MAME

Emulator
Emulates:	Arcade
Download:	official MAME website
License:	Free (GNU v2)

MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator. It is probably the easiest emulator to get up and running with 2 players and has a VAST amount of games you can play.

It covers nearly every arcade game from yesteryear that you can imagine (literally thousands!) but not all work 100%.

Download

First you need to Download MAME from the official MAME website

ROMSet Version Info

MAME is updated monthly and with each update comes a new rom set to work with it.

People get confused by this but its actually very simple.

MAME emulator and rom versions have a number by the side for instance 0.202 this number increases by one every month with the new release so obviously the higher the number the newer it is.

You can check the latest version number and download it (or any of the older ones) directly from the MAME site.

The Emulator and Rom versions MUST match for everything to work correctly.

With this in mind it is usually best to acquire a rom set an then choose the corresponding version of MAME to run it. You can download individual rom files but this will cause you headaches when things don't work so it is not recommended.

Additional Downloads

Crosshair Pack

You can disable the default MAME crosshair by downloading the crosshair pack and extracting it to MAME's root path. The crosshair pack can be downloaded from Google Drive

If you want to enable the crosshair, just access the crosshair submenu in-game and change the crosshair from default to a different one, cross1 and cross2 are invisible.

Bezel Packs

MAME can use Bezel files from the MAME\Artwork folder, specific for each game:

• If your version of MAME is 0.225 or newer: Download the Sinden Bezel pack (v2.6) from Mediafire
• If your version of MAME is 0.224 or older: Download the Sinden Bezel (v2.6) from Mediafire

• Unzip the file for your MAME version in the Artwork Folder.

INI Files

Download ini files from Google Drive

Category Filter File

Download MAME Light gun category file here from Mediafire

• To use a category file to filter the game list, make a folder (if one does not exist) called "folders" in the root of your MAME directory and copy the lightgun.ini file into it. Then when in MAME click categories on the left and select the file.

Detailed Setup Guide

Installation

Once you have downloaded MAME you will get a self extracting file, Put this in a folder of your choosing where you would like it installed and run it, This will extract all of the files you need.

Configuration

ROM Files

• Move the rom files you have and put them inside the "roms" folder that has just been created by MAME.

• • They should be individual zipped files DO NOT extract them or rename them.

• Some games also require CHD's (listed bellow) CHD's also go in this folder, they should be placed inside a new folder within the roms folder with the same name as the rom.

E.g. the CHD for Maximum Force should be inside a folder named "maxforce" within the roms folder.

Configure Additional Files

Bezels

If you wish to use bezel packs you can extract those files to the "artwork" folder and follow the instructions that come with them.

Stable Controller ID's

Next you need to put a copy of "gunmouse.cfg" in the "ctrlr" folder that was created in your main MAME directory.

This file stops MAME resetting your gun controller ID every time you restart.

The gunmouse.cfg file can be found inside the Sinden Software package that you downloaded when you setup your gun.

• In detail explanation below [MAME Control Settings]

Create mame.ini

The next thing you need to do is create a ini file for MAME.

This is really easy to do, Simply load the MAME executable and then select "Configure Options" from the menu at the bottom.

Then press "Save Configuration" on the menu that pops up.

This will now create a new ini file in the main MAME directory called mame.ini .

Edit mame.ini

Now open up the mame.ini file in a text editor, find and adjust the following lines so they are as bellow:

#

# CORE INPUT OPTIONS

#

lightgun_device mouse

positional_device mouse

mouse_device mouse

ctrlr gunmouse

#

# CORE INPUT AUTOMATIC ENABLE OPTIONS

#

adstick_device mouse

mouse 1

lightgun 1

multimouse 1

offscreen_reload 0

So it should look like this:

Offscreen Reload

• You will note that offscreen reload has been disabled in this ini file. this is becasue most games will not play properly if you try to use offscreen reload (OSR) with this option enabled.

• However some games do need this option enabled so require a ini file to re-enable it just for that one game.

You can download a pack of ini's for all games that require them above or you can create your own if you wish by doing the following:

• Create a copy of your mame.ini file.

• Rename the file by right clicking it and pressing "rename", You need to name it the same as the rom name for the game you are playing.
  • e.g. if you are making it for the Maximum Force rom you will name it "maxforce".

• Next you need to open this file in the text editor and change the line for offscreen reload from 0 to 1.

• • e.g. offscreen_reload 1

MAME GUi Settings

• Now you can start making changes inside MAME so load up the MAME64.exe again.

Category File Setup

You may wish to use a category file to slim down the rom list. on the main MAME menu.

