Mame Download with caveat

[geekdoc]

I have placed the code I have been playing with on
http://mame770.mysticserver.com/

IT IS NOT COMPLETE!!! but, you can play pacman.... read the README.

Thanks to Chainsaw76 (Jason), who donated the space.

--------------------README-----------------------
xmame.SDL is compiled from xmame-0.103
Makefile is the Makefile that I altered (it goes in mame-0.103/)
unix.mak is the Makefile that belongs in src/unix
xmamerc belongs in /Root/home/users/.xmame
default.cfg belongs in .xmame/cfg

The .xmame directory is created the first time you run xmame.SDL
Which you have to run from xterm

/directory where you placed xmame.SDL $ ./xmame.SDL romname

The roms are stored in /Root/home/users/MyDocs/.documents/.games/mame/roms


-------------------------------------------------------------
The escape key ( and also the full screen button) serve to end the game.
arrow keys correspond to directions
home key is button 1
zoom in is the start button
zoom out is the coin in button

--------------------------------------------------------
Now the bad news....
*A different verion of mame needs to be used. This one is huge and slow.
*The sound doesn't quite work right. (I think the sound type needs to be declared in the Makefile.)
*The home key works but the immediately reduces the mame window.... so that doesn't work.
- I am sure there is someway to shut off the default action... but I don't know what it is.

So, currently you can only play pacman, or other games that only use the joystick


If you know how to fix this or want to try anyway, look on
internettablettalk.com in the games forum.

-geekdoc

[AaronL]

Geekdoc,

Sorry, but there is no way to turn off the default action of the Home key without modifying one of the osso binaries that ships with the firmware, and you can't do that without having root access (besides needing to change the source code). So basically, the Home key isn't for application use. Perhaps you should use the the zoom in and zoom out buttons for buttons 1 and 2, respectively. The action button (in between the arrow buttons) could be used for both the start and coin buttons. The coin button would correspond to a short button press, and the start button would correspond to a long button press (i.e. the button is held down for longer). Alternatively, add a toolbar that can be enabled/disabled, and the toolbar would have buttons for start and coin. And, don't forget the fullscreen button, which you might want to use if your application is always in fullscreen mode. And there is also the menu button.

Aaron

[DaveC]

Great Job on the Mame port GeekDoc!!! It is a little beta (I think it there is a memory leak) but definitely playable on select games. ie. Ones that don't have a fire/jump/action button.

So far, I have gotten the following few games to work (with required roms listed and rough FPS):

Pacman or Puckman - pacman.zip, pucman.zip 16.6 fps
Pacman Plus - pacplus.zip 15.4 fps (probably needs the pacman roms listed above)
Ladybug - ladybug.zip 19.4 fps
Frogger - frogger.zip 11.1 fps
Super Q-Bert - sqbert.zip 13.5 fps

All are very playable and it is frankly amazing that XMame runs at all on such a little machine.

The sound is quite good (a little coarse but workable) on these games actually. I think some games or gaming hardware that uses more sophisticated sound circuitry could bog down the emulator on the 770. Having an option to select lower sound sampling frequencies or ditching sound altogether could help with framerates and memory problems/crashing.

One note, on some games the initial "You must own this machine to play this ROM" warning screen asks you push left/right on the joystick. The graphics have been rotated 90 degrees clockwise, so left/right in this case is down/up. Once the game as started, the joystick controls are rotated appropriately.

I think some games won't work as they're not expecting a portrait screen orientation, but a horizontal one and thus won't run in the current orientation. It'd be nice to be able to specify which orientation you'd like the emulation to run to try to get some of these games. Is the screen orientation set at compile time or is there a command line parameter to set this?

A very promising start as there are many old school games that didn't require anything for controls except a joystick. If we can get some button remapping to get the select, escape or menu buttons to become buttons 1 and 2 then we'll have alot more titles to play. Albeit we're kinda stuck with the awkward D-pad on the 770, it really wasn't designed with heavy gaming in mind. USB Gamepad support anyone? : )

Once again, great work

Dave

[rjungmann]

oh boy !

i'm so excited. i will take a look if i've got old source for mame.
(in fact it is .031) that perhaps will b suffisant.
i will post it here if so !

for the moment i will give this a try.

incredible !

i will not upload the thing because all sources are here :
http://www.mame.net/oldmame.html

if they are not available, i can put it somewhere. just ask.

(i've a wish : to be skilled to port mame to 770 but i'm not)

good luck guys. you're doing wonderfull job to me !

