Using MAME with SageTV V2

[Narflex]

You can do this with the release version of SageTV 2. It's totally unsupported. Only known issue is sometimes the scrolling won't wrap around upwards and there's no scrolling arrows. To enable it set this property in the properties file while Sage is not running:

ui/show_mame_menu=true


Then go to the Media Library and select Arcade Games. Then quit SageTV and then you can set these properties if you need to:

mame/mame_docs_path - path to the folder that contains the game information file
mame/mame_exe_path - path to the .EXE that launches mame
mame/gamelist_filename - filename for the gamelist.txt file to get the extended game names from
mame/mame_images_path - path to the folder that contains PNG images used to represent mame ROMS
mame/mame_roms_path - path to the folder that contains the ROM files to list in the UI
mame/mame_working_directory - directory to launch the mame executable from


Have fun and remember this is totally unsupported by Frey Technologies, LLC. By providing this information we are in no way condoning the use of illegally obtained ROM files.

[GbrNole]

talk about becoming a huge thorn in meedio et al side overnight!!!

that's one heck of an engine you built there, jeff :D :goodjob:

[falchulk]

Great!! No there are just a few more apps that I need to Sage to launch and I can stop using myhtpc.

[MixTracks]

:) :) :) :p :p :D :D !!!!!!!

Awesome news! Now I have a front end for my 3,000+ Roms!

Quite a pleasent surprise.

-Bryan

[JasonJoel]

Cool! Now I just wish I had more ROMs. I only have a few dozen. :(

Jason

[falchulk]

JasonJoel, get them while you can. A lot of company's are re issuing old titles on current platforms so they don't fall under the "abandoned tech" clause in the digital copyright law that makes it legal to posses them now.

[dcannon]

I was very excited to hear that MAME could no be used through Sage so I dug out my CD with all my ROMS and downloaded the lasted version on MAME. Whenever I use MAME, then exit Sage remains at a blank screen and no commands through either the remote or keyboard work. Also, whenever I try to run MAME from the Start>Run command when Sage is running, upon exiting MAME, Sage displays the same behavior. I know that no official support is being offerered, but wanted to know if anyone had any ideas. Thanks.

[DanM]

Not that it helps, but I am having the same issue as dcannon.

[shodge]

OK,

So after building a mame arcade machine myself.... I guess I was interested in getting Sage to work with mame....:nod:

I think most of the problems are related to the proper entrys for the property file...

I played with this on the client which should be the same as the server. I have not done it yet there but I will soon.:D Here are some of my entrys for the test I did. I was using PACMAME which plays a bizzillion pacman clones, but again the same should apply for straight mame...

My install directory is G:\MAME\PACMAME60
I have sub directories \roms and \docs. The .lst file needs to be in the docs directory. Thats where Sage2 looks for it. Since it is no-support, if any file or directory is not found, nothing will happen. Here are the lines from my .properties file:

mame/gamelist_filename=pacmame.lst
mame/mame_docs_path=g\:\\mame\\pacmame60\\docs
mame/mame_exe_path=g\:\\mame\\pacmame60\\pacmame.exe
mame/mame_images_path=C\:\\mame\\snap\\
mame/mame_roms_path=g\:\\mame\\pacmame60\\roms
mame/mame_working_directory=g\:\\mame\\pacmame60

Note that I don't have screen images for pacmame, so my path ffor the images is not real. It does not seem to care...

Let me know if you can't get it to work and I'll try to support you.

-Stan:coffee:

[shodge]

Hey,

Anybody map the Hauppauge IRRemote to mame yet? Example?
-Stan

[DanM]

I don't think it is a configuration issue. With the exception of the mame directory, my config identical to yours. I tried mame and mame32 both with the same results. Game list is displayed, games start, but sage ui is hosed upon exiting mame (nothing but black screen). At this point, i can sometimes correct this by hitting sleep on the remote to minimize to tray then reopen using the tray icon. At other times, it's taskmanager to kill sage.exe and restart.

Thanks for the help. :bang:

[dcannon]

I am getting exactly the same as DanM, again the config in the properties is the same.

[GKenny]

ARGH!!! Unsupported, yet such a desirable feature. Okay my mame folder is c:\mame... it contains the standard folders: artwork, cfg, ctrlr, docs, roms and samples.

My mame settings in the sage.properties files match the samples:
mame/gamelist_filename=gamelist.txt
mame/mame_docs_path=c\:\\mame\\docs
mame/mame_exe_path=c\:\\mame\\mame.exe
mame/mame_images_path=c\:\\mame\\artwork
mame/mame_roms_path=c\:\\mame\\roms
mame/mame_working_directory=c\:\\mame

... I get nothing in the Arcade Games list.

I'm thinking that all things being equal in the sage.properties, that I have a problem in the gamelist.txt file. Any help would be apreciated!

-GK :bang:

PS. I downloaded the newest version of mame... could that be a problem?

Okay... guess it was a hosed sage.properties file. I uninstalled Sage, reinstalled and copied my old wiz.bin back and everything works fine now. :nod: What a great new feature!!! Now I just need to trim my rom collection down to those that I'd actually ever want to play.

[shodge]

Gkenny,

Is your gamelist.txt file in the docs directory?

-Stan

[shodge]

DanM | DCannon,

OK. I'm using XP professional. I'm using VMR9, but with 3D acceleration turned off [Someone said this was really the same as overlay]. I have to do this to allow Sage to run on a seconday monitor. Try turning off 3D acceleration and see if that makes any differences... I'll try some more things tonight when I get home...

-Stan

[Narflex]

OK, I'll help just once since I know the answer. :) You might want to try setting it up so that it doesn't change screen resolutions/color depth when you launch MAME. That should avoid the SageTV UI blacking out like that. This can be done by configuring mame through the mame.ini file or something like that.

[dcannon]

Thanks Jeff,

So much for no support, but thanks for shouting out the answer since you already knew what it was!

[dcannon]

Just wanted to let everyone know that I just tried Jeff's suggestion and it did work. I changed the "switchres" property in mame.ini to 0, it was defaulted to 1. That did the trick!

[GKenny]

gamelist.txt is in the docs folder... that's the way it came in the mame082b.zip. (good to know how to not clober the Sage GUI when I get mame working :))

[pbennington]

Does any one know of a way of starting mame in a specific window size as I have an epia m10000 motherboard and have to use overscan to get sage to fill the tv screen i then use sages overscan settings to ajust the ui, this meens that when mame starts in full screen some of the program is not seen due to the overscan, and so i figured I could start mame in a window and resize it to fit within the area screen seen on the tv, which is great but mame doesn't remember the window size you last used and so it needs adjusting each time, ive tried playing with the resolutions but these don't seem to help, any ideas?

[shodge]

OK,

Folks with the black screen issues upon returning to Sage from Mame... Try turning off the DDRAW setting for windows in the mame.ini file. This may slow some newer games down, but for the old ones like pacman and etc, it seems to solve my problems.

-Stan

[shodge]

Is anyone using the IRREMOTE to control the MAME application???

-Stan

[Opus4]

Originally posted by shodge
Is anyone using the IRREMOTE to control the MAME application???Not here... but what problem are you having? Does MAME simply take keyboard input, or something else? If there is no window name to use as a [SectionName] in irremote.in, you could simply use [MAME] as the section and then use mode(MAME) to force irremote into MAME mode when appropriate, then mode(Default), mode(SomeSection), or mode() when exiting MAME.

Since I don't really know what the problem is yet, just let me know the details if you need more info.

You will probably have a better response rate by using the keyboard directly, though, especially if you need keys to repeat quickly or be constantly held down.

- Andy

[shodge]

Thanks for the reply Andy,

I've tried calling out [mame] for the application but no results. In general mame takes over the display with no window. When I forced mame to a window, it has a complicated name which imbeds the game rom as well. Needless to say again, calling out [mame] did not work (I did not try the whole name with the rom as thats not an acceptable solution).

