DOS MAME Running Slow

[Trimoor]

I have a P133 with 40 MB ram running freedos 9, but MAME is running extremely slow (7 fps), even for old games (robby roto).

I know it's not just the slow computer, since it worked fine when it was running mame32 on windoze 98.

On top of that, the sound doesn't work. (it does for dos games)

Any ideas?

Thanks!

[APFelon]

I'd bet both problems are inter-related. Try running MAME with the sound configured to "off". See if that improves the speed of MAME. If it does, you probably have the sound card misconfigured somehow (probably in MAME itself if DOS games work properly).

What type of soundcard do you have?

APf

[SirPeale]

You didn't mention what version of Mame you're using, but for that machine I'd recommend an older version, say around .35

[Trimoor]

The sound card is a Creative CT2800 ISA model.
I'm running the latest version of MAME.

I don't think the sound is the problem, because it takes MAME a full minute to even ask me what type of sound I want.

I'd try an older version, but would that work with newer roms?

[EndTwist]

Oh good god, your running the LATEST mame on a P133?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!1  

Dude, of course you're getting 7fps! Try a MUCH older version, between .30 and .36. Sheesh...

No, it probably won't work with newer roms, but with a P133 you don't have much, if any, choice.

[Trimoor]

What I meant about the roms was will the old MAME run with the latest set?
Obviously I don't intend to run anything like metal slug, only the oldies, but can I use, for example, pac-man from the .84 rom set with MAME .30?

Or would I have to somehow locate the .30 rom set?

[lokki]

I don't think the sound is the problem, because it takes MAME a full minute to even ask me what type of sound I want.

Are you running smartdrv?

[EndTwist]

What I meant about the roms was will the old MAME run with the latest set?
Obviously I don't intend to run anything like metal slug, only the oldies, but can I use, for example, pac-man from the .84 rom set with MAME .30?

Or would I have to somehow locate the .30 rom set?

Lokki - it has nothing to do with that. Just running .84 on a 133MHz computer will cause 7fps on oldies.

You would have to downgrade your roms (ClrMAMEPro?) or find an old set. Either way, you have no choice but to downgrade to .35 or less.

[Trimoor]

I tried .36 and it runs fine, but still no sound.
How would I use ClrMAMEPro to downgrade them?

I have no idea what smartdrv is, so I'm probably not using it.

[Nuttman]

I just finished rebuilding my v0.77 roms to v0.36 Final this weekend for a similar reason.  I have an old PII Celeron with a TV out card that will be used in a cabinet.  It will be classic games only.

Get yourself clrMAME and the v0.36 DATfile from Logiqx's site:

http://www.logiqx.com/Dats/MAMEBeta/MAMEBetaHistory.shtml

Use the Rebuilder and the DATfile to create the v0.36 roms.  Once Rebuilder completes, use the scanner to identify missing files (you will find lots of them).  These are files that were removed from later Romsets.

Hunting down the missing files is the biggest challenge.  I felt like a detective combing old newsgroup postings, sending emails to strangers, etc.  If you have access to newsgroups, there's a flood of rollback files being posted to alt.binaries.emulators.mame right now.  Rollback files are the files removed from Roms for later versions...they allow you to "rollback" to earlier versions of MAME.  Download these to help complete your sets.

There are clrMAME tutorials online.  You can find one here: http://www.mameworld.net/easyemu/clrmameguide.htm

clrMAME has a hard learning curve, but is a great tool.  It really is super for managing your romsets and fixing any problems.

[lokki]

What I meant about the roms was will the old MAME run with the latest set?
Obviously I don't intend to run anything like metal slug, only the oldies, but can I use, for example, pac-man from the .84 rom set with MAME .30?

Or would I have to somehow locate the .30 rom set?

Lokki - it has nothing to do with that. Just running .84 on a 133MHz computer will cause 7fps on oldies.

You would have to downgrade your roms (ClrMAMEPro?) or find an old set. Either way, you have no choice but to downgrade to .35 or less.

The reason I asked was because he said that it took 1 minute before he got sound message. even on a 133 it should not take that long. I understand that the games may not be playable even after that.

[Chris]

I tried .36 and it runs fine, but still no sound.
How would I use ClrMAMEPro to downgrade them?

I have no idea what smartdrv is, so I'm probably not using it.

SMARTDRV is the DOS disk cache.  In Windows, you take caching for granted, but in DOS you have to load a driver for it.

SMARTDRV is part of the DOS installation, so it's probably in your path.  In your AUTOEXEC.BAT, add:

SMARTDRV 4096

That will set aside 4 MB of RAM for disk caching.  Caching makes a huge difference!

--Chris