Running MAME on Android

ulaoulao

Controller Man
Staff member
Mame runs what it can run, it is all CPU. So chances are you wont get hi end games to run. Maybe some day something like zinc will be available on android.
 
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Hectic

New member
That version of Mame4droid runs a very specific MAME romset (0.37b5). You're basically limited to sprite-based games unfortunately. There's another version (indicated by the red logo) which runs 0.139u1, which will run polygons, albeit extremely slowly. Both versions are available on the Google Play store. I prefer the version that supports 0.139, personally.

As Model 3 games, neither Lost World or Star Wars Trilogy are currently supported in MAME in Windows, let alone on Android; though that's not to say it won't be supported in the future.

If you're looking for an emulator that's native to Windows for these specific games, you should Google 'Supermodel', by Bart Trzynadlowski. It's Command line only, but there are a plethora of front ends available. Also, you should hunt down one of the svn builds (270 is I believe the latest version). This will give you some enhanced features not found in the latest official build (v0.2).
 
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zabrak

New member
That version of Mame4droid runs a very specific MAME romset (0.37b5). You're basically limited to sprite-based games unfortunately. There's another version (indicated by the red logo) which runs 0.139u1, which will run polygons, albeit extremely slowly. Both versions are available on the Google Play store. I prefer the version that supports 0.139, personally.

As Model 3 games, neither Lost World or Star Wars Trilogy are currently supported in MAME in Windows, let alone on Android; though that's not to say it won't be supported in the future.

If you're looking for an emulator that's native to Windows for these specific games, you should Google 'Supermodel', by Bart Trzynadlowski. It's Command line only, but there are a plethora of front ends available. Also, you should hunt down one of the svn builds (270 is I believe the latest version). This will give you some enhanced features not found in the latest official build (v0.2).


Hmm I see, interesting.

In regards to 0.139u1, do you think a Note 3 would be able to decently run polygon games?


A the specs are laid out on its wiki page. I'd link it, but it won't allow me as I'm a new user still
 

Hectic

New member
Difficult to say. I have a Nexus 7 (old model). I tried Ridge Racer on it and although it loaded, one wouldn't call it anywhere near playable. That's down to two things:

1. The Nexus 7 doesn't have enough horsepower to run it at an acceptable speed.
2. Iteration 0.139 doesn't reflect the development undertaken by Hap (a MameDev) on the System 22 driver in the last two years or so.

I'd be surprised if any but the most basic polygon games worked to be honest. But there's no harm in trying them out. That's not a reflection on your device though. More, a limitation of the version of Mame.
 
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zabrak

New member
Difficult to say. I have a Nexus 7 (old model). I tried Ridge Racer on it and although it loaded, one wouldn't call it anywhere near playable. That's down to two things:

1. The Nexus 7 doesn't have enough horsepower to run it at an acceptable speed.
2. Iteration 0.139 doesn't reflect the development undertaken by Hap (a MameDev) on the System 22 driver in the last two years or so.

I'd be surprised if any but the most basic polygon games worked to be honest. But there's no harm in trying them out. That's not a reflection on your device though. More, a limitation of the version of Mame.


Ah I see, interesting.

yeah, I'll try some MAME 0.139 roms and will see how well they'll run on it

in the meanwhile...

Would it be possibly if I were to download this:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.motioncoding.emulator

Which is a Windows emulator

then install the Supermodel emu on that Windows emulator, and then play model 3 games on my Android, via that?
 

Hectic

New member
I like your thinking, but no, running Windows in a virtual environment (and running Supermodel in that) would not work. The system requirements would exceed what any tablet could do currently.
 
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