Which Mame port to choose?

[Joystick Jerk]

I've been looking around these forums for a bit now, and I've seen several comparisons between mame front-ends, but no comparisons between the different ports of the base mame software.

It sounds like most people here tend to use AdvanceMame over the standard mame executable, but I'm wondering about the myriad other versions that are out there. Is MAME all I really need, or is AdvanceMame the way to go? Are there any other mame ports that are popular or worth checking out?

And if anyone has any links to sites/threads that compare several of the mame versions to eachother, that would be greatly appreciated.

[KenToad]

I use Mame32FX .86 just because it has "native" support for command.dat and I really enjoy fighting games.  It also has never failed to accept command lines.  (Do all versions of Mame32 accept command lines with no trouble?  I can't say whether or not it's better for any other reason.  There also are some other versions of Mame32 that support "unofficial" games.  I've tinkered with a few, but found the games, for the most part, uninteresting. 

Except for Pong, of course, that game obviously rocks.  I just don't have two spinners yet.   

Hope that helps a little?  Also, all the versions seem to have slightly different functions.  I don't think there are too many quality differentiations, so maybe if you post some specific needs, someone may be able to steer you to the perfect version of Mame.

Cheers,
KenToad

[Joystick Jerk]

I don't really have any specific needs as far as emulator features go, I'm just generally looking for the best all-around mame port to go with.

And what was the bit you mentioned about "native support for command.dat" about? I'm big into fighting games as well, so info on anything that helps run those games would be great as well.

[ahmer]

Joystick Jerk,Generally speaking Mame is an open source Emulator.Different ports comes after source Modification.

usually Dos versions of Mame provides an extra speed as compared with Windows command line/gui version.

AdvanceMame is the best mame Port in my openion because it has many advance features.One of the Major Advmame feature is its LINUX OS support.

It is difficult to configure advmame but it provides best possible results if you have done.

[Joystick Jerk]

The speed boost in the DOS version is nice, but do you lose anything versus the gui version? And even if you don't I'd assume it's a little harder to use since everything is command line switches?

[jelwell]

I'd love to see more answers to this question.

Personally, I modify the source on Ek-Mame (which will probably have to change it's name soon). It has built in Video capture (avi/mpeg/whatever). I add a few changes that make MAME a bit more user cabinet friendly.

Xmame has network play! But only in versions prior to .85.
Joseph Elwell.

[sc1103]

If you use regular MAME/DosMAME you can configure MAMEWAH to provide the GUI for the system, it looks better than MAME32 and doesnt slow the system down noticeably while providing an easy and good-looking interface if used w/ either Screaming's MAMEWAH config or the files on JCrouse's site:  http://home.comcast.net/~cpviewer

[Joystick Jerk]

... good-looking interface if used w/ either Screaming's MAMEWAH config or the files on JCrouse's site:  http://home.comcast.net/~cpviewer

I'll try both, but do you have a preference for one config over the other?(or is there a general consensus about which one is more useful)

[sc1103]

Depends. If you use JCrouse's site, his .ini files alread ycontain references to certain folders on teh HDD.  In my case, my HDD is so small I have to use an external to have all the files on.  IN that case I use MAMEWAH Config, which is point and click basically.  Its a mixed consensus basically

[daywane]

depends on your know how on a PC
do you know how to use the comand line?
if yes go with it. Better Fe

Know only windows? go Mame 32

got a new fast PC? only know  windows go Mame 32 and mamewha or atomic FE. ( frowned upon doing this, but it works for me till I get command line down)

[Howard_Casto]

I've been looking around these forums for a bit now, and I've seen several comparisons between mame front-ends, but no comparisons between the different ports of the base mame software.

It sounds like most people here tend to use AdvanceMame over the standard mame executable, but I'm wondering about the myriad other versions that are out there. Is MAME all I really need, or is AdvanceMame the way to go? Are there any other mame ports that are popular or worth checking out?

And if anyone has any links to sites/threads that compare several of the mame versions to eachother, that would be greatly appreciated.

Just use mame....  if you don't need it then you don't need it, and with mame you know it's not bad code from a port causing problems when a issue comes up. 

And I hate to get off-topic, but please remove the buttons from your tag line.  They are so wide that they produce a horizontal scroll bar on any thread with your posts.... tag line graphics really shouldn't be any wider than the "blue box" you type your message in. 

