hhisc29926 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2017 4:33 pm Hello!.
The game that is causing me trouble is "Pier Solar and the Great Architects" (that is the one which originated this whole situation). The game can not be played on Kega Fusion nor Gens (I have them installed and they did not run the game, even after lots of tweaking, and I have also read that it can not be played on either of those emulators, anyway). I installed Retroarch also, but do not know how to make it run that game (in the case that it will be able to do it) or any other game . There is very little information on the internet about Retroarch (other than very technical and weird information), and I do not even know if Retroarch is an emulator itself or if it is an emulator manager. I have read on different sites that the game can be played with M.E.S.S. (which is now combined with M.A.M.E.), but do not know how to make M.E.S.S. (I have a former version) nor M.A.M.E. (which now includes M.E.S.S.) run it. I have read also 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.
I still would like to use M.A.M.E. with N.E.S. and Genesis games, but all the information I have found during many hours and days of researching is too complicated. The people who post that information either want to brag about their knowledge, or post it just to their fellow developers/programmers, or do not have the knowledge for typing the information in easy and understandable terms (or perhaps a combination of those cases). I think (and can be sure about it) that there are thousands (or perhaps millions) of people around the world that would like to use such emultators, but because the information about them is presented in such a complicated way, the big mayority of the people can not use and enjoy such good programs. It is my hope that I will find someone nice enough as to explain me how to use M.A.M.E. (or at least M.E.S.S.) with console games, or at least to direct me to a site made for the average person, so that I will understand the instructions.
Thank you very much for all your help.
Yes, when you do it this way, you need to 'drag' the exact game you want to play. If you want to play another, you can just drag another game.hhisc29926 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2017 10:01 pmShould I drag the whole folder that has the games, or the particular game that I want to play?
Yes, they need to be in either a zip file (or '7-Zip'), or unzipped in a subdirectory with the same name as the zip (but I don't recommend unzipping). What is in the zip file is indeed 'special', as it is tightly coupled with what game/machine it is for and what MAME (therefore) expects to be in that zipfile.hhisc29926 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 02, 2017 10:01 pmI have another question, which I had from the very beginning, but did not want to make my request too long when I posted it: Do my games need to have a special format to be run by M.A.M.E. or M.E.S.S.? (I do not think that being just ".zip" files is enough, as anyone can zip any file and put it there, but that does not mean that M.A.M.E. or M.E.S.S. will run it). Well, I guess (but am not sure) that all the files must be ".zip", but what should be in the ".zip" file, does it have to be something special? (my games have extensions ".nes", ".smc", ".bin", ".cue", ".cdi", ".sfc", ".gb", ".gba", ".sg", and others; do I need different files, or are those good enough, as I can play them with console emulators?).
What is in the zip file is tightly coupled with what game/machine it is for and what MAME (therefore) expects to be in that zipfile. In other words: You cannot simply put things in the zip and automagically expect MAME to run it: There has to be support for what is in the zip in the MAME emulator code. The only reason it *could* work is, when both MAME and another emulator have support for the exact same machine/game in the emulator code *and* the contents of the zip file are exactly identical, but I expect this to be a rare case. In your specific case above, MAME expects the specific file 'spc700.rom' with specific contents to be in the zip, and your zip file is missing that file or it's contents are not exactly identical to what MAME expects and needs.hhisc29926 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 03, 2017 9:40 pmI zipped files (games) that run perfectly on emulators (with extensions such as ".nes", ".smc", ".bin", ".cue", ".cdi", ".sfc", ".gb", ".gba", ".sg", and others), then used them with M.A.M.E. and some of them work, because I have been unsuccessful with all the S.N.E.S. games that I have tried (which run perfectly on emulators); why is that happening?. I keep receiving the message
"spc700.rom NOT FOUND <tried in snes snes>
Fatal error: Required files are missing, the machine cannot be run."
at the command window.
Not sure what is happening here. I assume it's because once you have selected a machine from the commandline, MAME expects the next game to be from that same machine. If this is the case, that may be intended behavior or a bug. Anyway, I'm sure someone else can provide a better answer here.hhisc29926 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 03, 2017 9:40 pmI finally understood what the "TAB menu" is (once in the game, press the "Tab" key), and finally found the "File Manager" (that I knew existed, because I have seen snapshots of it, just did not know where it was). 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.
Again, not sure what's going on, but I expect it is one of the following: MAME allows for a lot of graphical 'effects', for example an effect that makes a modern day LCD screen look like an old CRT monitor. You can look up the details for those options in the MAME documentation. Apart from that, one of the differences between MAME and some other emulators, is that MAME is primarily and specifically about 'precision' and 'accuracy' of emulation (and 'preservation'). Which means for example that if the actual hardware it emulates was slow, the emulation will be slow too. Were the graphics low-res on the original hardware, or was the sound awful due to hardware restrictions on the original hardware, it will be the same in MAME. Some other emulators choose a different path, and instead, make the game run faster/smoother higher-res etc. than the original hardware did. This is a conscious decision made by the MAME developers, because they want the emulation to be as near to 100% exactly the same as possible to the original.hhisc29926 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 03, 2017 9:40 pmThe quality of the image for the console games I have used with M.A.M.E. is not as good as that of the emulators, is there any way to make it better? (for example, the color is faded).
Yes, they need to be in either a zip file (or '7-Zip'), or unzipped in a subdirectory with the exact same name as the zip (but I don't recommend unzipping !). Other compression types like Rar are not supported as far as I know.hhisc29926 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 03, 2017 9:40 pmDoes M.A.M.E. accept ".rar" files, or any other type of compressed files, or do they have to be only ".zip"? (and even more: does M.A.M.E. accept only compressed files?).
I always wondered about that myself, but never cared enough to investigate. Perhaps someone else can help you here.hhisc29926 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 03, 2017 9:40 pmAnd finally: Do I always have to use the command window to run console games with M.A.M.E.?, 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).
Yes, I assume you can.hhisc29926 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 03, 2017 9:40 pmOh, the last one: Does M.E.S.S. work in the same way as M.A.M.E., regarding console games (or: Can I apply those same explanations/instructions to M.E.S.S.?)?.