crc_73

Also, if you don't want to delete anything, there are global options and individual game options which allow you to use/not use the Bezels. It's been a while since I've used MAME, but I think if you Right-Click a game in MAME32, and select "Properties" from the context-menu, you will be treated to a dialog with multiple tabs. There is probably an "Artwork" tab. In there you should find the options you need.

I think you are wanting to dump the "BEZELS" from your "Artwork" directory. You'll probably still want to keep your "Backdrops" and "Overlays" though; most are scans/pictures of the pictures that were used in the games, with the gameplay projected onto them, like with the Moon picture in Space Invaders. There are a couple of others, like for Lunar Lander, Spy Hunter and Gorf off the top of my head, that are kinda bezels, but enhance the game, as there were bulbs behind in the originals which highlighted status, weapons etc. You can see what's what on the MAME NET site here: http://www.mame.net/downart.html

Do you guys in the US spell the word as "copywrite", not "copyright"?

Just wondering if you're using an official Sega PSU, or a universal multi-voltage multi-adaptor type PSU? If it's the multi-voltage/adaptor type, then the connection mightn't be making good contact with the pin inside the GG. Or there could be a bit of corrosion/oxidation on the PSU contacts inside the GG, in which case all that is needed is a bit of a clean, difficult, but possible. The 15 minutes may or may not be serious. In a non-serious case, it just meant that your connections are dodgy, and you finally got the contacts to connect. In a serious case, it may mean that one or more components inside the GG are beginning to fail. Maybe it was heating up, and needed time to cool down in the 15 minutes, I can't tell you for sure. I can tell you that I had the power board on one of my GG's fail recently while using a universal PSU. I don't believe that the PSU caused the problem, but the board just plain reached the end of it's life. Now, if I was any good at electronics, I could probably pinpoint the offending component(s), and replace, but I'm not, so I can't. Anyway, the failure was coupled with a strong "dense-plastic beginning to burn" type smell. I was playing a game (Lemmings BTW, a pretty good version if you're unlucky enough not to have it on the Lynx), and noticed the smell, and the system promptly shut down. I switched it on again, it worked for a short time (30 seconds maybe), but the smell appeared almost immediately, and again the system shut down again. It wouldn't start up again. Luckily, I had another GG with a not-so-great screen, so I switched power boards, and all is hunky-dory now (still need to do the sound-fix though on it though!). So, it may or may not be serious, only time will tell. You have to remember that these devices are 12+ years old, and can't last forever without some service or change of components, something will fail eventually. My advice is that if you want to keep playing with the systems, you'll have to become a whizz at electronics, or gather as many systems you can afford as back-ups or for spares. Good luck

There's a promotional comparison here: http://www.atariage.com/catalog_page.html?...1&currentPage=2 Although I don't think the yeses between systems are directly comparable...

Just noticed that they're both from the same neck of the woods, Glasgow, in bonnie Scotland. Bumped into some dodgy characters there myself during my uni days there.

I spotted some suspicious goings-on a few minutes ago on eBay UK. I was browsing through the "Other Dreamcast Games", and reached the last page, which at the time had only about 5 games on the final page. I went in to look at one of the listings, and when I came back using the "Back" button, I noticed 3 new identical listings, all from the same seller, and all bought by the same individual. Here's one: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...8145282018&rd=1 Looks like that item sold in just over 10 minutes. That guy was quick! Anyway, I look at the sellers feedback, and just recently the same buyer has bought other stuff from him, including 3 Chu Chu Rockets. Yeah, the game is good, but 3 copies, and lo and behold, another 3 feedbacks for the 3 games that magically appeared when I hit the back button. http://cgi1.ebay.co.uk/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dl...item=8145282271 http://cgi1.ebay.co.uk/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dl...item=8145282051 http://cgi1.ebay.co.uk/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dl...item=8145282018 Feedback went up about 2 minutes or less after the item was BINed. Check out the feedback - you ain't kidding when you say "fast" delivery matey! Having a look at the buyers feedback, we can see appropriate feedback was left by the buyer. http://feedback.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...&userid=ghtresa He was a bit slow leaving feedback though, nearly twenty minutes after the item ended. You'd think that he'd be quicker given the speed that the buyer had paid for the items. Anyway, looks a bit dodgy to me. Might be 2 different people, friends or whatever, pumping up the positive feedback. Would be nice to snag a few of these phantom auctions before the buyer got in. Anyone ever seen something similar? Or have any of you done anything similar?

