M.A.M.E. Manager Windows'95 Ver 3.0 (27/04/1998) by Paolo Nicoletti (p.nicoletti@radiostudio.it) (ICQ 4939760) additional code by Michael Schmitz (m.schmitz@ndh.net) additional ideas by Mark van der Molen (Elvis@stack.nl) MWManual.txt by Christopher Hinton (chris431@execpc.com) ============ IMPORTANT !! ============ DO NOT ASK US FOR ROM IMAGES! DO NOT DISTRIBUTE M.A.M.E. MANAGER TOGETHER WITH ROM IMAGES! DO NOT DISTRIBUTE M.A.M.E. WITH M.A.M.E. MANAGER! In many countries owning ROM images for games you do not own is considered illegal. =================== FREEWARE DISCLAIMER =================== This product is freeware. You may use it for your own game playing needs and that's it! I won't take any responsibility (directly or indirectly) to any damage (temporary or permanent) that this program or any associated programs may do. Also, you can freely distribute this program and its associated files as long as you respect the following restrictions: 1) The files "MMAW.EXE" "UNIP32.DLL" and "MWMANUAL.TXT" are included in the distributed archive in an unmodified form; 2) It must NEVER be packaged in with M.A.M.E. or ROMs images; 3) No charge is made for copying or distribution of this program and its associated files (beyond reasonable access fees); 4) Mame Manager may not be included in any commercial product or CD-ROM compilations without the author's express permission. ==================== EXPLANATION OF TERMS ==================== M.A.M.E. The Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator. (but I guess you know that; otherwise you wouldn't have any use for Mamemaw) GAME A game supported by M.A.M.E. ROM The ROM (game program) files for a game supported by M.A.M.E. ROMZIP A zip archive containing the ROM files for a game supported by MAME. SAMPLESET A set of samples that can be used to provide sound for a game; only a few games can have samples attached. SAMPLEZIP A zip archive containing a sample set for a game. ===================== FILES IN THIS ARCHIVE ===================== The following files should be contained in this archive: 1) MMAW.EXE - The main program. 2) MWMANUAL.TXT - The file you are reading now. 3) UNZIP32.DLL - Used to uncompress zipped ROMs ===================== WHAT'S NEW IN MAMEMAW ===================== - added support for Multiple Mame versions - added the support for the -record and -playback options - replaced pkunzip.exe with Unzip32.dll - added the full support for long filenames and long paths - the preview window can now be resized (Michael Schmitz) - the instruction window is resizable (Michael Schmitz) - Mame Manager remembers the position and the size of the windows (Michael Schmitz) - added the new settings accordingly to the mame ver 31 - rearranged location of option buttons ============================== OK, SO WHAT'S MAMEMAW ANYWAY ? ============================== Mamemaw is primarily a frontend for M.A.M.E., the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator by Nicola Salmoria and Mirko Buffoni. There are several other frontends for M.A.M.E., but Mamemaw has some unique functions. Here's a sneak preview of some of these features: - Mamemaw allows you to have M.A.M.E., your ROMs and samples placed in any directory you choose. - Mamemaw allows you to link to ROMs supported by other emulators which you may have stored in a different directory than your other M.A.M.E. ROMs. This feature keeps you from having to have multiple copies of the same ROM for different emulators. - Mamemaw allows you to select which version of M.A.M.E. you use to run a ROM. This option allows individuals the ability to use older versions of M.A.M.E on particular ROMs whose emulation speed may have been affected in later versions. - Mamemaw includes full cheat support and cheat options menu - Mamemaw automatically checks which new games are supported by M.A.M.E. - Mamemaw can automatically search for the appropriate ROM and sample files for a game. - Mamemaw allows you to review and edit game instructions directly from the front-end - A built-in timer lets you see how long you've played each game. - Mamemaw can show you which games are missing from your ROM sets. - A built-in "Newcomer tutorial" that gives help to the new users. - Full support for Univbe. - Mamemaw can display as many snapshots of the games as you want. - Mamemaw can take as many replays of the games as you want. ============================= SOME OTHER IMPORTANT FEATURES ============================= - Plays games directly from zip archives. - Keeps all ROMs sets in one dedicated directory. - Keeps all sample sets in one dedicated directory. - You can have separate settings for every game. - Mamemaw allows you to create a favorite games listing - Leaving a mouse pointer over a button displays a description of the button's function. M.A.M.E. 0.31 supports 478+ games, and it's getting nearly impossible to keep track of all the games without a front end! We both feel Mamemaw is the best way to keep track of your ROM files, sample files, and to launch your games. No more searching through game listings for missing ROMs; Mamemaw will find out if you're missing any ROM's that your version of M.A.M.E. will support. Also, Mamemaw will automatically add newly supported ROMs to your list whenever new versions of M.A.M.E. are installed. =================================== OK SO HOW DO I INSTALL THIS THING ? =================================== Installing Mamemaw isn't hard; simply follow these steps and you should have Mamemaw installed in a few minutes. (NOTE : Replace the C:\EMU\MAME\ path with your M.A.M.E. path.) 1) Extract 'MMAWxx.ZIP' to any directory you choose (ie. C:\EMU\MAME\MAMEMAW) 2) Run Mmaw.exe That's it...you're ready to run Mamemaw !