FBA vs. MAME

Pussyfoot

Forgot to mention the context of this comparison: This is on a Raspberry Pi 3. PC performance is much different for both.

Pussyfoot

Add all the Puzzle Bobble games on the list of working better in MAME than FBA.

dankcushions

@pussyfoot said in FBA vs. MAME:

The compatibility charts in the wiki isn't very accurate. It lists a lot of games as not working that do, etc

the compatibility list is user-generated. if you find a game that works, then please change the entry in the list.

however, you seem to be comparing like for like with FBA vs MAME - these two emulators (actually there are several FBA and MAME emulators) use different romsets. no FBA emulators run midway mortal kombat or open ice games, for example.

Pussyfoot

I'm mostly comparing the latest FBA with the the 2003 MAME. However, in one case, the 2010 version of MAME worked best.

QBert and QBert Cubes have better audio in MAME.

caver01

@pussyfoot Different strokes for different folks. I might play more FBA if it had better support for cocktail auto-rotation in vertical games. I also wish it had a TAB GUI menu for remapping controls as I often do. Also, analog controls are just fantastic now in lr-mame2003, but AdvanceMAME is still king for vector.

I guess I am saying that when you are talking about the "preferred emulator" there are many factors that play into that preference. Only one of them is performance.

Pussyfoot

In the cases I'm listing, it's critical problems that affect all users. If the game doesn't run or is missing sound, then it's a slam dunk.

caver01

@pussyfoot that’s true. Looking back at your list these have problems in one but might work in another. It’s when it works in multiple that it becomes subjective.

Pussyfoot

Here are some more ones that work in mame vs. FBA:

aso
bioship
blkheart (Use MAME 2010)
cupfinal
hachamf (still doesn't work in MAME, but loads)
nbahangt
sbm
tdfever (Works better in MAME 2010, but screen is stretched)
touchgo
umk3
wwfmania

dankcushions

@pussyfoot the list is 1000s long. mame aims to support every known arcade board (with later mames closer to that then earlier ones), whereas fba is only a tiny subset (but with a goal of speed rather than preservation).

sirhenrythe5th

Not to forget that FBA was once meant to emulate one single game: Afterburner from SEGA.
So we should be thankful for every game that was added.
Petsonally i love and use MAME.
MAME32FX on PC, AdvanceMame on the Pi + FBA for NeoGeo to have an own section in ES.

UDb23

@sirhenrythe5th said in FBA vs. MAME:

FBA was once meant to emulate one single game: Afterburner from SEGA.

Interesting ! Was not aware of that.

Pussyfoot

I remember when FBA was needed to emulate CPS1, CPS2, and NEOGEO because they weren't playable under MAME. MAME was more accurate, but FBA was usually faster. Of course, this was over a decade ago...

I was a little surprised to see games that work fine in FBA on Windows may not even work on the Raspberry Pi.

dankcushions

@pussyfoot said in FBA vs. MAME:

I was a little surprised to see games that work fine in FBA on Windows may not even work on the Raspberry Pi.

can you give an example please?

pjft

@sirhenrythe5th I remember using it indeed for Galaxy Force. I didn't know it had started with After Burner.

I also remember using Raine to play Taito games such as Space Gun on my PC... Indeed, grateful for all the progress on MAME and FBA, as well as the amazing things the Pi can accomplish on such a small chip.

Pussyfoot

@dankcushions galpani4

dankcushions

@pussyfoot said in FBA vs. MAME:

@dankcushions galpani4

according to the compatibility list this works but has slowdown, is that correct? because that kind of thing is expected on a raspberry pi - they are far slower than any PC or laptop from the last 15+ years.

pjft

@pussyfoot I'd try AdvMame for games that exhibit slowdowns on FBA or MAME 2003. It will usually work surprisingly faster.

Pussyfoot

@dankcushions It doesn't even start up on the Pi.

@pjft I experimented with Advancemame for vector games. It works much nicer. I'm disappointed that Advancemame is separate from the other MAME options. I don't like having two MAME menus on RetroPie.

pjft

@pussyfoot you can merge all FBA, Mame and AdvMame in the arcade folder, and configure different ROMs to use different emulators.

dankcushions

@pussyfoot said in FBA vs. MAME:

@dankcushions It doesn't even start up on the Pi.

not according to our compatibility sheets - it works. i can't test myself at the moment but i can't see why someone would say it starts if it doesn't. are you sure you have the right romset for your version of lr-fbalpha?