The Best MAME version for MsPac and the like

[Malenko]

I have a POS (not point of sale) Nehemiah 1GHz CPU based mini computer (was my Carputer like 7 years ago) Im trying to build my mom a mini MAME for either mothers day or when she retires, or as soon as I get it done, lol


Being that the CPU is slighter more powerful then a beet what version of MAME would be the best? And, is there a way to convert the roms I Have from a newer version to an older one?

[Gray_Area]

.36 will work just fine.  In case you need some newer features, .69 will, also.

'Turning back' roms isn't possible without the old files....which kind of seems to beg the question.

[Malenko]

.36 will work just fine.  In case you need some newer features, .69 will, also.

'Turning back' roms isn't possible without the old files....which kind of seems to beg the question.

She mostly wants Ms Pac-Man, she played the ever crap out of the jakks TV game, like the first one I got her she wore out, so I had to get her a new one. Instead of hacking a TV game up and using a true 4way controller I figured I'd build her a mini mame cab out of my old carputer parts (I dont like tossing out tech, even OLD tech) so I have a 7" lilliput touch screen, mini keyboard,etc all ready to be used.

I also figured instead of just MsPacman she can play the speed hack ones and some of the simpler games that use a 4way (I wish she loved Galaga like I do). What were the new features in .67 that werent in .36?

[BadMouth]

Search the forum for discussions on how to use "rollback roms"

I installed .76 (or .77 ?) on a 600mhz celeron running xp and all the classics worked fine.
Some of the sounds were missing in donkey kong though.  Guess I was missing some samples.

If you want to avoid learning how to rollback roms, you can still find collections of roms and samples that work with version .32
There is an old cell phone build of MAME based on .32 that uses those.
Search for EEMAME roms. 

FYI......The rollback roms I downloaded were missing some of the files needed to roll back to .76, but the EEMAME ones contained all the missing parts.
I just put them in with the rollback roms and clrmamepro takes what it needs to put together a proper set of roms for the older build.

[Howard_Casto]

I just put the current version of mame on a similar speced pc and it ran just fine.  Pacman will run on just about anything...... I'm not sure if I would fool with the roll-back.  Since most 4-way games are fairly primative I think you will be ok.  Now if you were making a more generic mamecab running newer titles I would worry. 

Your real issue will be the FE... the one's around now days run best on a pentagon super computer. 

[Malenko]

Your real issue will be the FE... the one's around now days run best on a pentagon super computer. 

Im hoping a plain jane skinned MaLa FE will suffice. I guess I'll put TinyXP on there and copy over MAME and some of the roms she'll use and see how it runs.

[Malenko]

Just get a 60 in 1 and be done with it.

I've got a compiled version of DOS mame .36 with the nags and warnings removed, PM me your e-mail and I'll see if I can remember to send it along if you want it...  it'll run a lot of games full speed on a 486.

How small are the 60 in 1 boards? Im tryin to make the machine TINYish. just a 7" LCD powered by the miniITX power supply. email is my username @ gmail.com