Help me get away from MAME32!

[AceTKK]

I have decided to switch from MAME32 to the Win32 version (or maybe FastMame?) with a nice front end.  Mame32 is not cabinet-friendly and lacks the visual flair of some of the better FEs.  I have downloaded and am playing with Emulaxian / 3dArcade and I'm really impressed so far.  However, I am concerned about the difficulty in setting up my game options.  In Mame32 it is very simple to designate a screen resolution, sound sample rate, adjust brightness, etc. for each game through the GUI.  How do I make these adjustments with the command line versions of MAME?  I don't want to type in a bunch of parameters when launching the program, so I assume the front end can handle these settings.  How is it done in Emulaxian?

Thanks,
-Ace-

[jets]

I don't want to type in a bunch of parameters when launching the program, so I assume the front end can handle these settings

Well typically when you download programs there are help files. Programmers include them with the program so that people can actually use them! Sounds like you want a turn-key operation - that only comes with elbow grease.

[toyguy]

In Emulaxian, you'll find a file named femamecloptions.txt.  In there, you can put custom parameters for any game.  Here's a sample line from my system:

2|crusnusa|-noautoframeskip -frameskip 0

This tells Emulaxian that whenever field number 2 of a game list entry contains crusnusa, that it should launch with the following parameters.  As you may have guessed, field 2 in a MAME game list is just the ROM name.

Here's a more complex example for Daphne, where you use the rom name again to launch a particular laser game:

2|astron|vldp -framefile E:\Daphne\framefile\abelt_frame.txt -fullscreen -x 1024 -y 768

In this case, the game is Astron Belt and Daphne needs the location of the video files as well as a screen size to use.

TG

[Odonadon]

Another solution might be to try ArcadeOS.  I didn't have any luck with this FE, but you have the option of setting per-game paramaters from within the FE itself, instead of manually adding each game and required command line to a config file (ala Game Launcher).

Odonadon

[)p(]

It works in Emulaxian exactly as Toyguy has pointed out  

Because you can set the options for any field in the gamelist you can easily set general options for all games with just one line if you point to the field that contains the emulator. Or for certain categories like all vertical games etc. see for details: http://3darcade.mameworld.net/frontend/fereadme.htm#Commandline

peter

[Howard_Casto]

another, more rube goldberg solution is to use my generic commandline wrapper......

in the command line translator section simply put the romname followed by the romname again and the added options.....

so you do it like:  

sf2t|sf2t -noscanlines -aspect 13:10

or whatever.....

To do it this way you have to send only the romname and not the full path though.  there are ways around this limitation too but it's not worth the effort imho.  

[AceTKK]

Thanks for the input everyone.  Toyguy's explanation has made it very clear.  On a seperate note I just stumbled onto the tutorial that comes with the Emulaxian download.  It is extremely helpful, thanks for including it )p( .  Howard, I am not ready to jump into wrappers just yet.  I do plan to make use of the U64Emu version once I get Emulaxian working properly.  

Thanks,
-Ace-

[)p(]

On a seperate note I just stumbled onto the tutorial that comes with the Emulaxian download.  It is extremely helpful, thanks for including it )p( .  

don't thank me but Stefan Gagne who made it  
But be aware it is a bit outdated as it was made for .65 and we are now at 0.77  ...but everything related to the gamelist format should be ok there are only some added options...

peter

[AceTKK]

I would like to thank Mr. Gagne, unfortunately there is no contact info. in the tutorial.  I noticed a few extra options and a couple of changes from what was indicated (for example, the ambient sounds are now set to turn off by default when a game is launched).  Regardless it really helped me to understand how the front end works.  I'm very impressed.  

-Ace-

[)p(]

I would like to thank Mr. Gagne, unfortunately there is no contact info. in the tutorial.  

http://www.pixelscapes.com/twoflower/
 

peter

[SirPoonga]

Ahh, sound like you are looking for a FE that saves commandline options per game.  Like say you run asteroids at 640x480.

Well, on a per game basis the prefered way would to make an ini file for the game.  like making an asteroid.ini file with the config stuff in.  (You can make stuff like neogeo.ini, vector.ini, and a couple of others).
Basically, just take your mame.ini file and make a copy, cut out the stuff you aren't going to change, change the stuff you want to change.

My FE will support commandline options per mame exe registered with the FE.  Not a per game basis as those options tend to change.  That's the purpose of the ini files anyway.

[Minwah]

I just make ini's for this purpose as SirP says.  A bit of a pain, and a bit time consuming but I don't mind doing it.

Remember you can make ini's for drivers too (eg system32.ini for Sega System 32 games).  I have forgotten the mame commandline option to show the driver name - anyone?

