This file describes general usage information about MAME. It is intended to cover aspects of using and configuring the program that are common across operating systems. For additional OS-specific options, please see the separate documentation for your particular version of MAME. Using the program ----------------- The usual way to run MAME is by telling it to run a particular game: mame [options] For example: mame robby -nosound ...will run Robby Roto without sound. There are many, many options available. All commonly supported options are listed below. Options that are specific to one operating system or version of MAME will be listed in a separate document. An alternative way to run MAME is to give it a command: mame [parameters] For example: mame -listsource gridlee ...will print the name of the source file where the gridlee driver lives to the screen. There are just a handful of these commands in MAME. They are all listed below, just before the options list. Default Keys ------------ All the keys below are fully configurable in the user interface. This list shows the standard keyboard configuration. 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 Enter - reset parameter value to its default Left - decrease the value of the selected parameter Control+Left - decrease the value by 10x Shift+Left - decrease the value by 0.1x Alt+Left - decrease the value by the smallest amount Right - increase the value of the selected parameter Control+Right - increase the value by 10x Shift+Right - increase the value by 0.1x Alt+Right - increase the value by the smallest amount P Pauses the game. Shift+P While paused, advances to next frame. F1 Toggle crosshairs for games that use them. Each subsequent press will enable crosshairs for one more player. 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 an F3. 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. F6 Toggle cheat mode (if started with "-cheat"). 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. 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 profiler display (debug builds only). F12 Saves a screen snapshot. Insert Fast forward. While held, runs the game with throttling disabled and with the maximum frameskip. Escape Exits emulator. Core commands ------------- -help / -h / -? Displays current MAME version and copyright notice. -validate / -valid Performs internal validation on every driver in the system. Run this before submitting changes to ensure that you haven't violated any of the core system rules. Configuration commands ---------------------- -createconfig / -cc Creates the default mame.ini file. All the configuration options (not commands) described below can be permanently changed by editing this configuration file. -showconfig / -sc Displays the current configuration settings. If you route this to a file, you can use it as an INI file. For example, the command: mame -showconfig >mame.ini is equivalent to -createconfig. -showusage / -su Displays a summary of all the command line options. For options that are not mentioned here, the short summary given by "mame -showusage" is usually sufficient. Frontend commands ----------------- Note: By default, all the '-list' commands below write info to the screen. If you wish to write the info to a textfile instead, add this to the end of your command: > filename ...where 'filename' is the textfile's path and name (e.g., c:\mame\list.txt). -listxml / -lx [] List comprehensive details for all of the supported games. The output is quite long, so it is usually better to redirect this into a file. The output is in XML format. By default all games are listed; however, you can limit this list by specifying a driver name or wildcard after the -listxml command. -listfull / -ll [] Displays a list of game driver names and descriptions. By default all games are listed; however, you can limit this list by specifying a driver name or wildcard after the -listfull command. -listsource / -ls [] Displays a list of drivers and the names of the source files their game drivers live in. Useful for finding which driver a game runs on in order to fix bugs. By default all games are listed; however, you can limit this list by specifying a driver name or wildcard after the -listsource command. -listclones / -lc [] Displays a list of clones. By default all clones are listed; however, you can limit this list by specifying a driver name or wildcard after the -listsource command. -listcrc Displays a full list of CRCs of all ROM images referenced by all drivers within MAME. -listroms Displays a list of ROM images referenced by the specified game. -listsamples Displays a list of samples referenced by the specified game. -verifyroms [] Checks for invalid or missing ROM images. By default all drivers that have valid ZIP files or directories in the rompath are verified; however, you can limit this list by specifying a driver name