 98 CD and also the Norton CD. But your boot disc just won't boot for me. it tries to boot and them just says 'PRESS A KEY TO REBOOT' thats it. The disc will boot on my P4 desktop PC though so the boot disk must be ok. Any ideas?

Thanks again.

[spystyle]

Howdy,

Here is a modified Windows 98 startup disk that contains "Xcopy" :
http://tinyurl.com/5om4fg

Boot from the windows 98 floppy disk

*optionally* format the drive like this:

from A:>

type:

format c: /q /s

This will make the hard drive bootable, yet blank

Now type:

md c:\disk

this creates a folder called "disk" on the hard drive

from D:>

type:

xcopy /e *.* c:\disk

This will copy the entire CD to c:\disk

then go to c:\disk and type:

dos

This will start the install, withing the install choose option 1, esc out of Fdisk, and type "n" (without quotes) when prompted to confirm formatting

Cheers,
Craig

[Twinbee]

Thank you for your help, I shall give this a try tonight.

[RXII]

Hi guys,
             Just wondering if anyone knows how to remove the 'pause' from the menu when loading a game as well as going back into Gamelauncher. When I choose a game it stops and says

C:\MAME>pause
Press any key to continue . . .

Then the game starts up fine
Then when I ESC out of the game it says

C:\GLAUNCH>pause
Press any key to continue . . .

Bit strange, any help would be great!

Cheers, Simon

[tikbalang]

instead of the "pause" command, use "choice.com".

Code: [Select]

13. Delay a batch file.

There's a basic method to make a delay, which is using the CHOICE command with the /T switch. The following line will take a 60 second delay:
CHOICE /c:$ /t:$,60 /n > nul
::               ^^ Time to wait (from 1 to 99)
The delay will be skipped if user enters "$". That is useful if you want to give the option to skip the delay.

source:
http://www.batchfiles.co.nr/

[RXII]

Thanks, but I need to get rid of the pause step, I cant find anywhere in the .cfg files that add a pause.

[spystyle]

Have you checked the autoexec.bat?

I really can't imagine why you have pause coming up like that.

Cheers,
Craig

[hsr]

Have you checked the autoexec.bat?

I really can't imagine why you have pause coming up like that.

Cheers,
Craig

Probably because of this post:

One of my beta testers reports that he is using a fast computer (more than 1 ghz) and Game launcher would not load, he solved the problem by adding "pause" before "glaunch.exe" in the autoexec.bat

So the bottom of the autoexec.bat would look like this:

c:
cd glaunch
pause
glaunch
---------------------------
If you don't know how to add that do this: from the C:> prompt, type "edit autoexec.bat" (without quotes), scroll down to the bottom and add "pause" (without quotes) as seen above, then press ALT, ENTER, scroll down to exit, and press ENTER

I had this problem.  Added the lines above to my autoexec and experienced the same issue.  Also had to hit a key to continue.

[hsr]

All items are now gone.

[IG-88]

Well, I've had a few days over the holiday's and have been tinkering around with the boot cd and thought I would post my progress.

I've gotten several more of my machines to work with this puppy. The ones that I was having problems with earlier got resolved by using the v.55 mame option along with the pent 1 option during setup that someone mention earlier. I can get the games to run but they are just a tiny bit choppy and the sound is a little scratchy. They look pretty good and I could probably live with the chop however the sound is driving me nuts.

I am running MAME v.36 roms with the optimized V.55 of MAME so I am wondering if this could be the problem. I have talked to a guy and hopefully I can get some sets that match the optimized versions on the Boot CD.

Craig, do you think that this may be my problem? I've tried changing the samplerate to 11025 (even 5512) and it didn't make a difference and when I changed the resolution to 320 x 240 it crashes. Do you have any other ideas on what I could do to help speed things up some? Is there some more things in the Mame.cfg that can be changed?

I thought also about putting in a faster CPU (currently running 166's & 200's) if I kind find some. Or perhaps some more RAM if I can figure out what they need.

Let me know.

[spystyle]

Have you had any luck resolving that?

I had the idea I should pick this project back up and add regular Dmame as an option (no optimisation, for compatibilty) and the AC97 sound drivers (the most common onboard sound card)

Cheers,
Craig

[tikbalang]

please do.

[IG-88]

Sorry I haven't gotten back sooner. I have got all the computers I've tried (24) to work with the boot cd as long a I follow a few guide lines:

• 1. Sound card must be an ISA Soundblaster type. I couldn't get any PCI cards to work, no matter if they were soundblaster or esonic or whatever. 
• 2. When asked which mame version, only v.55 worked regularly. And when asked only choose the P1 (i586) processor.

Now obviously I couldn't have tried every different system combination out there, but of the 24 I've tried so far, they have, for the most part, been different. That is different brands (Dells, Gateways, IBM's, Mitak's, emachine's ect.) Diff cpu styles (slot and conventional) Diff cpu speeds (166mhz - 800mhz) Diff ram sizes & styles (64mb simms - 256mb dimms) and all kinds of video cards. Not to mention the different mobo, HD & cd-rom manufacturers. So really the set-up options may be somewhat limited at the moment but you can still get most old computers to work if you have that ISA sondblaster card.

I did have a little trouble with the audio and video on a couple of the real low end machines but when I used the correct version of mame (v.55) roms with that option I chose in set-up, it helped alot. I also think my expectations were a bit high. The old classics Frogger, DK, Pac-man, Jungle King ect work great. Games like Alien Syndrome and Knights of the Round Table were the ones that were a bit stretched.

On a side note I've figured out a few configurations in GL that while they are probably in the docs. they are still hard for newbs like me to figure out. (I'm not an instructions reading kinda guy) So if anyone wants I may be able to help out a little.

I should also say Craig has been invaluable in this whole process and is a great help. I think adding dmame is also a good idea. I agree with him in that this CD can make a great use out of an old computer pretty easily and I hope he continues to develop it.

[deathbyc4]

Hey Spystyle, when do you plan to implement the audigy drivers in the install? It would be much appreciated. Also, perhaps a guide to changing the frontend or adding an option to install different frontends? Also, I can't seem to get mamescan to work right, still not detecting any of my roms. Do they have to be for a certain Mame version? i wouldnt think that would affect glaunch seeing them. The roms are in the mame/roms folder and the glaunch cfg is set accordingly. Am i missing something easy?

[spystyle]

Howdy!

I have picked this project back up

I have added Dmame for compatibility.

So there are now 3 choices when choosing from the 7 versions of mame available:

1. Pentium II / III / 4 or Celeron (i686 optimization)
2. Pentium I (i586 optimization)
3. DOS MAME (best compatibility)

Keep me updated, you are my beta testers!

I intend to add AC'97 audio when I have time. I will also take requests

I don't see why I couldn't add anything that is compatible with DOS, like other front ends and sound card drivers.

I'd like to integrate Raine and Vantage eventually too, from what I've read those have very small system requirements.

Let's make DOS MAME easy-peasy

Cheers,
Craig

-----------------------------------------------

How to burn the ISO:

Download burn4free*, it's free. Install it, then go to add/remove programs and uninstall it's toolbar. The program remains

start burn4free, click: drive > burn iso

use it to burn the ISO "as" a disk

some users accidentally burn it "to" a disk using other programs, that is why I recommend burn4free

Cheers,
Craig

*
http://tinyurl.com/b8mco

[gonzo90017]

If you add Raine and Vantage that would be great! Raine does run the same games faster than mame. The last dos version is 0.43.2

[Kaytrim]

Good to see this project resurrected.  Could you look into setting up a vertical monitor in DOS?

TTFN
Kaytrim

[spystyle]

That should be easy with Vantage.

Also Game Launcher and MAME support vertical, see GL's readme here:

http://www.dribin.org/dave/game_launcher/readme.html

(that readme doesn;t represent how I remapped the keys in my boot CD)

-------------------

Anyway, I just tested the new release boot CD on an old computer:

P2 333mhz
32 MB RAM
4 GB HDD
24X CD-Rom
ISA soundblaster sound card, CT2260, Vibra 16
PCI video card, Ct6760, 3D Blaster Banshee

mame .36 optimized for Pentium 2

I installed the boot CD, then used "update" to dump "roms" and "snap" directory from a CD to the MAME directory.

GameLauncher scanned and detected the games

GameLauncher worked fine, except once when I was holding the left arrow key down (to flip through pages quickly) it had a "page fault" and crashed. Other than that it worked a treat. I ran Dig Dug, Elevator Action, and Ghosts n' Goblins.

I unplugged it and then plugged it back in. DOS did not break, it started right up. That is the type of cool "arcade friendly" environment DOS is

So, it works! There are still some things to add but it's good.

That $20 computer could now be the engine of an arcade machine, cool huh?

Cheers,
Craig

[Kaytrim]

That should be easy with Vantage.

Also Game Launcher and MAME support vertical, see GL's readme here:

http://www.dribin.org/dave/game_launcher/readme.html

(that readme doesn;t represent how I remapped the keys in my boot CD)

Could you go into a little more detail on Vantage  I have a PIII 760 that I would like to setup in DOS and has a vertical PC monitor.  See link in my sig for the project (Dad's Bartop).

TTFN
Kaytrim

[spystyle]

Here is Vantage:

http://www.mameworld.net/pc2jamma/vantage.html

Mame can also be run vertically

[IG-88]

Anyway, I just tested the new release boot CD on an old computer:

P2 333mhz
32 MB RAM
4 GB HDD
24X CD-Rom
ISA soundblaster sound card, CT2260, Vibra 16
PCI video card, Ct6760, 3D Blaster Banshee

mame .36 optimized for Pentium 2

So, if I'm reading you right, you got your computer to work by using "version .36 mame" option and selecting the "1. Pentium II / III / 4 or Celeron (i686 optimization)" ?   

I couldn't get any of mine to work unless I choose the "v.55 mame" and the "2. Pentium I (i586 optimization)....weird!

Have you tried the dmame option yet?

[spystyle]

Yes, that's correct. I chose the optimixation that matched the CPU and it worked great. The "soundblaster ISA" instalation and setup went without a hitch. The video was smooth on the classics, I didn't try anything new.

I'm willing to try more combinations, I have a few other P2 style rigs.

As for "Dmame", use it if your optimization acts screwy. Or use it straight away if you are cautios type. It will definately work - it's DOS MAME.

Because of the PCI sound cards I will add AdvanceMAME as an option too. I keep hearing that it supports more soundcards.

I just need to track down those 7 versions of AdvanceMAME...

Also some DOS soundcard drivers...

I like the idea of defragmenting too, that really speeds things up. I will look for a DOS defragmentor.

Right now I am testing out Raine. I have the complete set and it fits on a single CD. It has about 500 games. I think GameLauncher is capable of being a front end for MAME, Raine, and other emus all at the same time.

Cheers,
Craig

[spystyle]

Update:

I have discovered an error that makes "Game Launcher not show any roms"

If you don't have any roms showing up in game launcher do this:

(note = to get to C:> prompt from any subdirectory type "cd\" without quotes)

from C:> prompt type

cd mame (enter)

mame (enter)

If you get a long message displaying mame's usage, your mame is working The problem is elsewhere.

If you get the error message "no DPMI" then you have too little RAM. Use a lower version number of mame. ie: ".75" has error, try ".65" then "55" and so on.

I found this when running mame .85 on a rig with 32 MB RAM. Bumping the RAM up to 128 solved the problem.

A Google search will tell you "no dpmi" error's solution is to install CWSDPMI.EXE, (it is already in DOS directory). If you want to try this type:

(from the C:> prompt)

copy c:\dos\cwsdpmi.exe c:\mame

according to mame.net "cwsdpmi.exe" just sits in the mame directory, it doesn't need to be called on.

But the error is "not enough RAM"

Apparently there is a minimum amount of RAM each version of MAME needs, I will discover what it is and post it here (and to the boot disk)

I have also added CWSDPMI.EXE to the mame dorectory for future revisions. It is only 20K.

----------------------------

OK, I have tested for the practical minimum amount of RAM per mame version:

Version 36 = 16 MB RAM
Version 55 = 64 MB RAM
Version 65 = 80 MB RAM
Version 75 = 128 MB RAM
Version 85 = 256 MB RAM
Version 95 = 256 MB RAM
Version 100 = 256 MB RAM

My "recommended" would be X2 the above. Games tested with minimum had low FPS

Ofcourse if you were just going to play the classics, I'm sure minimum would work

--------------------------------------------------

Another problem that can cause Game Launcher to not display your roms, is mismatching romsets and mame versions.

For example, the game "Robby" that comes free with the disk can not be read by 2 out of the 7 versions of MAME.

[spystyle]

OK,

I have updated it again.

I added scandisk so you can check your hard drive any time by typing "scandisk" (without quotes) at the C:> prompt

I wanted to add "defrag" but couldn't find a DOS7 compatible defragmentor.

After some further reading I've decided that "Scitech Display Doctor" is the universal video card driver for DOS. So we install a sound card driver but why not a video card driver too?

The new version of the boot CD has an option to install and register Scitech Display Doctor. I made it an option so if it has adverse effects you can choose to not install it. Options are good.

----------------

I have also made batch files that optimize MAME for speed or quality, and a batch file that returns it to default. This automatically changes mame.cfg.

From the readme:

7. What does the "optmization" do?

It automatically changes these lines in mame.cfg

"fast"
triplebuffer = no
samplerate = 11025
resolution = 320x240

"quality"
triplebuffer = yes
samplerate = 44100
resolution = auto

"default"
triplebuffer = no
samplerate = 22050
resolution = auto

--------------------------

On the topic of options I would like to add some more front ends with a menu choosing which front end will be default. The other front ends will also be installed and the user could manually switch to one of those instead.

Which front ends would you guys like to see?
What are the most popular DOS front ends?

---------------------------

I would also add some other versions of MAME, versions that support more hardware. I think AdvanceMAME is the only such version for DOS.

What versions of MAME would you guys like to see added?

----------------------------

I will also redo Fraggal's sound card installation, when time allows. It seems wacky - just take a look at DOS.bat on the disk. Specifically he has the sound card installation copying files, swapping out the autoexec.bat and config.sys, then adding lines to them.

Once I redo Fraggal's soundcard installation it will no longer be his disk! That is the last thing remaining - I've worked many hours re-doing the entire disk.

-----------------------------

If you guys want to see any DOS programs, drivers, or files included in the disk get me a direct link to the file and I'll take a look at it.

Also, this project is completely "open source" -  if you want to change it to your specific needs simply look at DOS.BAT file on the CD and use "magic ISO" to replace the files on the CD image with your own files. You can test your ISOs with Microsoft Virtual PC* (which is free from M$) without having to burn them to CD.

I would also gladly accept any advice from DOS gurus! I am not one... Just a DOS student.

*http://tinyurl.com/287fx8
Supported Operating Systems: Windows XP Professional Edition ; Windows XP Professional x64 Edition ; Windows XP Tablet PC Edition; Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86); Windows Server 2003, Standard x64 Edition; Windows Vista Business; Windows Vista Business 64-bit edition; Windows Vista Enterprise; Windows Vista Enterprise 64-bit edition; Windows Vista Ultimate; Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit edition.

