How to use SA Dev's MAme Tweaks

[electricd]

Hello-

I just downloaded SA Dev's Mame Tweaks for .103u from (http://home.earthlink.net/~alank2/mame).  I am not familiar with how to use these in this form?  The last time I downloaded his tweaks it came with a gui where you could just select the the tweak you wanted and hit go.  This one has no such GUI.  Any help?

ED7

[JoyMonkey]

You just extract it to the Mame source folder and run the bat. If you don't want a specific tweak to be installed, delete its .scr file and it will skip past it.

[electricd]

Ok...any real documentation on what each scr does??

[Necro]

Is there a version of these around for .102?

Just wanted to try them out.

[JoyMonkey]

The docs for the older version should still make sense.

I'm not sure if the most recent version will work with 102, but you can give it a try (it will tell you if some code doesn't match what it expects to see).
If it doesn't work, here's the older versions that I've found:
http://www.joymonkey.com/modules.php?name=UpDownload&req=viewsdownload&sid=13

[Necro]

Ok maybe I'm stupid...but I read Logiqx's directions on compiling mame and figured out how to do diff updates.  So....I have...

- Gotten the .103 source
- Diff updated it (using patch) to .103u2
- Ran the applyscr batch.

Get this error:

Code: [Select]

Automatic File Update 1.00

Written by SA Dev.
This software is NOT licensed, and can be used freely.

Analyzing src\mame.c...

Analyzing src\windows\video.c...

Analyzing src\windows\wind3d.c...
ERROR: Line 53 not found.
  GUID *screen_guid_ptr;

Any ideas on whats going on? 

[alank2]

Hi Necro,

I'm going to add some documentation to the scripts tonight and get a new version of the tweaks posted that will work with 103u3 and 103u4...

Thanks,

SA Dev

[Necro]

Cool thanks....I really tried before posting asking for help

[alank2]

Hi,

I've updated it:

http://home.earthlink.net/~alank2/mame/tweaks_103u2.zip

It will work with 103u2, 103u3, and 103u4.

Necro:  Please try this and see if it works.  Make sure you have a 103u2 souce, I am surprised it didn't work for you when you originally tried it.

ElectricD:  I added some basic descriptions at the beginning of each .scr file, so just open in notepad to see them.

BTW, I am no longer using the GUI because it was TOO much work to maintain.  From now on I will just update the script files and post them at my FTP.  The GUI was cool though, maybe someday I'll rework it to make it maintainable...

Thanks!

Alan (SA Dev)

[alank2]

Also, for people who want to know how to use these:  Just extract them to your top level mame directory.  The "makefile" should be in the same directory.  The "src" subdirectory should also be in the same directory.  Just run applyscr and choose yes or no to switch scripts you want to apply, or you can apply them manually with "afupdate scriptname.scr".

Good Luck,

Alan

[Necro]

FYI, thats the same file as the old one (no descriptions, etc.)

Hrm.  Tried again also and same error as above.

This is what I do, step by step.

- Extract the 0.103 mame.zip files into a directory.
- Run patch -p0 -E <0103u1.diff from that directory in an MSYS window
- Run patch -p0 -E <0103u2.diff from that directory in an MSYS window
- Run applyscr.bat and it gives the above error. 

I'm testing things out, but it seems some can be applied fine, but others are not finding what they need to find.

Retrysdm and autosr are the two giving issues.  Errors below:

Retrysdm:

Code: [Select]

Analyzing src\windows\wind3d.c...
ERROR: Line 7 not found.

Autosr

Code: [Select]

Analyzing src\mame.c...

Analyzing src\windows\video.c...

Analyzing src\windows\wind3d.c...
ERROR: Line 53 not found.
  GUID *screen_guid_ptr;

Seems it's the wind3d.c file....

[alank2]

Hi Necro,

Are you *certain* you are using 103?  I tested all 9 scripts last night with 103, 103u1, 103u2, 103u3, and 103u4 and all of them work with all versions (although before 103u2 some fixes would be missing).

