Mame current versions: Any reason to upgrade?

[HeadRusch]

Like alot of guys, I built a mame cab a few years ago.....and it was good.

Once it was built, like alot of other guys, I slowly stopped playing it

I haven't done much with my mame cab except a year or so ago I got an updated set of ROMS and the Cab was running with, I think, MAME .89

Since that time Mame has obviously undergone some revisions...but I can't seem to find anyplace online that actually can tell me if there is any reason for me to upgrade what I currently have.  Most of the links I've found that actually list NEW games and show some screens of them are dead or out of date.

So, I turn back here to the Hive

Have any games been released for MAME in the past year that are actually worth upgrading for?  Last time I checked many of the new games were modern ones, which meant polygons, which meant they weren't actually running at any kind of acceptable framerate for most folks cab's.  I'm not really intersted in arcade Hard Drive based polygon games that aren't using video hardware to get the job done.

So, can someone give me the cooks tour of any major games or releases that might make an upgrade worthwhile?  Mostly it seems to be revisions of older games to correct some innaccuracy that most of us mere mortals would never notice.

Thanks everyone, glad to see the board is still thriving!

[Havok]

The only reason to upgrade is to get the correct sounds for Phoenix!

 

There are pluses and minuses with going with a newer version:
- Slower
- Removed hiscore.dat support (now you HAVE to use savestate)
- Added Q*bert knocker support
- Dual Monitor support
- Better video support

And so much more!

Also, looking at the latest version - it looks like they are experimenting with multithreading, even though they deny it can be done...

[Tiger-Heli]

The new artwork handling and the work they are doing with vectorized artwork is enough reason for me -

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

http://www.mameworld.net/mrdo/mame_art/mario.png

[Howard_Casto]

- Added Q*bert knocker support

More like added output support.  A lot more than just qbert is going on there.  Not that I'm complaining but I wonder why everyone makes such a big deal over that knocker anyway.  There are so many games with really cool ouputs (blinkly lights, force feedback, ect) but everyone focuses on making the cab go "boom" when you die in one game. 

[Buddabing]

The biggest addition game-wise since .89 is the addition of the Golden Tee games back in version v0.92.

If you don't run artwork, and you don't like GT, and you're not a Phoenix purist, and you only have one screen, you don't need to upgrade.

[TOK]

The biggest addition game-wise since .89 is the addition of the Golden Tee games back in version v0.92.

If you don't run artwork, and you don't like GT, and you're not a Phoenix purist, and you only have one screen, you don't need to upgrade.

.99 corrected the video blitter and now runs Robotron at the correct speed.
That was the last revision that mattered to me. 

[lokki]

Also, looking at the latest version - it looks like they are experimenting with multithreading, even though they deny it can be done...

I don't think they deny that it can be done. I think that they deny that it will help that much.  I think there are a few builds out there that have been multithreaded for a while. MacMame and Advancedmame for intstance.
it had been added for a while on mame 107 and got taken out. (but now aaron is adding it back).
The only thing that is multithreaded is the screen rendering. (and possibly sound not too sure since most of the discussions have been on the rendering) MAME does not have to wait for the screen to be drawn before it does something else.

[Tiger-Heli]

Not that I'm complaining but I wonder why everyone makes such a big deal over that knocker anyway.  There are so many games with really cool ouputs (blinkly lights, force feedback, ect) but everyone focuses on making the cab go "boom" when you die in one game. 

It's b/c people haven't caught up to the scope of the changes that Aaron is making.

Q-bert always had the keyboard LED light for the knocker part of it, so it was a (relatively easy) thing to hack into.

People asked years ago (when FF first became affordable) about the wheel shaker in OutRun and MAMEdev basically said "yeah, right, dream on."

Now it turns out all that and more will likely be added fairly quickly, but I don't think most people have grasped the scope of things yet.

Kinda like before there was a Johnny5 and people were working on controls.dat and others were like - "hmmmn, a text file to show what P1Button1 stands for, I guess it's a good thing to do, but not very useful in a practical sense".

[u_rebelscum]

...And so much more!

- Added multiple mice support in winXP (~ 0.105-0.106).
- Dropped system mouse support for systems with more than one mouse device.  (Have to remap if you have a spinner & a trackball, just like if you had a gamepad and a steering wheel.)

[Howard_Casto]

Not that I'm complaining but I wonder why everyone makes such a big deal over that knocker anyway.  There are so many games with really cool ouputs (blinkly lights, force frack, ect) but everyone focuses on making the cab go "boom" when you die in one game. 

It's b/c people haven't caught up to the scope of the changes that Aaron is making.

Q-bert always had the keyboard LED light for the knocker part of it, so it was a (relatively easy) thing to hack into.

People asked years ago (when FF first became affordable) about the wheel shaker in OutRun and MAMEdev basically said "yeah, right, dream on."

Now it turns out all that and more will likely be added fairly quickly, but I don't think most people have grasped the scope of things yet.

Kinda like before there was a Johnny5 and people were working on controls.dat and others were like - "hmmmn, a text file to show what P1Button1 stands for, I guess it's a good thing to do, but not very useful in a practical sense".

Agreed. 

I don't think people have a grasp of what the new rendering system can do either.  You can reposition/resize the screen as well as rotate it on the fly.  Also artwork now takes NO resources, so you can have a gigantic bezel or instruction card, so gigantic that you can actually read it, and not have it bog down the game.  You can also toggle it on and off during gameplay.  That alone is pretty frikkin awesome if you ask me. 

Also it's dx9 based.  As a programmer I understand the default speed and quality increase an upgrade from dx7 2d rendering to dx9 3d rendering can give.  Not for the games mind you, but any blending and scaling effects that the mame renderer has to deal with.

[sportswizdan]

     In what version of Mame did you have to start "remapping" if you have both a trackball and a spinner? Thanks,

Dan

[Howard_Casto]

     In what version of Mame did you have to start "remapping" if you have both a trackball and a spinner? Thanks,

Dan

Read above

[daywane]

I am only getting some just to store them.
33, 56, 78, 99 ( I might be off on some of the version #s I have)
56 is still just fine for me
art work is OK, But I only like it on my 32" TV
any smaller and I think it takes up to much screen.

[Tiger-Heli]

Unless you use the Crop to screen option like below: