Hey guys
I'm getting back into os4 and having fun. Id like some tips on Mame and what is the best version to use for Os4, as well as the best Front End for Mame.

Right now i'm using xmameGui with sld mame but there is no joystick support I can find??

Also, I purchased a Xarcade joyboard to use with Mame on os4. Can someone with experience with this configuration give me some tips/recommendations?

And yes I know xarcade is seen as a kybrd, the joystick support is for my tac 2 hooked up to my Catweasel mkiv ;)

tia

@realize

In MAME there is no joystick support st the moment.You can use your X-Arcade and if you have X-Arcade double is a good idea to invite some friends.

The best version you could use of MAME is 0.97 with XMAMEGUI too.

Configure your X-Arcade and enjoy MAME!!!

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@newlight

I use SDLMAME 0.148 just fine with my joystick via my Catweasel IV. I use joysticks for simpler games or Megadrive joypads for more complex ones like Ghouls n Ghosts. You can also use Usb devices or X-Arcade like devices, as it uses AmigaInput.

I've not uploaded 0.148 yet but 0.145 on OS4Depot is the same as concerns joysticks.

@newlight

Quote:

if you have X-Arcade double is a good idea to invite some friends.

Not only is it good for 2 player games, it's also gread for dual stick shooters such as Robotron, Smash TV etc. in single player mode

...But I wouldn't buy it just due to "lack of joystick support in current MAME recompiles". On Poseidon you can map any USB joystick controls to keyboard, can OS4's USB stack do the same? I don't know... Just throwing ideas...

Thanks for the posts guys. I have BOTH a Catweasel mkiv (which I just acquired) AND the DUAL XArcade.

Spriantho: First thanks for your work on the CW IV drivers. My tac 2 works OOTB once I installed it. Havent installed floppy yet. I can play UAE games with joystick no problem but on Mame there is no option for joystick.

I searched OS4 depot but only found the older version I have do you have a link for the version with joystick support?

Also, as far as the Xarcade goes does the Os4 versions of Mame's keyboard layout match the Xarcade by default?

I know some of the recent Morphos versions of Mame allow you to select "input" in Mame game config and there is an "Xarcade" option! iirc


One last important thing. I working with old Roms and I cant get a lot of games to work with newer mame. I dont use torrents and stuff so am having troubles located compatible roms :(

@realize

Don't forget to configure the inputs to use the joystick :) Do it in the menu where you define your keys, but use the joystick instead of pressing a key.

I just brought a 2 pack of these

http://www.retronicdesign.com/

It's for future use, I haven't tested them myself, even supports cd32 and mouse now with firmware upgrades

first time I've ever used my ebay account and then I think a few days later I brough the "HD version" of The Last Starfighter LOL

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@Slayer

They should work - AmigaInput supports USB so they should work with MAME. I still prefer the Catweasel myself (no latency like you get on USB) but much better than keyboard (probably).

Incidentally, I have MAME 0.148u1 here:
http://www.retroreview.com/iang/mame0148u1_os4.lha
and MESS 0.148u1 here:
http://www.retroreview.com/iang/mess0148u1_os4.lha

Those are just the executables, so you need to get the OS4depot distribution and then extract the new files over the old.
I'll upload to OS4depot when I know they're stable so any feedback would be great ("ian.gledhill at btinternet dot com").

It seems that 0.148 is a bit faster than 0.145, actually.

@Spirantho

Cool, going to test it !

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@Spirantho

Just got them. Mame supports transparently AOS4 joystick but it`s slow (like `060 old mame) on SamFlex. Few games play 100% speed with frame skip set 7 to 10 (like Pang).
Further testing in progress...

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@Slayer

this piece of hardware is tested here (french site) : http://obligement.free.fr/articles/retro_joystick_adapter.php

@realize

you can use amigainput anywhere to convert usb joystick input to key presses.

http://www.os4depot.net/index.php?function=showfile&file=utility/hardware/amigainputanyware.lha

On my X1K I've got it configured so I can use my logitech G25 steering wheel on classics such as Outrun and ChaseHQ etc
That with Steffan Hausers old Version.

You can use MakeyMakey as a controller with Mame
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfQqh7iCcOU

Last edited by JurassicC on 28-Feb-2013 at 07:51 PM.
Last edited by JurassicC on 28-Feb-2013 at 07:46 PM.
Last edited by JurassicC on 28-Feb-2013 at 07:44 PM.