I just tried it right not and it works fine.

Can someone else try it and confirm it works or not as well?

Thanks,

Alan

[Necro]

100% positive.  Otherwise the Diff's wouldn't work if I understand the system correctly. 

I'm using mame0103s.zip from here : http://mirrors.xmission.com/mame/main/mame0103s.zip

The diff files I got from here: http://mamedev.org/source.html

I tried updating it to 103u4, and I get other errors now...dammit.  Should I be getting a pre-put together 103u4 or what not set of code?  From how I understand it, I just get the 103 source, run diffs sequentially on it to 'upversion' it, and I'm good to go.

Unless this is somehow related to the way I'm doing the patching, etc. (Using the directions from here: http://www.logiqx.com/HowTo/WinMAME.php)

Edit:AH HAH!  Figured something out.  Seems that the normal 0.103 source, straight from the mame site works fine.  It's only updated with diff versions that aren't working.  Which implies its something to do with patching them in msys...are there better directions then the one I posted above for getting things setup to compile mame in WinXp?

Edit2:Discovered the culprit.  It seems that Logiqx's  instructions lead to the use of MSYS for patching also.  In doing that, the files are getting patched differently.  I grabbed patch.exe from one of the zips over here (http://www.mameworld.net/mrdo/compile.html) and did it in a WinXP command prompt and it all worked fine.  Applying and all...

Kind of weird....I guess I need to use those directions on doing diff's, but the other for actually compiling.

[Necro]

Hrm strange.  Everything compiled fine, but had an error on trying to use it with CMPro.  Guess I'll use a vanilla build for that and this one to run things...just updating my roms then I'll try this out.  Can't wait

[alank2]

What kind of error with cmpro?

Thanks,

Alan

[Necro]

I may just be a moron and compiled an incorrectly optimized exe.  Testing now.

[JoyMonkey]

I've had problems with some versions of Mame compiled with the tweaks not responding to the 'mame -listxml' command, which would affect ClrMame also. I didn't pay much attention to it though and used vanilla Mame for any ClrMame stuff.

[alank2]

Hi,

Wow guys, I've never had any issues with my tweaks and always use my build to generate with cmpro.  Are you guys integrating something else in beside my tweaks as well?

BTW, I added a new tweak in the latest set I posted, you can control the windows system volume from within MAME now with the [ (vol down), ] (vol up), and ' (under [) toggle mute keys!

Thanks,

Alan

[Necro]

It seems the mame src makefile had PM=1 uncommented out by default for some oddball reason.  I fixed it and recompiled it and all is good.

Seems to be working (frogger started at least ).

[alank2]

Hi Necro,

Actually, one of my tweaks enabled PM=1.  I'll remove that the next time I release my tweaks...

Thanks!

Alan

[Silver]

BTW, I added a new tweak in the latest set I posted, you can control the windows system volume from within MAME now with the [ (vol down), ] (vol up), and ' (under [) toggle mute keys!

Alan - GREAT tweak. So simple yet.....

Nice one!

[alank2]

Hi Silver,

Thanks, I was pleased with how the system volume tweak turned out.  You can even go in and remap the sytem volume keys (up, down, mute) to any key you like just like other MAME keys.  I use 3 buttons on the top of my cabinet to control the volume and this works great for me.  It is nice having a screen popup so you can see the volume status...

Thanks,

Alan

[Taborious]

OK, I'll act the noob, what do these tweak's tweak?

