Win98 SE + old PC what version of mame (or other emulator)

[ravmar]

Hi, I'm new
I BYOAC , I've got old PC (RAM=386MB/100MHz, CPU=800MHZ, FDD=compact flash 4Gb) + installed win98 SE (directx3d and sound work)
I try to find working mame with system but unsuccessful (mame32 ver 0.55 work, but I want remove WIN98 GUI + frontend, and I think I probably must find mame (notmame32) (to cause game by command line). May by you could recommended working version of mame to Win 98 SE
Especially I care about metal slug games + one of same mortal combat

[Minwah]

I would be inclined to boot Win98 in pure DOS mode and use DOS MAME for best performance. You might need to use a slightly older version than 0.55, 0.36 is a good starting point. You can get it here:

http://mamedev.org/oldrel.html

You're a bit limited in frontend choice but look for GameLauncher or ArcadeOS.

[ravmar]

I would be inclined to boot Win98 in pure DOS mode and use DOS MAME for best performance. You might need to use a slightly older version than 0.55, 0.36 is a good starting point. You can get it here:

http://mamedev.org/oldrel.html

You're a bit limited in frontend choice but look for GameLauncher or ArcadeOS.

Do you suggest to uinistall WIN98 and choose MS-DOS system ?
I make this at the beginning. I make gLaunch (in ROMS was neogeo 261KB) everything looks ok, but I can't run metal slug 4 or 5 (if I remember 1,2,3 works fine) and I try with WIN98. Do you know why mslug4 or 5 don't work with dmame ?

You answer about 9am, I've got 4pm

[mamenewb100]

Do you have a CRT? If you use DOS I imagine you won't have access to anything D3D. Which means no HLSL scanlines if you use an LCD. However with a PC that old, I think running in pure  DOS would give you a big performance boost. If you just purely want MAME, I'd do just DOS, especially with a CRT.

[ravmar]

Do you have a CRT? If you use DOS I imagine you won't have access to anything D3D. Which means no HLSL scanlines if you use an LCD. However with a PC that old, I think running in pure  DOS would give you a big performance boost. If you just purely want MAME, I'd do just DOS, especially with a CRT.

I want build simple, PURE! arcade Consol with launcher, I don't care what system and emulator I use. If DOS give me a big performance boost, I choose it. But as I write before - in DOS + dmame I can't run mslug4, mslug5 don't know why ? That is important to me.

Now I test with LCD but in future I want use TV (SCART) and load VGATV driver

[Fursphere]

I highly suggest you spend $100 and ***drastically*** upgrade your hardware platform.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8038303&CatId=2628

Keep in mind this is everything except the monitor.  It even comes with Windows 7 Home Edition.

[ravmar]

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8038303&CatId=2628

wrong URL

I highly suggest you spend $100 and ***drastically*** upgrade your hardware platform.

But assumption is: Build of garbage I have I won't emulate x360 games and play Black Ops 2 or use cabinet to internet. Max. 6 games from 2003 year max. thats all. I want to much ? 800Mhz, 386MB Ram ?
If I don't find another way I stay in option with only mslug 1,2,X

the margin

$100

$100=325PLN
national average earnings in PL ~3K PLN
national average common Polen in PL ~2K PLN (without politicians horrible salary)
so $100 I prefer to spent on food

[404]

I agree with Minwah here. I believe you should just setup windows 98 to run in pure dos once you have everything set up properly. Gamelauncher or ArcadeOS are excellent choices as well. I too tinkered with mame in dos but unfortunately couldn't get sound to work properly.

I would however, suggest you start your testing with mame 0.106 and move backwards if you have speed issues. an 800mhz processor back in the 0.106 days still allowed you to play quite a few games on the 0.106 compatibility list and because this was the last version using the old rendering engine, you have the option of running the most games without needing a greater overhead in processing power. If you are having speed issues from that point you should start testing older versions of mame below 0.106. It's just my opinion though.

If you plan on using gamelauncher, here is the rom file builder which is very rare and no longer located on the gamelauncher website. It took me a very very long time to find this.

[Fursphere]

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8038303&CatId=2628

wrong URL

I highly suggest you spend $100 and ***drastically*** upgrade your hardware platform.

But assumption is: Build of garbage I have I won't emulate x360 games and play Black Ops 2 or use cabinet to internet. Max. 6 games from 2003 year max. thats all. I want to much ? 800Mhz, 386MB Ram ?
If I don't find another way I stay in option with only mslug 1,2,X

the margin

$100

$100=325PLN
national average earnings in PL ~3K PLN
national average common Polen in PL ~2K PLN (without politicians horrible salary)
so $100 I prefer to spent on food

URL works for fine me.  Maybe its cookie based?
I have no way of knowing you're in another country.  Sorry.
The old versions of mame only support so much.  I'm not even sure Metal Slug will run on MAME .36

[paigeoliver]

You don't need pure dos. Mame .55 even under windows will run almost every game supported by that version at full speed on your setup (and I don't need any crickets from the gallery spouting some BS about how games that aren't emulated properly don't run full speed, if they don't work it doesn't matter how fast they run). Mame .55 also happens to support about 98 percent of the games that anyone ever even talks about. The other 2 percent are a mix of 3D stuff that STILL doesn't really work right and some decent later model 2D stuff that was too new at the time to be in mame.
 

