MAMEWorld Forums - EmuChat - Noob trying to get the first rom running

> Hello, all!
>
> I'm hoping this isn't a dumb question, I've tried searching these forums and good old
> Google, but haven't found a solution just yet. Basically, in a fit of jealousy after
> seeing a coworker's machine, I bought an xarcade tankstick, and I'm trying to get a
> rom up and running before it arrives. A little research convinced me that Mame was
> probably what I wanted, software wise, and I headed over to the official site and
> grabbed the emulator, and a couple of the roms that they offered there with the
> copyright holder's permissions. I went through the instructions, and I thought I had
> everything set up right, but aparently not. After a little more searching, I
> installed MameUIFX, which demonstrates the same problem.
>
> I'm able to get the Mame interface up and running every time, and I can select my
> game, and I think it's loading the rom. Whatever it's doing, I get to that copyright
> screen that asks me to confirm that I have permission to use the rom by either typing
> "OK" or moving a joystick left then right. It also says to hit escape if I don't have
> permission. Fine, I type OK, nothing happens. Tried arrow keys and mouse in a left
> right motion, nothing. Escape does nothing, the program just hangs there.
>
> When I tried with MameUIFX, same effect. When I run in windowed mode, sometimes it
> does the same thing, sometimes it doesn't display the copyright screen at all, but
> rather shows general game info and hangs there. It's the same type of grey box on a
> black background screen, and it happens with every rom I've tried.
>
> Several google searches and a bit of frustration later, I've tried running everything
> as an administrator, I've tried compatibility modes, but I'm beginning to be
> convinced that I've set something up wrong.
>
> Could anyone point me in the right direction? Does hanging in this particular spot
> indicate what I've done wrong? If it helps, I'm running on Windows 7, with reasonably
> good hardware.
>
> Thanks, all! Any help is highly appreciated!

First of all, glad to see another person giving MAME a spin!

Second of all, what sort of specs does your computer have? Ideally what we're looking for is along the lines of the CPU manufacturer (Intel/AMD), CPU type (P4/Core 2 Duo/i3/i5/i7) and the speed, as well as the amount of RAM you have, and what graphics card you're using.

Third of all, what game are you trying to run? Some of the games that are recognized by MAME do not run correctly if at all, so I'd like to rule that out first before I get to any more in-depth answers.

This is going to sound dumb, but have you installed the latest drivers for DirectX 9? In princple it shouldn't affect your experience, but it might be a good thing to check, and in that case it's my mistake to answer for.

Additionally, have you tried the stock command-line version of MAME from http://www.mamedev.org/ ? If not, I'm happy to give you a quick run-down of how to run it, I'm just not sure of your level of technical expertise based on your post.

Last but not least, just to confirm, I interpret your post as saying that the emulator hangs after you type "OK" or wiggle your joystick left/right in order to pass the relevant warning and/or copyright screens. Is this correct? Are you able to exit the emulator by pressing the Escape key on your keyboard, or do you have to force it to quit using the Windows Task Manager?

I have to say, I appreciate seeing someone who makes a post as clear and as well-written as yours right from the get-go, so I'm sure we (or I, maybe) will be able to get you up and running in no time.