mame2003-plus: hundreds of new games, improved input, features, new bugs - now with runahead support

thelostsoul

@arcadez2003 I appreciate the work you guys doing there. Don't misunderstand me, I was just asking, so I understand how to work with it, as I plan to use -plus in the future. I mostly would like to get rid of two different MAME versions that I currently use, mame2003 and 2010. Is it possible to suggest games which I use in mame2010, to be added in mame2003-plus? Is adding support for a game something like copying some source code or is there more to do, from the developers perspective of -plus (essentially you)?

Reading those bug fixes makes me uncomfortable to use older versions now. ;-) Didn't know Bubble Bobble, one of my all time classics, wasn't emulated "perfectly"!

@grant2258 I wouldn't say that its not possible. The way is done with regular MAME could be also done with the -plus line. In example there could be a mame2003-plus-2020 and the other regular one always in development. But admittedly, I question myself if that is needed with the -plus line, so the RetroPie maintainer and developer don't get more versions to work with.

Just to be clear, my question should not sound negative in any way or suggestive. I just asked, because of the contrary information found.

Riverstorm

@thelostsoul - mame2003 is based on 0.78 and is static. That's probably its main advantage.

Mame2003-plus came into being later. It started with the mame2003 source and has been expanded by a few hundred games and updated around eighty. There has also been several sample updates and additions.

I think the difference is official MAME comes out every few months after significant additions and/or updates. Whereas mame2003-plus does not. They make minor tweaks and/or addition to get a single game working and other times they may code huge overhauls to drivers.

Even so it would be impractical to create a new static ROM set for every game addition or update to mame2003-plus. If they had decided to go that route then mame2003-plus would have about 200 builds/versions and 200 ROM sets with very minor changes between them. It's less than ideal and unmanageable long term.

To facilitate building a ROM set they have added on-the-fly DAT generation. Basically start any game go to your TAB menu and click "Generate DAT File" (or something close to that) and it creates a current DAT file to whatever build you're running.

The good is most of the feature changes and updates have been ported over to mame2003 by the devs. The main advantage of mame2003-plus is you'll occasionally receive a new game here or there or even small batches after driver updates. There are also a few features that are m3plus only.

The challenge is you'll need to update your ROM set to take advantage of them. A majority of the ROMs (90th plus percentile) are cross compatible and ready to go which is a big help if you have a mame2003 set already.

If you have current MAME and the rollback set you can build a complete mame2003-plus set, almost. Here's a small list of additions that aren't in official MAME or the rollback that you'll need to complete the set. I am behind a few versions so it could be slightly different now.

Not included here are a few games that have OST samples that are completely optional but really enhance game play. Basically the games will work without them but they really fun additions with them.

Bubble Bobble (Ultra Version)(USA) [folder: bublboblu - parent: bublbobl - size: 548kb]
a78-05u.52 [size: 65536] [CRC32: b31d2edc] [SHA1: b7d317c0b5b86c0bf39b18cfe584bca9d22d4eba]
a78-06u.51 [size: 32768] [CRC32: a6345edd] [SHA1: 144f33002ee40acdbfa6a49119092a319048bb00]
a78-08u.37 [size: 32768] [CRC32: d544be2e] [SHA1: 1472db52dcd9e17a866ea2766cfea500d8f712ab]

Donkey Kong Remix [folder: dkrdemo - parent: dkong - sampleparent: dkong - size: 33kb]
dkrdemo.5at [size: 4096] [CRC32: e59d406c] [SHA1: 7698e319ae191bb8bf7deeea5c4f18da04d73f73]
dkrdemo.5bt [size: 4096] [CRC32: 660d43ec] [SHA1: 8bba334cec022ea851c4a82f6ecbc91c0708daea]
dkrdemo.5ct [size: 4096] [CRC32: f48cb898] [SHA1: 470b8bee7f55e1d828abc0b1ec4b423392c83a78]
dkrdemo.5et [size: 4096] [CRC32: f9fdff29] [SHA1: c2eb8f0ede8384369e17d8616f4ce063ae12b6c2]

Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition (Asia 040202) [folder: hsf2a - size: 45mb]
hs2ax.03 [size: 524288] [CRC32: 5f3d7397] [SHA1: 96f327dd998105ad5dc46bc9d3b741805a840d68]
hs2ax.04 [size: 524288] [CRC32: 59acf108] [SHA1: e68fe233681175b29a35badab249c2b892b23af3]

SegaSonic Bros (Japan, prototype) [folder: ssonicbr - size: 640kb]
ssonicbr.ic31 [size: 262144] [CRC32: 03709746] [SHA1: 0b457f557da77acd3f43950428117c1decdfaf26]
ssonicbr.ic32 [size: 262144] [CRC32: cf254ecd] [SHA1: 4bb295ec80f8ddfeab4e360eebf12c5e2dfb9800]
ssonicbr.ic4 [size: 131072] [CRC32: 78e56a51] [SHA1: 8a72c12975cd74919b4337e0f681273e6b5cbbc6]