or wildcard after the -verifyroms command. -verifysamples [] Checks for invalid or missing samples. By default all drivers that have valid ZIP files or directories in the samplepath are verified; however, you can limit this list by specifying a driver name or wildcard after the -verifyroms command. -romident Attempts to identify ROM files, if they are known to MAME, in the specified .zip file or directory. This command can be used to try and identify ROM sets taken from unknown boards. On exit, the errorlevel is returned as one of the following: 0: means all files were identified 7: means all files were identified except for 1 or more "non-ROM" files 8: means some files were identified 9: means no files were identified Configuration options --------------------- -[no]readconfig / -[no]rc Enables or disables the reading of the config files. When enabled (which is the default), MAME reads the following config files in order: - mame.ini - .ini (i.e. if MAME was renamed mame060.exe, MAME parses mame060.ini here) - mamed.ini (if this is a debug build, i.e. mamed.exe) - vector.ini (for vector games only) - .ini (based on the source filename of the driver) - .ini (for clones only, may be called recursively) - .ini The settings in the later ini's override those in the earlier ini's. So, for example, if you wanted to disable overlay effects in the vector games, you can create a vector.ini with the "effect none" line in it, and it will override whatever effect value you have in your mame.ini. The default is ON (-readconfig). Core search path options ------------------------ -rompath / -rp Specifies a list of paths within which to find ROM or hard disk images. Multiple paths can be specified by separating them with semicolons. The default is 'roms' (that is, a directory "roms" in the same directory as the MAME executable). -samplepath / -sp Specifies a list of paths within which to find sample files. Multiple paths can be specified by separating them with semicolons. The default is 'samples' (that is, a directory "samples" in the same directory as the MAME executable). -artpath / -artwork_directory Specifies a list of paths within which to find artwork files. Multiple paths can be specified by separating them with semicolons. The default is 'artwork' (that is, a directory "artwork" in the same directory as the MAME executable). -ctrlrpath / -ctrlr_directory Specifies a list of paths within which to find controller-specific configuration files. Multiple paths can be specified by separating them with semicolons. The default is 'ctrlr' (that is, a directory "ctrlr" in the same directory as the MAME executable). -inipath Specifies a list of paths within which to find .INI files. Multiple paths can be specified by separating them with semicolons. The default is '.;ini' (that is, search in the current directory first, and then in the directory "ini" in the same directory as the MAME executable). -fontpath Specifies a list of paths within which to find .BDF font files. Multiple paths can be specified by separating them with semicolons. The default is '.' (that is, search in the same directory as the MAME executable). Core Output Directory Options ----------------------------- -cfg_directory Specifies a single directory where configuration files are stored. Configuration files store user configurable settings that are read at startup and written when MAME exits. The default is 'cfg' (that is, a directory "cfg" in the same directory as the MAME executable). If this directory does not exist, it will be automatically created. -nvram_directory Specifies a single directory where NVRAM files are stored. NVRAM files store the contents of EEPROM and non-volatile RAM (NVRAM) for games which used this type of hardware. This data is read at startup and written when MAME exits. The default is 'nvram' (that is, a directory "nvram" in the same directory as the MAME executable). If this directory does not exist, it will be automatically created. -memcard_directory Specifies a single directory where memory card files are stored. Memory card files store the contents of removable memory cards for games which used this type of hardware. This data is read and written under control of the user via the "Memory Card" menu in the user interface. The default is 'memcard' (that is, a directory "memcard" in the same directory as the MAME executable). If this directory does not exist, it will be automatically created. -input_directory Specifies a single directory where input recording files are stored. Input recordings are created via the -record option and played back via the -playback option. The default is 'inp' (that is, a directory "inp" in the same directory as the MAME executable). If this directory does not exist, it will be automatically created. -state_directory Specifies a single directory where save state files are stored. Save state files are