Difference between revisions of "MAME"

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(Command line arguments)
(MAME and MESS have been merged in 0.162)
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[[File:Mess sysinfo.png|thumb|upright=1.2|The MESS system info box for the CPC6128]]
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[[File:Mess sysinfo.png|thumb|upright=1.2|The MAME system info box for the CPC6128]]
[[File:Mess gx4000 pang.png|thumb|upright=1.2|MESS also has (still somewhat glitchy) support for the GX4000 and CPC+ series. Note the strange blue bar at the bottom in ''[[Pang (cartridge)|Pang]]''.]]
+
[[File:Mess gx4000 pang.png|thumb|upright=1.2|MAME also has (still somewhat glitchy) support for the GX4000 and CPC+ series. Note the strange blue bar at the bottom in ''[[Pang (cartridge)|Pang]]''.]]
'''MESS''' (Multi Emulator Super System) is an emulator for vintage computers, gaming consoles, chess computers, and calculators. It is a descendant of the MAME arcade emulation project and just like MAME, the most important goal of MESS is highly accurate emulation, not speed. MESS and MAME are mainly preservation projects that aim to reproduce the behaviour of the real hardware perfectly, so performance may be slightly worse than many dedicated CPC emulators.
+
'''MAME''' (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is an emulator for arcade games, vintage computers, gaming consoles, chess computers, calculators, etc. MAME 0.162 merged the previously separate MAME and MESS (Multi Emulator Super System) codebases into one, so that one executable now combines the emulation capabilities of pre-0.162 MAME/MESS.
 +
 
 +
The most important goal of MAME is highly accurate emulation, not speed. MAME is mainly a preservation project that aims to reproduce the behaviour of the real hardware perfectly, so performance may be slightly worse than many dedicated CPC emulators.
  
 
==Emulated systems==
 
==Emulated systems==
  
Currently, [http://www.progettoemma.net/mess/sysset.php over a thousand systems are supported] by MESS, including the CPC and CPC Plus ranges and the GX4000. This is probably the main reason for using MESS: A single download is enough to emulate more or less every home computer and gaming console that ever existed in the late 1970s and 1980s—provided one can find a ROM set that works (see below).
+
Currently, [http://www.progettoemma.net/mess/sysset.php over a thousand systems are supported] by MAME, including the CPC and CPC Plus ranges and the GX4000. This is probably the main reason for using MAME: A single download is enough to emulate more or less every home computer and gaming console that ever existed in the late 1970s and 1980s—provided one can find a ROM set that works (see below).
  
MESS does not have the depth of other CPC emulators, but it sure has enormous breadth. Its flexible input mapping and MAME-compatible pixel shader effects make MESS particularly suited for gaming.
+
MAME does not have the depth of other CPC emulators, but it sure has enormous breadth. Its flexible input mapping and pixel shader effects make MAME particularly suited for gaming.
  
 
==Installation==
 
==Installation==
  
MESS runs on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and FreeBSD. You can get Windows binaries from [http://mamedev.org/release.html mamedev.org].
+
MAME runs on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and FreeBSD. You can get Windows binaries from [http://mamedev.org/release.html mamedev.org].
 
+
If you also use MAME, you may want to get [http://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/latest-ume-mame-mess-binaries UME] instead, which combines MESS and MAME into a single executable with a shared configuration file, <tt>ume.ini</tt>.
+
  
On OS X, you can install MESS via [http://brew.sh/ Homebrew]:
+
On OS X, you can install MAME via [http://brew.sh/ Homebrew]:
 
  brew tap homebrew/games
 
  brew tap homebrew/games
  brew install mess
+
  brew install mame
  
On Windows and OS X, the MESS binary is called '''mess''', on Linux '''sdlmess'''. On some Linux distros such as Arch Linux you have to use absolute paths for disk images or ROMs because /usr/bin/sdlmesss is a wrapper script that will cd to the directory with the MESS binary. Or you could simply skip the wrapper script and run /usr/share/sdlmess/sdlmess directly:
+
On Windows and OS X, the MAME binary is called '''mame''', on Linux '''sdlmame'''. On some Linux distros such as Arch Linux you have to use absolute paths for disk images or ROMs because /usr/bin/sdlmame is a wrapper script that will cd to the directory with the MAME binary. Or you could simply skip the wrapper script and run /usr/share/sdlmame/sdlmame directly:
  alias mess=/usr/share/sdlmess/sdlmess
+
  alias mame=/usr/share/sdlmame/sdlmame
  
