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AdvanceMAME Update ?
#296478 - 09/25/12 12:45 AM
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Years ago I started building a MAME cabinet. When I started I had decided that I wanted an arcade experience that was as authentic as possible and decided to go for the WG D9200 arcade monitor. I probably completed about 75% of the cabinet which included mounting the monitor and wiring up the controller.
With the WG D9200 monitor it seemed that AdvanceMAME was the best MAME variant to use since it would accurately display games in their original video format. After getting it setup I was very happy with the results and felt that my purchase of the monitor was justified :-)
I've recently had time to get back into the MAME hobby and am planning to finish the MAME cabinet I started to build years ago. One of the first things I wanted to do was to update AdvanceMAME but I was surprised to see that the project seems to be dead. I could go with the latest release version of .106 but I'd really like to be running a more recent version of MAME.
This lead me to consider the possibility of trying to bring the AdvanceMAME patches up to date. I am an experienced C programmer but I do not have that much experience in navigating/modifying the MAME source code. If I were to take up such a task I would most certainly need help from others which would make this more a of a team effort. My initial thought was to do bring the patch forward one MAME release at a time starting with .107. I know this would be a long and tedious effort.
Before taking on such an effort I'm first wondering if there is any interest from others in the MAME community in getting an updated version of AdvanceMAME ? Second, is there are suitable AdvanceMAME replacement that I haven't found/heard of yet ? Again, my main interest in AdvanaceMAME is to run games in their original video format so if there are suitable alternatives I would definitely be interested in giving them a shot. Third, am I crazy for trying to take up such an effort ? Given that the last version of AdvanceMAME is based on .106 it seems entirely possible (likely) that I will encounter changes in the MAME source which I don't have the expertise to understand making it impossible for me to make appropriate changes to the AdvanceMAME patch set.
-hexray
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Re: AdvanceMAME Update ?
[Re: hexray]
#296488 - 09/25/12 03:41 AM
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What you want is called GroovyMAME.
With a compatible ATI video card, you install modified ATI Catalyst drivers (CRT_EmuDriver) which enable arcade resolutions. Then you run GroovyMAME, which calculates resolutions on the fly to match the original game resolutions as closely as possible.
Drop by the support forum, read some threads, and ask some questions...
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/board,52.0.html
There's also some links in my signature.
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GroovyMAME support forum on BYOAC
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Re: AdvanceMAME Update ?
[Re: krick]
#296498 - 09/25/12 05:28 AM
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Thanks for the pointer on Groovy MAME!
As an exercise (in futility) I went ahead and worked on porting the .106 patchset to .107. It took me awhile but I did manage to get it working. Based in my experience of getting the patches working on .107 it seems like it will take a lot of work to port the patches up to a recent version of MAME.
In any case it doesn't like this is needed given the existence of Groove MAME, thanks again for the pointer!
-hexray
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Re: AdvanceMAME Update ?
[Re: hexray]
#296499 - 09/25/12 05:37 AM
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I imagine that it would be nearly impossible to port the AdvanceMAME patches to a recent version of MAME. In the 6 years between MAME 0.106 and MAME 0.147, there's been 41 versions, with many serious architectural changes along the way.
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GroovyMAME support forum on BYOAC
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Re: AdvanceMAME Update ?
[Re: hexray]
#296501 - 09/25/12 05:46 AM
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Oh, and here's a quick primer for an "optimal" GroovyMAME setup.
1) Core2Duo or better. MAME runs way better on Intel hardware, and modern versions of MAME need lots of CPU power.
2) Windows XP x64 Edition. MAME runs way better on 64-bit operating systems, and Windows 7 is very broken when it comes to dealing with arcade monitor resolutions. Plus, CRT_EmuDriver only works on XP (64-bit or 32-bit).
3) ATI Radeon X300, X600, or HD 4xxx series (assuming a PCIe motherboard). If you need the extra power for running modern PC games (i.e. not MAME), then go for the HD 4xxx, otherwise pick up a cheap x300 or x600 on eBay.
There's also Groovy Arcade Linux, which is a little more flexible with the video card choices, if you're into the Linux thing.
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GroovyMAME support forum on BYOAC
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Re: AdvanceMAME Update ?
[Re: hexray]
#296505 - 09/25/12 10:37 AM
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| R. Belmont |
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Cuckoo for IGAvania
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Reged: 09/21/03
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Re: AdvanceMAME Update ?
[Re: hexray]
#296516 - 09/25/12 04:49 PM
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> Thanks for the pointer on Groovy MAME!
>
> As an exercise (in futility) I went ahead and worked on porting the .106 patchset to
> .107.
The OSD layer was completely rewritten for 0.107 (it's also when XMAME, DOSMAME, and MacMAME all died) and has been substantially modified continuously ever since. I would not recommend trying to reinvent that wheel; just get GroovyMAME.
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Stiletto |
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They're always after me Lucky ROMS!
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Re: AdvanceMAME Update ?
[Re: Robbbert]
#296523 - 09/25/12 05:49 PM
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