MAMEWorld Forums - EmuChat - Re: One-button ClrMAME

> > > > In terms of usability, including a default NVRAM would be a good feature on
> some
> > > > systems.
> > >
> > > I'm sorry, I thought some games already included a default NVRam file?
> >
> > Some do, not all.
>
> I strongly think that machines should have their own default NVRAM since they were
> sold in a working state, specially for the most complex ones that need strange
> sequences or external programs to initialize the NVRAM.
>
> I'm currently working in an ancient system with a preliminary I2C bus handling the
> NVRAM. This particular system has critical settings inside the NVRAM, and without
> them is IMPOSSIBLE to boot the system. There is no way to initialize the NVRAM. All
> is made from factory.
>
> So, I support the fact to construct default NVRAMs, *AND* doucument in a detailed way
> how is the process to initialize it, if possible.
>
>
> Robbie.

I tend to initialize them with defaults for 4 reasons

1) It significantly cuts down on repeated support questions here (when was the last time you saw somebody complaining that Konami games won't boot - it used to be asked 2/3 times a week)

2) it makes regression testing much more effective (a game that just gets stuck on an init? screen is generally not as likely to catch genuine regressions in a 'clean state' test as one that actually boots)

3) it isn't always even clear that you need to init them, some games will seemingly run 'fine' with uninitialized nvram, only to fail badly at the end of the game when it tries to add your score to an uninitialized score list and can't.

4) as you say, sometimes they contain factory defaulted data that the games never write in the first place, sometimes even for security or region encoding purposes. (In some cases there are secret codes to change those, but they were never documented, so clearly meant for factory use only, and would have shipped preconfigured)

but yes, the init sequences need documenting too because they are important if somebody is having an issue with their hardware.