I'm aware of the key response issue, but I'm just trying to get things like pacman to play so I think it should work. I've read most of your threads on the IRREMOTE.ini but I'm still at a loss. Any suggestions (Forcing Mame mode?)?

Thanks,
-Stan

[Opus4]

Originally posted by shodge
I've read most of your threads on the IRREMOTE.ini but I'm still at a loss. Any suggestions (Forcing Mame mode?)?To me, this is a perfect case for use of the mode(XX) command, unless you can force Mame to always use a particular window title. The problem is getting the remote to know to switch to Mame mode when you select it in SageTV. On my MX-700, I would simply dedicate a special code to always force into/out of Mame mode, but this could be a problem with the silver remote, due to the limited # of buttons. (I always force modes in irremote.)

To enter Mame mode, make sure all of its commands are in the [MAME] section. Then, you would use the mode(MAME) command elsewhere in the ini to force it to interpret commands in the MAME section.

Then, when done with Mame, you would use mode(Default) to return to forcing the default section, mode(SageTV) to return to forcing SageTV mode, or mode() to have it return to automatic section selection depending on which app has focus.

Like I said, this will be a problem using the silver remote & starting Mame from within SageTV. If you run Mame outside SageTV, you could simply dedicate a button in the [Default] section for starting Mame & use the same button inside [MAME] to exit it.

IF you can force Mame to always use the same exact window title (does it have an option to do so?), then give it your preferred window title & use that as the [SectionName]. Irremote will then use that section automatically, as long as you don't force section mode changes elsewhere.

I don't know if I ended up explaining that clearly or if I went in circles, so let me know if it wasn't clear. :)

- Andy

[shodge]

Andy,

Let me see if I understand this.

1 Define all the mame keys in the [mame] section. (already done)
2 In the default section, define a key for switching to mode(mame)...
3 In the mame section, define the exit key to not only supply the end keystroke but to do a mode() to return to the default app [Sage].

This looks good, except I may loose a key from Sage [I'll have to see if I have extra]. Too bad you can't send some kind of message ti the irremote app to cause it to switch modes....

Thanks Andy... I'll give it a try in the next day or so....

-Stan

[Opus4]

Originally posted by shodge
Let me see if I understand this.

1 Define all the mame keys in the [mame] section. (already done)
2 In the default section, define a key for switching to mode(mame)...
3 In the mame section, define the exit key to not only supply the end keystroke but to do a mode() to return to the default app [Sage].Yup, that pretty much sums it up for that solution. As long as your irremote is not currently forcing mode(SageTV) when you run SageTV, mode() is what you want to use when you exit Mame.

This looks good, except I may loose a key from Sage [I'll have to see if I have extra]. Too bad you can't send some kind of message ti the irremote app to cause it to switch modes....Yeah -- when you define that mame-mode key in the default section, you can't use it in the SageTV section. (When a key is not defined in the current mode's section, irremote looks for it in the default section.) Actually, you could use it in the SageTV section to also force a switch to mame mode.

So, yes, the downside is a loss of a button for use in SageTV. That's why I like my MX-700 so much -- you could use a lot more codes with a JP1 remote too. The alternative is to not run Mame from within SageTV, but it sounds like you wouldn't want to do that.

Oh... and you are sending a message to irremote... you are just doing it internally with a remote button. ;)

- Andy

[GKenny]

Stan,
I haven't used it myself, but this sounds like a good reason to use Girder to control it all. Or you could re-define all the Sage commands in IRRemote.ini to be default commands and program the MAME input keys accordingly.

-Glen

[byopvr]

Originally posted by dcannon
I was very excited to hear that MAME could no be used through Sage so I dug out my CD with all my ROMS and downloaded the lasted version on MAME. Whenever I use MAME, then exit Sage remains at a blank screen and no commands through either the remote or keyboard work. Also, whenever I try to run MAME from the Start>Run command when Sage is running, upon exiting MAME, Sage displays the same behavior. I know that no official support is being offerered, but wanted to know if anyone had any ideas. Thanks.

besides possibly not having your paths set up right, it could be that the roms themselves have changed since you last dl'd the roms. They've been consolidating and "fixing" the romsets along the way and rom sets that worked with version .36 of mame will not work (most likely) with version .81 of MAME (or whatever they are up to now). Perhaps try downloading an older version of MAME (they have most of the older versions available for download on the mame site) OR get a full new set of mame roms to match the version you've downloaded through a MAME rom burning service.

hope that helps!
###

someone else asked... about inputs/remote control etc...

