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

[falchulk]

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

[MixTracks]

!!!!!!!

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....

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. 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

[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.

[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

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. 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?