Looking for PC and Web developers for a possible MAME-related project

[Jakobud]

I have some ideas for a MAME related software project. It would be part program run on your PC/Mac/Linux box and part website work. It would essentially involve creating a crowd-sourced database of Mame benchmarks for different PC configurations. It would be open source. I know how it would work but could use some input/feedback on the idea. Message me your email address if you are interested in collaborating or giving input on how it would work and I'll put together a basic mailing list for it.

[pbj]

"Does it run Gauntlet Legends 100%?  Y/N"

Done.

[keilmillerjr]

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,133583.msg1376327.html#msg1376327

[Jakobud]

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,133583.msg1376327.html#msg1376327

Yup, exactly, but imagine a searchable database of roms along with their benchmarks under different combinations of hardware. You could easily use it to determine what hardware you need to run game XYZ and ABC. Make sense?

[Howard_Casto]

I think it's a great idea, but the sheer scope of the project would kill it.  Even just limiting things to the arcade games you have 4000+ unique games.  Also mame is constantly changing and becomes "more optimized" to a specific processor, so as you got benchmarks finished, they would become obsolete. 

Just some issues to think about.

[keilmillerjr]

I could make that website in no time. It would probably be best for people to input their results manually. Many different devices, don't want to spend oodles of time automating everything under the sun.

[Jakobud]

I think it's a great idea, but the sheer scope of the project would kill it.  Even just limiting things to the arcade games you have 4000+ unique games.  Also mame is constantly changing and becomes "more optimized" to a specific processor, so as you got benchmarks finished, they would become obsolete. 

Just some issues to think about.

Yeah its a good point, but it would definitely have it be specific to each Mame version as well. So it wouldn't just be a database of "ABC hardware runs PUCKMAN rom at 120 fps" but rather "ABC hardware runs PUCKMAN rom at 120 fps on MAME version 0.137".

[Jakobud]

I could make that website in no time. It would probably be best for people to input their results manually. Many different devices, don't want to spend oodles of time automating everything under the sun.

Yeah the website and database would be easy. The difficult part is trying to automate it. I think that would be more reliable than manual input. It might be as simple as a windows Batch file that runs through a bunch of timed mame benchmarks for various roms, then outputs the results to a data file. Then probably it would require manual uploading of the data file to the website. It would be nice to somehow automate the upload, but I imagine a lot of folks don't have their cabinets network connected anyways.

Just some thoughts...

[Howard_Casto]

Well here is a thought, but it might be more trouble than it's worth. 

How about a middleware app that sits between the front-end and mame?  Mame prints out the average fps after exit, so have an app that reads the system specs, launches mame, reads the fps after exit and emails it to an automated server that converts the email into a database entry.  I'm not sure if it would be possible to get detailed specs like the amount of ram or ect... but the processor class and speed should be doable. 

Of course the downside would be the potential to be bombarded with emails. 

[Haze]

automated benchmarks of average speed is not a useful metric.

minimum speed reached at any point is useful to know, there are titles that really need a 4ghz i7 to maintain 100%, but will have averages well >100 on much weaker hardware s there are only a few select moments it really needs that power.

you've literally have to have people playing the games, start to end, finding any secrets etc. and making sure the performance never dipped below a certain threshold in order to actually have a reliable set of benchmarks.. and that's a full time job.

[Howard_Casto]

That's exactly why I suggested what I did.  If it's a middleware app that just sits there, not bothering anyone then it could be left in place during normal gameplay.  If mame's console output is used then the total gameplay time is recorded as well.  Rejecting any session shorter than 5-10 minutes should give a pretty good indicator. 

[keilmillerjr]

I could make that website in no time. It would probably be best for people to input their results manually. Many different devices, don't want to spend oodles of time automating everything under the sun.

Yeah the website and database would be easy. The difficult part is trying to automate it. I think that would be more reliable than manual input. It might be as simple as a windows Batch file that runs through a bunch of timed mame benchmarks for various roms, then outputs the results to a data file. Then probably it would require manual uploading of the data file to the website. It would be nice to somehow automate the upload, but I imagine a lot of folks don't have their cabinets network connected anyways.

Just some thoughts...

Yeah, but your forgetting that Windows is not the only os that mame runs on.

[Howard_Casto]

It's the only os that mame runs on that anyone cares about. 

No joke though, it is.  If you are running Linux then odds are you are running a very basic setup with very cheap/old hardware (the only logical reason I can think of for using Linux is you are too cheap to buy windows).  If that is the case you are only going to expect "the classics" to run anyway and even if you don't you probably are going to stick with the hardware you have because, again, it's a cheapness issue. 

If you are running a Mac then either the aforementioned Linux scenario applies (someone gave you an old mac and that's all you have to work with) or you actually pay cash money for new Macs, which means money is no object and you'll simply upgrade the hardware if anything you want doesn't run. 

The only people that are in the "I don't know how powerful a pc to buy or if it's worth it to upgrade my current machine" would be windows users I'm guessing.