[geekdoc]

Okay, Beta 2 is out.... button 1 and button 2 work
But.... they don't work while the arrow key is pressed.... :P

You only need to download readme.txt, xmamerc, and default.cfg

new key mappings are ---
-------------------------------------------------------------
The escape key serve to end the game.
arrow keys correspond to directions
zoom in is button 1
zoom out is button 2
full-screen is the coin in button/start

--------------------------------------------------------


I am working on a faster xmame... but I am supposed to be studying for a license
exam so ... either don't expect it soon... or expect it later on tonight :)

ciao

-geekdoc

[geekdoc]

I was putzing around and managed to compile a version that literaly flies... the only
problem is that it doesn't play music.

Is anyone interested in this?
It is also much smaller (on the order of 10 Megabytes.)

.... side note... and I am going to post this in the developers section too.
I keep getting a can't open /dev/dsp error.
I generally use the SDL audio option... should I use a different one?

[Chainsaw76]

Does it play sound but no music? I'd be very interested.. No sound at all? but flies? Still sounds worth it.

-Jason

[geekdoc]

Your wish is my command....

http://mame770.mysticserver.com/fastMAME/


I compiled it with sound... but it doesn't work at all... no idea...
but seeing the difference I think you will agree that it is worth it.

You still can't use two keys at once... very very annoying... but you can go diagonally (which I did'nt think was mechanically possible on the nokia)


-geekdoc

[penguinbait]

Sound would be nice, but I was able to map the keys however I wanted. Using my BT keyboard and the tab key, I remapped the keyboard however I wanted. I was able to play joust, zaxxon. I have a bunch of roms I am copying over now to test out. You can also remap the 770 keys using the keyboard to tab and enter.

This is awesome, I still want an NES, SNES SEGA. But this is cool!!

Good work man!!

:)

[penguinbait]

I use the tab key to get into the key mapping. Then for button one hit enter. Then double tap on the screen. Now your stylus is the fire button.

[geekdoc]

GREAT!

ummm.... how in the world did you hit tab (or did you do it in scratchbox?)

Only thing left now is two keys at once and sound with speed!

Then my friends the world will belong to the 770 mwahhaahahahaa...

Hmmmm.... maybe I have been studying too much, and should take a nap.

-geekdoc

[geekdoc]

I just reread previous messages... never mind about tab key.....


It is time to take a nap....

[mlvj]

Hiya,

Have you done a MAME rebuild for 2006?

I'm considering getting a bluetooth gamepad to try out, and I need an excuse ;)

(or give me the source and instructions and I'll have a stab at building)

[mlvj]

@Tak - top man, well done and thank you for investing the time.

Did you try esd for sound? Is there even an option for that on MAME?

Is the build available for download and testing?

- I'd love to try it with the gamepad.

Have you tried Defender with sound? There's just enough buttons on the gamepad (4 way dpad, 4 "fire" buttons, 2 hard to press shoulder buttons) to assign one button to each function.

Is there by any chance a "show the screen sideways" option in MAME?

Thanks very much,

Martin

[mlvj]

I hope you do put it up for download at some point... I do have a bluetooth gamepad. There are two or three simple games that sometimes I really have an urge to play... pacman, defender, amidar...

Reason I suggest ESD as that seems to be mentioned a lot in maemo as the method. Don't quote me on that though.

[mlvj]

perhaps make a request to maemo garage? they host my csb stuff

[mlvj]

hiya I'm guessing its the new xmame!

I installed it and grabbed some roms from 0.101 I think.

It won't run unless I sudo gainroot, complains about permissions

$ xmame dkong
SDL: Info: SDL initialized
Error creating dir /home/user/.xmame/sta : Permission denied


defender wouldn't get past test screen.

dkong got to attract screen but fullscreen didn't insert coin.

Would it be possible to do the stuff to make appear in menu and task man? for how to check aug maemo dev archive, I asked same q and was told how by frantisek

Looking lovely so far, well done!!

