Xmame(6) System Games Manual Xmame(6)NAMExmame - THE Arcade game machine emulator for UNIX/X
SYNOPSIS
xmame[.x11|svga|xgl|sdl] [-options] gamename
EXAMPLES
Some examples for those who are in a hurry.
If you don't have/want a frontend, you'll mostly use xmame (with a well
defined xmamerc) in the following way:
xmame ladybug
Plays Ladybug with all options defined in xmamerc. If there is no xmamerc
the game starts with the buildin defaults.
xmame defender -frameskip 1 -cheat
Starts defender using a frameskip of 1 and cheat is enabled. Useful for
slower computers, if the game is running really slowly. And of course if
you want (have?) to cheat. ;-)
LEGAL NOTICE
The main issue involves ROM images. ROM images are protected under the
copyrights of their authors, and CANNOT be distributed in the same pack
age as xmame. Download any ROM images at your own risk and responsibil
ity.
xmame should be distributed under terms of the license in doc/readme.mame
XInputExtensions based Joystick support. Source code is entirely pure
hack work. No sample code, no info at all was found (only library refer
ence manual) and is copyrighted by me (Juan Antonio Marmnez). Use it
under terms of GNU General Public License.
PLEASE BE AWARE OF THE POSSIBLE LEGAL RAMIFICATIONS OF DOWNLOADING ROM
IMAGES, BEFORE YOU ACTUALLY DO SO! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, AND WE TAKE NO
RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS -- YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN!
Also, the xmame authors ask that you DO NOT distribute any ROM images
with either source code or binaries of the xmame emulator.
DESCRIPTIONxmame is the (M)ulti (A)rcade (M)achine (E)mulator for UNIX-(X). It emu
lates the hardware of realy many classic arcade game machines.
XMAME/XMESS DOCUMENTATIONJuan Antonio Martinez and Hans de Goede and
Rene' Herrmann (4 doc/sgml)
and Lawrence Gold (minor editing) v2.1.7, 4 July 2001xmame/xmess docu
mentation with an installation guide, the FAQ (frequently asked ques
tions), hints, tips and tricks, the changes on the code and many
more!Introduction and Links
The most recent copy of this guide, the xmame-sources and many more can
be found on the xmame project homepage at
The official M.A.M.E home is at
The very best ROM site on this planet is at
grustibus, the very good frontend (if you gnome)
gnomame, another great gnome-based frontend
tkmame, the Tcl/TK frontend that works in Linux/Unix and MS Windows
MAME Action Replay Page for those who want to have a look at other moni
tors at
and of course don't forget our project homepage at
If you think you can help with the todo list or you can make a contribu
tion that you feel is interesting, please send mail to the xmame/xmess
coordinator. See for contact information.
Optimise mouse warping.
Remove osd[lowbar]input[lowbar]init[lowbar]post, add display ready flag.
Updating of fps is off (dirty marking problem) with vector games.
Update porting.txt.
Convert all remaining sound drivers to plugins.
Rewrite display/input code to be more modular, oo-ish, and usable as a
separate library.
Split -[lsqb ]no[rsqb ]scanline option into emulated and real scanline
options.
Add an option to specify which resolution to use, add clipping and pan
ning if it doesn't fit and use it anyway.
Use Pentium TSC for uclock where available.
Network:
Fix since the dos team broke it, find out if the dosnet team is still
alive.
Add mouse/joystick support to network play
Try converting network support to tcp, currently we have no error correc
tion.
Make network code more robust, version check, input settings check, etc.
Check x11-joystick. Rumor has it it's broken, but then again there's only
one bug-report, so it seems no one is using it.
fm soundhack for linux-i386.
Make which messages are emitted and when configurable (log-type's and
log-level), make fileio emit messages about which files it tries to open,
to help debug rom-loading problems, and walk through all messages xmame
emits giving them all a standard format like:
OSD: Info: bla
X11-window: Warning: bla
Svgalib: Error: bla
Add scancode 128-255 for non-PC keys like F13 -- F24, more keypad keys,
etc., update all display targets to use this.
Also see the text todo file, kept around to quickly enter stuff while
hacking: Compiling, Setting Up and Starting Xmame/Xmess
Note: This section is not a Unix tutorial. You need to know some basic
Unix commands to compile and install xmame/xmess.
GNU make is MANDATORY in ALL Systems, even if you use a different com
piler.
On all platforms zlib is now needed since the core uses it. If you don't
have zlib, a stripped version is included with xmame. See: and
You are encouraged to use a GNU development environment: gcc, gmake, gnu-
ar. Lots of problems are found due to the very permissive syntax in gcc,
so if you use a strictly ANSI C compiler, you'll get lots of warnings,
and if the version of xmame/xmess is not fully debugged, compilation
errors.
Xmame compilation breaks when using egcs-1.1.x or gcc-2.95, use -fno-
strict-aliasing to fix it. gcc-2.95.1 does work with -fstrict-aliasing,
and gives a nice speed increase.
Xmame compilation also breaks when using Red Hat 7's latest (as of 16
January 2001) update for gcc. If you experience problems, please either
downgrade your compiler to the one included on the Red Hat 7 CD-ROM, or
try replacing "gcc" in the Makefile with "kgcc", which will invoke
egcs-1.1.2. (But please see above about the -fstrict-aliasing flag.)
See for platform specific compiling information.
See for special display methods information.
Download the xmame/xmess source files archive.
Move the xmame/xmess source files archive to a suitable work directory.
When you extract the archive, sub directories will be created under the
work directory.
Rename the source files archive so its extension is .gz, so that gzip
doesn't complain. For example, change xmame-0.34b1.1.tgz to
xmame-0.34b1.1.tar.gz
Use gzip -d to uncompress the archive. For example, type:
gzip -d xmame-0.34b1.1.tar.gz
Extract the files with tar. For example, type:
tar xvf xmame-0.34b1.1.tar
After extracting the archive, change to the subdirectory created by the
extraction process. For example, after extracting the xmame-0.34b1.1.tar
archive, a directory named xmame-0.34b1.1 is created. Change to it. This
directory is the top of the source tree.
Copy makefile.unix to Makefile, the distributed Makefile is used for
development and is not a good starting point!
Edit the Makefile and change the settings according to your system. The
default makefile.unix is preconfigured to run under X11/Linux. Be careful
editing this file.
If you intend to compile in X11 joystick support, type the following to
see the available Xdevice list:
make xlistdev; ./xlistdev
Choose the desired device and re-edit Makefile, setting the option
X11[lowbar]JOYNAME to the correct device.
Compile xmame/xmess by typing:
make
If the compile fails, report the problem to the author.
*** YOU MAY NEED TO BE root TO PERFORM THIS STEP *** To install
xmame/xmess, type:
make install
If you want you can now build xmame/xmess for another target/display
method, otherwise skip to the next step.
If you want to also build for another target repeat repeat the "make" and
"make install" steps adding "TARGET=[lt ]target[gt ]" to the make
command for example:
make TARGET=mess
make install
If you want to also build for another display method repeat the "make"
and "make install" steps adding "DISPLAY[lowbar]METHOD=[lt ]method[gt
]" to the make command for example:
make DISPLAY_METHOD=svgalib
make install
You can also combine the 2 above for example:
make TARGET=mess DISPLAY_METHOD=svgalib
make install
In your home directory, create a subdirectory called .xmame.
From the top of the source tree, copy the file doc/xmamerc.dist to the
[dollar][lcub ]HOME[rcub ]/.xmame/ directory. (For xmess do this for
xmessrc)
If desired, copy xmamerc.dist to the global xmamerc location as [quot
]xmamerc[quot ] (for xmess, copy xmamerc.dist to xmessrc). The global
xmamerc location is defined in the Makefile.
Edit [dollar][lcub ]HOME[rcub ]/.xmame/xmamerc to match your prefer
ences. (For xmess, edit [dollar][lcub ]HOME[rcub ]/.xmess/xmessrc)
Be sure that the DISPLAY and PATH environment variables are set cor
rectly.
Make sure your ROM images are installed.
