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Author Topic: Mame 119 or 123...help a newbie choose  (Read 3518 times)

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joemac78

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Mame 119 or 123...help a newbie choose
« on: March 17, 2008, 06:05:09 am »
     Been lurking and reading thread after thread for a couple of weeks now, first let me say that this is one of the greatest forums I have ever run across.  There are so many people here willing to share their experience and try to help people out with problems. :applaud:  I wish I would have found this site years ago. 
     I personally have not messed with Mame in a few years; not since my old computer died and took all my stuff to computer heaven(or possibly computer hell with the way that one acted up).  Since so much has undoubtedly changed with Mame since I last used it, I was just looking for a few opinions on which version would be the better choice to start with.  For arguments sake, pretend that any rom/chd set is available. 

MAME Version 119 or 123?  Or possibly 117?

Is one more stable than the other?
Does one run older games better than the other?
etc.

In case it matters, computer specs for MAME computer:
AMD Athlon 64 3800
2GB Ram
ATI 1950 Pro 256MB RAM
Lots of HD space...

What will be on the 2 person Control Panel I am about to start building:
Couple of 8 way sticks
Dedicated 4 way
Happ 3" trackball USB
Turbo Twist Spinner
KeyWiz

On a final note, just wanted to say Hello to everyone.    :woot
We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.            -Benjamin Franklin

philby85

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Re: Mame 119 or 123...help a newbie choose
« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2008, 07:14:11 am »
Hey Joemac78,

First off welcome. You will have plenty of fun here and with your new fun all time,money consuming hobby ;D

Your computer specs are fine. As to the two versions download both and try them as they are independent. You can install different versions of mame no problem. I am currently using 0.120 myself.

Again welcome and enjoy yourself!

cheers

Philby

emb

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Re: Mame 119 or 123...help a newbie choose
« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2008, 10:00:06 am »
It really depends on the games you wish to run. Which games do you plan on running? I would actually suggest starting at 117 and seeing if all your ROMS run at full speed (or at least the roms that are CPU intensive). If they don't, try dropping down all the way to 103 and 106, as those versions are pretty pivot able points (I even dropped down to 098 and had a HUGE performance increase). I also would not expect many 3D games to even run close to full speed with any version.

If some of your games do not run correctly on 106 but run at full speed, then try a version in the middle between them (like 112).

Also, http://benchmark.mameworld.net/  is extremely useful. It is useful in seeing how ROMS perform in each MAME version. There are not a TON of benchmarks (but still quite a few), so I would just be generic on my search. I would just select the ROM that you want to see benchmarks for, set the "first sort" option to mame build, then the "second sort" option to CPU.

I spent quite a bit of time finding the optimal MAME version for my cabinet (doing a lot of the... rinse....wash....repeat... cycle), And found 098 to be a great version for my 1.5ghz Athlon system. The benchmark site saved me TONS of time on guesstimating a version to start at.

Hope that helps! ;)

ahofle

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joemac78

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Re: Mame 119 or 123...help a newbie choose
« Reply #4 on: March 17, 2008, 10:56:27 am »
     Thanks for the responses, will definitely checkout the benchmark site.  Not sure if I had seen that link or not...most likely I saw it but forgot to click on it.  Thats one reason I decided to speak up and ask for some advice, it's so easy to overlook good links even if they are sometimes right in front of your eyes. 
     It is a little bit overwhelming at first with all the information I keep finding, but information is a good thing, or so I am told.  :-\  Anyway looks like I got a lot of trial and error work ahead of me.  But on the bright side, at least I will get to play a lot games over the next few days/weeks.

Thanks,
Joe
 
We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.            -Benjamin Franklin

emb

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Re: Mame 119 or 123...help a newbie choose
« Reply #5 on: March 17, 2008, 12:49:52 pm »
heh, yea, thats the really fun part!

Barracuda

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Re: Mame 119 or 123...help a newbie choose
« Reply #6 on: March 17, 2008, 01:24:16 pm »
Quote
MAME Version 119 or 123?  Or possibly 117?
I would not go down below 117 because I believe 118 added the multimouse option you will need with having both a spinner and a trackball.  I might be mistaken though.

massive88

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Re: Mame 119 or 123...help a newbie choose
« Reply #7 on: March 17, 2008, 01:37:08 pm »
I run 117, for no good reason.  But it allows for multiple mice.

TelcoLou

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Re: Mame 119 or 123...help a newbie choose
« Reply #8 on: March 17, 2008, 08:23:47 pm »
Quote
MAME Version 119 or 123?  Or possibly 117?
I would not go down below 117 because I believe 118 added the multimouse option you will need with having both a spinner and a trackball.  I might be mistaken though.

