Howto, Gaming: MAME and xmame (Post your working games !)

[c.falco]

No, an edgy package won't work for dapper, as dependencies won't be satisfied.

You can download updated i386 binary packages for dapper, edgy and feisty from
http://wallyweek.altervista.org.

Please note you have to download the right .deb file for your ubuntu release,
and manually install it from console with
sudo dpkg --install <path_to_package-name-and_version>.deb.

I'm sorry, I'm still in the process of setting up a repository, which will be heasier to
use with apt-get or Synaptic. It's taking much time as I expected.

Cheers,
Cesare.

[bokorpop]

I just installed gxmame on feisty and am ready to play but where do I put the roms??


I am new to Linux/Ubuntu btw and have been maming on windows for a while. I don't really know "where" programs are installed in linux and dont know how to locate the rom folder.

[DoktorSeven]

There is a tab in gxmame's preferences that allows you to point to where you put the ROMs. There should be a button to let you browse for the directory, then after you find it, you add that directory to the list underneath by another button (Add, or similar; I don't have gxmame installed to check).

[bokorpop]

This didn't work. Do MAME roms work the same in windows and linux? Its only the MAME program that is different, not the actual roms right?

[DoktorSeven]

Yes, it should be very much the same.

I do recommend that you use kxmame instead of gxmame; gxmame seems much more buggy and doesn't work as well as kxmame. Get kxmame and a version of xmame (xmame-sdl and kxmame in the repos play together well; I still don't know why the package maintaner says there are problems with kxmame and xmame-x crashing X; it certainly doesn't for me).

After running kxmame it may ask to rebuild the game database. Do so (this tellks kxmame all the games the currently installed xmame can run).

Settings->Directories.

Kxmame paths tab: Browse to /usr/games/xmame beside Xmame/xmess executables, hit Add.

Mame/Mess basic paths: Browse to your ROM directory beside Mame ROMS path, hit Add.

Hit OK, then hit the circular arrow on the toolbar (Refresh). Games you have should show up in the Available list (after clicking Available on the left side). Doubleclick the game name to run.

(Even if you decide to stay with gxmame, the method should roughly be the same. I know older versions of gxmame do not work at all with newer xmame versions though; 0.35beta2 worked last time I tried it, but it's been a long time since I've used gxmame since kxmame is so much better.)

[bokorpop]

Thanks so much! I got kxmame, did what you said and got many Roms working, however.......

I am now faced with 2 new problems:

1) many games do not work with error messages such as "LIRC disabled" and saying rom files are missing(when the same game/rom works in windows)

2) Don't know how to get my controller configured. It is a Saitek p990, which according to someone one a dif msg board- works fine with linux out of the box, no drivers needed. When I go to configure the controls within the game by pressing "tab" none of the roms respond at all when i try to reset the keys to gamepad keys.

any advice?

[DoktorSeven]

1) Not sure what to tell you about this, unless it's something where the Windows version of MAME works with that game and the Linux version doesn't (possible since the last xmame lags behind the Windows version, but only with a few newer games).

2) Settings->Configure kxmame -> Controllers (left side). Generally using Standard Joystick type with the prefix /dev/input/js should work, though you can try SDL joystick if that fails (with the same joystick prefix).

[mistermax]

Where should ROMS be placed /usr/share ? Also, can I use my cabinet art?

[DoktorSeven]

As stated above, ROMs can be placed anywhere you want. All you have to do is go into kxmame's configuration under Settings->Directories and add the place you put the ROMs. In that same configuration you can set what directories contain your cabinet art, flyers, marquees, etc, etc, if you have them.

[jingo811]

I'm trying kxmame since the quick and nice CLI method no longer seems to work What's with this kxmame error?

LIRC disabled
xvse.03f NOT FOUND
xvse.04f NOT FOUND
xvsex.03f NOT FOUND (NO GOOD DUMP KNOWN)
xvsex.04f NOT FOUND (NO GOOD DUMP KNOWN)

I want old skool install method to work again