How to use MAME with RetroPie - Help Guide

meleu

@k0st1x On other hand the guys who spend their time writing and sharing their knowledge to help the newbies may not become too glad when someone asks questions immediately below the answers.

k0st1x

@meleu said in How to use MAME with RetroPie - Help Guide:

@k0st1x On other hand the guys who spend their time writing and sharing their knowledge to help the newbies may not become too glad when someone asks questions immediately below the answers.

but this is a real life - nobody wants to spend hours reading documentation BEFORE trying to use a new device / new application / new product as "ad-hoc".
For example, previously on my bananapi & RPi was installed android and that was simple.
I heard about retropie from some youtube video and I go and install it, thats all - like with android.
And this is everywhere - i am working in corp that create a product with documentation & support. very few users who read documentation before some issue occurred. and this is normal.

rbaker

@k0st1x said in How to use MAME with RetroPie - Help Guide:

nobody wants to spend hours reading documentation

I spent about 30 mins before Mame was fully operational. I agree that some people may not read the instructions and this forum proves that many do not. However, you cannot decide to ignore the instructions AND post questions and complaints. It makes no sense, especially if those questions appear in the same thread as the answers.

meleu

@k0st1x

Actually I totally agree with this statement:

nobody wants to spend hours reading documentation BEFORE trying to use a new device / new application / new product as "ad-hoc".

I am this kind of person. But after I face some problem I need to get some instructions.

What make us really impressed is you asking:

"why Retropie 'out of the box' have two old versions of mame, instead of worked mame2010? Is there any reason for this?"

While in the first post of this very same forum topic we have answers for questions like:

Why does RetroPie come with more than one arcade emulator?
How do I choose which arcade emulator I want to use?
What are romsets?
Which is the best romset version to use?
Are romset versions backward compatible?

dankcushions

@k0st1x said in How to use MAME with RetroPie - Help Guide:

so it is possible to get list of emulators and its "top-games".

i think you still don't understand the issue. let's say you have a mame rom for the game 1942. 1942 (the game) is supported in (I would guess) almost every version of mame dating back to to 1997, however your downloaded 1942 rom is tied to a specific version of mame. any version of mame (be that mame2010, or mame2003) is looking for a specific set of files in the 1942.zip, as these files change often across mame versions.

so it's not a matter of getting a version of mame that supports 1942, it's about getting the specific 1942.zip for that specific version of mame. this is why we deal in romsets with mame - you download the entire set of valid for the version of mame you are trying to use.

hopefully you now understand that there is no benefit in us choosing mame2010 as the default over mame2003, as if you're downloading random roms from random sets, you will hit the same kind of issues regardless.

k0st1x

@dankcushions said in How to use MAME with RetroPie - Help Guide:

i 1942 rom is tied to a specific version of mame

in my practice, I have not seen a single game, but with different versions of the roms (but i know about roms with dependencies), so it looks to me like a made-up case.

in an attempt to reach audiences you see that you can not cover 100% of different arcade games, because you does not see the difference in emulators (one specific still do not support all games).

Guys, thanks to this thread I got enough new mame specific knowledge.

dankcushions

@k0st1x said in How to use MAME with RetroPie - Help Guide:

@dankcushions said in How to use MAME with RetroPie - Help Guide:

i 1942 rom is tied to a specific version of mame

in my practice, I have not seen a single game, but with different versions of the roms (but i know about roms with dependencies), so it looks to me like a made-up case.

i don't fully understand you here, but here's the 1942 example in the real-world. the extracts below are from the .dat files of some different mame versions in retropie, showing what these versions of mame are looking for in the 1942.zip.

here's 1942.zip in mame4all (mame 0.37b5):

