I need help with MAME on my RaspberryPi 3

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

sirhenrythe5th

Btw....a prebuilt 128GB Image sold for money?
Bad enough!
But a 128GB Image without the complete Metal Slug Series and even without Pacman??? 😱
Cmon, how big is it? 60Kb?
Might be a good think for lazy people, but i prefer to build my own setup to get everything i want, nothing more!, and even unterstand how it works and why.

martinrdgz

Dose anyone here knows what I've highlighted in RED is? and if would you please explain it to me what it does.!

simonster

@sirhenrythe5th

As I understand it @martinrdgz has done the following:

Downloaded the official RP image and installed it to his Pi
Downloaded a prebuilt image from elsewhere and extracted the roms directories to his PC
He is trying to copy the roms to his RP install

He is clearly confused about the rom versions, but hopefully is now on the right track.

martinrdgz

@simonster yes you're 100% right

simonster

@martinrdgz

These are the ones I know.

"samples" contains a set of sound samples required from some early games (where the audio cannot be emulated for some reason or another)
"m37b5s " is the source code that is compiled to build a version of MAME that supports 0.37 roms (you do not need this)
"ROMs are Non-Merged" is a note that the Roms rely on parent versions when required (such as the 2 player version of turtles - tmnt2p, requires the 4 player version to work, as it only contains the different roms). There is an article in the wiki on Merged vs non-merged sets.

martinrdgz

@simonster Thanks! Also I'm getting the .078 romset too

rbaker

@martinrdgz did you read this non technical guide I wrote?

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/7247/guide-arcade-games-and-how-to-play-them-a-non-technical-mame-fba-tutorial

meleu

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

but hopefully is now on the right track.

The right track starts at reading the Arcade wiki. If this is hard to understand, this track can start at reading the How to use MAME with RetroPie guide or the link posted by @rbaker above.

Without reading the docs, it's not the right track.

martinrdgz

@rbaker My bad, I might have missed it since I’m struggling with researching and understanding all of this, but I’m on it now. Again, I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart who has tried to help me understand and offered their support. Thank you so much, you all don’t know how much this means to me.

simonster

@meleu

Agreed, I think the article by @rbaker is great. I just wanted to make the point that I didn't think he was using a third-party image.