MAMEWorld Forums - EmuChat - Re: Atari 2600

when you say 'full set of 0.171 ROMs' does that include the software list ROMs? I suspect not since you say you point at the roms you use for Stella.

MAME expects specific files for the home stuff, much like it does arcade games, these aren't always in the same format as other emulators.

Also if you launch loose files rather than using the Software List roms then some features of the cartridges might end up not being emulated, resulting in (for example) backup RAM not saving, or in the case of things with protection, the game not working.

If the MAME system roms, and Software List roms are in your rompath then it should work.

Note, some modern homebrew stuff will NOT work in MAME - they have powerful ARM chips in the cartridges that effectively act as real-time ROM emulators on the original systems, providing ROM data and banking on the fly because the ARM is so much faster than the original CPU. Stella emulates those by cheating (only emulating some ARM sub-calls, and doing full HLE of the rest of the ARM functions) That philosophy is not compatible with MAME, we would have to emulate the ARM as a real CPU, even when we do this it will be very slow (it's currently not even possible, because it requires such precise timing between the CPUs as the main CPU of the a2600 is fed data / code on the fly at the exact moment it needs it)

> GOAL: To run Atari 2600 games from a MAME frontend.
>
> FAILED PROCESS
>
> (Tools)
>
> I have used Stella for years. I have a full set of ROMS that all work in Stella.
>
> I grabbed a full set of .171 ROMS from Pleasuredome.
>
> I have a clean install of Mame .171. I use 64-bit, so I run MAME64.EXE. From this I
> get the new UI.
>
> I changed the ROM path within MAME to point to the ROMS folder I use for Stella.
>
> I choose "Atari 2600 NTSC" and get a list of Atari 2600 games.
>
> Take, for example, Adventure. I choose adventure and I get "The selected software is
> missing one or more required files. Please select a (sic) different software."
>
> I notice at the bottom of the screen it says: ROMSET: ADVENTUR. I rename my Adventure
> game to this, but I get the same result.
>
> Now - the Stella games are in .BIN files, not zip's, and not 7z's.
>
> I check MAME.INI, and the ROMS path is entered correctly.
>
> So basically I have the following questions:
>
> 1) Do I need to grab another download of the Atari 2600 ROMS, just for MAME?
>
> 2) Could I be missing some other file?
>
> 3) Can I use MAMEUIFX, or other common frontends to play Atari 2600 titles?
>
> 4) I'd rather not use command-line, I want a frontend.
>
> 5) Why am I dumb as a stump every time I want to do anything other than play arcade
> titles with Mame?
>
> Please help a guy who simply wants to play a few old titles.
>
> (and yes, I can play them in Stella, which I love. But out of principle, I'd like to
> see this work.
>
> Thanks in advance.