	<game name="1942">
		<description>1942 (set 1)</description>
		<year>1984</year>
		<manufacturer>Capcom</manufacturer>
		<rom name="03k_sb-8.bin" size="256" crc="f6fad943"/>
		<rom name="06d_sb-4.bin" size="256" crc="4858968d"/>
		<rom name="08e_sb-5.bin" size="256" crc="93ab8153"/>
		<rom name="09e_sb-6.bin" size="256" crc="8ab44f7d"/>
		<rom name="1-c11.bin" size="16384" crc="bd87f06b"/>
		<rom name="1-f2.bin" size="8192" crc="6ebca191"/>
		<rom name="1-n3a.bin" size="16384" crc="40201bab"/>
		<rom name="1-n4.bin" size="16384" crc="a60ac644"/>
		<rom name="1-n5.bin" size="16384" crc="835f7b24"/>
		<rom name="1-n6.bin" size="8192" crc="821c6481"/>
		<rom name="1-n7.bin" size="16384" crc="5df525e1"/>
		<rom name="10e_sb-7.bin" size="256" crc="f4ade9a4"/>
		<rom name="2-a1.bin" size="8192" crc="3884d9eb"/>
		<rom name="2-a2.bin" size="8192" crc="999cf6e0"/>
		<rom name="2-a3.bin" size="8192" crc="8edb273a"/>
		<rom name="2-a4.bin" size="8192" crc="3a2726c3"/>
		<rom name="2-a5.bin" size="8192" crc="1bd3d8bb"/>
		<rom name="2-a6.bin" size="8192" crc="658f02c4"/>
		<rom name="2-l1.bin" size="16384" crc="2528bec6"/>
		<rom name="2-l2.bin" size="16384" crc="f89287aa"/>
		<rom name="2-n1.bin" size="16384" crc="024418f8"/>
		<rom name="2-n2.bin" size="16384" crc="e2c7e489"/>
		<rom name="f01_sb-0.bin" size="256" crc="6047d91b"/>
	</game>

here's 1942.zip in mame2003 (mame 0.78):

	<game name="1942">
		<description>1942 (set 1)</description>
		<year>1984</year>
		<manufacturer>Capcom</manufacturer>
		<rom name="01d_sb-2.bin" size="256" crc="8bb8b3df" sha1="49de2819c4c92057fedcb20425282515d85829aa"/>
		<rom name="01m_sb-9.bin" size="256" crc="4921635c" sha1="aee37d6cdc36acf0f11ff5f93e7b16e4b12f6c39"/>
		<rom name="02d_sb-3.bin" size="256" crc="3b0c99af" sha1="38f30ac1e48632634e409f328ee3051b987de7ad"/>
		<rom name="03k_sb-8.bin" size="256" crc="f6fad943" sha1="b0a24ea7805272e8ebf72a99b08907bc00d5f82f"/>
		<rom name="06d_sb-4.bin" size="256" crc="4858968d" sha1="20b5dbcaa1a4081b3139e7e2332d8fe3c9e55ed6"/>
		<rom name="08e_sb-5.bin" size="256" crc="93ab8153" sha1="a792f24e5c0c3c4a6b436102e7a98199f878ece1"/>
		<rom name="09e_sb-6.bin" size="256" crc="8ab44f7d" sha1="f74680a6a987d74b3acb32e6396f20e127874149"/>
		<rom name="1-c11.bin" size="16384" crc="bd87f06b" sha1="821f85cf157f81117eeaba0c3cf0337eac357e58"/>
		<rom name="1-f2.bin" size="8192" crc="6ebca191" sha1="0dbddadde54a0ab66994c4a8726be05c6ca88a0e"/>
		<rom name="1-n3a.bin" size="16384" crc="40201bab" sha1="4886c07a4602223c21419118e10aadce9c99fa5a"/>
		<rom name="1-n4.bin" size="16384" crc="a60ac644" sha1="f37862db3cf5e6cc9ab3276f3bc45fd629fd70dd"/>
		<rom name="1-n5.bin" size="16384" crc="835f7b24" sha1="24b66827f08c43fbf5b9517d638acdfc38e1b1e7"/>
		<rom name="1-n6.bin" size="8192" crc="821c6481" sha1="06becb6bf8b4bde3a458098498eecad566a87711"/>
		<rom name="1-n7.bin" size="16384" crc="5df525e1" sha1="70cd2910e2945db76bd6ebfa0ff09a5efadc2d0b"/>
		<rom name="10e_sb-7.bin" size="256" crc="f4ade9a4" sha1="62ad31d31d183cce213b03168daa035083b2f28e"/>
		<rom name="2-a1.bin" size="8192" crc="3884d9eb" sha1="5cbd9215fa5ba5a61208b383700adc4428521aed"/>
		<rom name="2-a2.bin" size="8192" crc="999cf6e0" sha1="5b8b685038ec98b781908b92eb7fb9506db68544"/>
		<rom name="2-a3.bin" size="8192" crc="8edb273a" sha1="85fdd4c690ed31e6396e3c16aa02140ee7ea2d61"/>
		<rom name="2-a4.bin" size="8192" crc="3a2726c3" sha1="187c92ef591febdcbd1d42ab850e0cbb62c00873"/>
		<rom name="2-a5.bin" size="8192" crc="1bd3d8bb" sha1="ef4dce605eb4dc8035985a415315ec61c21419c6"/>
		<rom name="2-a6.bin" size="8192" crc="658f02c4" sha1="f087d69e49e38cf3107350cde18fcf85a8fa04f0"/>
		<rom name="2-l1.bin" size="16384" crc="2528bec6" sha1="29f7719f18faad6bd1ec6735cc24e69168361470"/>
		<rom name="2-l2.bin" size="16384" crc="f89287aa" sha1="136fff6d2a4f48a488fc7c620213761459c3ada0"/>
		<rom name="2-n1.bin" size="16384" crc="024418f8" sha1="145b8d5d6c8654cd090955a98f6dd8c8dbafe7c1"/>
		<rom name="2-n2.bin" size="16384" crc="e2c7e489" sha1="d4b5d575c021f58f6966df189df94e08c5b3621c"/>
		<rom name="f01_sb-0.bin" size="256" crc="6047d91b" sha1="1ce025f9524c1033e48c5294ee7d360f8bfebe8d"/>
		<rom name="k06_sb-1.bin" size="256" crc="712ac508" sha1="5349d722ab6733afdda65f6e0a98322f0d515e86"/>
	</game>

