Mame versions which do you use?

[pacman-jam]

Ok so from what I have gathered (please correct me)

You must have the correct version of Mame to correspond with the matching ROM..

this would explain why I have so many Roms that don't work!

So you have to install multiple versions of Mame to run all your games.

What I don't understand is if you use a Front end like MaLa.. which version of Mame will it run? do you have to keep switching versions to play different Rom sets?

     -I also understand that the easiest thing to do is download the latest versions
      of mame and the latest sets of Roms. But this is no good if you want to use
      hiscore.dat instead of save states (is seems hiscore.dat is perferred)

Please elaborate 

[severdhed]

i was recently using mame .108 for a long time, but i got sick of MK2 having volume problems...so i updated to the latest version of mame .117.  after upgrading, i only had 3 roms that didnt work anymore, so it was easy to get newer versions of just those 3.  (i only run about 50 games on my cabinet, so checkign them all doesnt take that long.)

I use MALA as my front end and only run one version of mame, but you could in theory set up multiple versions and switch between them if you really wanted to.

as for the hiscores and savestates, i dont really care about that.  i play the games to have fun, i dont worry about the hi scores.

[moriartyds]

Ok so from what I have gathered (please correct me)

You must have the correct version of Mame to correspond with the matching ROM..

this would explain why I have so many Roms that don't work!

So you have to install multiple versions of Mame to run all your games.

What I don't understand is if you use a Front end like MaLa.. which version of Mame will it run? do you have to keep switching versions to play different Rom sets?

     -I also understand that the easiest thing to do is download the latest versions
      of mame and the latest sets of Roms. But this is no good if you want to use
      hiscore.dat instead of save states (is seems hiscore.dat is perferred)

Please elaborate 

Easiest thing to do is find a rom set and match your mame version to it, or pick and mame version and match your rom set to it.  If you have a fast computer (something recent) you can go with a more recent version .111 - .116 of Mame.  The main advantage is that you can play more games with a more recent version.  If you have a slow computer, or if you only play the classics ... try something around  mame version .87 or so.  If you have a favorite game, try checking it out on MAWS to see when the last update to Mame that affects it was.

If you for some reason have various versions of Mame ROMS, you could have multiple MAME versions in Mala I believe, you'd just have to set them up as different emulators (I haven't tried this though). 

As far as Highscore.dat, you can compile this with various versions of Mame.  See the stick thread at the top ^^ to see what versions of Mame you can compile Highscore with.  All the recent versions are there.

[esaelectrionics]

I use version 0.79 for dos and advancemame version 100 for dos.
0.79 seems like the best build to me for speed and old games.

just d/L a roll back set if you want to use the old versions.and use rom center/clrmame to fix.
these versions use the old system.




 

[pacman-jam]

Ok well I had mame 111 running nicely with Mala.. but it wouldn't work with the hiscore.dat (although I didn't configure it properly) so I just downloaded mame 117.u1 and used that.. but it plays the old games kinda fast for some reason and comes with it's own front end..

where would a get a rom list to match 117? my roms are from all over the place.

I also don't understand the difference between mame32 and other versions?? 

[esaelectrionics]

Dont think your meant to talk about where to get roms but
there are some good burning services that are cheap.
 

mame32 is meant to run under windows and has an integrated
frontend.

[SGT]

Also the command line version of Mame is intended to run under Windows.  Many have the misconception that it is for DOS (though there is also a DOS version).  It is basically the same as Mame32 except it does not have the GUI front-end.  The command line version is best if you are going to use it with a third party front-end like Mala, AtomicFE, GameEx, etc...  That is not to say that Mame32 will not work with front-ends, just that it will not work as well as the command line version will with most front-ends (not all).

[Chunce DeLeone]

I use Ver .109......It was created on my birthday!!!

Other than that no probs with it....

[vScourge]

I recently switched to .117u2, in order to get the multimouse changes.  It allows > 1 mouse and combines their inputs like XP does.  Before that I wasn't having much luck getting my Opti-Pac, USB spinner and mouse all working together in MAME.

Not that I need the mouse outside of troubleshooting.  And I'm also a huge MAME noob.