how many people have moved from MAmewah to Mala?

[raqman]

Thought to ask the question, as the Arcade machine I rebuilt had Mamewah, but in the past two months, asking questions around Mamewah and the problems with getting the resolution right, even with his resolution tool seems to not attract interest from users or from Mamewah himself, so trying to do searches in the forums, it seems that it had its heyday back in 2003-4 and like all good things, maybe interest had faded on it.

So I am seriously thinking to go Mala, as it seems to be more busier and also seems to be one of the favorites, however before rebuilding the front end, I wanted to hear if anyone else has gone down this route and found benefits?

Especially getting this darned resolution right, as with Mamewah, tried Avres and Mamewah resolution tool, so hope Mala will be easier :-)

Thanks to anyone that gives feedback

[youki]

Not sure for your resolution problem it will be easier with Mala.

I think resolution is more a matter of MAME Configuration thant frontend configuration.

What is your problem exactly with resolution?  It seems you are using arcadeVGA.

In general , you have simply to use Avres.exe to generate INI files with correct resolution for your Mame version. and that's all.

Of course it assumes that your ArcadeVGA drivers is correctly installed.

[Ginsu Victim]

I'm still using Mamewah simply because it was the first one I took the time to understand and learn the functions for. My cabinet is running as expected, so I see no point in changing frontends.
As for your problem....I don't know. I use a CRT PC monitor in my cab and know nothing about arcade monitors (if that's what you're using).

[TelcoLou]

I did, just to try out Mala. I switched back due to the "loss of focus" problem, and then updated to the latest version of MAMEwah. Mamewah ROCKS 

[FrizzleFried]

I'm considering the opposite.  I have 2 rigs running MAMEWAH happily and my cocktail running MALA which has been a real pain in the ass lately.  Loss of focus (fixed),  slow previews (not fixed),  times when I lose control until the video on screen completes one run (not fixed),  etc...has frustrated me to no end.  That said,  just up and switching front-ends is a pain in the ass.  Even when you're familliar with MAMEWAH,  configuring it and setting it all up can be a bit frustrating as well.  So MALA still runs in the cocktail and I hope each and every day that the few issues left get hammered out.

If I could do it all over again I'd had stuck with MAMEWAH for this rig too.

[southpaw13]

I switched because of a vertical screen layout.   I like the options and the plug-in's (for LED's).  Meets all my needs and continual development...

[Ginsu Victim]

What does vertical matter? Just make a Mamewah layout for vertical in the layout designer.

[raqman]

thanks for the feedback, sounds like I am wrong (great thing forums!!)

Guess I gotta go back to the drawing board and figure out Mamewah and fix it for my system.

I am using ArcadeVGA with a Polo 3 Arcade Monitor, tried AVRES, but got 1941 in a tiny tiny box to one side of the screen, got Bombjack "tearing" vertically and using Mamewah Resolution tool does not seem to have done it any better.

Games do work, just Mamewah's readme instructions are not he easiest to interpret (no offense to Mamewah, think he is doing a terrific job, but probably fed up of people asking for help  ).

The Layout is also a tricky one to master, and I guess I was looking at Mala, as Mamewah enquiries seem to go to a dead end.

See this:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=86900.0

And this:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=86859.0

both with 50 views and no feedback, now figuring most people must have a similar set up, I kinda thought people moved away from Mamewah and I was using an old frontend.

But looks like I shall stick with it and experiment 

[youki]

What Mame version do you use?

did you look at your BombJack.ini and 1941.ini file (generated by AVRES)  what do you have as resolution inside?

for ArcadeVGA , MAME have to work in DDRAW mode.

[ahofle]

I am using ArcadeVGA with a Polo 3 Arcade Monitor, tried AVRES, but got 1941 in a tiny tiny box to one side of the screen, got Bombjack "tearing" vertically and using Mamewah Resolution tool does not seem to have done it any better.

1941 is unusual in that it runs at 224x384.  So you need to run it with at least 384 lines (512x384 if your monitor supports EGA resolutions, otherwise try 640x480 + hardware stretch).  Tearing is pretty hard to get rid of (try using CabMAME for that).

[southpaw13]

At the time that I switched, Mamewah did not have vertical options.  Then when I was ready to update again, Powermame died and Mala was my best option (for LED's).  Yes, it is true that it can be a little stubborn at times, but there is always a way around it or it just gets fixed in the next version.

[FrizzleFried]

I switched because of a vertical screen layout.   I like the options and the plug-in's (for LED's).  Meets all my needs and continual development...

Hmmm... MAMEWAH does verticals,  and always has from my understanding.... not so sure about the LED's and stuff.

Sure,  there is no "vertical" switch in MAMEWAH,  but it doesn't take much to create a vertical layout ...it's just a matter of switching the screen pixel sizes (roll with 480x640 instead of 640x480 for example).