*http://tinyurl.com/34tooe
Supported Operating Systems: Windows 2000 Service Pack 4; Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86); Windows XP Service Pack 2
----------------------------

I have also heard about "DOS version 7.1" allegedly it has USB support for CD drives and mouse, and can use GUI from Win 3.11, Win95, or Win98. I will look into it when time allows.

Quote:

"MS DOS 7.1
DOS 7.1, the best DOS that ever relased ! (It got USB (Drive, Mouse...) Support, You can use GUI´s (3.11, 95, 98...) they need only 600-5000kb !"

From:
http://vetusware.com/select-by/category/OS/?cat=1

Notice: The above site allows 2 initial downloads, then 1 download per day.

------------------

Notice:

I have set up mame's configuration file to expect a "sound blaster" sound card

This is a line in mame.cfg

If you are not using "sound blaster" sound card you must edit mame.cfg line:

soundcard 1

to edit mame.cfg type "setup" (without quotes) from C:> prompt

Here are mame's soundcard codes:

0. Silence
1. Sound Blaster
3. Pro Audio Spectrum
4. Ultrasound Max (CS4231 codec)
5. Ultrasound
6. Windows sound system
7. Ensoniq Soundscape

(it's not an error, there is no #2)

Example, if you have an Ultrasound card you would change the line to:
soundcard 5

Note:
Running "optimizations" will reset mame.cfg to soundcard 1, so you will have to edit this line every time you run an optimization.

---------------------

It seems that getting sound to work is DOS's "Achillies Heel". Why not just stick to soundblaster ISA? A $5 card gets your $10 computer running as a MAME machine very easily.

The catch is - not all motherboards have ISA!

If you don't have an ISA soundblaster card, choose "No sound configuration, I will configure my sound card manually" during set up, then install your sound card's driver manually. You can usually find your sound card DOS drivers at driverguide.com

I look forward to simplifying this sound card "issue"

If I can re-do the entire sound card section of this disk to become compatible with more sound cards it may become very good!

----------------------------------------------

Cheers,
Craig

[Kaytrim]

After some further reading I've decided that "Scitech Display Doctor" is the universal video card driver for DOS. So we install a sound card driver but why not a video card driver too?

The new version of the boot CD has an option to install and register Scitech Display Doctor. I made it an option so if it has adverse effects you can choose to not install it. Options are good.

Does the Scitech Display Doctor give the ability to rotate the screen?  Maybe I am missing something but I have a PC monitor that is mounted vertically.  Is there some way to rotate the screen in DOS like iRotate or Pivot Pro does in Windows?

Kaytrim

[shorthair]

1. mouse support: are you saying this doesn't automatically have mouse support at all?...meaning no trackball/spinner?

2. advancemame I think has different video requirements than regular Mame. Particularly when using the effects.

All-in-all neat idea, though. I have an old compaq, maaybe PII level, I may try this on.

[spystyle]

Is there some way to rotate the screen in DOS like iRotate or Pivot Pro does in Windows?

Kaytrim

It's very easy to rotate the screen in DOS. You just have to tell mame (mame.cfg) and your front end (in Game Launcher's case glaunch.cfg) that you have a vertical cab.

Edit those two files and you're vertical.

I'll do it now on my virtual PC MAME 36:

type 'setup' at the C:> prompt

change the following lines:

ror = ('yes' if rotate right, 'no' if rotate left)                   
rol = ('yes' if rotate left, 'no' if rotate right)

then to save and exit - press 'alt' 'enter' scroll down to 'exit' and press 'enter' twice

then type 'setupGL' at the C:> prompt

change the following lines:

menu_orientation = 1
----------------------------
Thanks for the question, I've added the above to the readme for the next revision
-----------------------------

As for SDD

Scitech display doctor just speeds up video. It adds "univbe" and "VBE 2.0 / 3.0" which are video accelerators for DOS. Windows already has drivers but DOS doesn't so they should be added. If SDD doesn't crash your computer it should speed it up. If it does crash your computer try installing the actual DOS driver for your video card.

1. mouse support: are you saying this doesn't automatically have mouse support at all?...meaning no trackball/spinner?

This does have optional mouse support. It's an elective at install.

[spystyle]

Anyway, I just tested the new release boot CD on an old computer:

P2 333mhz
32 MB RAM
4 GB HDD
24X CD-Rom
ISA soundblaster sound card, CT2260, Vibra 16
PCI video card, Ct6760, 3D Blaster Banshee

mame .36 optimized for Pentium 2

So, if I'm reading you right, you got your computer to work by using "version .36 mame" option and selecting the "1. Pentium II / III / 4 or Celeron (i686 optimization)" ?   

I couldn't get any of mine to work unless I choose the "v.55 mame" and the "2. Pentium I (i586 optimization)....weird!

Have you tried the dmame option yet?

By the way, I had an old proprietary computer (compaq or something) and it would always crash with optimized MAME. So I think your problem is common for 'proprietary' computers, they probably all have the same motherboard chipset.

The P2 that I successfully used optimization on was a 'home build' (ie: not Compaq)

Dmame will likely solve the problem

[Kaytrim]

Is there some way to rotate the screen in DOS like iRotate or Pivot Pro does in Windows?

Kaytrim

It's very easy to rotate the screen in DOS. You just have to tell mame (mame.cfg) and your front end (in Game Launcher's case glaunch.cfg) that you have a vertical cab.

Edit those two files and you're vertical....

  SWEET.  Thanks Craig this is the little tidbit that I have been missing.  Now I can go solid state with a CF card instead of the the dieing HD that I currently have.  I used your sortinfo system to pare down the ROMs list now I can use your DOS CD.

 
Kaytrim

[spystyle]

CF card?

If it is faster than a hard drive, I'd like a link to info about that. The last time I becnhmarked a USB keydrive it was slower than a hard drive.

If your hard drives are failing stop dropping them, also check the power supply with a PSU tester - it may be frying them.

About sortinfo : it's an excellent tool! Not mine though, written by "EmuMannen"

He also wrote a Raine tool for GameLauncher!

http://hem.passagen.se/robert.palmqvist/Downloads/downloads.html

I will use that to add Raine to the next revision fot he boot CD

Big thanks to EmuMannen

[IG-88]

Anyway, I just tested the new release boot CD on an old computer:

P2 333mhz
32 MB RAM
4 GB HDD
24X CD-Rom
ISA soundblaster sound card, CT2260, Vibra 16
PCI video card, Ct6760, 3D Blaster Banshee

mame .36 optimized for Pentium 2

So, if I'm reading you right, you got your computer to work by using "version .36 mame" option and selecting the "1. Pentium II / III / 4 or Celeron (i686 optimization)" ?   

I couldn't get any of mine to work unless I choose the "v.55 mame" and the "2. Pentium I (i586 optimization)....weird!

Have you tried the dmame option yet?

By the way, I had an old proprietary computer (compaq or something) and it would always crash with optimized MAME. So I think your problem is common for 'proprietary' computers, they probably all have the same motherboard chipset.

The P2 that I successfully used optimization on was a 'home build' (ie: not Compaq)

Dmame will likely solve the problem

Hey. What exactly does this dmame do that dos7 and mame doesn't? You still use the G.L. FE with it right? Does it just have more driver support or is it faster or what. I'm not sure what it's about. 

[spystyle]

Hey. What exactly does this dmame do that dos7 and mame doesn't? You still use the G.L. FE with it right? Does it just have more driver support or is it faster or what. I'm not sure what it's about. 

DOS 7 = OS
DMAME = MAME without optmiziation

Dmame is just another name for DOS MAME, which has no optimizations (ie: not 686 or K6 ect)

Sorry to confuse you!

Dmame should be more compatible
optmized MAME should be slightly faster than DMame

I personally would try the optimization first (ie: 686 version) , and if it failed I would try Dmame.

Cheers,
Craig

[spystyle]

OK, another update,

I have added Raine!

*To use Raine*

1. Insert a CD containing Raine roms in a folder called 'roms'
and optionally a folder called 'snapshots' containg the snap shots

2. type 'updateR' at the C:> prompt to copy the files to raine directory

3. In GameLauncher press 'Left CTRL' to change the game list from MAME to Raine

4. You can edit Raine's configuration file by typing 'setupR' at the C:> prompt.  This file doesn't exist until you have run Raine once.

Cheers,
Craig

[Kaytrim]

CF card?

If it is faster than a hard drive, I'd like a link to info about that. The last time I becnhmarked a USB keydrive it was slower than a hard drive.

I use an IDE to CF card that plugs into the IDE connector on the motherboard.  They are as fast as a hard drive because it uses the IDE buss not the USB buss.  You can find more information on it here...  LINK  I got my cards from eBay just do a search for IDE to CF.  Here is the auction where I got mine.  I also got my 512 MB CF cards there as well.

[spystyle]

On the topic of IDE CF to replace IDE HDD:

http://www.multigame.com/CF.html

It's cool! No IDE cables.

I would need to see a benchmark though... I think older IDE HDD are right around 25-35 MB/sec data transfer

Run HDtune to find out your MB/sec rate

On an intel board try installing "Intel application accelerator first, I've seen this turn an 8MB/sec drive into a 25MB/sec drive. 

edit: I've just read to the end of that article, they are SLOW!

quote

"some will read as slow as 4Mbytes/sec, others as fast as 12Mbytes/sec. The 2GB card I have probably falls in the 6-8Mbyes/sec range,"

end quote

Much too slow for my taste, especially since I have a shoebox full of hard drives.

If I was using such a slow drive I'd be inclined to unzip the roms, I would assume that speeds things up because mame doesn't have to unzip them before loading. Maybe a MAME whiz will chime in and elaborate on that theory.

Cheers,
Craig

update:

Dana e-mail the author of that article, gotta love the internet eh? Read something on-line then a moment later contact the author - try that with Newsweek.

I just read your article on replacing hard drives with CF cards and I have a 
few questions. I was just wondering on the speed issue. I think older IDE HDD
are right around 25-35 MB/sec data transfer. You said your rates were 
"6-8Mbyes/sec range," Do you think a person would notice the difference in
 those rates when loading or playing a game? What was your experience with them? 

It's *really* going to vary.  Electrically speaking an IDE/ATA drive doing DMA33 could potentially do speeds in excess of 33Mbytes/sec...  The problem is that the platter speed of the drive matters far more-- and then it depends on if the hardware was using PIO or DMA modes for shuffly the data around in the first place.
 
For an older drive you might have 3600 RPM with ~65 sectors per track and 512 bytes/sector.  Multiply that out and you get 1.90MBytes/sec off the drive.  (So while you could move data at 30Mbytes out of the cache/memory on the controller, the drive was still only getting it off the disk at less than 2Mbytes/sec-- so a CF card would probably be faster overall.)  For newer drives they might be 5400RPM with 150+ sectors per track, that could give a data rate abover 7Mbytes/sec which would be comparable to a CF card.
 
The tricky part to know is whether or not the game uses DMA to move data, or the CPU.  If the CPU it pulling data from the drive in PIO mode, then the speed will be limited by what the CPU can do, so as long as the media is faster than the CPU needs it, you're OK regardless...
 
If you're talking about games that didn't originally use a Hard Drive (like loading a NeoGeo game from a computer drive for emulation), a modern PC hard disk will likely always be faster and have quicker load times than a CF card.  If you're talking about something like Killer Instinct where a drive is used, but it tends to load and run and not stream data-- it may or may not be noticeable.  When you talk about something like Area51 that streams data constantly, as long as the media is faster than the slowest drive it was intended to work with it'll work the same.  (Since "extra speed" isn't used since the drive is pulling data at a constant rate for the video.)
 
For something like a Dragon's Lair type game the CF card might actually be *better*-- since there's virtually no 'seek' time in a solid state drive the random access time is better than a hard drive that has to move the read heads and wait for the right part of the disk to come around...
 
In an arcade environment, as long as it plays OK I really prefer the CF.  Less heat, immune to shock and vibration, no bearings or moving parts to wear out... -Clay

Interesting!

But remember he is talking about an arcade machine, not a computer.

So - we can't use "MB/sec" to gauge this thing.... I guess we should use a stop watch to measure "load times"

How long from power button to game launcher? 1. HDD ___ 2.CF ___
How long to load game X ? 1. HDD ___ 2.CF ___

For us with home arcades, we don't really benefit from "shock proof" because we don't roll our cabs off of trucks regularly.

However - I find them a tremendous novelty and wouldn't blame you if you do too!

One thing I would like acout the CF drive is "no noise" -  the "whining" old hard drives annoy me.

Cheers,
Craig

[IG-88]

----------------------------

I have also heard about "DOS version 7.1" allegedly it has USB support for CD drives and mouse, and can use GUI from Win 3.11, Win95, or Win98. I will look into it when time allows.

Quote:

"MS DOS 7.1
DOS 7.1, the best DOS that ever relased ! (It got USB (Drive, Mouse...) Support, You can use GUI´s (3.11, 95, 98...) they need only 600-5000kb !"

From:
http://vetusware.com/select-by/category/OS/?cat=1

Notice: The above site allows 2 initial downloads, then 1 download per day.

Imagine DOS OS with USB and LFN support, also Windows 98 explorer!

All the stability of DOS with the option to launch Windows 98 explorer? That sounds very good for an arcade machine!

You could have a nice clean DOS OS, then for occasional file management launch a user friendly Windows 98 explorer... sounds too good to be true. I'm curious to see how it works. 

------------------


Cheers,
Craig

Hey Craig. Have you had a chance to take a look at this part of the project yet? I came across this while doing some searching and thought you may be interested:
http://www.bootdisk.com/usb.htm
That may help on the USB support but I'd really like to see that GUI you mentioned ^ work...

[spystyle]

Howdy Dana,

I did try it briefly, I wasn't very impressed.

I can e-mail it to you with the addons if you like.

You boot into DOS, and have the option to launch Win98 (if it's installed) - there's nothing new about that, is there? There was a legnthy installer that claimed LFN support was buggy and some older programs may delete files if it's enabled... it all felt like "tacked on unnecessary stuff that didn't work properly". But I'll take another look at it some time.

Maybe I was doing it wrong....

There are allot of "file managers" available for DOS if that interests you.

I am interested in adding USB support.
---------------------------------------

In other news, I discovered MAME does not need SB16 drivers! It only needs the following line in the autoexec.bat:

SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6

wild huh?

Coincidentally I am looking at DOS sound card drivers right now:
http://www.mameworld.net/dosmame/other.php
http://vsynchmame.mameworld.net/

[Kaytrim]

Craig,

I have a problem with version 1F of your setup.  It is almost a show stopper too because it related to video.  It is also the most difficult to solve, the intermintant kind.  Most of the time when I let the computer boot normally it will lock up just prior to showing the menu screen in GL.  Other times it will go normally and show the menu screen.  I have tried it with both the new video program and without but have the same results.  However when I press the ESC key durring the logo display it runs GL without problems.  I also renamed the logo.sys to logo.bat and the Win98 logo showed up as expected but the same result when trying to start GL. 

