New to Mame

[Daltone]

I'm relatively new to all this Mame business thanks to my amazingly slow internet connection at home. I tried a bit at the end of last year but at the time didn't really have time to play the games. However, now I'm back at uni I once again can actually, you know, download stuff.

Which version of Mame would people reccomend? I've been using Mame 32 because it seems nice and simple for a n00b like me. Do different versions support different games? In a way it's frustrating to see so many of the ones I have not be playable. Then again, I suppose some things simply can't be emulated yet I guess.

Also, what games would people reccomend? I've really enjoyed DoDonPachi (the only reason I got Mame in the first place was to compare it to the Saturn version.. in a way I wish I hadn't!) and Gunbarich. Aliens Vs Predator and Bucky O'Hare (I was amazed at all the voice samples!) were fun too.

[SuperShark]

I just want you to know that you are not alone to being new to Mame, i just really started a bit under a month ago. I also use Mame 32, it has so many cool features such as the cab pics, screenshots, and more! I have lately begun a goal of geting a working rom copy for every game on Mame 32, you never know when this might be helpful like if you built a full Mame machine and cabnet for nothing but Mame goodness, and have so far gotten through ALL the capcom fighters, street fighter fighters, brawlers, and tetris with very few games in these catagories left that i do not have working roms for. I still have many more roms to sort out and many many more to download! Mame is awsome!

So, you say you like a game called DoDonPachi? Huh, ive never heard of that, ill find it and try it some time soon if i can!

[Gapporin]

Which version of Mame would people reccomend? I've been using Mame 32 because it seems nice and simple for a n00b like me. Do different versions support different games? In a way it's frustrating to see so many of the ones I have not be playable. Then again, I suppose some things simply can't be emulated yet I guess.

If you like using Mame32, then I'd recommend sticking with it. No version of MAME supports more games than the others, although some unoffical builds have some "extra" or "hidden" games available to play (these games are not offically supported by MAME, though).


Also, what games would people reccomend? I've really enjoyed DoDonPachi (the only reason I got Mame in the first place was to compare it to the Saturn version.. in a way I wish I hadn't!) and Gunbarich. Aliens Vs Predator and Bucky O'Hare (I was amazed at all the voice samples!) were fun too.

Try searching for past threads for the MAME Club and the MAME Tournament. I'd say altogether there would be about 75 or so games listed, and it provides a great jumpingboard if you're just starting.

Enjoy! MAME's a great program. :)

[heyricochet]

As far as mame goes, anyone know of issues surrounding moon patrol or S.T.U.N runner? I can't get either of these games working.

[Flack]

I run mame 0.93 and Moon Patrol works fine. I just beat it real quick.

[Gapporin]

I believe both of those games still work in the latest MAME. You probably have out-dated ROMs, they might have changed the drivers recently. Try downloading the ROMs again for those games.

[hegyak]

Mame is contantly updating. Mame32 .100 u4 is the latest mame 32 build I could find. Most of the time new games get added and some games are moved up to working status. a good idea is to use mame32's built in audit tool. It will let you know what is wrong with your rom files (if it applies) and if there are too many errors then get clr mame pro. It audits you mame roms and chds for you and lets you know what is full and what is damaged or incomplete. It also can be used to fix or update your rom files. I sometimes get the update packs instead of downloading a large rom again and Clr Mame can rebuild the rom with the out of date rom and the update rom piece I downloaded. Also, I highly recomend getting history.dat for mame 32. It shows you the history and trivia about the game you have selected most of the time.

[Icarus Moonsight]

I use Mame32 Plus! They are super fast with the updates :)Here's a link.

http://mameplus.emu-france.com/

Not the best option if your running on a slow machine but the conveinence more than makes up for it's reasource hogginess. Plus if your machine is newer... you won't notice a difference anyway. If you are running on an older 'puter I'd try fastMame... highly optimized and just what you need to run the games... no fluff or filler to hog up them valuable system clock cycles.

The ultimate set-up however is a dedicated Mame system. Best to use the standard Dos version of mame. You won't need windows on the system (frees up mucho reasources) but, you'll want a good front end for selecting games... all that typing would get old... real fast.

Welcome to Mame :)