Whats the fastest mame build?

[tkuper05]

I have a 2.6Ghz Pentium with 1 gig ram.  I am aware of the restrictions that are on mame because of emulation.  It seems like after doing some reading here that some people are getting games to run at normal speed that I cannot.  Should I try fastmame?

[pointdablame]

Most of it is due to older versions of Mame.  Older versions usually run faster because there is less bloat.  This is a generality of course, but it stays true for a good number of games.

if you have a midrange computer for instance... you'd run games much smoother with something like MAME .55 than you will with the latest build.  You could of course run a smaller install of 105 or whatever in order to play any games you like from .55 to .105 (or whatever versions you use)

[tkuper05]

How would you go about running a smaller install of 105?  Also I noticed that mame.net only has older versions of mame up to .67 where would I find .67 on?

[fixedpigs]

How would you go about running a smaller install of 105?  Also I noticed that mame.net only has older versions of mame up to .67 where would I find .67 on?

from mame.net...
"Oh, and if you didn't notice yet, this page is rarely updated, so if you REALLY need a new older version which is not yet linked from this page, try http://www.mame.net/zips/mame???b.zip or mame???s.zip, replacing ? with the version number."

[pointdablame]

How would you go about running a smaller install of 105?  Also I noticed that mame.net only has older versions of mame up to .67 where would I find .67 on?

you just install 105 and only have it run the newer games that you want to play.  Then put a complete .55 romset in the .55 install.  Frontends can make it so you don't really even know you're using multiple versions.

I don't understand why more people don't do this.

[tkuper05]

you just install 105 and only have it run the newer games that you want to play.  Then put a complete .55 romset in the .55 install.  Frontends can make it so you don't really even know you're using multiple versions.

I don't understand why more people don't do this.

I'm not having a problem with older games.  Older games run fine.  It's the newer games that run slow, and by newer I mean 90's games.  Sorry if my post was vague.

[tkuper05]

Are you saying that the size of your romset affects the speed of mame?

[pointdablame]

Are you saying that the size of your romset affects the speed of mame?

No.

I'm saying that older versions of MAME run faster than newer ones in a lot of cases.  So let's say you have a midrange computer and can't run a certain game... maybe Metal Slug.   If you run an older version of MAME that supports that game, you'll likely have better performance.

I'm not talking about old games.. I"m talking about old MAME versions... big difference.  Most of the games you want to play have been in MAME for a long time.  There aren't a ton of "new" games that have been added to MAME in a long time IMO.

This has been talked about a lot here.  Do a search for "what mame version" or similar, and also look at the Wiki and threads that discuss what computer to use.

[tkuper05]

Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

[Luckydevil]

I have a computer with about the same specs (P4 2.4ghz, 500mb ram) and I'm running Win XP with MAME32 v.104.

There are a few games that I cannot play due to them being too slow, but for the majority I can play most of the new games.

What games are giving you problems with speed?

[tkuper05]

The 3D games like SF FX, and Dead or Alive but I was informed that zinc handles these much much better.

[Dizzle]

I think the MAME development team is more concerned with making the emulated games as true to the originals as possible (more accurate) rather than it being playable on any computer.  That's really what the MAME project is about.

That being said, I'm sure Zinc will run those 3d games based on that hardware (I think its related to the Playstation architecture) a lot faster at the expense of accuracy.

[tkuper05]

Most current version I could find was 1.1 is this right?

[pointdablame]

Most current version I could find was 1.1 is this right?

Yup, I'm pretty sure that's the latest.  Just give it a try.

[destructor]

I have a 2.6Ghz Pentium with 1 gig ram.  I am aware of the restrictions that are on mame because of emulation.  It seems like after doing some reading here that some people are getting games to run at normal speed that I cannot.  Should I try fastmame?

With Pentium 2,6GHz you can use latest (current 105) version without problems. If you use older versions some roms will be not compatible.
Try mameplus.

[pointdablame]

If you use older versions some roms will be not compatible.

That's not true at all.  It's actually more likely that you'd have problems WITH 105 unless you are just starting to use MAME.  You'll need to upgrade or downgrade your romsets regardless.  If he got 105 roms and version 105, then yes you are right.... but if he's using anything else, he'll have to either upgrade to 105 or downgrade to whatever version he wants using ClrMamePro or similar

[destructor]

If you use older versions some roms will be not compatible.

That's not true at all.  It's actually more likely that you'd have problems WITH 105 unless you are just starting to use MAME.  You'll need to upgrade or downgrade your romsets regardless.  If he got 105 roms and version 105, then yes you are right.... but if he's using anything else, he'll have to either upgrade to 105 or downgrade to whatever version he wants using ClrMamePro or similar

Then try to run Shinobi on MAME37b14. Good luck if you find correct rom or downgrade it. You can manually only chceng rom files there.
I know what I say. Currently I have installed over 20 different MAME version on hard disc (from 33 to 105, and all version on CD) and I know which problems are with older MAME versions.

[pointdablame]

Then try to run Shinobi on MAME37b14. Good luck if you find correct rom or downgrade it. You can manually only chceng rom files there.
I know what I say. Currently I have installed over 20 different MAME version on hard disc (from 33 to 105, and all version on CD) and I know which problems are with older MAME versions.

wow, don't get your panties all in a bunch.  You're not the only person that has installed multiple MAME versions on a hard drive... you want a medal?

I think I have a v36 versions of Shinobi and it's probalby fine if its known to play well on that version.  It's not really that big of a deal to downgrade or upgrade roms unless you are jumping a large number of versions.  Going from 105 to 36 would be tough, I agree... but that's not what I'm talking about.

It's not my fault you can't find the right files to run a game, or you don't have the right romsets.  That doesn't mean it wont work.  And regardless, that has absolutely ZERO to do with the argument at hand.  The question is what is the fastest MAME build... and if you take a game that runs on 2 versions of MAME, you will find that many, many times... the older version will run the game faster.  Do some FPS test on games on v36, v55, and v105.  Only choose games that work fine on all 3 versions, then let me know what you find out.

I'll save you the trouble... you'll find out that the older versions run the game faster.  Now that may be because they aren't as "perfectly emulated" as they could be... but from a gameplay standpoint, they are noticeably faster, and will run better on older PC systems.

Maybe you should do some more testing before you proclaim you "know which problems are with older MAME versions"   

[Brad]

You can also get some better performance using CPU optimised Mame Builds. Try the flavours here and see how you go:

http://redump.emubase.de/mame.php

Also if you have an AMD CPU try our new SSE optimised build which has some substantial speed increases for some games here:

http://www.emuchrist.org/

Brad