Directx 9 or Just an old computer?

[Spinach]

Let me start by saying what a great, informative board this has been for me.  I have lurked for a few months but have sort of met my match lately.

OK.  I am running a Compaq 5420US machine.  I have linked the specs but in general: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?dlc=en&tool=prodinfoCategory&lc=en&product=93315&dest_page=prodinfoCategory&cc=us&docname=c00009508

AMD 1.5
512 RAM
32 MB Savage 4 Video
80 GB Hard
Windows XP Home SP3

The problem, I can get MaLa to run but not Circus (or any other Rom).  From what I can tell in the extrememly quickly disappearing "command line" box the video is not supported and/or some sort of missing INI file.

I have had MaLa and several games up and running flawlessly on another computer with similar specs except the vid card was 64MB and the chip was Pentium

My thoughts:

I installed directx 9 and ran a dxdiag and found I am supporting 2 out of 3 tests.  While the Direct Draw tests ran fine.  The 3d tests showed OK for 7 and 8, but not 9.

So, do I attempt to switch Mame .128 to Direct Draw and hope all the games will work (primarily 80's) or do I recover my dinasaur machine once again and keep it directx 8?  To my knowledge I cannot remove directx 9.

If the answer is try Direct Draw, how do I do that?  I'm not much using commands, but can find my way around folders.

Hope this made some sort of sense.

Thanks for any input, I'm dreading having to clear off this machine again, but will do it if it makes things run smoothly.

Spinach

[dungbeetle46]

have you tried running the games directly from mame.exe and you could also try the program romcentre and set it to debug and it will show why the games wont run

[Spinach]

And here comes my ignorance, , ,

How do I run directly? 

I have set my Mame/Mala in the C: but when I use the "run" it comes up C:\Programs and Settings>

I'm guessing I've done something wrong already. 

Like I said, command line bad, folders good, but I'm willing to try!

Thanks for the quick response.

[dungbeetle46]

double click mame.exe in your mame folder and you should be able to pick your game from mame without running mala

[Spinach]

Tried that.  I get the same Video Mode not supported error.  Unable to run something 3d. 

I did not see the missing INI file message from MaLa this time so that issue is resolved. 

At this point I am thinking it is the directx9 screwing with me.

Total recovery/start from scratch?

[Spinach]

So I went into the Mame configurations file and changed video to ddraw, which worked, sort of.  I am able to play Circus, however it seems to be running extremely slow on the balloon section along with the Bonus display.  I'll try to load another game and see if it does the same.

I am assuming at this point that if I stay with ddraw that I need to increase the speed of mame?

On a related note, will ddraw give me less resolution, etc for games?