[elvis]

Without trying to make a "well duh" statement, each unique port of MAME represents unique features particular to the reasons they where designed.

AdvanceMAME is your best option on TVs, and true arcade monitors (if you don't have an AVGA).  New TVs especially can do both PAL and NTSC output, which gives two resolutions which AdvanceMAME will play nicely with.

Bog standard Windows MAME is (as Howard mendioned) by far the easiest to get working.  It gets the vote for "I can't be stuffed thinking" setups.  If you are using PC monitor hardware, it's also much easier to get working than other MAME ports.  Likewise, XMAME on XFree86/Xorg for Linux folks.  Both can be configured to work fine using standard TV-out, but in my humble opinion the picture doesn't look as nice as AdvMAME's custom modes on the same screen.

As mentioned, normal MAME + an AVGA will give you most arcade perfect resolutions on real arcade hardware, but means shelling out a few extra bucks for the special card (as opposed to using old hardware you may have lying around, which is what I do for all of my cabs).

I guess it boils down to your budget, and your technical knowledge.

And off topic: what browser are you using, Howard?  I don't get any issues with the signature under the latest FireFox.

[Howard_Casto]

And off topic: what browser are you using, Howard?

[SirPeale]

And off topic: what browser are you using, Howard?  I don't get any issues with the signature under the latest FireFox.

Heh there's your problem right there.  98% of the internet population uses IE (like me) and thus all webpages, sigs, ect, should be forced to conform to the M$ standards and the IE browser layout.        Besides, it depends upon your resolution.  I use 1024x768, because I'm fond of my eyes.  Some kids use higher, but apparently they aren't afraid of having to get glasses later down the road from all the eye strain. 

The buttons are fine on my end, and I'm using FireFox with a resolution of 800x600.

Your statements that 98% of the 'net population uses IE is facetious.   A year ago, perhaps 90%.  Now those figures are around 60%. 

And web sites should be designed around the W3 standards, NOT the Microsoft standards.

[Joystick Jerk]

And I hate to get off-topic, but please remove the buttons from your tag line.  They are so wide that they produce a horizontal scroll bar on any thread with your posts.... tag line graphics really shouldn't be any wider than the "blue box" you type your message in. 

I'm not sure what issues you may be having since I tested the sig on both IE and Firefox at resolutions as low as 1024x768, and it's never caused any table breakage. Still, I changed it so it defaults to two shorter rows of buttons instead of one long one.

AdvanceMAME is your best option on TVs, and true arcade monitors (if you don't have an AVGA).

So you're saying not to use AdvanceMame if I use the AVGA card, or just that AdvanceMame's display features are unneeded then because the AVGA takes care of it? Cause that's the route I may be taking when I get my cab finished....

[mahuti]

I use BuddaMame, because of its ability to display control panel information (when configured correctly)

(I use a TV as well)

[elvis]

And off topic: what browser are you using, Howard?  I don't get any issues with the signature under the latest FireFox.

Heh there's your problem right there.  98% of the internet population uses IE (like me) and thus...

*SNIP*

HAHAHA!  Holy cow, Howard.  I was just trying to help out.  Don't have a cry about it, man.

As mentioned, your "98%" figures are way off, but I'm not terribly concerned what one little MS Fanboy thinks.  And as mentioned, W3C standards are what matter, not Microsoft's incorrect code.  Use a real browser, or sod off.

Asking users to "fix" their signatures to conform to incorrect browser standards really is silly.  The solution is to fix the browser, not force everyone to do things incorrectly to conform to a global stuffup.  Even more amusing is MS originally was a part of the W3C, and then wrote code that didn't work with to the standards THEY agreed to!  The whole situation is pathetically typical of the corporate world.  You could write a bloody drama about it: back stabbings, double crossings, blah blah blah.  Hilarious.

And there are PLENTY of alternative browser choices.  FireFox is only one of them.  Try thinking for yourself for a change, rather than just following the tide of unwashed masses and spinning recycled rhetoric.

Thanks for the chuckles on a Monday morning.  I needed that. 

[KenToad]

I don't really have any specific needs as far as emulator features go, I'm just generally looking for the best all-around mame port to go with.

And what was the bit you mentioned about "native support for command.dat" about? I'm big into fighting games as well, so info on anything that helps run those games would be great as well.

If you don't have specific needs, almost any Mame port that you can get running should be fine for you IMO.  Once you playtest and browse around Mameworld.net and these forums and any other resources, then you may sing a different tune.  All those builds exist to suit the many individual needs that we all have.

