Announcement

Collapse

Computer Lab Guidelines

Here in the computer lab, we talk about cool tech, the newest coolest gadgets, and tackle your toughest tech questions.

If you need to refresh yourself on the decorum, now would be a good time. Forum Rules: here
See more
See less

New project: MAME arcade machine

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • New project: MAME arcade machine

    I have this Raspberry Pi that I haven't really done much with and found out about the RetroPie project that you can install to basically make the thing into a universal emulator machine. I have also found the various old Arcade ROMs on Archive.org so I am assuming they are all public domain. The arcade emulator is called MAME - they have versions for PCs too.

    I think I am going to try it. I would love to build it into an arcade cabinet, but I have zero skills at woodworking. They do have various kits for sale but they are pretty expensive. So I will probably just have a mess on my desk instead :-)

    Has anyone else done something like this? I am finding out that it is pretty complicated. Different versions of MAME (or clones) need different versions of the ROMs. And the ROMs can be standalone (non-merged) or dependent on "parent" ROMs (like say US Pac-Man could be dependent on the Japanese version, so you would need both ROMs in order to get the US version to work)

    I thought I would start a thread if anyone wants to discuss it, have any hints for me, etc.


  • #2
    I haven't done anything with MAME, but I have tinkered with some emulators in the past. Depending on the machine/rom you are trying to play you might need a BIOS, and afaik those are illegal to distribute. Short of some freeware games most video games are not public domain. Which honestly sucks as most of the old arcade titles either have no owners, or their owners have no interest in using their IP's.

    Personally I'm wanting to emulate my PSP since the analog stick doesn't work right anymore, and based on some sources it isn't something a can of pressurized air can fix. Problem for me is finding a way to either rip the UMD discs to my PC, or finding ROMS of games I own. I don't know of any safe places for the latter since emuparadise stopped distributing stuff after Nintendo was going to bring a lawsuit against them, and CoolRom is supposedly infested with adware and viruses.

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by Cerebrum123 View Post
      I haven't done anything with MAME, but I have tinkered with some emulators in the past. Depending on the machine/rom you are trying to play you might need a BIOS, and afaik those are illegal to distribute. Short of some freeware games most video games are not public domain. Which honestly sucks as most of the old arcade titles either have no owners, or their owners have no interest in using their IP's.

      Personally I'm wanting to emulate my PSP since the analog stick doesn't work right anymore, and based on some sources it isn't something a can of pressurized air can fix. Problem for me is finding a way to either rip the UMD discs to my PC, or finding ROMS of games I own. I don't know of any safe places for the latter since emuparadise stopped distributing stuff after Nintendo was going to bring a lawsuit against them, and CoolRom is supposedly infested with adware and viruses.
      One of the reasons I decided to go with MAME is because apparently those ROMs are public domain now (archive.org is the "wayback machine" and is a legitimate organization that I don't think would host illegal ROMs) and they are pretty easy for modern CPUs to emulate.

      I do think the RetroPie can emulate the PSP. [looking...]

      Yep.

      https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie...ported-Systems

      Now I have no idea where to get the ROMs for that, but before I found the full mame romsets at archive.org I was trying to download each game from those various sites. I found out that if you avoid the big obvious "DOWNLOAD HERE" button there is usually a smaller "slower" or "alternate" link that you can use. The big download button will try to download an EXE file which of course will have malware and such in it. But the "slower/alternate" links are usually zip files which you can scan for viruses and don't contain any exe files, just the ROM and accompanying files. I didn't find any viruses or malware in the mame ROMs I downloaded. But those sites are really slow too. Like 4K/second slow. I think they are hosted on people's personal computers. There is one called Vimm's Lair that seems to have a lot of stuff, and none in exe files, but it is super slow. I didn't try any console roms because I don't own any originals.

      Also I read that the Raspberry Pi (I have the 3B) can't emulate the more modern consoles all that well, but that retropie can be installed on a PC running linux. And most of the emulators are available on windows too. I was just trying to find a good use for my Raspberry Pi and they are cheap ($35)

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by Sparko View Post
        One of the reasons I decided to go with MAME is because apparently those ROMs are public domain now (archive.org is the "wayback machine" and is a legitimate organization that I don't think would host illegal ROMs) and they are pretty easy for modern CPUs to emulate.

        I do think the RetroPie can emulate the PSP. [looking...]

        Yep.

        https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie...ported-Systems

        Now I have no idea where to get the ROMs for that, but before I found the full mame romsets at archive.org I was trying to download each game from those various sites. I found out that if you avoid the big obvious "DOWNLOAD HERE" button there is usually a smaller "slower" or "alternate" link that you can use. The big download button will try to download an EXE file which of course will have malware and such in it. But the "slower/alternate" links are usually zip files which you can scan for viruses and don't contain any exe files, just the ROM and accompanying files. I didn't find any viruses or malware in the mame ROMs I downloaded. But those sites are really slow too. Like 4K/second slow. I think they are hosted on people's personal computers. There is one called Vimm's Lair that seems to have a lot of stuff, and none in exe files, but it is super slow. I didn't try any console roms because I don't own any originals.

