Some noob "which MAME" questions

[robertsig]

I've only ever played MAME32 (MAMEUI) on my PC over the years so I haven't had to think about these things.

If I build a 3-sided cocktail cabinet and want to load a front end, which MAME do I use?  Regular CLI MAME.exe?... or can I use MAMEUI with a front end and bypass its own menu?  Do people normally do that?  If you use regular MAME, how do you set all the settings like joystick preferences and screen orientation per game?

With a 3-sided cabinet (3 totally different controls), I will want some games facing Left, some Right and some on the wider Horizontal.  Is it possible to set the rotation per game on the regular MAME.exe?  Or do people use MAMEUI with things like MaLa and Hyperspin as I anticipate?

I just need a starting off point then I will read up some more.  Thanks!

[taylormadelv]

Sounds like you are using a more current version of mame, since you're calling it "mameUI". In mame you can tweak each game individually, the controls, the screen orientation and just about everything else, game by game, you will need to be in mame, not your FE when you make these adjustments, so they will stick when you close mame and open it again with your FE.
I like mala, it's very easy to use and very configuarable and has tons of support, even its' own forum here! I have never mixed screen orientations in a single game list in mala, I'm not certain that you can mix screen directions in a single game list. You could create seperate game lists and have each list have its' own orientation. Good Luck!

[robertsig]

MAMEUI32 makes it easy to set the orientation.  Is it possible to use all the same command-line parameters with MAMEUI as mame.exe?

If not, how do you set it with MAME.exe and have it keep?   ie. Some games need to face horizontally, some on vertical side 1 and some on vertical side 2.  This is not in reference to cocktail "mode".

[Howard_Casto]

MAMEUI32 makes it easy to set the orientation.  Is it possible to use all the same command-line parameters with MAMEUI as mame.exe?

If not, how do you set it with MAME.exe and have it keep?   ie. Some games need to face horizontally, some on vertical side 1 and some on vertical side 2.  This is not in reference to cocktail "mode".

You need to learn how to edit the text files.  It's as simple as that.  MameUI (mame32) depending upon the version may or may not give you full access to all of mame's options via it's gui or via command line.  It is in no way easier.  The command line flag -autoror (or autorol depending upon how you mounted your monitor) or setting autoror to 1 in the mame.ini will automatically rotate a game based upon it's orientation.  It is a global setting, no need to set each one individually.  Before you ask, in regular old mame the mame.ini is not supplied.  You generate it by typing "mame.exe -cc" at the command prompt. 

As for the "some on vertical side 1, some on vertical side 2"  part I don't get your meaning.  Do you mean you will have a different control type on each side (side one a joystick, side 2 a spinner) or do you mean cocktail mode?  "True" Cocktail mode is only available for certain vertical games.  You set it within mame via the game's dipswitch menu.  You can also manually rotate mame's view in the display menu within mame.  As already stated, mame will remember these settings for you.

[robertsig]

As for the "some on vertical side 1, some on vertical side 2"  part I don't get your meaning.  Do you mean you will have a different control type on each side (side one a joystick, side 2 a spinner)

Yes, that is what I mean.  Both vertical sides are player 1 with different controls.  In MAMEUI, I can set the joystick, orientation, etc for each game with the GUI and it remembers it.  What mechanism is available to me with the command-line version?

As before, is it possible to use MAMEUI with most of the front ends out there and suppress the MAMEUI gui?  Because if so, I see no advantage to the regular mame.exe, hence my thread!

[Howard_Casto]

Yes, that is what I mean.  Both vertical sides are player 1 with different controls.  In MAMEUI, I can set the joystick, orientation, etc for each game with the GUI and it remembers it.  What mechanism is available to me with the command-line version?

As before, is it possible to use MAMEUI with most of the front ends out there and suppress the MAMEUI gui?  Because if so, I see no advantage to the regular mame.exe, hence my thread!

You play the game.  In those rare cases when you want to use the secondary controls you made for the vertical orientation you simply alter the settings in-game.  MAME remembers individual game settings.  Control-wise, you shouldn't need to set individual settings that much though.  Make your default control setup to where all three control panels are mapped properly at the same time.  Seeing as how you'll only use one at a time, that'll work fine.  For more detailed setup info we would need to know your exact setup.  As for the screen orientation... again -autoror will work for the most part and on those rare games where you want the vertical orientation set to your secondary vertical control panel, just flip it in-game and mame will remember. 

As for the second question, I've already answered it:  "Not really"  The most common thing a FE needs that mameui often doesn't have is the -listxml command.  If you really think your aren't up to doing it the right way, you can put mame and mameui in the same folder.... set your settings via mameui and then have the fe run mame.  The settings are saved in the same format.  Again though, this can be risky because sometimes mameui drops settings that regular mame has or it does things a little differently.

Again though, this depends on the mame version number.  Mameui definately isn't any less stable when it comes to the games, but it can be when it comes to the settings.  It has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of mameui and everything to do with the fact that it isn't the official mame version.

[robertsig]

you can put mame and mameui in the same folder.... set your settings via mameui and then have the fe run mame.  The settings are saved in the same format. 

Thank you!  I think that was the verification I needed. If this is true, it would make it much easier to set the rotation exceptions.  I didn't realize both MAME's save the configs in the same way.  I'll try this first.

[JRChristenson]

You need to learn how to edit the text files.  It's as simple as that.

I would love to learn that, can anyone point me to a tutorial or other starting point?

Jason

[Howard_Casto]

Not really, but honestly I don't know where all the fear comes from. 

Mame.ini looks just like a readable document... it's pretty easy to understand what each option does and if you have questions you can type "mame.exe -showusage" and it'll print to screen in detail what each option does. 

Now ctrlr files and mame cfg files are a bit different.  They are in xml format, which looks more complex, but really isn't.  It's one of those things you've gotta mess around with. 

The only trick to fully understanding mame's settings files is understanding the hierarchy of their reading and the fact that most settings files are merged when they are parsed.  Understanding it unlocks mame's full potential in terms of configuration, but nearly nobody actually pays any attention to it.

With the exception of maybe me and a few of the guys that have written controls.dat viewers.  We have to properly read the heirarchy to acurately place labels on your personalized controls.