[IG-88]

I agree with Paige on this. Running anything in DOS can be a BE-ATCH to set up correctly.

That machine would be a good candidate for Spystyles BootCD, tho that can occasionally have some audio compatibility issues.

You could also run a microXP version with the driverpacks added. I've run that setup on 400mhz machines with less ram.

As far as the Metal Slug 4-5 and Mortal Combat games, find out when (ie: what version) of Mame supported them and run that version. I would think they were emulated by V.55 but don't know for sure as they aren't games I play.

There may also be different types of emulators that will run those games better than mame...

[ark_ader]

You don't need pure dos. Mame .55 even under windows will run almost every game supported by that version at full speed on your setup (and I don't need any crickets from the gallery spouting some BS about how games that aren't emulated properly don't run full speed, if they don't work it doesn't matter how fast they run). Mame .55 also happens to support about 98 percent of the games that anyone ever even talks about. The other 2 percent are a mix of 3D stuff that STILL doesn't really work right and some decent later model 2D stuff that was too new at the time to be in mame.

.55?  Most of the colours are all wrong, and there are speed hacks and glitches...

[paigeoliver]

People were building mame cabinets before .55 ever existed and the ever so popular x in 1 boards are running mame versions quite a bit more antiquated than .55. I had a .55 cabinet running in my gameroom for years side by side with many real games and my extensive board collection and I can't really say I ever noticed a difference.

The Mortal Kombats run well in .55 even on old hardware but the hardware requirements to run them ramp up quickly as the mame version number increases.

No mame version is perfect, every one has broken titles or bugs. But for sub ghz PCs, .55 is pretty much the way to go. No important games are broken in that release and you should be able to run everything that works right without any frameskipping other than a few early 3D titles. You can creep up a few versions if you HAVE to HAVE something added in the next 10 versions, but I can't promise nothing important isn't broken in those next versions.

[ravmar]

I think and try many combinations
Now I want run e.g. mslug on NeoRage on DOS. But for DOS I found only this
Neo-RAGEx-v0-2d-for-DOS
Only one file = NeoBeta.exe ?
When I run from DOS neobeta mslug I read this "Unable to locate game files or system!"
In C:/Neo/ I have:
neobeta.exe 313KB
neo-geo.rom 128KB
ng-sfix 128KB
mslug 12 872KB
Do you know how to solve this problem ?

[paigeoliver]

Metal Slug should only need about a 300 mhz processor to run full speed in .55, so you shouldn't really have to resort to any of the specialty neo geo emulators.

[gonzo90017]

Don't use NeoRage DOS since a lot of games aren't even supported. I did extensive testing on an older 166mhz pc and I can tell you that 800mhz is way more then enough. Just run Winkawaks and you should be able to run any Neo Geo game full speed.

[ravmar]

Everything ok, but I wonder how on Windows (VGA) go to TV (SCART). In dos I have VGATV.exe drivers, I load at the beginning and that's all. What software solution is in windows ?
In hardware I found this http://members.optusnet.com.au/eviltim/scart.htm
But I prefer software

[JoeB]

What about going with Linux?

[danny_galaga]

My 400 mhz ran fine with Win98 and v 78 Mame. Mame32 at that! Didn't have a fancy front end though, I was just using Mame32's front end...

[kahlid74]

P2 450Mhz with Windows XP and .80 mame ran without issue on the 98% of games Paige is talking about.

[dcninja]

thanks 404... been looking for that drmfc i'm gonna try that for my cab. my games come up as file names not actual game names

[DeLuSioNal29]

+1 on Gamelauncher.

I actually used the windows version of Gamelauncher (My OS was Win 98se) and the DOS version of MAME .086.  I ran it on a Pentium II 400mhz on a CF IDE adapter and it ran like a champ.

However, if you decide to use DOS, you don't need to do a fresh install.  Win 98se has it built in.  Just disable the Windows GUI as shown here:  http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000132.htm

Take a look at my arcade that I am using with GameLauncher.  (I originally built it with MAME DOS .036 but I upgraded it to MAME DOS .086 later).  Fast forward to 4:50 in the video.


DeLuSioNaL29

[404]

thanks 404... been looking for that drmfc i'm gonna try that for my cab. my games come up as file names not actual game names

took me forever to find that so i figured the first sight of anyone talking about gamelauncher, i would put it up as an attachment so that there are no dead links and little chance of it disappearing again.

Gamelauncher is great for a rig running strictly mame on DOS but unfortunately things get a little more tricky with other emulators. For my latest 'for the lawls' rig, i used windows98 and mamewah and i absolutely love it. There is a port of advancemenu+ fork for DOS with more advanced theme support and added features. I haven't tested it yet.

+1 on Gamelauncher.

I actually used the windows version of Gamelauncher (My OS was Win 98se) and the DOS version of MAME .086.  I ran it on a Pentium II 400mhz on a CF IDE adapter and it ran like a champ.

However, if you decide to use DOS, you don't need to do a fresh install.  Win 98se has it built in.  Just disable the Windows GUI as shown here:  http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000132.htm

Take a look at my arcade that I am using with GameLauncher.  (I originally built it with MAME DOS .036 but I upgraded it to MAME DOS .086 later).  Fast forward to 4:50 in the video.


DeLuSioNaL29

what an absolutely beautiful arcade!