Start the X-Window System. (Unless you compiled for a different display
method in which case you skip this step.)
Start xmame/xmess. For example:
/usr/games/xmame.x11 dkong
Read
Read (the recent parts of) . They might contain some hints about recent
changes which aren't fully documented yet.
Check for operating system-specific notes. You may need to do something
special for your operating system.
Check for display subsystem-specific notes. You may need to do something
special for your display system.
If you get an error about gz[lowbar]open and a bunch of other functions
not found during linking, read: and .
Be sure that the rompath in your xmamerc/xmessrc is correct; see .
Check xmamerc/xmessrc: Is it configured correctly?
Are you getting messages that you are missing files? Maybe you are miss
ing PROMs; see and
Is the program in your PATH?
The svgalib/xf86[lowbar]dga build of xmame/xmess requires setuid root.
Are your permissions correct?
Try asking the friendly folks at the newsgroup alt.game.mame to see if
anyone else has experienced the same problem as you.
Try mailing to the xmame mailinglist, see for more information.
If all else fails, send email to the current maintainer of the
xmame/xmess project. See for contact information.
Linux i386
Linux i386 is the platform I (Hans) use, so xmame should compile without
any hassles on Linux i386. (Note: The same is true for Lawrence Gold.)
Some bugs have been found and worked around when using gcc27x, please use
egcs if available. If more gcc bugs popup, egcs will be made mandatory,
but I hope that won't be necessary.
It has been reported that some SoundBlaster AWE32 and VIA-82cxxx
(onboard) cards do not correctly manage get[lowbar]freespace(). If so,
you'll get some audio[lowbar]ioctl() calls failed messages in console,
and if everything goes right a message that xmame/xmess is falling back
to timer based audio. If this doesn't happen and sound isn't right, try
forcing timer-based audio by starting xmame/xmess with -timer.
SB64/128PCI cards (Ensoniq 137x-based cards) also do not correctly manage
get[lowbar]freespace(). Unfortunately, this doesn't result in failed
ioctl's; instead, they just ignore the calls. Xmame tries to autodetect
this and to fall back to timer-based audio. If this doesn't happen and
sound isn't right, try forcing timer based audio by starting xmame/xmess
with -timer.
Some have reported success using ALSA with OSS emulation (see ). If you
experience the above problems, this would certainly be worth a try.
Also, I've tested sound using the PC-Speaker driver module. It works!!
But it needs -timer. Again, it should do this automagically, but you
know what to do if it doesn't.
Distribution-Specific Comments:
S.u.S.E. Linux: Besides the gcc compiler and libc libraries, which are
both from the [quot ]d[quot ] series, other packages need to be
installed or the build will fail. If compiling for svgalib, the svgalib
package from series [quot ]d[quot ] installed. If compiling for the X-
Window System, you must have xdevel package from series [quot ]x[quot ]
installed. These packages can be installed using the [quot ]yast[quot ]
utility included in the S.u.S.E. distribution.
Red Hat Linux is the operating system used by the author. xmame/xmess
should build correctly under Red Hat Linux. :-) Linux PowerPC
Linux PowerPC should work from now on. Here's an email from Andreas Varga
, the Linux/PowerPC maintainer, describing the necessary steps:
Required changes to compile xmame 0.34b3.1 on Linux/PowerPC with SVGALIB
Makefile:
enable CFLAGS for linux/ppc
enable DISPLAY[lowbar]METHOD = svgalib
enable ARCH = linux
remove -lvgagl from LIBS.svgalib in src/unix/unix.mak (only -lvga is
required)
Required changes to compile xmame 0.34b3.1 on Linux/PowerPC with X11
Makefile:
enable CFLAGS for linux/ppc
enable DISPLAY[lowbar]METHOD = x11
enable ARCH = linux
Another thing... sound is not working, because sound drivers support is
currently under development in Linux/PPC kernels...there is an old driver
that is a hacked Soundblaster driver, and newer 2.1.1xx kernels have a
sound drivers based on Amiga DMA sound drivers... Once this issues are
settled there should be a full OSS-compatible driver... sound should work
then...
I can't speak about Joystick support...
The original Linux/PPC target changes in the Makefile were done by me,
but there are some other changes required to get it to compile... Start
ing from October I will have some more time to work on this, and I'll
keep you updated...
Cheers, AndreasIRIX
Use the generic unix arch for those machines that have no sound support
installed (xmame/xmess uses the dmedia package or the newer AL package on
IRIX systems).
Silicon Graphics provides several native compilers. xmame/xmess has been
compiled and tested with the normal cc. There were some problems with
this when using -n32 for new style 32bit code. It does work when using
-o32 for oldstyle 32 bit code. It should now also work with -n32 which is
much faster.
The use of DCC is not recommended (anymore) since it's a C++ compiler
and thus won't even compile xmame/xmess out of the box due to uncasted
mallocs. Changing all these mallocs would be crazy, esp. since they are
not only in the osd part, but also in the core which is not under our
control. Besides that, mame is normal C, so please compile it with a nor
mal C compiler.
Some problems have been reported using the GNU linker. It's recommended
that you use the native one.HPUX
Use the generic unix arch. In HP-UX, gcc and gnu-make are MANDA
TORY.ULTRIX
Use the generic unix arch.
Notes received from Danny
VERY IMPORTANT!!!
The xmame/xmess CPU emulators access memory through pointers which are
sometimes cast to illegal addresses - as far as the MIPS CPU is con
cerned. The Ultrix operating system is aware of that and fixes this
[quot ]unaligned data access[quot ].
Depending on your system setup, lots of warnings are generated for cer
tain games. Fortunately these messages can be disabled by executing the
command [quot ]uac p 0[quot ] in the same shell where xmame/xmess will
be running.
UPDATE: The new -DALIGN[lowbar]INTS switch in the makefile fixes these
unaligned accesses in the source which is probably a lot faster than hot
fixing them in the kernel segfault handler.
Use gnu make.
Compile with the `c89' compiler. Though `gcc' has no problems with com
piling and optimizing xmame/xmess, the resulting `c89' executable is
faster on an empty machine (read: xmame can use all cpu [amp ] memory
without competing with other high priority processes), so you can set
`frameskip' to 1.
When compiling with `c89 -O2' don't forget to also use `-Olimit 1000'.
If 1000 is not enough, the compiler will tell you to increase it.SunOS
[amp ] Solaris
There are 2 relevant architecture options available in the makefile:
ARCH = generic : use this for old SunOs running on Sparcs,
but a Sparc running Solaris will usually
handle this option too.
ARCH = solaris : this is the one you should use for Sparcs
running Solaris.
Currently sound is not supported under sunos. The solaris arch does sup
port audio.
If you are using Sun's OpenWindows implementation of X11, then make sure
that the X11INC and X11LIB variables in the X11 Options section of the
makefile are set properly. (There are already entries for the standard
OpenWin directory there that you can uncomment.)
Of course, if you are compiling for X11 then you need to set these vari
ables properly, no matter what implementation of X11 you are using! :)
If you are using Sun's SunPro cc compiler, then the following optimisa
tion flags have been reported to be good:
OPTFLAGS = -fast -xO4 -native
Finally, there has been a case of the xmame compilation processes break
ing over the [quot ]ar[quot ] program. Most Solaris installations will
include a set of utilities that conform to the XPG4 standard, usually in
the [quot ]/usr/xpg4/bin[quot ] directory. The XPG4 version of [quot
]ar[quot ] should be avoided like the plague. Ensure that the [quot
]/usr/ccs/bin[quot ] appears in your path before the [quot
]/usr/xpg4/bin[quot ] directory and everything should go smoothly.
PLEASE NOTE : There is currently not much support for SunOS/Solaris. If
you have any trouble, try to fix it yourself. If you succeed, send a mes
sage to the mailing list detailing what you did. If you don't succeed,
send a message anyway and someone [lowbar]may[lowbar] be able to help
you. Either way, this is the only way that problems with xmame on
SunOS/Solaris will get fixed.Openstep
You must use the OpenStep gnumake, not make. You must also use the
NeXT/Apple cc rather than gcc. Also use only the optimisation options as
recommended for OpenStep in the makefile, others will cause the resulting
executable to crash. The OpenStep assembler on i386 architectures is
incompatible with the mame assembler CPU cores and thus you must use the
C versions (Use i386-noasm instead of i386 when compiling for i386).
