thecooldude
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Mar 25, 2019 1:06 am

High Scores when upgrading

Hello everyone.

I did a search for this but couldn't find an answer.... Hoping someone can help.

I've been using Mameui64_v199 for quite some time now and aside from a few games with audio issues, I thought it would be time for an upgrade. I'm looking at upgrading my Mameui64_v199 to mame0207b_64bit.

In most of my games like 1942, Galaga, etc... I have "Save system state on exit" checked so it saves my high scores and works pretty well. But... now that I would like to move to mame0207b_64bit where is the system state saved for each of my games to bring the high scores over to mame0207b_64bit?

I've copied my ROMS folder over along with every other folder I think I would need but when I launch 1942 and other games in mame0207b_64bit, my high scores are not there.

What am I missing?

Thanks in advance!
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Tafoid
Posts: 351
Joined: Thu Nov 06, 2014 12:50 pm
Location: USA
Contact: Website

Re: High Scores when upgrading

thecooldude wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2019 2:07 am Hello everyone.

I did a search for this but couldn't find an answer.... Hoping someone can help.

I've been using Mameui64_v199 for quite some time now and aside from a few games with audio issues, I thought it would be time for an upgrade. I'm looking at upgrading my Mameui64_v199 to mame0207b_64bit.

In most of my games like 1942, Galaga, etc... I have "Save system state on exit" checked so it saves my high scores and works pretty well. But... now that I would like to move to mame0207b_64bit where is the system state saved for each of my games to bring the high scores over to mame0207b_64bit?

I've copied my ROMS folder over along with every other folder I think I would need but when I launch 1942 and other games in mame0207b_64bit, my high scores are not there.

What am I missing?

Thanks in advance!

Sadly, Save States are only guaranteed to work on the version they were created on. Occasionally, you can go 2 or 3 versions before there is some source change that will either add/change a region name, device, or a host of other things which could make your Save State no longer load, therefore losing your save data for later versions.

Thankfully, current baseline MAME has a solution. The current MAME from MAMEDEV.org has high score saving through its Lua scripting and ships with the ability to save scores for a number a games which don't normally retain them. Many games retain their games through NVRAM/battery backup to a limited degree and this scripting picks up the slack and covers most every game you'd want - as well as being way more stable than save states from version to version. You need to make sure you have the "plugins" folder. I'm unsure if MAMEUI derivative ships with everything needed.

How do you activate it?
Start up MAME64 and using the internal UI, choose "Plugins" selection (just above Exit) then toggle ON the script which states "Hiscore support".
That should be all you need to do. Once you exit MAME, this setting should be retained in your "plugin.ini" file and be used when you run MAME everytime. To test it... a simple game like Puckman/Pacman should work. Just obtain a small score (since the highscore starts are 0), Exit the game or MAME - restart. The next time you run that machine, the high score you had should show as the high score.
thecooldude
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Mar 25, 2019 1:06 am

Re: High Scores when upgrading

Thanks so much for your response.

So if I'm following your directions correctly, I launch Mameui64_v199, then open one of my games like 1942. Then I press TAB and then select plugin options, but there is nothing to select other than return to previous menu.

Guess I'm missing something.

Any ideas?

Thanks again!
mhoes
Posts: 186
Joined: Wed Oct 26, 2016 12:26 pm

Re: High Scores when upgrading

Hi,

He's talking about the internal interface of the official MAME from mamedev.org, not the standard MAMEUI derivative interface. Currently there is no way to get to the plugin settings in the default MAMEUI interface (so not via 'Options' -> 'Default System Options', for example).

However, you can still get to the internal MAME interface in MAMEUI, but it takes a little effort :

1.)
Start a commandline in Windows. For example, right-click on 'start', select 'run', and enter 'cmd'. (or, windows-key+S, type 'cmd', and click on 'command prompt'). You should now have an open prompt.

2.) Use 'cd' to go to the directory where you installed MAMEUI, for example :

Code: Select all

cd C:\Program Files\mame
3.) Start MAMEUI by typing the following command :

Code: Select all

MAMEUI64 ___empty
(there's 3 underscores there).

You should now see the internal MAME interface. From there, you can choose the "Plugins" selection (just above Exit) and then toggle ON the option which states "Hiscore support", like was explained earlier.

That should be it.
thecooldude
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Mar 25, 2019 1:06 am

Re: High Scores when upgrading

Wow. Thanks!

I finally found the option and enabled it on both Mameui64_v199 and mame0207b_64bit for my game 1942. I had no idea that was there.

Sadly, my high scores won't come over from Mameui64_v199 to mame0207b_64bit. It does allow new high scores to be made just like before though and the save state is working as usual.

So is this it? Is it not possible to bring my old high scores over?

Thanks again.
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f205v
Posts: 22
Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2014 10:31 pm
Location: Switzerland
Contact: Website

Re: High Scores when upgrading

In the old days of arcade galleries records where kept with an highly sophisticated and technological tool: a piece of chalk and a small blackboard hanging by the counter.
I still use the same solution at home with my MAME cabinet.
------
Ciao
f205v
mhoes
Posts: 186
Joined: Wed Oct 26, 2016 12:26 pm

Re: High Scores when upgrading

thecooldude wrote: Thu Mar 28, 2019 2:32 amSadly, my high scores won't come over from Mameui64_v199 to mame0207b_64bit. It does allow new high scores to be made just like before though and the save state is working as usual.

So is this it? Is it not possible to bring my old high scores over?
I'm afraid that you can't use the old save states in the new MAME version, no. Like Tafoid explained :
Tafoid wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2019 2:42 amSadly, Save States are only guaranteed to work on the version they were created on. Occasionally, you can go 2 or 3 versions before there is some source change that will either add/change a region name, device, or a host of other things which could make your Save State no longer load, therefore losing your save data for later versions.
thecooldude
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Mar 25, 2019 1:06 am

Re: High Scores when upgrading

OK. Thanks everyone for your help.

Appreciate it!

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