I need help with MAME on my RaspberryPi 3

sirhenrythe5th

@darksavior not to forget AdvanceMame ☺
I know: most of the Pi - Users seem to hate AdvanceMame, but it also does it job very well and is friendly for beginners.

Btw, you can also google after packman.zip and find the merged romset with no need of puckman.zip as parent.
Easy to find, put it in the ROM-Folder of AdvanceMame and....it will work.

meleu

@martinrdgz

Hey bro, guess what?! You're a lucky man! Our friend @Floob wrote a post specially for you: How to use MAME with RetroPie - Help Guide. I'm sure you'll find your answer there!

I have the latest image of retropie installed in my pi 3.

Also, you should read the read-this-first post, where you can see that you have to clearly say your version, and don't write "latest".

Darksavior

@sirhenrythe5th I didnt forget:P . Not a libretro core. I can't use the crtpi shader. I don't believe advancemame has any exclusives to ever use it and I don't see how that's easier to use than a libretro emulator.

sirhenrythe5th

@darksavior i also use a lot of other emulators basing on libretto.
And for them i use the CRT Pi-Shader as well as far as my Pi is concerned that is connected to my LED - TV (have another Pi connected to a CRT so i dont have to use shaders)

CRT-Pi is o.k., but guess what: i love the "Horizontal Scanlines 2" for AdvanceMame much more! (you find this one under "RGB Effects" under "Video" in the TAB-Menu)
Of course IMHO, but i wish there would exist a similar shader for all libretto - ports.

So creating a simulated retro look of the image is not the problem when using AdvanceMame.

martinrdgz

@darksavior Okay, you said I can't identify what romsets I have, right? Well, the romsets are inside a folder called AdvanceMAME, which only runs romset version 0.94. So, my question is: these romsets must be version 0.94, right?

Also, how do I get a folder named AdvanceMAME on my RetroPie v4.2? I don’t see one.

simonster

Hi @martinrdgz

Just because you put a file in the folder, that doesn't make it that version. You need to obtain the correct version of the rom. If you search for MAME 0.94 roms and the name of the game on the internet, I have no doubt you'll be able to find it somewhere out there. If you randomly obtained MAME roms from the internet, it is unknown what version you will have (but most likely a newer version than the one required by the Pi).

martinrdgz

@simonster Let's just say I downloaded a 128GB Raspberry Pi image from the internet (I won't mention the name to follow forum rules). Now, these romsets I’m talking about are located inside a folder. So, my question again is: if these romsets are in the AdvanceMAME folder, that means they are version 0.94, right?

meleu

@martinrdgz Lets just say that forum users really read the read-this-first post. Then they would see the point 5:

Make sure you are using an official image, or have done a manual install yourself. We will not support 3rd party images.

martinrdgz

@meleu Got it, my bad.

Darksavior

@martinrdgz Ah you got a premade image with roms. You shouldve told us that. So some random boob made it and arcade games won't load? With advancemame and mame4all? What a joke. If you've followed my advice from 13hrs ago, you'd be up and running.

martinrdgz

@darksavior Okay, I got the MAME 0.37b5 romsets. Do I need to delete them and get the current ones if RetroPie’s MAME gets updated? I've been trying to figure this out, but I just can't seem to get it. I did what you said, but I just want to understand how this works. I’ve even posted an ad locally offering to pay someone to teach me.

Some people learn by reading, but I learn better one-on-one or by using analogies. I’ve always struggled with reading comprehension.

I’m feeling overwhelmed by all these links that have been posted for me to read. I really appreciate all of your help, but it’s been difficult for me to follow.

There are a lot of MAME romset versions—do I have to get every single one of them?

HurricaneFan

@martinrdgz You only need 1 romset for MAME if your rom works on that version number.

https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/MAME

The wiki has compatibility google spreadsheets for most of the MAME romset versions so you can look to see which romset has your game that you want to play that works.

You don't need every version of romset on that list. Just one that works for what you want to play.

martinrdgz

@hurricanefan I got the mame 0.37b5 romset, but metal slug 5 is missing and tnmnt audio is bad. do I have to download another romset contining metalslug 5

simonster

With metal slug games, I would checkout using the FBA ROMs. I use lr-FBA for all my neogeo titles.

With regards to tmnt, get the 0.78 version and use lr-MAME2003 there were a number of sound and graphical glitches fixed between 0.37 and 0.78.

martinrdgz

@simonster Is mame always going to be changing their romset versions to newer ones? If so I would have to delete the old version and get the latest version?

simonster

@martinrdgz

You need the correct version of the ROM for the emulator you are using. Yes MAME modify their requirements with every release (but normally only a handful of titles are affected). The Pi is not really capable of running later versions of MAME sensibly, so we only worry about the sets that affect it.

MAME is a constantly evolving project, they change filenames and dependencies as different methods of emulation are written. However 0.37 was defined in 2000 and 0.78 was defined in 2003. There is an optional lr-MAME2010 for the Pi which supports version 0.139 but this has a number of limitations, including a maximum of 2 players.

Unless there is something you really want to play from a newer set that isn't supported on these versions, I would stick with these sets. The Pi is very slow on any of the newer releases (2014, 2016). I know, I've tried to get Virtual Racing arcade working, it wasn't pretty.

FBA is similar to MAME but it's romsets and the scope of the project is different, rather than trying to emulate every arcade hardware, FBA emulates a small subset of these games by concentrating on games based on specific hardware.

meleu

@martinrdgz said in I need help with MAME on my RaspberryPi 3:

@simonster Is mame always going to be changing their romset versions to newer ones? If so I would have to delete the old version and get the latest version?

Man, your questions give a strong evidence that you didn't read the link I posted to you.

I don't like to sound like an elistist nerd, but if a person is unable to read and understand the really simple and easy to understand MAME guide that @Floob wrote, then this person shouldn't try to play arcade games on RetroPie.

cyperghost

I don't like to sound like an elistist nerd...

No way!

...but if a person is unable to read and understand the really simple and easy to understand MAME guide that @Floob wrote, then this person shouldn't try to play arcade games on RetroPie.

Honestly MAME is sometimes difficult to understand and to setup, but you're right the guids here a helpfull and should be read 1 or 2 times :)

meleu

Trying to help by speaking very very clearly:

Pretend you are a RPG character and you meet an old hermit who will give you a the item you need to continue your adventure. But the old man will only give that item if you say the magic secret words.

Now replace "old man" with "google", "continue your adventure" with "play Arcade games", and "magic secret words" with "reference set".

cyperghost

The solution of your quest can be so easy.

You're in a RPG and meet @meleu (the wise) at the beachbar who will give you rare item of "The Map of sapienti sat est" you need to play Arcade games. Which direction the character should go to? You can go N-W or E

N leads to a wrecked and make dubious torrent tracker
W leads to a huge and all knowing googol
E leads to Disney Store