[Howard_Casto]

One of us could make a gui for the ini files but I doubt it would help.  The thing is you have to write one for EVERY game and that's no fun even with a gui.  To be honest (and don't get mad about this)  if you are having to send specific options for EVERY game then you are doing something wrong.  I know a lot of people prefer this, but you shouldn't be swtiching your resolution around for every game if you are using windows.  You turn on hardware stretch and set the resolution to the maximum your display will allow.  There are a few odd ball exceptions where it messes up the aspect ratio (cps2 games, in which you can simply make a cps2.ini) but in general it will do all the work for you.  

If you are doing it for a few select games (which is what you should be doing anyway) then you need to get used to ini files anyway.  Most of the fe's around here are ini file based and you need to get used to mucking around in text files.    They are your friends and are actually quicker than the crappy mam32 gui once you get used to them.  

[toyguy]

Howard's point is well-taken.  I have my mamepp.ini file set so it accomodates most of the games the way I like them.  Then in my Emulaxian config files, I make necessary adjustments for those games that need them.  Cruising USA gets the noframskip stuff, Ribbit gets nohwstretch, the laser games get their command lines, etc.  All told, I think I have maybe a dozen specific entries to accomodate odd game settings.  That's it.  Easy to set up and it didn't take long at all.

TG

[)p(]

Howard's point is well-taken.  I have my mamepp.ini file set so it accomodates most of the games the way I like them.  Then in my Emulaxian config files, I make necessary adjustments for those games that need them.  Cruising USA gets the noframskip stuff, Ribbit gets nohwstretch, the laser games get their command lines, etc.  All told, I think I have maybe a dozen specific entries to accomodate odd game settings.  That's it.  Easy to set up and it didn't take long at all.

TG

yeah i also only use only a few the most importent for me:
-one entry that enables the wingman warrior spinner for all dial games
-one entry that for all horizontal games adjust the aspectration a bit so there is more to see on my vertical monitor...just a bit

peter

[AceTKK]

Interesting... So suppose I create a somegame.ini file for MAME with a set of parameters to be enabled for somegame.

Question 1: When Emulaxian launches MAME will the somegame.ini file be referenced automatically, or do I have to tell MAME to look for it?

Question 2: Where do I put somegame.ini?  Do game-specific .ini files go in the same directory as mamepp.ini?  

toyguy, I see the advantages of doing it both ways.  On one hand it's nice to understand how the front end operates and will be crucial for configuring other emulators besides MAME for Emulaxian.  On the other hand, if I set up game-specific .ini files for MAME I can play around with different front ends without having to make a bunch of different configuration files.  

-Ace-

[)p(]

On the other hand, if I set up game-specific .ini files for MAME I can play around with different front ends without having to make a bunch of different configuration files.  

Exactly, ini's are your friend! and as you say majes using fe's next to each a breeze...

just put them in the same foldef as your mame exe. And yes the options will automatically be used when a frontend launches a game. and if the fe launches the game with the same commandline option that can be found in the ini it will override the settings in the ini.

peter

[AceTKK]

Hey Peter, while I have your attention may I ask two more questions about emulaxian?  

First, where do I adjust the movement options for the 3darcade?  I don't like the "sliding" sensation while moving around the room.  It feels like my 'character' is walking on an ice patch.  I'd like to set it so that I stop moving as soon as I release the 'move forward' key.  Can this be done?

Second, I was wondering what happens to the front end when a game is launched?  I'm sure the 3darcade uses a lot of resources to create the 3d environment.  Are those resources freed up once a game is launched?  I haven't noticed any slowdown in MAME (Ultimate MK3 still runs at 100%) so whatever process it uses seems to be working.  I'm just curious.

Thanks again,

-Ace-

[)p(]

Hey Peter, while I have your attention may I ask two more questions about emulaxian?  

First, where do I adjust the movement options for the 3darcade?  I don't like the "sliding" sensation while moving around the room.  It feels like my 'character' is walking on an ice patch.  I'd like to set it so that I stop moving as soon as I release the 'move forward' key.  Can this be done?

Second, I was wondering what happens to the front end when a game is launched?  I'm sure the 3darcade uses a lot of resources to create the 3d environment.  Are those resources freed up once a game is launched?  I haven't noticed any slowdown in MAME (Ultimate MK3 still runs at 100%) so whatever process it uses seems to be working.  I'm just curious.

Thanks again,

-Ace-

1. for now that is a feature... more natural then an instant stop...i could make it optional...

2. yeah it is completely disabled while in the background unless you keep the background music on while playing a game. You may see some more cashing if you don't have a lot of ram. But I also have never seen a difference in frameratres running from the commandline of from the fe. (There is a bug in an extension I use that can cause a key lag when the disablewin option is enabled...but by default this option is off so keep it off for now   )