You can download the category file you need bellow called Lightgun.ini .

Then to use a category file to filter the game list, make a folder (if one does not exist) called "folders" in the root of your MAME directory and copy the lightgun.ini file into it.

Then when in MAME click categories on the left and select the file.

Now we have filtered the game list we will start to configure controls for the games.

Controls

• There are 2 ways to configure MAME
  • Global configuration
  • Machine configuration.

• The global config applies to ALL games that MAME can play.

• The Machine Configuration applies only to that individual game but will over ride the global configuration.

This is obviously very useful as we can setup most games with the global but for ones that need tweaking we can adjust it per game using the machine configuration.

Global Controls

So lets start with a Global configuration.

• To set these button adjustments first select "Configure Options" from the main MAME window.

• Next select "General Inputs" this will bring up a menu which allows us to choose the player controls we want to change so we will start with "Player 1"  This will then bring up a huge list of controller inputs which we can bind to our controllers.

• Now these can be bound easily by selecting which input you want to map then pressing the enter key on your keyboard, then pressing the button you wish to assign to it.

If you make a mistake binding the keys you can clear it by pressing enter again and then pressing the Escape key on your keyboard.

Lightgun Inputs

Now there are a few things we need to set in here to allow us to play the great arcade games in MAME.

These are:

• Lightgun X Analogue (For our lightgun to be able to position correctly)
• Lightgun Y Analogue (For our lightgun to be able to position correctly)
• AD stick X analogue (For our lightgun to be able to position correctly in positional games like Terminator 2)
• AD stick Y analogue (For our lightgun to be able to position correctly in positional games like Terminator 2)
• P1 Start
• P1 Button 1 (This is always the Trigger)
• P1 Button 2 (Varies by game)
• P1 Button 3 (Varies by game)

etc.

Gun X/Y Axis

• So firstly find "Lightgun X Analogue" in the list, it will be near the bottom.

• Now make sure your gun is plugged in and the software started.

• Bring up the border using "Alt+b" or use the back right button on the gun.

• Now the next part can be tricky as you have to press "Enter" to bind the input to the guns movements, But you idealy want to be 2x the screen size away from the screen with the gun pointing at the screen before you do so it may be worth getting someone to hit the Enter key for you if you dont have steady hands or a wireless keyboard!

• So with Lightgun X Analogue highlighted and the Gun pointed at the screen press "Enter" on the keyboard and SLOWLY move the gun Left to right keeping inside the border.

• • If you run out of space swing it back to the left.

• This should then show a binding of Gun then a Number then a X. e.g. Gun7X.

Its important to note the Number is set by the gunmouse file we copied earlier so it does not matter what number it shows as, the important part is it shows the X at the end and nothing else!

• Now we will bind Lightgun Y Analogue, To do this is exactly the same as binding the X analogue but instead of slowly moving left to right we move top to bottom.

• To bind the AD Stick X&Y you do the exact same process again.

Trigger Buttons

Now we will bind the Start button, You can bind this to any key you like but the default standard is to bind it to "1", Then for Player 2 you would have "2" etc.

So highlight P1 Start, Press "Enter" on the keyboard and then press the "1" key or whatever you are binding to it will then show the bound key next to it.

Next we will bind the trigger, To do this you again press "Enter" on P1 Button 1 then while you are aiming at the screen with the border up just pull the trigger of the gun.

Now it will display either "Gun7 B0" OR "Gun7 B1" OR "Gun7 B2".

(Again the number next to gun may be different).

IF you are using a MAME version previous to 0.245 It should show up and B0 (Left Click) for the trigger if it shows as B1 (right click) it means the gun sent a offscreen command so it detected it was not pointing inside the border.

IF you are using a version of MAME 0245 or later you should expect a B1 command for left click but a right click will show as B2.

You can also bind P1 buttons 3,4,5 etc if you wish, Not all games will use them though.

Machine Buttons

Now we just need to set a coin button so we can "coin up" in game.

To do so press "Escape" on the Keyboard and then navigate to "Other Controls".

Inside you will find Coin 1, Coin 2 etc.

You need to bind these the same way as before but the standard ones are "5" for P1 and "6" for P2.

Once this is done you can press "escape" to exit back to the Main home screen.

We are now ready to play some games!

Test Your Setup

Just to test I would suggest something simple like Point Blank.

So to load a game just select it in the list and hit "Enter".

Now the game should load up and if you press you coin button the start you should be able to have a quick blast!

In-Game Cofiguration

Next lets look at the in game menu. You can press the "Tab" key on the keyboard to bring up the in game menu.

