ArcadeOs, why do games take forever to startup?

[blueoakleyz]

I'm new to arcadeos (I'm trying to train myself so when I have a PC cab I can boot the computer into going straight to arcadeOS so i can pick games)

but say I pick Ms. Pac-Man,
it'll say something like

RUNNING MS. PAC-MAN
and it takes like 2-3 minutes to load up. How do I fix this? If it's always like this, I will just use Mame32, which load up right away

[KHAN]

ok---
What ur computer hardware says.
Always write complete hardware information when having a problem
like this.
are you using (smartdrv) it is a disk cache program.it will help tweak
ur RAM.

[blueoakleyz]

"ok---
What ur computer hardware says.
Always write complete hardware information when having a problem
like this.
are you using (smartdrv) it is a disk cache program.it will help tweak
ur RAM."

I'm very computer illiterate
i have 512 ram, 20 gb HD, 866mhz processor, anything else?

[KHAN]

hmm..


ur hardware looks good.but not for all games.
pac-man should run quickly.
i have already send answer at you another post.

[papaschtroumpf]

Also always say what version of mame...

First try to run the game from the command line and see if it also takes that long, so that we can rule out arcadeOS itself and blame MAME  

Next run it with -skip_validitychecks or set skip_validitychecks to 1 in your MAME.INI and see if that does the trick.

[blueoakleyz]

Also always say what version of mame...

First try to run the game from the command line and see if it also takes that long, so that we can rule out arcadeOS itself and blame MAME  

Next run it with -skip_validitychecks or set skip_validitychecks to 1 in your MAME.INI and see if that does the trick.

my bad, it's the most recent mame version cuz I'm just now trying dos version (JUST so I could use it with a frontend that will bootup when my computer comes on sigh...)

but yeah I read about that skip validity checks to 1 thing in the mame.ini but honestly I can NOT find this file on my computer or in the mame folder

[cdbrown]

what operating system are you using?
Are there any other programs running beside ArcadeOS?
Have you configured all the settings in mame.ini?

Also when it has loaded press F11 and look to the top right corner to see the fskip 0 100%  60/60 fps or something like that.  If it is then PC is able to handle the game no probs.

Try to defragment the drive.  Make sure all the files and folders in the mame directory are not set to read-only.  Turn off virus scan software (mine doesn't like mame much and can really slow the system down)

[blueoakleyz]

Well I have win 98 and there's usually a few programs running in the back ground (512 MB though of memory should be enough to run ms pacman..) not only that but when I use mame32 games startup right away so I'm pretty sure it's this verify game thing but I can't find this file mame.ini to change in the mame folder

[papaschtroumpf]

Also always say what version of mame...

First try to run the game from the command line and see if it also takes that long, so that we can rule out arcadeOS itself and blame MAME  

Next run it with -skip_validitychecks or set skip_validitychecks to 1 in your MAME.INI and see if that does the trick.

my bad, it's the most recent mame version cuz I'm just now trying dos version (JUST so I could use it with a frontend that will bootup when my computer comes on sigh...)

but yeah I read about that skip validity checks to 1 thing in the mame.ini but honestly I can NOT find this file on my computer or in the mame folder

If you can't find mame.ini it means you're running with all default settings and you need to create it (see windows.txt in the DOCS directory):

first run "mame.exe -cc", this will create the config file, then edit it and go almost to the bottom and change "skip_validitychecks" to 1. I'm sure you'll see an improvement.

[blueoakleyz]

Thank you
I also tried an older version of mame and it started right up so this must be the problem.

[cdbrown]

newer version can slow games down as they become more accurate in emulating the games

[blueoakleyz]

EXCELLENT!!
All problems fixed!

1. Games now startup with usual delay and not two minute delay as before, thank you very much.

2. I now can have the computer bootup to ArcadeOS woohoo!!!!!!!!!! I just put the shortcut into the startup folder and it worked after a few tries. The only thing was, it took me to my login screen (like whose side I use cuz my dad shares this puter with me) which I assume I won't have to worry about on a dedicated computer since I won't need to have logins right?

3. New problem sort of... now when I build this arcade cabinet, I'd like it to boot up and then be completely controllable by arcade controls. I am not going to have any seperate buttons for tab or escape and I'd like to find a solution not using shift+buttons (but if I did, what's the shift for escape?), as in some way to put a seperate button where a player could press it and exit the current button back to the arcadeOS, but NOT back to windows.