When the screen locks up it looks like it should be there is no line at the top and no game names sliding onto the screen.  Any ideas on what the problem might be?  I am out of options.

btw have you looked at FreeDOS instead of using DOS7?  That would get you away from Win98 all together.  I am toying with the idea myself.

TTFN
Kaytirm

[spystyle]

I could swap out DOS 7 for freeDOS I guess...I think... I'll have to look at that.

As for your video problem, try the new version.

Choose "No" for "Scitech Display Doctor" and tell me how it works.

Cheers,
Craig

[clane]

Spystyle, great work on the boot disk! I have installed it using different options on several machines at home trying to find the best combo for an arcade cabinet with only 1 minor niggle (some drives won't boot from the disk).This problem seems to relate to the drive label (x:) in the dos.bat file.If I boot from a floppy disk & edit the .bat file to use the drive letter the boot disk uses, then save to (A:) or (C:) & run it , I get a perfect install. The only real issue I have had is not related to your boot disk at all-partial sound on space invaders. Strangely, all the isa soundblaster cards in desktop PC's had this problem but my old toshiba notebook didn't. looks like the cabinet is going to have a notebook installed....

[spystyle]

Spystyle, great work on the boot disk!

Thanks, I am determined to make DOS easy! I think DOS is very good for a cab, and a desktop operating system with unwanted bells and whistles is not as good. The only "problem" can foresee is the end user will have to buy a soundblaster 16 card weighing in at $5

But we'll see. Maybe I can get multiple soundcards working with Dmame, or other versions of MAME that are more versatile with sound card selection.

Too bad I don't have more time to spend on this project, as I write this I am about to go to work and just got back from errands - busy guy! But it keeps me out of trouble...

I have installed it using different options on several machines at home trying to find the best combo for an arcade cabinet with only 1 minor niggle (some drives won't boot from the disk).

It may be that the bios is not told to boot from CD-ROM first

It may also be that an old optical drive does not like "burned" disks. If this is the case I would try Ritek CDs in a fussy drive. I've heard that "TY" (from Japan) disks are even better. I am a Ritek guy myself. I like "Ritek G05" for all my DVD media, wether it's PC, consoles, or DVD movie players.

This problem seems to relate to the drive label (x:) in the dos.bat file.If I boot from a floppy disk & edit the .bat file to use the drive letter the boot disk uses, then save to (A:) or (C:) & run it , I get a perfect install.

You could boot from a Win98 startup disk that contains "xcopy"

use the disk to FDISK and "format /s" the hard drive. Then make a directory for the CD, then xcopy the CD to that directory, then go to that direxctory and type "dos" which will start the installation. Choose option 1 and do not format the hard drive.

Here is a startup disk that contains Xcopy:
http://tinyurl.com/5om4fg

Boot from that floppy and do something like this:

FDISK (check partition, create/ delete partition)

FORMAT C: /S (erase the hard drive, make it bootable)

MD C:\DISK (make a directory on hard drive called disk)

XCOPY D: C:\DISK /E ("D" is cdrom drive) (/E tells xcopy to include all subdirectories)

C: (switch to hard drive)

CD DISK (go to directory called "disk" that now contains the CD)

DOS (this is the command to start the CD's installation)

--------------------------------

Thanks for the question, because of it I will add xcopy to the root of the CD. People who can't figure out how to boot from CD can boot from any Win98 floppy, go to CD, and xcopy.

The only real issue I have had is not related to your boot disk at all-partial sound on space invaders.

Space invaders uses "samples", maybe that would help?
http://www.sys2064.com/samples.htm

Strangely, all the isa soundblaster cards in desktop PC's had this problem but my old toshiba notebook didn't. looks like the cabinet is going to have a notebook installed....

Cheers,
Craig

[Kaytrim]

As for your video problem, try this version:
http://tinyurl.com/2mytko

Choose "No" for "Scitech Display Doctor" and tell me how it works.

Cheers,
Craig

That did it Craig.  Several cold and warm boots and the video is solid at startup.  It only take 28 seconds to boot to the menu screen and 20 of those are for the BIOS.  That means that my CF card only takes 8 seconds to load DOS and GL.  I haven't tested loading a game yet as I still need to load the roms but I am quite satisfied with the results so far.  Thanks for all your work on this.

How did you make the logo screen?  I'd like to rotate that to the left so it is displayed correctly on the screen.

TTFN
Kaytrim

[spystyle]

Hi Kaytrim,

LOGO.SYS is that picture. It's a 256 color bitmap with a resolution of 400x320.

If LOGO.SYS is not present in the root directory the Windows 98 logo will show.

I didn't make it, it was already in Fraggal's disk.

I have rotated it, see the attached file. Let me know how it works for you.

Thanks for the question, I have added left and right rotated LOGO.SYS files on the CD, under "extras" folder, for next revision.

Cheers,
Craig

[IG-88]

Kaytrim,

Make sure to keep us posted on the load times for your roms. I'm really interested in how that compares to the HD loaded games.

[Kaytrim]

I have copied the roms to the drive but they are not being recognized by GL while using scan.bat or mamescan.exe.  I have the roms in three seperate folders in the roms folder, 4-way, 8-way & tball.  I would really like to have these show up as seperate menus in GL if possible.  Any idea on the fix?

Thanks,
Kaytrim

[spystyle]

First of all, DOS folders must be 8 letters long or less.

yes:

c:\rotated\screen\shots

no:

c:\rotated screen shots

-------

So, make sure your rom folders are named accordingly.

Also, as far as I know GL can not do 3 different menus in it's current configuration. You would have to set it up as 3 seperate emulators. Refer to GL docs for the details.

It would take about an hour to set up, I think.

I personally would just leave all the roms together. Eventually you'll remember which controls go to which games.

Cheers,
Craig

[Kaytrim]

Hi Kaytrim,

LOGO.SYS is that picture. It's a 256 color bitmap with a resolution of 400x320.

If LOGO.SYS is not present in the root directory the Windows 98 logo will show.

I didn't make it, it was already in Fraggal's disk.

I have rotated it, see the attached file. Let me know how it works for you.

Thanks for the question, I have added left and right rotated LOGO.SYS files on the CD, under "extras" folder, for next revision.

Cheers,
Craig

Craig, the rotated logo file doesn't work.  I am having other problems now with running a game in MAME and GL is still not creating a list of avaliable roms.  My MAME problem is that when I try to run a game (mame puckman) it sits there for a few seconds but then lists the files that should be in the zip as if it doesn't see them.  They are there however.  Any Ideas?

Kaytrim

[spystyle]

Are you sure they are in the correct directory?

C:\mame\roms

Are you sure the mame set matches the rom set?

As for the LOGO.SYS, I guess my theory was wrong, oops. I found a tutorial that should hep you make some:
http://www.nucleus.com/~kmcmurdo/win95logo.html

[Kaytrim]

Yep they are in the c:\mame\roms directory and they still won't run.  The logo thing is not a big issue just a would-be-nice thing.

[spystyle]

Are they in "roms" and not in subdirectories?

You can check from C:> prompt like so:

cd mame\roms
dir/p

You should not see any directories <DIR>, only zip files

If mame roms are in the correct directory and mame can not launch them, you probably have a mis-matched version of mame and roms

For example : As far as I know MAME 1.00 can not use MAME .36 romset

[Kaytrim]

That may be the case though I rebuild the entire set yesterday to .085 using clrmamepro and a rollback set.  MAME.085 is the version that I installed from your CD.  With the roms that you inlcude I am getting a divide by zero error.  I am going to copy the files from the CD back over to the drive and see what happens...  Ok things are working now. 

I still have problems with the game list generation in GL though.

Kaytrim

[Kaytrim]

I got Game Launcher to use seperate lists for the 4-way, 8-way and Trackball lists the hard way.  I used the information in this thread.  However I still needed the roms in the base roms folder to run.  Now if I can get my mouse hack to work I am done.

Thanks Craig for making DOS and MAME easy to setup and use.

Kaytrim

[IG-88]

Nice link on GL help Kaytrim! I can remember searching all over for stuff like that. Nice find!

Craig, earlier you said something about adding more DOS emus. Were you talking about console types? ie: SNES or NES or Atari 5200 ect. ect.? I have downloaded several but I've no time to try them out. Do you want to take a look at them? What all does GL like to run?

[spystyle]

I always felt that console games were meant to be played while sitting on the couch and arcade games were meant to be played standing up.

The emulators I was thinking of adding were arcade, starting with Vantage.

I will also make mame "optional" during install so the disk can be used to set up a dedicated vantage or raine cabinet. I will see what other emulators are good too.

MAME Raine and Vantage are all very good. The latter two are notable for their very low system requirements. I think Vantage can run 40 FPS on a Pentium 1 with 16 MB RAM.

I'll probably stop after I polish up the MAME, Raine, and Vantage install disk. I will focus on adding more sound drivers, like the AC'97 and other onboard drivers. Then be done with it. It's open source so someone can pick up the torch at that point if they like. (or at any point for that matter)

I just want to make DOS easy to add to my tutorial, that was a hurdle I've always thought about.

With DOS you can power your MAME cab with a $20 PC Almost every first time builder wants to build as cheap as possible, the most common question I get is "how much does it cost?" - which really translates to "what is the cheapeast working solution?".

I think the cheapest working solution is a Vantage bartop. I think you could build one for as little as $40 by getting free PC and monitor (quite possible these days) and using scrap wood (also quite possible, I see it on the side of the road sometimes, or your handy neighbor/dad might have some) then you only need a keywiz / keyboard hack and controls, also some acrylic and paint (hopefully they already have screws)

So that's my idea, but I am open to suggestions.

Cheers,
Craig

[spystyle]

Come to think of it - I could release two version of the disk. One as stated above (MAME, Raine, and Vantage all optional) and the other with every emulator that GameLauncher supports (no option)

This version would have it all, by default, and the end user could cycle through the emulators by pressing "P1 button 1" in GameLauncher. Or type "setupGL" at the C:> prompt and edit GameLauncher's config file - simply erasing the emulator names that they don't want on their cab.

This version would "have it all"

-----------

That would not be any more difficult than making a disk with 3 "optional" emulators. The batch file becomes very complicated when there are options. For example - the 3 optional emulators makes for 7 possible combinations - that's 7 separate glaunch.cfg files to make and have the corresponding file copied to the hard drive.

----------

Take a look at DOS.bat on the disk - it is becoming quite complicated.

The batch file is tricky too - if a single character is out of place it won't work. An example of how fussy it is:

CHOICE Please choose an option /C:123
IF errorlevel 3 GOTO endz
IF errorlevel 2 GOTO del
IF errorlevel 1 GOTO INST

works perfectly, but

CHOICE Please choose an option /C:123
IF errorlevel 1 GOTO endz
IF errorlevel 2 GOTO del
IF errorlevel 3 GOTO INST

does not work, it will automatically go to the next line. The difference is "1 2 3" versus "3 2 1". Fussy, huh?

Does anyone think a "have it all" version of the disk should be released, one that automatically installs about 10 emulators?

Cheers,
Craig

[IG-88]

YES, YES, YES!  You could just add your own roms and snaps per emu just like you do with mame correct? That would be too cool!

[spystyle]

OK, that will be the 2nd version of the disk.

Just don't make me play through the entire NES Metroid standing up

[Kaytrim]

Keep the two versions of the disk please?  I don't need the console emus.  I plan on making a few cabs with your DOS setup and a CF card.  Now that I have worked my way through one the rest should be easier.

TTFN
Kaytrim

[spystyle]

Yes, I intend to keep (an finish) the initial version (3 optional emulators) and also make a 2nd version that installs everything GL supports (not optional).

Cheers,
Craig

[IG-88]

Hey Craig,

Hows this coming along?

[spystyle]

Howdy,

I've been working on other projects, plus real life, plus work.

Yikes! I am a busy guy!

Do you have a specific request? I could add it quick and dirty maybe...

Cheers,
Craig

[IG-88]

No. Nothing in particular. I was just waiting on the 2 versions that you talked about above. But no hurries. I know how real life likes to get in the way....

[IG-88]

Craig. Have you seen this yet:

http://www.steverox.info/hvlauncher

Might be something cool to add to this project......

[gonzo90017]

Great find IG-88!

[spystyle]

Craig. Have you seen this yet:

http://www.steverox.info/hvlauncher

Might be something cool to add to this project......

oops, here is a quote from the website:

"HVLauncher runs in the Windows environment"

Apparently it's not for DOS

---------------------------------

I plan to Integrate Raine and Vantage. Make the disk so you can do this:

1. Install MAME only
2. Install Raine only
3. Install Vantage only
4. Install MAME and Raine
5. Install MAME and Vantage
6. Install MAME, Raine, and Vantage
7. Install Raine and Vantage

-------------------------------

I plan to integrate AdvanceMAME

"AdavnceMAME offers support for non-Sound Blaster sound cards as well as other tweaks. "

-------------------------------

I will look into adding USB support as an option

-------------------------------

...
Also consider calling your local computer shop, it's likely they can dig up a SB16 ISA card for you for $5...

...
I did go to on of my local shops and asked about ISA cards. They looked at me like I was from Mars...

That is funny!

-------------------

...BUT I still cant play the game through GameLauncher. I can play them staright from Mame but through GL when I press 1 or Ctrl the menu slides away but then just comes straight back...

That is because "Enter" is the key to launch games from GameLauncher. I changed the default keys (as seen in the readme during install)

Game Launcher's default keys in this release are:

up arrow = scroll up game list

down arrow = scroll down game list

right arrow = scroll down game list one page

left arrow = scroll up game list one page

enter = launch game

F12 = exit Game Launcher

Left CTRL = next emulator

-------------------------

Hey Spystyle, (1) when do you plan to implement the audigy drivers in the install? It would be much appreciated. Also, (2) perhaps a guide to changing the frontend or adding an option to install different frontends? Also, (3) I can't seem to get mamescan to work right, still not detecting any of my roms. Do they have to be for a certain Mame version? i wouldnt think that would affect glaunch seeing them. The roms are in the mame/roms folder and the glaunch cfg is set accordingly. Am i missing something easy?

(1) Done

(2) What frontend do you suggest?

(3) If MAMEscan doesn't detect your ROMs they are probably mis-matched from your chosed MAME version. The MAME version and ROM version must match.

ie : MAME .55 with Romset .55 (or very close)

If GameLauncher is not working - take it out of the equasion by testing mame directly:

From the C:> prompt, type

cd mame
mame digdug -soundcard 0

If this launches DigDug then MAME is working (atleast with that ROM) and MAMEscan *should* find DigDug

[IG-88]

That would be great! And did you know that GL has it's own screensaver? I wasn't even aware of it  This Steven guy who built HVLauncher has his own screeny download for it too..! Sweet!

[esaelectrionics]

thanks spystyle for all your work, it has helped me alot

[spystyle]

You are very welcome. Though I am very busy with other projects and real life I hope to make DOS easy-peasy. I like how it can utilize inexpensive computers for our cabs. It's good to have options

Cheers,
Craig

[esaelectrionics]

You are very welcome. Though I am very busy with other projects and real life I hope to make DOS easy-peasy. I like how it can utilize inexpensive computers for our cabs. It's good to have options

yeah and dos mame runs more authentic for older games, so you win both ways!


