MAME/Misc
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[edit] ROM Managers
An important aspect to many serious MAME users is ROM management. MAME allows for a variety of ways for you to store your ROMs, whether they are compressed or uncompressed, or whether they are stored in a single parent/clone folder or separated. Understanding the ROM parent/clone relationship in MAME is essential to proper ROM management. Take Pac-Man for example. The parent ROM in Pac-Man's case is actually the original Japanese variant Puckman. The Puckman set of ROMs contain all of the programming for the game. The Pac-Man set of ROMs has a number of similar files, and a few different files. Rather than requiring you to possess every single ROM for Pac-Man whether some exist in Puckman or not, MAME allows you to omit the ROMs in Pac-Man that are identical to those found in Puckman. In this case, Puckman is the parent, and Pac-Man is a clone. MAME allows you to store parents and clones in a number of ways. If you insist, you may include every rom in a clone folder or archive whether some are the same as the parent or not, but this is generally regarded as a waste of space. You may instead store every single clone rom in the same folder or archive as the parent. While this tends to save a little space, it's a little harder to manage when certain ROMs are updated. The most common approach is to have complete parent ROMs, and incomplete clone ROMs. That is, incomplete in the sense that they don't contain any files that would be identical to any in the parent. There are a number of tools that can aid you in determining which ROM sets that you have are complete, which are incomplete, and which have files that are unnecessary or incorrectly named.
[edit] ClrMAME Pro
This is a very popular utility among the MAME community that does a great job utilizing MAME's own ROM identification's system to determine what files MAME is expecting to find. ClrMAME Pro then takes that information and compares it to what it finds in your ROM directory (or directories) and reports information about the status of what it's found. Because there are so many options to consider and so much information to present, there are a number of settings you must initialize and fine tune before ClrMAME Pro can inform you about the status of your ROM collection. Such information includes where your ROMs live, where ClrMAME Pro can find files that it might use to correct damaged ROM sets, where your samples lives and whether you want ClrMAME Pro to consider them or not, etc. ClrMAME Pro can also be used to compare other ROM collections not related to MAME, through the use of DAT files that contain information about what a particular complete ROM set looks like. This guide certainly can't aid the user on how to use ClrMAME properly, but there are a number of other guides available. Download ClrMAME Pro from its official site.
[edit] RomCenter
RomCenter is a very nice utility that does a great job presenting you with useful information about your ROM collection. The general consensus among users is that while RomCenter is not quite as good for managing MAME ROMs as ClrMAME Pro, it is that much better for managing other types of ROM collections. RomCenter does not integrate as well with MAME as ClrMAME Pro does, but you can easily obtain a RomCenter DAT file to teach RomCenter what MAME expects to find. RomCenter DATs and ClrMAME Pro DATs are not compatible, but they are both so prominent that each utility supports the other format. Once you place a MAME dat in the data folder of RomCenter, you can direct RomCenter to use that dat, and open the folder(s) where your MAME ROMs live, and RomCenter will begin to analyze them. RomCenter uses a graphical interface to indicate to you which ROMs are correct, incorrect, missing, or unnecessary, and you can filter the view to see only the ROM statuses that you're interested in. RomCenter requires a little more manual work to get it to fix your ROMs than ClrMAME Pro, but it's a very good management tool and both are worth becoming familiar with. Download RomCenter from its official site.
[edit] MAMEMerge
This author is unfamiliar with MAMEMerge and welcomes anyone to provide a better description. From the MAMEMerge site, "MAME Merge is an arcade rom utility that enables you to scan for and build the correct romsets required for a given version of MAME. MAME Merge is also capable of using most (if not all) dat files created for ClrMAME Pro. Visit [www.logiqx.com] to download dat files for emulators other than MAME." Download it from the MAMEMerge homepage.
[edit] Controllers
After you go through all the trouble to download and install MAME, and download particular ROMs that you want to play with, it's important to enjoy the experience of MAME and play each game as closely to the way it was designed to be played as possible. Unless you have no alternative, a keyboard will never do. It's awkward if you've never practiced playing a game with one before, and there is a limitation as to how many keys may be pressed down simultaneously, which can interfere with your experience. A simple solution is to buy a USB joypad for your computer. At least that's a step up from a keyboard. But if you really want to experience true arcade-like controls, you have two options: You can build your own, or you can buy one of the increasingly popular commercial options available.
