Forget XXX-in-1, Give me MAME!!!!

[TOK]

Do you have a default map setup that would cover most of the games in addition to the mapping per game? Or do you just map per game?

He mentioned Mortal Kombat, and that is one of the few games I remember messing with where I had to try a few times to get it right. Its been a long time since I did it, but the way the buttons on that one are numbered are different from most fighting games. In addition to the 5 button layout, the kick/punch buttons were in weird spots with the defaults. I ended up doing what another poster mentioned, making the center button of both rows function as block.

I do a default controls for everything, then fix the oddball layout games individually.
For example, I set up Asteroids and Gravitar to be played with buttons only. You also have to individually map twin stick games like Robotron.

 

[2600]

I understand why he is doing MK. What I'm unsure of is whether he is doing a default map and then setting the oddball games like you, or is he doing every game by hand which it sounds like.

Having a default map takes care of most of the games and then you only need to set a few.

He mentioned Mortal Kombat, and that is one of the few games I remember messing with where I had to try a few times to get it right. Its been a long time since I did it, but the way the buttons on that one are numbered are different from most fighting games. In addition to the 5 button layout, the kick/punch buttons were in weird spots with the defaults. I ended up doing what another poster mentioned, making the center button of both rows function as block.

I do a default controls for everything, then fix the oddball layout games individually.
For example, I set up Asteroids and Gravitar to be played with buttons only. You also have to individually map twin stick games like Robotron.

 

[Paul Olson]

Oh, I'm pretty familiar with how to remap controls.

Here's the problem:

In the controls menu in MAME, you get to choose between 'P1 button1' and P1 button2, and 'P1 button3' etc etc

So while I KNOW how to remap the controls, sometimes it's tough to determine what P1 button1 actually DOES in the game itself. It requires that I map it, exit, test, and potentially remap. Sure the whole process only takes about 1-2 minutes, but that's an eternity when your buddy is waiting to play a game. Like I said, he's moved on to my dedicated machines.

Once I get a game mapped the way I want, I move it to my personal game list. That way I can leave a list on my front end knowing that it can just be run without issue. Now, when someone asks me if I have <insert game here> I say, "yes I do, but since I've never run it before it may take a few minutes to program the controls to my layout - you wanna wait?"

I just assumed that part, because you listed how they were configured in MAME already.

Most games will work fine with the default mapping, but there are definitely a few that need some configuration.

I think people expect MAME to do more than the original games. I have had friends over when I pull a game off of the truck. There is definitely more time spent setting up and tweaking the game than remapping controls. That is just expected when you bring a new game in. I would also expect games in MAME might need some tweaking to play just right the first time.

 

[jawhn]

... You also have to individually map twin stick games like Robotron.

I'm fairly competent at setting mame controls up, but for the life of me, cannot seem to set up a dual joystick game like Karate Champ or Crazy Climber to work to save my life... Any chance you could sent me your robotron.cfg file so I can see how you did it?

 

[Paul Olson]

I'm fairly competent at setting mame controls up, but for the life of me, cannot seem to set up a dual joystick game like Karate Champ or Crazy Climber to work to save my life... Any chance you could sent me your robotron.cfg file so I can see how you did it?

What exactly isn't working for you? All of the two joystick games are about the same in the Input(this game) menu. You can set the 4 directions for the right stick and the 4 directions for the left stick. For 2 player games like vs Karate Champ, you can also set both sticks for the second player.

 

[jehuie]

I'm fairly competent at setting mame controls up, but for the life of me, cannot seem to set up a dual joystick game like Karate Champ or Crazy Climber to work to save my life... Any chance you could sent me your robotron.cfg file so I can see how you did it?

As long as we are admitting what our failures, I can't get Ms. Pac or Galaga to start on my Mame machine. All the others work fine but with those two, it coins up but when I select start it just sits there waiting....well, at least they aren't like really popular games or anything.

 

[jawhn]

As long as we are admitting what our failures, I can't get Ms. Pac or Galaga to start on my Mame machine. All the others work fine but with those two, it coins up but when I select start it just sits there waiting....well, at least they aren't like really popular games or anything.

Yours is easy. Just make sure to set 1-P start and 2-P start to whatever buttons you use to start the game... When I get home, I'll find my galaga.cfg file and send that to ya.

pcolson: I did, but it just doesn't work, for some evil magical reason. Maybe the same thing jehuie's going through...? Let's all share some config files, shall we? I really want KC to work on my mamer, but it never has...

 

[Paul Olson]

I just upgraded my cab to Win7, so I don't have all of those set up yet. I might still have an old config saved somewhere, but I don't think it would help you much. It would have the gamepad inputs I assigned, which won't match what you have.


Have you tried other games, like Robotron or Smash TV? If so, did those work?

 

[nesjess]

I just did a short guide to setting up the VGA to CGA converter I just got to setup MAME in my SFII cab.

It's nothing too complicated, but I thought it was worth sharing to those who are interested in running MAME through a complete JAMMA game (Ex. SFII) without messing with the original wiring.

I love Hyperspin. It's sleek and runs great.

@Jehuie: Like Paul said, you just configure your joysticks in MAME in the "Input for this game" menu.

Right/Up
Right/Down
Right/Right
Right/Left
Left/Up
Left/Down
Left/Right
Left/Left

The direction on the left of the backslash is which joystick you're configuring, in this case, "Right/X" would be the 2P joystick and "Left/X" would be the 1P joystick. The direction on the right of the backslash refers to the actual control direction. Ex. "X/Right" moves your character right or shoots in the right direction.