FBA vs. MAME

GreenHawk84

I'm surprised there hasn't been a Mame-Pi or FBA-Pi optimized just for Pi.

dankcushions

I'm surprised there hasn't been a Mame-Pi or FBA-Pi optimized just for Pi.

there has: mame4all-pi, and pifba. however, if you're on pi2 or pi3 you're mostly better off going for later versions.

caver01

Dankcushions said:
there has: mame4all-pi, and pifba. however, if you're on pi2 or pi3 you're mostly better off going for later versions.

Yes, and these being stand-alone, they obviously don't enjoy retroarch setups. For me, the CRT-PI shader is an important feature.

UDb23

@pussyfoot said in FBA vs. MAME:

This is a good start for anyone looking for a definitive rom list of working games using the best emulator for the job as of 2017/11/11.

First thanks again for creating those lists.
I combined all three into one single xls file that lists the roms (sorted by filename) and for each rom shows the suggested (best) core.
Concerning lr-mame, some games require 2010 (vs 2003) to run correctly: eg. Spiders and Sheriff. As screen aspect ratio is wrong in lr-mame 2010 a specific cfg is required to fix the ratio. For the 2 mentioned games I made an overlay that also fixes screen ratio. In the xls files this is specified by rom and includes links to corresponding overlays.
I will add more 2010 required roms in the future when found.

Global "best core" for roms file is available here.

juice

this is great guys thanks alot for this , could you tell me what rom set i need for this configuration. do i need the fba rom set for fba and different rom set for mame 2003.

mitu

@juice Yes, fba and mame2003 have different romset versions - check out the arcade sections in the docs - https://retropie.org.uk/docs/FinalBurn-Alpha/ and https://retropie.org.uk/docs/MAME/

AndersHP

@udb23
Great to see a combined list.
I'm really surprised to see that lr-fbalpha is recommended for so many roms. I thought the MAME2003 was "lighter", meaning that the performance on the pi would be faster and better in many cases.

UDb23

@andershp said in FBA vs. MAME:

lr-fbalpha is recommended for so many roms

Can't say why, I just collected the files created in this thread.
I believe "recommended" does not mean best; as far as I know lr-fba is faster due to less precise emulation (playability focused core) while mame tries to exactly emulate the real arcade machine (may impact performance, even on a Pi3)

UDb23

@andershp Mame2003 is "lighter" compared to newer mame releases (newer=more precise emulation)

AndersHP

@udb23 But I thought "lighter" = more precise emulation..

UDb23

@andershp more precise = more processing power needed = even Pi3 may not be able to manage (try a simple game like space invaders enabling with lr mame 2010 and mame overlay and backdrop... Too slow)

dankcushions

fbalpha is performance focused, but it's also a modern emulator. you can't really compare the performance with mame2003 -they're 14 years apart. i think most of the fbalpha code isn't even from a mame base in the first place.

so yeah, sometimes fbalpha will be faster than mame2003, sometimes not, but also it may have better accuracy in most games. mame2003 was accuracy-focused, but as of 2003. fbalpha will likely have the edge on it in most cases.

AndersHP

Allright, cool info. Now if only I could merge the spreadsheet with some rom utility to automatically choose the best rom type :)

RedBatman

When I use FBA, I put MAME roms into my FBA rom folder. Does that affect accuracy?

UDb23

@redbatman each core (Fba in your case) requires its own romset. If got a rom that's not intended for that core you would notice as it most likely simply would not work.
No relation with accuracy.

Pussyfoot

Ideally, it would be cool to create a DAT file for FBA and MAME2003/2010 and AdvanceMAME 3.X. I'd be more than willing to do it based on what's on my SD Card. I never did it with CLRMAME Pro. Can anyone make a suggestion how to start?

Also, where is the config to identify which games I am using MAME 2010? I know the Rampage games need 2010.

barbudreadmon

@udb23 said in FBA vs. MAME:

@andershp said in FBA vs. MAME:

lr-fbalpha is recommended for so many roms

Can't say why, I just collected the files created in this thread.
I believe "recommended" does not mean best; as far as I know lr-fba is faster due to less precise emulation (playability focused core) while mame tries to exactly emulate the real arcade machine (may impact performance, even on a Pi3)

I have serious doubts a 15 years old mame version is more accurate than latest fba. But yes, it is a project focused on playability.

@Pussyfoot Do you have the exact list of games that run at full speed on mame2003 but not on fba ?

Pussyfoot

@barbudreadmon No. I just moved them as I found them. The Strikers 1945 II and III games were two of them. Rampage World Tour works well in MAME, but slow in FBA.

barbudreadmon

@pussyfoot said in FBA vs. MAME:

The Strikers 1945 II and III games

They should run fine with the speedhack from the dipswitches.

I'll take a look at rampage world tour.
Edit : actually that's not a rom compatible with lr-fbalpha.

Pussyfoot

@barbudreadmon It doesn't run fine with the speed hack. It runs better, but not as well as in MAME. Also, the speed hack affects other games, yes?