which front ends work with mame32?

[danny_galaga]

ok, i want a nice frontend (or anything that doesnt look like windows really) that runs with mame32. i know ultrastyle does, but even with the latest version i cant quite make it work properly on my computer. i started downloading different ones to find out, but im on dialup now and its a rather tedious way to do it. so far ive found that easymame isnt for mame32 and i cant figure out emuloader so my guess is that isnt for mame32 either. any others i should try?

[2600]

Technically, I believe they all do.  Or all FE's that can use the equivalent version of MAME can.

It's just advised not to use it.

[danny_galaga]

ah, the thing is mame32 is as complicated a thing as i can set up. but still doesnt mean i want to be punished with the windows look! sounds like punished i will remain then 

[brophog]

Here's a tip: All of those convenient windows style check boxes in Mame32 are replaced with a 1 for yes and a 0 for no in Mame.

[youki]

Atomic Fe works with Mame32. (as lot of others FE). 

But mame command line version is better for FE.

[u_rebelscum]

Here's a tip: All of those convenient windows style check boxes in Mame32 are replaced with a 1 for yes and a 0 for no in Mame.

And you can look at the mame32 generated mame32.ini in the ini folder and see the 1's & 0's.

... but even with the latest version i cant quite make it work properly on my computer....

One thing that maybe happening is that the mame32.ini file is in the ini folder; mame defaults to the mame folder, and FEs might expect mame32 to do the same.  Try copying that file into the mame(32) folder, or create a file in the mame folder, mame.ini, that has one line: "inipath ini".  I'm not sure either will help mame32, nor work with all FEs, though.  However, if you do either, you can set up with mame32, and then run mame with the exact same options.

[danny_galaga]

thanks for the tips guys! not sure if the ini thing is whats wrong with my ultrastyle. what happens is the first time i start it (after turning the PC on) when i try and play a game the whole thing freezes. i then have to alt-ctrl-del . then if i open ultrastyle again it works! i dont expect the answer here as it couldnt be answered on the ultrastyle forum, thats why i was looking for another front end. ultrastyle looks great, but i cant be installing alt-ctrl-del buttons on my next CP!

Youki, ill have a look at atomic tonight. thanks.

edit: ha! atomic works just fine! and the animated background is cool. so long as theres no big issues running on win98 thats whats going onto my cocktail cab next time i get a chance (",)

thanks youki!

[Bones]

Try GameEX. I found it very easy to set up and I am using it with mame32 and having no probs.

The only drawback is its limited skinability. However, the default schemes don't feel like Windows.

[Howard_Casto]

The reason mame32 doesn't work with a lot of front ends (or I should say doesn't work well)  is that often the front end calls for list genertion, and mame32 doesn't always support the same command line tags that mame does. 

My advice is to avoid mame32 like the plague. Aside from the obvious reasons, other emulators don't give you a nice gui to set settings so you might as well learn how to edit ini files now. 

[Roughy]

Try GameEX. I found it very easy to set up and I am using it with mame32 and having no probs.

The only drawback is its limited skinability. However, the default schemes don't feel like Windows.

Screenshots resemble Windows MC quite a bit...

[Howard_Casto]

Unless I'm wrong, gameEx started as a media center clone and evolved into a general front-end.  I agree, although it isn't as bad as mame32, it is quite "windowsie" it's just xp windows, not windows 9x. 

[danny_galaga]

well, like i say atomicfe is working fine with mame32 (just some small configuring issues that is all about me not being able to read the instructions properly!). if i have to i can write the exclude list manually (first thing i did was exclude the mysterious 'lovely cards' which i dont have a rom for but was in the menu...)and live with the games being called, for instance- missile command (set 1). im even happy with the default video skin!

[divemaster127]

Ultrastyle stopped working at version 100 & if you check the website, he states it does not work after version 100, he seem to have lost interest in working on the frontend
thanks

[Roughy]

The reason mame32 doesn't work with a lot of front ends (or I should say doesn't work well)

[Havok]

Ultrastyle stopped working at version 100 & if you check the website, he states it does not work after version 100, he seem to have lost interest in working on the frontend
thanks

There's a workaround - this is from the Ultrastyle forum, which is still active. I am in the process of doing a Mame setup, and will be using Ultrastyle. I don't have all the hardware yet...

Ok, first thing is that your 100% sure that MAME itself know the path to your roms.
If so, open a DOS box in your MAME directory and type this line:
MAME.EXE -VERIFYROMS > SETS.TXT

This should run for a little while and then a sets.txt file should be in your MAME directory. Copy this file into your ultrastyle/cfg directory and run the ultrastyle setup normally, skipping over the sets.txt step.