|
Software
CHRO-MAME runs
AdvanceMAME for an emulator, and uses
AdvanceMENU as its front-end (FYI: A front end is nothing more
than a graphical interface that allows you to easily load things.
Without it you need to use the command prompt and type everything
you want to run in manually). It runs in a Windows 98SE pure
DOS environment (Windows is set not to boot). AdvanceMAME
and AdvanceMENU were chosen because they were designed
specifically for arcade monitors, supporting virtually all known
arcade monitors, resolutions, and refresh rates (15KHz, 24KHz,
31.5KHz). It compliments my Wells Gardner D9200 arcade
monitor nicely.
Both of these programs are difficult
to setup.
Documentation exists, but it is not clear in some cases, and
it's very complex. Settings for both AdvanceMAME/MENU are
stored in something called and RC file. This is just a long
text document. Unfortunately, I've yet to have found a page
which has a list of all the commands supported by this RC file
(and what they do). There must be several hundred different
commands.
You can download copies of my
AdvanceMAME and AdvanceMENU RC files below (both AdvanceMAME and
AdvanceMENU use similar, but different RC files). These RC
files are customized specifically for a Wells Gardner D9200
monitor running on a Trident Blade T64 video card in a pure DOS
environment. You can view/edit them in any text editor (like
Windows Notepad):
AdvanceMAME version
0.68.1 RC File (2kb - zipped RC file)
AdvanceMENU version 0.68.1 RC
File (2kb - zipped RC file)
CAUTION: DO NOT REPLACE YOUR RC FILES WITH THESE AND ATTEMPT
TO RUN EITHER OF THESE PROGRAMS. DOING SO MAY VERY WELL
DAMAGE/DESTROY YOUR MONITOR. FOR REFERENCE ONLY.
Dual mouse support (trackballs and
spinner/rotary controllers) is achieved by using the dual DOS
mouse drivers included with AdvanceMAME (the CTMouse and OptiMouse
DOS drivers). These drivers are loaded in the AUTOEXEC.BAT
file. These drivers support two Serial mice, two PS/2 mice,
or one Serial mouse and one PS/2 mouse.
I looked and looked but could not find
any USB mouse drivers for DOS. Although my motherboard BIOS
supports USB in DOS mode, it will not work with mice. This
has something to do with how DOS was actually designed, and makes
it very tough to run anything using USB in DOS.
These drivers, unfortunately, don't
work perfectly. A single trackball and dual spinners works
fine. When two trackballs are spinning at once, the drivers
are only able to read signals from one of the trackballs at a
time. So if two people are going at it in the middle of a
trackball game and spin their trackballs at the same time, the
cursor on the screen will be extremely jumpy for each player,
making them impossible to use. Spinner/Rotary controllers
don't suffer from this problem (only one axis each instead of
two).
This is not a fault of the trackballs
or Opti-Pac, but rather the DOS drivers. If the dual
trackballs are hooked up using either the serial ports or USB
ports while in Windows 98SE, and I'm running a dual-mouse
supporting version of MAME (such as
MAME Analog+),
dual trackballs work perfectly fine. Why don't I use MAME
Analog+ to begin with? It won't run in DOS, and it doesn't
have support for arcade monitors (it will run fine on them, but
resolutions and refresh rates won't be accurate - it stays stuck
in 640x480 mode).
Here are my AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS,
and MSDOS.SYS files.
For some reason, Windows 98SE changes
two lines in my Autoexec.bat file every time I boot it into
Windows. "SET SNDSCAPE=C:\EAPCI" and "C:\EAPCI\APINIT.COM"
are changed to point to the Windows sound drivers (which don't
work in DOS). I haven't found a way to stop this other than
never booting into Windows (if you set the file as read-only,
it'll still change these damn lines!). I guess I could just
stick this on a floppy and boot it off of that, but that's too
slow.:
AUTOEXEC.BAT
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T2
SET SNDSCAPE=C:\EAPCI
C:\EAPCI\APINIT.COM
C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.ESE
C:\MAME\CONTRIB\OPTIMOUS\CTMOUSE /2 /M /R11
C:\MAME\CONTRIB\OPTIMOUS\OPTIDRV /M /R11
CLS
C:\MAME\ADVMENU\ADVMENU.EXE
CONFIG.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEN.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.SYS NOEMS NOVCPI
DOS=HIGH,UMB
MSDOS.SYS
[Paths]
WinDir=C:\WINDOWS
WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS
HostWinBootDrv=C
[Options]
BootMulti=1
BootGUI=0
Logo=0
DoubleBuffer=1
AutoScan=1
WinVer=4.10.2222
;
;The following lines are required for compatibility with other
programs.
;Do not remove them (MSDOS.SYS needs to be >1024 bytes).
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxa
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxb
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxc
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxd
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxe
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxf
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxg
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxh
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxi
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxj
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxk
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxl
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxm
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxn
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxo
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxp
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxq
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxr
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxs
Hardware
|