(Well,almost) Some other things to check : - Make sure that Unzip32.dll is also in your path. We suggest you copy this dll directly into your Mame Manager directory because there are many versions of this dll. If the wrong version is used, the program can hang. =========== QUICK START =========== Here's a quick start for people who never read through manuals. 1) Go to your Mamemaw directory and double-click on MMAW.EXE 2) A General Setup menu will pop up. Enter the MAME directory, the directory which will contain your ROMs (or the majority of your ROMs), a samples directory, a snapshot directory (where you want to keep snapshots of games if you choose to make them....see NOTE below) and a Univbe directory if you will be using the Univbe program. You may not have to fill in the ROMs, samples or snapshot directories if you intend to use the default directories which are selected by Mame Manager once you have entered the directory that contains MAME. NOTE: Because of some changes made in M.A.M.E. .31, you must select the directory \mame\roms for the ROM directory in environment BEFORE playing a game. If you are using ROMs from a CD or some other device, you must do so using the following method. a) In the environment window (Setup, Environment), select the directory where your ROMs are located and press the ROMs button so that Mame Manager looks for the ROMs in that location. b) Go back to the Enviroment window (Setup, Environment) and change the ROMs directory to the same device your M.A.M.E. is located such as \mame\roms For example, first choose E:\mame\roms and do the ROMs search. After the search, go back to the Environment Window and change the location of the ROMs directory to the default. In this instance, that default would be C:\software\emulator\mame\roms b/c mame.exe is located in C:\software\emulator\mame 3) Press the ROMs button followed by pressing the Samples button once the ROMs scan is complete. If you intend to view the instructions for any game, you should also press the Retrieve Instructions button. These buttons will be located at the bottom of the Main Mame Manager Window. (Mame Manager will automatically instruct you to do this). 4) Once step number 3 is completed, you may choose to set the commandline options. To do so, press the "Settings" button. To apply the new settings to all games, press the "apply to all" button located at the bottom of the settings menu. You're ready to use Mame Manager. Simply highlight the game you want to play in the "games supported" list and press enter or click the "play the game" button. Please note that if the "play the game" button is disabled when a certain ROM is highlighted, you either do not have that ROM or the ROM you have is in a different directory than you selected. If you have the ROM, highlight the name, click your right mouse button, and choose "select roms file". This will allow you to individually find a specific ROM not located in your regular ROMs directory you specified in step 2. =============================================== I DON'T WANT THE QUICKSTART! I WANT THE MANUAL! =============================================== Here you find the explanations of these sections: Main Mame Manager Window Settings Preview Setup Replays Halls Credits Info Box Games Supported Box Troubleshooting/Tips MAIN MAME MANAGER WINDOW This is the main menu of Mamemaw. It contains various control and options buttons, the list of ROMs you have, and information pertaining to the highlighted ROM. From here you can access all the sections of Mamemaw. It contains 8 buttons on top, a "games supported" area, and an information area regarding the highlighted ROM. What are the functions of the 8 top buttons? Settings - Settings takes you to the settings screen of the ROM which is highlighted. More info on the settings window is located below. Preview - Takes you to the pics snapshots window. More info on the preview snapshots window is located below. Help - Takes you to the instructions of the highlighted ROM. More info on the help window is located below. Cheats - Takes you to the cheats window. More info on the cheats window is located below. Setup - this takes you to the setup window. More info on the setup window is located below. Replays - this takes you to the replay window. More info on the replay options is located below. Halls - this takes you to the halls window. More info on the Hall window is located below. Credit - contains a listing of people who created and helped create Mame Manager as well as those who have contributed to the emulation scene. It also contains links to some of the most popular web sites (including the official M.A.M.E. page) THE SETTINGS WINDOW The settings window displays the settings of the currently highlighted game and allows you to change the settings of 1 or more