I have compiled this page after reading similar pages on other peoples sites.
Information here has been obtained from my experiences, newsgroups
and other mame cabinet sites.
For instance:
Bourdo's FAQ Page has some very useful information. As does the
Purple Mame site, especially for setting up advmame and arcadeos.
For general Mame FAQs check out:
mame.net FAQ
The following works with my cabinet but may not with yours!
As with anything there is often more than one answer to any question,
and more questions than I can answer.
The Questions
Q. How do I get sound to work in DOS? -->A
Q. How do you get MAME to work in DOS? -->A
Q. How much memory do you need to run MAME? -->A
Q. What sort of processor do you need to run MAME? -->A
Q. Where can I get roms from? -->A
Q. How do I get past the OK screens without typing O K ? -->A
Q. Why don't some of the snaps show up in Arcadeos? -->A
Q. Why don't my roms show up in Advance Mame? -->A
Q. How can I check my roms? -->A
Q. Where's a good place to ask questions and get answers? -->A
NEW and Updated FAQs........
Q. I get the error: unknown command -monitor? -->A
Q. How can I get rid of the split screen effect in DOS on my arcade cabinet? -->A
Q. How do I get rid of the messages when a game starts? -->A
Q. When I run advv the screen is too tall for the monitor? -->A
The Answers
Q. How do I get sound to work in DOS?
Make sure you have a fully DOS compatible sound card.
Make sure your auotexec.bat is set up correctly. (see my software page)
I use on board AC97 sound device which works perfectly well. The drivers were included on the CD that came with the motherboard but were not very obvious.
A copy of the relevant VIA AC97 DOS drivers are available on the downloads page.
Q. How do you get MAME to work in DOS?
Check out my software page for some tips.
If, like me, you use windows 98 you need to modify your MSDOS.SYS file, and write a config.sys and autoexec.bat file. These files will vary depending on your hardware/software setup.
I also run a menu.bat file that allows me to start ArcadeOS, DOS, Windows or Jukebox.
You can get a copy of theses files from the downloads page.
Q. How much memory do you need to run MAME?
256Mb RAM. To run MAME v59, and its associated ROMs, you will need 256Mb of RAM to ensure you can play all the games.
Q. What sort of processor do you need to run MAME?
1GHz or greater CPU. As MAME is using software emulation to emulate some fairly complex hardware, you need a fairly high power CPU if you want to run all the games at their maximum possible speed
Note: if you only want to run older games (pre '88) then you can get away with a much lower spec CPU.
A reasonable graphics card is required, but the CPU still does most of the work to get high frame rates in the games.
Q. Where can I get roms from?
Since the demise of mame.dk it has been a little harder to obtain ROMs, but they are still out there.
The best method is via tombstones.org (see links page) these guys will provide all the roms on CD if you supply the blank CDs and postage.
Another alternative is newsgroups (ngs), particularly alt.binaries.emulators.mame and alt.binaries.emulators.misc
There are also some ftp sites available, check the alt.games.mame ng for details. (ask nicely on this ng, or you might get your head bitten off! lol)
People living in NSW AU can contact me for CD ROM sets (I'm an unofficial tombstones burner).
Q. How do I get past the OK screens without typing O K ?
Moving the joystick left then right simulates OK.
If you are using Arcadeos, you can set it to automatically bypass the initial screens, via its configuration file.
Q. Why don't some of the snaps show up in Arcadeos?
The problem is actually pretty simple! ArcadeOS requires the snaps be in 256 colours (8 bit or 8bpp). Mame saves the pictures in whatever mode the game is using (usually 16 bit). All you need to do is convert the set to 8bit with a batch conversion utility.
Thanks to Anthony for this tip.
To perform batch conversion of snaps to 8bpp in IrfanView do the following:
Select - File/ Batch Conversion
add the file(s) you want to convert
select Batch Conversion in the Work As box
select the Advanced Options button
select 'Change Color Depth - 256 Colors (8bpp)
click Ok
then click Start
Q. Why don't my roms show up in Advance Mame?
In advmame.rc it refers to the folder where your rom files are as: rom
change this to: roms
roms is the standard name for the folder so you are better off changing the .rc file rather than the folder name.
Q. How can I check my roms?
Use a ROM Manager such as ClrMamePro or Rom Center
Q. I get the error: unknown command -monitor?
Look for the lines: arcmodeopt=-monitor and palmodeopt=-monitor in your arcadeos.cfg file,
delete everything after the = sign.
Q. How can I get rid of the split screen effect in DOS on my arcade cabinet?
Install ADVCAB and run vga.exe in your config.sys file, as per:
device=c:\advcab\vga.exe /l /c c:\advcab\vga.rc
Read the documentation that comes with the advancecab.zip file
You may also need to run vgav first.
Q. How do I get rid of the messages when a game starts?
The answer is similar to the problem above of the arcmodeopt and palmodeopt lines in your arcadeos.cfg file.
Change the lines to read:
arcmodeopt=-quiet
palmodeopt=-quiet
Q. When I run advv the screen is too tall for the monitor?
I got the solution to this from the advancemame users list.
In your advmame.rc file look for the following line:
device_video_vclock 47-63.2
change it to:
device_video_vclock 51-63.2
the original figures are setup by advcfg, so you may want to re-visit advcfg and fine tune it.
Q. Where's a good place to ask questions and get answers?
Right here!
Send me an email, and I'll do my best to find an answer.
Alternatively post your question to the alt.games.mame newsgroup, that's where I got some of these answers from.