 
==Command line arguments==
 
==Command line arguments==
  
Typical command line to start MESS in CPC mode:
+
Typical command line to start MAME in CPC mode:
  mess cpc6128 -skip_gameinfo -window -flop1 /path/to/disk.dsk
+
  mame cpc6128 -skip_gameinfo -window -flop1 /path/to/disk.dsk
  
 
;Device options for the CPC from [http://www.progettoemma.net/mess/extra.html sysinfo.dat]
 
;Device options for the CPC from [http://www.progettoemma.net/mess/extra.html sysinfo.dat]
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You can use zipped disk images too. If there is more than one DSK image in the zip file, treat the zip file like a directory, e.g.
 
You can use zipped disk images too. If there is more than one DSK image in the zip file, treat the zip file like a directory, e.g.
  mess cpc6128 -flop1 disk.zip/disk0.dsk
+
  mame cpc6128 -flop1 disk.zip/disk0.dsk
  
 
==Keyboard layouts==
 
==Keyboard layouts==
  
MESS supports two keyboard modes:
+
MAME supports two keyboard modes:
 
* '''emulated''' (the default; keys are assigned based on key position on the emulated hardware)
 
* '''emulated''' (the default; keys are assigned based on key position on the emulated hardware)
 
* '''natural''' (command line option "-natural"; based on the character generated by a key, e.g. pressing "z" will always generate a "z" on the emulated system)
 
* '''natural''' (command line option "-natural"; based on the character generated by a key, e.g. pressing "z" will always generate a "z" on the emulated system)
  
To use a German keyboard in emulated keyboard mode, start MESS e.g. with (key map path on Linux):
+
To use a German keyboard in emulated keyboard mode, start MAME e.g. with (key map path on Linux):
  mess cpc6128 -keymap -keymap_file /usr/share/sdlmess/keymaps/km-de.txt
+
  mame cpc6128 -keymap -keymap_file /usr/share/sdlmess/keymaps/km-de.txt
  
In emulated mode, keys can also be remapped in the emulator menu. First press ''Scroll Lock'' to enable the MESS control keys, then ''Tab'' to open the menu, and finally select ''Input (this system)''. ''Return, Esc'' clears an assigned key.
+
In emulated mode, keys can also be remapped in the emulator menu. First press ''Scroll Lock'' to enable the MAME control keys, then ''Tab'' to open the menu, and finally select ''Input (this system)''. ''Return, Esc'' clears an assigned key.
  
 
Note that the ''Delete'' and ''Backspace'' keys are swapped on the emulated keyboard because of the CPC keyboard layout. So you may want to reassign those. Escape on the CPC is mapped to the key left of "1" on the PC keyboard. Alt-Enter switches between windowed and full screen mode.
 
Note that the ''Delete'' and ''Backspace'' keys are swapped on the emulated keyboard because of the CPC keyboard layout. So you may want to reassign those. Escape on the CPC is mapped to the key left of "1" on the PC keyboard. Alt-Enter switches between windowed and full screen mode.
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==ROMs and extension hardware==
 
==ROMs and extension hardware==
  
[[Media:CPC_ROMs_for_MESS.zip|CPC ROMs for MESS]]. Just unzip the file and move the ZIPs inside into the MESS ROM folder.
+
[[Media:CPC_ROMs_for_MESS.zip|CPC ROMs for MAME]]. Just unzip the file and move the ZIPs inside into the MESS ROM folder.
  
;General notes about MESS and ROMs
+
;General notes about MAME and ROMs
  
Just as in MAME, some MESS ROMs have parent ROMs that also need to be installed. E.g., <tt>cpc6128.zip</tt> also requires <tt>cpc464.zip</tt> to run. (See the links section for CPC ROM files for MESS.)
+
Some MAME ROMs have parent ROMs that also need to be installed. E.g., <tt>cpc6128.zip</tt> also requires <tt>cpc464.zip</tt> to run. (See the links section for CPC ROM files for MAME.)
  