read and written either upon user request, or when using the -autosave option. The default is 'sta' (that is, a directory "sta" in the same directory as the MAME executable). If this directory does not exist, it will be automatically created. -snapshot_directory Specifies a single directory where screen snapshots are stored, when requested by the user. The default is 'snap' (that is, a directory "snap" in the same directory as the MAME executable). If this directory does not exist, it will be automatically created. -diff_directory Specifies a single directory where hard drive differencing files are stored. Hard drive differencing files store any data that is written back to a hard disk image, in order to preserve the original image. The differencing files are created at startup when a game with a hard disk image. The default is 'diff' (that is, a directory "diff" in the same directory as the MAME executable). If this directory does not exist, it will be automatically created. -comment_directory Specifies a single directory where debugger comment files are stored. Debugger comment files are written by the debugger when comments are added to the disassembly for a game. The default is 'comments' (that is, a directory "comments" in the same directory as the MAME executable). If this directory does not exist, it will be automatically created. Core Filename Options --------------------- -cheat_file Specifies the name of the cheat database file. The default is 'cheat.dat'. Core state/playback options --------------------------- -state Immediately after starting the specified game, will cause the save state in the specified to be loaded. -[no]autosave When enabled, automatically creates a save state file when exiting MAME and automatically attempts to reload it when later starting MAME with the same game. This only works for games that have explicitly enabled save state support in their driver. The default is OFF (-noautosave). -playback / -pb Specifies a file from which to play back a series of game inputs. This feature does not work reliably for all games, but can be used to watch a previously recorded game session from start to finish. In order to make things consistent, you should only record and playback with all configuration (.cfg), NVRAM (.nv), and memory card files deleted. The default is NULL (no playback). -record / -rec Specifies a file to record all input from a game session. This can be used to record a game session for later playback. This feature does not work reliably for all games, but can be used to watch a previously recorded game session from start to finish. In order to make things consistent, you should only record and playback with all configuration (.cfg), NVRAM (.nv), and memory card files deleted. The default is NULL (no recording). -mngwrite Writes each video frame to the given in MNG format, producing an animation of the game session. Note that -mngwrite only writes video frames; it does not save any audio data. Use -wavwrite for that, and reassemble the audio/video using offline tools. The default is NULL (no recording). -wavwrite Writes the final mixer output to the given in WAV format, producing an audio recording of the game session. The default is NULL (no recording). Core performance options ------------------------ -[no]autoframeskip / -[no]afs Automatically determines the frameskip level while you're playing the game, adjusting it constantly in a frantic attempt to keep the game running at full speed. Turning this on overrides the value you have set for -frameskip below. The default is OFF (-noautoframeskip). -frameskip / -fs Specifies the frameskip value. This is the number of frames out of every 12 to drop when running. For example, if you say -frameskip 2, then MAME will display 10 out of every 12 frames. By skipping those frames, you may be able to get full speed in a game that requires more horsepower than your computer has. The default value is -frameskip 0, which skips no frames. -seconds_to_run / -str This option can be used for benchmarking and automated testing. It tells MAME to stop execution after a fixed number of seconds. By combining this with a fixed set of other command line options, you can set up a consistent environment for benchmarking MAME performance. In addition, upon exit, the -str option will write a screenshot called final.png to the game's snapshot directory. -[no]throttle Configures the default thottling setting. When throttling is on, MAME attempts to keep the game running at the game's intended speed. When throttling is off, MAME runs the game as fast as it can. Note that the fastest speed is more often than not limited by your graphics card, especially for older games. The default is ON (-throttle). -[no]sleep Allows MAME to give time back to the system when running with -throttle. This allows other programs to have some CPU time, assuming that the game