They can look convincing - if in doubt, report and forward as others are saying. I get a few every month too. I usually fill the form with expletives - I know some fuc4er will be reading what I send on the other end.

Thanks for all the good info up there; much appreciated. There certainally is plenty to play around with, my favourites so far being the 80's WOW pack (still have to generate a full ROM set though), SMEG and Nester, although as mojofltr noted above, emulation is a bit dodgy with some ROMs with version 7 - I found a few games weren't responding to the controls. Must try version 6. I'm kinda tempted to pick up the odd Neo-Geo CD if they're a good price; I'd buy the unit if they had Turf Masters, Puzzle De Pon and Waku Waku 7 (only fighter I really got to grips with) on CD, but alas they're not. What about the PC Engine/TurboGrafix machine? Has anyone tried DreamEngine (or others if any)? As far as I remember, there are a few good shooters on that platform - might be worth looking into. Anyway, thanks again for all the pointers.

To any SBI burners here, what are your recommendations for stuff to download? I've looked at some stuff already, but most stuff runs fairly slow, so I'd be interested in stuff (emus, homebrews, ports) that runs fairly much full speed with sound. I was dissapointed with neomamed, as it would only load Puzzle De Pon (love that game) but it's as slow as hell. 80's WOW pack looks like a better bet - games are classics, and run almost full speed - need to seek out the correct sets for the rest of the games first. Are there any Genesis/Megadrive emus that run full speed with sound? The only other good emus I've tried are NesterDC and SMEG. What about SNES emus, which runs best and how well? Also, are there any good homebrew or ported games worth downloading? Thanks for any pointers.

The other thing I should have mentioned was that I used Nero 6 to burn the image. Now I've heard that you should use pre version 6 to burn. Do the images work at all if burned from Nero 6, or do they just work bad as I've described above? I guess the GG TV Tuner could be the problem also; I can check the burned disks again later on a proper TV later.

Yep, thanks for the info on SBInducer. It really is the business. I managed to burn three disks yesterday, and all appeared well. I say appeared well, since I had the DC plugged into the TV Tuner on a GameGear. I did notice some graphical glitch with the Miss Driller and Vendetta disks I burned, but the start-up screens were Ok. Would this be due to a PAL/NTSC problem (my DC is a PAL - are the SBI's configued for NTSC or PAL or does it matter?)? I also tried to burn a DreamSNES, with about 100MB of ROMs, and threw them (unzipped) into a ROMs folder before letting SBInducer loose on it. It boots up Ok, but I reach a screen with two characters, and can break into what looks like a controller help section and credits, but no game list. Should that be on the screen where the 2 characters are? Should the ROMs be renamed to the 8+3 convention to make them work?

Thanks for the info. I've downloaded that, but haven't had a chance to get to use it yet though. The tutorial looks harmless enough. When it creates the image for you, you just need to burn that one image to a CD-R, is this correct? I've seen info on other pages about first burning an audio file, then putting on a "bootstrap", and other convoluted instructions - gets a bit confusing. I like the idea of multiple emulators on one CD. How does that work when you boot it up on the DC? Do you get a menu where you can select which emu you want to use, or can you switch and change between emus?

Has anyone stumbled on any good information/docs on how to burn emulators for use on the DC? I've tried all the usual searches through Google, but nothing is really any good (a few for Unix flavours look decent enough, but I'm running Win). The readme files included with anything I've downloaded are scant to say the least - all seem to assume a considerable amount of knowledge already. I was trying to (I think I was trying anyway) to make a DreamSNES image yesterday using "mkisofr.exe" (or was it "mkisofs.exe" ?!), and it seemed like it was taking forever, from the command prompt, spewing loads of code, or text, and making a lot of noise from the internal speaker. Is this normal? I got sick of it, and stopped it, thinking I added too many ROMS (about 100MB worth), and when I tried with only one ROM, it was still taking forever. Anyone have any helpful pointers? I was using MAME 6-odd years ago, and it was a sinch compared to this - and there were no FAQs for MAME back then. Anyway, I'd appreciate *any* help.