ROMs often only work with a specific version of MESS. This does not seem to affect CPC ROMs, but other systems sometimes give an error message when ROM filenames or checksums do not match what MESS expected.
+
ROMs often only work with a specific version of MAME. This does not seem to affect CPC ROMs, but other systems sometimes give an error message when ROM filenames or checksums do not match what MAME expected.
  
 
;Slot options (extension hardware)
 
;Slot options (extension hardware)
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You can get a list of slot options with
 
You can get a list of slot options with
  
  mess cpc6128 -lslot
+
  mame cpc6128 -lslot
  
These are (as of MESS 0.159):
+
These are (as of MAME 0.162):
  
 
*for "-centronics"
 
*for "-centronics"
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|[[Digiblaster]] (DIY)
 
|[[Digiblaster]] (DIY)
 
|}
 
|}
[[File:MESS with Dobbertin Smart Watch.png|thumb|upright=1.7||MESS with the Dobbertin Smart Watch ROM loaded (-exp smartwatch)]]
+
[[File:MESS with Dobbertin Smart Watch.png|thumb|upright=1.7||MAME with the Dobbertin Smart Watch ROM loaded (-exp smartwatch)]]
 
*for "-exp"
 
*for "-exp"
 
{|class="wikitable"
 
{|class="wikitable"
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The ROM Box expansion can be used to load external ROMs such as [[MAXAM]]:
 
The ROM Box expansion can be used to load external ROMs such as [[MAXAM]]:
  
  mess cpc6128 -exp rom -rom1 /path/to/MAXAM.ROM
+
  mame cpc6128 -exp rom -rom1 /path/to/MAXAM.ROM
  
 
Up to 8 external ROMs (-rom1 to -rom8) are supported this way.
 
Up to 8 external ROMs (-rom1 to -rom8) are supported this way.
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==GUI front-ends==
 
==GUI front-ends==
  
Various GUI front-ends for MESS exist for Windows, Linux, and OS X—see this list: [http://www.mess.org/mess:howto#frontends]
+
Various GUI front-ends for MAME exist for Windows, Linux, and OS X—see this list: [http://www.mess.org/mess:howto#frontends]
  
 
[[File:Messmenu.png|thumb|none|650px|MessMenu on OS X with a CPC ROM selected. Currently, seven different CPC models are supported, including some regional variants (French and Swedish).]]
 
[[File:Messmenu.png|thumb|none|650px|MessMenu on OS X with a CPC ROM selected. Currently, seven different CPC models are supported, including some regional variants (French and Swedish).]]
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[[File:Cpc shader mess.png|thumb|upright=1.5|GLSL shader example]]
 
[[File:Cpc shader mess.png|thumb|upright=1.5|GLSL shader example]]
 
[[File:Cpc hlsl shader mess detail.png|thumb|HLSL "1980s" shader (detail)]]
 
[[File:Cpc hlsl shader mess detail.png|thumb|HLSL "1980s" shader (detail)]]
Like MAME, MESS can use shaders to simulate typical CRT graphics artifacts such as scanlines, colors bleeding into each other, jitter, and display curvature. This involves editing mess.ini (or ume.ini if you use UME).
+
MAME can use shaders to simulate typical CRT graphics artifacts such as scanlines, colors bleeding into each other, jitter, and display curvature.
  
Mess.ini works the same as mame.ini, so MAME tutorials can be used as a starting point. Some example configurations:
+
Some example configurations:
 
*Windows (using HLSL shaders)
 
*Windows (using HLSL shaders)
 
**A scripted setup with separate "1980s" and "1990s" CRT configs: [http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=45026&start=240] (huge post is halfway down the page)
 
**A scripted setup with separate "1980s" and "1990s" CRT configs: [http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=45026&start=240] (huge post is halfway down the page)
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==Remaining issues with CPC emulation==
 