 

[spystyle]

Alright, an update!

The last thing on Fraggal's boot disk that I hadn't replaced yet was the sound card drivers - and what a train wreck they were...

So I've replaced them. 

Here is the list of drivers now available on the disk:

SoundBlaster ISA
SoundBlaster Audio PCI 128
Creative AudioPCI
Sound Blaster 16 PCI
Sound Blaster PCI 128
Sound Blaster AudioPCI
Creative Ensoniq AudioPCI
Creative Vibra 128
Ensoniq's 1370, 1371, 1373, and 5880 chipsets
Sound Blaster Live! and Sound Blaster Audigy pci cards
VIA AC'97

I have only tested SoundBlaster 16 so far, so let me know how the others work out for you.

I feel the disk is starting to take shape nicely. Keep the suggestions coming and I will try to implement them when I have extra time.

Happy gaming,
Craig

[gonzo90017]

Just wondering how Raine and Vantage integration are coming along?

[SirPoonga]

I wonder if FreeDOS would make a difference.

[gonzo90017]

What are the advantages of freedos over dos?

[spystyle]

Just wondering how Raine and Vantage integration are coming along?

Raine is an option at install. I will eventually add Vantage too.

In this release you can:

1. Install MAME only
2. Install MAME and Raine

I wonder if FreeDOS would make a difference.

It's "open source", so you can download the ISO, extract it, and replace all the "M$ DOS" components with their "FreeDOS" counterparts. However I don't think there is any good reason to.

From a strictly mechanical point of view "If it 'aint broke, don't fix it"

I know it's very virtuous in concept, but I can't imagine it's 100% compatible.

Cheers,
Craig

[spystyle]

OK, a big update.

The disk now has Vantage, Raine, and MAME. All optional during install

-------------------------------------
Here is the new readme:
-------------------------------------
SpyStyle boot CD, beta 1 J
August 24 2007
spystyle@yahoo.com

1. What is it?
This is my version of Fraggal's famous boot CD. With it you can get your DOS based arcade machine running with no knowledge of how to operate DOS!

2. What does it do?
It installs DOS 7, emulator(s) that you choose*, Game Launcher (front end), Sound drivers***, CD-Rom driver, Scitech display doctor (video driver), mouse driver, and some useful batch files to automate DOS tasks**

*you can choose from

1. Install MAME only
2. Install Vantage only
3. Install Raine only
4. Install Vantage & Raine
5. Install MAME & Vantage
6. Install MAME & Raine
7. Install MAME & Vantage & Raine

If MAME is chosen these releases are available to choose from:

1. MAME .36
2. MAME .55
3. MAME .65
4. MAME .75
5. MAME .85
6. MAME .95
7. MAME .100

and each release has the follwing versions to choose from:

1. Pentium II / III / 4 or Celeron (i686)
2. Pentium I (i586)
3. DOS MAME (best compatibility)

**you can automatically do the following at the C:> prompt (notice, all commands are without quotes)

"update" to add ROMs and snapshots from CD-Rom. This command will copy all contents of a CD to the mame directory exactly as is (so put your ROMs in a  folder called "roms", and snap shots in a folder called "snaps")

"updateR" same as above but for Raine

"updateV" same as above but for vantage

"setup" to manually edit mame.cfg (MAME's configuration file)

"setupR" to manually edit raine.cfg (Raine's configuration file)

"setupV" to manually edit vantage.cfg (Vantage's configuration file)

"scan" to run Game Launcher's "MAME scan". This is done once, after you copy your ROMs, so Game Launcher will know what ROMs are present.

"setupGL" to manually edit glaunch.cfg (GameLauncher's configuration file)

"scandisk" Will check your hard drive for data errors and physical damage.

"speed" "quality" and "default" to optimize MAME. If your games are running slow try typing 'speed', on a fast computer try typing 'quality', or return to default by typing 'default'
(see explanation below at #7)

***Supported sound cards:

SoundBlaster ISA (recommended)
SoundBlaster Audio PCI 128
Creative AudioPCI
Sound Blaster 16 PCI
Sound Blaster PCI 128
Sound Blaster AudioPCI
Creative Ensoniq AudioPCI
Creative Vibra 128
Ensoniq's 1370, 1371, 1373, and 5880 chipsets
Sound Blaster Live! and Sound Blaster Audigy pci cards
VIA AC'97

3. Required hardware:
A computer with CD-rom drive, hard drive, and a sound card.

4. Why?
After trying to simplify DOS install, to illustrate in my arcade building tutorial, I came across Fraggal's boot CD. It had an exceptional concept but was very limited. Only the "foundation" from his original disk remains, I have replaced everything else. What is the concept? A CD that installs DOS and your emulator for you! You don't need to know how to operate DOS

Why DOS?
DOS is great for an arcade machine!
No Windows to crash and take a long time to load.
No Windows to hog system resources with things that aren't needed on a cab.
DOS can turn an old "anchor" computer into the "engine" of a home arcade machine.

One of the most common questions I am asked is "How much does it cost to build an arcade machine?". That really translates to "What is the least expensive method?". With DOS you can use a very inexpensive PC to play games on your arcade machine.

Or maybe you just like DOS because it is simple, small, and fast.

5. This is "beta" software, so if something is brok3n let me know and help me fix it

Contact: spystyle@yahoo.com, please title the e-mail "arcade"

---------------------------------------------------------------------

MAME emulator is optional during install

*To use MAME*

1. Insert a CD containing MAME roms in a folder called 'roms'
and optionally a folder called 'snapshots' containg the snap shots

2. type 'update' at the C:> prompt to copy the files to raine directory

3. after, type 'scan' at the C:> prompt. This is done once so GameLauncher will know what MAME roms are present.

3. In GameLauncher press 'Left CTRL' to change the game list to MAME

4. You can edit MAME's configuration file by typing 'setup' at the C:> prompt.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raine emulator is optional during install

*To use Raine*

1. Insert a CD containing Raine roms in a folder called 'roms'
and optionally a folder called 'snapshots' containg the snap shots

2. type 'updateR' at the C:> prompt to copy the files to raine directory

3. In GameLauncher press 'Left CTRL' to change the game list to Raine

4. You can edit Raine's configuration file by typing 'setupR' at the C:> prompt.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vantage emulator is optional during install

*To use Vantage*

1. Insert a CD containing Vantage roms in a folder called 'roms'
and optionally a folder called 'snapshots' containing the snap shots.

2. type 'updateV' at the C:> prompt to copy the files to Vantage directory

3. In GameLauncher press 'Left CTRL' to change the game list to Vantage

4. You can edit Vantage's configuration file by typing 'setupV' at the C:> prompt.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

7. What does the MAME "optmizations" do?

It automatically changes these lines in mame.cfg

"fast"
triplebuffer = no
samplerate = 11025
resolution = 320x240

"quality"
triplebuffer = yes
samplerate = 44100
resolution = auto

"default"
triplebuffer = no
samplerate = 22050
resolution = auto

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notice:

I have set up mame's configuration file to expect a "sound blaster 16" sound card

This is a line in mame.cfg

If you are not using "sound blaster" sound card you must edit mame.cfg line:

soundcard 1

to edit mame.cfg type "setup" (without quotes) from c:> prompt

Here are mame's soundcard codes:

0. Silence
1. Sound Blaster
3. Pro Audio Spectrum
4. Ultrasound Max (CS4231 codec)
5. Ultrasound
6. Windows sound system
7. Ensoniq Soundscape

Example, if you have an Ultrasound card you would change the line to:
soundcard 5

Note:
Running "optimizations" will reset mame.cfg to soundcard 1, so you will have to edit this line every time you run an optimization.

--------------------------------

Notice: I have set up Raine and Vantage to expect a "soundblaster 16" sound card. If you are using a different sound card you must edit their configuration file to reflect the sound card you have. Type 'setupR' to edit Raine's configuration and 'setupV' to edit Vantage's configuration.

--------------------------------

How to run MAME and Game Launcher "vertically"

It's very easy to rotate the screen in DOS. You just have to tell mame (mame.cfg) and your front end (in Game Launcher's case glaunch.cfg) that you have a vertical cab.

Edit those two files and you're vertical.

I'll do it now on my virtual PC MAME 36:

type 'setup' at the C:> prompt

change the following lines:

ror = ('yes' if rotate right, 'no' if rotate left)                   
rol = ('yes' if rotate left, 'no' if rotate right)

then to save and exit - press 'alt' 'enter' scroll down to 'exit' and press 'enter' twice

then type 'setupGL' at the C:> prompt

change the following lines:

menu_orientation = 1

Notice : if you run "optmiziations" you will have to re-edit mame.cfg each time (by typing 'setup' at C:> prompt)

Note : Vantage and Raine can also be run vertically

---------------------------------

Scitech display doctor (SDD)

I have included SDD as a generic video card driver. We all use a sound card driver so why not a video card driver? It is optional during install. In many cases it will speed up the video, but in some cases it may cause trouble.

It requires registration. All information must be capitalized. The registration information for it is:

"full name of owner"
MAME     

"registration ID"
00000-BACF0141-00000

If you messed up the registration at install you can try again later by typing "reg" (without quotes) at the C:> prompt.

--------------------------------

Happy Gaming!
Craig

--------------------------------

p.s.

Legal:
This disk contains files from Windows 98 CD, do not use it unless you own a copy of Windows 98  - Most of us have that disk so it's not a big deal, if you don't have it you can pick up a used copy at the local computer store for a few dollars.

[esaelectrionics]

  just downloaded it, gonna try it L8r on today, well done!

[spystyle]

Groovy, let me know how it works out for you.

[IG-88]

Craig,

I got a question about Vantage. Can I install any vertical game with this or will it only run the  supported games that it says on the Vantage website?

[spystyle]

As far as I know, any emulator will only play it's officially supported ROMs.

But I bet there is a way to convert MAME ROMs into Vantage and Raine. I don't know, I already have just about every ROMset on the planet so I don't do that.

I just searched at [romsite name redacted] and found Raine.

As for Vantage, I have the 1.11 set and it is only 2 MB, e-mail me for it (only if you own the original arcade baordsets ofcourse)

Have you seen how fast Vantage goes on a Pentium 1?
http://www.mameworld.net/pc2jamma/vantage7.html

Cheers,
Craig

[IG-88]

Cool. Next question. I know you are a Arcade only type guy for a cab but have you tried out any of the other Emu's that GL supports? How does a person go about adding those roms to your Boot cd set-up?

ps. Yes, I checked out the speed of Vantage over the other 2. Thats sweet. How do you suppose it achieves that?

[spystyle]

.

[spystyle]

Cool. Next question. I know you are a Arcade only type guy for a cab but have you tried out any of the other Emu's that GL supports?

No.

How does a person go about adding those roms to your Boot cd set-up?

To add anything to the boot CD you would have to decompress the ISO, with magicISO, WinRAR, or similar. Then make your modifications, then update DOS.bat to reflect the new changes. Then open the original ISO with MagicISO (or similar) but overwrite it's files with the new modified files.

As for the modifications, you can add all kinds of emulators to GameLauncher. But each emulator needs a config file. Also, Glaunch.cfg must be aware of the emulators.

Making your own version of my disk would be very easy - just remove all the "options". It's the options that are very complicated to make. If you just make a disk that installs DOS, GameLauncher, and your emulators it would be easy.

The options are very important if you are distributing your disk - but if you are only making it for yourself, it doesn't need to be so versatile.

Cheers,
Craig

[spystyle]

Oops, I found another "serious bug" and fixed it.

SpyStyle DOS boot CD
Version beta 1 M
78 MB, 7zip compressed, ISO disk image.
Kindly hosted by Saint here:
(EDIT : see first post)

On a lighter note - I took out all "zip" compression, this accomplishes two things. 1. The installation is faster because there is no "unzipping". 2. The download if smaller because 7zip can compress "non zipped" things better.

Please report any bugs, also feel free to make suggestions and requests.

Cheers,
Craig

[tikbalang]

i haven't gotten around to downloading your bootcd but here are some soundblaster tools that i have collected through the years:

sound blaster tools
- detects and enables soundcard
- sets blaster environment

sbdetect.exe
http://multimediaware.com/qv/qvfaq.html
http://www.multimediaware.com/qv/sbdetect.zip

setblast.exe v1.1.1
- taken from an old DOS game

sblaster.exe v1.1
- renamed, older version of setblast.exe

these were tested and worked on a friends pc. i don't have creative soundcards but these also work on mf1000/als100p isa cards.

i'm still on the lookout for a dos sb mixer to control volume.

[IG-88]

Hey Spystyle,

I have just been trying out the latest version (L) of your BootCd and I have a couple questions or maybe bugs.

1. When I try to intstall the audio I get this afte picking option 2:

Installing Audio Systems.....Please Wait.....
Does DOSDVR specify a file name
or directory name on the target
(F = File, D = Directory)? _

I've never ran across this option before. Is it something new?

2. Did you take out the 3 free Roms? The option isn't there to even choose them anymore. It made it nice to test out the soundcards without installing extra roms.

3. I got the disk to work with Vantage, sound and all. It installed without a hitch. Eveything works nicely. But when I reformatted and tried to install mame on the same exact computer GL won't run any games. It just crashes back to the main menu.

[spystyle]

tikbalang,

Thank you for helping. I will take a look at those.

Right now there is a program in the SB16 folder called diagnose.exe that detects that card's configuration (and probably writes to the autoexec.bat), but perhaps said program will work better.

Hey Spystyle,

I have just been trying out the latest version (L) of your BootCd and I have a couple questions or maybe bugs.

1. When I try to intstall the audio I get this afte picking option 2:

Installing Audio Systems.....Please Wait.....
Does DOSDVR specify a file name
or directory name on the target
(F = File, D = Directory)? _

I've never ran across this option before. Is it something new?

I will look into that... there may be a line missing in the bat file?

I googled it:

F = file, D = directory)

This means XCOPY cannot determine if you want the specified path designation entry to be sent to a filename on the target disk or to a directory.

From here:
http://www.dewassoc.com/support/msdos/xcopy.htm

So, it looks like an error in the bat file for that driver. I will fix it. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

2. Did you take out the 3 free Roms? The option isn't there to even choose them anymore. It made it nice to test out the soundcards without installing extra roms.

Yes, those were not compatible with all versions of MAME available on the disk. It could cause confusion. Also, I think those games were poor.

3. I got the disk to work with Vantage, sound and all. It installed without a hitch. Eveything works nicely. But when I reformatted and tried to install mame on the same exact computer GL won't run any games. It just crashes back to the main menu.

I'll need to know exactly what you chose so I can try to replicate the problem. My first guess is try again with a different MAME : start with the most compatible (Dmame), after try the correct optimization (ie: Pentium MAME). Also make sure you chose a MAME version that matches the amount of RAM in the computer.