[alank2]

Hi,

Here are cuts from the beginning of each script:

;*************************************************************************************************
;autosr.scr - auto sync refresh
;
;There will be an article published soon at www.retroblast.com on Window MAME video tweaking that
;that explains these commands in more detail.
;
;Adds these options:
;
;-[no]sleepafterframe / -[no]saf
;     This command causes MAME to give up its current thread timeslice in hopes
;     that when Windows gives MAME control again that it will get an uninterrupted timeslice to
;     draw the next frame.
;
;
;-[no]autosyncrefresh / -[no]asr
;     This command is used to enable -syncrefresh automatically for games that are near 60 fps.
;     It also sets -refresh to 60 when enabled.
;
;
;-autosyncrefresh_range / <float>
;     This value specifies the range for included games with autosyncrefresh.  A value of 1.5 for
;     example would include games 60 fps +/- 1.5, or 58.5 to 61.5 fps.
;
;
;-override_fps / -of <float>
;     This will allow you to override the frame speed for a particular game.
;
;
;*************************************************************************************************
;fsfgv.scr - fast/skip startup frames and gain volume
;
;Adds these options:
;
;-skip_startup_frames / -ssf <int>                                                                         
;     This command will skip startup frames by unthrottling them and not displaying them.  You can
;     use this option to hide the ugly startup frames of many games.
;
;-fast_startup_frames / -fsf <int>
;     This command will speed by startup frames by unthrottling them.
;
;-gainvolume / -gv <float>
;     This command can be used to increase sound as well as decrease sound.  Do not increase the
;     sound too much because you may cause the samples to go higher than 32767 which will degrade
;     sound quality.
;
;-[no]gainvolume_adjust / -[no]gva
;     This command will automatically reduce the amount specified by -gainvolume to prevent
;     samples from going higher than 32767.  At the end of the game, the adjusted amonut will be
;     displayed
;
;*************************************************************************************************
;iniparse.scr - ini parsing
;
;Adds parsing of vertical.ini or horizontal.ini depending on the game orientation
;
;
;*************************************************************************************************
;opt.scr - optimizations
;
;Enables Pentium M optimizations and builds mame.exe instead of mamepm.exe
;
;
;*************************************************************************************************
;osd.scr - on screen display
;
;Modifies the OSD so that it eliminates the frameskip display, has more precision, and indicates
;the video sync mode.
;
;
;*************************************************************************************************
;retrysdm.scr - retry set display mode
;
;Tries to set the display mode multiple times instead of failing after just one attempt
;
;
;*************************************************************************************************
;sysvol.scr - system volume
;
;Adds keys to adjust Windows volume.  By default [ is volume down, ] is volume up, and ' is toggle
;mute.
;
;
;*************************************************************************************************
;title.scr - title
;
;Indicates that one or more tweaks has been embedded and includes a warning not to report any bugs
;on this custom build.
;
;
;*************************************************************************************************
;vector.scr - Black and White Vector
;
;Adds these options:
;
;-bw_vect_pen_rgb <string>
;     This command allows you to specify any color for the vector in black and white vector games.
;     127,255,255 for example will make the vector more greenish blueish.  While this could be
;     done in the artwork subsystem, it is terrible slow.  This command causes no performance hit.
;
;
;-bw_vect_min_intensity <int>
;     Some black and white vector games supported multiple intensities (Cinematronics).  These
;     types of games look very dim in MAME without specifying a minimum intensity.  I usually use
;     191 which looks good.
;
;

Thanks,

Alan

[Taborious]

I have another question you may or may not know, but for most game with .chd files they don't run or I should say I can't process them fast enough to be playable. Would some of these frame setting help that or is this simply a processor issue, just need more cycles? (Im run on XP 3.2ghz, 2gb RAM, 128meg vid card)

[alank2]

I have another question you may or may not know, but for most game with .chd files they don't run or I should say I can't process them fast enough to be playable. Would some of these frame setting help that or is this simply a processor issue, just need more cycles? (Im run on XP 3.2ghz, 2gb RAM, 128meg vid card)

The default MAME options yield the best video performance already.  My video tweaking options will actually slow things down even more as a tradeoff for better video (no retrace line).

The only thing that can make some of these games you mention run better is a faster processor when it becomes available...

Thanks,

Alan

[alank2]

Hi guys,

I finally got this done.  See:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=53468.0

Thanks,

Alan