Arcade emulators

[Paul]

Hi I'm trying to run Mame so I can play WonderBoy but I keep getting all this:ic116_89.bin NOT FOUND
ic109_90.bin NOT FOUND
ic096_91.bin NOT FOUND
epr-7498.120 NOT FOUND
epr-7497.62 NOT FOUND
epr-7496.61 NOT FOUND
epr-7495.64 NOT FOUND
epr-7494.63 NOT FOUND
epr-7493.66 NOT FOUND
epr-7492.65 NOT FOUND
ic117_85.bin NOT FOUND
ic004_87.bin NOT FOUND
ic110_86.bin NOT FOUND
ic005_88.bin NOT FOUND
pr-5317.76 NOT FOUND
Plus I get this message as well: "ERROR: required files are missing, the game cannot be run." What should I do to get it to work? I hope you can help me.

[FatTrucker]

Sounds like you either haven't downloaded the game rom or you've unzipped it. Mame doesn't come with any games pre-loaded.

You'll notice that in the mame folder, is another folder called 'roms'. Any games you download should be left zipped and placed inside that folder. If you have downloaded the correct game and version then when you click on it in the mame menu the game will load.

[Paul]

Thanks FatTrucker, your advice helped me to get the emulator and the game to work. Thanks to you my problem is solved. But I was just wondering, do I have to keep the game on full screen or is there a way to minimize the screen so I can record myself playing it and upload it on YouTube? I hope you have an answer to that.

[FatTrucker]

When you open Mame32 there is a toolbar at the top. If you open 'Options' then 'Default Game Options' then 'Display' (which should be the TAB its on anyway), just select the box to 'run in a window'.

You can use the various tabs on that screen to setup any other functions like joystick and mouse support, other visual effects etc, etc.

If you want to redefine your game controls you need to hit the TAB key when playing a game and use the controller config menu's in there. Input General will redefine the controls to work with all games, Input this game will change the controls just for the game you are playing.

Glad I could help.

[Paul]

I reduced the size of the screen FatTrucker but its still too big for me to record. Is there Anyway to make it smaller?

[FatTrucker]

Underneath the option for use in a window is another one that says 'Start out maximised' make sure you deselect that.

If its still too big, if you open your mame folder you will see a file called mameui.ini

If you open that file with notepad you'll see an entry in there for window width and window height, simply enter the size you want it to use 800x600 should be small enough then go to file, and save it.

Now when you run the game it will open in a smaller window.

[Paul]

Thanks FatTrucker but I actually did it by clicking on the screen and moving it and that made it smaller. But one more thing I went to the controls but it doesn't show how to attack, jump, or dash in the game or anything like that. Why is that?

[FatTrucker]

Because each game board is different.

They are running native arcade roms which just expect input like Player 1 button 1 for example, because while on Wonderboy, P1 B1 is Jump, on another game P1 B1 could be Fire. So in the controller config screen it just wants general input so you can set keys for Up, Down, Left and Right, Button 1, 2 and 3.

On one game they are Run, Jump and Fire, on another game they will be Fire, Bomb and Special.
To specify each individual control for every one of the 3000+ unique titles that Mame emulates would require a seperate config file to be coded for every game, and its not really that hard to work out 3 buttons.

[Paul]

There isn't a key on my keyboard that says P1 FatTrucker. Besides what does the P in P1 stand for and also there's no B1 key on my keyboard either and I don't know what the B in B1 stands for either. Plus you haven't told me what button makes my character fire and dash. I hope you can tell me the answers to this.

[FatTrucker]

The default keys for Mame are

Left Shift = Player 1 Button 1
Left Ctrl = Player 1 Button 2
Left Alt = Player 1 Button 3

Movement Keys are the up, down, left and right cursor keys.

Button 1, 2, and 3 will do different things dependent on the game. So for Wonderboy, button 1 might be jump or fire.
The keyboard keys you want to use for button 1, 2 and 3 are entirely up to you. You can use the default keys listed above (Left Shift, Left Ctrl and Left Alt) or you can use the TAB menu to assign them to different keys on your keyboard.

If you want to know which button does what in Wonderboy then boot the game and try them out to see which button performs which function.

Its not rocket science.