games. The settings control the behavior of the game when it is launched setting options such as sound, resolution and input devices used. The five settings panels include: the display-settings (8), the sound settings (3), the resolution settings (6), the speed settings (8) and the control and debug settings (6). A setting is enabled if its corresponding box is checked. An explanation of what each setting does is presented in the "Quick help" box by clicking on the option in question. The "Quick help" box is located along the right side of the Settings Window. If you want to apply a certain setup of options (ie -noscanlines, and Soundblaster) to all your ROMs, check the -noscanlines option, select Soundblaster, and then press the "Apply to all" button located at the bottom of the Settings Window. If you want to apply settings to a group of several ROMs, highlight one of the ROMs in the group, change the settings, and press the "Apply to..." button located at the bottom. More info regarding the "Apply to..." button is located after the example. If you want a different setup for any single ROM, you can highlight that ROM and change the settings. The "Apply to..." Button is used to apply specific settings to a group of ROMs. If you are applying settings to only 1 ROM or to all ROMs, you will not need to use this feature. The "Apply to..." window features the list of ROMs you currently have, and a list of filtering options for quickly selecting a specific group of ROMs, such as games with no settings, or games added at a specific date. To list games with a specific string of characters (ie. Commando in order to apply settings to both U.S. and Japanese versions), simply enter the string of characters into the text box. To filter by insert date, enter the date using the form box to the right of "Games by insert date". If there is no pre-set filter for which your group of ROMs you which to apply similar settings to, you can use the "Tagged" window and simply highlight the ROMs you wish to apply the specific settings to. This is done by holding down the Control key and highlighting each ROM. It is similar to the tagging options used in Windows Explorer. Once you have selected the ROMs to tag, simply press the "apply the current settings". This will set the settings of the tagged games to the settings specified in the settings window. For example, almost all of my ROMs are set with the options "noscanlines" and "soundblaster". In order to do this, hit the Settings button on the Main Mame Manager Window, check the "noscanlines" box and select soundblaster in the Settings Window. Then hit the "Apply to all" button in the Settings Window. All of the ROMs now have "noscanlines" checked and "soundblaster" selected. But, the 10 Yard Fight ROM, needs to have a frameskip of 1. So, I go back to the "games supported" box in the Main Mame Manager Window and highlight 10 Yard Fight. I then go to the Settings Window, check "frameskip" and drag down "1" in the form next to "frameskip". On the other hand, there are several ROMs which need a frameskip of 1 including 10 Yard Fight, 10 Yard Fight (vs.), Exciting Hour and Mat Mania. To apply the setting to all such ROMs, I click on 10 Yard Fight in the Main Window. I press the Set button taking me to the Settings Window. I select the settings I want to define for this group of ROMs, in this case, Soundblaster, Joystick 4 button, and frameskip of 1. I then press the "apply to...." button which takes me to the "apply to..." window. I then hold down the control key and highlight 10 Yard Fight, Mat Mania, etc. Once I have highlighted the group of ROMs, I press the "apply the current settings button". I have now changed the settings for that group of ROMs. The Advanced Button (located on the bottom of the Settings Window) takes you to the Advanced Settings Window. There are 3 forms in this window: 1) Roms Zipfile currently attached - this corresponds to the zip file that the highlighted game is using ("the highlighted game" refers to the game highlighted in the "game supported" box of the Main Mame Manager Window). The "Release Roms Link" button removes the link between the highlighted game and the zip file. If you choose this option, you will no longer be able to play that game unless you choose the "Change Roms file". The "Change Roms file" allows you to select a different zip file to use as the ROM set of the highlighted game. An example will help clarify the use of these options. For example, you no longer want to play 10 Yard Fight. You can either delete the "yard.zip" file which will result in the possibility of accidentally attempting to load 10 Yard Fight and receive an error (b/c you have deleted the file) or you can press "Release Roms Link" and you will no longer have the option of starting the game through Mame Manager. If you then decided at a later date to play 10 Yard Fight, you can use "Change Roms file" and select the "yard.zip" file you have since re-acquired. Also, a newer MAME version may call for a different name for the ROM zip. You can use this option to link to the changed name ROM zip. Another use of "Change Roms file" is if you use a CD-R to store your ROMs. New MAME releases can result in different ROM sets being used. Since you cannot