- X-Arcade: X-Arcade offers a number of arcade/PC gaming solutions. They offer single or dual player models that consist of one 8-way joystick and 8 fire buttons (and one start button) per player. Most models include two pinball "flipper" buttons on either side and they also offer a model that includes a trackball. Go to xgaming.com for more information.
- Hot-Rod: The Hot-Rod joystick is very similar in format to the X-Arcade, minus one fire button per player that would hardly be missed. Choosing one over the other is simply a matter of budget and taste. Head to Hanaho Game's Hot Rod page to find for information.
- Slikstik: Slikstik offers there joystick products in a variety of configurations, including a full scale four player setup. Slikstik joysticks are serious products and do not conserve on space. They are rather large, but very well constructed. And typically offer every combination of control that you can think of, including trackballs, spinners, and additional dedicated 4-way joysticks. FInd out more at slikstik.com.
- Devastator II: This joystick is a little lesser known than the others, but provides nearly as many control options as the Slikstik but in a more compact and space friendly package. The Devastator can also be configured per taste as they are built-to-order more so than the other options. Check out the website at treyonics.com for more info.
[edit] Ultimarc
If you are confident with your construction skills, you may consider making your own arcade style controller. If you do, one piece of hardware to strongly consider is a keyboard encoder. But you don't want any standard encoder, or you will most likely run against they same simultaneous key press limitation that exists on a regular keyboard. One excellent alternative (and highly recommended by the forum members at BYOAC) is Ultimarc's I-Pac and it's analog control cousin, the OptiPac. I-Pacs are sold in two player and four player varieties. Find out more at ultimarc.com
[edit] Groovy Game Gear
Another alternative is Groovy Game Gear. Often referred to as GGG and also highly recommended by the forum members at BYOAC. Groovy Game Gear has several interface cards available. There is the keyboard interface KeyWiz, it's game pad sibling the GPWiz and the analog control cousin is the OptiWiz. GGG also has all your needs for lighting up your control panel. Anything from the Electric ICE buttons with the optional RGB LED driver boards to the Electric ICE-T trackball to other lit button styles. And to control all your LEDs GGG has the LEDWiz. Find out more at groovygamegear.com
[edit] USB Adaptors
The fact is, many great arcade-style joysticks have been made for great consoles in the past, such as the SNES, Dreamcast, and PlayStation. And they cost substantially less than options mentioned above. So you may choose instead to invest in one of many USB adapters available. A USB adapter plugs in to your PC and accepts controller inputs from another console. The most common USB adapters on the market today tend to be for PlayStation controllers, but it doesn't take a lot of searching to find adapters for other systems. Typically, they are inexpensive (under $50), offer immediate plug and play support (no need for additional drivers), and sometimes they offer multiple inputs for more than one player, or even support more than one console's style of controllers. For more information, start by searching on Lik-Sang, Play-Asia, NCSX or even eBay.
[edit] Cabinets
If you are one of the ultimate MAME fans who insists on experiencing your arcade memories as close to authentically as possible, then you may want to consider joining the legions of MAME fans who have built a "MAME-cab." As the name implies, this is a structure that resembles an arcade cabinet in every way (and are sometimes started by gutting a real arcade cabinet), but houses a computer inside capable of running MAME. The controls on the panel, and the monitor (either an original arcade monitor with a special connection, or a replacement PC monitor) are connected to the PC so that when the player plays a game in MAME, it looks as close to the original arcade environment as possible. People go to varying lengths to recreate this illusion.
[edit] BYOAC
To many people, this seems like a very insurmountable task. But the members of Build Your Own Arcade Controls, and its very active forum are proof that people with even the smallest construction or carpentry experience can make very impressive cabinets and controls. The BYOAC site is definitely worth a visit, and you can even purchase the book that has been published by site founder John St Clair, known as 'Saint' on the BYOAC forums. You can purchase his book here. John designed his book to help hopeful arcade cabinet builders with every detail of the project. BYOAC also has their own Wiki site similar to this one, which can be found here.