In this menu you can do multiple things!

If you select "Input (General)" you can adjust the global config we have just set.

If you select "Input (This Machine)" you can adjust the key bindings for the currently playing game only.

If you select "Analogue Controls" you can adjust sensitivity and other settings for the positional gun games like Termintor 2.

If you select "Dip Switches" you can sometimes adjust settings depending on the game such as difficulty, attract modes etc.

If you select "Crosshair Options" you can turn the crosshairs on or off.

• Please note some games require individual setup changes such as Carnevil.

The changes required can be found [in the game list].

Quick Setup Guide

ROMSet Basics

You can download individual roms or entire rom packs. Whichever you choose make sure you download the correct roms for your version of MAME (It is updated monthly).

Every MAME release has a number for instance 0.226, so you require 0.226 roms, this is VERY important!

Trying to run a different version of romset will cause issues!

Standard settings

1. Launch a game in MAME
2. Press the TAB key
3. Enter the "Input (general)" option
4. Scroll to and assign Lightgun analogue X (Left to right) & Y (Up down) Buttons 1 (Trigger) Button 2 (Reload)
5. Also map start and coin buttons to save getting up
6. In Sinden App - Enable Off screen reload under configuration tab
7. Under button assignment Trigger onscreen set to Mouse left, Trigger offscreen set to Mouse Right & Gun correctly calibrated via the alignment tab
8. In MAME.ini (in the root of your MAME directory) - Check the following are set correctly....
9. Optional:- move the gunmouse.cfg from the Sinden Software MAME/ctrlr folder to your MAME/ctrlr folder to fix the Gun ID's in MAME

# CORE INPUT AUTOMATIC ENABLE OPTIONS
#

lightgun_device           mouse
positional_device         mouse
mouse_device              mouse

# CORE INPUT OPTIONS
#

ctrlr                     gunmouse (THIS IS OBTAINED FROM THE SINDEN SOFTWARE ARCHIVE AND NEEDS TO BE PUT IN THE CTRLR FOLDER IN MAME DIR)
mouse                     1
lightgun                  1
multimouse                1
offscreen_reload          0 (I found this interferes with the Sinden off screen reload option more on this later....)

Important Notes

• Versions previous to 0.178 could not fix the controller IDs
• Version 0.194 cause lightgun improper working...
• Time Crisis is broken in 0.202 and prior. Use a newer version.
• MAMEUI and MAME64 have been known to cause issues. Use regular MAME.
• Some games have glitched crosshairs in MAME several of the hunting games and some others have this issue. Turn them off for best results as they will show your aim several inches off center!!

• To prevent your gun registering as a different Guncode after a reboot take the "gunmouse.cfg" file from the SindenLightgunSoftwareReleaseV1.--\SindenLightgunWindowsSoftwareV1.--\MAMEConfig\ctrlr and move to your MAME emulator directory MAME/ctrlr folder
• Recent versions of MAME (~0.245) now set on-screen trigger (left mouse click) as B1 and off-screen trigger (right mouse click) as B2 instead of B0 and B1 respectively.

MAME control settings

Device IDs and the ctrlr file

It is best practice to assign your Sinden guns in a ctrlr file so that player 1 and player 2 don't get reassigned when you reboot your computer. The Sinden Lightgun installer comes with a gunmouse.cfg file already that can be used for reference. To get your personal gun IDs you can do the following:

• Open a command prompt and run a game w/ MAME using verbose mode only to quit the game, and read the output to get your personal IDs, ex: "MAME.exe -v term2" runs MAME in verbose mode with Terminator 2, but any game would work as we just need the device IDs.
• The IDs will look something similar what's shown below. You may have to unplug your guns (take a screenshot) and plug them in again to make sure you see what ID is which Lightgun.

Input: Adding mouse #0: HID-compliant mouse (device id: \?\HID#VID_16C0&PID_0F39&MI_02&Col02#a&1e8491ce&0&0001#{378de44c-56ef-11d1-bc8c-00a0c91405dd})
Input: Adding mouse #1: HID-compliant mouse (device id: \?\HID#VID_16C0&PID_0F01&MI_02&Col02#9&c31b5c8&0&0001#{378de44c-56ef-11d1-bc8c-00a0c91405dd})

• You can convert this long string into a shortened version In my example my guns personal ID can be shortened to "VID_16C0&PID_0F39". Notice the "amp;" this is required to escape the "&" in the ID.
• You can then then edit the gunmouse.cfg file to look something like this (with your own IDs of course)

