[MAME ] Which is the best MAME version for pi ?

caver01

@Azuke said in [MAME ] Which is the best MAME version for pi ?:

And maybe i can run mame2003 roms in fba i will try and share my experince ..

It might be better not to share the results of using the wrong romset. It will only confuse people. Just use the proper ROMs as we have recommended.

Carnivore

@caver01 What do you mean? You mean if I run most of my MAME roms using FBA I'm doing it wrong way?

mitu

@Carnivore He means that using a ROM coming from another ROM set is not guaranteed to work, so testing the FBA roms with MAME2003 and reporting "it doesn't work" is useless - since the wrong ROM set is used.

caver01

@carnivore mitu says EXACTLY what I mean:

@Carnivore He means that using a ROM coming from another ROM set is not guaranteed to work, so testing the FBA roms with MAME2003 and reporting "it doesn't work" is useless - since the wrong ROM set is used.

This gets into some of the subtleties of how ROM sets evolve over time, but it is simply bad practice to knowingly use a ROM from the wrong set. Reporting results back here would merely confirm that a single game ROM may not have changed between ROM sets. The danger is that someone reads this and starts to ignore the ROM set versions explicitly required by the emulator they have chosen. Then, they post troubleshooting messages here confirming what we already know--they have the wrong ROM set--with misleading support for their decision like, "well, it failed on game XXXX but game YYYY worked fine". Nobody wants to waste time wading through these situations when we already know the answer--always use the correct ROM set for the emulator.

Now, can you use the wrong ROM anyway? Sure, and you may get away with it for a lot of titles. Just don't ask for help troubleshooting when you try this and fail--because we already know the answer.

jamos

@caver01 said in [MAME ] Which is the best MAME version for pi ?:

@Azuke Good question, and you are well on your way to finding your own answer with what you have already learned. If you check the docs you quickly learn that there are many versions that span a pretty wide range of rom sets. The rule of thumb is usually that the newer the MAME, the higher the romset, but this requires a lot more computing power, so the LESS the performance. This means you end up needing to strike a balance between performance and emulation accuracy, or performance and rom coverage. Most of us are willing to sacrifice the nuances of emulation accuracy in favor of game playability, so it really boils down to performance vs. ROMs vs. features.

It is fair to argue that the sweet spot on the Pi is lr-mame2003, with 2003+ adding some additional back ported games and features. The feature updates on 2003+ are being replicated into 2003, so the real difference between them will be the additional games that are being back ported.

If you want the most features and the most playability out of MAME on the Pi right now, you are looking at 2003 or 2003+. If you want the most input capabilities and a slightly newer romset, I would recommend AdvanceMAME 3.x. No other MAME emulator on the Pi can match the input matrix flexibility of AdvanceMAME. If, for example, you were building a three-trackball Rampart arcade cabinet, you are probably going to need AdvanceMAME to run it. If you like the zfast CRT shaders and plan to run everything through handheld gamepads, RetroArch is your ticket, and MAME2003+ may be the best option.

You did not mention it, but by all means, do not ignore FBA. It is not MAME, but it has an ever-expanding romset that is beginning to rival 2003 in terms of features and game lists, so check that out too because performance is very good.

Many of us use the RUNCOMMAND feature of RetroPie and end up with a combination of multiple versions of MAME to run our games. For example, anything with complex inputs, or until recently, vector displays, I would run these with AdvanceMAME. NeoGEO games I would run using FBA (the libretro version) and the rest are on 2003 for me. Only games that these cannot play would have me looking to newer versions of MAME, but off the top of my head, I cannot think of any.

For 005 game mame 2003 doesn't have samples. I use mame 2010 for it. But as you said mostly Mame 2003, AdvMame, then FBA.
Does FBA support savestates?

Carnivore

@jamos For me it does, and does it for any game I've tested so far.

jamos

@Carnivore how about AdvanceMAME 3.x?