The supplied complier is based on gcc 2.7.2.1 which will not compile
src/profiler.c without crashing. To get around this you must turn off +
optimisation when this crash occurs, re-make to compile this file only,
then stop the make, re-enable optimisation, and continue.
On an OpenStep keyboard the functions keys do not all operate as
expected. Using the command key in conjuction with a number key gener
ates the equivalent function key within xmame, with 0, - and = + repre
senting F10, F11 and F12 resepectively. Also note that the ALT + keys
cannot be mapped. As most games tend to use this as the default fire but
ton it is exteremly useful to remap this globally the first time you run
xmame.Xmame Frequently Asked Questions
Mame is an arcade machine emulator. Started in 1997 by Nicola Salmoria,
mame started out as a series of emulators for individual games. This
series of emulators was combined into a simgle multi-game emulator. This
is the current form of mame; no longer a one-man show, there are over 100
contributors to the project.
Mame was created by Nicola Salmoria.
Also see
Mess is just like mame---a virtual machine emulator, only it doesn't emu
late arcade machines but rather computers and consoles.
Also see
Xmame/xmess are the Unix/X11 ports of the mame and mess projects. It
makes mame/mess available on *ix machines using the X11R6 X-Window System
(and SVGAlib/ggi/XF86-DGA/OpenGL/SDL too).
Mame was orginally ported by Allard Van Der Bas, Dick the Ridder, Juan
Antonio Martinez, and Hans de Goede.
Xmame/xmess is currently maintained by Lawrence Gold.
None significant.
Xmame/xmess is based on the mame/mess source code. Due to technical rea
sons beyond the scope of this document, the mame/mess source may not com
pile under Unix. That's why the xmame/xmess project exists. Each time
mame/mess is updated, the code is tested (and patched if needed) under
Unix. This way xmame/xmess releases are always the same as their mame
counterparts.
There are no plans for the independent development of xmame/xmess.
Xmame runs on both little-endian and big-endian CPUs, using aligned inte
ger access if needed and is compatible with 64 bit CPUs. The current list
of supported CPUs in the makefile is:
i386 + gnu-asm
i386 no asm
alpha
ia64 (merced)
m68k
generic risc (PowerPC, Sparc, HPPA, IBM)
generic risc, lsb-first (RISC (Ultrix machines))
mips (generic risc + SGI compiler bug workarounds)
Adding support for another cpu (if necessary) should be trivial.
The following Unix platforms are specifically supported:
Linux
FreeBSD
NetBSD
Solaris (SunOS)
OpenStep (noasm only on i386)
IRIX with sound using the dmedia package or the new al package (sound
currently broken)
AIX (sound currently broken)
generic unix, no sound
The generic unix entry should work for any reasonable standard Unix vari
ant, but lacks sound since there is no single Unix sound standard.
On all platforms, zlib is now needed since the core uses it. Ff you don't
have zlib, use the included one by uncommenting the appropriate line in
Makefile.
The following display methods are supported. X11 is the only one which
works on all platforms, except for OpenStep which only works with Open
step bitmaps:
X11 (X-Window System)
svgalib
GGI (Generic Graphics Interface)
OpenGL using X11 for input
glide using X11 for input (3DFX)
glide using svgalib for input (3DFX)
OpenStep bitmaps
SDL (Simple Direct Medialayer)
The following is a list of arch/os/display combinations, with maintain
ers, for arch/os/display combinations which are actively supported.
Please mail the maintainer of the arch/os/display combination for compi
lation and other arch/os/display specific problems. Mail Lawrence for
generic (e.g., X11) problems.
i386/linux/x11 (+DGA) -[gt ] Lawrence
i386/linux/svgalib -[gt ] Lawrence
i386/linux/xgl -[gt ] Sven Goethel
i386/linux/xfx -[gt ] Lawrence
i386/linux/svgafx -[gt ] Lawrence
i386/linux/ggi -[gt ] Christian
alpha/linux/x11 -[gt ] Christian
alpha/digital unix/x11 * -[gt ] Leandro
powerpc/linux/x11 -[gt ] Andreas
powerpc/linux/svgalib -[gt ] Andreas
i386/freebsd/x11 -[gt ] Jacob A. Hart
i386/netbsd/x11 -[gt ] Dave
alpha/netbsd/x11 -[gt ] Christian
Sparc/Solaris/x11 -[gt ] Mathis
i386/Unixware7/x11 * -[gt ] Richard
i386/openstep -[gt ] Pete French
Sparc/SunOs -[gt ] Saga
mips/irix/x11 -[gt ] Dingus Family
* These are supported using the generic unix entry of the makefile, and
thus lack sound.
We are always looking for people willing to test and answer questions
about xmame on a new arch/os/display. This takes very little work and
could help other people tremendously. If you're interested, mail Lawrence
.
Xmame/xmess should run on 8bpp Pseudo Color displays and on 16, 24 and
32bpp True Color displays. If your X-Server does not support any of
these display types, xmame/xmess will not run.
You can verify your X-Server support by starting your X-Server and run
ning the xdpyinfo program. See the xdpyinfo manual page for more infor
mation.
A normal xmame/xmess invocation looks like:
xmame pacman -sound -nojoy -frameskip 2 -heightscale 3 [bsol ]
-widthscale 2
Most of the time, you will want to use the same configuration for each
game. xmame/xmess will read this file for default values for the parame
ters that you can set. This way the only parameters you need to express
on the command line are the ones you want to override.
Another reason for xmamerc/xmessrc is keyboard remapping. Some Unix key
boards are very different than their PC counterparts. To compensate for
the changes, xmame/xmess allows you to remap keys that are not available
on Unix keyboards to keys that are available.
The syntax is quite simple:
[quot ]keyword value[quot ]
See for most keywords. Allmost all commandline options can be used as
keywords (without the -), use value 0 or 1 for commandline options which
have a negating (-no[lsqb ]option[rsqb ]) counterpart. As usual lines
begining with [quot ][num ][quot ] are comments.
You can also generate a configfile with all the current settings to use
as a template by typing:
xmame-showconfig [gt ] [tilde ]/.xmame/xmamerc
Roms/Samples
Xmame/xmess uses a [quot ]:[quot ] seperated rompath to find out which
dirs to search for roms/samples.
The default rompath is XMAMEROOT as defined in Makefile during compile.
This is overwritten by any rompath in xmamerc/xmessrc, which can be over
written again with the -rompath commandline option.
Xmame/xmess searches every dir in this path for roms/samples in the fol
lowing way:
[lt ]dir[gt ]/gamename.zip (containing filename.ext)
[lt ]dir[gt ]/gamename/filename.ext
[lt ]dir[gt ]/gamename/filename.ext.gz (containing filename.ext)
[lt ]dir[gt ]/gamename/filename.zip (containing filename.ext)
So let's say that we are searching for rom0001.1, which is part of pac
man. Then xmame/xmess would search every dir in your rompath for
[lt ]dir[gt ]/pacman.zip (containing rom0001.1)
[lt ]dir[gt ]/pacman/rom0001.1
[lt ]dir[gt ]/pacman/rom0001.1.gz (containing rom0001.1)
[lt ]dir[gt ]/pacman/rom0001.zip (containing rom0001.1)
Note: If your neogeo games can't find neogeo.rom, put it in a dir called
neogeo somewhere in your rompath, or put it in neogeo.zip somewhere in
your rompath.Read/write Diskette Images
This section only applies to xmess emulations which support read/write
diskette images and thus try to open the image read/write.
Xmess first searches for read/write images with the name specified on the
commandline:
[lt ]path[gt ]/image.ext
where path is the path specified with the image on the commandline. This
way, absolute and relative filenames can be used directly on the command
line for an image which is not in the rompath.
