MAME/Playing
From StrategyWiki, the free strategy guide and walkthrough wiki
Playing games in MAME is as simple as knowing all of the controls. Of course, there are a lot of controls, so it's not always that simple.
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[edit] Navigating the MAME menu
Once you have selected and started a game in MAME, you bring up the in-game MAME menu by pressing the Tab key. This brings up a menu that should look somewhat similar (if not completely) to the picture on the right. Here are some of the common default settings for navigating the in-game menus:
| Description | Key |
|---|---|
| Up | Up arrow |
| Down | Down arrow |
| Left | Left arrow |
| Right | Right arrow |
| Select | Enter |
| Cancel | Esc |
| Clear | Delete |
[edit] Checking the controls
To examine the controls, choose either Input selection. To see the default Input settings for every game in MAME, choose Input (general). If you would rather look solely at the input specific to the game you are playing, choose Input (this Game). Here are some of the common default settings for the first player's controls only:
| Description | Key |
|---|---|
| Player 1 credit | 5 |
| Player 1 start | 1 |
| Up | Up arrow |
| Down | Down arrow |
| Left | Left arrow |
| Right | Right arrow |
| Button 1 | Left Ctrl |
| Button 2 | Left Alt |
| Button 3 | Space |
| Button 4 | Left Shift |
| Button 5 | Z |
| Button 6 | X |
While it is useful to know these controls, you are highly encouraged to examine the rest of MAME's controls for player 1, and the controls assigned to other players, for yourself. Familiarize yourself with all of the options available for configuration.
[edit] Assigning new controls to MAME
Whether you wish to add to the existing controls, or assign entirely new controls to a particular input setting, the process is the same:
- To add a new control, or replace an existing control, select that control setting from the in-game menu, and press Enter. The next key that you press will replace the setting that originally existed there.
- If you wish to replace your recent input setting with another one, you must leave that current input selection and then return to it once more before repeating the step above.
- If you wish to add another input setting, do not leave the current input selection, and press Enter once more. The next key that you press will add to the list of accepted inputs for this particular setting.
- To erase any input setting from a particular selection, choose that selection, press Enter, and then press Esc. It should say None.
- To return to the original default value that MAME assigns to a particular control, choose a selection that says None, press Enter, and then press Esc.
[edit] Example
Say for example, that you'd like to remap the buttons for Street Fighter II. Ordinarily, when you enable joystick input in MAME, MAME automatically assigns proper joystick input to the default controller settings. For the sake of these examples, we are going to pretend that either MAME failed to do this, or that the joystick settings that MAME chose were incorrect.
[edit] Example 1: Adding a joystick to the direction inputs
Since the changes we are about to make will most likely effect every game that you play in mame, we are going to choose Input (general). Navigate down to Player 1 Controls and press Enter. Start at P1 Up and press Enter. Now press up on the joystick you would like to control the game with. You will probably notice that your choice has replaced the Up Arrow setting. You can add it back in simply by staying on P1 Up, pressing Enter, and pressing the up arrow. Now P1 Up is mapped to both your joystick and the up arrow key on the keyboard. Repeat the same process for the remaining three directions.
[edit] Example 2: Replacing the button inputs
Rather than the default settings (Ctrl, Alt, Space, Shift, Z, and X), you would prefer to use a layout that is closer to the arcade layout (A, S, D, Z, X, and C.) Additionally, you have a 6-button Sega Genesis controller that you would also like to map (whose buttons are X, Y, Z, A, B, and C.) Since this is not a control scheme that we want mapped to every game in MAME, we are going to choose Input (this Game). Navigate down to P1 Button 1 and press Enter. Now press the A button, which will replace the default Left Ctrl assignment. You will notice that the A is highlighted, indicating that this is not the current default assignment for this button. That's perfectly all right. Now, without leaving P1 Button 1, press Enter once more, and press the X button on your Genesis controller. Then move to the next selection, P1 Button 2. As before, press Enter and push S. Then press Enter again and press the Y button on your Genesis controller. Repeat this process until all 6 buttons are properly remapped.