and finally, in mame2010 (mame 0.139)

	<game name="1942" sourcefile="1942.c">
		<description>1942 (Revision B)</description>
		<year>1984</year>
		<manufacturer>Capcom</manufacturer>
		<rom name="sb-0.f1" size="256" crc="6047d91b" sha1="1ce025f9524c1033e48c5294ee7d360f8bfebe8d"/>
		<rom name="sb-1.k6" size="256" crc="712ac508" sha1="5349d722ab6733afdda65f6e0a98322f0d515e86"/>
		<rom name="sb-2.d1" size="256" crc="8bb8b3df" sha1="49de2819c4c92057fedcb20425282515d85829aa"/>
		<rom name="sb-3.d2" size="256" crc="3b0c99af" sha1="38f30ac1e48632634e409f328ee3051b987de7ad"/>
		<rom name="sb-4.d6" size="256" crc="4858968d" sha1="20b5dbcaa1a4081b3139e7e2332d8fe3c9e55ed6"/>
		<rom name="sb-5.e8" size="256" crc="93ab8153" sha1="a792f24e5c0c3c4a6b436102e7a98199f878ece1"/>
		<rom name="sb-6.e9" size="256" crc="8ab44f7d" sha1="f74680a6a987d74b3acb32e6396f20e127874149"/>
		<rom name="sb-7.e10" size="256" crc="f4ade9a4" sha1="62ad31d31d183cce213b03168daa035083b2f28e"/>
		<rom name="sb-8.k3" size="256" crc="f6fad943" sha1="b0a24ea7805272e8ebf72a99b08907bc00d5f82f"/>
		<rom name="sb-9.m11" size="256" crc="4921635c" sha1="aee37d6cdc36acf0f11ff5f93e7b16e4b12f6c39"/>
		<rom name="sr-01.c11" size="16384" crc="bd87f06b" sha1="821f85cf157f81117eeaba0c3cf0337eac357e58"/>
		<rom name="sr-02.f2" size="8192" crc="6ebca191" sha1="0dbddadde54a0ab66994c4a8726be05c6ca88a0e"/>
		<rom name="sr-08.a1" size="8192" crc="3884d9eb" sha1="5cbd9215fa5ba5a61208b383700adc4428521aed"/>
		<rom name="sr-09.a2" size="8192" crc="999cf6e0" sha1="5b8b685038ec98b781908b92eb7fb9506db68544"/>
		<rom name="sr-10.a3" size="8192" crc="8edb273a" sha1="85fdd4c690ed31e6396e3c16aa02140ee7ea2d61"/>
		<rom name="sr-11.a4" size="8192" crc="3a2726c3" sha1="187c92ef591febdcbd1d42ab850e0cbb62c00873"/>
		<rom name="sr-12.a5" size="8192" crc="1bd3d8bb" sha1="ef4dce605eb4dc8035985a415315ec61c21419c6"/>
		<rom name="sr-13.a6" size="8192" crc="658f02c4" sha1="f087d69e49e38cf3107350cde18fcf85a8fa04f0"/>
		<rom name="sr-14.l1" size="16384" crc="2528bec6" sha1="29f7719f18faad6bd1ec6735cc24e69168361470"/>
		<rom name="sr-15.l2" size="16384" crc="f89287aa" sha1="136fff6d2a4f48a488fc7c620213761459c3ada0"/>
		<rom name="sr-16.n1" size="16384" crc="024418f8" sha1="145b8d5d6c8654cd090955a98f6dd8c8dbafe7c1"/>
		<rom name="sr-17.n2" size="16384" crc="e2c7e489" sha1="d4b5d575c021f58f6966df189df94e08c5b3621c"/>
		<rom name="srb-03.m3" size="16384" crc="d9dafcc3" sha1="a089a9bc55fb7d6d0ac53f91b258396d5d62677a"/>
		<rom name="srb-04.m4" size="16384" crc="da0cf924" sha1="856fbb302c9a4ec7850a26ab23dab8467f79bba4"/>
		<rom name="srb-05.m5" size="16384" crc="d102911c" sha1="35ba1d82bd901940f61d8619273463d02fc0a952"/>
		<rom name="srb-06.m6" size="8192" crc="466f8248" sha1="2ccc8fc59962d3001fbc10e8d2f20a254a74f251"/>
		<rom name="srb-07.m7" size="16384" crc="0d31038c" sha1="b588eaf6fddd66ecb2d9832dc197f286f1ccd846"/>
	</game>

