New to MAME

[Classic Pac]

Soon I will have a new PC that can pretty much run anything I call on those who know a hell of a lot more than I do a few questions I have.

 

#1 Is there one MAME emulator better than another?

 

#2 Where is the best place to find clean MAME Roms?

[+FujiSkunk]

Soon I will have a new PC that can pretty much run anything I call on those who know a hell of a lot more than I do a few questions I have.

 

#1 Is there one MAME emulator better than another?

 

MAME is open source, so there's lots of offshoots intended to fill one niche or another. For example, AdvanceMAME is designed to natively support a wider variety of displays, including conventional televisions as well as arcade monitors, so that games will look better on those displays than they might otherwise.

 

If you're just starting out, and you don't have some exotic hardware you're intending to play MAME with, I recommend sticking with the general purpose distributions. For Windows, there is MAME32. For Mac OS X, there is MacMAME. For Unix-type boxes, there is xmame, with various front-ends like gxmame (which sadly hasn't been updated in a while).

 

#2 Where is the best place to find clean MAME Roms?

 

Other people will probably answer this question better than I, but just in case: Your best bet is probably to get in on the MAME CD/DVD distribution chains, where you get the complete whole schebang of schtuff, in exchange for promising to copy the discs for others in the chain. I don't know how to join, but places like MAMEWorld would probably get you started in the right direction.

 

Other than the distribution chains, the alt.binaries.* UseNet groups are a good place to shop. People are good about posting the updated files each time MAME gets a new release, and they are also good about filling specific requests and occasionally posting the whole kit'n'kaboodle for the newbies. Of course, you'll need a subscription to a decent newsfeed. Your ISP might provide that, but it seems ISP's with good UseNet access are getting few and far between these days.

Edited December 8, 2006 by skunkworx

[Rybags]

Bittorrent is a good place to look.

 

Advantage there is you can pick and choose. I have a full set (2 years old though) of ROMs, Samples and artworks, and they fill 10 DVDs.

[Ze_ro]

If you're looking for MAME roms, then your best bet is either the newsgroups or a torrent on a good private tracker.

 

Unless you're lucky enough and your ISP has a good news feed, then you'll likely have to pay a fee to get a decent news server.... If you go the private tracker route, you'll have be careful to watch your ratio and hope your ISP doesn't start knocking on your door to ask about your bandwidth usage.

 

--Zero

[Classic Pac]

I just found a site that you might not expect to find MAME roms at but they do have quite a few http://www.digitpress.com click on emulators and you'll find the mame link there

[Ze_ro]

I may be wrong, but most of DP's extra features like that aren't updated very often... most of those ROMs are likely far behind the current versions, so if they don't work, don't be too surprised.

 

--Zero