delete the ROM on the CD-R, you must put the new ROM in either a different directory than the rest of your ROMs or use a different name, such as "yard2.zip". You can select "Change Roms file", choose the new ROM on the CD-R. Because of this, you will not have to re-burn a new CD-R or create a sprawling directory containing multiple copies of the same files. Instead, you can simply add the new ROM. 2) Samples zipfile currently attached - If a ROM uses samples, pressing "check/select samples file" allows you to add the sample set if it were introduced after Mame Manager's initial sample search, change where a sample set is located for that particular ROM as well as check the samples. "Release Samples Link" allows you to remove the link from the highlighted ROM to the sample it was using. This is used in a similar manner as "release roms link" but may be more useful as MAME introduces sound emulation to existing ROMs. For example, Mario Bros. supported samples, but with sound emulation, Mario Bros. no longer requires sound samples. Thus, you no longer want Mame Manager loading up the sound samples to Mario Bros. when starting a game. By pressing "release samples link", Mame Manager will no longer load up the samples when Mario Bros. is started. 3) Set default configuration - The "remove file cfg" button will delete the .cfg file of the game that is highlighted and will reset the Dip-Switch settings of the game. This is useful because from one version of M.A.M.E. to another, many games will not work unless you have reset their Dip Switches. The "remove file hi" button will reset the High-score table of the currently highlighted game. NOTE: To record a session, highlight the game you wish to record, press the Settings button, and checkmark "record" in the speed frame of the Settings Window. Once you exit from the game, a file called "gamename.inp" will be created in the mame\INP directory. MMaw will take this file and will rename it using the same formula as it uses for preview snapshots, and place it in the \mame\replays directory. There is not a choice to specify the directory where replays are saved. The user can then view the replay by highlighting the ROM and pressing the Replays button. Alternatively, you can highlight the game and click the right mouse button and select the "Replays..." option. If the "Replays..." option is greyed out,there are no sessions recorded to replay. THE PREVIEW WINDOW The pics button will show the snapshots you have taken of the game which is highlighted in the "games supported" window. If you have not made any snapshots, a white screen with "no picture available" will appear in the snapshot box. Mamemaw will look for the snapshots in the directory that you have specified in the environment window (the environment button is located by pressing the setup button on the main MAME Manager window). You can also resize the preview window so that you can better view the snapshots that you have taken! Note that the snapshots are named using this formula: LEFT(MAMENAME,4) + RIGHT(MAMENAME,2) + XX + ".PCX" where XX stands for the number of the picture. For example, a valid snapshot for the M.A.M.E. game 'gngcross' is 'gngcss01.pcx'. In addition to the box, a label showing how many snapshots for that game are present and three new buttons appear: 'Previous' - the previous snapshot will be displayed. 'Next' - the next snapshot will be displayed. 'Delete' - the current snapshot will be deleted. Also a nice 'Slideshow option is present. THE HELP WINDOW The help window contains the instructions of the highlighted ROM and can be resized by the user. In order to view the instructions, you must first have retrieved the instructions. In order to do so, press the Setup button in the Main Mame Manager Window followed by clicking the "retrieve instructions" button located in the Setup Window. Such instructions are stored in the Mame subdirectory "docs" such as "C:\mame\docs". The help window contains the primary window which displays the instructions, a save button, and a create header button. The display window not only allows you to view the instructions for the highlighted ROM, but also allows you to edit the instructions and add any information you would like. To do this, simply enter what text you want to add, then hit the save button. If you click on help for a specific ROM, and you get the message, "Sorry! File 'C:\SOFTWARE\emulator\Mame\docs\romname.txt' not found!", the ROM does not contain instructions in the Mame readme.txt file. But, you can still create your own instructions or notes. To do so, click on the "create header button". This will create a header similar to the header used by ROMs that do have instructions in the Mame readme.txt file. Then simply type in the instructions or notes you wish to be displayed below the header. Once you are have entered all the text in you wish to display, click the save button. You now have instructions for the particular ROM. These instructions are stored in the Mame subdirectory "docs" such as "C:\mame\docs". THE CHEAT WINDOW Pressing the cheat button will take you to the cheat window. This window allows you to view current cheats, modify existing cheats, delete cheats, and create new cheats. To use this window, first highlight