Can anyone explain the logic in bidding like this? http://offer.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?V...item=8141200906 What if no-one else bids, he'll have to pay nearly £40 more than he could've done. Sure, I know it might discourage anyone else to buy (maybe he'll be away from the computer for a few days), but maybe the £60 was enough. Dunno, seems a bit strange to me - why not just put in the max he was prepared to pay, and let eBay do the bidding on his behalf if anyone else decides to bid?

How do you find playing Gauntlet, with the vertical orientation? I have Klax, and when playing it, the brightness might be fine for one eye, but the brightness for the other eye is either brighter, or duller, depending on which eye the brightness is good for. Maybe my eyes are too far apart than the rest of you

For strategy, you could try Shanghai or Ishido, or of course Chess. If you want a little arcade mixed with strategy, Qix and Rampart are good examples.

Sorry, forgot to add that you'll get one in virtually every electrical shop, TV shop, Dixons, Argos, essentially anywhere electrical devices are sold. Heres an example: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...6717140423&rd=1

If you're not bothered about an official power supply, all you need to get is one of those universal power supplies, typically voltage selection from 1.5 to 12 volts, in 1.5v increments, so you can get the 9v required by the Lynx. Also, it would be a good idea to get one with a polarity switch - basically changes the '+' and '-' pins on the adaptor. Most universal adaptors will have this. Most power supplies will also have a variety of adaptors, either all hardwired into the device, or as individual interchangable parts. Typically, you will have 6 or 7 different types of adaptor. Chances are one will fit, the socket is a standard size. As a note on these unofficial devices, my understanding is that since they are designed to replace the use of batteries (hence the 1.5v increments), they should supply the correct current to the device, although I have read that this is not the case. However, the strain (apparently) is not taken by the Lynx though, but by the power supply, so it is likely that this will give out before the Lynx ever would. Someone with a better understanding of electronics would provide a more comprehensive explanation. To conclude, I've used a universal power supply as described above for many years on my first unit, and it shows no signs of any damage from its use.

Nice one, thanks both, much appreciated.

I was looking at the schematics here for Q12, but couldn't find it on the pages. I could find a Q11 (MTD3055E) in the lower left corner page. Is this it?

Will a Lynx II fit inside a Mark I Pouch?

Thanks for the tips. I have some time this weekend, and will probably give it a go. It would be nice to have a third working unit, although since I have only 2 good speakers, I'll have to use headphones with this one. I have a feeling that there are more than only 3 connections on the volume control though, more like 6 or 7. Shouldn't be too hard on the board that I think is already dead, but I'd have to exercise more care with the board I know is good. Also, how about the displays - have you (or anyone else) had any experience in taking apart/repairing the displays? I have one that is missing 2 horizontal lines, and although it's far from something to throw away, it would be nice to pinpoint the problem, and maybe try to fix it. I remember someone saying that the horizontal missing lines are much easier to fix than missing vertical blocks. I *think* the Lynx screen is divided into 3 main vertical portions, as I've seen a screen with only the middle portion working. I must get a good printout of the schematics to try to understand it better.

I was browsing the main site, looking at the catalogues in the Lynx section, and in one of the scans there is a picture of a Lynx apparently running Sonic. http://www.atariage.com/catalog_page.html?...2&currentPage=3 How'd that happen? Looking at the pictures of the Lynxes on the 2nd page (http://www.atariage.com/catalog_page.html?CatalogID=72&currentPage=1), they look as if the game pictures have been pasted in (esp. Blue Lightning - the Super Squeek one looks a bit more believable, but not quite). I guess a picture could have been taken from a GameGear, and pasted in the same way.

I'm fairly sure it's the speaker, because I have two working speakers from two other fully working machines, and they worked on the board I was testing on. In fact, I tried the speaker in my fully working units, and it still wouldn't work. I guess speakers can be blown, and is just not visually evident. Anyway, you sound like you've tinkered with the boards a little. I have (another) fully working board, which is perfect except that the volume dial has come off (if I short the connection on the circular connections - I guess it's just a variable resistor - I can get sound from the speaker (if it's working) and through the headphones if plugged in). I have another board that is apparently dead - the ComLynx port is mangled and cracked open, but the volume control looks fine. Would it be easy to transfer the volume control from one board to another? Is there anything I should be wary about?