Then xmess searches every dir in the rompath for roms/samples in the fol
lowing way:
[lt ]dir[gt ]/image.ext
Note that (g)zipped images are not supported for r/w images.Rom Car
tridges/Read Only Diskette Images
Xmess begins by searching for cartdriges/disks from the current dir in
the following way:
[lt ]path[gt ]/image.ext
[lt ]path[gt ]/image.ext.gz (containing image.ext)
[lt ]path[gt ]/image.zip (containing image.ext)
where path is the path specified with the image on the commandline. This
way, absolute and relative filenames can be used directly on the command
line for an image which is not in the rompath.
Then xmess searches every dir in the rompath for carts/images in the fol
lowing way:
[lt ]dir[gt ]/image.ext
[lt ]dir[gt ]/image.ext.gz (containing image.ext)
[lt ]dir[gt ]/image.zip (containing image.ext)
Finally, xmess searches the rompath as desribed above using the system
type for gamename.
So let's say we want to play mario.nes on the nes emulation of xmess. We
would then type: [quot ]xmess nes mario.nes[quot ]. Xmess then begins
by searching the current dir for
mario.nes
mario.nes.gz (containing mario.nes)
mario.zip (containing mario.nes)
After that, xmess searches each dir in your rompath for
[lt ]dir[gt ]/mario.nes
[lt ]dir[gt ]/mario.nes.gz (containing mario.nes)
[lt ]dir[gt ]/mario.zip (containing mario.nes)
And finally, xmess searches each dir in your rompath for
[lt ]dir[gt ]/nes.zip (containing mario.nes)
[lt ]dir[gt ]/nes/mario.nes
[lt ]dir[gt ]/nes/mario.nes.gz (containing mario.nes)
[lt ]dir[gt ]/nes/mario.zip (containing mario.nes)
Since xmess first searches for cartridges/disks from the current dir you
can also specify cartridges/disks not in your rompath. For example:
[quot ]xmess nes ../mario.nes[quot ]
Xmess then searches for
../mario.nes
../mario.nes.gz (containing mario.nes)
../mario.zip (containing mario.nes)
and will also search the rompath as described above with ../mario.nes as
the image name but this is not that useful.Artwork
Xmame/xmess searches every dir in the rompath for artwork in the follow
ing way:
[lt ]dir[gt ]/artwork.png
[lt ]dir[gt ]/artwork.png.gz (containing artwork.png)
[lt ]dir[gt ]/artwork.zip (containing artwork.png)
Then xmame/xmess searches the rompath as in roms/samples.
So let's say we want to play foo which uses bar.png. Xmame/xmess then
begins searching each dir in your rompath for
[lt ]dir[gt ]/bar.png
[lt ]dir[gt ]/bar.png.gz (containing bar.png)
[lt ]dir[gt ]/bar.zip (containing bar.png)
And then xmame/xmess searches each dir in your rompath for
[lt ]dir[gt ]/foo.zip (containing bar.png)
[lt ]dir[gt ]/foo/bar.png
[lt ]dir[gt ]/foo/bar.png.gz (containing bar.png)
[lt ]dir[gt ]/foo/bar.zip (containing bar.png)
Xmame configuration
Xmame looks for the following configuration files and parses each one
found. Files parsed later can overwrite options in previously parsed
files:
XMAMEROOT/xmamerc
XMAMEROOT/xmame-DISPLAY_METHODrc
[dollar][lcub ]HOME[rcub ]/.xmame/xmamerc
[dollar][lcub ]HOME[rcub ]/.xmame/xmame-DISPLAY_METHODrc
[dollar][lcub ]HOME[rcub ]/.xmame/rc/[lt ]gamename[gt ]rc
XMAMEROOT is defined during compile time, see Makefile.
DISPLAY[lowbar]METHOD is the DISPLAY[lowbar]METHOD for which xmame was
compiled, this can be one of: x11, svgalib, ggi, xgl, xfx, svgafx, open
step, SDL.
For xmess of course replace xmame by xmess. ;)Game configuration
Game configuration files are kept on a per-user base in:
[dollar][lcub ]HOME[rcub ]/.xmame/cfg/[lt ]game[gt ].cfg resp
[dollar][lcub ]HOME[rcub ]/.xmess/cfg/[lt ]game[gt ].cfg
Game state
Game state files are kept on a per-user base in:
[dollar][lcub ]HOME[rcub ]/.xmame/sta/[lt ]game[gt ].sta resp
[dollar][lcub ]HOME[rcub ]/.xmess/sta/[lt ]game[gt ].sta
NVram
NVram files are kept on a per-user base in:
[dollar][lcub ]HOME[rcub ]/.xmame/nvram/[lt ]game[gt ].nv resp
[dollar][lcub ]HOME[rcub ]/.xmess/nvram/[lt ]game[gt ].nv
Mem cards
Mem cards files are kept on a per-user base in:
[dollar][lcub ]HOME[rcub ]/.xmame/mem/[lt ]filename[gt ].mem resp
[dollar][lcub ]HOME[rcub ]/.xmess/mem/[lt ]filename[gt ].mem
Where [lt ]filename[gt ] is given by the game-driver. Screenshots
Screenshots, which can be made by pressing F12, are saved as png files in
the directory from where xmame is started (cwd).
This can be overidden by the screenshotdir entry in xmamerc/xmessrc,
which can again be overidden by the -screenshotdir cmdline-option.
They are saved as:
[lt ]screenshotdir[gt ]/[lt ]game[gt ]xxxx.png
Where xxxx is a number.
Highscores
Highscores are stored in XMAMEROOT as defined in Makefile when building.
This can be overidden by the spooldir entry in xmamerc/xmessrc, which can
again be overidden by the -spooldir cmdline-option.
So only give a
drwxrwsr-x root games [lt ]spooldir[gt ]
permission and setgid xmame/xmess to [quot ]games[quot ] to get it to
work. Note this doesn't work with suid root versions (svgalib [amp ]
XF86-DGA), suggestions welcome.
For now use [dollar][lcub ]HOME[rcub ]/.xmame or [dollar] [lcub
]HOME[rcub ]/.xmess as the spooldir in xmamerc/xmessrc for suid root
versions.
Note: For highscores to work, xmame must also be able to find his
core.dat.hiscore.dat
If you want to use highscores mame needs to load hiscore.dat to get high
score info.
The default is XMAMEROOT/hiscore.dat . XMAMEROOT is set during compile-
time; see the Makefile. This can be overridden by the hiscorefile entry
in xmamerc if present, which can again be overridden by the cmdline-
option -hiscorefile.
hiscore.dat is available from the mame homepage: cheat.dat
If you want to use cheats mame needs to load cheat.dat to get cheat info.
The default is XMAMEROOT/cheat.dat . XMAMEROOT is set during compile-
time; see the Makefile. This can be overridden by the cheatfile entry in
xmamerc if present, which can again be overridden by the cmdline-option
-cheatfile.
cheat.dat is available from the mame homepage: history.dat
If you want to display some nice background info on games, mame needs to
load history.dat.
The default is XMAMEROOT/history.dat . XMAMEROOT is set during compile-
time, see the Makefile. This can be overridden by the historyfile entry
in xmamerc if present, which can again be overridden by the cmdline-
option -historyfile.
history.dat is available from the mame homepage: Input logs
Input logs are saved/read under the name specified after the -record /
-playback option; this name is relative to the current path.Xmame/xmess
still can't find files/store highscores
Type [quot ]xmame/xmess -showconfig [verbar] more[quot ] and check that
the rompath and spooldir shown are correct and readable/writable. Other
wise recheck xmamerc/xmessrc. Remember that xmess also searches the cur
rent dir.
To start xmame, type
xmame [lsqb ]options[rsqb ] [lt ]gamename[gt ] [lsqb ]more options[rsqb ]
For xmess, type
xmess [lsqb ]options[rsqb ] [lt ]systemname[gt ] [lsqb ]more options[rsqb ] [bsol ]
[lt ]disk/romimage(s)[gt ] [lsqb ]more options[rsqb ]
All options are optional. ;)
Xmame/xmess supports most dos command line options (see readme.mame /
readme.mess) as well as a few of its own: Type xmame-help [verbar] more
for a complete list.
