highinfidelity Posted December 1, 2003 Share Posted December 1, 2003 Dear fellows, sometimes I run into hacks or similars for the MAME which I'm curious to try. As far as I know, the standard procedure is to rename the hack file with the orignal game's ROM name and play it... For example: if you download a Pac-Man hack, you have to 1) place your true pac-man ROM file in a safe place 2) rename the hack as "pacman.zip" and 3) run it. This is very annoying. Could someone tell me if there's a way to load a new game definition on MAME, so that I could just double click on "pac-man hack" and play it? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fretwobbler Posted December 1, 2003 Share Posted December 1, 2003 There is a way, but it requires changing the code and compiling the executable yourself. If you have a basic understanding of C / C++ it shouldnt be too difficult. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PuddWakkr Posted December 1, 2003 Share Posted December 1, 2003 Not sure but it might be possible to hex edit the executable and substitute the ROM you want for one you don't need. I did this on the xbox version of KAWA to get it to display "Metal Slug 4" instead of King of Fighters 97. I don't see why this wouldn't work on the PC version of MAME. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted December 1, 2003 Share Posted December 1, 2003 Yep, Mame needs a way to "know" what type of hardware it is supposed to be emulating...and that is coded right into it. So if you wanted to add a hack of PacMan, for example, you'd need to copy the definition of the game and add it back in under a new name...and then compile Mame. An easier solution is just to keep the hacks in a seperate folder so you can just have Mame reload the gamelist after switching folders. Or, you could just use a seperate build of Mame that is compiled to run just that game or hardware type. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highinfidelity Posted December 2, 2003 Author Share Posted December 2, 2003 Hmmm... I see... Many thanks guys, I thought it was simpler than that! Wouldn't it be better if the roms/hardware list was stored in a separate .dat file? I wonder why it's compiled all together with the program... @ PuddWakkr: I'll try to see if the names are in clear in the hex code, thanks for the idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fretwobbler Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 I wonder why it's compiled all together with the program... I believe they do this to keep the MAME binaries that are distributed by various people the same wherever possible. You are allowed to code derivatives of MAME and freely distribute them, however you are not allowed to call it 'MAME'. Some things are not considered 'derivatives' though, this being one of them, they even go as far as to ban outright in thier terms of distribution.. There are some specific modifications to the source code which go against the spirit of the project. They are NOT considered a derivative work, and distribution of executables containing them is strictly forbidden. Such modifications include, but are not limited to: - enabling games that are disabled Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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