[Ginsu Victim]

not so sure about the LED's and stuff.

I used LEDblinky for LEDs with Mamewah.

[loadman]

I'm considering the opposite.  I have 2 rigs running MAMEWAH happily and my cocktail running MALA which has been a real pain in the ass lately.  Loss of focus (fixed),  slow previews (not fixed),  times when I lose control until the video on screen completes one run (not fixed),  etc...has frustrated me to no end.  That said,  just up and switching front-ends is a pain in the ass.  Even when you're familiar with MAMEWAH,  configuring it and setting it all up can be a bit frustrating as well.  So MALA still runs in the cocktail and I hope each and every day that the few issues left get hammered out.

Yes I would like to fix those issues for you (  as you know     )

The delay is finding others who:
- Exhibit the same symptoms as you do on your rig
- Are willing to test/try hardware and configuration changes

Frustrating on all sides 

But the majority of users don't have have these problems so I need help to find out what the cause(s) is 

[jukingeo]

Hello all,

I have been away from Mame for a long while and decided to come back when a few used computers fell into my lap.  I figured I could turn a couple of them into dedicated Mame machines.

Anyway, back 4 years ago I had MameWah setup on a Windows 98 box and easily it became my favorite Front End.   I am amazed that now when I returned to Mame that it STILL IS a popular front end.

My take on MameWah is that it isn't very easy to set up and it does have a learning curve, but once mastered and once you have it set up, it is rock solid and looks very "pro".   However, outside of the learning curve, MameWah is VERY hard to set up on vertical cabinets.  Many Front End comparison sights list MameWah as a horizontal format only, but that isn't true.  MameWah can be set up vertically, but it is a royal pain to do so.

I am new to MALA and I just downloaded it yesterday and tried it out on my main box.  It installed easy and putting all your information into it seemed to be straight forward.   When I launched it for the first time, I was amazed that changing the orientation of the screen was such a simple task that only took a couple of clicks!

Now for the bad news.   I have not been able to get my game list (roms) to show up on MALA.   I don't know what is going on, so I am going to make a post in the MALA thread on this board and hopefully someone can help me out.

So that is the scoop, if I can't get MALA to work properly then I will go back to MameWah myself.

Geo

[Ginsu Victim]

MameWah can be set up vertically, but it is a royal pain to do so.

BS.

Just create a new layout with the X,Y of the resolution swapped. (ex. 640x480 to 480x640)

(Now, if your video card doesn't rotate your desktop, then yeah, I could see you having problems)

[raqman]

What Mame version do you use?

did you look at your BombJack.ini and 1941.ini file (generated by AVRES)  what do you have as resolution inside?

for ArcadeVGA , MAME have to work in DDRAW mode.

Hi Youki,

Here are two examples:

Using AVRES:
## 1941 ##

-screen0 \\.\DISPLAY1
-switchres
-hwstretch
-nobezel
-nobackdrop
-resolution 352x256
-resolution0 352x256@0


Using Mamewah for Bombjack:

resolution 392x240

[loadman]

Now for the bad news.   I have not been able to get my game list (roms) to show up on MALA.   I don't know what is going on, so I am going to make a post in the MALA thread on this board and hopefully someone can help me out.

So that is the scoop, if I can't get MALA to work properly then I will go back to MameWah myself.

Dude, Use whatever FE you like...   

But if you jump into the mala forum and post details I am sure someone will tell you what you are doing wrong.

[Edit] I see your issue is already fixed   

[jukingeo]

(Now, if your video card doesn't rotate your desktop, then yeah, I could see you having problems)

Ahhhh, that WOULD make the difference.   However, I own EIGHT computers and only one has the ability to rotate the screen via the video driver.  Needless to say rotating video drivers are not that easy to come by.

I think it was my Hyperbowl computer....yeah, that one has an Nvidia 5200FX video card and I managed to get some nice drivers for it that did have the vertical option.   I needed it too because that computer runs a vertical display.

But I DID manage to set up an entire vertical Mame system with MameWah.  It WAS a royal pain though.   Horizontal is MUCH easier.  But I have to say that what I been told is correct...MALA sets up MUCH faster.  There were a couple of minor annoyances I had to iron out, but I have it running fine now.

The question I have now though is that I am using MALA on my fastest machine (my main computer).  Many of the older machines I have run on Windows 98.  It looks like MALA is more power hungry than MameWah, but we shall see!

Geo

[gonzo90017]

Mala is a little more power hungry but it shouldn't make a difference on anything above 700mhz.

Personally I use Mamewah but all frontends are great. 

[Ginsu Victim]

Needless to say rotating video drivers are not that easy to come by.

AFAIK, most all ATI and Nvidia cards to come out in the past few years support it.