Author Topic: Frontend? (Read 8755 times)

ProCon · « **on:** June 19, 2009, 12:07:32 pm »

Ive been reading abit on the forum the past few days and I wanted to know of a good front end to use with mame roms. I have a 4 player cp with 4 u360s. Each player has 4 buttons.

Any recommendations?

HaRuMaN · « **Reply #1 on:** June 19, 2009, 12:13:38 pm »

MALA.

Ginsu Victim · « **Reply #2 on:** June 19, 2009, 12:23:09 pm »

I'm a mamewah person.

Have a glance at the wiki, it gives info on a lot of frontends
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Front-Ends

thecheat · « **Reply #3 on:** June 19, 2009, 12:39:21 pm »

I'm liking GameEx, I looked at a few front ends and GameEx seems to have the best ratio of least configuration to most results.

Haterot · « **Reply #4 on:** June 19, 2009, 12:46:59 pm »

Hyperspin

mwong168 · « **Reply #5 on:** June 22, 2009, 12:48:49 pm »

Maximus Arcade

Boz · « **Reply #6 on:** June 23, 2009, 06:55:59 pm »

Quote from: thecheat on June 19, 2009, 12:39:21 pm

I'm liking GameEx, I looked at a few front ends and GameEx seems to have the best ratio of least configuration to most results.

A 2nd vote here for GameEx. Simply too many features to even begin listing. Outstanding FE!

lingpanda · « **Reply #7 on:** June 28, 2009, 09:55:57 pm »

GameEx!

LeedsFan · « **Reply #8 on:** June 29, 2009, 12:35:59 pm »

I've only really used two front ends so far. MameWah and MaLa. Both are excellent though for a beginner I would have to say that MaLa will definitely be easier to get to grips with. You basically just right click on the screen once the front end is running and a box opens up with a plethora of options to tinker with. But it's all reasonably straight forward. The Layout Editor to make your own Layouts or just tinker with an existing one is a real breeze to work with.

Hyperspin certainly looks the dogs bollocks. It's sex on legs as far as front ends go. But I haven't had much experience with this as yet so I won't comment on how easy/difficult it is to set up.

EDIT: Seeing as a few people have been singing GameEx's virtues I decided to take a look at it last night. Gotta say that is one slick looking front end! In fact I'm considering switching to it now. Or at least have GameEx and MaLa so I have a choice. Was very easy to set up too which for a beginner is the #1 priority.

Only trouble is I've been tweaking and playing around with FE's so much lately that I've not been playing many games!

dedos · « **Reply #9 on:** June 30, 2009, 11:32:41 pm »

when i started this adventure i chose mamewah. Great learning experience since its all manual settings and configuration files. It makes you LEARN terminology. Then I went Gameex and loved it. then unfortunately i got bored and went to hyperspin and I must say, although hyperspin is young, the community is vibrant and eager to help.

It's cool being a part of a community and watching it grow...

Hyperspin ftw

Gadders · « **Reply #10 on:** July 21, 2009, 04:44:31 am »

Ive only ever tried hyperspin and love it. It looks awesome and seems pretty easy to configure

thomascirca · « **Reply #11 on:** July 21, 2009, 03:55:41 pm »

Mamewah.

Frigo · « **Reply #12 on:** July 24, 2009, 04:29:05 pm »

I've been using GameEx (the full version) for a few months now on a home emulation console and have plans to transfer it into a full fledged MAME cab. This has to be the most friendly and useful FE that I've used, and I've played through a few of them (MaLa and Maximus Arcade are two that stand out most recently). For 25.00, you get the regkey to unlock the FE and, in my opinion, it was well worth it.

CheffoJeffo · « **Reply #13 on:** July 25, 2009, 08:55:49 pm »

I recommend Mala to start as it is easy to get going, then you can investigate some more.

cyork2 · « **Reply #14 on:** July 27, 2009, 06:03:35 pm »

What orientation? (can't believe no one asked this).

I use Mala because it has rotation for vertical cabs built in (MameWah doesn't). GameEx added rotation fairly recently if I remember right but by that point I already had MALA up.

gbuckme2 · « **Reply #15 on:** August 02, 2009, 11:03:42 pm »

I too have the same question but I'm looking for something that has MAME, karaoke, and a jukebox. Are there any of these that are an all-in-one? I've built four cabinets 4 years ago, man how times have changed. I used ArcadeOS, these new front ends are alot more advanced since those times.

Gandalf42 · « **Reply #16 on:** August 02, 2009, 11:13:52 pm »

I believe GameEX and AtomicFE have rudimentary jukeboxes built in.. But you may be better off launching an external app such as UncleT's Jukebox, E-Touch, Album Player, or Virtual Music Jukebox.

Cakemeister · « **Reply #17 on:** August 05, 2009, 06:38:09 pm »

Try them all and make your own informed decision.

The wiki has a listing of frontends. The six most frequently mentioned are (alphabetically) Atomic, GameEx, Hyperspin, MaLa, MAMEwah, and Maximus.

severdhed · « **Reply #18 on:** August 10, 2009, 10:40:26 pm »

another Vote for MALA..it is very easy to set up, and very easy to customize it. people seem to like gameex, but it looks too much like a windows app. i spent alot of time trying to hide the fact that my cabinet is just a pc..if you are running gamex, there is no point because it is clearly a windows app.

there was a thread in the software forum with a poll for favorite front end

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=84933.0

right now, hyperspin is in the lead, with MALA taking second.

hyperspin is pretty cool, but it seemed a little difficult to set up

drventure · « **Reply #19 on:** August 11, 2009, 12:15:38 am »

A lot boils down to tastes, too.
Every view of Hyperspin I've seen so far has so much "stuff" flying around onscreen, so fast, it makes my head spin.

If that's cool for you, then it might work.

I was looking for something a LOT more understated.

But I'm guessing you can skin hyperspin too, so maybe it's just that few people do?


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