Some people had trouble installing newer versions of MAME with small RAM. Just because it's DOS doesn't mean you can run MAME version 100 with 32 MB RAM. So I put "recommend RAM" in the menu next to each MAME version. Try to chose a MAME version within the recommended RAM.

On the topic of Vantage. I think it's amazing that you can build a Vantage arcade machine using a Pentium 100! That emulator is incredibly fast. I wish all programs were so well optimized.

Happy gaming,
Craig

[tikbalang]

on this page there is another SB tester and enabler:

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jchap/tvprofd.htm

[IG-88]

I tried the recommendations you gave and then tried combining different options and nothing worked. I then switched to a ISA Sound Blaster model ct2950 and it worked perfectly first time. I didn't even have too go thru that ISA test setup thing. It took < 5 minutes too install which was pretty sweet. I've even updated it too v.75 and still goes great. I'm not sure what it is with the PCI cards but I just don't have any luck with them. I should send them too you and let you try them out. See if they give you as much trouble.

I agree that Vantage is amazing. I cannot believe how good the games look on low end hardware. I'm now scrounging around all the Salvation Army's and Goodwill's in my neighborhood to find something real ancient to try it on. 

Too bad it's not in development anymore. I'd like too see a hi-score.bat & some new games added too it. 

[spystyle]

I think Peale is still developing drivers for Vantage. I think he was working on a Dig-Dug driver...

Ask in this thread:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=43344.0

[marksk]

I will look into adding USB support as an option

(newbie alert!)
have you been able to add usb support?

i have an old ibm laptop (P2, about 500Mhz) that i would like to set up as a mame machine. i'm looking to wipe the hdd and this would be ideal.  i'd like to use a keyboard hack for the controls (keep cost down) but i can only use a usb keyboard, as there is no keyboard port in the back. if not, i'll have to use win2k.

thanks!!

[SirPeale]

I think Peale is still developing drivers for Vantage. I think he was working on a Dig-Dug driver...

Ask in this thread:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=43344.0

I maintain the official site (not that there's a lot of maintenance for something that gets no updates) but there hasn't been any work on VAntAGE in ages.  At least none that's been made aware to me.  lokki made the Black Hole driver (which was a direct plug in for the Galaxian driver) and attempted to get Dig Dug working (since it uses Z80 CPUs) but couldn't get it working. 

But hey...if anyone wants to give it the old college try, be my guest.

[Crankshaft]

Hey spystyle,

Did you ever get the issue with cartman222 worked out in which he had the following error?

shutting down allegro
exiting due to singal SIGSEGV
page fault

because I'm getting it too.  I get the splash screen for a few seconds, then my monitor shuts down.  If I hit F12 before the monitor goes blank that's the error I get.

I'm running a Dell GX115, with all PCI slots, and onboard sound.  I don't have a sound blaster card yet, I was just assuming that it would work without sound.  I'm going to pick one up in the next few days, has anybody got this to work with a PCI audio card yet?

Thanks a million for all your hard work on this.  You're a superstar!

Brian Z

[IG-88]

This thing is real touchy about soundcards. I've gotten one to work with a PCI card but I don't remember what model # it was. Make sure it's a soundblaster. I'll have a look at what card I used on that one when I get a chance. I've had my best luck with ISA cards.

[spystyle]

Brian Z,

IIR I got that error when using optimized MAME on a proprietary P2 (like a Compaq). Try it with DMAME.

Also, you must know your exact soundcard prior to trying the boot CD and choose the appropriate driver (or no driver, then install your own)

A quick Google search makes me think you have "Analog Devices AD1885 AC97 Codec" in that "Dell GX115" - did you turn "sound blaster emulation" on in the bios? Did you choose AC'97 soundcard from the boot CD?

Sound is the biggest hurdle when trying to get DOS MAME running on a computer. If you can't get DOS running on that, it looks like it could handle optimized Windows 98 pretty well. Feel free to e-mail me for more info.

Cheers,
Craig
 

[Crankshaft]

So you’re saying that the issue with my monitor shutting off could be the fact that I don’t have a proper soundcard with dos drivers?  I’m pretty sure I have the Analog Devices AD1885 onboard sound, but Dell’s bios has two options which are sound off, and on.  The owners manual calls the audio type “sound blaster emulation”, the controller “Analog Devices AD1885 AC97 Codec”, and the interface “PCI bus/AC97”.  I’ve checked the Dell website and they flat out say that there are no dos drivers for this onboard sound.  I will try to wrangle up a PCI soundblaster card if I can find one around here, and give that a go.  I would really like to make this work.  I’ll jack around a while and let you know how it goes.

Thanks!

Brian Z

[phipscube]

Hey Spystyle, just want to say well done on making such a cool install disk. I've got MAME running great through it.

I have a little problem that maybe you guys can figure out...

I'm trying to get Consoles to run through GL as well as MAME and its proving to be a bit of a pain. I am intersted in Genesis and SNES mainly. I have Kgen98 for Genesis and zSNES for SNES configured up and its running fine, but I cant quit back to GL fully without first quitting the KGen98/zSNES GUI's. Does anyone know how this can be sorted out? There doesn't seem to be any post emu options in the GL configs to control what happens when the emulator running quits out (A feature i've seen in newer emu front ends like GameEx).

I've tried looking for mappers and special hacks for these emus but it seems only newer windows emus are catered for.

Overall if I can't get this running I vote for a special console SpyStyle Disc, I hope you still plan on making one 

[spystyle]

Howdy!

I'm glad you liked the disk.

You say your problem is The GUI (emulator) is having trouble exiting to the GUI (Game Launcher)... Well Game Launcher, as far as I know, supports "command line" emulators only. "Command line" meaning "no GUI".

Find the "command line" versions of the emulators you want - or maybe discover a way to disable the GUI (like Raine does).

Cheers,
Craig

[phipscube]

Yeah, I am trying DOS emus with GUI's. zSNES is "Natively" supported in GL configs, but it simply doesn't block the GUI, I need to figure out if thats possible some other way.

Its the same with Genecyst as well and I tried KGen98 as I wanted scanlines, but alas the GUI problem too. I think im just missing something and wondered if you knew what to do.

Thanks anyway

[spystyle]

I would advice you to use command line emulators only

[IG-88]

Off subject, but could you post your latest .iso Craig. I can't seem to find my copy.

[spystyle]

Off subject, but could you post your latest .iso Craig. I can't seem to find my copy.

SpyStyle DOS boot CD
Version beta 1 M
78 MB, 7zip compressed, ISO disk image.
Kindly hosted by Saint here:
(EDIT : see first post)

[IG-88]

Craig,

I've been playing around with the CD again and ran into a weird issue.

After the soundcard option I get this screen:

Does DOSDVR specify a file name or directory name on the target (F = File, D = Directory) ?

What's this all about? Is there a preferred one to pick?

[spystyle]

oops!

I found the problem:

xcopy /e x:\sound\dosdrv C:\dosdvr

should be

xcopy /e x:\sound\dosdrv C:\dosdrv

I am uploading a new version now.

Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

Cheers,
Craig

[IG-88]

Ya, I thought I ran into this before. And no. Either option makes the computer lock up right after the boot screen. I am using a mobo with onboard audio & video. What a PITA these are. If I could figure out how too disable these I think this may work. However finding a manual for it is pretty much out of the question.

Wonder what else I could use this for....

[IG-88]

Wow, nice catch.

[IG-88]

Hey, while I'm thinking of it. Is there a way, if I made a vertical boot screen for this thing, that you could add it as an option so when you install vantage or vertical mame that boot screen would come up instead of the horizontal one?

[spystyle]

The long batch file is so tedious like that. Everything has to be perfect.

Thank you for catching that, you are a good beta tester

The new version, 1M, is here:
(EDIT : see first post)

Thanks to Saint for hosting it

Cheers,
Craig

[spystyle]

Hey, while I'm thinking of it. Is there a way, if I made a vertical boot screen for this thing, that you could add it as an option so when you install vantage or vertical mame that boot screen would come up instead of the horizontal one?

I don't see why not

[ringram]

How do you support networking in DOS? I've tried to set this up before, but had very little luck.

[spystyle]

How do you support networking in DOS? I've tried to set this up before, but had very little luck.

I don't know how... but why would you need networking on an arcade PC?

Cheers,
Craig

[HaRuMaN]

How do you support networking in DOS? I've tried to set this up before, but had very little luck.

I don't know how... but why would you need networking on an arcade PC?

Cheers,
Craig

If you had networking, you could add/modify files from a desktop.

[spystyle]

You might as well use an optimized Win98 or an Nlite'd XP if you want to perform high tech stuff like that. DOS is a very basic, simple OS.

Cheers,
Craig

[ringram]

I was wanting to share the drive and work on it from another computer. I know Microsoft had dos network support. I just haven't had much luck with it. For now, all I do is offer a menu on bootup to go into arcadeos or win98. So, it's a work-around, but, it would be nice if I could just share out the drive.

[tikbalang]

there is a DOS ftp server called EZNOS:
http://www.dossolutions.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/eznos.htm

you can add the server as menu option in config.sys.

[Mamezilla]

Craig,

You did a hell of a good job with that ISO and I want to thank you for it.

However, I'm having problems  with Game Launcher that doesn't want to load at all.  When the commandline loading it arrives, the screen goes black and the computer freezes.  It's an AMD K6-2 500MHz with 256 megs of ram and and ATI Mach 64 video card.  I even was not able to get to the splash screen of GL, the screen goes black and the computer freezes before.

I've tried tried different install options with different emulators and different version of them, tried preventing SDD to load by putting a "rem" at the beginning of the command line in autoexec.bat, etc...  Everything I try gives me the same problem. 

The sound card is a SB 16 PnP and all settings are OK, it works.

Any suggestions ?

[spystyle]

Hi Mamezilla,

Sorry it didn't work for you. It sounds like that computer simply won't work with my disk.

You could try putting in a different video card if one is available. That would rule out video card incompatibility.

You could try Fraggle's disk and see if it gives you the same error.

You could put an optimized Win98se on that rig, I'd also bump the RAM up to 512 (these days that is a $5 endeavor) , and I would install MAME 36 set on it.

This would give you the option of MAME32 or GameLauncher for a GUI. Not to mention MALA, though I am not sure it would work well on 500mhz... But it's worth a try.

Feel free to PM me if you need the tutorial for Win98se that uses only 15 MB RAM, or any of the said software. Also there is a single file you need if using MALA with an old version of MAME, mention that in the PM if you need it.

Cheers,
Craig

[Mamezilla]

Well, looks like it was a video incompatibility with my ATI mach 64 PCI card.  The darn thing wouldn't work with or without the SSD driver.  I popped in an ATI radeon 7500 AGP card that I wanted to keep for another project and it worked.  However, SSD doen't want anything to do with it, it says that no VGA card was found.  I'll see how it works when I'm finished copying the other needed files.  I must say I'm currently using a 27 inch TV with an S-Video input as a monitor for testing.

I'll keep trying to get the Mach 64 working with it.  Tried looking for some DOS drivers but no luck for now.

Also Craig, you will have a PM from me about the Win98 tutorial and something else.

Thanks !

[tikbalang]

check this part of glaunch.cfg:

Code: [Select]

#   0: Double Buffering
#   1: Page Flipping
animation_method = 0

in my case, it's the soundcard detection method that crashes glaunch. is there away to disable sound in glaunch at all?

how do you enable tv-out in dos?

[Mamezilla]

check this part of glaunch.cfg:

Code: [Select]

#   0: Double Buffering
#   1: Page Flipping
animation_method = 0

in my case, it's the soundcard detection method that crashes glaunch. is there away to disable sound in glaunch at all?

how do you enable tv-out in dos?

I didn't have to do anything to enable TV out in DOS with the ATI radeon 7500, it just worked.  Also, everything except one game that makes GameLauncher crash ( i don't remember which one) seems to work fine.

I my case, I also has problem with the detection of the soundblaster 16 ISA PnP card.  the diagnose app kept saying that the "set blaster" variable in autoexec.bat was invalid.  I was able to correct it by adding the following line in autoexec.bat:
C:\SB16\ctcm.exe
just before the C:\SB16\DIAGNOSE /S line.  In that case, ctcm.exe detects the SB PnP card and sets automatically the blaster variable.  After, the diagnose /s checks it and sees what ctcm.exe did, so the sound card works perfectly after that.  Maybe you could try this.  ctcm.exe is provided in by Spystyle's boot disk, it's in the sb16 directory.

[tikbalang]

I didn't have to do anything to enable TV out in DOS with the ATI radeon 7500, it just worked.  Also, everything except one game that makes GameLauncher crash ( i don't remember which one) seems to work fine.

wow, you are lucky. you should try advancemame with your tv-out vidcard.

[spystyle]

On the topic of "TV out" - I switched from TV out cards to scan converters and never looked back. Search ePay for the term "PC to TV" and you should be able to find one for $20 on a good day.

Back when, scan converters were not a practical option as they were very expensive, but these days they are not too bad. The last one I used produced an excellent quality picture.

Cheers,
Craig

[IG-88]

I'll be damned. I never even knew these existed. Have you ran into a video card that this doesn't work with? Setting your screen size and refresh rate can be done in windows right? Should work with any card then.....correct? 



sp 

[spystyle]

They work a treat with any video card. I would look for one that supports 1024x768.

Cheers,
Craig

[gonzo90017]

So how does the quality compare to tv-out usin s-video?

[spystyle]

In my experience, scan converters produce a better quality picture than "tv out" cards.

It makes sense too if you think about it - a scan converter is an entire device dedicated to tv out, whereas the video card probably only has one small chip dedicated to that function.

Also, setting up "TV out" on a video card can be a pain. But the scan converter is "plug and play", absolutely no set up, it just works.

Just make sure it supports 1024x768, this ensures it's a newer one (good quality picture) and not limited to 640x480 (like the old ones I tried circa 1995)

Cheers,
Craig

[tikbalang]

pictures or it never happened.

[spystyle]

pictures or it never happened.

OK, twist my arm to fire up my new favorite pocket camera

Here is the device, turned to be visible:



Here is the device tucked away as normal:



and just in case you are curious, here is the cabinet:



Cheers,
Craig

[tikbalang]

The new version, 1M, is here:
http://tinyurl.com/24sgrq

Thanks to Saint for hosting it

Cheers,
Craig

the cd label still says: spystyle1L

[spystyle]

Thanks, I'll fix that.

[Ninja-chicken]

Hey,

The boot disc really is cool. I've made some modifications to it and added ZSNES and Genecyst. I removed the options to install different combinations and just assume everyone wants the lot. I'm going to play with it a little more then I'll post a new version on here.

Cool

[spystyle]

Groovy

[Ninja-chicken]

Ok I've just been thinking. Are we sure GameLauncher is the best front end to be using? ArcadeOS seems like a much more popular choice. Why did you choose GameLauncher?

My cabinet arrived and I am going to configure every emulator to work with the default MAME controls (which happen to be the same as Ultimarc's J-Pac). Once I've configured everything I'll make a boot disc to set it all up automatically. Then I'll upload the ISO for everyone to use

[IG-88]

I'm thinking the reason he used GL was because of it's looks. I know that's why I like it. It gets away from that "windowsy" look. Is there a way to make it an option step on the boot CD whether or not to use GL or ArcadeOS?

