Best Versions of Mame

[GTRetro87]

Hey all!

 

I'm wondering if anybody has some good insight in this. I've already done the best that I could as far as searching elsewhere.

 

What is the best version/s of Mame that anybody has tried, as far as games being (or almost being) arcade perfect when it comes to games made before 1998? I'm not worried about NeoGeo games as they're all pretty well emulated.

 

I'm talking about Classics like Mortal Kombat, Xmen, Simpsons and prior to those. Possibly some CPS2/CPS1 games as well, and of course the old Williams games like Robotron, or Nintendo's Donkey Kong - etc etc. You get my point of classics right? Right lol

 

 

Right now I have one of the latest versions of MameUIFX loaded into Hyperspin - Version 171 I believe. It works, I do notice some little things here and there and I do know that some games (music wise, like Mortal Kombats) are off a bit (or quite a bit).

 

 

I've read that Mame romsets .139, .149, .155 are pretty good as far as being almost arcade perfect. I've also read that later versions of Mame are not optimized, and that they're just to be able to play on newer hardware; although the games themselves are not optimized and will not play as good as earlier versions of Mame romsets

 

 

Anybody have any input on this? Any suggestions? 

[rastan]

I'm using 171 and think I'll be staying here for a while.

 

 

Other than the technical stuff (which in my opinion doesn't really count) the best version of mame is whatever version goes with your ROM SET. the current version should be the best version but I choose to use 171 because I had problems with 172.

 

MAME is MAME in my opinion.... 

[Metalzoic]

I'm with Rastan. MAME is MAME to me so long as it's up to date and has all the shader ability. Doesn't look like 173 adds enough new so I probably won't update again until 174. I've never gotten into the specialty or niche MAME versions, but some here do. I've seen mention of a version that most closely emulates certain games. Personally of what I've tried I much prefer MAMEUIFX, but not the standard one, but the builds others make with no-nag.

Those version you mentioned I personally would never use just because they're to old to have any HLSL or GLSL shading ability.

[GTRetro87]

Mame version to romset I know all about; Clrmamepro etc etc etc

 

Mame IS Mame technically, however optimized is something different. 171 is pretty good, but there are some nuances I've noticed.

 

For instance, say Mortal Kombat 1 (version 5.0 T-unit) -- I, for some odd reason, cannot pull off subzero's most basic freeze move (Down, Forward, Low Punch). It just doesn't work at all.. Same thing in mortal kombat 2, 3 and Ultimate MK 3 -- However in MK 3 and UMK 3, I CAN pull off Subzero's ice shower (Down, Forward, High Punch)

 

This blows my mind - it's definitely an issue either with MameUIFX or the rom itself. Unless there's something in the BIOS setting or MameUIFX settings that I missed.. but I doubt it

 

 

I noticed some classic games have music issues - latency sometimes. I've dropped the quality rate (14400 or whatever it is). I've done what I could in the settings but still I feel it's a romset issue

[GTRetro87]

That is true that the newer versions have HLSL or GLSL shading ability and the old do not. Not sure if I need it. 

 

 

I know I'm nit picky about things, but arcade perfect is arcade perfect and it's too bad Mame will never always be in that category consistently with all games :\

 

However, say I do build another (and actual) budget PC that's meant for old versions of Mame like 149/155 and meant to run in a CRT - THEN for sure, I'd need something that's as close to arcade perfect as possible. 

[Metalzoic]

There was a post on here a few months ago about how to fix sound latency if you have it. If I remember right it had to do with certain PC's and some settings you could change to fix it.

I think there was a Youtube video that covered it too.

[GTRetro87]

  On 4/27/2016 at 2:42 PM, Metalzoic said:

There was a post on here a few months ago about how to fix sound latency if you have it. If I remember right it had to do with certain PC's and some settings you could change to fix it.

I think there was a Youtube video that covered it too.

Hmm I'm going to check that out - could be very helpful!

[Metalzoic]

Think I found it for you. Should be in one of these links. The guy that posted it acts like a complete tool, but his info may help you out.

http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/topic/14151-mame-settings-guide/?hl=bulbousbeard#entry198119

http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/topic/14508-asio-mame-guide/page-1?hl=+bulbousbeard +latency

http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/topic/14358-mame-question/?hl=bulbousbeard#entry199718

[Metalzoic]

Ah. Also forgot to mention that for game sound there is a download called MAME Extras (usually matched to each release) and in that download is a sound Samples folder which will give you many missing sound files from the roms.

For example without it Zaxxon has no sound, but with it it's fixed (or close at any rate).

[GTRetro87]

  On 4/27/2016 at 2:47 PM, Metalzoic said:

Think I found it for you. Should be in one of these links. The guy that posted it acts like a complete tool, but his info may help you out.

http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/topic/14151-mame-settings-guide/?hl=bulbousbeard#entry198119

http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/topic/14508-asio-mame-guide/page-1?hl=+bulbousbeard +latency

http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/topic/14358-mame-question/?hl=bulbousbeard#entry199718

 

 

Thank you! I'll toy with this in the meantime. Hopefully the issues I've noticed with my current romset is just the roms themselves, and not the version (I hope)