Wiki/wiki-rtd/docs/wiki_emulator_guides/mame/mame-guide.md

MAME - General Guide

MAME is a multi-purpose emulation framework.

MAME’s purpose is to preserve decades of software history. As electronic technology continues to rush forward, MAME prevents this important "vintage" software from being lost and forgotten.

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MAME Links:

MAME - Webpage

MAME - Forum

MAME - Wiki

MAME - Documentation

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Where to put the games?

Games that you want to run with MAME should be put under the retrodeck/roms/mame/ (recommended) or retrodeck/roms/arcade/ directory.

What file formats are supported?

.zip
.chd

Does MAME require BIOS or Firmware?

Yes, it depends on the game.

You can do a detailed search over at:

Arcadeitalia - Mame List

Where to put the PSX BIOS?

Directly into the folder

retrodeck/bios/

For some ROMs it needs to be in the same folder as the roms

retrodeck/roms/mame/

It all depends on the game.

MAME Standalone Folders

MAME Standalone comes with several folders for various assets and files.

Configuration Folders

Where different types of configurations are stored

Type	Folder	Comment
ROMs folder	retrodeck/roms/mame/ / retrodeck/roms/arcade/
Saves diff	retrodeck/saves/mame-sa/diff/
Saves hiscore	retrodeck/saves/mame-sa/hiscore/
Saves nvram	retrodeck/saves/mame-sa/nvram/
CFG	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/config/mame/cfg	This is where the default.cfg is and also any custom game configs are saved.
INI	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/config/mame/ini	This is where ui.ini and mame.ini files are located. But they should not be touched unless you know what you are doing.
INP	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/config/mame/inp

Data Folders

Where different types of validation data and plugins are stored

Type	Folder	Comment
Cheat	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/cheat
DATS	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/dats
Folders	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/folders
Hash	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/hash
Plugin-Data	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/plugin-data
Plugins	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/plugins

Asset Folders

Where different types of art assets and metadata are stored

Type	Folder	Comment
Artwork	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/artwork
Artwork-preview	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/artwork-preview
Bosses	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/bosses
Cabinets	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/cabinets
Comments	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/comments
Covers	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/covers
Cpanel	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/cpanel
Crosshair	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/crosshair
Ends	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/ends
Flyers	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/flyers
Fonts	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/fonts
Game Over	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/gameover
How-to	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/howto
Language	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/language
Logo	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/logo
Marquees	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/marquees
PCB	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/pcb
Samples	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/samples
Scores	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/scores
Select	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/select
Share	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/share
Software	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/software
Titles	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/titles
UI	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/ui
Versus	~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/versus

Maintaining ROM Sets

As MAME updates, so do the ROM Sets. It's important to use the same ROM Set as the current version shipped with RetroDECK.

Read more on: MAME - Maintaning ROM Sets

How-to enable cheats?

RetroDECK already includes the cheat file from Pugsy's Cheats in the cheat folder.

To enable cheats:

1. Open MAME via the Configurator or while in a MAME game.
2. In the MAME interface, go to General Settings -> Miscellaneous Options -> Cheats and toggle it to On.
3. Go back, click Save Settings, and exit MAME.

When you launch a game, open the Quick Menu and go to the Cheat Menu to toggle cheats for that game.

Applying effects such as Shaders and Scanlines

First read up on BGFX effects on BGFX MAMEdev

1. Go to ~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/config/mame/ini
2. Open the mame.ini with your text editor of choice.
3. Find OSD VIDEO OPTIONS and edit the value: video from opengl to bgfx.
4. Find GFX POST-PROCESSING OPTIONS and edit the value: bgfx_screen_chains from nothing to <yourchoice> from the BGFX link. Example value from MAME: bgfx_screen_chains: crt-geom,pillarbox_left_horizontal,pillarbox_right_horizontal.