MameGamers - Mame Arcade Cabinet Making & More

Installing MAME is just as easy as twiddling your thumbs.

We have this detailed instruction guide to help you get started with all the details on roms, bios’, CHD files and more. For these instructions we are working with MAMEUI (formally MAME32).

So what is MAME and MAMEUI (formally MAME32)?
This neat little application is an emulator, designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software. MAME is a clever acronym for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator.

MameDev States: MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator. When used in conjunction with images of the original arcade game’s ROM and disk data, MAME attempts to reproduce that game as faithfully as possible on a more modern general-purpose computer. MAME can currently emulate several thousand different classic arcade video games from the late 1970s through the modern era.

Where can I get a copy of MAME?
Getting the copy which is right for you can be a bit tricky, some games are unable to run in newer/older versions of MAME, I have been through a tonne of different versions of MAME and have finally found the perfect one which best suits my needs.

There are a few places on the net where you can gather the files. I recommend using MAMEUI 0.103 – I find this version best for MA (Maximus Arcade) and most Roms, you could say its my happy medium.

• http://mameui.classicgaming.gamespy.com/
• http://www.mameworld.info/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Number=84697&page=0&view=expanded&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1
• http://mamedev.org/
• http://www.romnation.net/srv/emulators/mame.html

Unzip/Extract MAMEUI
Depending on your set-up just extract the file into a location of your choice. On my system I chose the desktop as it is extremely easy to make any changes if needed.

Navigate to the MAMEUI directory
Navigate the the MAMEUI directory and start the MAMEUI(or MAME32) executable (.exe).

Using MAMEUI (MAME32)
If this is the first time you have started MAMEUI it could be a bit confusing. Before we begin we still need some more files to make sure everything works perfect.

Go to “Options” and click on “Directories”.

A nice dialogue box should appear by default should be showing directories from ROMS. In the meantime we will just be changing the ROMS directory, but if you are experiencing issues with artwork not showing check these settings.

Click insert while in the ROMS directory, navigate to the location of your ROMS folder inside your MAME directory.

After you have done this go back to the main MAME screen. Assuming you have a good selection of ROMS at your displosal, copy them into the ROMS folder located inside the MAME directory. DO NOT UNZIP THE ROM FILES, LEAVE THEM AS .ZIP FILES!

Back in MAME on the left hand side menu you will need to switch to “Available” to see your games. Press F5 to refresh rescan your directory, and voila you should have a list of games.

Double click on the game and enjoy.

You will no doubt come across a game which either does not show in the MAME list, has missing files, required a CHD file and more.

Here are some quick fixes to help if you get stuck.

Bios Files
Some games required other standard files to operate, these were included in bios files for some games. To installed them its exactly the same way as a game ROM, just copy the .ZIP into your ROMS directory and you’re done.

I have zipped them all up for you and you can download them on our downloads page.

CHD Files
A CHD file is a compressed image of the hard drive used in an arcade cabinet. Hard drives are used in arcade games because of the huge storage available on them (gigabytes!). Luckily for us the lovely Mame developers have found a way to support a compressed version of these hard drives although some can still be quite large.

At the moment there are now several games that use hard drives with sizes from 50MB up to over 2GB so make sure you have plenty of space left.

To install you will need to place the .CHD file into its own folder in the ROMS directory with the exact name as the games .ZIP file.

For example Killer Instinct uses a romfile called kinst.zip and a hard disk file called kinst.chd. First the rom file need to be put (Still zipped!) into the main Mame roms folder (Normally C:Mame/Roms). You then need to create a new folder in your roms folder called kinst and copy the kinst.chd (Not zipped!) file into it (C:Mame/Roms/kinst). If you are unsure how to create folders then have a look at the Windows Basics page as it has a description of what to do.

You can find most CHD files on this great website http://romkeeper.com (requires free registration)

Clone ROMS
A clone ROM is a different version or variant of an original game. For example, Street Fighter II Turbo is considered a variant of Street Fighter II Champion Edition.

In order to play these “Clones” you will need the “Parent” ROM, a quick Google search can help you find what you need.

I hope you enjoyed this free tutorial on setting up your MAMEUI (MAME32) on your PC, if you found something a bit confusing or can proof me better please contact me and I can correct it, with thanks to you of course

- Konvict