With xmess, some systems don't require a disk/romimage, but most do.
To see a list of available parameters, type:
/usr/games/xmame -help | more
Xmame/xmess supports most of the command line parameters as the DOS ver
sion as well a some of its own.
See the file readme.mame / readme.mess for more information about the
command line parameters.
Xmame/xmess uses the same key-bindings as the DOS version of mame: The
following keys work in all emulators:
` or [tilde ] Enter On screen display to change volume, brightness etc.
Tab Enter configuration menu. Press Tab or Esc to get back to
the emulation.
P Pause
F3 Reset
F4 Show the game graphics. Use cursor keys to change set/color,
F4 or Esc to return to the emulation.
F8 Reduce frame skip
F9 Increase frameskip
F10 Toggle speed throttling
F10 + shift Toggle idle sleeping
F11 Toggle speed display
F11 + shift Toggle profiler display
F12 Save a screen snapshot
ESC Exit emulator
Xmame has 2 different auto frameskipping algorithms. These can be
selected with the -frameskipper option and with key combos:
Key combo: Gives you the:
left-ctrl + insert standard dos frameskipper
left-ctrl + home William Barath's frameskipper
Xmame's display scaling can be controlled on the fly with the following
key combos:
Key combo: Result:
left-shift + insert Increase widthscale
left-shift + delete Decrease widthscale
left-shift + home Increase heightscale
left-shift + end Decrease heightscale
left-shift + pageup Increase scale
left-shift + pagedown Decrease scale
Under X11, xmame can switch to and from different modes during runtime:
Key combo: Warps you to:
left-alt + insert Normal window
left-alt + home DGA fullscreen mode
Under SDL, xmame can switch to and from different modes during runtime:
Key combo: Result:
left-alt + enter Toggles between windowed and
fullscreen modes.
Under X11 in a window, you can also grab the mouse. To be able to play
with the mouse, press left-alt + page-down to grab the mouse, and press
it again to release it.
First check that sound is working in other applications.
Check that sound is supported for the game that has no sound; not all
games have sound.
For xmame, take a look at gamelist.mame: Is the sound for the game emu
lated?
For xmess take a look at readme.mess: Is the sound for the system emu
lated?
Check the operating system support chart in the earlier part of this
file: Does xmame/xmess support sound on your system?
With the -bufsize commandline option or the bufsize configfile keyword,
you can specify the number of frames of audio to buffer. The default is 2
frames.
This value should be ok for everyone, but if you still have problems,
read on.
If the buffersize is to small, this causes the buffer to get empty
between frames which in turn causes clicks/pauses in the sound. If this
is the case, increasing the -bufsize value to, for example, 2.5 should
help.
If, however, you make the buffersize too large, then so much audio
becomes buffered, that the sound could become lagged. E.g., you would
hear the coin drop sound 0.5 seconds after pressing the insert coin key.
In this case, lower the bufsize to, for example, 1.5.
Please let me know if you need to change this setting, since I'm planning
on removing it in a future release.
Do you have the right roms or did you get checksum failures?
Xmame version 0.34 and higher require PROM files that were not included
in ROM images released before version 0.34. See the question on PROMs
below for more information.
For xmame, check the file gamelist.mame to see if the game is playable.
Just because a game is included doesn't mean it is working yet.
For xmess, take a look at readme.mess. Maybe the system isn't emulated
all that well yet.
Some games require sound support. If you don't have sound support under
your Unix installation or sound isn't supported by xmame/xmess for you,
try the -fakesound command line parameter.
PROMs contain game-specific information that used to be built in to mame
in versions prior to 0.34. This information has been extracted and is
now included with new versions of ROM files for games that require this
information.
If you want to use your current ROM files, you can obtain just the PROM
images in one large file at:
Xmame/xmess is a compiled C program that is emulating hardware. Software
emulation of hardware always incurs a speed penalty. Here are some
things you can do:
Try using the -frameskip command line parameter.
Try pressing F8 while running xmame/xmess to alter the frame rate.
Try disabling the throttle with the -nothrottle command line parameter
or by pressing F10 while running xmame/xmess.
While running xmame/xmess, press F11 to check the speed of xmame/xmess.
If you never get a display of 100[percnt], you need a faster computer.
You can also try recompiling xmame/xmess with more optimal settings. The
following suggestions may not work or may not be appropriate on some
machines and in some installations. However, in cases where they do
work, there can be a noticeable increase in overall performance of
xmame/xmess.
These [quot ]enhancements[quot ] simply require editing the Makefile
that is distributed with xmame, and then recompiling the source. If you
are compiling the source for the second time you will need to do:
make clean
make
make install
after editing the Makefile to set your new settings.SPEEDUP [num ] 1 -
Inline compiling
Try enabling inline compiling by commenting and uncommenting the follow
ing lines:
[num ] IL = '-DINLINE=static inline'
IL = -DINLINE=static
SPEEDUP [num ] 2 - Direct Graphics Access
For a big boost, try enabling DGA by uncommenting the following line:
DGA = 1
Then start xmame as root, and press left-alt + home to switch to dga
mode; that should be a lot faster, and doesn't need/use xsync. ;)
To get back to a window without exiting, press left-alt + insert.
The benefit of DGA is that it is Direct Graphics Access and therefore
writes directly to the framebuffer (think DirectX versus GDI under MS
Windows). So it should be a tad faster, unless you've got a really really
well accelerated X-server, which could be just as fast. Try pressing F11
to see the actual framerate, although it might be hardly noticable (visu
ally, at least), it should give you some speed increase.
Besides that, it automatically switches to the right mode and removes any
window manager stuff, but that can be done without DGA too. (I might add
such a feature later, since it allows easy fullscreen without running as
root.)
Adding a 320x240 mode will most definitely get you a very nice fullscreen
display at scale = 1. ;)
Don't forget that you still need to set up the Modes line of the [quot
]Display[quot ] subsection of the [quot ]Screen[quot ] section in your
X11 config file if you want the games to fill the screen in DGA mode.
Xmame will pick the best mode it can find, so if you have a line like
Modes [quot ]1024x768[quot ] [quot ]800x600[quot ] [quot ]640x480[quot ] [quot ]320x240[quot ] [quot ]256x224[quot ]
then any game which fits into a 320x240 screen can be displayed in that
resolution, and so on. Don't forget your X11 config file might have a
number of different [quot ]Screen[quot ] sections in it, and you will
need to add Modes to the one that is actually active with your Xserver is
running. And of course it's not always that easy, since you also need to
tell X which monitor settings are required for these resolution modes.
This is done through Modeline entries in the [quot ]Monitor[quot ] sec
tion of your X config file.
You can check out the /contrib/tools/modelines file for a set of crazy
modes made especially for xmame in DGA mode. They should work on any rea
sonable multisync monitor, but don't use them on an old fixed-frequency
monitor. (And if you can't resist trying, I won't pay for a new
one!)SPEEDUP [num ] 3 - NASM
You can also try installing nasm and compiling the asm core, that helps a
bit too. of this?
Not much. Xmame is a single-threaded port of a single-threaded DOS app.
Some degree of speedup will hopefully be found on an SMP machine since
xmame is more likely to get to hog its one CPU for longer. But of course
the same applies to any CPU-intensive program. And all the things one
would normally do to any application to give it more CPU time (higher
priority, kill or renice unecessary process, etc.) will work with xmame.
Now you may at this point be thinking, "Surely you could have one thread
doing emulation and another thead doing graphics to get a speedup." Yes,
but there are some serious issues to consider. The first is synchronisa
tion between the threads, which needs to be pretty tight. If not done
smoothly. the overhead will blow most of the benefit away. Also, it needs
to be implemented with a portable threads interface ... which basically
means POSIX threads. In a nutshell, it's a lot of effort for probably not
much gain. But of course if you are feeling particulary energetic and in
the mood to code, then patches can always be submitted to the xmame devel
mailing list ... :) x86 system?
Xmame/xmess uses autocalibrating, but you could try to use specific pro
grams to calibrate it (jscal that comes with joystick module works
fine....).
