how to recompile mame...

[simian]

what is really needed here? I run winxp on my computer and plan on recompiling dos mame .96, im kinda confused with all the info I have that i dunno where to start.

[SirPeale]

Did you read the documentation? 

[sc1103]

Read Docs and use this: 

http://www.mameworld.net/mrdo/compile.html

[AllisterFiend]

Since this subject was brought up, I'll ask a question that is related to recompiling mame.

I've recompiled mame before but after recompiling, I noticed my mame went from around a 6 meg file to about 30+ meg file.  I normally just leave it at the new size since space on my hard drive is not an issue,  I was wondering if by leaving it this size does it have any unforeseen consequences, like longer load (boot) times for individual games...(as I plan to put mame on a slower computer)

Are there docs out there that show you how to compress it back to a reasonable size?


Thanks for any info.


Allister Fiend

[EndTwist]

Since this subject was brought up, I'll ask a question that is related to recompiling mame.

I've recompiled mame before but after recompiling, I noticed my mame went from around a 6 meg file to about 30+ meg file.  I normally just leave it at the new size since space on my hard drive is not an issue,  I was wondering if by leaving it this size does it have any unforeseen consequences, like longer load (boot) times for individual games...(as I plan to put mame on a slower computer)

Are there docs out there that show you how to compress it back to a reasonable size?


Thanks for any info.


Allister Fiend

Actually, if anything, it would run [very] slightly faster at the 30mb+ size. The only reason it is 6mb from the MAME Team is because they have UPX Packed it. (Saves a lot of bandwidth).

And just to explain my speed comment - It would have that speed increase because it doesn't need to be "decompressed" as the precompiled ones do. But as I said, the difference is really, really minimal.

[simian]

thanks for the info. it's all I really need. a source that's clear an easy  to look at (for motivation's sake).

[Tiger-Heli]

Actually, if anything, it would run [very] slightly faster at the 30mb+ size. The only reason it is 6mb from the MAME Team is because they have UPX Packed it. (Saves a lot of bandwidth).

And just to explain my speed comment - It would have that speed increase because it doesn't need to be "decompressed" as the precompiled ones do. But as I said, the difference is really, really minimal.

Also, some larger games won't load on the UPX'd version with minimal RAM, but I don't recall which ones.

[ddockery]

Can anyone explain why the UPX version could cause some games to not run? I always thought it was decompressed, and the uncompressed (30MB) version was then stored in RAM, just as it normally would.  What did I oversimplify?

[Tiger-Heli]

Can anyone explain why the UPX version could cause some games to not run? I always thought it was decompressed, and the uncompressed (30MB) version was then stored in RAM, just as it normally would.  What did I oversimplify?

I read that on the main MAME forum a while ago.

Perhaps if it is UPX'd, the entire program gets loaded into RAM but if it isn't it only uses the portions that it needs?

Dunno, but I think it was RB or Haze or Moogly Guy that posted it, so I think it's accurate.

[lokki]

If the program is UPX the entire uncompressed executable is loaded into memory, If the program is not UPXed then on most Modern operating systems only the parts that are running are loaded into memory (giving mame a smaller running foot print).
Important to differenciate modern OS since DOS and up to Win ME will load the entire executable to memory no matter what.

Some systems use huge graphic tilemaps that are loaded in memory (hyper neogeo, konami gx etc). These games need about 1 gig of ram to run.

But I was not aware that UPX would cause some games to not run.

[Tiger-Heli]

If the program is UPX the entire uncompressed executable is loaded into memory, If the program is not UPXed then on most Modern operating systems only the parts that are running are loaded into memory (giving mame a smaller running foot print).
Important to differenciate modern OS since DOS and up to Win ME will load the entire executable to memory no matter what.

Some systems use huge graphic tilemaps that are loaded in memory (hyper neogeo, konami gx etc). These games need about 1 gig of ram to run.

But I was not aware that UPX would cause some games to not run.

That sounds like what I remember reading.  The problem probably occurred with moderng OS's and Konami GX and say 768M of RAM or so.