I know you said earlier that you took out the options to install different emus. Are you not liking them? I know I like the choices, just curious.

Nevermind just re-read your post. I misunderstood what you did.

By the way thanks for working on this. It's really an awesome CD that's way under appreciated around here.

[spystyle]

I thought GameLauncher was a more simple interface. I also like the look. The DOS CD is supposed to be very simple and intuitive. I felt ArcadeOS was complex.

Adding an option to use GL or AOS is possible by modifying the file DOS.BAT from the CD, though it would be a chore.

That's what's cool about "open source", everyone can make their own version.

The new OS I like for the arcade machines is a super stripped XP that I make with Nlite:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=59373.161

I use it on P3's but Dana tells me he used it on a 200mhz P1.

Good luck,
Craig
 

[Ninja-chicken]

I think I agree about the look, so I'm happy to stick with Game Launcher. To be honest, ArcadeOS doesn't have anything more then Game Launcher other then better documentation.

Also, I'm going to be putting the software in my cabinet soon, which means all the frequencies will need to be changed to 15Hz. This is easy to change, but will it mean the standard PC monitor won't be able to display the image? Maybe there will need to be an option for both if 15Hz wont work on a standard monitor

[edit]
Just realized, does Zsnes and Genecyst even allow you to change the video frequency? If they don't then it means you will need specialist hardware anyway in order to display this on an Arcade monitor which renders an option to choose how they are configured useless...

[Ninja-chicken]

Blow it.

I had a go at configuring my regular VGA card (nVidia GeForce 8500GT) to output 15kHz and the picture was stable, but really bad. I've decided to make my version of this boot disc assume that you have the ArcadeVGA card as well as the J-PAC.

This makes sense because anyone who is serious about this project will be happy to shell out the extra $100 or something.

I'll post the ISO when it's 100% and I have pictures of my project too

[Ninja-chicken]

Getting my sound card working on such an old machine has proved a nightmare.

I installed a Soundblaster ISA and a Soundblaster Live PCI and neither have worked. I tried using diagnose.exe and it didn't help at all.

I think I'm going to change direction entirely with this and use a TinyXP install to run my cabinet. The benefits sound vast. It will have the simplicity of windows with the speed of DOS. Should be nice

[spystyle]

Well it won't exactly have the speed of DOS. Windows, stripped down to nothing, still uses at least 50 MB RAM. DOS uses more like 2 MB. But it should be close.

Cheers,
Craig

[Ninja-chicken]

Well it won't exactly have the speed of DOS. Windows, stripped down to nothing, still uses at least 50 MB RAM. DOS uses more like 2 MB. But it should be close.

Cheers,
Craig

Jeez that's a huge difference. Still, I think we should make a disc which is going to work first time for everyone, even people with no techy know-how. I think windows is the best way to achieve this.

However there is the argument that a mame cab is a personal project and so you should have to do some work yourself...

[spystyle]

The DOS CD fills a particular niche. With it the full spectrum of computers can be used for an arcade machine. For example, if a person really wanted to use a Pentium 166 with 8 MB RAM to build a dedicated "classics" cab, like Dig Dug, Mappy and Pac-Man type games, the DOS CD would be the ticket.

For more recent computers a stripped 98se can be used. (uses 15 MB RAM, but I think it can eventually become unstable)

For even more recent computers a stripped 2K or XP with driverpacks is very nice. (uses 50 MB RAM, and I think it is rock solid)

Computers are evolving rapidly, and the price for parts is dropping like a rock. What was "costly" last year is "almost free" this year. For example, the new Pentium 4d rigs I build for my customers have 4 GB of RAM, the RAM only cost $50*. Not too long ago that was unthinkable.

So it should be very easy to find an inexpensive, or free, Pentium 3 rig for your cab and load it up with a stripped XP.

That 50 MB of RAM used by the OS is of no consequence since you can "max the RAM out" for $12-$20 these days. See pricewatch and ePay for inexpensive parts.

PM me if you need the tutorials for stripped 98se, stripped XP, or the "recipe" for the new "h3ll fast" computers I build for my customers.

Cheers,
Craig

*It's "off topic", but when buying RAM from pricewatch be sure to get "Samsung" or similar. In my experience the absolute cheapest RAM can have compatibility issues.

[IG-88]

Getting my sound card working on such an old machine has proved a nightmare.

I installed a Soundblaster ISA and a Soundblaster Live PCI and neither have worked. I tried using diagnose.exe and it didn't help at all.

I think I'm going to change direction entirely with this and use a TinyXP install to run my cabinet. The benefits sound vast. It will have the simplicity of windows with the speed of DOS. Should be nice

The only Soundblaster ISA cards I got to use were the CT20XX series. Trust me I tried alot of them. A CT2540 should work perfectly. You can find them on ePay without too much trouble. I have gotten a couple CT30Xx series to work but none of the CT40XX. After Craig added the support driver options for the newer cards it helped out with the PCI cards but I've only ever got 1 or 2 too work. He's had better luck with those.

For older systems tho his boot CD is the only way to go. Just get the correct soundcard and you'll be in good shape. 

[Ninja-chicken]

Buying new hardware to fix the problem is a bit ridiculous. If I'm going to spend more cash on hardware then I'd change the whole system for a better one.

I'm on a P2 400mHz with 256MB RAM. I'm using Ultimarc's ArcadeVGA and an install of TinyXP. So far so good. I'll let you know how well it runs when I add roms to it tonight.

This system is seriously ancient though and it's been an absolute nightmare every step of the way!

[IG-88]

Buying new hardware to fix the problem is a bit ridiculous. If I'm going to spend more cash on hardware then I'd change the whole system for a better one.

Not anymore ridiculous than trying to make an "all encompassing" disk that works on the staggering amount of various hardware combinations that are out there. If you have an old system that only needs a $4.00 soundcard to make it into a pretty damn cool arcade machine then I don't see the problem.

I agree with you tho that they can be a headache. On your 400mhz, go with the nlite install that has the driverpacks included, works like a champ.

[Ninja-chicken]

Buying new hardware to fix the problem is a bit ridiculous. If I'm going to spend more cash on hardware then I'd change the whole system for a better one.

Not anymore ridiculous than trying to make an "all encompassing" disk that works on the staggering amount of various hardware combinations that are out there. If you have an old system that only needs a $4.00 soundcard to make it into a pretty damn cool arcade machine then I don't see the problem.

I agree with you tho that they can be a headache. On your 400mhz, go with the nlite install that has the driverpacks included, works like a champ.

Is there no way we could stick a driver pack in the DOS install? That would solve all the problems.

I think it isn't that simple though...

[spystyle]

Buying new hardware to fix the problem is a bit ridiculous...

Usually, but in this case the said soundcard is almost free.

...Is there no way we could stick a driver pack in the DOS install? That would solve all the problems.

I think it isn't that simple though...

The CD is "open source". Anyone who wants to study the DOS operating system can modify the "DOS.bat" file present on the disk, and make it do anything that the DOS operating system is able to do.

It is a lot of work though.

As for "driverpacks", I don't think there are DOS driverpacks. But you could hang around the "FreeDOS" forums and see what those guys have made for DOS. As far as I know that OS is actively maintained. They may have created something like "driverpacks".

But it would be infinitely easier to get a Pentium 3 (or better) computer and use Nlite to strip 2K or XP.

Good luck,
Craig

[Ninja-chicken]

So I finished installing all my roms etc yesterday. I have a second drive, E:, which has all my roms and emulators etc and C: is the main drive with windows on it.

I have fully configured game launcher and it starts fine. I can select games etc but when I choose a game, game launcher closes and the game doesn't open.

I see "runit.bat" has the commands in it ready to go to play a game, but it doesnt seem to be running when I select a game.

Highly annoying.

I even wrote my own batch file for when windows starts. It's something like this:

Code: [Select]

E:
cd glaunch
glaunch
call runit.bat

which works for the first game you select, but when you exit the game it obviously goes back to windows. I even added a label to make it loop:

Code: [Select]

:START
E:
cd glaunch
glaunch
call runit.bat
GOTO START

but every time you exit a game the command prompt minimizes and you have to maximize is again and then glaunch will open.

Any idea why glaunch might be breaking in the first place in windows XP?

Thanks

[spystyle]

GameLauncher is"tricky", you can either study it's docs carefully or try an "intuitive" program like MAME32 or MALA.

[Ninja-chicken]

GameLauncher is"tricky", you can either study it's docs carefully or try an "intuitive" program like MAME32 or MALA.

Yup I went on the hunt for another front end and found MaLa. That is a really awesome front end and worked perfectly first time.

[Dillsta]

Hi Guys,
           After a long night i finally got this disk installed, but when i boot up the splash screen shows then the screen goes black and i can't do anything. is there a way to fix this? also i have tried installing it with different combination's of Mame and i can also get an error. the same thing happens with the splash screen then it goes blank for a second then comes up with writing and says something about not being able to run _gl32.exe

i have a 800mhz p3, 256mb ram

Help would really be appreciated 



p.s. i know this is a bit later than the last post but i really want to get an arcade system up and running.

[spystyle]

Hi Dillsta,

If DOS has got you down you could try MAME-XP :

(EDIT : see first post)

(please don't spread the link)

I think it's groovy

Let me know what you think,
Craig

[Dillsta]

Thanks for the reply, i might try that apart from the computer is kinda slow so wont it be a bit laggy. I've got my hands on a copy of fraggal's boot disk and currently testing that. if that fails ill try your xp disk. i was just thinking is there a windows 98 version because windows 98 runs fine on that computer.

Thanks Dylan.

EDIT: after looking at the link a bit more closely i noticed there was no front end involved (apart from mame32), and i was hoping to actually make an arcade machine and use joysticks and buttons etc. and Mame 32  doesn't allow you to do that, (well at least not very cleanly)

[IG-88]

Hey Dillsta. I've had fairly good luck with this CD but DOS can be finicky. Can you give some more specs on the system you are trying to run this on? Specifically the make and model # of the soundcard. DOS can really "b*tch" about sound card drivers. Also does the mobo have an ISA slot in it? Believe it or not I've had the best luck running old ISA soundblaster cards. I think I got it to work a time or 2 with a PCI card also....

Anyway, Craig's MameXP should sing on that 800mhz but like you said it doesn't have a built in FE. Mala would compliment it fine tho. I got one that's basically the same except the CPU is a 500mhz that I run snes & sega games on.

[Ninja-chicken]

Hey Dillsta. I've had fairly good luck with this CD but DOS can be finicky. Can you give some more specs on the system you are trying to run this on? Specifically the make and model # of the soundcard. DOS can really "b*tch" about sound card drivers. Also does the mobo have an ISA slot in it? Believe it or not I've had the best luck running old ISA soundblaster cards. I think I got it to work a time or 2 with a PCI card also....

Anyway, Craig's MameXP should sing on that 800mhz but like you said it doesn't have a built in FE. Mala would compliment it fine tho. I got one that's basically the same except the CPU is a 500mhz that I run snes & sega games on.

I'm running both my cabinets on TinyXP (Beast edition) with MaLa front end. I just put a shortcut to it in the startup folder so it starts when windows starts. Works a treat in both cabinets.

[spystyle]

I'm running both my cabinets on TinyXP (Beast edition) with MaLa front end...

If you are "speed freak" make a MAME-XP and benchmark it against Tiny-XP, I am confident it will blow Tiny away.

...i was hoping to actually make an arcade machine and use joysticks and buttons etc. and Mame 32  doesn't allow you to do that, (well at least not very cleanly)

MAME32 works fine on a real arcade machine with no mouse. I have used it on several. However, FastMAME coupled with MALA front end is much better. Try it

I use MAME32 simply as an example.

Dig it?
Craig

[Ninja-chicken]

I'm running both my cabinets on TinyXP (Beast edition) with MaLa front end...

If you are "speed freak" make a MAME-XP and benchmark it against Tiny-XP, I am confident it will blow Tiny away.

...i was hoping to actually make an arcade machine and use joysticks and buttons etc. and Mame 32  doesn't allow you to do that, (well at least not very cleanly)

MAME32 works fine on a real arcade machine with no mouse. I have used it on several. However, FastMAME coupled with MALA front end is much better. Try it

I use MAME32 simply as an example.

Dig it?
Craig

Nice tip thanks

[EVEGames]

Spystyle,
Thanks a million for doing that great writeup on MAME-XP.  I've been looking for something like this to run from a Compact Flash card.  Haven't tried it yet, but read through your instructions, and just wanted to thank you for what was obviously a lot of effort.
 

[spystyle]

You are very welcome, I hope you find it useful.

As for flash cards and other alternatives to hard drives - I wouldn't bother. None of the alternatives to hard drives are fast (as far as I know). When it comes to computer parts, you want to make them faster, not slower. Also cooler but producing less decibels at the same time (ask me to write that tutorial).

Do you want to see h3ll fast? How about a sata-150 RAID 0 array? Or if that is too elaborate, a fast sata-150 drive.

Not all sata-150 drives are fast though, so do some research before buying.

Cheque this out, a really fast yet inexpensive drive :



Set a pair of those up in a "RAID 0" array and it would be even faster.

So here is the data from that drive :

min 44.5 MB per second
max 104.2 MB per second
avg 80.7 MB per second
access 16.6ms (lower is better)
burst 132.1 MB per second
5.8% (lower is better)

Compare that benchmark to any flash drive, the flash drive will look like a toy.

For comparison here is a 2 GB IDE HDD circa 1995

min 4.6 MB per second
max 9.1 MB per second
avg 7.2 MB per second
access 18.2ms (lower is better)
burst 14.2 MB per second
cpu 56.0%  (lower is better)

Here is a benchmark of my 4 GB USB flash drive :



min 15.6 MB per second
max 16.7 MB per second
avg 16.4 MB per second
access 1.0ms (lower is better)
burst 12.5 MB per second
cpu 17.1% (lower is better)

Flash drives are the successor to floppy disks, not the successor to hard drives.

That's just my 2 cents, your good sense may vary
Craig

p.s.

When benchmarking drives use "HDtune" (it's free). Also, if all those numbers seem confusing, just comparing "average speed" is good enough.

Here is my rig :



Note the "raid cage" with sata drives, external for convection cooling. The large fans are slow and quiet @ 5 volts. They are 38mm thick and move a ton of air (good CFM). The device on top is a USB drive for "bi-weekly backups". I use a free software called "Karen's replicator" to make frequent backups.

"Raid 0", it's what speed freaks dig But if one drive dies all your data is kaput! So make backups frequently. Even if you don't use raid you should make monthly backups onto DVD-r or another drive as hard drives can fail. They are mechanical devices - they die sometimes.

Oh no this is turning into a lecture!