MAME accepts keystrokes or joystick input (or lightgun, or mouse/trackball)... may i suggest using usb or wireless gamepads instead of your remote control for playing mame on your TV... I know you guys like controlling EVERYTHING with your remote, but come on now, pick up a gamepad =)

###
Once my new case comes in, I could write up some sort of "howto" for using MAME with sage if it would help... most of your questions seem to be more mame related than sage specific so it should be easy =)

rampy

EDIT -> oh, I almost forgot! Thanks Jeff, for including the feature to begin with! That's an awesome feature, even if it's on the downlow/unsupported.

[JelloMold]

I was just planning on building an arcade cabinet... but now, maybe not...

I've noticed quite a few times now after playing mame games that my system is sloooow. Checking the Task Manager reveals that mame is still running - using 50% of my pitiful CPU. Has anyone else noticed that sometimes mame doesn't exactly exit gracefully? Is this a Sage issue, or mame? Also, what version of mame are you guys running?

Thanks again, Jeff, for such a cool feature. Very well executed! (In the event you continue to develop this function, an 'alphabetical browse by title' feature like in the jukebox's 'search by album title' would be cool for those of us with hundreds or thousands of roms!) Sage Rocks!

[byopvr]

Originally posted by JelloMold
I was just planning on building an arcade cabinet... but now, maybe not...

I've noticed quite a few times now after playing mame games that my system is sloooow. Checking the Task Manager reveals that mame is still running - using 50% of my pitiful CPU. Has anyone else noticed that sometimes mame doesn't exactly exit gracefully? Is this a Sage issue, or mame? Also, what version of mame are you guys running?

Thanks again, Jeff, for such a cool feature. Very well executed! (In the event you continue to develop this function, an 'alphabetical browse by title' feature like in the jukebox's 'search by album title' would be cool for those of us with hundreds or thousands of roms!) Sage Rocks!

There are some options in MAME.ini that might help with that (what cpu are you using and which specific games... also note some games actually slowed down on the original hardware and MAME faithfully reproduces it... like double dragon drags down when there are X amount of baddies or action on the screen...)

Some settings in MAME.ini that might help (from the top of my head, i might dork the exact name/syntax)

autoframeskip 1
sleep 0 (I think, experiment.. it's been so long since it's been introduced I forgot what it does... it has to do with how mame deals with CPU downtime)
priority 1 <-----

... actually can you post your specs and your mame.ini?

Sometimes the old hardware stretch can slow things down too (unless you are using new DD/DX/clean hwstretch..)

*shrug* I'd still build *something* as the classics/MAME is way more fun on the original controls/arcade hardware (or you could buy an x-arcade stick or hotrod "desktop" controller for use with your HTPC)... than a gamepad. But that's just me...

good luck Jello

rampy

[ravenray]

Can someone describe to me what this mode(Default) is? I know how to edit the irremote.ini, I'm just lost at what this mode(Default) does and how it works.

[Opus4]

Originally posted by ravenray
Can someone describe to me what this mode(Default) is? I know how to edit the irremote.ini, I'm just lost at what this mode(Default) does and how it works. The mode(X) command tells ir.exe to translate irremote.ini commands based on the [X] section specified in the mode command just given. So, mode(SageTV) forces the remote to use the [SageTV] section; mode(default) forces the use of the [default] section; and mode() puts it back to its original mode it had at startup, where it will automatically choose the mode based on the window title of the program with Windows focus -- the section will be chosen where the section name in the brackets [X] matches some part of the window title.

See also: Instructions for extending irremote.ini (http://forums.freytechnologies.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4277), where I describe more about irremote.ini... though I think I didn't go into this detail about the mode() command. :)

- Andy

[ravenray]

OH, ok. So basically, let me get this straight from what I read.

