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Main => Software Forum => Topic started by: benarcade on January 04, 2007, 01:10:15 pm

Title: Why is the latest mame so hardware demanding?
Post by: benarcade on January 04, 2007, 01:10:15 pm: I remember when Mame first came out, and I was able to run all my classic roms easily on a Pentium 1 running Windows 98. The latest version runs slow on a Pentium3 300mhz with a fast AGP video card.

Is there a preferred Mame version for older PCs? Do I have to run older roms as well?
Title: Re: Why is the latest mame so hardware demanding?
Post by: TOK on January 04, 2007, 03:51:19 pm: .37 and .67 stick in my mind as good benchmarks. I ran .84 for a very long time, and I'm currently running .99... Has the Golden Tee games, Robotron speed emulation is corrected, and still has Hiscore.dat support that isn't a kludge.

I could never grasp the need to keep snagging the latest version, particularly when it seemed they were coming out once per month. Emulation keeps getting slower, old games get messed up, and new ones that are added either aren't playable or not even appealing.

I think the first build of MAME I ran was .37 and it ran like lightning on a Pentium 133. I suppose a good guideline would be to find out what build of MAME was current when your system was pretty cutting edge.
Title: Re: Why is the latest mame so hardware demanding?
Post by: Havok on January 05, 2007, 09:48:41 am: Also, if they fixed the emulation for the games you care about. I stopped at .84 for a long time. Once they finally got the sounds in Phoenix almost perfect in .104, I upgraded to that. Now that DDR has been added, I most likely will upgrade again once it works 100%. Fortunately I have a high powered pc in my cab, as I like to play cutting edge pc games as well...

You don't have to settle on one version though. For example, AtomicFE can run multiple versions of Mame: you can configure a different version of Mame for any game in the gamelist...
Title: Re: Why is the latest mame so hardware demanding?
Post by: benarcade on January 05, 2007, 12:16:57 pm: What was the last DOS version before they started making windows versions?
Title: Re: Why is the latest mame so hardware demanding?
Post by: leapinlew on January 05, 2007, 10:49:05 pm: Quote from: Havok on January 05, 2007, 09:48:41 am
Once they finally got the sounds in Phoenix

Ah Ha! So I'm not crazy. The sounds on my older version of Phoenix drive me crazy. I thought "There is no way this is how this sounded!"
Title: Re: Why is the latest mame so hardware demanding?
Post by: Havok on January 05, 2007, 10:53:19 pm: Quote from: leapinlew on January 05, 2007, 10:49:05 pm
Quote from: Havok on January 05, 2007, 09:48:41 am
Once they finally got the sounds in Phoenix

Ah Ha! So I'm not crazy. The sounds on my older version of Phoenix drive me crazy. I thought "There is no way this is how this sounded!"

Yeah, I did a little jig when 104 came out - Phoenix is probably the game I played the most as a kid. It really bugged the crap out of me that the sounds were off...

:applaud:
Title: Re: Why is the latest mame so hardware demanding?
Post by: loadman on January 05, 2007, 10:54:17 pm: Quote from: benarcade on January 05, 2007, 12:16:57 pm
What was the last DOS version before they started making windows versions?

Don't go there... Use Windows 98 SE in dos mode
Title: Re: Why is the latest mame so hardware demanding?
Post by: clockwork on January 10, 2007, 09:49:43 am: Is there a list anywhere of what games work best in which MAME versions?