Phreakwars
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Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2021 7:41 am

Ms. Pacman with hot pursuit button

Hey guys, guess I have 2 questions was hoping someone could answer. So years ago on my arcade cab I used to run Ms. Pacman and it had the hot pursuit option with the rom, and from what I can see that is no longer an option for whatever reason. I am building another cab for someone (my uncle), and he is wanting the version with the hot pursuit. I have older version sets on some old CD's I can dust off, trouble is, I don't remember when this was implemented and which is the latest version of mame to support it. The older stuff won't run on windows 10, and I am not opposed to running on XP or even Windows 98 as far as I care. Gives me an excuse to go old school and run ArcadeOS like I did back in the day. But yeah, wondering if anybody can help which which version that was so I can download and configure, and I guess my next question is why is this no longer available in mame and will it ever be brought back again? Machines with Hot Pursuit buttons were seen in arcades all over back then. I'm kinda surprised this is no longer the case in current mame versions/rom sets.
Phreakwars
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2021 7:41 am

Re: Ms. Pacman with hot pursuit button

To answer my own question (sort of). I got it to work in version .106 with the current rom. Tested other versions as well.

PLEASE bring this back, it's so awesome with hot pursuit!!!! Looks like 0.111 was the last version to support it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urRCaQojjyo
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Tafoid
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Re: Ms. Pacman with hot pursuit button

Phreakwars wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 8:59 am To answer my own question (sort of). I got it to work in version .106 with the current rom. Tested other versions as well.

PLEASE bring this back, it's so awesome with hot pursuit!!!! Looks like 0.111 was the last version to support it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urRCaQojjyo

The only one I know of that has the functionality in the emulation is "mspacpls". Long ago it was taken out of mainline source because it was technically a hack. It could be readded if done the correct way through perhaps a cheat or separate Lua script.
Phreakwars
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Re: Ms. Pacman with hot pursuit button

mspacpls (Ms. Pac Plus) does not have this option in the current version. Sure there are cheats that enable the speed up hack, but the Hot Pursuit was different. It's my understanding that the "pacman.c" driver was moved from dipswitches to "configuration", but unfortunately the speed up with button, AKA "HOT PURSUIT" was not implemented, nor is it part of the cheat files that you can find. I honestly do not know the history of the Hot Pursuit cabs. I'm guessing it was an add on chip that you could use, from what I can see, the chip is still available for authentic cabs, but it WAS IN FACT a type of cab that you could play in the arcades: https://forums.arcade-museum.com/thread ... on.176742/ The button type was inconsistent, indicating this was more then likely an add on chip that owners could buy to speed up the game. Combined with the regular speed up, the Hot Pursuit versions, IMHO, were the most bad ass versions around. I got it working on Windows 10 in attract mode using 0.111 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ6012jHGF0 would love to see this brought back in future mame versions. What I'm wondering, is if I can just take the older pacman.c driver, and just recompile it for current mame versions and make it work.. Guess I'll have to try and see what I get. Maybe there is more to it that I'm missing here.
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Tafoid
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Re: Ms. Pacman with hot pursuit button

Phreakwars wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 11:42 am mspacpls (Ms. Pac Plus) does not have this option in the current version. Sure there are cheats that enable the speed up hack, but the Hot Pursuit was different. It's my understanding that the "pacman.c" driver was moved from dipswitches to "configuration", but unfortunately the speed up with button, AKA "HOT PURSUIT" was not implemented, nor is it part of the cheat files that you can find. I honestly do not know the history of the Hot Pursuit cabs. I'm guessing it was an add on chip that you could use, from what I can see, the chip is still available for authentic cabs, but it WAS IN FACT a type of cab that you could play in the arcades: https://forums.arcade-museum.com/thread ... on.176742/ The button type was inconsistent, indicating this was more then likely an add on chip that owners could buy to speed up the game. Combined with the regular speed up, the Hot Pursuit versions, IMHO, were the most bad ass versions around. I got it working on Windows 10 in attract mode using 0.111 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ6012jHGF0 would love to see this brought back in future mame versions. What I'm wondering, is if I can just take the older pacman.c driver, and just recompile it for current mame versions and make it work.. Guess I'll have to try and see what I get. Maybe there is more to it that I'm missing here.

There is no easy way take an older driver and just plop it into the current mame source and compile it. Too much has changed in the way MAME works to make this at all practical. You are best off using the older version of MAME for this one thing you want. You may also consider trying HBMAME (Homebrew MAME) which contains many hacks and romsets which MAME doesn't include which may include the functionality you seek.

'mspacpls' is a bootleg with a built into code functionality (from original roms) of speeding up the mspacman player as well as providing invincibility using the START1 and START2 buttons while playing. While it isn't the same as "Hot Pursuit", the functionality is similar. Since the functionality you speak of that used to be in MAME isn't part of any ROM dump, it is considered a CHEAT or HACK which current MAME rarely keeps in place. You won't likely see it in any versions speedups in baseline MAME unless and until original roms, as part of a kit, are documented and dumped from a valid/working PCB. I'm not discounting there are examples of it existing in the wild in various forms in the past, not at all. I outlined also some ways you may be able to use current MAME again to perform and just because it has not been done yet doesn't mean it cannot be done. There are many things that the Lua scripting and Cheat engine can handle which fall outside normal MAME usage and this seems to fit within those guidelines.
Phreakwars
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Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2021 7:41 am

Re: Ms. Pacman with hot pursuit button

I'm not gonna ponder over it too much. I have what I need running under Windows 10, setup in attract mode is so simple, plus with that front end, you can switch emulators on the fly pretty much. I am gonna have to compile a version of 0.111 anyways though. Gotta add hi-score ability and it will be perfect for me. Only reason I say please add it again, is to, I don't know, go back to what it was to make it easier for others. 0.111 doesn't have the GUI like the newer mame versions do, might be a bit confusing for some. But I get the whole purpose of the mame project and see where your coming from. I don't need to use any of those other ports. I'd rather just build it myself, thanks for the help. But I guess is does kind of leave a bit of a mystery to what the story/history is on the Hot Pursuit feature, I've seen several images of the Marquee, and do in fact remember playing it (religiously). ;)

Image
Robert
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Re: Ms. Pacman with hot pursuit button

(deleted)
Last edited by Robert on Fri Sep 23, 2022 2:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
Phreakwars
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Re: Ms. Pacman with hot pursuit button

Robert wrote: Mon May 03, 2021 1:19 am HBMAME has that feature in many of its pacman and mspacman games. Just hold down CTRL to speed up. If it doesn't work, it because that particular set doesn't support it, try another one.

Also, hitting F8 will let you skip to the next level.

Any set with [c] in the title has the invulnerable cheat as well. See the HBMAME FAQ. (included with the download)
So I checked it out, and you are absolutely correct!! It's in there, though have not found any of the clones that do as the Hot Pursuit did. However, I DID happen to come across a very interesting clone called Ms. Baby Pacman in the mspacman.zip rom.

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I am totally gonna add that to my son's cabinet. He's has Autism and he is a huge collector of pacman related stuff and games. Never paid any attention to the HBMame release so thanks for the heads up. I'll use that, plus the current dev release plus 0.111. Doesn't bug me none using multiple emulators, that's what front ends are for. Thanks again guys!!

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