Front End for old pc

[EwJ]

Can anyone recommend a good FE for an old sys - either a celeron 300 or 466.
Would be to run old version of mame (maybe around .55) , plus maybe (s)nes emu's.

Would GameLauncher be appropriate?  Looking for something very light on resources
(obviously) - with no need for .net or other frameworks, etc. 

Also, would XP Pro install on something with that slow a processor? ( I would, of course, disable any unneeded services after install).  Would an NLite install be required?  (IIRC there are options in NLite to allow/disable hardware checks).

Any advice?

[gonzo90017]

GameLauncher or Mamewah should work fine. I have Mamewah Installed in a 400mhz celeron. An Nlited xp version is a must. I attached my Last Session.ini that has all the settings I used.  It already has all unnecesary services disabled.

[BORIStheBLADE]

Just curious what games you can run on a pc like that?

[youki]

AtomicFe can run on your configuration.

Not "out of the box", you will have to change the default layout which require more power due to animation. (but you can try it out of the box , to see how it perfoms on your config)

but you can perfectly scale Atomic to run on your configuration.  It support also very old version of MAME.

XP Pro is good for you configuration too, but of course you have to stop all unneeded services.   Avoid Lite XP version, that are not very good. The only interrest of these version are that are use less disk space, except that you can have same performence with a full Xp version and you will have less problem (in Lite version some file are missing that can cause problem when you install some emulator, driver, codec ..etc...)

[gonzo90017]

Well the Nlite settings I point to actually work great with AtomicFe. I've also tested Mamewah which is what it's currently using. You can't have the same performance with a regular XP version. Especially with these low end pc's. Believe me i've tried.

BORIStheBLADE I can run all NeoGeo and Capcom games at 60fps with no frameskip. Of course that's using Nebula or Winkawaks. Winkawaks is a better choice since it has the ability to use decrypted roms which cut loading time significantly. Only downsides is that it requires a wrapper and to exit you need to press Enter to pause the game then Alt+F4 to exit. It can be easily done with Xpadder or Joytokey. On the other hand Nebula is easier to use since it can be run from the command line.

I also run all games supported by Raine. 90-95% of the games run full speed with no frameskip. It's faster than mame.

Last but not least I use Mame37b16 for the roms that are left. It's the fastest mame version. I run some 30 roms with Fastmame71 and 84. Of course games like MK and Nba jam are a no no.

[EwJ]

gonzo, thanks for the info and the Nlite ini.

youki, thanks for the info - i don't see a lot of information about minimum system requirements/ recommended system requirements for Front-Ends (if anyone reading this has any of this information could you please add it to the wiki).
Would the latest version of AtomicFe be best for an old system, or would an older version work better?

[youki]

use 0.19 (the lastest) . 

The performance in Atomic depends on the Layout you use, and the resolution. (just a question of display) other features don't change the performance.

Lower the resolution is, simplier the layout is , faster Atomic will be.

If you use very old version of mame some specific settings could have to be done also on Advanced options tab.
 

[gonzo90017]

Here's an old thread explaining how to use an older version of mame.
http://spaceinvaders.7.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=616&highlight=

[EwJ]

Thanks guys!

I'm building a bartop cab to house these old components (celeron sys, old 15" crt monitor).
It's still a bit cold to do the woodwork, but i can start getting all the pc components ready
and load up and test the OS, Front End, and Emu's.

[IG-88]

Give Spystyles Boot CD a go. It works great on older systems.

[Arcade Freak]

hi guys,
i have a 450mhz, 256 ram and 20 gig hard drive and i am running mame32 w/ no other FE. I have win 98se for os and it runs fine. Keep in mind that i am only playing the old games like frogger, pacman, galaga, galaxian.

Sorry guys...my questions as been answered....thanks ig_88
cheers,
claude

[IG-88]

Read above post ^ . And careful asking for roms, it's illegal around these parts. It would be best to edit that post     (quickly)