[Default]
go=mode(mame)

[Mame]
go=mode(sagetv)

Is this what you mean?

[Opus4]

If all you wanted the 'go' button to do is to force a mode change w/o also sending any keys or anything else, then yes, those are valid commands. The first one forces 'mame' mode, the 2nd forces 'sagetv' mode.

- Andy

[ravenray]

Well, what I wanted to do was to be able to press 'ok' and 'esc' out of mame. I will be using a control pad for the rest of the controls. I just put in a sample just to make sure I was doing it right. I know edit the irremote file for mame, but when I fired up mame to test it, it just wouldn't take it. I believe this method should force the remote upon mame.

[Opus4]

Um... I'm not sure if you were asking a question. :) If you were, please show what you are doing in the ini & be more specific regarding what you want to know. (If you've edited the ini, don't forget to restart ir.exe.)

shodge, above, was working on it too, so maybe he'll have comments since I don't actually have mame.

- Andy

[ravenray]

Ok, Here's the cut down version of my ini file

[Default]
go=mode(mame)

[Mame]
OK=ok
Grnpower={esc}mode(sagetv)

So the instance that mame comes up, I hit the 'go' button (which should now force to use the [Mame] section), and then I hit the 'OK' button (which should alow me to by pass the the screen in mame that ask me to type 'ok').

When I'm done playing, I hit the 'Green Power' button. It should exit out of mame and I'm back at SageTV (which should be using the [SageTV] section.

Is this how it would be setup? I have to try it out later tonight.

[Opus4]

Since your question is in this thread... are you running mame from SageTV? If so, do you already have the remote forced into SageTV mode? If so, the "go=mode(mame)" command in the default section will never get executed if that button is in use in the SageTV section & if you don't get out of SageTV mode first somehow. (You may have to dedicate a button to simply switch to mame mode.) BTW -- if a button is not defined in the current section, the it looks for it in the default section before giving up & ignoring the button code.

"OK=ok" This will only send the 'o' character followed by 'k'. Do you need "{enter}" in addition?

"Grnpower={esc}mode(sagetv)" This will return you to SageTV OK, provided that SageTV is still running & not sleeping. If it goes to sleep when mame is launched, you would have to run SageTV.exe again to wake it: "Grnpower={esc}{run SageTV command here?}mode(sagetv)"

- Andy

[ravenray]

Andy,
I redefined alot of the buttons under SageTv. I currently don't use the 'go' button anymore under Sage. That button along with the color buttons confused my other roomates when they were using Sage.

For Mame, you just need to type in 'O' 'K' and don't need to hit the {enter} key.

When using mame under SageTV, It will already be awake, so I don't think I will need to wake it up. I will test this further tonight to see what results I get from this.

All I know is when I was just testing mame alone with my pvr 250 remote, nothing will happen. Some how when you select a game in mame, the ID or name changes and there's no focus to it.

[Opus4]

Great -- sounds like what you came up with ought to work just fine then.

Originally posted by ravenray
All I know is when I was just testing mame alone with my pvr 250 remote, nothing will happen. Some how when you select a game in mame, the ID or name changes and there's no focus to it. That's exactly what shodge was talking about, prompting this whole mode() discussion. :)

- Andy

[ravenray]

Just to let you know, it's a no go. The mode(x) will not work for this. Gotta find another way.

[Opus4]

I don't know if mode(mame) is case-sensitive, so you could try mode(Mame). (?) For testing, you could also start Notepad & then use your 'go' button (confirm there really is no definition for 'go' in [SageTV]). While Notepad has focus, press a button to see what, if anything, shows up in Notepad. Ex: 'OK' button should produce the text 'ok'.

I don't know how often shodge is online, so maybe you could pm him to see if he got it working.

- Andy

[ravenray]

Yup, I did that test to. Came up with my OK in notepad.