the particular ROM whose cheats you wish to examine in the games supported list area of the Main Mame Manager Window. Then press the Cheat button. Then press the corresponding button to select the action you intend. To create a new cheat, hit the new button. Enter a name for the cheat in the description box as well as the necessary information required by Mame for cheats (ie. CPU, Addr, etc.) When finished entering this information, press the save button. The cheat will then be available to Mame. THE SETUP WINDOW The setup window contains 3 primary buttons: Roms, Samples, and Environment 1) The Roms Button directs Mame Manager to search the directory where your ROMs are located in order to match up ROM titles' to ROM zip files. By doing so, Mame Manager will find out which ROMs you have and which ROMs you do not have. It will put the ROMs you do have and place them in the "games supported" window located on the main Mame Manager window. This will allow you easy access to play and change options on the ROMs you do have. 2) The Samples Button directs Mame Manager to search your Samples directory in order to match up a ROM's sample set to zipped samples you have. In order to properly use the ROM or Sample search button, you will need to select a search method. You can select the method by putting a check mark next to the method chosen. The method's include: Slow, Medium, Fast, Very Fast, Rescan All. If you tag the 'Very Fast' check, Mamemaw will search the ROMs set for the file that is named like the current M.A.M.E. game, but it only checks if this file is present. This means that the file could also contain a wrong ROM set! If you tag the 'Fast' check, Mamemaw will search the ROMs set for the file that is named like the current M.A.M.E. game. If you tag 'Medium', Mamemaw will search the ROM set for the files that begin with the first letter of the M.A.M.E. game. If you tag 'Slow', Mamemaw will search the ROMs set for all files present in the directory. You can select multiple methods. For example: Mamemaw is looking for the ROMs-set of 'amidar'. If the 'Fast' check is tagged, the first thing that Mamemaw does is to look for a file called 'amidar.zip'. If Mamemaw finds it, Mamemaw will scan it to see if the file contains the right ROM set. If it does, Mamemaw will scan the next M.A.M.E. game in the list. If it doesn't find it, and the 'Medium' check has the tag, Mamemaw will search all the .zip files in the directory that the name begin with 'a'. If it does, Mamemaw will scan the next M.A.M.E. game in the list. If it doesn't and the 'Slow' check is tagged, Mamemaw will search all the .zip files in the directory. If it does, Mamemaw will scan the next M.A.M.E. game in the list. If it doesn't, you don't have the right ROM set for that game, and Mamemaw will scan the next M.A.M.E. game in the list. 3) The Environment button takes you to the General Setup Window. It contains the following forms: Enter the M.A.M.E. directory' - shows the path where M.A.M.E. is located. This is where you tell Mame Manager where Mame.exe is located. Enter the ROMs directory' - shows the path where the ROMs .zip files are located. This is where you tell Mame Manager where your ROM zips are located. NOTE: Because of some changes made in M.A.M.E. .31, you must select the directory \mame\roms for the ROM directory in environment BEFORE playing a game. If you are using ROMs from a CD or some other device, you must do so using the following method. a) In the environment window (Setup, Environment), select the directory where your ROMs are located and press the ROMs button so that Mame Manager looks for the ROMs in that location. b) Go back to the Enviroment window (Setup, Environment) and change the ROMs directory to the same device your M.A.M.E. is located such as \mame\roms For example, first choose E:\mame\roms and do the ROMs search. After the search, go back to the Environment Window and change the location of the ROMs directory to the default. In this instance, that default would be C:\software\emulator\mame\roms b/c mame.exe is located in C:\software\emulator\mame Enter the Samples directory' - shows the path where the samples .zip files are located. This is where you tell Mame Manager where your samples are located. Enter the SNAPSHOTS directory - shows the path where snapshots are located. This is where you tell Mame Manager where your snapshots are located. Enter the UNIVBE directory (if any) - tells MAME Manager where to find the UNIVBE if you have it installed or use it in conjunction with MAME. For more information regarding UNIVBE, see the NOTES ON UNIVBE section. And for the old friends.... (button) - by pressing this button, you can import the information regarding the amount of time ROMs were played through the old version of MAME Manager. NOTE THAT YOU MUST COPY THE FILE MAME.DAT IN THE MAMEMAW DIRECTORY! 4) Retrieve Instructions button This button instructs Mame Manager to retrieve the available game instructions which are located in the "readme.txt" file that is packaged with the Mame zipfile. It should already be located in the same directory that "mame.exe" is. This button allows you to view game instructions by highlighting the ROM and pressing the help button in the Main Mame Manager Window. To use the instructions window which allows for adding your own notes and instructions as well as creating instructions for games not mentioned in MAME's "readme.txt" file, read the section concerning the Help Window. 