Mame 1.059 vs. something newer

[dkubarek]

I have Mame 1.059 and like it but I'm just getting into the hobby and I noticed newer rom sets are much easier to find. I have a 1.8 G Pent 4, gig of ram, and 80 gig hard drive. Should I upgrade to say, Mame v.129? I use a front end, Mala, and command line Mame. I also have Windows XP pro fairly-well optimized and dedicated to the cab. What are the pros and cons of doing so? I heard newer versions of Mame look better but run slower. What should I do?

[Ummon]

I suggest .104 (not where the decimal place is, because Mame is inherently a beta status), or maybe .106 .

[stephenp1983]

I'm running mame .106 with a p4 1.6ghz processor and 512 ram.  It runs smoothly on most games you would want to play.

[daywane]

I have Mame 1.059 and like it

I think others are telling you you have MAME .059
no such thing as MAME 1.0 yet
and I agree If you want more stuff any thing above  MAME .100 would be fine.
but not all games will run just right for you right off the bat.
I went to MAME .099 and MSPAC sound sucked!
I keep with .056 and .078
now I hear Big Buck Hunter is open  I think I might just upgrade again

[mrserv0n]

I suggest .104 (not where the decimal place is, because Mame is inherently a beta status), or maybe .106 .

Why .104? I 1.8 p4 will run .129 easy

[daywane]

I suggest .104 (not where the decimal place is, because Mame is inherently a beta status), or maybe .106 .

Why .104? I 1.8 p4 will run .129 easy

last time I  tried to up grade MAME.
 It did not.
on a 2.6 P4
512 meg ram
64 meg agp vid card
xp sp2
sound was crap

[dkubarek]

So newer versions have poorer sound? Is that what I'm getting? I have it working now with .129 (I take the point about the decimal) but I also have a .105 version as backup. It's tough to get roms for the older versions, that's the problem. The gave run fast on it now. But I haven't even hooked the speakers up, so it might sound terrible for all I know.

[u_rebelscum]

So newer versions have poorer sound? Is that what I'm getting? I have it working now with .129 (I take the point about the decimal) but I also have a .105 version as backup. It's tough to get roms for the older versions, that's the problem. The gave run fast on it now. But I haven't even hooked the speakers up, so it might sound terrible for all I know.

Mame versions from 0.107 up to 0.128 have some timing issues in the sound on computers with LCD monitors (or monitors running @ 60 Hz).  0.129 still does, but is generally better (some people don't notice the improvement, others do).

Options have been added since 0.107 that try to address the timing issues, but how well they work varies from monitor to monitor (and monitor driver to driver, and video card to video card, and video driver to driver).   The issue is based on that some video games originally ran at frequencies different than 60 Hz.  Further issues come when some "60 Hz" monitors really run at up to plus or minus 5% from the declared frequency, funking up the stuff mame tries to do to get around the original timing issue.

If you have a CRT running at 80 Hz (or have mame changing res & frequency), OTOH, you didn't notice any of the sound timing issues, and sound is actually better emulated in general (and have gotten a lot better on specific games).  (Blame the problem on LCD monitors. )