As for "native support" for command.dat, all I meant was that, with Mame32FX, all you have to do is drop the command.dat file into the Mame32FX directory and the program will detect that it's there and you can assign a button/key to access it anytime you want during a game.  Apparently, it works with other versions, including normal Mame, but I didn't have much luck (didn't try very hard--also several versions ago), but Mame32FX fit the bill for me, so I didn't see the need to keep playtesting different versions of Mame.  Also, I'm running Mame32FX with command line and with MameWah as a shell and have had no problems since I got it all setup nearly six months ago.  I have a pretty new computer, so that may make a difference. 

Hope that helps.

KenToad 

[KenToad]

And off topic: what browser are you using, Howard?  I don't get any issues with the signature under the latest FireFox.

Heh there's your problem right there.  98% of the internet population uses IE (like me) and thus all webpages, sigs, ect, should be forced to conform to the M$ standards and the IE browser layout.

Also a Firefox user, used Netscape until it funked out.  I don't mind IE or Microsoft, though, except that Miser Bill Gates pretending to bail Africa out of its prescription drug dilemma when in fact he was averting a possible contest of the international patent laws, which not only would have threatened the drug companies of powerful western worlds, but also the protection currently given his sometimes sh*tty OS. 

Sorry, off topic, should we take it to a poll in "Everything Else?"

KenToad

[Howard_Casto]

And off topic: what browser are you using, Howard?

[elvis]

The truth is most web sites are built by amateurs and thus don't conform to any standard

*SNIP*

Perhaps saint tweaked the width on the menu bar to the left or something, I dunno.  This is definately a recent thing though... have no clue what's going on with the site.

<troll>
It aint the site... it's your browser.  Or perhaps Saint's "amature coding"? 
</troll>

OK, OK... I'll stop now.  There's a million points I could bring up, but I'm sure everyone's sick of the argument already, and it sure as hell isn't going to change anyone's mind about which browser they use this late in the game.  But it's just too easy and too rewarding to get a rise out of Howard each and every time he gets on his hate campaigns.

Truth be told I think you're an alright guy, Howard.  You just need to chill a little.  Life's tough when every interaction is a battle. 

[KenToad]

Truth be told I think you're an alright guy, Howard.

Howard's awesome.  I see his name every time I fire up VPinmame with his wrapper, confirms the existence of the Idiot Police every time.

Thank you every much for fixing your buttons man but it looks like it's a site thing now.... I'm getting a scrollbar in the message boards period.

If you're getting a horizontal scrollbar, try Firefox, just for kicks.   

Cheers,
KenToad

[chemame]

I shouldn't... I shouldn't... I shouldn't....

OH THE HELL WITH IT, I CAN'T RESIST.

From my GODADDY stats report, under BROWSERS. The top 4 browsers seen by my website (sorry for the lack of tables in in this view):

Browser Name   Number of requests
1.   Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0   1,678
2.   Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; .NET CLR 2.0.40607; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)   1,612
3.   Mozilla/4.0 (Windows 2000 5.0) Java/1.5.0_01   1,567
4.   Mozilla/4.0 (Windows XP 5.1) Java/1.4.2_03   614

Now I don't know for sure about 3 & 4, they're probably M$ products... but even if so, then by my calcs M$ ain't no 98% 

OK sorry, I'll go back to sleep now.

Chemame.

[spriggy]

Dicking around on your desktop PC and just want to play a game with your gamepad.
MAME32.

Like a nice configurable FE (thats not too resource hungry) for your desktop or cabinet and running a PIII or better.
Mamewah + std commandline Mame

Like a nice configurable FE (thats not too resource hungry) for your desktop or cabinet and running an old PII or less.
Mamewah (with only screenshot artwork) + fastMame (ver 0.71 or less).

my 2 cents

spriggy

[EndTwist]

Any other browser is:

Slower

Not installed

Used by only a few and thus websites are not designed to look best on them unless it's a linux or non-m$ fanboy site. 

I hope you're kidding. So it takes an extra 1 second to load up -- big deal. Once it's up and running, many (Mozilla, Firefox) are just as fast (or faster depending on your configuration) as Internet Explorer. The fact that is isn't already installed doesn't make it bad, just different than the  norm. In my opinion, it is worth it to get a more secure and highly customizable (Themes, Extensions) browser.

