Beta Mame4All Beta

[jonlad1]

Ah yes, I was just about to ask if it was only some games which did this - this is useful information. I think what's happening is that MAME itself crashes when exiting from some games which prevents the menu from being loaded again (they are two separate executables which call each other).

Outrun does this for sure. Set 1 I believe I am using...

Is it possible to merge mame4all with the .106 version to increase compatibility in the future or is that simply not possible? That is simply a question as I have no idea.

Cheers

 

[cosam]

Is it possible to merge mame4all with the .106 version to increase compatibility in the future or is that simply not possible? That is simply a question as I have no idea.

It's something I've been thinking about. It would be cool to combine the best of both in some way. Applying the MAME4ALL optimisations to .106 (or whatever version) would be a lot of work, but backporting games from later versions to MAME4ALL is something that could be done gradually (and has been done before).

There are also a fair number of games which are in the MAME code but not included in the game list. Not sure why this is (incompatabilities, I guess) but it would be interesting to enable some of these and try them out.

 

[jonlad1]

I have tried the same games on mame4all and .106 and you have to bump it to 800mhz to get it full speed on .106 - The Simpsons and TMNT are examples.

Back porting sounds like the way to go, would be easier to keep track of what roms are compatible too.

Is it a lot of work back porting a later game?

Thats awesome if its possible, time is our greatest friend (or enemy, depending on which way you look at it )

 

[cosam]

Updated to beta 7... it's starting to look like a proper release:

• Fast/slow problem solved. A lot of games are much smoother now, even some which weren't as obviously affected as others.
• Auto frame-skip working. Follow the FPS with F11 (Fn+O).... I'm having a hard time getting it below 60 ;-)
• Sound stops when pausing.
• Graphical glitch in top-right corner of menu fixed.

The fast/slow and auto frame-skip problems were both due to one stupid *$#^@#*& of an error. For the coders among us, here's the timing patch in all its glory. It's amazing that it ran as well as it did without this!

@@ -341,7 +349,7 @@
 {
 	struct timeval tval;
 	gettimeofday(&tval, 0);
-	return (tval.tv_sec*1000000)+tval.tv_usec/pnd_ticks_per_second;
+	return ((tval.tv_sec*1000000)+tval.tv_usec)/pnd_ticks_per_second;
 }
 
 unsigned long pnd_timer_read_real(void)

 

[Jumpman]

Updated to beta 7... it's starting to look like a proper release:

• Fast/slow problem solved. A lot of games are much smoother now, even some which weren't as obviously affected as others.
• Auto frame-skip working. Follow the FPS with F11 (Fn+O).... I'm having a hard time getting it below 60 ;-)
• Sound stops when pausing.

The fast/slow and auto frame-skip problems were both due to one stupid *$#^@#*& of an error. For the coders among us, here's the timing patch in all its glory. It's amazing that it ran as well as it did without this!

@@ -341,7 +349,7 @@
 {
 	struct timeval tval;
 	gettimeofday(&tval, 0);
-	return (tval.tv_sec*1000000)+tval.tv_usec/pnd_ticks_per_second;
+	return ((tval.tv_sec*1000000)+tval.tv_usec)/pnd_ticks_per_second;
 }
 
 unsigned long pnd_timer_read_real(void)

Damn SteveM, are you trying to get another donation out of me?

If so, you certainaly deserve one. I havn't seen this kind of output from anyone in the community for a long time, you are my new hero. Please, can you find the time to help out on some other Pandora projects(SNES, GBA, CPS2, CPS3 if possible) ?

@Mame4All Users:Hey, if you like what's being done on this emu,Please send a donation to SteveM. He has stated in the past he isn't doing this for pay, but we can all show our support for what he has done, and hopefully what he will continue to do by giving him a little beer money. :lol:

Thank You!
Chris

 

[Jumpman]

Well, I've tested the new beta, and it's working great. Outside of the analog control(which may happen over time), the only improvement I can currently see is for a later version of Mame that runs newer games.

Otherwise this version is currently the shit! :lol:

Chris

 

[Mjlink]

SteveM,

You should be one of the first in line for some of that Dev Fund $ for things like this. Also, all those who have been working hard on the OS should get some of that too.

Thanks for this release, I will get my Green Beret on and play some Rush N Attack.

Peace & Pandora,

Link

Edit: You are that much of a Ninja Rockstar that I missed Beta 6 totally.

