deco cassette games / boulder dash

[NOP]

So, in setting up my machine for my new control panels recently, I discovered that Boulder Dash was one of the games that fit my criteria for playability (vertical and cocktail mode)

BD is one of my favorite games from the C64 days, and I honestly don't even remember this game being in the arcades.

Problem is that the only version of BD that is vertical with cocktail support happens to be a cassette based system, and I'm too impatient to wait for it to load up. 

So the question is:
Is there a version of MAME that speeds up cassette based games?   I see that savestates aren't even supported for this game, so I can't end-around it that way either.

thanks!

[Space Fractal]

not as I know. But you can set emulation speed up with f11 or f10 (cant remember that directly) for maximum emulation speed.

Boulderdash is orignally a C64 games, that might have converted and did to various other systems.

[u_rebelscum]

...you can set emulation speed up with f11 or f10 (cant remember that directly) for maximum emulation speed.

From docs/config.txt:

F10       Toggle speed throttling

Press it and mame will run unthrottled through the bootup, then press it again to run at emulated speed.  Of course, it only works on games that your PC is fast enough.


The other way is, if that version of BD supports savestate, is enable savestate for that game.  Then the next time you start BD, it will state where you last exited, which will most likely past the bootup.  (Note that saveed states are not guaranteed to work between new and old versions of mame.)

[NOP]

thanks for the help!

Unfortunately, there's no savestate support for that rom.
Unfortunately #2 is that I don't have an F10 button on my CP, nor do I have any intention on installing one.

I was thinking though, I wonder how difficult a software hack for that would be.  Being a software guy, I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty in the code, and I've compiled previous versions before.  Just wonder how difficult to fake an F10 keypress before and after the loading would be in the driver itself...  If I have time, I'll investigate and post back.

If that would work, I don't see why not to put something like that into EVERY startup routine; some of the POSTs on these roms do take quite a bit of time.  While I enjoy seeing the crazy video fly past the screen, most people who aren't "in the know" think my machine has crashed a firey death every time they pick a new game to play.

-jeff!

[Minwah]

Unfortunately #2 is that I don't have an F10 button on my CP, nor do I have any intention on installing one.

You can remap...which might make it a possibility if you have a shift function on your encoder.

[headkaze]

The NES and GBA both have great versions of Boulder Dash. The NES one is probably my favourite, but the GBA version has both the original and updated graphic versions in the one game. Both systems have emulators, so you may like to try them. I'm not sure how they would render on a vertical screen though. You would probably need to use your video card to rotate the screen before you run it, or use a program like iRotate.

[u_rebelscum]

You can remap...which might make it a possibility if you have a shift function on your encoder.

Wha... Oh, you're talking about remapping the encoder. 

Or just remap mame's "throttle" button (tab, "input (general)", "User Interface") to any not-pressed-during-game-play key combo.  (Or make a BD only ctrlr file if you don't want to mess other games possibly accidentally unthrottling.)

I was thinking though, I wonder how difficult a software hack for that would be....

IIRC, there was a build out there a while ago that ran games unthrottled and no video for a given time, then throttled and turned on video.  (This was back before d3d was default IIRC, when video slowed emulation more than it does now.)  Didn't find it after a quick google, though.

[Minwah]

Wha... Oh, you're talking about remapping the encoder. 

Or just remap mame's "throttle" button (tab, "input (general)", "User Interface") to any not-pressed-during-game-play key combo.  (Or make a BD only ctrlr file if you don't want to mess other games possibly accidentally unthrottling.)

Well, I did mean remap in Mame actually (I can see why it could've been misunderstood). I was just thinking the OP might not have a spare button to use for this, so could possibly use a shifted button.