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-rw-r--r-- | docs/source/usingmame/commonissues.rst | 152 | ||||
-rw-r--r-- | docs/source/usingmame/defaultkeys.rst | 105 | ||||
-rw-r--r-- | docs/source/usingmame/frontends.rst | 20 | ||||
-rw-r--r-- | docs/source/usingmame/index.rst | 15 | ||||
-rw-r--r-- | docs/source/usingmame/mamemenus.rst | 7 | ||||
-rw-r--r-- | docs/source/usingmame/usingmame.rst | 70 |
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diff --git a/docs/source/usingmame/commonissues.rst b/docs/source/usingmame/commonissues.rst new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..01051550428 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/source/usingmame/commonissues.rst @@ -0,0 +1,152 @@ +Common Issues and Questions (FAQ) +================================= + + + +**Disclaimer: The following information is not legal advice and was not written by a lawyer.** + + + +New for 0.174: Why does my game show an error screen if I insert coins rapidly? +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +This is not a bug in MAME. On original arcade hardware, you simply could not insert coins as fast as you can mashing the button. The only ways you could get credit feeding at that kind of pace was if the coin mech hardware was defective or if you were physically trying to cheat the coin mech. + +In either case, the game would display an error for the operator to look into the situation to prevent cheating them out of their hard-earned cash. Keep a slow, coin-insert-ish pace and you'll not trigger this. + +Why do my Neo Geo ROMs no longer work? How do I get the Humble Bundle Neo Geo sets working? +------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Recently the Neo Geo BIOS was updated to add a new version of the Universal BIOS. This was done between 0.171/0.172, and results in an error trying to load Neo Geo games with an un-updated **neogeo.zip** set. + +This also affects the Humble Bundle set: the games themselves are correct and up to date as of MAME 0.173 (and most likely will remain so) though you'll have to pull the ROM set .ZIP files out of the package somehow yourself. However, the Neo Geo BIOS set (**neogeo.zip**) included in the Humble Bundle set is incomplete as of the 0.172 release of MAME. + +We suggest you contact the provider of your sets (Humble Bundle and DotEmu) and ask them to update their content to the newest revision. If enough people ask nicely, maybe they'll update the package. + +How can I use the Sega Genesis & Mega Drive Classics collection from Steam with MAME? +------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +As of the April 2016 update to the program, the ROM images included in the set are now 100% compatible with MAME and other Genesis/Mega Drive emulators. The ROMs are contained in the **steamapps\\Sega Classics\\uncompressed ROMs** folder as a series of *.68K* and *.SGD* images that can be loaded directly into MAME. PDF manuals for the games can be found in **steamapps\\Sega Classics\\manuals** as well. + +Why does MAME report "missing files" even if I have the ROMs? +------------------------------------------------------------- + +There can be several reasons for this: + +* It is not unusual for the ROMs to change for a game between releases of MAME. Why would this happen? Oftentimes, better or more complete ROM dumps are made, or errors are found in the way the ROMs were previously defined. Early versions of MAME were not as meticulous about this issue, but more recent MAME builds are. Additionally, there can be more features of a game emulated in a later release of MAME than an earlier release, requiring more ROM code to run. +* You may find that some games require CHD files. A CHD file is a compressed representation of a game's hard disk, CD-ROM, or laserdisc, and is generally not included as part of a game's ROMs. However, in most cases, these files are required to run the game, and MAME will complain if they cannot be found. +* Some games such as Neo-Geo, Playchoice-10, Convertible Video System, Deco Cassette, MegaTech, MegaPlay, ST-V Titan, and others need their BIOS ROMs in addition to the game ROMs. The BIOS ROMs often contain ROM code that is used for booting the machine, menu processor code on multi-game systems, and code common to all games on a system. BIOS ROMS must be named correctly and left zipped inside your ROMs folder. +* Older versions of MAME needed decryption tables in order for MAME to emulate Capcom Play System 2 (a.k.a. CPS2) games. These are created by team CPS2Shock. +* Some games in MAME are considered "Clones" of another game. This is often the case when the game in question is simply an alternate version of the same game. Common alternate versions of games include versions with text in other languages, versions with different copyright dates, later versions or updates, bootlegs, etc. "Cloned" games often overlap some of the ROM code as the original or "parent" version of the game. To see if you have any "clones" type "**MAME -listclones**". To run a "cloned game" you simply need to place its parent ROM file in your ROMs folder (leave it zipped). + + +How can I be sure I have the right