MAMEWorld Forums - EmuChat - Re: Is there any way to effectively reduce screen tearing/flickering?

> > I decided that my system would stick with .160 - since I have a frontend that does
> > everything I want, and the new built-in interface for Mame is pretty poor for 2016
>
> You are aware that you never have to interact with the new built-in interface if you
> don't specifically go for it, right? Launching games from the command line or an
> external FE works exactly like it did beforehand, and you never see the new
> interface.
>
> Of course, if everyone decides the new interface is bad and never files any bugs or
> feature requests on it, then it will never meet their needs. MAMEdev did this as a
> friendly gesture to users; we now need users to reciprocate.

Well, I'll prepare myself for the inevitable put-downs and insults (not from you, but you know who), and answer your question, explaining why current Mame won't be satisfying this particular user any time soon. It's against my better judgment, but since you're not someone who erm.... looks for the worst in everything, I'll go ahead.

There are some things that I find unfathomable with regard to Mame, and some users of it. One of them is the use of a command-line. Now, I'm old enough (sadly) to have grown up in a world without GUI's, and therefore used command-line for years - especially on UNIX boxes. I'm not afraid of using the command-line, nor too stupid to use it.

On the other hand, why in the world would I want to? In a typical session with Mame, I'll play through a bunch of games. Why would I sit there and type in the command-line with its switches each time? What is gained? My first major exposure to a GUI was 26 years ago when Windows 3.0 came out. It wasn't the first GUI, but it was the first I had extensive time with (OS/2 was used too, but not for playing with). While Windows 3x was very much built on DOS, and you couldn't kindly call it an "OS", the advantages were obvious and legion. We've come a long way since then.

I've used various GUI's since then, but it's fair to say Windows is my thing. I still use the CMD prompt for small things, but 99% of the time I'm in a GUI. I don't see any good reason for running Mame from a command-line. It just seems..... odd and needlessly geeky. I see posts from people saying "Hey, just run it with......." and a command line with six switches and the like, and I get a flashback to 25+ years ago. It's not how I use computers today, and for good reason. I mean, you can administer Microsoft networks from the command-line if you really want to punish yourself, but for day-to-day stuff people tend to use GUI's......

Which also applies to the new UI. I am happy that most Mame users seem to like it. I truly am. But again, it looks and feels to me like something you'd have put together in the mid-90's. I don't know if you ever used the likes of Wordperfect Office (LOL) but that's the level the "new" UI is at (and I'm being kind, since WPO was very configurable, if ugly). The last Mame version I looked at (.173) didn't even have a scroll bar to scroll through games. The Software-List thing is peculiar, etc. And aesthetically, it's the ugly sister.

To be honest I can't be of much help to "fix" or change it, because honestly, it's not really salvageable, imo. I, and I suggest anyone who feels the same about it, have simply reverted to earlier versions with better front ends. The one and only way I can see the UI being "better" is I expect it's more portable (could be wrong, of course). But for me that's achieved by aiming at the bottom of the barrel. But yes, I know, the UI was done as a favor to users, we should be happy we were given anything (an argument that might work if it weren't for the fact that someone can just use an earlier version when GUI's were in sync).

And one final note on this, and it's a general comment about both Mame and all of the GUI's I've tried. Yes I can get them to work, yes I have enough knowledge to know what most of the features do. But virtually none of them seem to have given any time, effort, and consideration to usability. Let's just say that the whole human-centric design concept hasn't been considered (yes, I know, it's a preservation project, not a consumer-product - but let's face it, everyone knows it's used to play games).

The command-line, and the new UI, look precisely as I would expect an interface to look if they were conceived, designed, and written by coders locked in a room far, far, away from the actual people who might want to use the software they're making.

Now, before I get the usual barrage of abuse, and the sycophants come to tell me to f-off, let me simply say that shutting off dialog by such antics is precisely what will a) prevent some growth in GUI's by shutting out all voices; b) Create an atmosphere where people won't want to share their experiences since it's more trouble than it's worth. Silence, after all, is considered acceptance. Please accept that the insults are assumed.

What I've learned during my time on this board is that - with notable exceptions - is that there are some people around Mame (either in the team, or very close to the team) who actively hate, and have contempt, for anyone who uses the software produced. There's a strange adversarial approach I don't think I've ever seen in a software development project. It's a shame, because it stops dialog dead time and time again. Many of the users though are good people - and of course, there are exceptions in the Mame Team. We all have "moments" we'd rather be able to delete, but for some it's a constant barrage and clearly no aberration.

Me - I'm on .160. Some time in the future - maybe with version .190 or something, I'll download Mame again and see if things are for the better. I don't hold out hope though, because philosophically we're not on the same train. But in 10 more sprints, dev cycles, whatever you call them, maybe I'll see the light.

On the other hand - coming on here calling people c**ts isn't very helpful either. I fully understand why conversations turn that way, with guilt on both sides, but I see them as inevitable, sadly.