[mlvj]

so close... bedtime for me else i'd try and figure the options. here's the output ;

$ sudo gainroot
Root shell enabled


BusyBox v1.01 (Debian 3:1.01-4.osso10) Built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

/home/user # xmame invaders
SDL: Info: SDL initialized
info: trying to parse: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
error: unknown option artwork_directory, on line 10 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option cheat_file, on line 11 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option hiscore_file, on line 12 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option history_file, on line 13 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option mameinfo_file, on line 14 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option inipath, on line 17 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option ctrlr_directory, on line 18 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option cfg_directory, on line 21 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option nvram_directory, on line 22 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option memcard_directory, on line 23 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option input_directory, on line 24 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option hiscore_directory, on line 25 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option state_directory, on line 26 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option snapshot_directory, on line 27 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option diff_directory, on line 28 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option skip_disclaimer, on line 35 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option skip_gameinfo, on line 36 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option bios, on line 37 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
info: trying to parse: /root/.xmame/xmamerc
info: trying to parse: /usr/lib/xmame/xmame-SDLrc
info: trying to parse: /root/.xmame/xmame-SDLrc
info: trying to parse: /usr/lib/xmame/rc/invadersrc
info: trying to parse: /root/.xmame/rc/invadersrc
Mouse/Trakball selected.
loading rom 0: invaders.h
loading rom 1: invaders.g
loading rom 2: invaders.f
loading rom 3: invaders.e
done
SDL: Info: Video mode set as 800 x 480, depth 16
Using 16bpp video mode
Game uses 32770 colors
SDL: sysdep_display_alloc_palette(32772);
error: /dev/dsp: No such file or directory
info: sysdep_dsp: using esound plugin
info: dsp: using timer based audio
error: /dev/mixer: No such file or directory
error: /dev/dsp: No such file or directory
info: sysdep_dsp: using esound plugin
info: dsp: using timer based audio
/home/user #

[mlvj]

excellent the chmod fixed it so that dkong runs. hey the sound is ok.

however it is running in landscape mode rather than portrait - and it is not zoomed; where are these settings?

also... I'm going to change keymaps to allow gamepad to work. hmm is tab mapped..

this is so good.

[mlvj]

my .101 rom defender still doesn't get past test screen but that must be the rom i guess.

[mlvj]

er... any tips on changing keymappings?

[mlvj]

thanks for those, they work well. I stuck them in the rc file.

so how does one change the keymaps ...

[mlvj]

looks like sdlmapkey would do it. anyone know what SDLK_TAB is?

[mlvj]

got it. here are my additions to xmamerc

ror
fullscreen 1
heightscale 2
widthscale 2
autodouble 1
sdlmapkey 0x0073,0x000f

the last one maps unix keyboard key_s to sdlk_tab. I had previously mapped the start button on the bluetooth gamepad to s.

so if you wanted you could map a hardware key to tab

fab!

[mlvj]

Excellent. I shall try that tonight - it'll be really useful for me, as every time I want to change game, I have to quit xmame, disconnect the bluetooth gamepad, and reconnect.

Hey rtype runs; very very slowly, but it runs.

Bluetooth gamepad works ok - much nicer than keypad, and of course it allows multiple keys to be pressed at once - but it's not the playstation controller, if you know what I mean.

Any plans to put up onto the maemo app catalogue? - when the directory permissions thing is fixed I guess...

[Buffi]

As far as I understood you need to install xmame as root but how can I do this? Is it sufficient to call "sudo gainroot" and to install xmame from Application Manager?

[mlvj]

hi buffi. I installed normally then did sudo gainroot and the chmod suggested by Tak and that was it! it is alpha, i.e. not finished, but works fine

[mlvj]

@tak requests on xmaeme!

any chance of remembering the last browsed directory?

hmm maybe... verify those playable... keep in cache.. getting a bit flash. works though, thanks !

[gristle]

Excuse my ignorace but do you have to unzip the roms first? I keep gettng an unable to load rom error.

Thanks in advance

[mlvj]

no don't need to unzip the roms.

[ghc]

I am actually having the same issue. I have the Xmame and Xmaeme UI installed, ROMS are loaded in the roms directory on my MMS card, and have tried 5 roms so far, all getting the 'Unable to load ROM' msg. I checked the zipped ROMs, and they all have odd files in there, so don't know if they are the 'right' files.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions - am very anxious to get this working!! Gotta love the 770!!

Thanks in advance for any assistance (btw, my 1st post - just got the unit yesterday! This forum has been a great resource so far...)

[ghc]

Thanks for the input - I actually found a Frogger rom that contained the files you listed, and I am still getting the Unable to Load Rom message. My ROMs are stored on my MMC card in a dir called 'roms', and I installed xmame and xmaeme via the .deb files using the App Manager.

Any other advice?

[ghc]

Thanks for the quick response - I d/l the newest version, and the drop-down does list all of the roms I have on my MMC card in a folder called 'roms' (which I thought was a good sign!). However, I selected each one of them (15 including the Frogger rom mentioned earlier) and I still get the unable to load error on every single one.