as you can see, they are all different, so a random 1942.zip downloaded from the net will work on one, or likely none of these mame versions.

k0st1x

@dankcushions thanks for the real-world example, now I will know : )

suprjami

@k0st1x said in How to use MAME with RetroPie - Help Guide:

but this is a real life - nobody wants to spend hours reading documentation BEFORE trying to use a new device / new application / new product as "ad-hoc"

Perhaps, but at least skim over the documentation so you know what it contains so you can look it up later.

If you run into a problem then definitely read the documentation and search existing Forum/Reddit/Google content before posting a question.

We all put a lot of time into explaining things via the documentation and have got better ways to spend our time than explaining those same things to people over and over again via forum posts. As @meleu says it can get frustrating if people don't even bother to look at the documentation.

However I do appreciate well-phrased intelligent questions describing exactly what a person is stuck on. These sort of queries usually expose a shortcoming in the documentation, so we can work to answer the question whilst improving the documentation for everyone at the same time.

Rpie4TheWOLF

On MAME what i have to do to activate cheats when i press tab?

mediamogul

@Rpie4TheWOLF

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/7351/mame-cheats-on-retropie/2

snout71

I have only just bought a rpi3 and googling to find out how to get it to work and found this post, very informative and will ensure I read the wiki and other links.
Having read all the posts here, doesn't it make sense for retropie to have 3 versions of mame out of the box? Wouldn't this solve the issue as people would just try them in all

Just a thought :)

dankcushions

@snout71 said in How to use MAME with RetroPie - Help Guide:

Having read all the posts here, doesn't it make sense for retropie to have 3 versions of mame out of the box?

i think it does: lr-imame4all, lr-mame2003 and mame4all-pi are installed by default (?)

Wouldn't this solve the issue as people would just try them in all

nope, because you'd still only have a subset of the 100s of mame versions. the only way to ensure compatibility with any random rom would be to include every single version of mame ever released :) most of which won't work well/at all on a pi, anyway.

meleu

@dankcushions said in How to use MAME with RetroPie - Help Guide:

the only way to ensure compatibility with any random rom would be to include every single version of mame ever released

And even so it would confuse users, since they would have to know which version to use in a big list of versions.

le36

Hi, how can I find which type of MAME games to play with which emulator, for example on different ROM sites I found MAME 0.139u1, MAME 0.37b5 or just MAME and which MAME Emulator should I search for, how to recognize which emulator is for which MAME ROMs. Can someone explain to me that, I was thinking that there are just one MAME games but now this is crazy.

mitu

@le36 First link in the topic - https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/Arcade.

MortalWombat

Hello all, I'm new to RaspPi and these forums, just got a Pi4 and had ultimately been hoping to configure it to play arcade/Neo-Geo games, classics like Space Invaders, to 4-player games, and more high-end stuff like Marvel Vs. Capcom 2-- and know that arcade ROMs are a bit more complicated than your standard console ROMs-- so I'm sure I'll have a lot of questions.

