I am posting this post today to help people still running on Windows XP. I searched the forums and I couldn't find a place to help me with my M.A.M.E questions. I download the last one, which is .204. I installed on my computer running Windows XP, with 4GB RAM, and a Nvidia Geforce 7800 GT. When I clicked on M.A.M.E to run it the computer. The computer went through some black screens and then it crashed. I tried 3 other M.A.M.E versions, and they all crashed too. I think they were .135, .204, and 0.98b. The only one that works for Windows XP 32 bit. Is .096b. I also picked up a solution of the roms. To leave them in zip form and create a roms folder are place them there in a roms folder already created.
When MAME fails like that, more than likely, missing files are the reason. MAME is looking for files, it cannot find them and then it quits.
Try running the executable from a command line. If files are missing, you will see what files MAME is expecting and which files it cannot find.
Also, know this - MAME ROM sets change. The games that you are trying to run may not have complete ROM sets (MAME will also tell you this when you try to run a game from the command line)
Lastly, running MAME on an XP machine with 4GB RAM is just asking for headaches. Windows needs 4GB alone to run without any issues. Now you are adding MAME. I've never used MAME on an XP machine but can only imagine this not turning out good. But, I could be wrong.
> > The > > computer went through some black screens and then it crashed. > > You don't have the appropriate DirectX 9.0c redistributable installed. >
and if crash means bluescreen, it's the old bug with Nvidia's XP drivers, where you have to use much older drivers, because every single one past a certain point is broken, that's Nvidia's fault, not MAME, because it shouldn't even be possible to cause a bluescreen from a user application.
but XP is so old, and insecure nobody should be using it, and the knowledge of exactly which drivers you need is fading too.
As you probably noticed from the other replies, it can be almost anything. Bottom line, XP isn't supported anymore & it's next to impossible to get support for it. People are going to have to guess what could be causing problems. You're running an archaic OS that MAME doesn't support anymore. Your best bet is to either upgrade your computer and OS, or just try to figure it ot on your own. As already stated, it can be anything from bad graphic drivers, to missing files. And even if you can get it to run, don't expect a good experience
Edited by Envisaged0ne (12/05/18 10:30 PM)
Windows 11 64 bit OS
Intel Core i7-10700
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 6GB
32GB DDR4 RAM
> 4GB is the maximum ram that is usable on any 32bit windows (a little less, actually). > And since XP was almost always 32-bit, he doesn't have much choice.
That's not actually true. On CPUs with PAE (Physical Address Extension) features, 32-bit Windows can use more than 4GB of RAM. The hard limit is that a single process can't have more than 4GB of addressable space.
This generally means that a single application can't use more than 2GB of RAM, because Windows puts the split between user space and kernel space at 2GB. You can change your boot options to put the split at 3GB, giving applications the ability to use up to 3GB of RAM. However, this has some side effects, and some poorly-coded applications don't handle it properly.
On top of that, applications that use the Address Windowing Extension (AWE) API can use more than 4GB of RAM on 32-bit Windows. Microsoft SQL Server is an example of this.
>Lastly, running MAME on an XP machine with 4GB RAM is just asking for headaches.
That is why still having to stay with using .171 version while still using my long out-of-date Sony Vaio system from 2003 that runs XP at a sloth's pace of 2.20Ghz
If playing Pong or Breakout, the computer screams just like late comedian multi talent Sam Kinison used to do back in the days. A neighbor from next door heard computer yelping since office window was open and asked if anyone inside there is dying inside the house and I jokingly said..."I believe my computer is.."
I would like to thank everyone for there comments. It's awesome to see that M.A.M.E can run on any computer system. I complete know what you mean about headaches. I was upset and to the point of never installing M.A.M.E on my computer. But something still told me to fight for an answer and a possible version that would work on my computer.
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