Is it possible for me to attach the Frogger version I am using and have you try it as well? Maybe I just have a set of bad roms - I have had these for a little while (used to have a MAME emu on my mac).

Again - I appreciate all of the help!

[tts]

I've downloaded the latest versions of both packages. I am getting the same "unable to load rom" error message that other people are getting. XMaeme 0.2 is detecting my roms, so that seems to be working. I am also able to run the roms just fine in xmame.SDL from an X Terminal. Is there any way to turn on logging in XMaeme to see why it is unable to load the roms?

[docgeek]

Cheers!

You guys rock!

this is formerly geekdoc.

One question, why do you have to run it as root?

[mlvj]

Hi docgeek, you don't have to run it as root; just that the first iteration you needed to install as root.

Tak released a later version that set the correct directory permissions so it's ok now.

[mlvj]

top man!

assuming FCE Ultra, aka NES emulator.

[joq100]

I keep geting this:

¨SDL: Info: SDL initialized
Error creating dir /home/user/.xmame/mem : Permission denied
Child: running xmame.SDL frogger -fullscreen -ror -scale 2 (null) (null)
SDL: Info: SDL initialized
Error creating dir /home/user/.xmame/mem : Permission denied
Child: running xmame.SDL frogger -fullscreen -ror -scale 2 (null) (null)¨

nono matter which rom I try. Looks like a permission issue, do I need root access?
thanks,
edit:
tried mkdir mem on .home/user/.xmame, and told I wasn't allowed, maybe if the .xmame went on MyDocs it would run.

[joq100]

Version 0.3 works now. Thanks, great job.

[insert_nick]

I am amazed, you there have succeded in making some mame roms work smoothly on the 770, I suppose it was not trivial at all! ;)

I just reread previous messages... never mind about tab key..... It is time to take a nap....

no, really: how can you hit the tab key, or otherwise: is there any way to change the keymappings for the games??? I can't find it.

And, I want to ask: is it impossible to implement "software buttons"? I mean, render the emulation screen apart from a little margin, say, on the right side of the display for a horizontal view. In that margin, there will be two or more buttons pictured, and pressing them with the stylus sends the corresponding keypressed code to the emulator (e.g xmame). Perhaps this could be possible by making the buttons with the gtk widgets, being the emulated display a continuosly updating canvas in the application window...

That would increase playability of much games, using the pad for directions and the stylus for buttons (or fingers, if we don't care for our display to be shiny clean ;)

Anyway great work, this had to be done ;)

[mlvj]

i got tab by remapping it in the conf file, search forum for details.

i use bt gamepad

[insert_nick]

i got tab by remapping it in the conf file, search forum for details.
Thanks, post found. BTw I can't find the xmamerc file in the 770 (which should be the xml file to modify, if I understand well), I hav a home/user/.mame directory, but it contains nothing but other four dirs. The cfg directory inside contains some .cfg files (with a "default.cfg" too), but they are not in plain text format so I suppose I should not touch them. Could you suggest where the xml file should be located?
i use bt gamepad
Yes, already seen: nice work! Anyway I'd like those software buttons, almost like someone has already suggested assigning the stylus tap to the button 1...

[mlvj]

the xmame 58, which is on what this is based, does not support xml config sadly.

the file i edited is this one; /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc

[insert_nick]

the file i edited is this one; /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
good, thanks. As suggested from you, I've added the following line at the end of the file:

sdlmapkey 0x0073,0x000f

so, which is the hardware key I have to press to simulate the tab button and change my keymap settings?

---
EDIT: I suppose there's something wrong in what I'm doing, as it seems that nothing has changed: I've tried all the buttons but no options menu popping up... (help?)
----

EDIT 2: Got my mistake: I believed the first code was for one of the hardware keys, I realize it is for the "s" key you mapped with your gamepad. Which are all the available strings I can write as a first parameter in order to use a hardware key?
----

EDIT 3: Will these be fine?

HILDON_HARDKEY_UP
HILDON_HARDKEY_LEFT
HILDON_HARDKEY_RIGHT
HILDON_HARDKEY_DOWN
HILDON_HARDKEY_SELECT
HILDON_HARDKEY_HOME
HILDON_HARDKEY_ESC
HILDON_HARDKEY_FULLSCREEN
HILDON_HARDKEY_INCREASE
HILDON_HARDKEY_DECREASE
HILDON_HARDKEY_MENU
---

EDIT 4: tried with the following line in xmamerc but nothing happens:

sdlmapkey HILDON_HARDKEY_INCREASE,0x000f

tried with the following too, no way again:

sdlmapkey GDK_HARDKEY_INCREASE,0x000f

any clues?