You need to edit XF86Config to enable the XInput section. See the manual
page for XF86Config.
Easy. If you want to read the manual page for XF86Config, type: man
XF86Config
Xmame/xmess versions newer than 0.35 use zlib for some compression rou
tines. Unfortunately, a lot of Linux distributions have an old version
of zlib installed as /usr/X11R6/lib/libz.a, and the new version installed
as /usr/lib/libz.a. If this is the case, it's harmless to remove
/usr/X11R6/lib/libz.a. If you're not sure whether this is the case, just
move /usr/X11R6/lib/libz.a to another location.
Removing or just moving /usr/X11R6/lib/libz.a should fix this problem.
Also see:
Xmame/xmess versions newer than 0.35 use zlib for some compression rou
tines.
Zlib is standard on most Unix versions. For those who don't ship with
zlib or ship with a version that is too old, xmame/xmess now comes with a
stripped-down version of zlib. Uncomment the appropriate line in the
Makefile to use this. Help!
Are you running a recent version of KDE, such as 2.1.1? It appears that
there's a bug with KDE's window manager that prevents some X11 apps from
popping up their main window. You can either run the SDL version of
xmame, or try the following workaround, which several people have
reported as being successful:
xmame.x11 -rid `xwininfo -root | grep xwininfo: | awk '[lcub ]print [dollar]4[rcub ]'`
Update: I have been told that as of KDE 2.2b1, this problem has been
fixed.
The xmame/xmess Home Page always has the most up-to-date version. The
address is
See of this document.
Please check the offical mame and mess readme files to see if that
answers your question:
If that doesn't help, then ask your question on the mailing list or send
it to the xmame/xmess maintainer, see for contact information.Display
Subsystem-Specific Comments and Notes
The latest version of this driver can be obtained at .Requirements
To run FXmame, you must have:
A 3Dfx card
Glide 2x
The xmame distribution Compiling and Installing
FXmame comes in two flavours---xfx and svgafx. The xfx version is
designed to run under X11. It uses an X window for input. The svgafx ver
sion runs from the console, and uses svgalib for input. Both use the 3Dfx
hardware for rendering.
To install FXmame, follow the general instructions for installing xmame.
To specify the glide driver, do the following to the Makefile:
Select either [quot ]xfx[quot ] or [quot ]svgafx[quot ] as your dis
play method
Configure the glide variables to correspond to your glide setup
The FXmame executables are called [quot ]xmame.xfx[quot ] and [quot
]xmame.svgafx[quot ]Running
FXmame runs with the same parameters and uses the same keyboard commands
that xmame.x11 does.
A few extra keyboard commands have been added in the glide driver:
RIGHTCTRL-A -- toggle antialiasing in vector games
RIGHTCTRL-B -- toggle bilinear filtering
The glide driver also adds several command-line options:
-fxgama [lt ]value[gt ] 3Dfx gamma correction value
Note that in order to display the game options or the fps display in vec
tor games, I have to overlay the game bitmap over the vector display.
This is because I circumvent the bitmap entirely in vector games. Drawing
the bitmap is a big cpu hog, so you'll notice that the game slows down
when you turn on the fps display (I know, not ideal when you want to find
out the frame rate...).Common Questions (FAQ)
Q: When I run FXmame, it just dumps core.
A: Make sure you are running FXmame as root. Root privileges are required
to access the 3Dfx hardware
Q: When I run xmame.xfx, it just hangs at the initial game screen.
A: Are you running KDE? For some reason, I can't get keyboard input under
KDE. If you have this problem, switch window managers or use xmame.svgafx
instead.Present Limitations/Bugs
Antialiasing isn't working quite as well as it should
Input problems under KDE Future Work
Optimize the drawing code to update only the changed portions of the game
bitmap. License
The FXmame code is Copyright 1998 by Mike Oliphant. It may be used and
distributed under the terms of the MAME license.Version History
v0.5 -- December 11th, 1998 ---------------------------
implemented long copies in screen update
added dirty handling. this greatly increases the speed of games that sup
port the dirty update strategy (although most of them are older games
that already ran at full speed on modern hardware)
merged source with xmame b8.1
v0.4 -- October 30th, 1998 --------------------------
improved alpha handling in vector games - now bitmapped overlays do not
dim the screen o added svgalib support (xmame.svgafx) o fixed a tiling
bug that gave artifacts on texture tile boundaries
v0.3 -- October 29th, 1998 --------------------------
got rid of extra lines in vector games o added bitmap overlay in vector
games to show options/fps o added antialiasing in vector games
v0.2 -- October 28th, 1998 --------------------------
added screenshots o added 3Dfx gamma adjustment o added direct accelera
tion of vector games (still buggy)
v0.1 -- October 27th, 1998 --------------------------
first public release Author
Mike Oliphant
The latest version of this driver can be obtained at: Requirements
To run GLmame you must have:
An OpenGL implementation
libjpeg
hardware 3D acceleration (if you want any kind of framerate)
the xmame distribution Compiling and Installing
Follow the general instructions for installing xmame. To specify the
OpenGL driver, do the following in the Makefile:
Select [quot ]xgl[quot ] as your display method.
For runtime printed debug info, add "-DGLDEBUG" to the "GLCFLAGS[quot ]
variable.
GLU version 1.2 is recommended (e.g., from SGI). If you use Mesa's GLU,
you may have to add "-DGLU[lowbar]VERSION[lowbar]1[lowbar]2" to the
"GLCFLAGS".
The GLmame executable is called [quot ]xmame.xgl[quot ].Running
xmame.xgl runs with the same parameters and uses the same keyboard com
mands that xmame.x11 does.
The program starts up in cabinet mode. While this is pretty, and cool,
you'll probably want to actually play in fullscreen mode.
A few extra keyboard commands have been added in the OpenGL driver:
RIGHT[lowbar]ALT-A -- toggle antialias filtering (vector)
RIGHT[lowbar]ALT-B -- toggle bilinear filtering (raster)
RIGHT[lowbar]ALT-C -- toggle cabinet/fullscreen display (both)
RIGHT[lowbar]ALT-F -- toggle between fullscreen (max window size) and
startup window size (both)
RIGHT[lowbar]ALT-O -- toggle draw-bitmap (both; nonsense for raster
games, speedup for vector games)
RIGHT[lowbar]ALT-T -- toggle phosphor trails (vector)
RIGHT[lowbar]ALT-PLUS[lowbar]PAD -- incr. beam size (vector)
RIGHT[lowbar]ALT-MINUS[lowbar]PAD -- decr. beam size (vector)
The OpenGL driver also adds several command-line options:
-[lsqb ]no[rsqb ]fullscreen Start in fullscreen mode
(default: disabled)
-[lsqb ]no[rsqb ]gldblbuffer Disable/enable double buffering
(default: enabled)
-gltexture_size [lt ]int[gt ] Force the max width and height of one
texture segment (default: autosize)
-[lsqb ]no[rsqb ]glforceblitmode / Force blitter for true color modes 15/32bpp
-[lsqb ]no[rsqb ]glblit (default: enabled)
-[lsqb ]no[rsqb ]glext78 / Force the usage of GL extension number 78,
-[lsqb ]no[rsqb ]glext if available (palletted texture)
(default: enabled)
-[lsqb ]no[rsqb ]glbilinear / Disable/enable bilinear filtering
-[lsqb ]no[rsqb ]glbilin (default: enabled)
-[lsqb ]no[rsqb ]gldrawbitmap / Disable/enable drawing the bitmap; e.g.,
-[lsqb ]no[rsqb ]glbitmap disable within vector games for a speedup
(default: enabled)
-[lsqb ]no[rsqb ]glcolormod Disable/enable color modulation (intensity,
-[lsqb ]no[rsqb ]glcmod gamma)
(default: enabled)
-glbeam [lt ]float[gt ] Set the beam size for vector games
(default: 1.0)
-[lsqb ]no[rsqb ]glalphablending / Disable/enable alpha blending if available
-[lsqb ]no[rsqb ]glalpha (default: enabled)
-[lsqb ]no[rsqb ]glantialias / Disable/enable antialiasing
-[lsqb ]no[rsqb ]glaa (default: enabled)
-gllibname / Choose the dynamically loaded OpenGL
-gllib [lt ]string[gt ] library
(default: libGL.so)
-glulibname / Choose the dynamically loaded GLU library
-glulib [lt ]string[gt ] (default: libGLU.so)
-[lsqb ]no[rsqb ]cabview Don't start/start in cabinet view mode
(default: don't start in this mode)
-cabinet [lt ]cabname[gt ] Specify which cabinet model to use
(default: glmamejau)
-glres [lt ]string[gt ] Always scale games to [lt ]Xres[gt ]x[lt ]Yres[gt ],
keeping their aspect ratio.