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@Cass

Don't forget to set SDLMAME_DESKTOPDIM to the smallest size possible. It can give a MAJOR speed boost.

When our SDL supports OpenGL, I'll be able to compile SDLMAME with OpenGL support - that should speed things up hugely!

Ouch.
I know Sam is pretty weak in terms of CPU grunt, and MAME typically gets slower with newer versions, but that sounds horrid.

Any known reason for it being so slow? I have no interest in instigating any sort of "vs." thing here, Im just curious. Even an old Pentium 166mmx laptop I was given plays Pang full speed using a frameskip of 3 with AROS + v1.06 AROS MAME.

@fishy_fis

Quote:

v1.06

Try 1.48 on the same configuration.

@fishy_fis

MAME changed a lot over the years - whenever there's a speed bump in processor power, MAME expands to fill the change, by adding accuracy which wasn't possible before. Hence 0.148 (this version) is much slower than 0.106, which is much slower than 0.96 or whatever the last OS4 version was before I did them.

Running Pang on my Sam 440ep 600Mhz gives 100% speed with no video output, and also 100% speed with a frame skip of 7 on a reasonable sized window/screen. For a machine with no L2 cache, and a basic graphics chip running an SDL front end with no acceleration, I'd say that's pretty good going actually. There's quite an overhead using SDL - which is why I eagerly await OpenGL-supporting MAME. It could (should!) make quite a difference, as scaling will be handled in hardware.

The important thing is that even on my lowly Sam, it's still playable (I'm using it with my Megadrive joypad connected to the Catweasel :P )

Edit: for those of you who like this sort of thing, here's Pang running on my 600MHz Sam440ep:

Last edited by Spirantho on 28-Feb-2013 at 10:17 PM.
Last edited by Spirantho on 28-Feb-2013 at 10:17 PM.

Well yes, I did say I know MAME typically gets slower each version, but still, 8-10x as slow (very rough figure) seems a bit extreme (4x clock rate, 3-ish x slower). This is using vesa mode on AROS too.

edit: oops, my mistake, it's v1.13.

Just occured to me that there's some x86 specific code in MAME as well, which may be helping a bit with speed as well.

Last edited by fishy_fis on 28-Feb-2013 at 11:09 PM.

@fishy_fis

A large part of that will be explained by the L2 cache which the Sam lacks.... memory speed is very important for emulation.

Plus if you're running on x86, chances are it had the assembler bits included... which aren't present on the PPC builds.

And it probably wasn't running SDL.

What I'm trying to say is that basically there's a whole load of factors that slow down the Sam - it's not a fair comparison. If the Sam had the same factors as the AROS box (no SDL, assembler support, more primitive core) then it'd be much faster too.

Simply put: It's the software, not the hardware, that's slower.

Hope that makes sense. :)

@Spirantho

P1 mmx has no l2 cache either (although some systems use an off die module iirc), and only has 32KB l1 cache. System RAM is also much, much faster on a SAM (probably faster than p1 cache).

That said thanks anyway. Seems I knew the reasons all along. Just surprised how big a difference these things make.

@Spirantho

MAME certainly gets slower over time, but not THAT much in general, though.

On my Pegasos2, 0.148 gives 200% speed on Pang (without frameskip obviously), where 0.120 gave 240%. This is of course a port with optimized blitters and without the SDL burden.

The only major (and i mean really major) slowdown since 0.126 or so is about SH2/SH4 based systems, which got 8-10 times slower on platforms that don't support dynarec (but i suspect the slowdown is also in core elsewhere, because enabling the old SH2 interpreter still gives quite slow results, 2-3 times slower than before 0.126).

By the way, you shouldn't hold your breath too much on GL output. It's already there in MAME, but it's just about a GL surface. It offers free scaling, sure, but the setup time / speed (especially with OS4 3D libraries) will be quite poor compared to a direct rendering routine. Overlay gives much better results in that regard.

@fishy_fis

I'm not sure the asm parts of MAME are actually used in AROS port, but it's to be checked. On the other hand, this port of MAME for AROS comes with relatively optimized video routines, even though AROS generally kills off any kind of optimizations there with its rather poor video support.

Last edited by Fab on 01-Mar-2013 at 11:00 AM.