[insert_nick]

Notice: I've opened a topic (http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3390) to collect suggestions of playable games without external pad.

Suggestion: when the rotate screen checkbox is unchecked, the keymapping remains the same so the directions are "mind-scrambled". It would be nice to have a wiser xmaeme to automatically switch for another xmamerc configuration file when the rotation is activated/deactivated, of course with proper keys remapped. Or at least letting the user choose it manually from a dropdown list (just like the one made to browse for roms in the default roms dir) - I suppose a simple approach could be letting the chosen file overwrite the existing "xmamerc" in order to let xmame load and use it, but sure it can be done better without stressing the mmc card with those unnecessary overwrites (maybe xmame can be called with a parameter specifying the configuration file name?)

[mlvj]

Hiya, I did a search on the interweb which resulted in the keycodes for s etc.

Not sure what the keycodes are for actual hardware keys on the 770 though; I did keep a list of the websites I searched on the 770 - but I'm at work now with no 770!

It's all findable; it took me about 2 hours on a Thursday evening in front of the TV, eventually resulting in the right solution for my external gamepad, where I'd set the driver to map the "start" button on the gamepad to "s".

Further to what you are trying, it's probably correct (or at least on the correct track) - may I assume that you're putting the hex values in the xmamerc file instead of the literal text? If not, I'd suggest you try the hex values.

[insert_nick]

This has always annoyed me - I suppose I could set the default config to have one of the zoom in/out keys as "tab" ...
Definetely: this would open the way to let the user easily set his favourite settings. I don't know if they would be saved for each game, or as a global configuration though. Btw, use the zoom out (EDIT: mistake, it was supposed to be "zoom in") button for the TAB, as it is closer to the OFF button so it would not interfere while playing.
Further to what you are trying, it's probably correct (or at least on the correct track) - may I assume that you're putting the hex values in the xmamerc file instead of the literal text? If not, I'd suggest you try the hex values.
No, I'm writing exactly as I've written. You've used the hex value corresponding to the ASCII code of the "s" char, it's no problem; but what about 770's hardware keys? Are there any "conventional" ASCII codes used to address them?

[penguinbait]

Hey mlvj, I messaged you, any chance for that driver for bt gamepad?

Thanks,

pb

Hiya, I did a search on the interweb which resulted in the keycodes for s etc.

Not sure what the keycodes are for actual hardware keys on the 770 though; I did keep a list of the websites I searched on the 770 - but I'm at work now with no 770!

It's all findable; it took me about 2 hours on a Thursday evening in front of the TV, eventually resulting in the right solution for my external gamepad, where I'd set the driver to map the "start" button on the gamepad to "s".

Further to what you are trying, it's probably correct (or at least on the correct track) - may I assume that you're putting the hex values in the xmamerc file instead of the literal text? If not, I'd suggest you try the hex values.

[mlvj]

Hi pb,

I emailed it to the email address you pmd me... no dice?

[mlvj]

No, I'm writing exactly as I've written. You've used the hex value corresponding to the ASCII code of the "s" char, it's no problem; but what about 770's hardware keys? Are there any "conventional" ASCII codes used to address them?

The hardware keys are just keys like any other, high number F keys as I recall. So do your searches, and you should get an include file definition at some point with hex codes (that's what I did)

...and in the meantime maybe Tak will oblige with a default setting for tab to something!

I quite like playing scramble just before bed.

[penguinbait]

Thanks for sending it, I will try it out and let you know what happens.

I think it came in the mail at home today, so I can't wait to go try it.


Thanks again,

[mlvj]

forwarded!

[insert_nick]

The hardware keys are just keys like any other, high number F keys as I recall. So do your searches, and you should get an include file definition at some point with hex codes (that's what I did)

Thanks, but still I can't find them :(

[insert_nick]

This has always annoyed me - I suppose I could set the default config to have one of the zoom in/out keys as "tab" ...

Tak, what about this improvement?

Besides, have you considered my previous suggestion of rotating keypad mappings depending on the display rotation?