5) Import Cheats From... button This button allows you to import Mame cheats from a "cheat.dat" file. Such a file is packaged in the zip file that included Mame. This file should already exist in the same directory as Mame is located. You will not need to use the import cheats button in order to use the Cheat area in Mame Manager. It's purpose is to import cheat data from a different set of cheats and place them in Mame's "cheat.dat" file. 6) Log File If you want Mame Manager to create a log file of what it does when searching for ROMs, Samples, and instructions, check the box next to Create Log File. If you do not want such a log file created, uncheck the box. The log file is titled mw.log by default but can be changed simply by entering another name into the text box. The log will be located in the same directory that Mame Manager is located. 7) Optimize Roms directory and Optimize Samples directory This is a nice feature that allows you to find out what files (stored in your Roms or Samples directory) are not needed by Mame Manager and Mame. If you click one of these two buttons, Mame Manager will put these files in a subdirectory of the Roms or the Samples called NOTNEED. Also this option performs another useful function. At the end of the operation every file that remains in the Roms or Samples directory will be renamed like the rawname of the game. This means that if the game amidar was linked to the file amidarus.zip, after the optimiztion the file amidarus.zip will become amidar.zip. This also works for the samples. THE REPLAY WINDOW The replay window allows you to view recording sessions of the highlighted ROM. To view a previously recorded session of a game, highlight the ROM in the "games supported" window and press the Reply button. This will bring up a listing of recordings available for that ROM. Select the session you wish to view and press "Replay It!" If you wish to delete the recording, highlight the recording session and press the "Delete" button. The close button closes the Replay Window. To record a session, highlight the game you wish to record, press the Settings button, and checkmark "record" in the speed frame of the Settings Window. Once you exit from the game, a file called "gamename.inp" will be created in the mame\INP directory. MMaw will take this file and will rename it using the same formula as it uses for preview snapshots, and place it in the \mame\replays directory. There is not a choice to specify the directory where replays are saved. The user can then view the replay by highlighting the ROM and pressing the Replays button. Alternatively, you can highlight the game and click the right mouse button and select the "Replays..." option. If the "Replays..." option is greyed out, there are no sessions recorded to replay. THE HALLS WINDOW The hall window contains listings of games with respect to the amount of time they have been played. This includes: The Hall of Fame is a top-ten list of the games played most frequently. The Hall of Shame is a top-ten list of the games played the least. The Global Hall is a complete list of all the games played and the amount of time spent playing them. You can control the listing order by using the Filter buttons. This will order them: By Playing Time By Rating (if you have rated the games) By Launched Times CREDITS In this section you will find the people behind the magic of 'Mame Manager Windows' :-) ! INFO BOX The info box is located in the lower part of the Main Mame Manager Window. It contains information regarding the highlighted ROM including the number of times it has been launched, the length of time it has been played, the date it was last played, the date the ROM was added to Mame Manager, if the game is one of your favorites, and the rating of the game. To make a ROM "one of your favorites", simply highlight the ROM in the "games supported box" and then click on the box next to "this game is one of my favorites". The advantage of doing so is that you can then click on the button titled "Show Favorites" in the "games supported" box and the ROMs you have selected as favorites will be listed together. To change the rating of a game, simply click in the box, enter your rating and hit the TAB key or click on another button. The comments regarding the rating cannot be changed. GAMES SUPPORTED BOX AND RUNNING ROMS WITH OLDER VERSIONS OF MAME The "games supported box" makes up most of the main Mame Manager Window. It contains a listing of the ROMs supported by MAME as well as buttons which set the order of the ROMs in the list. By pressing the corresponding buttons, you can order the ROMs by description, RAW name, the insert date, playing time, rating, or by what games were last played. If you have check marked games as favorites, you can also display only those favorites by clicking on the "favorites" button. Once clicked, the "favorites" button will turn into a "all games" button allowing you to show all the ROMs supported by MAME. If when clicking on a game in the list, the "play the game" button does