ROMs? +---------------------------------------- + +MAME checks to be sure you have the right ROMs before emulation begins. If you see any error messages, your ROMs are not those tested to work properly with MAME. You will need to obtain a correct set of ROMs through legal methods. + +If you have several games and you wish to verify that they are compatible with the current version of MAME, you can use the *-verifyroms* parameter. For example: + +**mame -verifyroms robby** +...checks your ROMs for the game *Robby Roto* and displays the results on the screen. + +**mame -verifyroms \* >verify.txt** +...checks the validity of ALL the ROMs in your ROMS directory, and writes the results to a textfile called *verify.txt*. + + +Why is it that some games have the US version as the main set, some have Japanese, and some are the World? +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +While this rule isn't always true, there is typically a method to how sets are arranged. The usual priority is to go with the **World** set if it's available, **US** if no World English set exists, and **Japanese** or other origin region if no World or US English set. + +Exceptions arise where the US or World sets have significant censorship/changes from the original version. For instance, Gals Panic (set **galsnew**) uses the US version as parent because it has additional features compared to the world export version (set **galsnewa**). These features are optional censorship, an additional control layout option (stick with no button use), and English-language voice clips. + +Another exception comes for games where it was licensed to a third party for export release. Pac-Man, for instance, was published by Midway in the US though it was created by Namco. As a result, the parent set is the Japanese **puckman** set, which retains the Namco copyright. + +Lastly, a developer adding a new set can choose to use whatever naming and parent scheme they wish and are not restricted to the above rules. Most follow these guidelines, however. + + +How do I legally obtain ROMs or disk images to run on MAME? +----------------------------------------------------------- + +You have several options: + +* You can obtain a license to them by purchasing one via a distributor or vendor who has proper authority to do so. +* You can download one of the ROM sets that have been released for free to the public for non-commerical use. +* You can purchase an actual arcade PCB, read the ROMs or disks yourself, and let MAME use that data. + +Beyond these options, you are on your own. + + +Isn't copying ROMs a legal gray area? +------------------------------------- + +No, it's not. You are not permitted to make copies of software without the copyright owner's permission. This is a black & white issue. + + +Can't game ROMs be considered abandonware? +------------------------------------------ + +No. Even the companies that went under had their assets purchased by somebody, and that person is the copyright owner. + + +I had ROMs that worked with an old version of MAME and now they don't. What happened? +------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +As time passes, MAME is perfecting the emulation of older games, even when the results aren't immediately obvious to the user. Often times the better emulation requires more data from the original game to operate. Sometimes the data was overlooked, sometimes it simply wasn't feasible to get at it (for instance, chip "decapping" is a technique that only became affordable very recently for people not working in high-end laboratories). In other cases it's much simpler: more sets of a game were dumped and it was decided to change which sets were which version. + + +What about those arcade cabinets on eBay that come with all the ROMs? +--------------------------------------------------------------------- + +If the seller does not have a proper license to include the ROMs with his system, he is not allowed to legally include any ROMs with his system. If he has purchased a license to the ROMs in your name from a distributor or vendor with legitimate licenses, then he is okay to include them with the cabinet. After signing an agreement, cabinet owners that include legitimate licensed ROMs may be permitted to include a version of MAME that runs those ROMs and nothing more. + + +What about those guys who burn DVDs of ROMs for the price of the media? +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +What they are doing is just as illegal as selling the ROMs outright. As long as somebody owns the copyright, making illegal copies is illegal, period. If someone went on the internet and started a business of selling cheap copies of the latest U2 album for the price of media, do you think they would get away with it? + +Even worse, a lot of these folks like to claim that they are helping the project. In fact, they only create more problems for the MAME team. We are not associated with these people in any way regardless of how "official" they may attempt to appear. You are only helping criminals make a profit through selling software they have no right to sell. **Anybody using the MAME name and/or logo to sell such products is also in violation of the MAME trademark.