[mlvj]

insert_nick, I just did this:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=HILDON_HARDKEY_DECREASE&meta=

clicked on first link

I see #define HILDON_HARDKEY_UP GDK_Up

So do this
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=define+GDK_Up&meta=cr%3DcountryUK%7CcountryGB

And you see in the first link without even visiting it

#define GDK_Up 0xFF52

Also check out http://www.gvu.gatech.edu/ccg/people/marty/gtk/gdkkeysyms.h seems to have the 073 for s in it as well as a full list
I'd suggest trying that?
...so try that perhaps?

sdlmapkey 0xFF52,0x000f

[insert_nick]

Thanks for the detailed explanation of your path for finding the needed info, it can be very useful in other similar situations. Unfortunately, following the suggestion, I've tried with no luck:

sdlmapkey 0xFF52,0x000f

...which should map the TAB key to the zoom out button (-), and still with no luck:

sdlmapkey 0xFFC4,0x000f

...which should map the TAB key to the zoom in button (+).

Tak, I'll wait for your update on the xmame package with the TAB key mapped on the zoom in button (+). And don't forget the xmaeme update with the rotated keymaps on screen rotation ;)

[insert_nick]

Meaning that I'd just have to copy in new versions of the config file at launch time. For those people who have gamepads, custom settings, and the like, that would mean overwriting their settings.

I understand. Maybe an explicit checkbox in xmaeme to trigger this behaviour, with an alert that checking the box will backup the current eventual custom settings in a file and use "forever" the (alternating two) predefined settings according to rotation, could solve the issue. I don't know how hard it is, or if others agree, though, so I will ask for it no more. Just consider it please.

I will eventually get the tab button mapped.

Thanks! This is on top on the wishlist!

[insert_nick]

Yeeeh! Can't wait to try all of that! Damn I have to wait until Sunday...

TT! (Thanks Tak!)

[insert_nick]

Tested: GREAT! Now with the tab key mapped the rotation is no more a problem, and freedom of keymapping is wonderful. The possibility to map tapping is worth alone the upgrade, it's like having another free button, and much more comfortable!

I'd like to write two requests, but if Tak or anyone else wants not to take the pain of implementing them, I want to say it's just good as is: just consider them as suggestions please.

So here they are: it would be better to map the exit key (home) to the zoom-out button, or the on/off button if possible: it's a pity the home key cannot be used for playing, it's on the front side and comfortable, distant enough from the pad.
And the other suggestion: it would be nice in xmaeme an input field (along with the existing select field) where a game name can be directly written: if something is written, xmaeme uses that string to load the corresponding game, instead of the select-field's selection. And useful if its content is remembered on exit, too.

[insert_nick]

The home key can't be used for anything else, because it always drops to the desktop and isn't overridable (as far as I know).

Ok, thanks.

A future version of xmaeme will save the "browsed-to" games in the list, provided they still exist. Is there a specific instance where putting text into a freeform fields is quicker than browsing to a location? (If you put your rom in "roms" on the memory card (roms/nes or roms/gba for other systems), they will be preloaded into the list at startup.)

Yes I know that, that feature is very useful and I use it that way of course, thank you for it. But the direct input field would be a lot useful: scrolling a long list searching for the right name is somewhat ugly if you already remember the game name (or if you have a printed list of favourite and working games' long names with their corresponding mame names), so allowing to just type 8 chars into an input field would often save time and annoying stylus' scrolls.

[insert_nick]

New feature: Onscreen A and B buttons for fceu.

Cool! Is there any hope for this to be added in xmame too?

[insert_nick]

Hmm...unlikely. FCEU basically runs games at one guaranteed resolution, with one guaranteed orientation, so I know I have Z amount of screen space at position (X,Y) to place the buttons, and that they'll be usable if I place them there.

IMO it would be very difficult to find space to place them in a consistent and helpful manner with xmame.

Yes, that's right. Btw it's good as it is, now that the TAB has been mapped so the tap can be a button.


However, there is hope for a snes emulator if I can do something similar with zsnes or snes9x.

I think it will be unusably slow, if ever you'll succeed in porting. Btw I remember zsnes was really fast on my pentium 100, more than snes9x, Don't know which is faster now, though.

[insert_nick]

I've looked around for some alternative to FCEUltra, and maybe it's interesting this nes "portable" emulator: infoNES (http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconValley/5604/infones/).

They say:
InfoNES is an open-sourced NES emulator, that runs on Win32, x86/Linux, PS2/Linux, WinCE(H/PC, P/PC, P/PC2002, l'genda, BE-300, BE-500), GBA(GameBoy Advance), GP32(GamePark 32), Zaurus/Linux, N-Gage(Nokia s60), OSASK, Pekoe, and PlayStation2. If you plan to create a NES emulator for embedded devices (i.e. Palm, Nokia 7650, SmartPhone 2002, etc.), InfoNES is one of the best choices.