        Also I read that the Raspberry Pi (I have the 3B) can't emulate the more modern consoles all that well, but that retropie can be installed on a PC running linux. And most of the emulators are available on windows too. I was just trying to find a good use for my Raspberry Pi and they are cheap ($35)
        Archive.org has the PSP ISO files, so I will have to try downloading the games I own.

        Comment


        • #5
          Oh I just found this.

          -------

          Consoleclassix Features

          The Consoleclassix software includes:

          Windows XP, Vista, 7/8/10 Supported
          Atari, Nintendo, and Coleco Games Free
          Sega Genesis, SMS, Nintendo 64, GBA, GB Color, Gameboy, Sega Game Gear, TurboGrafx-16 Games for $5.99 A Month
          100% Legal, Works like any other rental service

          We are the only emulation service that is 100% legal! We operate as any other rental service and own copies of each game we allow our customers to play. Please give us a try today and enjoy our free collection of Atari, Nintendo, and Coleco games. You can play these as much as you like, forever. If you want more you can upgrade and check out our huge inventory of games!

          http://www.consoleclassix.com/


          And Archive.org actually has an online mame emulator where you can play all the various arcade game in your browser...
          https://archive.org/details/internetarcade

          Comment


          • #6
            You had me at raspberry pie!



            Securely anchored to the Rock amid every storm of trial, testing or tribulation.

            Comment


            • #7
              0000000000000000000000000r06p.png

              I'm always still in trouble again

              "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
              "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
              "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by mossrose View Post
                You had me at raspberry pie!

                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi
                A true pocket PC.
                ~ Russell ("MelMak")

                "[Sing] and [make] melody in your heart to the Lord." -- Ephesians 5:19b

                Fight spam!

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by The Melody Maker View Post
                  It's pretty neat. and the "hard drive" is a micro SD card. So you can have multiple setups, and just swap out the SD card. Like I currently have linux running on it, with a graphical interface and several programs. And when I do the retropie arcade I will just have it on a second SD card and swap it out.

                  and only $35.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by The Melody Maker View Post
                    Does it come with whipped cream?



                    Securely anchored to the Rock amid every storm of trial, testing or tribulation.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by mossrose View Post
                      Does it come with whipped cream?

                      That would probably cause a fire.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Sparko View Post
                        That would probably cause a fire.
                        An amazing yummy fire of raspberries and cream!






































                        Ok. I'll leave now.


                        Securely anchored to the Rock amid every storm of trial, testing or tribulation.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by mossrose View Post
                          An amazing yummy fire of raspberries and cream!







                          Ok. I'll leave now.

                          I'm always still in trouble again

                          "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
                          "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
                          "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Found some of the more important titles I wanted, but sadly not all. Go to Emuparadise.me for lots of emulator information. They stopped distributing ROMS, and BIOS files, but still have emulators, and discussions on how to use them. Retroarch is a popular "all in one" emulator, and should support MAME.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Cerebrum123 View Post
                              Found some of the more important titles I wanted, but sadly not all. Go to Emuparadise.me for lots of emulator information. They stopped distributing ROMS, and BIOS files, but still have emulators, and discussions on how to use them. Retroarch is a popular "all in one" emulator, and should support MAME.
                              Yeah I think the retropie build includes the core as the front end of some of their emulators, especially the mame ones.

                              I was looking on the archive.org site for PSP files, and they have a lot of games but most are just playable online, and you can't download the files. Which games are you looking for?

                              I did find a bunch of old Amiga files on Archive.org I used to own an Amiga 500, 1000, and 3000. My brother still has the 500 and a bunch of games but doesn't have the kickstart (or maybe it was the workbench?) discs any more so can't boot it up. I might send him a link to the amiga files and see if that helps him. But I can' find any way to actually transfer the images to an Amiga floppy from a PC. The PC can't write the correct format for the Amiga floppy to read. I wish I could find someone with a working Amiga to make a copy of the floppies. It's a catch-22 for my brother. He has the computer and the software but can't run it without the boot disks and he can't make the boot discs unless he has a working Amiga

                              Comment

                              Related Threads

                              Collapse

                              Topics Statistics Last Post
                              Started by Ronson, 03-20-2024, 07:20 PM
                              2 responses
                              28 views
                              0 likes
                              Last Post rogue06
                              by rogue06
                               
                              Started by Christian3, 03-15-2024, 10:15 AM
                              13 responses
                              64 views
                              0 likes
                              Last Post QuantaFille  
                              Working...
                              X