Hello, thank you for so much help!. Thanks to such good explanations (which sadly can not be found on the internet, or at least not with that clarity) I have accomplished the main objectives/goals of my post: to be able to play "
Pier Solar and the Great Architects", and to learn some of the basic things to run console games on M.A.M.E. (and probably also on M.E.S.S.). Because I have asked lots of questions at different times, and some are still unanswered, I am summarizing them here, so that they will not be scattered and forgotten:
--- I have read that none of the latest versions of M.E.S.S. or M.A.M.E. need B.I.O.S. for N.E.S. nor Genesis, but they probably need B.I.O.S. for other consoles/systems, as I solved my problem:
"spc700.rom NOT FOUND <tried in snes snes>
Fatal error: Required files are missing, the machine cannot be run."
by downloading the B.I.O.S. file for the S.N.E.S., even when the folder that contains the B.I.O.S.es is named "MESS-0.151.BIOS.ROMs" and I am using M.A.M.E. 0.188. I would like to know, if possible, for which consoles/systems M.A.M.E. does not need B.I.O.S. and for which it does (I have not been able to find that anywhere). Every time I get a message of files missing, I instsall the B.I.O.S. for that console/system and solve the problem. I used Google to find that out, as I have never found it in the M.A.M.E. documentation.
--- I have been using
unzipped files with M.A.M.E. (with extensions such as ".nes", ".smc", ".bin", ".cue", ".cdi", ".sfc", ".gb", ".gba", ".sg", and others) and they all work (unless I have not placed the B.I.O.S. for that console/system in the "roms" folder of M.A.M.E., but N.E.S. and Genesis do not need B.I.O.S.). I still do not understand why the game files have to be compressed (".zip" or ".7z").
--- I can change games
of the same console through the File Manager, but if I choose a game
of a different console (for example, changing from a N.E.S. game to a Genesis game), M.A.M.E. crashes and I get the message: "Fatal error: Device NES Cartridge Slot load failed: Unspecified error" at the command window.
--- The quality of the image for the console games I have used with M.A.M.E. is not as good as that of the console emulators (for examples, FCEUX or Kega Fusion), is there any way to make it better? (for example, the color is faded/washed-out, and the worst quality is with the N.E.S. games). I have used the consoles themselves with the television, and the color is much better than that of M.A.M.E., so I do not understand why that happens if one of the main purposes of M.A.M.E. is "accuracy".
--- Do I always have to use the command window to run console games with M.A.M.E.? (if we are in the Windows era, why do we have to do things in D.O.S.?).
--- Why M.A.M.E. manages arcade games and console games so differently?, and I particularly mean: why can I not see any console games (even the ones that I have already used with M.A.M.E.) when I click on "mame64" and start M.A.M.E.? (when I click on "Available" I can only see the arcade games).
--- (This is not a question). I finally found something I needed: the list of M.E.S.S. supported systems with the names that M.E.S.S. gives to them (I assume it is the same for M.A.M.E.). In the case someone needs it: "
https://www.mess.org/supported_systems". I recommend to save it (for example, in an MS Word document) and put it close to the M.E.S.S./M.A.M.E. folder for future reference.
And this is an unimportant question:
--- When I type
mame64 nes -cart and drag the game file there, why does the path to the game have to be inside quotaion marks? (can it be without the quotation marks?).
Thank you all for your interest and help!.