Tak, what about trying this one and see if it's better? (it seems you do have the skills, and there are already ports for other devices so it should not be harder than the fceultra port you've done)

[insert_nick]

I looked at infones a bit; the emulation doesn't seem nearly as good as FCEU's. Particularly now with accelerated 2x scaling, FCEU is very playable, and IMO it's worth having good support for a ton of games.
I see, thanks for having looked at it


BTW, new xmame release (0.58.1-6), with support for accelerated 2x scaling.
Hurray! Nice to see you're still active on the project. I hope some day to find the time for a web page advertising your n770 emu ports ;)

[Rocketman]

I have just tried the NES emulator component on my n800 and it doesn't appear to work very well. The sound is quite choppy and the onscreen A and B buttons don't appear to work at all in any of the games I have tried. The Save button produces a "State 0 Save Error"

[tprincipio]

I've got roms that work fine with mame 0.118 under Windows. Why don't these roms work with xmame 0.58 on my N800? I get lots of errors about missing files in the zip file. Where can I find roms that will work?

[ArnimS]

I've got roms that work fine with mame 0.118 under Windows. Why don't these roms work with xmame 0.58 on my N800? I get lots of errors about missing files in the zip file. Where can I find roms that will work?

Romsets can change with mame version. So not every rom set will work with every mame version. For some you can just rename files to the expected names and they will work, but figuring out which file maps to which name can be tricky.

[Yacob]

Romsets can change with mame version. So not every rom set will work with every mame version. For some you can just rename files to the expected names and they will work, but figuring out which file maps to which name can be tricky.

Interesting...

So even if you have a complete/stable version of MAME running on the 770/n800 you would still need to configure each Rom individually before they would work?.....

Sorry for butting in, but I have been looking around the web for any info on a MAME port for the nokia 770. Which lead me to these forums. I saw the progress geekdoc had made with it, but it seems he hasn't updated for a while..Dose anyone know if he or anyone else has made any further progress with it at all?..The only other info I found was a reference on some German site, which lead me back here. I did a full circle!...Thanks in advance for any info....

[ArnimS]

https://garage.maemo.org/projects/xmame/

[tablethelp]

Hi Guys, After fighting with XMAEME on the N800 for a few hours I started working the XMAME directly on the command-line. I don't think XMAEME works with arcade ROMs with the latest updates to the N800.

I was getting the same "Unable to load ROM" message that you've been seeing. Short answer: it's not the ROMs.

Hopefully this site will help some people: http://tabletwiki.blogspot.com/

Direct link to instructions: http://tabletwiki.blogspot.com/2007/10/use-n800-to-play-classic-arcade-games.html

If anyone has any corrections or updates to my notes, I'm more than happy to incorporate improvements to the text.

[tablethelp]

Every ROM I tried would not work via XMAEME: starcas, startrek, asteroid, frogger, etc

I first assumed it was a problem with the location of the ROM zip. Initially I tried with the "Browse" feature in XMAEME which I thought must be passing the full path to XMAME. Then I tried looking for the XMAME config file and putting the ROM zip in the default path. This caused the ROM to appear in the XMAEME pulldowns as "known" games but still resulted in "Unable to load ROM" for every ROM zip I tried.

However, when I launch XMAME from the command line, whether passing the option with the absolute path to the ROM zip or putting the ROM zip in the default path, every ROM I tried runs fine.

Is there a log file somewhere that I can post that will give you more precise information and help you pinpoint the problem?

[tablethelp]

Google "starcas rom" and download from the first link in search results. This works fine for me with XMAME on the command line but XMAEME says "Unable to load ROM"

[tablethelp]

Here is what I get when I launch xmaeme in xterm and then try to launch starcas. Please note, the initial error messages come up before I even try to launch the ROM:

BusyBox v1.4.1 (2007-03-12 19:00:25 EET) Built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