isn't taxing 100% of your CPU resources. This option can potentially cause hiccups in performance if other demanding programs are running. The default is ON (-sleep). -speed Changes the way MAME throttles gameplay such that the game runs at some multiplier of the original speed. A of 1.0 means to run the game at its normal speed. A of 0.5 means run at half speed, and a of 2.0 means run at 2x speed. Note that changing this value affects sound playback as well, which will scale in pitch accordingly. The internal resolution of the fraction is two decimal places, so a value of 1.002 is the same as 1.0. The default is 1.0. -[no]refreshspeed / -[no]rs Allows MAME to dynamically adjust the gameplay speed such that it does not exceed the slowest refresh rate for any targeted monitors in your system. Thus, if you have a 60Hz monitor and run a game that is actually designed to run at 60.6Hz, MAME will dynamically change the speed down to 99% in order to prevent sound hiccups or other undesirable side effects of running at a slower refresh rate. The default is OFF (-norefreshspeed). Core rotation options --------------------- -[no]rotate Rotate the game to match its normal state (horizontal/vertical). This ensures that both vertically and horizontally oriented games show up correctly without the need to rotate your monitor. If you want to keep the game displaying 'raw' on the screen the way it would have in the arcade, turn this option OFF. The default is ON (-rotate). -[no]ror -[no]rol Rotate the game screen to the right (clockwise) or left (counter- clockwise) relative to either its normal state (if -rotate is specified) or its native state (if -norotate is specified). The default for both of these options is OFF (-noror -norol). -[no]flipx -[no]flipy Flip (mirror) the game screen either horizontally (-flipx) or vertically (-flipy). The flips are applied after the -rotate and -ror/-rol options are applied. The default for both of these options is OFF (-noflipx -noflipy). -[no]autoror -[no]autorol These options are designed for use with pivoting screens that only pivot in a single direction. If your screen only pivots clockwise, use -autorol to ensure that the game will fill the screen either horizontally or vertically in one of the directions you can handle. If your screen only pivots counter-clockwise, use -autoror. Core artwork options -------------------- -[no]artwork_crop / -[no]artcrop Enable cropping of artwork to the game screen area only. This works best with -video gdi or -video d3d, and means that vertically oriented games running full screen can display their artwork to the left and right sides of the screen. This does not work with -video ddraw because of the way the game screens are rendered and scaled after the fact. This option can also be controlled via the Video Options menu in the user interface. The default is OFF (-noartwork_crop). -[no]use_backdrops / -[no]backdrop Enables/disables the display of backdrops. The default is ON (-use_backdrops). -[no]use_overlays / -[no]overlay Enables/disables the display of overlays. The default is ON (-use_overlays). -[no]use_bezels / -[no]bezel Enables/disables the display of bezels. The default is ON (-use_bezels). Core screen options ------------------- -brightness Controls the default brightness, or black level, of the game screens. This option does not affect the artwork or other parts of the display. Using the MAME UI, you can individually set the brightness for each game screen; this option controls the initial value for all visible game screens. The standard value is 1.0. Selecting lower values (down to 0.1) will produce a darkened display, while selecting higher values (up to 2.0) will give a brighter display. The default is 1.0. -contrast Controls the contrast, or white level, of the game screens. This option does not affect the artwork or other parts of the display. Using the MAME UI, you can individually set the contrast for each game screen; this option controls the initial value for all visible game screens. The standard value is 1.0. Selecting lower values (down to 0.1) will produce a dimmer display, while selecting higher values (up to 2.0) will give a more saturated display. The default is 1.0. -gamma Controls the gamma, which produces a potentially nonlinear black to white ramp, for the game screens. This option does not affect the artwork or other parts of the display. Using the MAME UI, you can individually set the gamma for each game screen; this option controls the initial value for all visible game screens. The standard value is 1.0, which gives a linear ramp from black to white. Selecting lower values (down to 0.1) will increase the nonlinearity toward black, while selecting higher values (up to 3.0) will push the nonlinearity toward white. The default is 1.0. -pause_brightness This controls the brightness level when MAME is paused. The