[Opus4]

So, that means the mode switch is working properly. Perhaps mame reads keyboard input differently from how irremote sends its keys -- if so, it probably reads the keyboard directly through DirectX (DirectInput, I think) instead of 'normal' Windows methods/messages. At this point, you will definitely have to talk to someone with more knowledge of mame to find out if there is a way to send it input w/o using an actual keyboard, joystick, gamepad, etc.

- Andy

[ravenray]

Andy,

You hit it on the nail. That's exactly it. I guess this won't be possible for a long while.

[Opus4]

Well... wasn't _this_ conversation useful?? ;) I guess you got that confirmed somewhere? But yeah, after all this, it dawned on me that they are probably using DirectInput for better response. Relying on Windows messages for keyboard control in a game is sort of worthless.

If you ever find out if/how it can be done with other messages, I guess you can look into having irremote send those.

- Andy

[Droid]

1) Do I run the Windows frontend version?
2) I tried the mame.exe and it worked, but I get a blank SAGE afterward.
3) I dont have a mame.ini file?

Thanks.... I really need a dumb persons walk thru.

[ravenray]

I currently run the mame32 version. I did both test on sage and myhtpc and they both work for me. I preferre to use myhtpc as I can have it show me the snap shots of my games (more configuration if you go through this route).

[shodge]

Hmm,

I have the snapshots of the games show up for me in the Sage menu....

Droid, to keep mame from stealing the graphics screen when MAME runs, you have to tell mame not to use DDRAW. Yes this can be done through the mame.ini file. If you don't have one, you can have mame create one. Just type mame -help, or mame /? or just mame (I'm not sure which as I am at work). One of the options listed should be to create a mame.ini.... You should be good from there...

-Stan

[shatter]

Hi,

I am trying to get mame to work in SageTV v2 without luck. None of my roms are showing up in the game listing screen in Sage.

I have sage installed on my C drive and mame on d drive as d:\mame with gamelist.txt under d:\mame\docs please see the entries from my sage.properties file below:

mame/gamelist_filename=gamelist.txt
mame/mame_docs_path=D\:\\MAME\\docs
mame/mame_exe_path=D\:\\MAME\\mamepp.exe
mame/mame_images_path=D\:\\MAME\\snap
mame/mame_roms_path=D\:\\MAME\\roms
mame/mame_working_directory=D\:\\MAME

Any ideas why I am not getting any games showing up in the Arcade Game listing in Sage?

Thanks

[mwhite]

Hi Shatter,

I had the same problem.

I had unzipped the roms I wanted to use into the roms folder instead of leaving them zipped up. Then I found out that mame knows how to unzip the roms automagically.

Leaving the roms zipped up in the roms folder fixed my problem.

Of course, your mileage may vary.

HTH

-mark

[shatter]

thanks Mark!

That was the trick. I have all my roms unzipped into folders and instead it wants things as zip files.

thanks again!!

[yanksno1]

Is there a way to have normal PC non-mame games displayed? That would be a feature I'd think people would want. :)

[Ranthorn]

This thread has been very helpful. I am able to run Mame from Sage just fine on my monitor. I would like to display it on the TV. I'm using the Hauppage 350 as my TV-out. Is it possible to do what I want?

[sabre]

On the trick to turn off DDRAW in mame.ini, that works to get the screen back to Sage. Bit it runs mame very scrunched, at least on ms pacman. Anyone else see this, or know of a resolution?

edit--turning off 3d and switchres does work, but i like to keep 3d on in overlay since it causes less freezing when looking at overlays - at least for me. just have to add a couple of key strokes.

[wbarber69]

lots of good info, and they sage there is no support for mame under sage

[mc2wheels]

I am able to see the list of games and play them, but I am unable to display the preview pictures in the game list. Mame32 can find them. Do i need to unzip the files?

[abasu2003]

you need to play them

[mc2wheels]

I do play them, but the screen snapshots for the games do not show up on the display where I choose what game to play. It's just a nice to have really, but I was wondering if I need to configure it differently. I have the images path pointing to my snap directory where the zipped png files are. Has anyone out there gotten this to work?