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<mameconfig version="10">
    <system name="default">
        <input>
			<mapdevice device="VID_16C0&amp;PID_0F39" controller="GUNCODE_1" />
			<mapdevice device="VID_16C0&amp;PID_0F01" controller="GUNCODE_2" />
        </input>
    </system>
</mameconfig>

• Don't forgot to put the gunmouse.cfg file in your MAME's ctrlr directory and point your MAME.ini file to the gunmouse file in the "CORE INPUT OPTIONS" section.
• If you're MAME.ini is already using a custom ctrlr file, you can add still add your Sinden device ID's to your custom ctrlr file, below is just an example for reference (ignore the IPAC Utlimate IDs, those are my joystick controls for players 1-4). My 2 Sinden Lightguns are assigned below. This way I can continue to use my existing ctrlr file.

 1<?xml version="1.0"?>
 2<mameconfig version="10">
 3    <system name="default">
 4        <input>
 5			<mapdevice device="I-PAC Ultimate product_0410d209-0000-0000-0000-504944564944 instance_5c285a80-8f56-11eb-8009-444553540000" controller="JOYCODE_1" />
 6			<mapdevice device="I-PAC Ultimate product_0411d209-0000-0000-0000-504944564944 instance_5c2aa470-8f56-11eb-8013-444553540000" controller="JOYCODE_2" />
 7			<mapdevice device="I-PAC Ultimate product_0410d209-0000-0000-0000-504944564944 instance_5c285a80-8f56-11eb-800c-444553540000" controller="JOYCODE_3" />
 8			<mapdevice device="I-PAC Ultimate product_0411d209-0000-0000-0000-504944564944 instance_5c285a80-8f56-11eb-800f-444553540000" controller="JOYCODE_4" />
 9			<mapdevice device="VID_16C0&amp;PID_0F39" controller="GUNCODE_1" />
10			<mapdevice device="VID_16C0&amp;PID_0F01" controller="GUNCODE_2" />
11        </input>
12    </system>
13</mameconfig>

In Game Controls

In MAME, load a game, press TAB to open the settings and go to the Input (general) section.

Configure the input for P1 Button 1, P1 Button 2, Lightgun X Analog, Lightgun Y Analog for Player 1

Configure the input for P2 Button 1, P2 Button 2, Lightgun X 2 Analog, Lightgun Y 2 Analog for Player 2

The setting for the Sinden Guns will say something like "Gun 6 B0", "Gun 6 X" with a different number depending on the GUN ID.

Per Game Details

Standard Games

• Area 51, Area 51 & Maximum Force, Maximum Force (area51, area51mx, maxforce):
  • CHDs required in roms folder. I have lumped all these together as they are basically the same game but require a special ini file to play due to the off-screen reload.
  • Make a copy of the MAME.ini file and rename it to the rom name you wish to play e.g. area51mx then change offscreen_reload from 0 to 1. Save and exit leaving the file in the main MAME directory.

• Bang (bang): OK
• Beast Busters (bbusters): OK
• Big Buck Hunter Games: All of the following are working OK but require CHDs and Calibration.
  • Big Buck Hunter (BBH)
  • Big Buck Hunter Call Of The Wild (BBHCOTW)
  • Big Buck Hunter - Shooter's Challenge (BBHSC)
  • Big Buck Hunter II - Sportsman's Paradise (BBH2SP)

• Born to Fight (borntofi): OK

• Bubble Trouble Golly Ghosts 2 (bubbletr): OK

• Carnevil (carnevil):
  • CHD required in roms folder. Works ok but you need to calibrate the gun in the service menu (F2) before you play (one off) you will also need to calibrate gun 2 even if you are not using one (just press P2 B1).
  • Also make sure that "on screen pump" is enabled under adjustments (you can also set violence level etc). To reload shoot off screen OR button 2.
• Carnival King (carnking): OK
  • CHD required working well in MAME 0.234 Onwards, Needs a good spec machine to run without lagging and gun must be calibrated in Test Menu.

