Why does MAME suck so bad?

[Ace]

... So wait.

You've compiled your own version of MAME, even hacked it to use external hardware, and yet you don't submit the needed patches to fix those problems?

Ah. Aah. I think I just had a small stroke. I'm gonna go lie down.

I didn't hack MAME to use external hardware in any way. Read this carefully:

If you recall, versions of MAME prior to v0.60 can make use of Yamaha YM3812s and Yamaha YMF262s on older ISA sound cards(the early SoundBlaster sound cards come to mind) for 100% authentic sound off those games.

Those versions of MAME WERE ALREADY DEVELOPED for use with old sound cards containing Yamaha YMF262s and YM3812s. I did not modify MAME v0.138u1 to work with those sound cards. Here's what I've done for some of the games with problems:

-Gradius/Nemesis: Emulated Z80 runs at a lower frequency, emulated K005289 was modified to output sound at a higher pitch than the twin emulated AY-3-8910s, adjusted the volume balance to match the original arcade board, several parameters in the emulated AY-3-8910 were changed
-Salamander/Life Force: My version of MAMEUI works with 3 different Yamaha YM2151 cores. Salamander and Life Force make use of one of the cloned and modified YM2151 cores to speed up the music, the emulated VLM5030 has had some parameters altered(but I can't figure out how to make the emulated VLM5030 sound just like the real chip), volume balance was adjusted to match the original arcade board
-Gradius II/Vulcan Venture: This uses the second cloned YM2151 core as with the cloned core used in Salamander, the music is too fast. Volume balance was once again adjusted in accordance to the original arcade board and some heavy low-pass filtering was added to the emulated uPD7759
-Super Contra: Uses the same cloned YM2151 core as Salamander, volume balance adjusted according to the original board
-TwinBee: Volume balance adjusted according to the original board(filters are still missing, however)
-1942: Sounds much closer to the original arcade board with the modified parameters in the emulated AY-3-8910
-Thunder Force AC: Volume balance adjusted according to the original board

I would release the fixes, but since these are all hack-ish in nature, this is something the MAME team seems to frown upon. I don't know how any of the chips work. Most of my fixes all came together thanks to experimentation and dumb luck.

What's the MAME team's policy on modified versions of MAME? If I could release my modified version of MAME, I would.

[Kitsune Sniper]

You can. Just release the source, and it's cool. They frown upon closed source versions of the emulator.

Also, have you tried -asking- MAMEDev if they would consider including your fixes? Who knows, maybe they'd at least take a look and offer pointers, or incorporate your fixes.

Edit: And of course, those are Konami games, their devs were always high on crack so emulation will be imperfect until someone fully reverse engineers their chips and stuff.