Mame32 and Mame (Win)

[newmamer]

Hey, I'm new at this game, trying to set up an old computer to run mame for an arcade cabinet I'm building.  I'm having trouble getting games to run smoothly in mame.  They seem, however, to run fine through the mame32 FE.  What differences are there besides the front end (if any?) between mame and mame32?

It's an old Compaq with 450mhz k6 and 396megs of RAM.  Using a voodoo3 graphics card.

Thanks!

[Minwah]

The MAME32 guys take Windows commandline MAME, and bung a GUI and some other crap onto it...so basically MAME should run the same, or even better than MAME32.

Sounds to me like like need to play with some settings in MAME.INI.  Chances are you have something setup differently in one of MAME32's menus.

[hulkster]

The MAME32 guys take Windows commandline MAME, and bung a GUI and some other crap onto it...so basically MAME should run the same, or even better than MAME32.

Sounds to me like like need to play with some settings in MAME.INI.  Chances are you have something setup differently in one of MAME32's menus.

minwah, why do you say this?  my games run flawlessly in mame32.  not everyone knows commandline and the gui is so much easier to navigate.  i mean, im sure there are going to be people who say doing a keyboard hack or joystick hack is better than using an Ipac, but theyd be retarded.  i dont understand why everybody thinks mame32 is bad, its a no brainer to use this for me.  if you put windows on your cab, why not use the windows version of mame?

[SirPoonga]

hulkster, it's not that everyone thinks it is bad.  It is a very good program.  It's just that it isn't a cabinet friendly/asthetic program.  Since this site is about building cabinets it isn't the best choice for most situations.  However, if you have a mouse (or tball) on your cabinet it is a great way to start out.

[hulkster]

sirp-
but i never really run mame32 by itself.  i just use mamewah to point to mame32 and you never see the program itself.  however, if i have a game that is a bad dump or has errors, then a window pops up and i have to either push enter or click on enter with a mouse/trackball like you said.  and if i ever have to make changes to games or properties of mame, i have a nice GUI to do it with.  im still confused as to how this takes away from the genuine masking of the arcade experience.  im all for it, mine is totally masked, and the only time it looks like its running on a pc is sometimes the mouse cursor is seen right before the game loads....is there a way to get rid of that by the way?

[SirPeale]

Windows Mame and Mame32 are the *exact* same program, but Mame32 has a built in GUI.  You can run it just fine from the command line.

[hulkster]

Windows Mame and Mame32 are the *exact* same program, but Mame32 has a built in GUI.  You can run it just fine from the command line.

right so it doesnt "suck" or have a bunch of "crap" put over the top of it...its the exact same program, just made easier to navigate.  thats like saying DOS is better than windows.  (well sorta...but you get the picture)

[SirPoonga]

Hmm, unless minwah knows something we don't or mame32 has changed recently that is not always the case (with other FEs?).

I remember mame32 bringing up a loading window when a game started.  But it's been awhile since I played mame32.  I remember other issues that made it not FE friendly.  Maybe it's changed.

[hulkster]

Hmm, unless minwah knows something we don't or mame32 has changed recently that is not always the case (with other FEs?).

I remember mame32 bringing up a loading window when a game started.  But it's been awhile since I played mame32.  I remember other issues that made it not FE friendly.  Maybe it's changed.

hmm, maybe so.  ive used mame32 for a while now....probably around 5or 6 years, but i havent really tried to make it masked and stuff till about 2 years ago when i started building cabs.  your the vet, so im guessing you all know more than i do, but as for right now, ive never had problems with mame32.  

[SirPoonga]

well, like I said, I haven't used it for years.  It may have changed.  I just remembering not being FE friendly.  

[Minwah]

minwah, why do you say this?

Because that is what MAME32 is - you asked

 my games run flawlessly in mame32.  not everyone knows commandline and the gui is so much easier to navigate.  i mean, im sure there are going to be people who say doing a keyboard hack or joystick hack is better than using an Ipac, but theyd be retarded.  i dont understand why everybody thinks mame32 is bad, its a no brainer to use this for me.

I didn't say it was bad...

 if you put windows on your cab, why not use the windows version of mame?

You hit the nail on the head.  If you're using Windows and a FE on a cab, use the Windows version.  The Windows version of MAME is not MAME32.  MAME32 is a variant with a GUI and some other stuff you don't need when using a FE.

Like SirP, I haven't used MAME32 for ages so I am not sure how it is nowadays.  But I do know using MAME32 is more likely to cause trouble with a FE than using commandline MAME, which most FE's are written for.  Also MAME32 used to do stupid things like save settings in the registry, rather than in INI files - I believe this may have now changed, but these kind of things are why I leave it well alone...

[hulkster]

hmmm....so its more of you and others alike just not knowing really if mame32 is a good program or not from experience than anything else am i correct?  thats like saying..."the gamecube sucks!  the xbox sucks!" and never have played either one.  just an observation  

[Minwah]

hmmm....so its more of you and others alike just not knowing really if mame32 is a good program or not from experience than anything else am i correct?  thats like saying..."the gamecube sucks!  the xbox sucks!" and never have played either one.  just an observation  

1) I didn't say it 'sucks',
2) No you are not correct, I have used it so I do know for the most part what it is like,
3) I'm sure it is a 'good' program, but it has stuff included which when using a separate FE is totally useless.  So to me it is common sense not to use it, since it has nothing to offer me that I cannot already do with commandline MAME.

So my recommendation to anyone who uses a separate FE is to not use MAME32, I will always recommend that and I will always abide to that myself.  If you like using MAME32 then use it, it doesn't matter to me

[hulkster]

ha, i wasnt trying to offend you dude.  im just trying to defend mame32 so when new guys read these posts and dont know crap about commandline, then they see that mame32 is a happy alternative that works just as good.  and of course they all work with mamewah so all is well  

[Minwah]

ha, i wasnt trying to offend you dude.  im just trying to defend mame32 so when new guys read these posts and dont know crap about commandline, then they see that mame32 is a happy alternative that works just as good.  and of course they all work with mamewah so all is well  

I see your point....but I just don't like to every recommend MAME32 for use with other FE's, particularly MAMEWAH as I do not test it with MAME32.  While some people (including you) seem to have MAME32 running fine with MW, others have problems with MAME32, which don't occur with MAME...