This overrides the scale options.
Use this e.g. for the Vodoo1 gfx cards
with: [quot ]-glres 640x480[quot ]
Three cabinet models are provided. The default, [quot ]glmamejau[quot
], is designed to look like a standard arcade cabinet, like [quot
]glmame[quot ]. The last one, [quot ]trans[quot ], is a box with a
transparent game screen.
Note that in order to display the game options or the fps display in vec
tor games, the game's bitmap is overlaid above the vector display. Draw
ing the bitmap is a big cpu hog for some low-end hardware accelerated
OpenGL implementations, so you'll notice that the game slows down when
the bitmap is overlaid.
Because bitmap overlaying is the default, you can toggle it on and off by
pressing the [quot ]RIGHT[lowbar]ALT-O[quot ] key, or turn it off at
startup by using the command line option [quot ]-noglbitmap[quot ].
A problem with vector games and the cabinet mode is that some vector
points do not reside within the screen coordinates, so you may see some
vectors outside of the cabinet's mame display.
*** IMPORTANT! ***
If you have trouble with GLmame, or it is slow, read the [quot ]Common
Questions[quot ] section. Most of the questions people email me are
answered here.Cabinet Models
Cabinet model information is stored in the [quot ]cab[quot ] subdirec
tory of the directory you specified with the ROMPATH variable in the
Makefile. Path information specified in xmamerc or with the 'rompath'
shell environment variable is currently not used. Each cabinet model has
it's own subdirectory. GLmame will first try to load either the user-
specified cabinet model (using the -cabinet command-line option), or a
model corresponding to the current game name. Failing that, it will use
the generic [quot ]glmame[quot ] model.
A cabinet model directory must contain a geometry file [lt ]model
name[gt ].cab, and any .jpg files used for textures on the model. The
format of the .cab file will be familiar if you have ever programmed
using OpenGL -- it looks much like an OpenGL display list. The format is
as follows:
cabv1.1
This header must be the first 7 characters of the file.
[num ][lt ]text[gt ]
Comment lines begin with '[num ]'
begin [lt ]type[gt ]
Begins a geometry object, where type is one of (points, polygon, quads,
quad[lowbar]strip, screen). Each [quot ]begin[quot ] must be paired
with an [quot ]end[quot ] statement. A [quot ]polygon[quot ] is spec
ified using one vertex per, well... vertex. [quot ]quads[quot ] are
four-sided polygons, each specified by four vertices in order around the
polygon. A [quot ]quad[lowbar]strip[quot ] is a series of four-sided
polygons, each of which shares an edge with the polygons before and after
it in the strip. A [quot ]screen[quot ] is a quad that defines the
actual area in 3D space where the game will be displayed. only one of
these should be defined. For more info, look at any description of
OpenGL geometry.
end
Ends the geometry object begun with [quot ]begin[quot ].
pointsize [lt ]s[gt ]
Changes the current pointsize to the corresponding size value (specified
as a floating point number between 0.0 and, e.g., 20.0). Note: You cannot
use this statement between begin and end!
color4 [lt ]r[gt ] [lt ]g[gt ] [lt ]b[gt ]
Changes the current color to the corresponding rgb value (specified as
floating point numbers between 0 and 1).
color4 [lt ]r[gt ] [lt ]g[gt ] [lt ]b[gt ] [lt ]a[gt ]
Changes the current color to the corresponding rgba value (specified as
floating point numbers between 0 and 1).
shading [lt ]type[gt ]
Sets the shading type. available types are [quot ]smooth[quot ] (which
blends colors from one vertex to the next) or [quot ]flat[quot ] (which
doesn't).
vertex [lt ]x[gt ] [lt ]y[gt ] [lt ]z[gt ]
Specifies a vertex for the current geometry object as a point in 3-space.
numtex [lt ]num[gt ]
Specifies the number of different textures to be loaded. This declaration
must precede any [quot ]loadtex[quot ] call.
loadtex [lt ]num[gt ] [lt ]width[gt ] [lt ]height[gt ] [lt ]filename[gt ]
Loads texture number [lt ]num[gt ] from .jpg file [lt ]file
name[gt ]. The .jpg file *must* be [lt ]width[gt ] by [lt
]height[gt ] pixels, and both [lt ]width[gt ] and [lt
]height[gt ] must be powers of two (and must conform to the hardware
requirements of any 3D card you want the cabinet to work with -- 256x256
for 3Dfx).
texcoord [lt ]xcoord[gt ] [lt ]ycoord[gt ]
Sets the texture coordinate of the next vertex. This specifies where in
2D texture space the vertex lies.
enable texture
Enables texture mapping (using the currently-selected texture).
disable texture
Turns off texture mapping.
settex [lt ]num[gt ]
Select texture [lt ]num[gt ] for doing texturing. The texture must
previously have been loaded using [quot ]loadtex[quot ].
camerapan [lt ]num[gt ]
Starts the camera pan definition that will be followed by [lt ]num[gt
] camera transistions. After the last transision definition, the pan
sequence must be ended with an [quot ]end[quot ] statement.
goto [lt ]lx[gt ] [lt ]ly[gt ] [lt ]lz[gt ] [lt ]px[gt ] [lt ]py[gt ] [lt ]pz[gt ] [lt ]nx[gt ] [lt ]ny[gt ] [lt ]nz[gt ]
Relocates and reorients the camera. The arguments are the same as are
used by the OpenGL command [quot ]gluLookAt()[quot ]. The camera is
positioned at point [lt ]lx,ly,lz[gt ], pointing along vector [lt
]px,py,pz[gt ], with [quot ]up[quot ] normal (the direction that is
[quot ]up[quot ] for the camera) [lt ]nx,ny,nz[gt ].
moveto [lt ]lx[gt ] [lt ]ly[gt ] [lt ]lz[gt ] [lt ]px[gt ] [lt ]py[gt ] [lt ]pz[gt ] [lt ]nx[gt ] [lt ]ny[gt ] [lt ]nz[gt ] [lt ]frames[gt ]
Moves the camera to a new location (specified as in [quot ]goto[quot
]). The transition occurs over [lt ]frames[gt ] frames.
All commands must be on separate lines. Use the (somewhat) commented
glmamejau cabinet as an example to work from.Common Questions (FAQ)
Q: I am only getting a few frames-per-second. This sucks! What gives?
A1: You're probably running Mesa in software mode. You should read the
[quot ]README.3Dfx[quot ] file in the Mesa distro. Specifically, you
need to [quot ]setenv MESA[lowbar]GLX[lowbar]FX fullscreen[quot ].
A2: You don't have a 3D graphics card. Go buy one (see below)!
Q: When I run xmame.xgl, it just dumps core. That's not as much fun as 3D
Pacman, now is it?
A1: If you are using a 3Dfx card, make sure you are running xmame.xgl as
root. Root privileges are required to access the 3Dfx hardware.
A2: If you're using Mesa and haven't upgraded to v3.0, do so.
Q: When I run xmame.xgl, it just hangs at the initial game screen.
A: Are you running KDE? For some reason, I can't get keyboard input under
KDE. If you have this problem, switch window managers.
Q: Which graphics cards are usable with xmame.xgl?
A: We have the following experiences (date 20010713):
Vodoo3 + DRI OpenGL driver (XFree86 4.0.2), with command line options
[quot ]-noglaa[quot ] and 16bpp X11 server color depth.