** + + +But isn't there a special DMCA exemption that makes ROM copying legal? +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + +No, you have misread the exemptions. The exemption allows people to reverse engineer the copy protection or encryption in computer programs that are obsolete. The exemption simply means that figuring out how these obsolete programs worked is not illegal according to the DMCA. It does not have any effect on the legality of violating the copyright on computer programs, which is what you are doing if you make copies of ROMs. + + +But isn't it OK to download and "try" ROMs for 24 hours? +-------------------------------------------------------- + +This is an urban legend that was made up by people who put ROMs up for download on their sites, in order to justify the fact that they were breaking the law. There is nothing like this in any copyright law. + + +If I buy a cabinet with legitimate ROMs, can I set it up in a public place to make money? +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Probably not. ROMs are typically only licensed for personal, non-commercial purposes. + + +But I've seen Ultracade and Global VR Classics cabinets out in public places? Why can they do it? +------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Ultracade had two separate products. The Ultracade product is a commercial machine with commercial licenses to the games. These machines were designed to be put on location and make money, like traditional arcade machines. Their other product is the Arcade Legends series. These are home machines with non- commercial licenses for the games, and can only be legally operated in a private environment. Since their buyout by Global VR they only offer the Global VR Classics cabinet, which is equivalent to the earlier Ultracade product. + + +HELP! I'm getting a black screen or an error message in regards to DirectX on Windows! +-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +You probably have missing or damaged DirectX runtimes. You can download the latest DirectX setup tool from Microsoft at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=35 + +Additional troubleshooting information can be found on Microsoft's website at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/179113 + + +I have a controller that doesn't want to work with the standard Microsoft Windows version of MAME, what can I do? +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +By default, MAME on Microsoft Windows tries to do raw reads of the joystick(s), mouse/mice, and keyboard(s). This works with most devices and provides the most stable results. However, some devices need special drivers to translate their output and these drivers may not work with raw input. + +One thing you can try is setting the keyboardprovider, mouseprovider, or joystickprovider setting (depending on which kind of device your input device acts as) from rawinput to one of the other options such as dinput or win32. See :ref:`osd-commandline-options` for details on supported providers. + + diff --git a/docs/source/usingmame/defaultkeys.rst b/docs/source/usingmame/defaultkeys.rst new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..de6cdade16f --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/source/usingmame/defaultkeys.rst @@ -0,0 +1,105 @@ +.. _default-keys: + +Default Keys +============ + +All the keys below are fully configurable in the user interface. This list shows the standard keyboard configuration. + + +================ =============================================================================== + Key | Action +---------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- +**Tab** | Toggles the configuration menu. +**~** | Toggles the On Screen Display. When the on-screen display is + | visible, you can use the following keys to control it: + | + | * **Up** - select previous parameter to modify + | * **Down** - select next parameter to modify + | * **Left** - decrease the value of the selected parameter + | * **Right** - increase the value of the selected parameter + | * **Enter** - reset parameter value to its default + | * **Control+Left** - decrease the value by 10x + | * **Shift+Left** - decrease the value by 0.1x + | * **Alt+Left** - decrease the value by the smallest amount + | * **Control+Right** - increase the value by 10x + | * **Shift+Right** - increase the value by 0.1x + | * **Alt+Right** - increase the value by the smallest amount + | + | If you are running with -debug, this key sends a 'break' in emulation. +**P** | Pauses the game. +**Shift+P** | While paused, advances to next frame. +**F2** | Service Mode for games that support it. +**F3** | Resets the game. +**Shift+F3** | Performs a "hard reset", which tears everything down and re-creates it + | from scratch. This is a more thorough and complete reset than the reset + | you get from hitting F3. +**LCtrl+F3** | [SDL ONLY] - Toggle uneven stretch. +**F4** | Shows the game palette, decoded GFX, and any tilemaps. Use the Enter key to + | switch between the three modes (palette, graphics, and tilemaps). Press F4 + | again to turn off the display. The key controls in each mode vary slightly: + | + | Palette/colortable