Reasons not to change your Mame

[Ummon]

Besides the regular claims and complaints of mame being broken or using too much resources, there are things about a game or games, one off the top of my head being the samples used for Star Trek: I like using the special sample set created, I think, by Twisty that has clips of music and characters' speech in places/layed over some of the original sounds. You can't use this anymore because sound is handled in the core for for this game now.

[DeLuSioNal29]

I'm using .119.  Unless Blitz and Gauntlet Legends become playable, I'm sticking with this version.  Everything I need to work runs great in this version so why mess with what works?

So there's my reason not to change my MAME version.   

[FrizzleFried]

Blitz and Gauntlet Legends are already playable...with the right processor.  The problem isn't with MAME but with the speed of the computer playing MAME when it comes to these games.

[Visitor Q]

Blitz and Gauntlet Legends are already playable...with the right processor.  The problem isn't with MAME but with the speed of the computer playing MAME when it comes to these games.

Really?

4 gigs of ram, Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz & a ATI 4850 which has 512 megs on the card.

How much more do I need?

[Hoopz]

Blitz and Gauntlet Legends are already playable...with the right processor.  The problem isn't with MAME but with the speed of the computer playing MAME when it comes to these games.

Really?

4 gigs of ram, Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz & a ATI 4850 which has 512 megs on the card.

How much more do I need?

Plow through this thread for details:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=72776.0

[FrizzleFried]

Blitz and Gauntlet Legends are already playable...with the right processor.  The problem isn't with MAME but with the speed of the computer playing MAME when it comes to these games.

Really?

4 gigs of ram, Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz & a ATI 4850 which has 512 megs on the card.

How much more do I need?

4GHZ gets Gauntlet Legends at about 80%...I do believe Blitz should already be playable for you at that speed.

[Martijn]

Blitz and Gauntlet Legends are already playable...with the right processor.  The problem isn't with MAME but with the speed of the computer playing MAME when it comes to these games.

Really?

4 gigs of ram, Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz & a ATI 4850 which has 512 megs on the card.

How much more do I need?

all that videocard horsepower is not needed, only if you want to play emulators for newer consoles.

also anything above the ati x800 cant display all the lower resolutions using soft15khz and a vga-scart cable rgb on a tv

[ahofle]

The broken walking sound in Mario Bros kills me the most. 

[DeLuSioNal29]

Like I said, I'm sticking with .119.

[jharris]

I can think of a couple that may or may not be the case for everyone:

• Save yourself the trouble of updating/tweaking your front end to work with the newer MAME.
• Save yourself the time and effort to compile or download a message nag-free version of the latest MAME.
• Save yourself the time and effort required to download or update your rom collection.
• Save yourself the time and effort spent looking for picture or  movie packs for the latest games.
• Save yourself the time and effort to re-map your arcade controls (assuming your control setup isn't compatible with MAME's default).
• On that same note, saving yourself the trouble of creating/copying your game profiles for those game's with special needs or hiscores.
• Newer MAMEs may run slow on your machine
• Newer MAMEs may introduce software related bugs that may interfere with your favorite games (eg, sound/controller problems, things getting turned off and devs forgetting to re-enable them. hiscore not working, etc).
• Your machine does not meet the hardware requirements of the newer MAMEs but works just fine with the old ones.
• If it ain't broken, why fix it?

[Visitor Q]

Blitz and Gauntlet Legends are already playable...with the right processor.  The problem isn't with MAME but with the speed of the computer playing MAME when it comes to these games.

Really?

4 gigs of ram, Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz & a ATI 4850 which has 512 megs on the card.

How much more do I need?

all that videocard horsepower is not needed, only if you want to play emulators for newer consoles.

also anything above the ati x800 cant display all the lower resolutions using soft15khz and a vga-scart cable rgb on a tv

I do, I plan on trying out PS2 when I get a hot minute and I don't plan on using soft15khz. Shatter the thought but I am not really worried about native at this point.

I can always switch graphic cards if I choose to later.

[Ummon]

also anything above the ati x800 cant display all the lower resolutions using soft15khz and a vga-scart cable rgb on a tv

This is not true. I have an X1600 that works fully. Northerngames has an X1650 that does also.

I can think of a couple that may or may not be the case for everyone:

Most of those fit in the 'regular claims'. Also, only once did I have to re-map my controls (though this was a 'known' for that current Mame version) and in any case I have a simple set-up that applies to most games. However, I'm not sure affected specific ones that were different from my global settings. For example, an analogous situation is video settings: if I go and specifically set them in a game, and then go and change the global default settings, this game in particular is not affected. I think it happens the same with controls.

[u_rebelscum]

Also, only once did I have to re-map my controls (though this was a 'known' for that current Mame version) and in any case I have a simple set-up that applies to most games. However, I'm not sure affected specific ones that were different from my global settings. For example, an analogous situation is video settings: if I go and specifically set them in a game, and then go and change the global default settings, this game in particular is not affected. I think it happens the same with controls.

Most remapping can be covered by using ctrlr file instead of "input (this game)", and carried to the next version (but there versions that have broken the ctrlr made before then).  Heck, even the "input (this game)" (the cfg files) usually can be carried to the next version, but not as reliably.  The nice thing about the ctrlr file besides working cross versions is that it can map for all games, special games, a parent and all it's closes, all games that use a bios, and all games within a mame drivers (neogeo games being the most well known).

And yes, if you remap in "input (this game)", that mapping* will over ride any maps in "input (general) and in the ctrlr file, but only the input remapped.  (*with one minor exception)


Anyway, what I do is copy my mame.ini file to the new version, run mame -cc to fix it (if any option was removed or added).  This way I keep all the rompath and other options I've changed from the default, including the ctrlr file, and after compiling it is nothing.  This way all my settings are moved over, but if any setting was removed, I get a warning before I start to play, so I can fix it before I get into the "I must play now" mode.

[Ummon]

I usually get MameUI if I wanna see what's new or whatever. Except for when there was a total change in controls, around .112 or something I think, I've always just placed the new exe in the older directory and off I go. Shows my game lists properly as well. The only thing it doesn't do is remember I've played the game before, so I get the initial nag screen, but it skips the game info (as it's supposed to).