[Dillsta]

Hi guys thanks for the info, I'm currently making the Mame-xp disk and i will use the MaLa FE

As for my sound card i don't have one for that old computer but since I'm using the Mame-XP disk on-board sound should be just fine. i was also wondering if anyone had some cabinet blue prints or designs. i am looking at making an upright cabinet. any info on that would be great

Thanks again, Dylan

P.S. thanks SPYSTYLE for that awesome Mame-XP link. 

[spystyle]

Here are cabinet blueprints :

http://tinyurl.com/yt7snb

http://www.jakobud.com/cabinetPlans.php

Cheers,
Craig

[EVEGames]

As for flash cards and other alternatives to hard drives - I wouldn't bother. None of the alternatives to hard drives are fast (as far as I know). When it comes to computer parts, you want to make them faster, not slower.

True enough Spystyle, but my goal for this particular project is a very minimalist Jamma solution with just a handful of classics.  Load time should not be an issue for small classic games, and they will run from RAM once loaded.  No CHD games.  I'm looking to use a basic motherboard, RAM, CF card via IDE adapter, a power supply, a J-Pac and not much more, running MAME-XP  and Soft-15kHz, probably with HyperSpin as the FE.  That's the only place read/write speed may bite me, lots of graphics to load and display in HyperSpin.  We'll see how it goes.

[spystyle]

Slow loading OS, slow loading ROMs, slow everything ... I don't think it matters that the OS is optimized and the ROMs are small if data is bottlenecking so badly. I foresee impatient players at your machine ... waiting for it to loooooaaaaad.

I don't see any practical gain in substituting the hard drive. "Minimalist" ? That's good for art class but this is a machine, don't make it less efficient on account of aesthetics.

The flash cards have a much shorter lifespan than hard drives as well (number of writes).

Flash drives and hard drives are like tricycles and automobiles - yes similar in some ways... but each with a very different purpose.

OK, I'm off to get more coffee!!!

Good luck,
Craig

[IG-88]

Not doubting you at all Craig, but as a side note, when listening to the infamous Kim Kommando this weekend a caller asked about solid state cards (cf in particular I believe) and she stated they were "the wave of the future" if memory serves. "They were more reliable, faster, and ran cooler". I couldn't help to think of you when I heard that.

EDIT:
I found what she was saying on her site:

Solid-state drives are the wave of the future. They use flash memory to store your data, operating system and programs. Since flash memory has no moving parts, the drives are more rugged than hard drives. They also work in environments where temperatures are more extreme.

The solid-state drives offer other advantages, too. They’re faster than hard drives. Solid-state drives will boot in a fraction of the time it takes a hard drive to boot.

Solid-state drives are more efficient. They use less power and run much cooler than hard drives. This is great for laptop users; it means laptops can go longer between charges.

Solid-state drives face failure, just like hard drives. Flash memory can only be written to so many times. But SanDisk claims a solid-state drive will last six times longer than a hard drive.

Whats your opinion on this statement?

[spystyle]

As far as I know :

"Solid state" and "flash memory" are two different things.

Shown below from left to right :

Conventional hard drive, solid state drive, flash memory.



If "flash memory" is the successor to floppy disks than "solid state disks" are the successor to hard drives that use platters.



A solid state disk uses RAM instead of platters. The problem with RAM is, when the power is off all data instantly disappears.

I think the trend will be to marry platters and RAM in a solid state / hard drive "hybrid" - the platters can act like the cache and the RAM acts as the hard drive. So when the power goes out the RAM writes to the platters before it powers off.

It all sounds great but that technology is still in it's infancy, stick with sata-150, it's the evolution of conventional hard drives. Fast, affordable, and with large capacity. They are surprisingly quiet too. If one isn't fast enough buy 2 and put them in a RAID-0 array.

That's what I think so far, we'll see what the IT guys have to say. I may be wrong as I don't really keep my thumb on the pulse of computer technology, I have recently started studying photography.

Dig my big camera



Have fun
Craig

[Ummon]

On the SATA thing, I'd suggest 300. I think ss drives will be a near-future product, as they're trying to create ram that retains data after power-off. But I'm waiting for wetware devices.

[spystyle]

There's the voice of the IT guy

[IG-88]

Ahh... I learn something new every day.    Thanks for straightening that out gentlemen. I've always considered flash drives and solid state the same thing. I figured if it didn't "move" it was solid state. Never-the-less for the price per GB, regular old IDE hard drives seem to be the best for the $$ and being a tight wad thats my first concern 

[Dillsta]

Hey guys me again. Mame-xp runs well but I'm having a bit of trouble getting the roms to work on mame32, some games do work but very slow, i may need more ram to fix this (i currently have 256). but most of the games go to a white screen but i can hear the sound (i was playing metal slug by just listening lol). i think this maybe a graphics card problem, since I'm only using onboard. any suggestions, and if this is a matter of the graphics card can any one point me in the direction of a cheap one that will do the job. Also MaLa doesn't won't to find my roms and then when i click refresh ROM list it comes up with an error and closes, Help appreciated also for this problem.

cheers, Dylan

P.S. i live in Australia so Australian online stores would be preferred for buying the Graphics Card.

EDIT: Fixed roms not showing up in MALA

[spystyle]

Maxing out the RAM on your computer is an effective way to speed it up for cheap. You can read the mainboard's manual to discover the type and max, then get it off eBay or pricewatch.

A good video card? Depending on what type of expansion slots are available on your mainboard, you could get an inexpensive "GeForce" card that matches the slot. (ex : AGP, PCI, or the newer PCI-e)

The above is upgrading hardware, but if you loosely match your MAME set to your computer in the first place you won't really have to upgrade.

Different versions of MAME require different horsepower. Each newer version supporting more games but requiring more power. Match them kinda like this :

MAME .36 / 500mhz Pentium 2
MAME .53 / 500mhz Pentium 3
MAME .95 / 2GHZ Pentium 4

I would avoid CHD files as well.

Cheers,
Craig

[ChadTower]

I just used this for the first time last week... quite good.  I ended up altering the install scripts a bit to suit my own purposes, though.  Let me know, spystyle, if there are any things you wanted to add but don't have time.  I do a lot of blind automation like this in my job.

[spystyle]

Hi Chad,

This is 100% "open source".

First it was Fraggal's, then I revamped it almost completely, now I am happy to "pass the torch" if you care to carry it

What improvements have you made?

Cheers,
Craig

 

[slapaham]

Okay, I'm not a PC Pro or anything so please bare with me on this.

Basically, I picked up a free Windows 95 PC that was once used in a transport kiosk. When it boots up it gives me 2 options of what to boot - the transport kiosk program (automatic - starts up after 10 seconds if you don't make a choice) or Windows 95. I haven't got any of the Boot disks/CDs or anything.

Anyway, I want to make this into a MAME dedicated machine which I can add files to when I need. Anyway, I have heard that your DOS disc or Linux would get me the best results (as it doesn't use power-hungry Windows). My query is - if I format the hard drives on this PC and then boot up using this disc will it -

a) install everything I need to function the computer to use MAME and the frontend and get rid of all signs of Windows and that bloody kiosk program?
b) will the computer autoboot to the frontend?
c) will it still be reasonably straightforward to add files if required? (I'm guessing using command?)

I'm sorry if these are daft questions but going back to a Windows 95 computer has really thrown me!

Thanks for your help!

[IG-88]

Craig would probably be better at these answers than me but I'll give it a shot.    First off we need to determine what exactly you have here. Do you have any idea what hardware is in it? If you don't let it boot into win95 and install Belarc and let it do it's thing so we can get an idea what we're working with.

As far as your other questions.

a). yes, the disc will format your HD for you. Just stick it in and go.
b). yes, and quickly too.
c). yes, depending what you want to add.

All this depends on your computer tho. DOS can be tricky to work with but I've had good luck with this Disc. We should be able to get you up and running with a little luck. 

[spystyle]

Pentium 3 computers should be available for like $40 these days. If you have a "Windows 95" computer it's likely a "Pentium 1". You can go with DOS, that's what my boot disk is for - reviving these old anchors. However, you might have an easier time just buying a newer computer and trying MAME-XP.

But to answer your questions - yes, if the unit's bios is set to boot from the CD drive you should be able to install DOS. You'll have to read the included docs to add the ROMs.

For a Pentium 1 you'll want to go with an old romset, like .36.

Good luck
Craig

[slapaham]

Thanks for the response guys - sounds good to me!

I won't be upgrading this computer to be honest - I'm making this cab for a friend and so want to keep costs low and the computer (while old) seems perfectly good to me.

Annoying thing is, it hasn't got a CD drive - I was thinking of buying a cheap external one anyway so was thinking this might solve that problem.

I'll find out the spec by the end of the week and keep you posted.

Thanks for all your help!

 

[spystyle]

That is another problem with the old computers - you want to boot from a USB CD drive, it's likely not supported by the bios. That feature didn't exist back then. You'll have to open the computer and connect an IDE CD drive to an IDE channel.

Good luck,
Craig

[slapaham]

A external serial connection CD ROM drive should work though, shouldn't it?

[spystyle]

Hmmmmm ... that's a good question ... I think he would have to install MS-DOS first from floppy disks, then install the driver for that CD drive, then he could use the "SpyStyle DOS disk" but not formatting the hard drive.

For this particular disk he'd be better off to connect an IDE CD-ROM drive to the mainboard's IDE channel and boot from it.

Cheers,
Craig

[IG-88]

You don't think it would boot from the serial cd-rom? There might be a setting in bios to support that. If he hooked it up and then went into the bios and seen it there and was able to make it the first boot-able then it might work.

Shouldn't be too tough too hook it up to a ide port on the mobo tho....

[spystyle]

Bios supporting a serial drive? I've never heard of that... But I've never had a serial drive either.

[slapaham]

So... if I connect a CD drive to IDE then I could use this fully with no problems? I have no problems opening up the PC and doing this!

Thanks for your help.

[spystyle]

fully with no problems?

If only computers were so agreeable ...

But you might get lucky

[IG-88]

No problems?    Not likely, but it will sure make things easier.

[slapaham]

Haha, okay, as long as I can sort the problems out when they arise, I don't mind a bit of a challenge...!

 

[Dillsta]

I'm going to try an older version of Mame i think before i try and find a graphics card. i think using an earlier version might fix it up.

P.S. Sorry for the late reply my graphics cards in this computer i'm using decided to chuck a spaz

Thanks Dylan

[Dillsta]

OK, the older version of Mame still doesn't work, i think the PC takes pci, so if anyone could recommend a good cheap graphics card that is available in Australia, i would be very grateful.

Cheers Dylan

[spystyle]

GeForce PCI

[Dillsta]

How do you think a geforce fx 5200 would go. do you think this would fix my white screen problem?

[spystyle]

I think for an older version of MAME any $30 "GeForce 2" or whatever should be fine. Just make sure it's "PCI" and not "PCI-E". Why they name things in such a confusing manner is beyond me...

As for this "white screen" business - I've never heard of that. I think you may be doing something wrong.

Are you using MAME32? Windows? Have you read a tutorial for setting up MAME32?

Did you install directX and do everything else the tutorial told you to do?

I don't recall MAME having such strict video card requirements, it should "play" on just about any computer. It will play "well" on a computer who's specs are in keeping with it's requirements, but should still produce at least a laggy or slow motion picture otherwise... not just a white screen.

As far as I know ...

Cheers,
Craig

[Dillsta]

I'm using MaLa and Mame 0.66. I thought about directx as well so i just put it on my memory stick then to copy over. also i was just tinkering around in the options and now it works lol. i think i did something with the resolution or something. but i'm going to copy the hard drive contents to a CD just in case i bugger up. thanks for all your help any way. Now to build the case.

  You Have been a champion so far Craig 

Thanks so much for your help over the last week.

Cheers Dylan

[spystyle]

Glad it's working out for you

Make it fun!
Craig

[slapaham]

Okay... I've finally found a CDROM drive (well, in fact a CD-RW drive!) for 50p today! Bargain! I've connected it up - changed the boot order so that it should boot from the CDROM first BUT nothing happens... it just boots into Windows 95 as per usual

Windows 95 recognises the drive so I don't think I need to install any drivers...

any suggestions?

[spystyle]

FYI : 50p = 1$

OK, so you have a CD-Rom drive, make sure the said CD can be read in Windows. This is to verify the said CD can be read by that drive. Also verify said CD can be read in your 'real computer'.

Cheers,
Craig

[slapaham]

Mmmm, I tried Burn4Free as you suggested it in the past and that didn't work. I've also tried a few different options in Nero 7 Ultra and also DVD Decrycpter. My XP computer picks up the disc but the Windows 95 computer just won't boot from it - I'm lost on this. Perhaps if I install some CD burning software on the Windows 95 computer and burn it using the new CD drive then it might pick it up!? or is that just too logical!?

[spystyle]

See if your real computer can boot said CD.

If yes :

Try using the CD-rom drive from your real computer in your arcade computer, see if said CD can boot in it.

Cheers,
Craig

[Dillsta]

I've got one more question! If the game works but is slow and laggy would putting in more ram fix this?

Thanks Dylan

[spystyle]

Adding RAM and a better video card can only help. But ...

What version MAME / ROMset are you running?

Also, you can use fastMAME instead of MAME, that should be slightly faster. You can adjust the MAME's settings to speed things up, like lower resolution video and what not.

Cheers,
Craig

[Dillsta]

I'm using MAME .66, the games that run slow are like mortal kombat. and I've only got 256mb RAM does this sound right?

[Blanka]

Why the DOS way? Is there no bootable Linux CD with a nice set of emulators and a front end, running on OpenGL, with a good UI and support for modern displays?

[spystyle]

Why DOS? Why not?

Anyway, I think we have moved onto an optimized XPSP3 now.

As for a Linux boot disk, if you feel so strongly about it why don't you make it? It's open source, you have no excuses

Cheers,
Craig

[spystyle]

I'm using MAME .66, the games that run slow are like mortal kombat. and I've only got 256mb RAM does this sound right?

So let's recap :

800mhz P3
256 MB RAM
OnBoard video (likely with 8 MB shared RAM)
MAME-XP
MAME .66 and a .66 ROMset (with Mala front end)

Is that all correct?

Adding a GeForce card to that would surely help.

Alright .. I'll review my notes and see how we can speed that rig up as is ...

OK, as I've said switching from MAME 66 to FastMAME 66 can help. Here is FastMAME 66 :

http://tinyurl.com/4zjevr

Alright, I have set up FastMAME 66 + Mortal Kombat ROM from a .61 ROMset, let's see what I can do to make it hyper-speed...

OK, to test FPS I make a batch file (go.bat) that reads :

fastmame mk
pause

I start the game and press f10 (disable frame rate throttle) and f11 (display frame rate) right away, then let it run until it reads "Goro lives".

Mortal Kombat? Yuck! I would have preferred Dig Dug.

After exiting MAME a DOS box appears and displays the average frame rate.

OK, right out of the box it runs @ 207 FPS.

I make another batch file that reads :

fastmame -cc

This tells fastMAME to create a config file that I can edit.

Now fastmame.ini exists, I can edit it and hopefully speed up Mortal Kombat ...

I changed the resolution from "auto" to 640x480, new framerate 198 FPS ...