The King of Fighters 2003 (Decrypted) [system: Neo-Geo - folder: kof2003d - size: 125mb]
271-v1d.bin [size: 16777216] [CRC32: 2964f36e]

Tron (freeplay) [folder: tronfp - parent: tron - size: 108kb]
625_v11.bin [size: 8192] [CRC32: 402a99dc] [SHA1: d3fdf877f185473d3dbf33cd1a3d0dae4173e479]

For game additions or fixes post here and they'll take a look at it and make a decision. If it's compatible and reasonable they may add it.

arcadez2003

@thelostsoul said in mame2003-plus: hundreds of new games, improved input, features, new bugs - now with runahead support:

@arcadez2003 I appreciate the work you guys doing there. Don't misunderstand me, I was just asking, so I understand how to work with it, as I plan to use -plus in the future. I mostly would like to get rid of two different MAME versions that I currently use, mame2003 and 2010. Is it possible to suggest games which I use in mame2010, to be added in mame2003-plus? Is adding support for a game something like copying some source code or is there more to do, from the developers perspective of -plus (essentially you)?

Depends on what games they are and when exactly they were added to MAME, the code changes with every MAME release and the further the build is ahead from MAME78
the more work is required to actually hook it into our older MAME2003 codebase, none of it just drops in it has to be altered and reworked firstly and not everything in current
MAME is actually backportable either.

But feel free to throw out your list of games you'd like to see playable and i'll let ya know if it's possible.

grant2258

had a wee shot of ring rage and metal black. Its probably because i played it was i was younger in the arcade but the exciting hour as i called it when i played it seems better than ring rage to me. Ill give it more of a chance at the weekend when im off work. No bother with the two games i tried so far though.

WeirdH

@arcadez2003 said in mame2003-plus: hundreds of new games, improved input, features, new bugs - now with runahead support:

Winding down with this core nowadays but i'll still take on the odd fixup should the workload not be to great, as per a tip from @arnoldsecret it turns out a couple of
NeoGeo games were totally broken in MAME2003 while a third had some niggles here and there, the problem was some incorrect code to handle the graphical zooming

Hey arcadez2003, love the updates. I might have another suggestion for a NeoGeo game with minor issues: Top Hunter. The game plays fine, but the screen transition into a bonus section seems to run at single digit frame rate. Is it the emulation, or just the Pi that can't handle the effect? (there's a bonus stage very early on, in a tree in the background, if you'd like to see for yourself what I'm talking about)

arcadez2003

@WeirdH said in mame2003-plus: hundreds of new games, improved input, features, new bugs - now with runahead support:

@arcadez2003 said in mame2003-plus: hundreds of new games, improved input, features, new bugs - now with runahead support:

Winding down with this core nowadays but i'll still take on the odd fixup should the workload not be to great, as per a tip from @arnoldsecret it turns out a couple of
NeoGeo games were totally broken in MAME2003 while a third had some niggles here and there, the problem was some incorrect code to handle the graphical zooming

Hey arcadez2003, love the updates. I might have another suggestion for a NeoGeo game with minor issues: Top Hunter. The game plays fine, but the screen transition into a bonus section seems to run at single digit frame rate. Is it the emulation, or just the Pi that can't handle the effect? (there's a bonus stage very early on, in a tree in the background, if you'd like to see for yourself what I'm talking about)

This shouldn't happen in MAME2003 as this issue was fixed many builds previously.

0.37b13: Nicola Salmoria fixed NeoGeo raster effects in Top Hunter (waves when entering bonus stages).

Are you using libretro MAME2000.?? which is based off 0.37.b5 and is a few builds before the above fix.

arcadez2003

@grant2258 said in mame2003-plus: hundreds of new games, improved input, features, new bugs - now with runahead support:

had a wee shot of ring rage and metal black. Its probably because i played it was i was younger in the arcade but the exciting hour as i called it when i played it seems better than ring rage to me. Ill give it more of a chance at the weekend when im off work. No bother with the two games i tried so far though.

Aye not a fan of Ring Rage either, WWF Wrestlefest and Superstars being my goto grappling games.

Brigane

@arcadez2003

Thanks for the updates, I really appreciate the work you put into this. Could you by any chance take a look at Wyvern Wings. The game plays fine, but I have no sound. Thanks :)

WeirdH

@arcadez2003 Hmm, that's odd. It happened on mame2003 and also, though to a lesser extent, on 2003-plus. Running a 3B+ with stock 1400Mhz and Retropie governor set to 'performance'.

grant2258

@WeirdH said in mame2003-plus: hundreds of new games, improved input, features, new bugs - now with runahead support:

@arcadez2003 Hmm, that's odd. It happened on mame2003 and also, though to a lesser extent, on 2003-plus. Running a 3B+ with stock 1400Mhz and Retropie governor set to 'performance'.