not become active and remains untouchable (the letters remain gray), you do not have that ROM. If you have added the ROM or placed it in a different directory than most of your ROMs, highlight the ROM, click on the right-mouse button and choose "select Roms file". Alternatively, you can click on the "settings" button, then the "advanced" button located at the bottom of the Settings Window, followed by clicking on the "select roms file" located in the Advanced Settings Window. You can select many options for a ROM by simply clicking on the ROM with your right mouse button. This will give you the options of playing the game, removing the game from the favorites list, changing the settings, viewing snapshots, release the current ROM link, release the current samples link, change ROM file, check/select the current samples file, reset the dip-switches, and reset the hi-score of the selected game. You can also select which version of M.A.M.E. is used to run the ROM. After highlighting the particular ROM you wish to run with an older version of M.A.M.E., enter the version number of M.A.M.E. you want to use in the form box labeled "Use version." "LAST" indicates that the newest version of M.A.M.E. (located in the primary M.A.M.E. directory) will be used to run the ROM. By entering a number, Mame Manager will use that corresponding version of M.A.M.E. to run the ROM. To make it work , MMaw creates a directory under mame called "oldmame". To identify the versions of M.A.M.E., you have to put the old mame executables in the "oldmame" directory and label adding the corresponding version number to their file name such as "mame29.exe", "mame15.exe", etc. Mame Manager will also check if the selected version of mame can run the selected game. Also in the "games supported box" is a box to use Univbe (for more info on Univbe, see the NOTES ON UNIVBE section). To use Univbe, check mark the box. Remember, you must have already entered a Univbe directory. If you have not, you can do so by clicking on the SETUP button, then the "environment" button in SETUP, and entering the specified directory in the space located under "Enter the UNIVBE directory (if any). To play a game, simply highlight the game, and press ENTER or click the "Play the game" button. You can navigate through the list of ROMs by using the scroll bar or by holding down the left mouse button and holding the cursor at the bottom or top of the list box. Once you have clicked in the list, pressing any letter on the keyboard will take you to the beginning of that letters game listing. By pressing the Random Play button, Mame Manager will randomly select a title to run. NOTES ON UNIVBE Univbe is a useful utility that offers support for the Vesa 2.0 standard. The standard Vesa 2.0 is needed to launch the M.A.M.E. games with some settings. For example, if you try to launch a game with the setting 'vesa20' and you don't have the support for Vesa2.0 on your system, it will crash. So I have decided (under suggestion of Alessandro Taricco altar@mbox.vol.it) to give users the option of loading Univbe just before launching a M.A.M.E. game. To accomplish this, check mark the "Univbe on/off" box located in "games supported" box of the Main Mame Manager window. Make sure that you have selected the directory where Univbe is located by clicking on the "Setup" button of the Main Mame Manager Window, clicking the "environment" button of the Setup Window, and entering the location of Univbe in the "enter the Univbe directory (if any)" form. If you have not specified a location of Univbe.exe, the option to check mark the "Univbe on/off" box will be disabled. If the checkbox is tagged, Mamemaw will launch Univbe before starting M.A.M.E.; if not, Mamemaw does nothing. TROUBLESHOOTING/TIPS This sections contains questions you may have concerning Mame Manager. Q: Every time I try to start a game in Mame Manager, I get an error window with the title "Winoldap" containing the message "this program has performed an illegal operation and will be shutdown." What is wrong? A: Although a user is unlikely to receive such an error, it may be the result of a conflict between an old win 3.1 program and Mame Manager. For example, a user has a mouse control TSR-like program that sits in the win95 task bar. If the mouse control program is left on (it enables the middle mouse button) and the user attempts to load a game with Mame Manager, an error such as the one above is displayed, resulting in a system crash. The solution to this problem is to shut down any programs that may be causing this problem. This is a rare case and Mame Manager allows for multitasking with most programs. Q: Whenvever I attempt to start a game, Mame Manager hangs and the game never starts. How can I solve this problem? A: This is probably because you are using the wrong unzip32.dll file. Make sure to use the unzip32.dll file that came with Mame Manager. Also, make sure that Unzip32.dll is in your path. We suggest you copy this dll directly into your Mame Manager directory because there are many versions of this dll. If the wrong version is used, the program can hang. Q: I use ROMs in a location other than \mame\roms and after setting the ROM location to where my ROMs are stored, M.A.M.E. will not run