==Remaining issues with CPC emulation==
  
*MESS may fail to read DSK images with certain kinds of copy protection. Speedlock seems to work fine though.
+
*MAME may fail to read DSK images with certain kinds of copy protection. Speedlock seems to work fine though.
*MESS cannot write to disc images in DSK format; only MFI (MESS floppy image) and MFM (HxCFloppyEmulator floppy image) are supported for writing.
+
*MAME cannot write to disc images in DSK format; only MFI (MESS floppy image) and MFM (HxCFloppyEmulator floppy image) are supported for writing.
*Some demo tricks may be broken in MESS, e.g. overscan pictures are horizontally misaligned (i.e., shifted to the right).
+
*Some demo tricks may be broken in MAME, e.g. overscan pictures are horizontally misaligned (i.e., shifted to the right).
 
*CPC+/GX4000 emulation still has some obvious graphics glitches.
 
*CPC+/GX4000 emulation still has some obvious graphics glitches.
 
*The emulated CPC464 has the AMSDOS ROM loaded which is a problem with early 464-only programs that rely on the 464's larger free memory.
 
*The emulated CPC464 has the AMSDOS ROM loaded which is a problem with early 464-only programs that rely on the 464's larger free memory.
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*{{EnWiki}}
 
*{{EnWiki}}
*[http://www.mess.org/ Official site]
+
*[http://mamedev.org/ Official site]
 
*[http://www.mess.org/mess:howto MESS user's manual]
 
*[http://www.mess.org/mess:howto MESS user's manual]
*[[Media:CPC_ROMs_for_MESS.zip|CPC ROMs for MESS]]
+
*[[Media:CPC_ROMs_for_MESS.zip|CPC ROMs for MAME]]
  
 
[[Category:Emulator]]
 
[[Category:Emulator]]

Revision as of 11:16, 31 May 2015

The MAME system info box for the CPC6128
MAME also has (still somewhat glitchy) support for the GX4000 and CPC+ series. Note the strange blue bar at the bottom in Pang.

MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is an emulator for arcade games, vintage computers, gaming consoles, chess computers, calculators, etc. MAME 0.162 merged the previously separate MAME and MESS (Multi Emulator Super System) codebases into one, so that one executable now combines the emulation capabilities of pre-0.162 MAME/MESS.

The most important goal of MAME is highly accurate emulation, not speed. MAME is mainly a preservation project that aims to reproduce the behaviour of the real hardware perfectly, so performance may be slightly worse than many dedicated CPC emulators.

Emulated systems

Currently, over a thousand systems are supported by MAME, including the CPC and CPC Plus ranges and the GX4000. This is probably the main reason for using MAME: A single download is enough to emulate more or less every home computer and gaming console that ever existed in the late 1970s and 1980s—provided one can find a ROM set that works (see below).

MAME does not have the depth of other CPC emulators, but it sure has enormous breadth. Its flexible input mapping and pixel shader effects make MAME particularly suited for gaming.

Installation

MAME runs on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and FreeBSD. You can get Windows binaries from mamedev.org.

On OS X, you can install MAME via Homebrew:

brew tap homebrew/games
brew install mame

On Windows and OS X, the MAME binary is called mame, on Linux sdlmame. On some Linux distros such as Arch Linux you have to use absolute paths for disk images or ROMs because /usr/bin/sdlmame is a wrapper script that will cd to the directory with the MAME binary. Or you could simply skip the wrapper script and run /usr/share/sdlmame/sdlmame directly:

alias mame=/usr/share/sdlmame/sdlmame

Command line arguments

Typical command line to start MAME in CPC mode:

mame cpc6128 -skip_gameinfo -window -flop1 /path/to/disk.dsk
Device options for the CPC from sysinfo.dat
Name Argument Allowed file extensions
Printer -prin .prn
Snapshot -dump .sna
Disk drive A -flop1 .dsk; .d77; .d88; .1dd; .dfi; .imd; .ipf; .mfi; .mfm
Disk drive B -flop2
Tape -cass .wav; .cdt
Cartridge -cart .cpr; .bin (Plus series and GX4000 only)

Supported file types can also be shown with the "-listmedia" command line option.