Carnivore

@jamos Haven't tried it as it's not libretro emulator if I'm correct. For now I don't intend to try any other emulators as I'm satisfied with my current results, even though most people here don't appreciate my choice.

sirhenrythe5th

@Carnivore The only difference in the handling with Advancmame is the input-mapping.
Which can be an advantage btw: you are able to map several buttons from several devices to a single Action, something you cant do with retroarch.
Beside of that there are no mentionable differences to a lr-core imo.
Maybe someday you give it a try, AdvanceMame is worth it without a doubt.

Carnivore

@sirhenrythe5th Thank you for the recommendation. I plan or adding some more MAME games to my gamelist in near future and if some of new roms don't work for me, I'll surely test them withAdvanceMAME.

caver01

@sirhenrythe5th said in [MAME ] Which is the best MAME version for pi ?:

Beside of that there are no mentionable differences to a lr-core imo.
Maybe someday you give it a try, AdvanceMame is worth it without a doubt.

Outside of input config, I would say the biggest reason to use an lr core is to take advantage of shaders. AdvanceMAME does have some video rgb effects, but the retrorach shaders are nicer.

sirhenrythe5th

@caver01 as far as Arcade Games are concerned i only need Scanlines when i play on my HDTV.
And AdvanceMame has great ones, i use "Horizontal 2" and need nothing else 😊

But of course this is personal choice. When someone needs 2xEagleSAI with Triple Antialiasing and a smooth Filter then AdvanceMame is the wrong version for sure.
I like it authentic and like to play NAME on a CRT the most. Of course without using any kind of picture enhancer.

mitu

@sirhenrythe5th said in [MAME ] Which is the best MAME version for pi ?:

I like it authentic and like to play NAME on a CRT the most

Are you using composite from the RPI for the CRT or other video output options ?

sirhenrythe5th

@mitu i use the Composite Output. 3,5mm headphone jack -> Scart -> TV.

AncientFieryOne

@caver01 Sorry for the necropost, but I am curious if you have an updated recommendation for running vector games, in my case on a Pi 3B+. I have been following your guide on how to make these games look their best using AdvanceMAME (now on version 3.9, but the guide was updated of course) with some success. Is there a better option now that still has the ability to include the backdrops and high-resolution of AdvanceMAME?

Thanks for reading!

niculinux

just want to nevropost to write my 2'cents: as of now im using lr-mame - which in for retropie is currently 0.229 - over the mame2003 but seems the former does run less games that i have over the latter, but while some games that run on the lr version do not in the 2003 so i guess there is not a version that is the best as of compatibility :(

Clyde

@niculinux Are you using a 0.229 romset? If not, it's no surprise that your games don't work with this mame version, and I recommend reading Validating, Rebuilding, and Filtering Arcade ROMs for the basics of building romsets for specific mame versions.

Colstar

@clyde Well I can't offer you any advice other than good luck as so far I haven't been able to get any MAME roms to work.

Emulatre71

@colstar You could just try FBNeo instead if MAME is too confusing and trips you up with what romset and mame versions you need to use. Some of the sets might be called FBA because of legacy reasons. If you are going to places that seem shady to get your roms from then you should try to use a VPN and Mac Address changer. As for VPN's there is ProtonVPN as one of the free alternatives.

Reddit Channel /roms can you help you out

niculinux

@clyde said in [MAME ] Which is the best MAME version for pi ?:

@niculinux Are you using a 0.229 romset? If not, it's no surprise that your games don't work with this mame version, and I recommend reading Validating, Rebuilding, and Filtering Arcade ROMs for the basics of building romsets for specific mame versions.

Actually i dont know, i don't use windows, for linux there is ronvault but since im an occasional gamer dont have much time to mess around :, (

In the menatime, i guess the best choice is to have at least a couple of emulators, lr-mame-2003-plus and lr-fbneo, maybe i will try when i'll get some spare time. Any other hint is obviously wellcome!