mode: + | * **[ ]** - switch between palette and colortable modes + | * **Up/Down** - scroll up/down one line at a time + | * **Page Up/Page Down** - scroll up/down one page at a time + | * **Home/End** - move to top/bottom of list + | * **-/+** - increase/decrease the number of colors per row + | * **Enter** - switch to graphics viewer + | + | Graphics mode: + | * **[ ]** - switch between different graphics sets + | * **Up/Down** - scroll up/down one line at a time + | * **Page Up/Page Down** - scroll up/down one page at a time + | * **Home/End** - move to top/bottom of list + | * **Left/Right** - change color displayed + | * **R** - rotate tiles 90 degrees clockwise + | * **-/+** - increase/decrease the number of tiles per row + | * **Enter** - switch to tilemap viewer + | + | Tilemap mode: + | * **[ ]** - switch between different tilemaps + | * **Up/Down/Left/Right** - scroll 8 pixels at a time + | * **Shift+Up/Down/Left/Right** - scroll 1 pixel at a time + | * **Control+Up/Down/Left/Right** - scroll 64 pixels at a time + | * **R** - rotate tilemap view 90 degrees clockwise + | * **-/+** - increase/decrease the zoom factor + | * **Enter** - switch to palette/colortable mode + | + | Note: Not all games have decoded graphics and/or tilemaps. +**LCtrl+F4** | [*SDL ONLY*] - Toggles keeping aspect ratio. +**LCtrl+F5** | [*SDL ONLY*] - Toggle Filter. +**Alt+Ctrl+F5** | [*NON SDL MS WINDOWS ONLY*] - Toggle HLSL Post-Processing. +**F6** | Toggle cheat mode (if started with "-cheat"). +**LCtrl+F6** | Decrease Prescaling. +**F7** | Load a save state. You will be requested to press a key to determine which + | save state you wish to load. + | + | *Note that the save state feature is not supported for a large number of* + | *drivers. If support is not enabled for a given driver, you will receive* + | *a warning when attempting to save or load.* +**LCtrl+F7** | Increase Prescaling. +**Shift+F7** | Create a save state. Requires an additional keypress to identify the state, + | similar to the load option above. +**F8** | Decrease frame skip on the fly. +**F9** | Increase frame skip on the fly. +**F10** | Toggle speed throttling. +**F11** | Toggles speed display. +**Shift+F11** | Toggles internal profiler display (if compiled in). +**Alt+F11** | Record HLSL Rendered Video. +**F12** | Saves a screen snapshot. +**Alt+F12** | Take HLSL Rendered Snapshot. +**Insert** | [*WINDOW ONLY, NON-SDL*] Fast forward. While held, runs game with + | throttling disabled and with the maximum frameskip. +**Page DN** | [*SDL ONLY*] Fast forward. While held, runs the game with throttling + | disabled and with the maximum frameskip. +**Alt+ENTER** | Toggles between full-screen and windowed mode. +**Scroll Lock** | Default mapping for the **uimodekey**. + | + | This key allows users to disable and enable the emulated keyboard + | in machines that require it. All emulations which require emulated + | keyboards will start in that mode and you can only access the internal + | UI (hitting TAB) by first hitting this key. You can change the initial + | status of the emulated keyboard as presented upon start by using + | **-ui_active** as detailed below. +**Escape** | Exits emulator. +================ =============================================================================== diff --git a/docs/source/usingmame/frontends.rst b/docs/source/usingmame/frontends.rst new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..0a7caccc2a6 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/source/usingmame/frontends.rst @@ -0,0 +1,20 @@ +.. _frontends: + +Frontends +========= + +There are a number of third party tools for MAME to make system and software selection simpler. These tools are called "Frontends", and there are far too many to list conclusively here. Some are free, some are commercial-- caveat emptor. Some older frontends predate the merging of MAME and MESS and do not support the additional console, handheld, etc functionality that MAME inherited from MESS. + +This following list is not an endorsement of any of these frontends by the MAME team, but simply showing a number of commonly used free frontends as a good starting point to begin from. + +| QMC2 (multiple platforms) +| Download: http://qmc2.batcom-it.net/ +| +| IV/Play (Microsoft Windows) +| Download: http://www.mameui.info/ +| +| EmuLoader (Microsoft Windows) +| Download: http://emuloader.mameworld.info/ +| + +The MAME team will not provide support for issues with frontends. For support, we suggest contacting the frontend author or trying any of the popular MAME-friendly forums on the internet. diff --git a/docs/source/usingmame/index.rst b/docs/source/usingmame/index.rst new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..462bd6e207f --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/source/usingmame/index.rst @@ -0,0 +1,15 @@ +Basic MAME Usage and Configuration +---------------------------------- + +This section describes general usage information about MAME. It is intended to cover aspects of using and configuring MAME that are common across all operating systems. For additional OS-specific options, please see the separate documentation for your platform of choice. + +.. toctree:: + :titlesonly: + + usingmame + defaultkeys + mamemenus + frontends + commonissues + +