[abasu2003]

i just know mine didn't show up until i played them trhough sage. possibly, i saved the games too, but i don't think thats what caused the images to show up

[Wheemer]

I am using the ATI Remote Wonder and I've tried both Girder and the ATI application to control Mame... I can't get it to work. I read on the Girder forum that it doesn't work with mame. Any pointers or help?

Thank You

[ravenray]

Wheemer,

Your remote isn't going to work at all. I asked, and basically, it boils down to it that mame uses directdraw. Which means you have to use a direct input. I.E. keyboard, mouse, controller, etc...

[Wheemer]

Well then... That just makes this mame addition useless to me, darn. FWIW apparently over at Girder they say they'll have it working in version 4.0 whenever that'll be.

Thanks for the help.

[mjryan86]

I've been using Sage for a while now and using it to play my mame roms. Which play just fine, but in the game list menu I do not get any pictures just the games listed out. Theres a big spot under each game as if there should be an image there. I have PNG files for the games I have in the artwork dir. And in the sage properies file I have it pointing to the artwork dir. for the images.
Not a big deal but would add a nice touch to it if it would show the images.


mjryan86

[mc2wheels]

I suppose I shouldn't expect too much with an unsupported feature. But if I cannot get the pictures, I wish it would't reserve the space for them. Sort of like the view options with the import library.

How many roms do you have? I have thousands. Abasu2003 got them to display. Perhaps Sage is trying to generate the "thumbnails", but it takes a long time with so many roms. I did try leaving in on the game screen for an hour, but I still did not see them. Maybe I will try overnight.

[mjryan86]

I only have 6 roms I deleted the rest a long time ago, never played them. So I don't thing it's an issue. of loading the files.

But are there any other setting I need to set besides the 4 lines or so in the properties file. I'm sure I have thoses setup fine. Like I said MAME playes fine.

Right now I just keep the image files in the artwork directory,( which is the dicetory I have in the properties file). there .PNG images and are named the same as the ROMs I have. Is this corrected. or do I need to call them something else or use a different format?


Mike

[ravenray]

Hmmm, I have my files in the snap folder. Had you tried mame alone and see if it could see the images?

[mc2wheels]

and I can see them in Mame32. Do I need to unzip them for sage to see them?

[ravenray]

Ummm, are you saying you have the image files within the zipped roms? My setup is like this. My zipped roms or in the rom folder and my images are in the snap folder. Although I might be using a few version of mame32 behind, I don't think that should make a difference.

[mc2wheels]

All of the roms are in the \roms directory. In zip files named for each game.

All of my images in my \snap directory are in a file called snap.zip.

[ravenray]

mc2wheels, Have you tried and unzip all the images to the snap folder and see if it pops up?

[mc2wheels]

I'v unzipped all of the png files into the snap folder, verified that the properties file points to that directory, and still get no pictures.

Is this how you have it? Do you have them unzipped?

[ravenray]

Yes, I have all my pictures unzipped. It is a bit strange why they don't show up for you.

[mc2wheels]

Yep, it sure is weird. But I do not seem to be the only one. Doesn't matter so much because I have the games working. But a small annoyance. Could you post your settings in you .properties file, so I can quadruple check them against mine?

[flashbacck]

where do I get/place/find the gamelist.txt?

Also, is there a way to get other emulators (console emulators for example) to work with this?

[CyRex]

flashback,

Right now I have NES and SNES emulators working (nearly) perfectly with Cayars STV. I have a 'Games' section under media, on which you can then select NES or SNES. From there, it brings up a list of games, all complete with box art in the bottom right corner. The emulators I use are Jnes and Zsnes, which I have found to work the best for full screen TV output. Znes works perfectly -- exactly like a console SNES would work. The NES emulator has its glitches on several games, but is very near perfect also.

To add this to Sage I made use of Cayars XML formatted menus. All of the games were added manually, which was a bit tedious. I am thinking of writing a small VB app that will scan my ROMS directory and create the menu entries for me, just haven't had the motivation lately...

-Dan

[davin]

cyrex, would you mind sharing your menus with the community? Or at least the basic structure?

