help with mame versions

[stevejt]

First off I am NOT hinting here for roms.

I just updated my mame on an 800mhz mame32 machine after a complete crash.  I have no idea what version I was using before, but now installed .111.  I think before I was using around .97 or close to that.  Now here is the problem..  Games that worked before, and should work on a 500mhz computer are running SLOW.  I also don't have any of my settings to match now.  I do notice that the settings screen for mame game options doesn't look like I remember it.  I changed direct 3D (was selected by default) to direct draw and that increased the speed a little.  I am guessing that the mame32 exe is slowing things down a little. 

2 questions...  Can any settings speed things up a little?  Also, I have the current set of roms but lost my older ones.  Will a current set work with an older version (obviously only for games that were in the older version)?  How often do roms get changed?  Would I lose a few if a went back a few versions?  Would I lose alot if I went back to a version alot older?  I am asking because I have a bunch of older computers from about 500 to 800 mhz and a bunch of empty cabinets.  So I was hoping to put together a bunch of mame machines each for the price of a keyboard encoder.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Steve

[FrizzleFried]

The more recent versions of MAME have more and more "stuff" included and do more and more things accurately which means they are slower for older computers.

Your only real solution is to get an old version of MAME.

[Kremmit]

CLRMAMEPro can create a romset for an older version from your current version set.  The old version set will not be complete, but it will have more working ROMs than just pointing the old version of MAME at your current version ROMset.

Why the old version set won't be complete:  ROMs that had more files/data inside the archive than the current version cannot be rolled back, because your current version does not have all the data.  So those ROMs will be missing from your newly created older version set. 

Also, the standard, (non-MAME32) release of MAME uses less resources on your computer and often has a few more playable games than the MAME32 release for the same MAME version#.  If you really want to push your oldest, slowest computers to their limits, you'll also get more speed running command-line DOS instead of Windows.

[danny_galaga]

if you were using around v 97 why not use that again?

[AtomSmasher]

CLRMAMEPro can create a romset for an older version from your current version set.  The old version set will not be complete, but it will have more working ROMs than just pointing the old version of MAME at your current version ROMset.

Why the old version set won't be complete:  ROMs that had more files/data inside the archive than the current version cannot be rolled back, because your current version does not have all the data.  So those ROMs will be missing from your newly created older version set. 

Agreed, CLRMAMEPro is the way to go.  All you have to do is download a rollback rom set in order to get all the roms working again.

[loadman]

if you were using around v 97 why not use that again?

Ditto....

http://www.mame.net/zips/mame097b.zip

[stevejt]

Thanks for the info. 
Windows crashed. A reinstall failed, ended up formatting.  I guess I didn't make any backups.  If I would have known the new version was going to be significantly slower I would have put the drive into another computer to salvage the mame directories.  I found older versions of mame32, but no older rom sets.  I guess I will try clrmamepro when I get a chance.  DOS...  lol   There was a time when I made my own DOS boot discs.  Now I don't even remember how to get sound drivers loaded...

Thanks Again For The Info!

Steve

[stevejt]

Thanks for mantioning clrmamepro, I have always seen it, but never tried to use it.  I just found a "rollback set" for .111, which includes any files that were removed or replaced as versions advanced).  Using that with clrmamepro, I am supposed to be able to build any older set.

Thanks Again!

Steve