> Which was unfortunately ruined once Smit started fundraising for Shou, and people
> were promised things that were never delivered, but instead mostly only the 'lower
> interest' material ever released.
I cannot speak for individuals or what was promised by who. Or even what happened 'back in the day' but Shou hasn't been an active member of the DU for quite a while now...
But that statement seems to be over simplified and a complete discounting of what the Dumping Union is and what we have contributed over the years.
The DU is an autonomous group of individuals with various talents and sources. A group of individuals who believe in the preservation of arcade games and history. We have been one of the single most prolific sources of information and new games and clones. Sometimes, it's documentation or correct clock measurements for components but we continue to try and help improve MAME in our own ways.
It was one of our members that generated a nondestructive way to dump the MC68705 MCUs that could used by "non dumpers". This enabled a lot of games, some quite rare, to become fully emulated and get rid of various protection simulations. It's our members including TeamEurope that has decapped and dumped around 40 8751 MCUs. All in an effort to better the emulation and allowing owners the ability to repair their boards. Our members are still working on sourcing different MCUs and trying to get them dumped.
Not everyone has the same interests. I wanted to get as many 8751 MCUs dumped as possible. I even remember back in the day you suggested to me that dumping the MCU for CAPCOM's 1943 series was a waste of money or at least funds should be spent on acquiring undumped PCBs because the protection was minimal and was fully understood. But it was my money and my interest so the MCU was dumped and added to MAME. Fast forward several years and with Klaus' help we have been successful in removing lots of incomplete protection simulation in favor of actual emulation. Not to mention that Klaus has figured out nondestructive ways dump dozens of different carts for several different consoles. His methods have allowed lots of rare carts to be safely dumped, preserved and emulated.
The DU, like devs focus on what interests our individual members. We mostly self fund what we do. As far as I know the DU hasn't had a public fund drive in a few years.
The bottom line is there are 100s of rare titles and a few prototypes that have come from DU members and our sources. And we continue to find, buy or source new items to include in MAME.
I'm not suggesting this is a "the good outweighs the bad" situation. I'm sure you can point out several short cummings in the past, but I certainly don't think the "mostly only the 'lower interest' material ever released." comment is fair, accurate or indicative of what the DU has done and continues to do.
Not looking to start a "fight" as it's just my opinion.
BrianT
Edited by BrianT (01/26/24 02:59 AM)
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