those games and states that it cannot find the ROMs. How do I use ROMs if they are not located in the \mame\roms directory? A: Because of some changes made in M.A.M.E. .31, you must select the directory \mame\roms for the ROM directory in environment BEFORE playing a game. If you are using ROMs from a CD or some other device, you must do so using the following method. a) In the environment window (Setup, Environment), select the directory where your ROMs are located and press the ROMs button so that Mame Manager looks for the ROMs in that location. b) Go back to the Enviroment window (Setup, Environment) and change the ROMs directory to the same device your M.A.M.E. is located such as \mame\roms. For example, first choose E:\mame\roms and do the ROMs search. After the search, go back to the Environment Window and change the location of the ROMs directory to the default. In this instance, that default would be C:\software\emulator\mame\roms b/c mame.exe is located in C:\software\emulator\mame Q: Is there a more simple way to navigate Mame Manager such as accessing the setup menu or changing ROM links other than using the various menu buttons? A: Yes, there is. You can select many options for a ROM by simply clicking on the ROM with your right mouse button or highlighting a ROM and then clicking your right mouse button. This will give you the options of playing the game, removing the game from the favorites list, changing the settings, viewing snapshots, release the current ROM link, release the current samples link, change ROM file, check/select the current samples file, reset the dip-switches, and reset the hi-score of the selected game. Q: The "play the game" button in the "games supported" box on the Main Mame Manager Window is not highlighted for a certain ROM that I know I have. A: You may have the ROM located in a different directory than the majority of your ROMs (specified in the environment window). To look for the ROM and tell Mame Manager where to find it, simply click on the ROM with your right mouse button, choose "select ROMs file". You will be able to direct Mame Manager where that ROM is stored. Q: How do I use different versions of M.A.M.E. with a particular game. A: In the Games Supported Box of the main Mame Manager window, you will find a form box labeled "Use version." Choose the version of M.A.M.E. you want to use with the highlighted ROM by entering the version number of M.A.M.E. "LAST" indicates that the newest version of M.A.M.E. (located in the primary M.A.M.E. directory) will be used to run the ROM. By entering a number, Mame Manager will use that corresponding version of M.A.M.E. to run the ROM. To make it work , MMaw creates a directory under mame called "oldmame". To identify the versions of M.A.M.E., you have to put the old mame executables in the "oldmame" directory and label adding the corresponding version number to their file name such as "mame29.exe", "mame15.exe", etc. Mame Manager will also check if the selected version of mame can run the selected game. Q: Mame Manager doens't look nice!!! A: Do you have the font 'Tahoma' installed in your system? ======================== PEOPLE I'D LIKE TO THANK ======================== See the credit section in the program. =========== FINAL WORDS =========== Thanks for using 'MAMEMAW'.If you think you have some new ideas or improvements for Mamemaw feel free to send an email to : (p.nicoletti@radiostudio.it) For the latest news on Mamemaw check out You can find me also on ICQ. My number is 4939760. For technical support, feel free to send an email to either p.nicoletti@radiostudio.it m.schmitz@ndh.net (ICQ 8538609) chris431@execpc.com ===================== TECHNICAL INFORMATION ===================== MAMEMAW was written using C++ I have tested it well, but some bugs may still lurk here. Please report them to me immediately. The resolution needed is at least 800x600. Also I suggest that you have the Tahoma font installed. ======= HISTORY ======= 27/04/98 Release 3.0 - added support for Multiple Mame versions - added the support for the -record and -playback options - replaced pkunzip.exe with Unzip32.dll - added the full support for long filenames and long paths - the preview window can now be resized (Michael Schmitz) - the instruction window is resizable (Michael Schmitz) - Mame Manager remembers the position and the size of the windows (Michael Schmitz) - added the new settings accordingly to the mame ver 31 - rearranged location of option buttons 03/02/98 Release 2.0 - added a cheat window for manipulation of game cheats. - added the ability to view, edit, and create game instructions. - added the option of applying settings to a group of selected ROMs instead of changing settings for only 1 ROM or all ROMs. - added the ability of importing cheats from other sources into cheat.dat . - added a button to reveal ROMs that are not present. - added the ability to create a log file for each operation performed. - added the ability to optimize you roms and samples directory. - fixed random play button. - fixed bugs. 08/01/98 Release 1.0 - Updated for M.A.M.E. .30 - Re-written in C++ (meaning it will be faster than the previous version) - No longer requires shared dll files. - Easier to setup and use. - Nice to view! :-)