\ No newline at end of file diff --git a/docs/source/usingmame/mamemenus.rst b/docs/source/usingmame/mamemenus.rst new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..7e005a686e6 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/source/usingmame/mamemenus.rst @@ -0,0 +1,7 @@ +MAME Menus +========== + +If you started MAME without any command line parameters, you'll be shown the game selection menu immediately. While the keys listed above will let you navigate the menus, you can also use a mouse. + +[todo: This needs SERIOUS expansion. Waiting on answer to a few questions..] + diff --git a/docs/source/usingmame/usingmame.rst b/docs/source/usingmame/usingmame.rst new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..8c42b9fe5c9 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/source/usingmame/usingmame.rst @@ -0,0 +1,70 @@ +Using MAME +---------- + +If you want to dive right in and skip the command line, there's a nice graphical way to use MAME without the need to download and set up a front end. Simply start MAME with no parameters, by doubleclicking the **mame.exe** file or running it directly from the command line. If you're looking to harness the full power of MAME, keep reading further. + +On Macintosh OS X and \*nix-based platforms, please be sure to set your font up to match your locale before starting, otherwise you may not be able to read the text due to missing glyphs. + +If you are a new MAME user, you could find this emulator a bit complex at first. Let's take a moment to talk about softlists, as they can simplify matters quite a bit. If the content you are trying to play is a documented entry on one of the MAME softlists, starting the content is as easy as + + **mame.exe** *<system>* *<software>* + +For instance: + + **mame.exe nes metroidu** + +will load the USA version of Metroid for the Nintendo Entertainment System. + + +Alternatively, you could start MAME with + + **mame.exe nes** + +and choose the *software list* from the cartridge slot. From there, you could pick any softlist-compatible software you have in your roms folders. Please note that many older dumps of cartridges and discs may either be bad or require renaming to match up to the softlist in order to work in this way. + + +If you are loading an arcade board or other non-softlist content, things are only a little more complicated: + + +The basic usage, from command line, is + + **mame.exe** *<system>* *<media>* *<software>* *<options>* + +where + +* *<system>* is the shortname of the system you want to emulate (e.g. nes, c64, etc.) +* *<media>* is the switch for the media you want to load (if it's a cartridge, try **-cart** or **-cart1**; if it's a floppy disk, try **-flop** or **-flop1**; if it's a CD-ROM, try **-cdrom**) +* *<software>* is the program / game you want to load (and it can be given either as the fullpath to the file to load, or as the shortname of the file in our software lists) +* *<options>* is any additional command line option for controllers, video, sound, etc. + +Remember that if you type a <system> name which does not correspond to any emulated system, MAME will suggest you some possible choices which are close to what you typed; and if you don't know which <media> switch are available, you can always launch + + **mame.exe** *<system>* **-listmedia** + +If you don't know what *<options>* are available, there are a few things you can do. First of all, you can check the command line options section of this manual. You can also try one of the many :ref:`frontends` available for MAME. + + +Alternatively, you should keep in mind the following command line options, which might be very useful on occasion: + + + **mame.exe -help** + +tells what MAME is the basic structure of MAME launching options, i.e. as explained above. + + + **mame.exe -showusage** + +gives you the (quite long) list of available command line options for MAME. The main options are described, in the :ref:`universal-command-line` section of this manual. + + + **mame.exe -showconfig** + +gives you a (quite long) list of available configuration options for MAME. These configuration can always be modified at command line, or by editing them in mame.ini which is the main configuration file for MAME. You can find a description of some configuration options in the :ref:`universal-command-line` section of the manual (in most cases, each configuration option has a corresponding command line option to configure and modify it). + + + **mame.exe -createconfig** + +creates a brand new **mame.ini** file, with default configuration settings. Notice that mame.ini is basically a plain text file, hence you can open it with any text editor (e.g. Notepad, Emacs or TextEdit) and configure every option you need. However, no particular tweaks are needed to start, so you can basically leave most of the options unaltered. + + +Once you are more confident with MAME options, you may want to configure a bit more your setup. In this case, keep in mind the order in which options are read; see :ref:`advanced-multi-CFG` for details.
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