... UGH!!  :badmood:

I'm using 110 ... only because I got the full romset quite some time ago ... I dread having to run them all through clrmamepro!!!

I don't have a real CP yet, but will be getting one from arcadesrfun eventually ... so err ... 117 or 118 is the recommended version to be able to use a spinner and trackball on the same CP??

How reliable is converting roms through clrmamepro?? It frightens me!!!  :scared
So a leper walks into a bar and as he gets his beer, a finger falls off. The bartender who is serving him turns and pukes all over the place. The leper, feeling bad, says, "Was it my finger falling off?" The bartender turns to him and says, "No, it's the guy dipping chips into your back."

jardine

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Re: Mame 119 or 123...help a newbie choose
« Reply #9 on: March 17, 2008, 10:42:23 pm »
I just wanna add that i am a newbie too and this can be very daunting but VERY rewarding....three little words for you to remember........high score support....http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=64298.0 check it out before you go nuts like me...

TelcoLou

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Re: Mame 119 or 123...help a newbie choose
« Reply #10 on: March 17, 2008, 10:47:21 pm »
I just wanna add that i am a newbie too and this can be very daunting but VERY rewarding....three little words for you to remember........high score support....http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=64298.0 check it out before you go nuts like me...

Heh. Yeah, I read over that thread ... but my concern now is support for the spinner to work with the trackball ... it took all day Sunday to transfer my MAME roms from my laptop to my new PC (long story) ... the thought of getting a whole new set after upgrading to mame 117 or higher gives me a migraine  :dizzy:
So a leper walks into a bar and as he gets his beer, a finger falls off. The bartender who is serving him turns and pukes all over the place. The leper, feeling bad, says, "Was it my finger falling off?" The bartender turns to him and says, "No, it's the guy dipping chips into your back."

joemac78

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Re: Mame 119 or 123...help a newbie choose
« Reply #11 on: March 17, 2008, 11:16:49 pm »
     I appreciate the heads up about the multimouse support.  Truthfully, that was something that never even crossed my mind to look into.  Seeing all the control panels on this site that have both a trackball and a spinner, I just kind of assumed, if you hooked them up right...they worked.  Ain't ignorance bliss?  I guess some people using older versions of Mame have a trackball and spinner on one encoder?  Trackball on X and Y axis, spinner on Z axis? 

So multimouse is supported from 117 and up....

Haven't messed with clrmamepro yet...sounds like it is going to be an experience.  :banghead:

Thanks a bunch,
Joe
We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.            -Benjamin Franklin

ahofle

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Re: Mame 119 or 123...help a newbie choose
« Reply #12 on: March 18, 2008, 01:06:56 am »
I just kind of assumed, if you hooked them up right...they worked.  Ain't ignorance bliss?  I guess some people using older versions of Mame have a trackball and spinner on one encoder?  Trackball on X and Y axis, spinner on Z axis? 

That is correct, you do not require the multi-mouse functionality unless you have two separate mouse devices/encoders (or multiple lightguns).  For example if you bought a USB trackball and then added a separate spinner.  Better to have them on one encoder anyway IMO.

u_rebelscum

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Re: Mame 119 or 123...help a newbie choose
« Reply #13 on: March 18, 2008, 12:29:09 pm »
I just kind of assumed, if you hooked them up right...they worked.  Ain't ignorance bliss?  I guess some people using older versions of Mame have a trackball and spinner on one encoder?  Trackball on X and Y axis, spinner on Z axis? 

That is correct, you do not require the multi-mouse functionality unless you have two separate mouse devices/encoders (or multiple lightguns).  For example if you bought a USB trackball and then added a separate spinner.  Better to have them on one encoder anyway IMO.

Err, no.  Before the -multimouse support, mame treated all mouse devices as if they were one device, just like 99.99% of the other applications.  IOW, they just worked.

The only things -multimouse adds is that moving the TB doesn't mess when using the spinner and vice versa, and the ability for the different mice to control different players.  You know, 2 player 2 trackball Marble Madness, 4 player 4 360degree steering wheels (spinners) destruction derby, and the like. 

If you don't mind that accidentally (or your "friend" intentionally) nudging the spinner when driving in Golden Tee (for example), don't worry about -multimouse support.  And this is coming from the guy who started a derivative a while back (mameAnalog+) to have multiple mouse support before mame got it, and currently use mame's -multimouse.
Robin
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ahofle

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Re: Mame 119 or 123...help a newbie choose
« Reply #14 on: March 18, 2008, 01:11:17 pm »
Ahh didn't know that, thanks for the clarification.