[hackules]

I set ui/show_mame_menu=true or whatever in my properties file, but I don't get the arcade option under media libraries. Anyone have a clue for me? Thanks.

[mattybonez]

Hi Hackules,

Since Cayars STV uses dynamic XML menus, you need to manually set up the link to the MAME menus.

1. Just go into your Media Libraries section (or where you want the MAME link to be), then right-click and choose Add New Menu Item.
2. Choose Internal Screen as the type of menu item, then select 10: Arcade Games.
3. Next, add the text for the menu (e.g., MAME Games) and click OK.This should add the link at the bottom of the list.
4. Once you have the menu item set the way that you want, right-click and choose Save menu definition file. This will save the changes that you've made.
5. From there, you should be able to follow the directions earlier in this post to get the new MAME keys set up in your sage.properties file.

For more information on the dynamic XML menus, and what you can do with them, check out this page:
http://sage-community.org/index.cgi/wiki/NielmStvMenu

Good luck,
mattybonez



I set ui/show_mame_menu=true or whatever in my properties file, but I don't get the arcade option under media libraries. Anyone have a clue for me? Thanks.

[technazz]

I have set up MAME and everything seems to work fine. Its sweet, using GIRDER I can control SAGETV with my Wireless RUmblePAD II!

But I am having some extra titles show up in SAGETV. When I individually launch them they do not work. If I delete them they will cause another ROM not to work like 1941.zip work and 1941j.zip doesnt. When I delete 1941j.zip, 1941 does not work.

Is there a way for these extra zip files not to show up in SAGE? They dont show up in MAME32!

Thanks

Technazz

[pawn]

I'v unzipped all of the png files into the snap folder, verified that the properties file points to that directory, and still get no pictures.

Is this how you have it? Do you have them unzipped?


I know this is an old post now, but just to make it clear: you can make sure a screen cap shows up in the Sage front end by hitting the F12 key while playing or viewing each game. The picture is saved to the snap folder. Sage dynamically loads these every time you enter the Arcade Games section, so snap away, reload the menu and voila!

[dadams]

I do play them, but the screen snapshots for the games do not show up on the display where I choose what game to play. It's just a nice to have really, but I was wondering if I need to configure it differently. I have the images path pointing to my snap directory where the zipped png files are. Has anyone out there gotten this to work?

I am also having this problem. My games play correctly, but I don't see the snapshots, just empty space where they should be. It would be cool to able to see them. Anyone who was having this problem get it to work? Here is my properties file listing. The files are in their zipped and unzipped format(tried both)

mame/gamelist_filename=gamelist.txt
mame/mame_docs_path=e\:\\mame\\docs
mame/mame_exe_path=e\:\\mame\\mame32.exe
mame/mame_images_path=e\:\\mame\\snap
mame/mame_roms_path=e\:\\mame\\roms
mame/mame_working_directory=e\:\\mame

Thanks,

Dennis

[mc2wheels]

I've tried both zipped and unzipped, but I just can't do get them. I gave up, and I removed the menu. It's easier to just launch mame32.

[CuriousGMan]

Hello,

I've gotten Mame to work with SageTV, nice job. Once I got around some of the config issues through the help of this message thread, and recreated my own gamelist.txt, it works great. I was looking at using GameEx for this purpose, but it's just much easier to do it this way. I'll use GameEx if I ever get the time to put together a cabinet or cocktail table. Anyway, my question is around the mame images defined by the following parameter:

mame/mame_images_path=C\:\\Mame\\Files\\titles

This doesn't seem to work for me as I do not see any images when I list the arcade games. Does anybody see images here?

Let me know. Thanks!

- George

[jbanera]

Reading this thread has been very helpful in getting mame setup through Sage 4.0 and SageMCE!!! Thanks everyone.

I think I am experiencing the same problems as everyone else in that I too don't see the snap shots through Sage's built in mame support. (See attached image)

Just wondering, is there a menu option or sage.properties option that will just list the mame roms instead of putting them in the format with the snap shots? This would make finding a game much easier and quicker, especially for people who have more than a couple of hundred!!!