I'm looking for ways to setup a couple of buttons that are basically for the frontend (like instead of using p1 start for shift functions maybe a seperate button mapped to something arbitrary like say the letter O..is this possible?)

thanks again

[paigeoliver]

!
3. New problem sort of... now when I build this arcade cabinet, I'd like it to boot up and then be completely controllable by arcade controls. I am not going to have any seperate buttons for tab or escape and I'd like to find a solution not using shift+buttons (but if I did, what's the shift for escape?), as in some way to put a seperate button where a player could press it and exit the current button back to the arcadeOS, but NOT back to windows.

Hmm, this is a completely new idea. As far as I know all mame cabinets have to be rebooted to change games. You might have to engineer a solution to this yourself.

I'm looking for ways to setup a couple of buttons that are basically for the frontend (like instead of using p1 start for shift functions maybe a seperate button mapped to something arbitrary like say the letter O..is this possible?)

Yes, many people install buttons for both "O" and "K". This is to help avoid having to pull out the keyboard to type those letters. Seeing O and K buttons on the control panel is a sign of a truly professional Mame cabinet.

[menace]

:edit: I now understand why the last poster answered the way he did....

[SirPeale]

In case you missed it he's yanking your chain--just wiggle the joystick side to side for "ok"  shame on you paigeoliver leading the poor newbies to the dark side...

In case you missed it, this was the exact reason that Paige went away from the boards for a while.  He was tired of n00bies not doing a little bit of simple research for things that have been covered ad nauseum.

Basic questions like those should always be searched for first.  I believe a lot of it can be taken care of by the Mame FAQ and nearly the rest taken care of with a Google search.

[GGKoul]

In case you missed it he's yanking your chain--just wiggle the joystick side to side for "ok"  shame on you paigeoliver leading the poor newbies to the dark side...

What?  You don't need to map an "O" "K" button to your control panel?  Why the heck did I add all these buttons for them??  Thanks Paige!

[Gunstar Hero]

That was fantastic.  

[SirPeale]

In case you missed it he's yanking your chain--just wiggle the joystick side to side for "ok"  shame on you paigeoliver leading the poor newbies to the dark side...

What?  You don't need to map an "O" "K" button to your control panel?  Why the heck did I add all these buttons for them??  Thanks Paige!

Um...I didn't say that.  You quoted someone else!

[GGKoul]

!
3. New problem sort of... now when I build this arcade cabinet, I'd like it to boot up and then be completely controllable by arcade controls. I am not going to have any seperate buttons for tab or escape and I'd like to find a solution not using shift+buttons (but if I did, what's the shift for escape?), as in some way to put a seperate button where a player could press it and exit the current button back to the arcadeOS, but NOT back to windows.

Hmm, this is a completely new idea. As far as I know all mame cabinets have to be rebooted to change games. You might have to engineer a solution to this yourself.

I'm looking for ways to setup a couple of buttons that are basically for the frontend (like instead of using p1 start for shift functions maybe a seperate button mapped to something arbitrary like say the letter O..is this possible?)

Yes, many people install buttons for both "O" and "K". This is to help avoid having to pull out the keyboard to type those letters. Seeing O and K buttons on the control panel is a sign of a truly professional Mame cabinet.

Sorry Peale.  But Paige's responses are the funniest ever!

[pointdablame]

In case you missed it he's yanking your chain--just wiggle the joystick side to side for "ok"  shame on you paigeoliver leading the poor newbies to the dark side...

In case you missed it, this was the exact reason that Paige went away from the boards for a while.  He was tired of n00bies not doing a little bit of simple research for things that have been covered ad nauseum.

Basic questions like those should always be searched for first.  I believe a lot of it can be taken care of by the Mame FAQ and nearly the rest taken care of with a Google search.

you must be mistaken Peale... you see, it is our JOB as people on this forum to answer all of blueoakleyz idiotic questions..... no need for him to read or search.   We get to spoon feed it all to him.

Silly Peale thinking that blueoakleyz would do some of his own work

[KHAN]

you must be mistaken Peale... you see, it is our JOB as people on this forum to answer all of blueoakleyz idiotic questions..... no need for him to read or search.  We get to spoon feed it all to him.

Silly Peale thinking that blueoakleyz would do some of his own work  

Peale....as the forum is out of responce because when anyone
wrote his problem ,he deserve a complete information as well as
some type of personal attention.
 

[pointdablame]

Peale....as the forum is out of responce because when anyone
wrote his problem ,he deserve a complete information as well as
some type of personal attention.

I tried so hard to follow that, but I just can't.....