 

[jonlad1]

Wow, its an absolute pleasure to pause the game now!! No annoying tone

Another first class release

 

[DaveC]

Can you give some examples of games which end up too small? I tried a fair selection and it seemed to work better than before.

One game is Mappy, But that is 288px high. Still It would seem to me to be better if it was like before as if it crops too much you would just choose another scale mode. What have you tried that works better like this? I can try it too to see what you mean.

Also there is nothing I can set to get the clicking out of Q*bert (good test game). I set the audio clock high, low , played with the sample rate, nothing stopped the pop...pop...pop. The popping sometimes does get quieter while I am playing but it comes back now and then, it is weird. Some other games pop now and then but this one is real obvious and repeatable.

Thanks for the great fast work on this it is shaping up nicely.

 

[Mjlink]

Can you give some examples of games which end up too small? I tried a fair selection and it seemed to work better than before.

One game is Mappy, But that is 288px high. Still It would seem to me to be better if it was like before as if it crops too much you would just choose another scale mode. What have you tried that works better like this? I can try it too to see what you mean.

Also there is nothing I can set to get the clicking out of Q*bert (good test game). I set the audio clock high, low , played with the sample rate, nothing stopped the pop...pop...pop. The popping sometimes does get quieter while I am playing but it comes back now and then, it is weird. Some other games pop now and then but this one is real obvious and repeatable.

Thanks for the great fast work on this it is shaping up nicely.

I think I remember QBert uprights sounding horrible back in the day as well.

Peace & Pandora,

Link

 

[DaveC]

Can you give some examples of games which end up too small? I tried a fair selection and it seemed to work better than before.

One game is Mappy, But that is 288px high. Still It would seem to me to be better if it was like before as if it crops too much you would just choose another scale mode. What have you tried that works better like this? I can try it too to see what you mean.

Also there is nothing I can set to get the clicking out of Q*bert (good test game). I set the audio clock high, low , played with the sample rate, nothing stopped the pop...pop...pop. The popping sometimes does get quieter while I am playing but it comes back now and then, it is weird. Some other games pop now and then but this one is real obvious and repeatable.

Thanks for the great fast work on this it is shaping up nicely.

I think I remember QBert uprights sounding horrible back in the day as well.

Peace & Pandora,

Link

No this is an audio bug. Donkey Kong and Pac man have these pops and clicks too, this isn't normal. Almost all of these older games are doing it, they didn't do it on the gp2x.

 

[Mjlink]

^agree on the bug, just recalling a memory of a horrible sounding QBert and Gorf.

Peace & Pandora,

Link

 

[cosam]

Can you give some examples of games which end up too small? I tried a fair selection and it seemed to work better than before.

One game is Mappy, But that is 288px high. Still It would seem to me to be better if it was like before as if it crops too much you would just choose another scale mode. What have you tried that works better like this? I can try it too to see what you mean.

Ah yes, that's what I've missed. My default test for vertical games with Pandora horizontal was 1943, which has only 256 lines. I must've only tested Pac-Man (288 lines) in rotated mode, my main concern being that it would clip too much at the sides (which it no longer does, so there is improvement there). I think upping the cut-off to 20% clipping would probably be the best move. Pac-Man and Mappy should then still be scaled 2x with the Pandora horizontal and still fit nicely when rotated. If that's still not enough, I'll just revert to the old algorithm. The "Scale" mode will probably end up being the default anyway as it always gives the largest possible image without disturbing aspect ratio.

 

[jonlad1]

I actually just use stretch. I just want to use all the screens real estate

 

[cosam]

I actually just use stretch. I just want to use all the screens real estate

Yep, great thing is that you can of course set your own default. I reckon "Scale" is a good compromise for "default default" though ;-)

 

[jonlad1]

I'm loving this new release steve

Its just the little things that make everything awesome

Now if only Parodius wasnt so f*!@ing difficult!

 

[Mjlink]

I'm loving this new release steve

Its just the little things that make everything awesome

+1

 

[Loon]

Just gone from Beta4 to Beta7, huge improvement, must be really close to losing the Beta Tag.

This for me is the best thing about the Pandora, many thanks.

 

[Jumpman]

This for me is the best thing about the Pandora, many thanks.

+1

Chris

 

[EvilDragon]

Wow! Just tried it!
Almost everything I throw at it runs fullspeed! Liquid Kids, Bubble Bobble, Rampage, Rainbow Islands, Parodius... geeeez
I guess it's time I do a MAME dedicated video