Tested this on it does crawl to a slow speed on the pi but is fine on a pc so must be using to much cpu power somewhere when doing this effect. If this isint happening on the xbox build it shouldnt happen on a pi though

BJRetro

@arcadez2003 question - for the bubble bobble and ninja kids fixes specifically do I need a different rom for those games than the standard .078 or does just updating mame2003-plus alone implement those fixes? Thank you for all the work you are doing!

arcadez2003

@BJRetro said in mame2003-plus: hundreds of new games, improved input, features, new bugs - now with runahead support:

@arcadez2003 question - for the bubble bobble and ninja kids fixes specifically do I need a different rom for those games than the standard .078 or does just updating mame2003-plus alone implement those fixes? Thank you for all the work you are doing!

For this core you need a different Bubble Bobble rom Ninja Kids however uses the same rom as MAME2003

arcadez2003

@grant2258 said in mame2003-plus: hundreds of new games, improved input, features, new bugs - now with runahead support:

@WeirdH said in mame2003-plus: hundreds of new games, improved input, features, new bugs - now with runahead support:

@arcadez2003 Hmm, that's odd. It happened on mame2003 and also, though to a lesser extent, on 2003-plus. Running a 3B+ with stock 1400Mhz and Retropie governor set to 'performance'.

Tested this on it does crawl to a slow speed on the pi but is fine on a pc so must be using to much cpu power somewhere when doing this effect. If this isint happening on the xbox build it shouldnt happen on a pi though

Alright tested this as well on the Xbox, same thing a drop from 60fps to around 12fps when the raster effect triggers on the screen transition into and out of the bonus stage,
although you'd hardly notice it without the fps turned on, this doesn't happen when using FBN i get a steady 59fps so it must be an issue with the NeoGeo raster handling in
the older MAME code maybe this is the fix.............

0.103u3: David Haywood rewrote NeoGeo video system, removing distinction between raster and non-raster games and cleaning up the code significantly. Cleaned up the Neo Geo mess from 0.103u2 [David Haywood, Razoola]. Changed visible area to 320x224.

From experience big changes like the above = lots of work to backport em.

WeirdH

@arcadez2003 Well, if it's not worth it, you shouldn't bother imo. It's not a super essential game or anything, I was just wondering. Thanks for looking into it anyway.

Lyle_JP

In Mame 2003-plus, I've noticed a major slowdown in Super Dodgeball '96 (Neo-Geo) when there is sprite-scaling over the fire effects in the attract mode. It's completely gone in AdvanceMame 3.9. I wonder if it's related to these other Neo-Geo slowdowns.

grant2258

@Lyle_JP said in mame2003-plus: hundreds of new games, improved input, features, new bugs - now with runahead support:

In Mame 2003-plus, I've noticed a major slowdown in Super Dodgeball '96 (Neo-Geo) when there is sprite-scaling over the fire effects in the attract mode. It's completely gone in AdvanceMame 3.9. I wonder if it's related to these other Neo-Geo slowdowns.

Yea checked this is happening on the pi 3b+ fps dropping to 40 fps when there is fire audio slows down as well but gameplay is ok. Now for these two games just press f1 on your keyboard to disable raster effects. The games run fine I dont notice any issues but im not 100% familiar with these games but if the slow downs get you down this will fix it.

arcadez2003

@Lyle_JP said in mame2003-plus: hundreds of new games, improved input, features, new bugs - now with runahead support:

In Mame 2003-plus, I've noticed a major slowdown in Super Dodgeball '96 (Neo-Geo) when there is sprite-scaling over the fire effects in the attract mode. It's completely gone in AdvanceMame 3.9. I wonder if it's related to these other Neo-Geo slowdowns.

A number of NeoGeo games fire a raster IRQ line when performing certain graphical effects, i suppose on some lesser spec platforms you'll get a big performance hit
while this is occuring, as you say since it doesn't happen when using a later MAME build on the same hardware a fix for this issue was done by the MAME dev's at
some point tracking it down and then attempting to backport the required changes to this core will be a fair amount of graft.

I dunno if im up for big core updates at the moment :) it might be easier as @grant2258 suggested to just turn off the raster effects while playing said games
or we can make a list of the ones that make use of raster lines and depending on how they perform recommened you play them using another MAME core
or FBN.

WeirdH

@grant2258 said in mame2003-plus: hundreds of new games, improved input, features, new bugs - now with runahead support:

Now for these two games just press f1 on your keyboard to disable raster effects. The games run fine I dont notice any issues but im not 100% familiar with these games but if the slow downs get you down this will fix it.

This totally works. Judging from the notification when pressing F1, it's a MAME setting, correct? The setting doesn't stick on exiting and restarting the rom, however. Is that at all possible, or will I have to press F1 every time?

grant2258

@WeirdH Yes it is indeed a mame option you will have to press it for the moment as is.

WeirdH

@grant2258 Okay, thanks.

EDIT - I just noticed something: am I correct in stating that Mega Play titles don't save high scores?

So far, I've seen this on mp_sonic and mp_sor2, which both came from a reference set. All other games save scores perfectly fine.