default value is 0.65. Core vector options ------------------- -[no]antialias / -[no]aa Enables antialiased line rendering for vector games. The default is ON (-antialias). -beam Sets the width of the vectors. This is a scaling factor against the standard vector width. A value of 1.0 will keep the default vector line width. Smaller values will reduce the width, and larger values will increase the width. The default is 1.0. -flicker Simulates a vector "flicker" effect, similar to a vector monitor that needs adjustment. This option requires a float argument in the range of 0.00 - 100.00 (0=none, 100=maximum). The default is 0. Core sound options ------------------ -[no]sound Enable or disable sound altogether. The default is ON (-sound). -samplerate / -sr Sets the audio sample rate. Smaller values (e.g. 11025) cause lower audio quality but faster emulation speed. Higher values (e.g. 48000) cause higher audio quality but slower emulation speed. The default is 48000. -[no]samples Use samples if available. The default is ON (-samples). -volume / -vol Sets the startup volume. It can later be changed with the user interface (see Keys section). The volume is an attenuation in dB: e.g., "-volume -12" will start with -12dB attenuation. The default is 0. Core input options ------------------ -ctrlr Enables support for special controllers. Configuration files are loaded from the ctrlrpath. They are in the same format as the .cfg files that are saved, but only control configuration data is read from the file. The default is NULL (no controller file). -[no]mouse Controls whether or not MAME makes use of mouse controllers. When this is enabled, you will likely be unable to use your mouse for other purposes until you exit or pause the game. The default is OFF (-nomouse). -[no]joystick / -[no]joy Controls whether or not MAME makes use of joystick/gamepad controllers. When this is enabled, MAME will ask DirectInput about which controllers are connected. The default is OFF (-nojoystick). -[no]lightgun / -[no]gun Controls whether or not MAME makes use of lightgun controllers. Note that most lightguns map to the mouse, so using -lightgun and -mouse together may produce strange results. The default is OFF (-nolightgun). -[no]multikeyboard / -[no]multikey Determines whether MAME differentiates between multiple keyboards. Some systems may report more than one keyboard; by default, the data from all of these keyboards is combined so that it looks like a single keyboard. Turning this option on will enable MAME to report keypresses on different keyboards independently. The default is OFF (-nomultikeyboard). -[no]multimouse Determines whether MAME differentiates between multiple mice. Some systems may report more than one mouse device; by default, the data from all of these mice is combined so that it looks like a single mouse. Turning this option on will enable MAME to report mouse movement and button presses on different mice independently. The default is OFF (-nomultimouse). -[no]steadykey / -[no]steady Some games require two or more buttons to be pressed at exactly the same time to make special moves. Due to limitations in the keyboard hardware, it can be difficult or even impossible to accomplish that using the standard keyboard handling. This option selects a different handling that makes it easier to register simultaneous button presses, but has the disadvantage of making controls less responsive. The default is OFF (-nosteadykey) -[no]offscreen_reload / -[no]reload Controls whether or not MAME treats a second button input from a lightgun as a reload signal. In this case, MAME will report the gun's position as (0,MAX) with the trigger held, which is equivalent to an offscreen reload. This is only needed for games that required you to shoot offscreen to reload, and then only if your gun does not support off screen reloads. The default is OFF (-nooffscreen_reload). -joystick_map / -joymap Controls how joystick values map to digital joystick controls. MAME accepts all joystick input from the system as analog data. For true analog joysticks, this needs to be mapped down to the usual 4-way or 8-way digital joystick values. To do this, MAME divides the analog range into a 9x9 grid. It then takes the joystick axis position (for X and Y axes only), maps it to this grid, and then looks up a translation from a joystick map. This parameter allows you to specify the map. The default is 'auto', which means that a standard 8-way, 4-way, or 4-way diagonal map is selected automatically based on the input port configuration of the current game. Maps are defined as a string of numbers and characters. Since the grid is 9x9, there are a total of 81 characters necessary to define a complete map. Below is an example map for an 8-way joystick: 777888999 Note that the numeric digits correspond to the keys 777888999 on a numeric keypad. So '7' maps to up+left, '4' maps 777888999 to left, '5' maps to neutral, etc. In addition to the 444555666 numeric values, you can specify the character 's', 444555666 which means "sticky". In this case, the value of the 444555666 map is the same as it was the last time a non-sticky 111222333 value was read. 111222333 111222333 To specify the map for this parameter, you can specify a string of rows separated by a '.' (which indicates the end of a row), like so: 777888999.777888999.777888999.444555666.444555666.444555666. 