mame cab software setup questions...HELP!

[DJ_DEEM]

so me and my roomate just finished putting our mame cab together. all wired up and ready to rock, but when it comes to software i have no idea where to begin...

what i really would like (don't know if its possible) is a computer that boots up directly to a mame selection screen (not showing windows at all) also i have a complete mame rom set so it takes a LOOONG time to scroll one at a time and i would like to be able to scroll perhaps at diffrent speeds using diffrent joysticks or jump around using the pannels buttons.

Pretty much make it as much of a arcade cab and as little of a pc as possible, any help or suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated and please keep in mind i'm only used to mame 32 so the more specific the better!

THANKS GUYS!!

[XYXZYZ]

Modded Xbox. You can play MAME, and Xbox games like Street Fighter III TS, Soul Calibur, Dead or Alive, etc. It loads nice and fast too, perfect if you just want to turn it on for a few minutes of Robotron before work. So you don't have to wait 25 minutes for Windows to load. And you can do a simple pad hack, so you don't have to worry about keyboards and mice and all that.

http://bellsouthpwp2.net/s/w/swarwick1/files/room/xbox.jpg
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=95601

Go to www.xbox-scene.com for info on modding the console and www.ultimarc.com has the Xbox>arcade monitor adaptor.

[Candycab]

Though I can say where to get them beacuse I have no idea, I know there are some DOS based MAME frontends that are exactly what you are looking for. They seemed to be the pretty hot setup some years back and work very well from what Ive seen abd experienced a few times. I had a buddy who was all into that stuff through the 90's.

Him and some other guys were running MAME on OP Routes and nobody had a clue. If it were me looking for this info I would be looking at news groups and forums that are geared specifically toward Mame, sorry I cant be of more help but I know there has to be some iteration of what you are looking for outthere somewhere.

[Flack]

Check out MameWah, it's a pretty good one and will do everything you asked. There's a great list on BYOAC that has all of the big front ends. Keep in mind that you might spend a while getting the front end to work and act exactly how you want, but in the end it'll be worth the effort!

http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade.htm

[srabelpawz]

http://www.mamewah-setup.co.uk/index.html
download mamewahconfig also. it'll make it a little easier for you probably

[InsaneDavid]

Also take a look at GameLauncher (http://www.dribin.org/dave/game_launcher/), it's simple and straight forward to use, but setup takes a little time since it uses a configuration .txt file. What's cool is it supports nearly ANY command line emulator or program, it will also work with DOS flavors of MAME. I was going to use it on my Pole Position conversion but the motherboard I'm using likes to idle in DOS for a moment before loading anything so game performance was slightly hindered. However, I use GameLauncher here on my main computer to play the small MAME assortment I always have ready to go.

[Pete Rittwage]

Self-plug, but it's free, so hey...

http://rittwage.com/ultramame.html

I recently got a Pac-Man cocktail so I've made some changes to the software to run properly in a vertical game, too. Will update the page with that version soon, but the release works fine with horizontal displays, wide or normal.

Pete

[Kid Ice]

Self-plug, but it's free, so hey...

http://rittwage.com/ultramame.html

I recently got a Pac-Man cocktail so I've made some changes to the software to run properly in a vertical game, too. Will update the page with that version soon, but the release works fine with horizontal displays, wide or normal.

Pete

This is my front end of choice and I thank you sir! If you want something reaalllyy easy to set up, try Ultramame.

[IronBuddha]

If your willing to spend $25 the program I like is Maximus Arcade (http://www.maximusarcade.com/), I like the look of it and it's simple to use, just show it where your emulator and roms are and it does the rest. It hides windows and anytime you want get windows back just hit ctrl+alt+delete and windows comes back. It also works with all emulators not just mame so you can also run Nes, Snes, Sega Genesis etc. and it keeps it organized and very simple to use.
Here's a video of it being used Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1Ot6Mdzsgs)

[hayabusa_fmw]

Try mamewah it's a little complicated
but there are Tons of Tutorial, it's Easy once you get a hold of it .
it becomes User friendly eventually ....

also it's best Utility is that it looks good , works great , Stable , & doesn't eat Pc memory or nothing
it's as low as loading some Txt files or Pictures

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

EasyMame will do what you want in terms of page-jumping using your joysticks/buttons ... however, in my MAME cabinet, it tends to use resources that make the games stutter more than MAME 32 (which doesn't stutter at all).

Give it a try, perhaps you've got a faster PC in your roommates cabinet that can handle it better.

http://www.mameworld.net/easymame/

[XYXZYZ]

I've been using AtomicFE in my shooter cabinet, but I'm about to switch over to MaLa as it may be faster (Not sure yet) and Atomic seems to have a bug that's giving me grief.