question about older mame0136b

[ZERO]

Hi 
              Let me start off saying this forum is amazing. Thank you to everyone, I  have learned so much from being here the last few weeks.  It made me want my own cab. So I went out last night and pick up an  empty  gauntlet legends cabinet to start my own.

So I want to start working on the software, now I have been using mame32 0.81 on the computer. But now I’m setting up the front end with Hyperspin. I like it a lot its easy to use and setup. It does not work with the mame32 so I download mame0136b like it said to in the guide. Some of the roms will not load and I made sure I have the bios in there.  I did try newer one and older ones and came up with the same thing some work and others don’t just a black screen and then back to the front end.

Do I have to get an older copy of mame or is it something in mame I’m not setting up?

If there is any information I’m not giving you that could help you answer my questions just let me know.

Thanks

[Donkbaca]

I am not that familiar with hperspin why won't it work with MAME32? 

Whenever a new version is released, there are things that are changed in MAME and sometimes new roms are added or old ones are changed, so sometimes new versios of mame will not run older rom versions.  If everything worked great with mame.81, you have 3 options:

1: download the mame.81 binary here:http://mamedev.org/oldrel.html and use that in your hyperspin setup

2: download a new romset to match your mame version.  The easiest way to do this would be to download the latest version of mame and download the latest romset as I think its hard to find older mame romsets and easy to find the latest romset.

3: use a rom manager utility like CLRMamePro on the version of MAME you want to use and then go out and download the roms and files that are missing that you want.  Here is a good tutorial if you have never used it: http://easyemu.mameworld.info/clrmameguide/clrmame-guide.html

If you are happy with your setup and don't want to do anything new (i.e. add lightguns) option one is your best bet.

If you want to update to a newer version and use light guns I say option 2 is probably your easiest bet, but will probably take more time because a full romset takes like half a week to download.

If you want to save space and be more particular about what you get, option 3 would be the way to go, but that program has a bit of a learning curve and can be frustrating.

I would personally go with option 1 or 2.

Hope that helps

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

...will probably take more time because a full romset takes like half a week to download.

Even at a modest 10mbit connection it really wouldn't take more than like 33 hours.

[Donkbaca]

Depends if you want just the roms or the CHD's too, and if you have a good torrent seed.  In any case, 33 hours is like a day and a half.  A long time.

[ZERO]

MAME32 isnt supported by hyperspin So option 1 is out. I also do want to add light guns so ill go with option 2  downloading the romset  just to make sure im understanding,when you say a new romset your talking about the rom it self or is a romset something eles that i have to add to the rom?

thank you for the replay

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

When you say mame32, what are you referring to? It should support essentially any version of mame you throw at it, mame32, mame32ui, mame64, mame64ui, etc.

A romset refers to the entire collection of supported rom files. as of .140 it was around 24 gigs of roms and 119 gigs of chds.

[ZERO]

       MAME32 has an intergrated frontend on it. so im guessing i was just useing mame 0.81 with a frontend on it and they called it mame32

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

That would be Mame32UI. It does work with hyperspin. Hyperspin calls mame via command line; doing so bypasses the gui.

[Hoopz]

Just to clarify a few things for the OP.

Mame32 is an older version of MameUI.  Mame32 is a GUI (Graphical User Interface) that people used to launch the games instead of using command line Mame where people had to use a command box (defacto DOS window).  The name was changed to avoid confusion between 32 bit mame and 64 bit mame.

You ALWAYS want to make sure that the version of Mame that you use matches the version of the Roms that you use. For example, if you use Mame .94 then you need romset .94.  If you have a big difference between mame versions and romset (something like .56 for Mame and .140 for Roms) you will have ALOT of problems running games.  If you have a small difference between the two versions, you may find that some work and some don't.  Rom sets changes as Mame versions changes because the Mame developers are constantly changing how they work together, improving the games, and other stuff.

Hyperspin probably wants command line Mame instead of Mame32 or MameUI just to make the program run more smoothly.  Hyperspin is a Front End (GUI) like Mame32 was (and MameUI is).  Obviously, Hyperspin has more bells and whistles but if you have Hyperspin launch Mame games through another FE, it's taking a toll on your CPU that isn't necessary.

[ZERO]

okay so im just using something to old for hyperspin. so my first step is get mame0.141  and then get new roms, how do you check the version of the Roms?

[Hoopz]

Where ever you acquire your roms, it should tell you what version they are.  If it's a website, they'll list the details.  If it's a torrent site, same thing.  Just make sure it's a reputable place so you don't end up with a virus.

[Donkbaca]

I know this stuff gets confusing, so let me try and straighten somethings out:

Mame32 aka Mameui, does not have a front end, it just has a graphical user interface into it.  There is virtually no difference,(and when I say virtually no, I really mean none at all) The original MAME was dos based and everything had to be run from the command line, Mame32 and later MAMEUI were simple graphical interfaces that allow MAME to be used with a graphical interface rather than through the command line. 
True front ends, like MALA, Gameex, Hyperspin, etc. are much more than a user interface, they are stand alone programs.  They execute programs through command lines.  You can use Mame32/Mameui through a command line, so it should work.  Mame32 or MAMEUI should work with hyperspin, as far as I know.

If you want MAME by itself, without the GUI, then the link I sent you has the old versions of mame for download.  Just download the .81 binary and you should be good to go.

But, if you want light guns, you need to get a newer version of Mame, because lightgun support was not added until v 1.32 or something like that, so lightguns won't work in your current version of Mame.

IF you want the latest stuff, the easiest way would be to get mame 141 and the 141 romset.  The romset is all of the roms for that version of MAME.  When a new version of MAME comes out, complete romsets are usually released with them.  As far as I know there is no easy way to tell what romset your current rom belongs to.  Its not like you are going to find a rom that says "gamo-fantastico mame version 1.3 or something like that.  That is because not all the roms change.  Some roms have never changed, some have changed 3 or 4 times.    The only way that I know of to find out if your ROM is compatible with your mame version is to use CLR Mame Pro.  That program will scan your roms and tell you which ones aren't working and what files you are missing, you could then go and download the missing roms or files.

Really you have a few options, but I'll just keep it simple:

Go to a reputable source and get the complete mame .141. romset.