111222333.111222333.111222333 However, this can be reduced using several shorthands supported by the parameter. If information about a row is missing, then it is assumed that any missing data in columns 5-9 are left/right symmetric with data in columns 0-4; and any missing data in colums 0-4 is assumed to be copies of the previous data. The same logic applies to missing rows, except that up/down symmetry is assumed. By using these shorthands, the 81 character map can be simply specified by this 11 character string: 7778...4445 Looking at the first row, 7778 is only 4 characters long. The 5th entry can't use symmetry, so it is assumed to be equal to the previous character '8'. The 6th character is left/right symmetric with the 4th character, giving an '8'. The 7th character is left/right symmetric with the 3rd character, giving a '9' (which is '7' with left/right flipped). Eventually this gives the full 777888999 string of the row. The second and third rows are missing, so they are assumed to be identical to the first row. The fourth row decodes similarly to the first row, producing 444555666. The fifth row is missing so it is assumed to be the same as the fourth. The remaining three rows are also missing, so they are assumed to be the up/down mirrors of the first three rows, giving three final rows of 111222333. -joystick_deadzone / -joy_deadzone / -jdz If you play with an analog joystick, the center can drift a little. joystick_deadzone tells how far along an axis you must move before the axis starts to change. This option expects a float in the range of 0.0 to 1.0. Where 0 is the center of the joystick and 1 is the outer limit. The default is 0.3. -joystick_saturation / joy_saturation / -jsat If you play with an analog joystick, the ends can drift a little, and may not match in the +/- directions. joystick_saturation tells how far along an axis movement change will be accepted before it reaches the maximum range. This option expects a float in the range of 0.0 to 1.0, where 0 is the center of the joystick and 1 is the outer limit. The default is 0.85. Core input automatic enable options ----------------------------------- -paddle_device / -paddle -adstick_device / -adstick -pedal_device / -pedal -dial_device / -dial -trackball_device / -trackball -lightgun_device -positional_device Each of these options controls autoenabling the mouse, joystick, or lightgun depending on the presence of a particular class of analog control for a particular game. For example, if you specify the option -paddle mouse, then any game that has a paddle control will automatically enable mouse controls just as if you had explicitly specified -mouse. Note that these controls override the values of -[no]mouse, -[no]joystick, etc. Debugging options ----------------- -[no]log Creates a file called error.log which contains all of the internal log messages generated by the MAME core and game drivers. The default is OFF (-nolog). -[no]verbose / -[no]v Displays internal diagnostic information. This information is very useful for debugging problems with your configuration. IMPORTANT: when reporting bugs, please run with mame -verbose and include the resulting information. The default is OFF (-noverbose). -[no]update_in_pause Enables updating of the main screen bitmap while the game is paused. This means that the VIDEO_UPDATE callback will be called repeatedly during pause, which can be useful for debugging. The default is OFF (-noupdate_in_pause). -[no]debug Activates the integrated debugger. This is available only if the program is compiled with MAME_DEBUG defined. By default, the debugger is entered by pressing the tilde (~) key during emulation. It is also entered immediately at startup. The default is ON (-debug). -debugscript Specifies a file that contains a list of debugger commands to execute immediately upon startup. The default is NULL (no commands). Core misc options ----------------- -bios Specifies the specific BIOS to use with the current game, for game systems that make use of a BIOS. The -listxml output will list all of the possible BIOS names for a game. The default is 'default'. -[no]cheat / -[no]c Enables the reading of the cheat database, if present, and the Cheat menu in the user interface. The default is OFF (-nocheat). -[no]skip_gameinfo Forces MAME to skip displaying the game info screen. The default is OFF (-noskip_gameinfo).