2 hardware-related questions though:

Knowing that arcade games are a little more complicated, I've almost resigned myself to needing to 2 Pis, 1 for the NeoGeo and other arcade games, and one for just basic 8- to 16-bit home console games, in part because I've heard you want about a 32- 128gb MicroSD card to save the larger arcade ROM files (my RP4 came with 8GB RAM-- don't know if that's enough processing power to play something like a NeoGeo game without slowdown-- but with just a 16GB MicroSD card, so I already anticipate have to buy a bigger one).

Is that really necessary though? Have you all been able to fit/play both home and arcade games on one Pi?

I'm also hoping to develop a Pi that can play up to 4-player games, like the arcade TMNT, Simpsons, etc.

Have any of you done this? Is it as simple as plugging 4 controllers in the RP4's 4 USB slots, or would you need a USB extender??

Thank you!!

dankcushions

@mortalwombat said in How to use MAME with RetroPie - Help Guide:

2 hardware-related questions though:

Knowing that arcade games are a little more complicated, I've almost resigned myself to needing to 2 Pis, 1 for the NeoGeo and other arcade games, and one for just basic 8- to 16-bit home console games, in part because I've heard you want about a 32- 128gb MicroSD card to save the larger arcade ROM files

for the recommended arcade emulators it’s more like 10-20gb, and the entire neogeo catalogue is ~2gb, and that’s presuming you want EVERYTHING.

(my RP4 came with 8GB RAM-- don't know if that's enough processing power to play something like a NeoGeo game without slowdown-- but with just a 16GB MicroSD card, so I already anticipate have to buy a bigger one).

the lowest RAM pi4 would be enough. you will likely want a bigger SD card (or external/thumb drive)

Is that really necessary though? Have you all been able to fit/play both home and arcade games on one Pi?

i’ve got everything i want across all systems on a 32gb usb drive.

I'm also hoping to develop a Pi that can play up to 4-player games, like the arcade TMNT, Simpsons, etc.

Have any of you done this? Is it as simple as plugging 4 controllers in the RP4's 4 USB slots, or would you need a USB extender??

assuming your pi has enough power to drive the controllers, and you don’t have anything else using the slots, it’s fine.

MortalWombat

@dankcushions said in How to use MAME with RetroPie - Help Guide:

the lowest RAM pi4 would be enough. you will likely want a bigger SD card

Really appreciate the reply/clarification, @dankcushions . So you're saying that 8GB of RAM should be sufficient to run most arcade games (I don't expect to play anything much newer than say 2001/Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 or whatever), but that generally a 32GB MicroSD is enough to carry RAMs for all systems?

Out of curiosity, how many consoles/systems do you have on yours, and what's the newest one? I've heard that consoles like the Playstation, Neo-Geo, N-64 & Dreamcast can experience emulation problems-- and of those, I'd probably only want to play about 10-15 Neo-Geo games-- but most of the guides I've seen (including that https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Arcade/ one) haven't even covered the PI4 yet. Thanks!!

dankcushions

@mortalwombat said in How to use MAME with RetroPie - Help Guide:

@dankcushions said in How to use MAME with RetroPie - Help Guide:

the lowest RAM pi4 would be enough. you will likely want a bigger SD card

Really appreciate the reply/clarification, @dankcushions . So you're saying that 8GB of RAM should be sufficient to run most arcade games (I don't expect to play anything much newer than say 2001/Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 or whatever)

i am not aware of any emulation situation where the the lowest RAM pi4 means that RAM is a bottleneck.

but that generally a 32GB MicroSD is enough to carry RAMs for all systems?

no not at all. for example, if you wanted the entire catalogue of CD-based systems like the playstation, then that could be in the terabytes alone. for the subset of games i play, it's enough, but only you know how much space the roms you want to play takes up.

Out of curiosity, how many consoles/systems do you have on yours

probably about 20

and what's the newest one?

psp i suppose.

I've heard that consoles like the Playstation, Neo-Geo, N-64 & Dreamcast can experience emulation problems-- and of those, I'd probably only want to play about 10-15 Neo-Geo games

not sure i follow. neogeo games are on the... neogeo system :)

-- but most of the guides I've seen (including that https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Arcade/ one) haven't even covered the PI4 yet. Thanks!!

neogeo emulation has been fullspeed since at least the pi2, so the pi3 guidance will be the same for neogeo on pi4 (ie, use fbneo).