As for the "used only by a few...yadda yadda...less support...yadda yadda" statement...well I hate to tell you, but many, MANY sites are made to look correct on both browsers. And they aren't always "linux or non-m$ fanboy sites" as you so gladly state. When you get a GOOD web designer who actually knows what they're doing, the site is coded properly and often to standards if possible (Yes, W3C standards, which I will expand upon more below).

It's just common sense, I use ie because it's already there, works better than any alternative and it simply isn't worth my time to install an alternative and maintain manual updates. 

Yet somehow you don't complain about having to install "MS Hotfixes" for every damned hole in IE.

W3C standards are what the guys who wrote the w3c standards want  you to think websites are based on.  The truth is most web sites are built by amateurs and thus don't conform to any standard, other than the fact that they look nice in ie because that's the user's browser 9 times out of 10.
W3C is badly outdated anyway, it doesn't even include many of the new features that both ie and  most alternative browsers support.  Why? Beause making a webpage that's compatable with everyone requires it to be bland and not have anything cool on it (content aside, I'm referring to eye candy).  Just realitively speaking of course, there are exceptions to the rule. 

Even if many websites are not designed and built/coded to standards, that doesn't mean the standards are pointless and should be ignored. That just means that some people should be educated on the purpose of the standards and how to make sure your website conforms to them.

Here is an analogy for you -- For all intensive purposes, lets say I've just emigrated US. Technically then I'm an "amateur" in the laws of this country, but that doesn't mean they are pointless because there are so many people who don't know the laws are moving to the US. That means they just need to be educated on the laws.

Now as for your "badly outdated" statement -- I have to totally and utterly disagree here. XHTML is relatively new, and has been revised in the past 3 years (XHTML 1.0 [http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/], or XHTML 1.1 [http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/] which was updated/created 2001). It definetly uses many of the newer features available in the browsers -- and besides that, there haven't been many new revelations in "browsing technology" in the past few years, so what "new features" are we discussing here?

And as for pages that properly support many browsers needing to be "bland." That is definitely false. Go here [CSS Zen Garden] and then tell me there is no cross-browser compatible "eye-candy."

I hate to say it, Howard, but everything you just said sounds to me likes it was coming from someone who doesn't quite know what they are talking about. I'm sure you'll have a comeback or retort to this whole write-up I just did, but I don't really care. I've done my research -- I know what I'm talking about.

----------------

As for being on-topic:

I usually build my own custom version of MAME with all the hacks and such that I want (no warnings, skip_startup_frames, etc). IMHO, it gives a bit more flexibility over other custom builds because I can pick and choose what I want.

[Joystick Jerk]

Dicking around on your desktop PC and just want to play a game with your gamepad.
MAME32.

Like a nice configurable FE (thats not too resource hungry) for your desktop or cabinet and running a PIII or better.
Mamewah + std commandline Mame

Like a nice configurable FE (thats not too resource hungry) for your desktop or cabinet and running an old PII or less.
Mamewah (with only screenshot artwork) + fastMame (ver 0.71 or less).

my 2 cents

spriggy

Great breakdown, thanks! Also, since so many people here use AdvanceMame, how would you describe it and where would it fall in your scale of usability?

[jelwell]

I'm sorry to ask this, but this thread seems like a very valuable resource. Describing the differences between the current MAME derivatives.

Is there any chance that people can delete the trolling/splinter talk about firefox and IE from this thread. I can't imagine it adds anything to this BYOAC thread (let alone any thread in this forum) maybe start a new IE versus Firefox thread in "Everything Else"?

I've never tried AdvancedMAME, it appears to be useful if you have a real arcade monitor.
Analog MAME is good if you want dual light guns or you're having trouble configuring analog controls.

I *highly* suggest starting with regular MAME (or MAME32 if you want a GUI).  Most of the other derivatives solve problems - so if you don't have any problems there's hardly a need for any of them.

FastMAME isn't going to give you much of a speed boost. 5% or so, but while that sounds like a lot it's not likely to make any game playable that isn't already. You really need 20% speed boosts to make a difference - and you'll only get that from a change in MAME, or downgrading to a really old version of MAME.
Joseph Elwell.

[elvis]

Great breakdown, thanks! Also, since so many people here use AdvanceMame, how would you describe it and where would it fall in your scale of usability?

I'm using advmame on two setups: one 17" PC monitor, and one 27" arcade monitor.