~ $ xmaeme
xmaeme[2188]: GLIB CRITICAL ** GLib-GObject - g_object_unref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
xmaeme[2188]: GLIB CRITICAL ** GLib-GObject - g_object_unref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
xmaeme[2188]: GLIB CRITICAL ** GLib-GObject - g_object_unref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
xmaeme[2188]: GLIB CRITICAL ** GLib-GObject - g_object_unref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
Error opening /media/mmc1/roms/mame/: No such file or directory
Error opening /media/mmc1/roms/: No such file or directory
Error opening /media/mmc2/roms/mame/: No such file or directory
Error opening /media/mmc2/roms/: No such file or directory
Error opening /home/user/MyDocs/.documents/.games/: No such file or directory
xmaeme[2188]: GLIB WARNING ** Gtk - gtksettings.c:826: an rc-data property "gtk-file-chooser-backend" already exists
SCANNING FOR VISIBILITY
SCANNING FOR VISIBILITY
xmaeme[2188]: GLIB CRITICAL ** Gtk - gtk_tree_model_filter_convert_child_iter_to_iter: assertion `path != NULL' failed
xmaeme[2188]: GLIB CRITICAL ** Gtk - gtk_tree_model_filter_get_path: assertion `GTK_TREE_MODEL_FILTER (model)->priv->stamp == iter->stamp' failed
xmaeme[2188]: GLIB CRITICAL ** Gtk - gtk_tree_view_expand_to_path: assertion `path != NULL' failed
xmaeme[2188]: GLIB CRITICAL ** Gtk - gtk_tree_view_set_cursor_on_cell: assertion `path != NULL' failedxmaeme[2188]: GLIB DEBUG ConIc - con_ic_connection_send_event(0xd41d0, AMDNET, WLAN_INFRA, 0)
SCANNING FOR VISIBILITY
SCANNING FOR VISIBILITY
xmaeme[2188]: GLIB CRITICAL ** Gtk - gtk_tree_model_filter_row_has_child_toggled: assertion `elt->visible' failed
xmaeme[2188]: GLIB CRITICAL ** Gtk - gtk_tree_model_filter_row_has_child_toggled: assertion `elt->visible' failed
Child: running xmame /home/user/MyDocs/.games/mame/roms/starcas -fullscreen -ror -scale 2 (null) (null)
SDL: Info: SDL initialized
info: trying to parse: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
error: unknown option artwork_directory, on line 10 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option cheat_file, on line 11 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option hiscore_file, on line 12 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option history_file, on line 13 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option mameinfo_file, on line 14 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option inipath, on line 17 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option ctrlr_directory, on line 18 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option cfg_directory, on line 21 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option nvram_directory, on line 22 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option memcard_directory, on line 23 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option input_directory, on line 24 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option hiscore_directory, on line 25 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option state_directory, on line 26 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option snapshot_directory, on line 27 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option diff_directory, on line 28 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option skip_disclaimer, on line 35 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option skip_gameinfo, on line 36 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
error: unknown option bios, on line 37 of file: /usr/lib/xmame/xmamerc
ignoring line
info: trying to parse: /home/user/.xmame/xmamerc
info: trying to parse: /usr/lib/xmame/xmame-SDLrc
info: trying to parse: /home/user/.xmame/xmame-SDLrc
info: trying to parse: /usr/lib/xmame/rc/starcasrc
info: trying to parse: /home/user/.xmame/rc/starcasrc
Mouse/Trakball selected.
loading rom 0: starcas3.t7
loading rom 1: starcas3.p7
loading rom 2: starcas3.u7
loading rom 3: starcas3.r7
done
SDL: Info: Video mode set as 800 x 480, depth 16
Using dirty_buffer strategy
Using 16bpp video mode
Game uses 3 colors
SDL: sysdep_display_alloc_palette(32768);
error: /dev/dsp: No such file or directory
info: sysdep_dsp: using esound plugin
info: dsp: using timer based audio
info: sysdep_mixer: using oss plugin
Fatal signal: Segmentation Fault (SDL Parachute Deployed)

Right after the segfault I xmaeme displays "unable to load ROM" message.

[tablethelp]

That gives a segfault as well.

After doing a little playing around with the command-line params it looks like the offending item is "-scale 2". fullscreen works. ror works. but not scale 2.

[tablethelp]

I think that's it. It looks like a LOT of roms are too big to be double-sized. I don't know what exit code xmame is returning but.. it would be very helpful if xmaeme could display something descriptive of the problem. Otherwise, I think a lot of people will just give up on xmaeme (and probably xmame in the bargain).

On a related point, xmaeme doesn't seem to be checking the xmamerc file for rom and sample paths. I've updated my own xmamerc so xmame knows where to find my roms and samples (not the original paths) but in xmaeme I still have to "browse" to find them.

[Anunakin]

I just compiled here xmame 0.106 for maemo 4 and this working... I m testing it now ...