Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: rockin_rick on December 15, 2006, 12:08:05 am
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I am wondering what single player simultaneous, vertical games are the more processor demanding ones (particularly the classics). I realize that most of the classics will run fine with even the latest version of MAME on a 1 - 1.5 GHz machine, but I seem to recall hearing that there are a few that are demanding (perhaps Gorf?) even though they are pretty old. What are some of the other demanding ones (not just classics)?
I don't want to underpower my cab thinking that I'll be able to play all vertical games fine, only to discover later when I check out some game that I've never played before that I don't have enough PC to run it...
Thanks,
Rick
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I don't think any of the classics are demanding, unless they've been hosed up in later versions of MAME.
The vertical stuff that needs the most CPU power are the mid to late 90's shooters. They won't run badly overall, but you'll get wicked slowdown on them once there are a lot of shots/enemies onscreen... Stuff like Don Pachi and the Strikers 1945 series.
I'm using a 2ghz Athlon XP in my vert cab, which is mainly for shooters and they all play fine, but I'm also using an older version of MAME (.84).
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Tempest seems to me to take a lot of horsepower.
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Gorf runs like ass...no matter what processor you have. It runs as crappy on my Opteron 165 as it does on my XP2100+. It is just a really crappy running game. For some reason I don't remember Gorf having these speed issues...but I've read somewhere that they, it, in fact, did?!
The only verticals that really slow my machine down are the newer HIGH VOLUME shooters where there is a ton of stuff on-screen all blowing up or shooting, or what not...and even then, I experience a minor slow down and then it's all good...
That is on an XP2100+ (overclocked to 2.0ghz).
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Gorf runs like ass...no matter what processor you have. It runs as crappy on my Opteron 165 as it does on my XP2100+. It is just a really crappy running game. For some reason I don't remember Gorf having these speed issues...but I've read somewhere that they, it, in fact, did?!
Gorf used to run fine in MAME. Somewhere around version 104 or so its timing system was broken. The original game did have slight slowdowns, but nothing nearly as bad as the current MAME driver. If you want to play Gorf, try an older MAME version (pre-100 to be safe).
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Some of the more recent vertical shooters should be more CPU intensive than others. Not necessarily just because they're newer, but because more recently shooters have started using a crazy amount of sprites in each game.
A couple of years ago I tested out every vertical game in Mame 0.66 on a DOS 450Mhz PII machine, the only game that showed any speed problems was ESP Ra De (http://www.mameworld.net/maws/romset/esprade) (which I think was the newest vertical game at the time), but even that was still playable.
For a vertical only set up, I'd definetly stick with an older version of MAME. You'll miss out on one or two newer games, but no great loss.
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Tempest would take a lot more horsepower in MAME than in its original form because of the vector simulation in the raster engine. Vector games in MAME almost have to run an emulator within MAME to work.
It runs very, very well on its original board with 1980 technology.
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Thanks for the info. I'll do some benchmarking with some of those demanding games with a few different versions of mame (perhaps ~0.66, 0.92, and 0.111) and see what happens...
Rick