Setup is certainly not as easy as normal mame (ie: double-click and turn brain off).  But there are two websites in particular which offer fantastically detailed step-by-step instructions.  I really can't pimp these enough:

http://easymamecab.mameworld.net/
http://web.tampabay.rr.com/whammoed/whammocade/software.htm

The first link covers multi-platform, and the second focusses more on Linux.

Just about any software you can think of has an inverse ratio of customisability to user friendliness.  Up the tweakability of something, and generally speaking the user friendliness goes down.  And by tweakability, I don't mean mundane things like changing the skin, or pre-set functions like that.  Advmame has full event-driven scripting support, which can do some tricky things.  It's biggest advantage of course is the true arcade modes for real arcade monitors.  Normal MAME needs an AVGA to do that, which is costly.  The downside to that is it's not always as intuitive as some people desire, based on the huge range of possible setups and resolutions/modelines available when considering EVERY game supported by mame.

Honestly, if you're not using a real arcade monitor (or are, and have an AVGA), I don't see any reason to use advmame apart from the "because I can" factor.  For me personally, it partners well with AdvanceMenu, which is my choice of frontend when running under Linux.

Two features it has which I don't find on my "must have" list, but are nice all the same are

1) Sound normalisation - automatic volume adjust to kep all games roughly the same volume, instead of some blasting loud and some whisper quiet

2)  and the "fast forward" feature - Each game driver holds a record for how long copyright screens take, and the emulator runs with -nothrottle during that pariod, effectively fast-forwarding through them.  Obviously if your hardware isn't fast enough for this and advmame detects that, it won't occur.

Is there any chance that people can delete the trolling/splinter talk about firefox and IE from this thread. I can't imagine it adds anything to this BYOAC thread (let alone any thread in this forum) maybe start a new IE versus Firefox thread in "Everything Else"?

Amen to that.  What started as an offtopic request with followup attempt to offer assistance quickly degenerated into a ****storm.   Nuke the lot of it, and keep the thread useful.

[spriggy]

Dicking around on your desktop PC and just want to play a game with your gamepad.
MAME32.

Like a nice configurable FE (thats not too resource hungry) for your desktop or cabinet and running a PIII or better.
Mamewah + std commandline Mame

Like a nice configurable FE (thats not too resource hungry) for your desktop or cabinet and running an old PII or less.
Mamewah (with only screenshot artwork) + fastMame (ver 0.71 or less).

my 2 cents

spriggy

Great breakdown, thanks! Also, since so many people here use AdvanceMame, how would you describe it and where would it fall in your scale of usability?

Have never used AdvanceMame, so I can't really comment.  Contemplated it once and read the documentation.  Does look quite powerful when linking to real arcade monitors.  'elvis' pretty much answered your AdvanceMame query.

[phildo77]

Ok I was thinking this exact question but found this thread.

I would really like to know the answer to this question but I've got a few things I'm dealing with.  I've already played with Mame32, Mame (standard) and MameAnalog+.

The reason I'm messing with MameAnalog+ is because I have 2 spinners, 1 trackball, 2 rotating joysticks (mechanical), 2 light guns and 2 analog joysticks.

I've got an Optipac and I'd like to be able to use the following configurations each exclusive to the other stated controls:

1) both spinners
2) trackball
3) rotating joysticks
4) both light guns
5) both analog sticks
6) none of the above with other misc. standard button and 8-way controls

I haven't got the controls put on the panels yet but I'm wondering if there are any recommendations on which path to take for MAME ports?

I'm extremely comfortable with command line stuff (and code modification/compiling) and I'm running a Sempron 2400 with 1GB ram and a GeForce 2 400MX (soon to be ATI 7500).  THe video card is Svideo out to a S-video to BNC (coax) to BNC TV.

Any recommendations or forseen problems from you veterans?

edit:  forgot to mention I'm also using a KE72

[rgecko]

I don't think anyone mentioned Mame plus! which I've recently just started to try out, seems to work pretty good, added bonus is it seems to have some extra games in it, and supports command.dat files for fighters and stuff.

[Joystick Jerk]

I was recently trying out Mame Plus myself, and it seems like a decent all-around emulator. I just wish the devs provided a concrete list of what makes their port different than standard Mame32.

[Steve Kaz]

This is a stupid question, but does "std commandline Mame" equal a DOS version of MAME (and Mamewah is the front end)