You can use zipped disk images too. If there is more than one DSK image in the zip file, treat the zip file like a directory, e.g.

mame cpc6128 -flop1 disk.zip/disk0.dsk

Keyboard layouts

MAME supports two keyboard modes:

  • emulated (the default; keys are assigned based on key position on the emulated hardware)
  • natural (command line option "-natural"; based on the character generated by a key, e.g. pressing "z" will always generate a "z" on the emulated system)

To use a German keyboard in emulated keyboard mode, start MAME e.g. with (key map path on Linux):

mame cpc6128 -keymap -keymap_file /usr/share/sdlmess/keymaps/km-de.txt

In emulated mode, keys can also be remapped in the emulator menu. First press Scroll Lock to enable the MAME control keys, then Tab to open the menu, and finally select Input (this system). Return, Esc clears an assigned key.

Note that the Delete and Backspace keys are swapped on the emulated keyboard because of the CPC keyboard layout. So you may want to reassign those. Escape on the CPC is mapped to the key left of "1" on the PC keyboard. Alt-Enter switches between windowed and full screen mode.

ROMs and extension hardware

CPC ROMs for MAME. Just unzip the file and move the ZIPs inside into the MESS ROM folder.

General notes about MAME and ROMs

Some MAME ROMs have parent ROMs that also need to be installed. E.g., cpc6128.zip also requires cpc464.zip to run. (See the links section for CPC ROM files for MAME.)

ROMs often only work with a specific version of MAME. This does not seem to affect CPC ROMs, but other systems sometimes give an error message when ROM filenames or checksums do not match what MAME expected.

Slot options (extension hardware)

You can get a list of slot options with

mame cpc6128 -lslot

These are (as of MAME 0.162):

  • for "-centronics"
pl80 COMX PL-80
ex800 Epson EX-800
lx800 Epson LX-800
lx810l Epson LX-810L
ap2000 Epson ActionPrinter 2000
printer Centronics Printer
digiblst Digiblaster (DIY)
MAME with the Dobbertin Smart Watch ROM loaded (-exp smartwatch)
  • for "-exp"
ssa1 Amstrad SSA-1 Speech Synthesizer
dkspeech Dk'tronics Speech Synthesizer
rom ROM Box
multiface2 Multiface II
pds Programmers Development System (CPC Target)
rs232 Pace RS232C interface
amsrs232 Amstrad RS232C interface
sf2 SYMBiFACE II
amdrum Amdrum
playcity PlayCity
smartwatch Dobbertin Smart Watch
Loading external ROMs

The ROM Box expansion can be used to load external ROMs such as MAXAM:

mame cpc6128 -exp rom -rom1 /path/to/MAXAM.ROM

Up to 8 external ROMs (-rom1 to -rom8) are supported this way.

GUI front-ends

Various GUI front-ends for MAME exist for Windows, Linux, and OS X—see this list: [1]

MessMenu on OS X with a CPC ROM selected. Currently, seven different CPC models are supported, including some regional variants (French and Swedish).

CRT simulation

GLSL shader example
HLSL "1980s" shader (detail)

MAME can use shaders to simulate typical CRT graphics artifacts such as scanlines, colors bleeding into each other, jitter, and display curvature.

Some example configurations:

  • Windows (using HLSL shaders)
    • A scripted setup with separate "1980s" and "1990s" CRT configs: [2] (huge post is halfway down the page)
    • A German shader tutorial: [3]
  • Linux (using GLSL shaders): MAME tutorial [4]

Remaining issues with CPC emulation

  • MAME may fail to read DSK images with certain kinds of copy protection. Speedlock seems to work fine though.
  • MAME cannot write to disc images in DSK format; only MFI (MESS floppy image) and MFM (HxCFloppyEmulator floppy image) are supported for writing.
  • Some demo tricks may be broken in MAME, e.g. overscan pictures are horizontally misaligned (i.e., shifted to the right).
  • CPC+/GX4000 emulation still has some obvious graphics glitches.
  • The emulated CPC464 has the AMSDOS ROM loaded which is a problem with early 464-only programs that rely on the 464's larger free memory.

JSMESS, a JavaScript port

There is an experimental port to JavaScript, see the JSMESS article for details.

Links