Recording MNG files in MAME and converting to AVI

[MrQuan]

I have been trying to record game play in MAME using mngwrite and have had limited success. 

I was unable to get mngwrite working with the mamepp.ini, however using -mngwrite filename.mng I have been able to get mng output.

I've then been attempting to convert the mng file to avi using mng2avi supplied from the BYOAC wiki.  I do the command line: "mng2avi sfa3.mng sfa3.avi" but get an error halfway through, the standard windows 'send error message thing'.  I cancel this and it seems to keep running the script but at the end says pacman.wav not found??  I didn't specify a wav??

I'm hoping someone can help me - maybe there's something obvious I've overlooked?  Is there a guide to mng2avi?  Any help is appreciated, thanks

[Buddabing]

I believe mngwrite (and mng recording in general) has been broken since v0.107. Try using version v0.106 or earlier.

I'm working on a new version of mng2avi. One problem with mng files is that the library used to process them reads in the whole file, and thus takes a geegob of memory. Also, it is not particularly robust.

Lastly, mng creation is not very fast. You may not be able to play a game (especially a complicated one such as sf3) at full speed while taking a mng snapshot. For gameplay recording, you might try using -record then playing back the the recording with -mngwrite.

[MrQuan]

Thanks for your help 

As suggested I installed MAME 0.106 on my laptop for the purpose of recording with mngwrite (didn't want to overwrite 0.109 on my arcade cab).  Worked a treat!

I haven't put MNG2AVI on my laptop yet (the PC I'm using for recording), so I'll give that another go soon.  But from what I can see with Jasc Animation Shop 3, the frames are all there in the MNG, not just thousands of blank black frames like I was getting in MAME 0.109.

Thanks for the tip about -record for game play.  Most games run pretty good, some of the more CPU intensive ones lagged a bit after some time, so that came in handy - cheers

[MrQuan]

... Just another quick question!


How many frames per second are saved into the MNG file from MAME?  Is this the same as the refresh rate setting?

Example:  -resolution 720x576@60

... does that mean 60 frames in the MNG per second?  (I realise the resolution I set is disregarded and frames are saved in native resolution, is this the same for FPS?)

[Buddabing]

All frames are saved in the mng. The refresh rate is in the mng header. Yes, it is the same as the refresh rate setting.