I need help with MAME on my RaspberryPi 3

simonster

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 for some reason I might have not seen it since I'm struggling researching and understaing all this, but im on it now. Again I want to thank everybody from heart that has tried to make me understand and helped me thank you guys. You all dont 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.

dankcushions

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

"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.

pedant alert: it's the opposite :) non-merged means clones don't need parents; all roms work standalone: https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Validating,-Rebuilding,-and-Filtering-Arcade-ROMs#crash-course-in-arcade-roms

also, i don't know why OP is using mame 0.37b5 - recommended for pi3 is 0.78 + lr-mame2003: https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/Arcade#step-one-choose-an-arcade-emulator

Darksavior

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

also, i don't know why OP is using mame 0.37b5 - recommended for pi3 is 0.78 + lr-mame2003: https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/Arcade#step-one-choose-an-arcade-emulator

It's because he downloaded a 3rd party image with that installed and now he's wondering why his games don't work. Not sure why there's so many responses on trying to help this lazy guy. I stopped helping until he starts with a clean image.

martinrdgz

@darksavior Look I don't appreciate you name calling me "lazy guy" if you don't even freaking know me. I would like to be treated with the same respect i've been giving others. Now if you want to start name calling I will treat you the same way. For all I know mabe you're a guy that dosent have a job and all he does play games still leaveing off your parents income, simply [you don't have life, and dont know the responsibiltys of life]. Now I don't think you appreciate me talking like this to you when I don't even know you. If you don't got nothing good to say keep it to your self. Also man you state im using a 3rd party image all I did was extracted the roms and deleted the dam image you dont have to get all fired up making it seem like its a big deal which I don't mine deleting everything and get the roms myself. Also I never said that the mame 0.37b5 romset came in the 3rd party image.

sirhenrythe5th

Folks, calm down.
It is just about gaming, nothing to get in war.

simonster

Thanks @dankcushions , I was tired and started writing non-merged and ended up thinking split sets when writing. Oh well!

So @martinrdgz - each game in the non-merged set is self contained (i.e. doesn't rely on parent games).