Vodoo1 + Mesa 3.4 + Glide, with command line options "-glres 640x480" !
GeForce + NVIDIA OpenGL driver + XFree86 4.0.2 with default command line
options and 16/24bpp X11 server color depth.
NVIDIA TNT2 + NVIDIA OpenGL driver + XFree86 4.0.2 with command line
options [quot ]-bpp 16[quot ] and 16bpp (may be 24bpp also ???) X11
server color depth (OpenGL colortable mapping is buggy).
NVIDIA TNT + NVIDIA OpenGL driver + XFree86 4.0.2 with command line
options [quot ]-bpp 16[quot ] and 16bpp (may be 24bpp also ???) X11
server color depth (OpenGL colortable mapping is buggy).
Matrox MGA 400 + DRI OpenGL driver (XFree86 4.0.2) with command line
options [quot ]-bpp 16[quot ], [quot ]-noglaa[quot ] (???) and 16bpp
(may be 24bpp also ???) X11 server color depth (OpenGL colortable mapping
is buggy).
ATI R128 + DRI OpenGL driver (XFree86 4.1.0) with command line options
"-noglext78 -noglaa" or "-bpp 16 -noglaa", where the latter options is a
bit slower (about 5 fps).
LinuxPPC - Powerbook-Firewire + ATI R128: see above !
All of the above drivers work with the option [quot ]-bpp 16[quot ]
and/or [quot ]-noglext78[quot ], the latter of which is very slow, of
course! So it looks like an OpenGL implementation bug is causing these
driver/hardware combinations to only work with these command line
options. The bug may lie within these OpenGL functions:
glColorTableEXT
glColorSubTableEXT
Currently fast and funny driver/hardware combinations are:
NVIDIA GeForce + NVIDIA OpenGL driver + XFree86 4.0.2; I have tested the
GeForce256 (AGP) hardware.
Vodoo + DRI OpenGL driver (XFree86 4.0.2); I have tested the Vodoo3 hard
ware.
Q: When I run xmame.xgl, everything is messed up.
A: Read the above experiences ... and try
switching your X server's bpp value, e.g. switch from 32bpp or 24bpp to
16bpp;
the command line option [quot ]-bpp 16[quot ];
the command line option [quot ]-noglaa[quot ];
the command line option [quot ]-noglext[quot ]. Present Limita
tions/Bugs
No clipping of vector games (most noticeable in cabinet mode).
No preservation of game aspect ratio in cabinet mode. Future Work
Fixing existing bugs .. are there any ? Or are there some unknown fea
tures only ;-) ?
Optimize the drawing code to update only the changed portions of the game
bitmap. Optimizing the dirty code .. License
The GLmame code is based upon Mike Oliphant's GLmame code version 0.6.
The GLMame code is Copyright 1998 by Mike Oliphant. It may be used and
distributed under the terms of the MAME license.
Since GLmame version 0.7, the code has been changed and improved heavily
by Sven Goethel --- no license change, of course!Version History
v0.83 -- March 29th, 2001 ---------------------------
Changed the code heavily to improve compatibility and speed. The new code
is a re-merge of the GLMame32 code, which is a branch of Mike Oliphant's
GLmame code version 0.6.
For a detailed list, please consult the file changes.opengl within the
distribution's documentation directory! You can also view the current
changes.opengl here:
v0.6 -- December 14th, 1998 ---------------------------
added support for systems that do not support paletted textures (SGI and
solaris OpenGL implementations, for example)
merged source with xmame b8.1
v0.5 -- October 30th, 1998 --------------------------
fixed a bug with texturing being left on in bad places
added 3Dfx gamma adjustment
v0.4 -- October 21st, 1998 --------------------------
updated to work with xmame v0.34b5.2
v0.3 -- October 12th, 1998 --------------------------
fixed verticle screen centering in fullscreen mode
moved cabinet and camera panning information into a user-editable config
uration file
added 'trans' cabinet model o added double buffer, view type, and cabinet
selection command-line options
v0.2 -- October 6th, 1998 -------------------------
adding missing 'cab' directory
v0.1 -- October 5th, 1998 -------------------------
first public release Authors
Since GLmame version 0.7: Sven Goethel
Till GLmame version 0.6: Mike Oliphant Contact Information and Credits
There is an official xmame/xmess mailing list. All operations related to
this list are performed via email to with a proper keyword in the body.
Some of the currently recognized commands are:
subscribe - subscribe to the list
unsubscribe - unsubscribe from the list
who - see everyone who is on the list
info - view the introductory information for this list
help - list all recognized commands
Xmame Mailing List
The xmame mailing list is intended to be a technical forum for xmame
developers, that is,
To exchange ideas for producing a better xmame.
To share patches and bug notifications.
To study new design strategies.
To expose problems and learn know-how.
The Xmame mailing list is not a forum about playing games (but everyone
on the list plays...); so please
Don't use the list to ask about ROMs.
Don't ask about non-UNIX ports of MAME, just about MAME and xmame.
Don't ask about implementing a game. Just search the docs and contribute
yourself (you'll enjoy twice: programming and playing...).
Don't show your last high score in xxx game (we are interested in pro
gramming, and then playing, in this order).
Copyright notice: NEVER, I repeat NEVER send ROM images to the list.
(But you can tell us where to retrieve them... ;-) )
At this moment, the xmame list is unmoderated; that is, everyone sub
scribed will receive everything sent to the list. We foresee no need to
change this policy.
If you want to send a personal mail to the xmame/xmess coordinator, send
to the address below. Everyone who contributes to xmame/xmess should sub
scribe to the xmame/xmess mailing list.
Mailing list:
Xmame/xmess coordinator:
That's all. Enjoy xmame!
Lots and lots and lots of thanks to everyone for their great help on the
xmame project. I would like to thank the following people and of course
anyone I've forgotten.
Thank you all,
Hans
(Addendum: I'd like to send a big thanks to Hans for his fantastic work
as longtime xmame/xmess maintainer, and also to those on the mailing list
who have been most helpful during my transition to official maintainer.
--Lawrence Gold)
Fathers of the mame-creature (main version)
Nicola Salmoria
Allard van der Bas
Mirko (Mix) Buffoni (General Mantainer)
Fathers of mess
Brad Oliver
Richard Bannister
Ben Bruscella (current coordinator)
Original UNIX/X11 port
Allard van der Bas
Dick the Ridder
Juan Antonio Martinez
Semi-retired Unix maintainer extraordinaire
Hans de Goede
Alpha specific issues
Christian Groessler
Sun specific issues
Keith Hargrove
Mathis Rosenhau
Irix specific issues
Tristram Scott
GGI maintainance
Gabriele Boccone (original port)
Christian Groessler (current maintainer)
OpenGL code [amp ] maintainance
Mike Oliphant (original creator)
Sven Goethel (from GLmame 0.7 to the present)
Network code
Eric Totel
Perl scripts for automation of some porting issues
Bill Adams
Xmame RPMs
Jeremy Hansen
Mailing list maintainer
Chris McCraw
Bits and pieces
Christian Groessler
Torsten Paul
Jack Patton
David Black
AIX Sound code
Chris Sharpp
IRIX Sound code
German readme
Robert Hamberger
Documentation (SGML, HTML, MAN)
Rene Herrmann Legal Issues and Copyrights Concerning MAME/MESS
Please read the MAME/MESS readme-files first!
Xmame/xmess should be distributed under terms of the license in
And if you are interested in mess, take a look in
The main issue involves ROM images. ROM images are protected under the
copyrights of their authors, and CANNOT be distributed in the same pack
age as xmame/xmess. Download any ROM images at your own risk and respon
sibility.
XInputExtensions-based Joystick support. Source code is entirely pure
hack work. No sample code, no info at all was found (only library refer
ence manual) and is copyrighted by me (Juan Antonio Martinez). Use it
under terms of GNU General Public License. ChangeLogs
These are the changelogs of the offical MAME and MESS release, the core
of xmame/xmess.
And now here is the HISTORY of the xmame project (of course that's why
you are here :;-)) ... Ren
The OpenGL display driver changelog: or
BSD 22. March 2001 BSD
