Guys, which emulator do you use to play MAME

dankcushions

So just to clarify I could setup an arcade box (keyboard input) and multiple joysticks while using the 2003 retroarch core? I always thought I was stuck with what the retroarch core was doing and couldn't count on the native emulator input settings

i think we're talking about different things. what i'm talking about is changing what each button of the virtual 'retropad' controller does in the internal emulator. so for example, you set up your controller through emulation station, but you notice that the button you bound to the 'L' retropad button doesn't do fierce punch in street fighter 2, and instead fierce kick (or whatever), and you want to change that in a single game, without having to work out what other retropad button it should be, or lose the built in select + L = load state functionality. to do that, you remap it via the mame tab interface.

this is the exact same thing that core input remapping achieves, btw, in the cores that support it.

i'm not sure what you're talking about above, but binding multiple controllers/keyboard to retroarch is nothing to do with this really. the problem i'm talking about manifests after you have your controller setup with retroarch.

Riverstorm

@dankcushions

Ok, thanks Dankcushions for taking the time to explain everything. I really appreciate it. I think I have it down now...I think...I am waiting for the ah-a light bulb to go from dim to full brightness! :) I am going to build a 0.78 set to give 2003 a try. Sometimes just diving in start messing around is the best way to learn.

dankcushions

haha no worries - it's really difficult to explain and i don't think i have a good way of explaining it :) but i think ultimately if you want to remap controls for a specific game, the mame internal menu of 2003 will probably do what you want to do.

Finhead

@dankcushions said:

haha no worries - it's really difficult to explain and i don't think i have a good way of explaining it :) but i think ultimately if you want to remap controls for a specific game, the mame internal menu of 2003 will probably do what you want to do.

You can remap the controllers for specific games with mame4all, I only have it running and get that option with the tab key. A few like SF I have to setup with this option.

Riverstorm

@Finhead said:

@dankcushions said:

haha no worries - it's really difficult to explain and i don't think i have a good way of explaining it :) but i think ultimately if you want to remap controls for a specific game, the mame internal menu of 2003 will probably do what you want to do.

You can remap the controllers for specific games with mame4all, I only have it running and get that option with the tab key. A few like SF I have to setup with this option.

Fin, he definitely knows that, he was trying to explain something beyond basic remapping into the "symbiotic" relationship between the retroarch cores and native emulators and I didn't quite fully grasp it...yet! :)

caver01

I am also having pretty good luck now using 2003 with custom configs in my ROM folder. My setup might be more complicated than many: I am using an iPAC-4 inside a "portable" cocktail design, with a three-sided control panel situated around the display. I have players 1 and 2 along the horizontal edge--perfect for side-by-side fighter games--and players 3 and 4 are on opposite sides. So, 4 players can enjoy Gauntlet. The best part though, and the reason I have some per-ROM configs is for vertical games. Games like Dig Dug, Donkey Kong, Pac Man--these I run in "cocktail" mode (setting the dip switch in the MAME2003 GUI) and I remap the controls for Players 1 and 2 to the side panels (technically 3 and 4). That way, the vertical games can be played from the sides and with cocktail support, the image flips for player 2.

Occasionally, a vertical game requires side-by-side controls, like 1941. I play these in letterbox on the horizontal side of the display, and here again, per-rom configs save the day! You can specify an aspect ratio index and rotation such that you can control the stretch.

I used to do all of this with AdvanceMAME in a single config file, but I am liking the libretro core support for scanlines and barrel distortion. It feels very authentic on an LCD, and custom configs and some MAME-GUI mapping is making it possible to get great results. I really appreciate all of the effort put into the 2003 core. I only wish I could stay in 2003 for analog (trackball/spinners). I can't get them to work which is too bad.

misslehead3

I am using a combination of lr-mame-2003, advmame 0.94, and lr-fba-next and between the 3 I am covering everything I wanna play. The biggest drawback is there are some games that just dont work, ie Killer Instinct, but we have SNES for that

Charco

Just a quick MAME-related question, I have romsets for AdvMAME 1.4 and MAME4All and see in RetroPie 3.7 there is an "arcade" folder in the roms folder. Can I add two folders for these romsets here and have only one MAME appear on my Emulation Station menu?

herb_fargus

@Charco you can put them in the arcade folder but they will show up under arcade not mame

dankcushions

@Charco yes (although as Charco says it will appear as 'Arcade' in the menu, not Mame), but creating sub folders won't automatically mean those games run in those emulators, it would just make two subfolders in the meny.

you'd still have to (via the runcommand) set one (eg AdvMame) as the default emulator for mame, and then individually go through the other half and set it to the mame4all emulator, as per the documentation: https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/MAME#arcade

Charco

@dankcushions @herb_fargus thanks guys

DragonSpace

@Riverstorm I'm also trying to get a "Golden Age of Arcade vide games" box up and running. Have you managed to get Dynablasters (aka Atomic Bomberman) up and running with 4 players? I bought 4 SNES USB controllers, that I'm hoping to be using for this. Any hints on that?