• Critter Crusher (critcrsh): Works fine but seems to have a constant error message on the screen which is a little anoying.
• Crypt Killer (cryptklr): OK - CHD required in roms folder.
• Deer Hunting USA (deerhunt): Gun requires calibration enter menu using 0 ignore the MAME cross hairs they seem to be glitched.
• Dragon Gun (dragngun): OK

• Exidy Games: All working
  • Catch-22 (catch22): OK
  • Cheyenne (cheyenne): OK
  • Chiller (chiller): OK
  • Clay Pigeon (claypign): OK
  • Combat (combat): OK
  • Crackshot (crackshot): OK
  • Crossbow (crossbow): OK
  • Hit n Miss (hitnmiss): OK
  • Who Dunit (whodunit): OK
• Desert Gun (desertgu): OK
• Egg Venture (eggventr): OK
• Ghost Hunter (ghoshunt): OK
• Ghoul Panic (ghlpanic): OK
• Golgo 13 (golgo13): OK slow to load, Calibrate guns via F2 test menu and use B2 to zoom in aim.
• Golgo 13 Kiseki no Dandou (g13knd): Calibrate guns via F2 test menu and use B2 to zoom in aim.
• Golly! Ghost! (gollygho): OK
• Great Gun (greatgun): OK
• Gun Buster (gunbustr): OK but requires the use of the D pad, Hard to control!
• Hammer (hammer): OK not actually a gun game but it plays well as one.
• Invasion (invasnab):
  • This game works BUT it requires its own ini file (see area 51) Also the off screen reload ONLY works if you shoot the right hand border so it is a little awkward to reload. (May reload with button 2 forgot to check...)
• Judge Dredd (jdredd): OK
  • BUT this games off screen reload conflicts with the sinden off screen reload. To play you need a ini file (See Area51) AND to disable the off screen reload in the sinden app.
• Laser Ghost (lghost): OK requires all 3 guns to be calibrated on first start (just press p2 and p3 B1)
• Lethal Enforcers 1 & 2 (lethalen & le2): OK but requires ini file (see area 51)
• Lethal Justice (lethalj): OK but requires ini file (see area 51)
• Line of Fire (loffire): OK requires you to calibrate all 3 guns (just press p2 and p3 B1)
• Lord of Gun (lordgun): OK but requires ini file (see area 51) also you can not seem to calibrate the gun properly in game so it is a little off playing without crosshairs.
• Mechanized Attack (mechatt): OK
• Mobile Suit Gundam Final Shooting (gdfs): OK but requires both guns calibrating via the dip switches, after cal turn off dip switch.
• NY Captor (nycaptor): OK
• Nintendo VS games: All OK
  • Duck Hunt (duckhunt)
  • Freedom Force (vsfdf)
  • Gumshoe (vsgshoe)
  • Hogan's Alley (hogalley)
• One Shot One Kill (oneshot): OK
• Operation Wolf (opwolf): OK
• Operation Wolf 3 (opwolf3): OK but both the guns need to be calibrated on first start up, re calibrate with F2 if required. You may also need to rotate the screen via the video options in tab menu.
  • Aim is improved using RetroArch with Arcade FinalBurn Neo Core
• Point Blank 1 & 2 (ptblank & ptblank2): OK
• Police Trainer (policetr): OK. Calibrate in the Service Menu if necessary.
• Rail Chase (rchase): OK
• Rapid Fire (rapidfir): OK
• Steel Gunner 1 & 2 (sgunner & sgunner2): OK
• Sharpshooter (sshooter): OK
• Shooting Master (shtngmste): OK
• Target Hits (targeth): Works but has issues on my screen, Guns require calibration via F2 menu however its not real calibration rather move up, down, left, right and mine runs out of adjustment.
• Tickee Tickats (tickee): OK
• Time Crisis (timecris): Works fine but may not run well on some machines (its a demanding game!)
• Trophy Hunting USA (trophyh): OK
• Turkey Hunting USA (turkhunt): OK - Guns require calibrating via F2 menu.
• Tuts Tomb (tutstomb): OK
• Under Fire (undrfire): OK but requires ini file (see area 51)
• Wing Shooting Championship (wschamp): OK - Calibrate guns with F2 menu
• Zero Point (zeropnt): OK
• Zero Point 2 (zeropnt2): OK but requires ini file (see area 51)
• Zombie Raid (zombraid): OK

Positional Gun Games

All of these are positional gun games but can be played with a lightgun. All games have to have ADSTICK X&Y set in MAME "machine settings"

• Aliens 3 (alien3): OK
• Jurassic Park (jpark): Aim is off in MAME. Use RetroArch with Arcade FinalBurn Neo Core.
• Operation Thunderbolt (othunder): OK
• Revolution X (revx): OK but you need to calibrate all 3 guns.
• Space Gun (spacegun): OK
• T2 (term2): OK but requires calibration via F2 menu.

Non-playable Games

This is a list of games that do not work or require additional controls to play like spinners etc, Also duplicates or bootlegs:

• Bronx
• Evil Night
• Gun Bullet
• Lucky & Wild - Works but requires a steering wheel also.
• Night Stocker
• Road Runner
• Triple Hunt
• Wild Gunman
• Shooting Gallery
• Wild Pilot