I changed the resolution from "auto" to 320x240, new framerate 219 FPS ... 

So it seems that "auto resolution" works OK, let's see what else we can adjust ...
 
OK, resolution back to "auto" and now "resamplefilter 0" let's see if that's a winner ...

OK, now 247 FPS rather than 207 FPS, so that was a winner. Let's see what else ...

OK, I change the samplerate to 22050 rather than 44100 ... now 243 FPS ... Hmmmm

OK, samplerate back to 44100 ... How about "sound 0" I bet that'll be dramatic ...

OK, with sound disabled the frame rate is 578, that's good but there is no audio at all ...

Hmmmmm .... Well I guess FastMAME already has the best options by default, logically it would.

Let's compare our FastMAME framerate of 247, achieved by disabling "ReSampleFilter", to regular MAME 66 ...

FastMAME 66 with all default options except "ReSampleFilter" disabled : 257 FPS

MAME 66 with all default options except "ReSampleFilter" disabled : 244 FPS

Well that was less dramatic than I anticipated.

I guess the best you can do is install FastMAME rather than MAME and disable ReSampleFilter.

I will now concede and wait for the IT guy to chime in

This post needs a picture! I have been hanging around the photography forum too much... Here is a lovely lighthouse I captured with my little pocket camera :



And the same lighthouse modeled by my little boss :



Cheers,
Craig

[Dillsta]

Yes thats all correct. I tried fastMAME but it wasn't much better than normal Mame, I'm currently trying on another old computer i have to see what the difference is between the two.

P.S. sorry for the late reply i was away fishing.

[Dillsta]

The other computer was worse But i have decided to just get  a better graphics card to increase framerate. I am also currently ordering buttons etc. so ill tell how things go with that

Thanks Guys,
                  Dylan

[GameTech]

Is this thread dead??  Damn, I was just now getting to this DOS thing.


Grrrr
 

[IG-88]

Not dead, most everyone has just moved on. What do you need to know?

[spystyle]

What is the computer in question? I bet it could run MAME-XP

There is a long thread about Nlite'd XP's for MAME, start here :

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=59373.195

And no, this thread is not completely dead, you can still grab that last version of my DOS MAME BOOT CD here :

SpyStyle DOS boot CD
Version beta 1 M
78 MB, 7zip compressed, ISO disk image.
Kindly hosted by Saint here:
(EDIT : see first post)

It's "open source" too so you can have it if you'd like to develop it further

Have fun!
Craig

[GameTech]

Ok, thanks guys.

I'm just now downloading your bootcd


I will try this out.... I think your idea of using DOS is great... as most of these older arcade games are no small, and run on little power.... its amazing, actually.

 

[GameTech]

Yo Spystyle,

I burned the CD you gave us... now here is where I'm still at a loss.... After setting up a brand new 120 gig HDD on my older Pentium PC, your boot CD mentioned something about needed to create a partion, or activate one.. also something about taking advantage of large HDD size?   I was getting lots of errors, messing with it... I finally formatted the drive again, and installed your boot CD... this time, saying YES to large HDD size deal, creating a partition and making it active was done.. then followed the prompts.. I just installed MAME... and went with .75 versoin, as I have all the roms for .78  ... after all said and done... I decided to just boot to the HDD now, and it loads up the MAME intro screen, and goes to the GAMELAUNCHER screen... now here im lost again, as it shows games in a list, yet when I press enter on one, screen goes black and stays there... can CTRL-ALT-DEL out of it.  Also, I rebooted again, back to game launcher screen, and pressed F12... Gamelauncher , i think closes, then goes to black screen, and not a dos prompt...


Anyhow.. am I missing something, or did I installed it all wrong?  I was going to try to "UPDATE" and put roms into the ROMS folder, but got an error about the drive... something about Abort, Fail or Retry..

Thanks...  If I can get this sorted out, what a great setup and so tiny.  Thanks again for your work on helping on and putting this all together. 

[spystyle]

Well be sure to read the readme, that's full of goodness.

After that if you get an error with "update" the type :

edit update.bat

While you're at the C:> prompt.

and change the drive letter to match your CD-ROM drive.

Gee I don't even remember how to work this crazy thing It's been a while. I'll install it on a "virtual machine" so I can support you.

Good luck!
Craig

[GameTech]

Hi

How do I determine myCDROM drive letter is DOS?

Right now I know I have drive "C" which is where all your goodness was installed..


Thanks

[GameTech]

Hey one more thing...

Would it be easier to add the ROMS into the ROMS folder simply by hooking up the HDD via USB to another PC (where I have the roms located) and dump into the folder, thus skipping the buring of CD's and doing the "update" on your dos setup?

[spystyle]

That seems possible since NTFS should have no problem reading FAT32, though not vice versa.

Yupper take the DOS hard drive and connect it to USB (if you have that gear) and you should be in business.

[GameTech]

OK thanks.. will try tonight... give results back soon.

 

[GameTech]

Will post my update soon... still copy of roms into folder for this dos HDD.


Anyone figured out how to sort the roms so the list is not sooooo long?


Example:  Get rid of all mature roms, or only select classics like pacman, dk, gorf, etc




Thanks

[spystyle]

I use sortinfo, it works pretty well

[GameTech]

Ok Spystyle,

I hooked up my DOS HDD via USB to another PC.. dumped all of the .78 roms into the ROMS folder... (this took forever)... today, I booted up the HDD and got to a dos prompt... typed "scan" and it stated this was going to scan the roms for GL... after I hit any key to continue I get this error:

Load Error: no DPMI - Get csdpmi*b.zip
Running Game Launcher.....
Load Error: no DPMI - Get csdpmi*b.zip

COuld not run _gl32.exe



Then back to "C" primpt.

Man, this is a pain to setup for some reason..... any ideas?

Thanks again.

[spystyle]

A quick Google lead me here :

http://www.computing.net/answers/dos/helping-with-no-dpmi-memory-error/15865.html

This DOS disk was intended to use "anchors" as the engine of a MAME cab rather than contribute to landfills. It's possible that your rig is more powerful than what's been tested.

How much RAM do you have in said rig?

I replicate it in a virtual machine

Cheers,
Craig
 

[Thenasty]

using MAME in Pure DOS or any other programs that need DOS EXTENDER, you need this

http://clio.rice.edu/cwsdpmi/csdpmi5b.zip
just unzip this the your DOS PATH or in your MAME FOLDER.
It's better if you extract it in the DOS PATH usually  C:\DOS

[GameTech]

Thanks guys, I will try this out.

The mobo has like 128meg of ram I think.

[GameTech]

Downloaded that... unzipped to DOS folder...tried again=fail
Unzip to MAME folder=failed


Same error... asking fro the DPMI and that file.


Strange..

I give up... I cant get this to run on a 686 with 128ram

Thanks Craig.... Im sure it works fine on older hardware... maybe one day I can dig up something at a garagesale.

[spystyle]

I will replicate your setup in virtual machine and let you know how I did Don't give up just yet. Though I do prefer MAME-XP :

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=59373.msg843533#msg843533

So you've got 128 RAM

What version of MAME ?

I bet I can replicate your setup

Cheers,
Craig

-----

Edit :

OK here is a log of exactly what I did :

Boot with CD

Chose option 1

I created a DOS partition with Fdisk

I had to reset due to the above

Boot with CD

Chose option 1

Press Y to format - this is time consuming, it's a good idea to have coffee, donuts, and TV during this

Done formating, give the drive a label

Option 1 - install MAME only

Option 5 - install MAME 85

Option 3 - install DOS MAME

Option 1 - CD support

Option 2 - No mouse support

Option 1 - Sound Blaster ISA

Option 1 - Install Scitech Display Doctor - this takes a few steps and requires typing a serial number, it's a pain but hopefully will speed up the video

Now it says "Installation Complete"

Now it says "Please write down the following" and lists the instructions

Still to do, burn a CD containing the ROMs in a  folder called "roms" (without quotes) on the root of the CD

After that I need to run GameLauncher's MAMESCAN by typing "scan" (without quotes) at the C:> prompt

OK, I read the instructions and wrote them down.

I remove the CD and reset the MAME computer.

Using my desktop computer I create a CD with a folder in it called "roms" (without quotes) and fill that folder with the MAME 85 roms I have chosen to be on the cab. It was a big selection so I used a DVD rather than multiple CDs. However one or more CDs can be used if the MAME computer only has CD reader rather than DVD reader.

Once I have my CD made I go to the MAME computer, it is on a "fresh boot" and at the GameLauncher screen. I press F12 to exit GameLauncher.

Now I am at the C:> prompt. I insert the "roms CD" and type  "update" (without quotes) and press "enter", that took me to the upload to MAME directory menu. I followed it and my ROMs copied successfully.

Now that the ROMs are in place I type "scan" at the C:> prompt, this will make Gamelauncher create a list of games. When finished it runs GameLauncher and the games are supposed to be in a list...

But no games are in the list - yikes I found a bug!

Oh Frak !!!!

------------------------

I'll try again but not choose "DOS MAME" - I'll choose "Pentium 2 MAME" but I'm not sure why no games are in the list ... I wonder if this will help ...

OK, starting over and choosing all the same options only "no scitech display doctor" and "Pentium 2 MAME" ....

Oh Frak 2 !!!!

That also didn't work. I don't think the version of GameLauncher on my boot CD is compatible with MAME 85 - Oh man ... 

I tested MAME by typing

CD MAME
MAME DIGDUG

and sure enough MAME ran DigDug ... so there is an error with GameLauncher...

------------------------

I will try again with everything the same only choosing a "different than 85" MAME

OK I reinstalled all and chose MAME 95 and DOS MAME but will use the same 85 romset as before ...

Oh weird, I had the same result ... Perhaps the bundled version of GameLauncher is not compatible with MAME 85 and beyond ...

------------------------

I will try again with everything the same only choosing a "different than 85 and 95" MAME

OK I reinstalled all and chose MAME 75 and DOS MAME but will use the same 85 romset as before ...

OK - now everything works as it should - though MAME 75 wasn't compatible with some of the MAME 85 roms (you should match the MAME version and the rom set)

-------------------------

So - for today - I have discovered that the bundled GameLauncher version is not compatible with the optional MAME 85 and 95 ...

BETA testing, that's what it's like.

This program is still BETA but when it works it can turn an old anchor into the engine of a MAME arcade machine.

Open source means anyone can work on it

Cheers,
Craig

[GameTech]

Craig,

Ok, thanks for trying to figure out this problem... I think this may be the problem with me too.. I was using higher MAME version..

I will try a lower version again, redo it all and report back soon.

Peace

 

[phipscube]

Not sure if its too relevant now, but this cool boot disk has been running flawlessly on my arcade for a few years now so just wanted to say thanks Spystyle for creating this. For folks still wanting to use this, it takes some setting up, but once you have it running it will run forever without crashing. I currently have my Cocktail Chest hybrid running with MAME 0.79, ZSNES, MESS 0.89 (Megadrive, Vectrex, Atari 2600, NES), Magic Engine (PC Engine) and Meka (Sega Master System).

BTW, Game Launcher only works with Mame 0.79 at the latest.

Also, I found on some motherboards I was testing in my cab, I had the same DPMI failure. The way I solved it was to download CSDPMI off the net and copy it into the DOS and MAME folders. It basically overwrites the one in there. Then it works. I don't know why the one on the boot disk doesn't work on some machines, but the copy over method worked for me.

I'm back here as I want to try MAME-XP on a laptop (onboard audio not compatible with DOS) I intend to make a bartop arcade out of it

[spystyle]

Rock on buster

Keep us posted

[ponso]

I think I'm going to give this a shot.  I have an old PII to try.  Fingers crossed.

[spystyle]

OK good luck

[ponso]

I probably have to backtrack the comments but I tried version L today and it got stuck at "press to continue" before fdisk. 

I'm using PIII 450.

I'll check out the .bat files and try again tomorrow.

[spystyle]

MAME-XP is a nice alternative if DOS is getting you down While I prefer to use it with a P4, I bet that P3 could run it.

[bryan95502]

Any information on MAME-XP? Google came up with nothing..

I have just installed XP and stopped all services not needed, blacked out the welcome and shut down screens and instantsheller'd a front end


MAME-XP this same idea or better?

[spystyle]

Here :

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=59373.msg843533#msg843533

I actually abandoned the "DOS boot CD" and started using "MAME-XP" exclusively

These days Pentium 4 computers can be had for $50 and less (sometimes much less), I see no reason to mess around with the old rigs anymore. I messed with those old rigs for years (I am a PC repair guy) and I am happy to see them all go to He... Well anyway I digress

So I like a Pentium 4 and MAME-XP

Also the "DOS boot CD" is "open source", you can download it, edit DOS.BAT and change the disk to your liking. Then release a new version that is all yours! From Fraggal, to me, to you

I am happy to pass the torch and never again touch a computer older than a Pentium 4

Have fun!
Craig

p.s. Though I've abandoned it, I'll still try to help anyone who is using it So feel free to ask questions if you get stumped.
 

[GameTech]

Where can I get my hands on the MAME-XP?  I simply don't have the time to make my own version of XP, even though I own the original disc (Win2K, XP and 7).

I'm looking for a strip down version of XP... so it loads fast and more.. help?

Thanks!!

[spystyle]

It's probably possible to legally distribute it if there is some type of CD-Key verification, and these days CD-keys can be found on old Dell ATX cases in basements and the like.

However, making your own "skinny" XP is not at all difficult. And it's not especially time consuming. It takes about as long as watching a movie

Using Nlite to strip XP, then Driverpacks to pump it up, it's kinda fun.

After you do it once you'll know how to make any type of XP you like. I've used the same premise to make OS disks for home computers. It can be very handy.

Nlite now has a version for Vista called Vlite, I haven't tried it yet but it seems the concept of customizing operating systems is going to move forward with every windows release. Unless you like the factory releases,  you may as well learn how to use Nlite.

Have fun
Craig
 

[xdv]

Gamelauncher transforms to a screensaver when no key is pressed. How can we change the text of the screensaver? (default is "Arcade")

[Ginsu Victim]

Gamelauncher transforms to a screensaver when no key is pressed. How can we change the text of the screensaver? (default is "Arcade")

This thread started over 12 years ago and hasn't had a post in almost eight years.

[spystyle]

LOL, keep the dream alive

In reply #308 I stated that I abandoned this project (The DOS boot CD originally based on Fraggal's).

But it is open source. Feel free to pick up the torch

Greetings from Georgia !
Craig

[IG-88]

Gamelauncher transforms to a screensaver when no key is pressed. How can we change the text of the screensaver? (default is "Arcade")

8yrs!! Woof! Time flies!!

I would check the glaunch.cfg files too see if you can get to a screensaver option page. I can't remember for sure but there should be something in there you can fiddle with...

BTW I still have a machine running with this software on it. Been working like a champ since Feb '07 !!

[IG-88]

Craig! Feeling nostalgic so I'm back at it. Found a load of old PC's and such in an abandoned storage unit. Was going to try your Mame-XP install for the hell of it. Still have that posted somewhere? Link in your 1st post is no-worky.