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

MAME - General Guide

Where to put the games

Games that you want to run with MAME should be put under the retrodeck/roms/mame/ directory.

Enable cheats

RetroDECK already ships the cheat file from Pugsy's Cheats as part of the cheat folder.

To enable cheats open MAME via the Configurator (we plan to make this easier later).

In the MAME interface go to -> General Settings -> Miscellaneous Options -> Cheats and toggle it to On -> go back and click Save Settings and leave 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

We

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 fron nothing to what ever value you want from the BGFX link. Example value from MAME: bgfx_screen_chains: crt-geom,pillarbox_left_horizontal,pillarbox_right_horizontal.

MAME Standalone Folders

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

Configuration Folders

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. You can always reset via the configurator if you mess things up.

INP

~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/config/mame/inp

Data Folders

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

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

Howto

~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/howto

Icons

~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/data/mame/assets/icons

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