MAME Potpourri

[csg]

I've been compiling a list of MAME-related questions that I haven't been able to find answers to.  Answer one, answer them all, whatever you've got time for.  Thanks in advance for the help!

Chris

1. I've read that the DOS version of MAME performs better than Windows.  Assuming that's correct, is the performance gain worth the extra hassle of having that emulator in DOS and having to run other emulators (Daphne, etc) separately in Windows?  Or is there some nifty front-end that captures DOS and Windows based emulators nicely?

2. How does one know what the parent ROMs are for a given game?  I often get errors in audits and I have no idea what else I need.

3.  Also, if there are missing files for a given game (non-parent-related), how does one know where to find those?

4. Why do some games display a "Failed to load state" message at the beginning?  Is that related to the save/load state functionality that (if I understand what I've read correctly) replaced highscore.dat?

5.  I've read posts about games "appearing" in various versions of MAME.  What's the best way to discover the earliest MAME version that a "final"-version game exists in?  Read all the version files?

6.  I never played Golden Tee or Street Fighter in the arcade, but I understand they are very popular.  Any opinions on which versions of those games are best so I don't have to try all of them?   

7.  Why are the Super Mario Brothers games not available in MAME?  I only see the Playerschoice versions which have some funky dual screen thing going (is there a way to get rid of that?)  I read somewhere about Nintendo having a problem with MAME - were these games removed to appease them?

[shardian]

The Nintendo games that were played on "the red tent" machine all start with "Vs." in their titles. The machine was called a Vs. Nintendo arcade Machine. So, look for a game titled "Vs. super mario bros." and you will find them all.

I was always confused when I sat at the nintendo machine at my mom's Pizza Hut as to why the game title screen said "Vs. Excitebike" instead of "excitebike"...now I know thanks to MAME! 

[AKA Kaytrim]

I'll give a stab at a few of these...

2. How does one know what the parent ROMs are for a given game?  I often get errors in audits and I have no idea what else I need.

Sometimes the errors you are getting are because the rom file you have has been re-dumped or changes have occurred that make the copy you have obsolete.  As far as the parent rom issue look at the All Games list in MAME32 and you will see what parent belongs to which clone.  I know that is somewhat difficult because this lists the game name and not the rom name.  There must be a master list containing the rom names and their parent / clone relationship. 

3.  Also, if there are missing files for a given game (non-parent-related), how does one know where to find those?

See answer above.  You also could be missing a general file for several games.  For example the NeoGeo games require the neogeo.zip file to be in the roms folder.  This file contains common code for those games.

4. Why do some games display a "Failed to load state" message at the beginning?  Is that related to the save/load state functionality that (if I understand what I've read correctly) replaced highscore.dat?

The "Failed to Load State" message you are receiving is because this is the first time you have run the game in question since turning the save state flag.  MAME creates the load state file on quitting the game.  So when it opens a game that doesn't contain a load state file you get the message.

7.  Why are the Super Mario Brothers games not available in MAME?  I only see the Playerschoice versions which have some funky dual screen thing going (is there a way to get rid of that?)  I read somewhere about Nintendo having a problem with MAME - were these games removed to appease them?

Nintendo is very possessive of their game code.  They actively search the net for hosts that contain the rom files for their various games and systems.  If they find one they send the host and the site operator a seis and desist order.  If the host or operator do not take down the offending content Nintendo starts legal processes to remove it.  They are just as bad as the recording industry.

[subcriminal]

Answer to No.1 - I suppose it depends on the power of the PC you're using for MAME. I run a sempron 2500+ and an arcadeVGA in my cab and I've tried a DOS setup and see no difference in performance.
An XP setup boots quickly, can be completely hidden and you have GUI's for tools like the IPAC programmer, mame res tool, etc. It's easy to alt tab to Windows and edit stuff if you have a problem with a certain game.
DOS guru's will most likely disagree but I find the ease of use of Windows outguns the small performance  gains of DOS. Linux would be the ideal though

[AKA Kaytrim]

An XP setup boots quickly, can be completely hidden and you have GUI's for tools like the IPAC programmer, mame res tool, etc. It's easy to alt tab to Windows and edit stuff if you have a problem with a certain game.
DOS guru's will most likely disagree but I find the ease of use of Windows outguns the small performance  gains of DOS. Linux would be the ideal though

Could you give me some more information on the XP setup tools?  I am running XP Pro and would like to hide the OS and go directly into GameEX the front end I have chosen.

Thanks, TTFN 
Kaytrim

[NickG]

You can hide the bootscreen image by adding "/noguiboot" to your boot.ini file.  this can easily be done on the boot.ini tab of msconfig, by selecting the /NoGuiBoot box under the boot.ini tab.  Alternatively, you can add your own image manually or with an application like Bootskin

One Program you can change the welcome screen with is logonstudio (free)
 
Then you can automatically start your gui instead of explorer.exe by editing the registry.  at
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
right-click on the string value "Shell" and select modify.  In the  "Edit String" dialog that pops up, replace the text "Explorer.exe" with the full path and filename of your GUI. 
EXAMPLE:
C:\Mame\GameEX.exe

If you mess up and your gui does not boot you should still be able to launch task manager and start explorer to fix it the easy way with CTRL-ALT-DELETE.

------------I am certain about everything in this post above this line--------------


Remember, if any of the pathname has spaces you might have to surround the entire string in double quotes examples:
"C:\Program Files\GameEX.exe" 
--not sure about this

I have learned by using alternative shells (Aston) that it is possible to launch different shells per user.  If you want to get really fancy you could probably create an account for each different shells and name the accounts for the shells.   This would effectively turn the multi-user logon screen into a sort of program launching app.  For example, you could have an account for every emulator you use that has their own built in GUIS with pictures of the consoles or the emulator's logos as the user account BMP's.  I think this is done by logging in to the accounts after they are created and adding the "shell" string to the winlogon of currentuser instead of localmachine in regedit.
--not sure about some of this, either.

[AKA Kaytrim]

   Thanks NickG, I'll back up the machine first then play around with the registry for the separate logins.  Even though my cab is dedicated to MAME I let the kids login to do homework if someone else is using the main computer.  BTW I also found this information on the GameEX website.  http://tomspeirs.com/gameex/Shell.htm

TTFN 
Kaytrim

[NickG]

Oh!  That sheller app looks much easier; thanks for the link.