TelcoLou

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Re: Mame 119 or 123...help a newbie choose
« Reply #15 on: March 18, 2008, 01:28:08 pm »
Yes, thanks u_rebelscum (once again!)
So a leper walks into a bar and as he gets his beer, a finger falls off. The bartender who is serving him turns and pukes all over the place. The leper, feeling bad, says, "Was it my finger falling off?" The bartender turns to him and says, "No, it's the guy dipping chips into your back."

um3k

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Re: Mame 119 or 123...help a newbie choose
« Reply #16 on: March 18, 2008, 06:25:34 pm »
Err, no.  Before the -multimouse support, mame treated all mouse devices as if they were one device, just like 99.99% of the other applications.  IOW, they just worked.

The only things -multimouse adds is that moving the TB doesn't mess when using the spinner and vice versa, and the ability for the different mice to control different players.  You know, 2 player 2 trackball Marble Madness, 4 player 4 360degree steering wheels (spinners) destruction derby, and the like. 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but another thing that multimouse would allow is if you have dual LCD Topguns, they would both be able to track independantly.   (Since the Act Labs guns don't track and you are able to map the triggers to different mouse buttons its not an issue for them.)  I agree with you otherwise, many people have optical encoders which handle trackball/spinners together, and even if you don't, multiple mice all work on the same cursor anyway - so everything should just "work",  but MAME would not be able to differentiate between the different mouse devices.

Barracuda

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Re: Mame 119 or 123...help a newbie choose
« Reply #17 on: March 18, 2008, 09:30:18 pm »
OK. I was mistaken about my comments earlier.  I was having trouble with windows recognizing both mice not mame, but then I had to turn on the multimouse option when I got my actlabs lightguns.  Sorry about that, but if you do plan on ever having dual lightguns you might want to get a version that at least has multimouse support.

u_rebelscum

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Re: Mame 119 or 123...help a newbie choose
« Reply #18 on: March 19, 2008, 01:01:18 pm »
The only things -multimouse adds is that moving the TB doesn't mess when using the spinner and vice versa, and the ability for the different mice to control different players.  You know, 2 player 2 trackball Marble Madness, 4 player 4 360degree steering wheels (spinners) destruction derby, and the like. 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but another thing that multimouse would allow is if you have dual LCD Topguns, they would both be able to track independantly.   

In my books, dual LCD Topguns is one of the "...and the like".  But you're right to point it out, as not everyone has my books. ;)


Quote
(Since the Act Labs guns don't track and you are able to map the triggers to different mouse buttons its not an issue for them.)  I agree with you otherwise, many people have optical encoders which handle trackball/spinners together, and even if you don't, multiple mice all work on the same cursor anyway - so everything should just "work",  but MAME would not be able to differentiate between the different mouse devices.

One of the issues I've run into is that the word "mouse" can mean so many different things.  Physically, mouse is different from trackball or lightgun, while all are mouse type devices to the computer.  Even then, the lightguns are absolute mouse devices, while the mouse and TB are the normal relative mouse devices.  On the other end, there is the mouse cursor, often called mouse pointer, or mouse for short.  In between these is the mouse data, and whether mame can see the mouse data after it's combined, or see each mouse device's date separately.  That's five different levels, that while related, are different enough that the meaning of -multimouse isn't straight forward as shown in this thread.

FWIW, the optipac can handle 2 TBs & 4 spinners, and is seen by the computer as 2 (relative) mouse devices (with two data streams), and all control the one mouse cursor.
Robin
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joemac78

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Re: Mame 119 or 123...help a newbie choose
« Reply #19 on: March 19, 2008, 02:59:32 pm »
 :blowup:  When I first read that paragraph about mouse types, I think my brain decided to file for divorce because of over use.  It wasn't so much the info in your post, u_rebelscum, as the way it was worded sounded too much like the chapter Waveguides and Radar I just read out of my communications text book.

To quote Jinx the Cat, "I hate those meeces to pieces!"

Seriously though, thanks for the help.   :notworthy:
Joe
We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.            -Benjamin Franklin

um3k

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Re: Mame 119 or 123...help a newbie choose
« Reply #20 on: March 19, 2008, 05:06:31 pm »
One of the issues I've run into is that the word "mouse" can mean so many different things.
MAME will do that to you. :dizzy:   Lightgun... mouse.   Spinner...  mouse.   Trackball... mouse.   Enough mouse for today  :)