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MAME(6) MAME - Multi-purpose emulation framework MAME(6) NAME MAME - Multi-purpose emulation framework SYNOPSIS mame [options] gamename DESCRIPTION Started in 1997 by Nicola Salmoria, MAME was originally intended as a series of emulators for individual games, which were later combined into a single multi-game emulator. In the following years, MAME grew over and over up to the actual size, with more than 100 contributors to the project. OPTIONS Core commands -help, -? Displays current MAME version and copyright notice. -validate, -valid Performs internal validation on every driver in the system. Run this before submitting changes to ensure that you haven't vio- lated any of the core system rules. Configuration commands -createconfig, -cc Creates the default mame.ini file in the current directory. All the configuration options (not commands) described below can be permanently changed by editing this configuration file. -showconfig, -sc Displays the current configuration settings. -showusage, -su Displays a summary of all the command line options. For options that are not mentioned here, the short summary given by -showusage is usually sufficient. Frontend commands All the list commands below write info to the screen. If you wish to write the info to a textfile instead, use redirection. For example, mame -listxml > ~/mamelist.xml writes the full list of supported game to file mamelist.xml in your home directory. -listxml, -lx [gamename|wildcard] List comprehensive details for all of the supported games. The output is quite long, so it is usually better to redirect this into a file. The output is in XML format. By default all games are listed; however, you can limit this list by specifying a driver name or wildcard after the -listxml command. -listfull, -ll [gamename|wildcard] Displays a list of game driver names and descriptions. By de- fault all games are listed; however, you can limit this list by specifying a driver name or wildcard after the -listfull com- mand. -listsource, -ls [gamename|wildcard] Displays a list of drivers and the names of the source files their game drivers live in. Useful for finding which driver a game runs on in order to fix bugs. By default all games are listed; however, you can limit this list by specifying a driver name or wildcard after the -listsource command. -listclones, -lc [gamename|wildcard] Displays a list of clones. By default all clones are listed; however, you can limit this list by specifying a driver name or wildcard after the -listclones command. -listbrothers, -lb [gamename|wildcard] Displays a list of "brothers" or other drivers from same source- file. By default all games are listed; however, you can limit this list by specifying a driver name or wildcard after the -listbrothers command. -listcrc Displays a full list of CRCs of all ROM images referenced by all drivers within MAME code. -listroms, -lr gamename Displays a list of ROM images referenced by the specified game. -listsamples gamename Displays a list of samples referenced by the specified game. -verifyroms [gamename|wildcard] Checks for invalid or missing ROM images. By default all drivers that have valid ZIP files or directories in the rom path are verified; however, you can limit this list by specifying a dri- ver name or wildcard after the -verifyroms command. -verifysamples [gamename|wildcard] Checks for invalid or missing samples. By default all drivers that have valid ZIP files or directories in the samplepath are verified; however, you can limit this list by specifying a dri- ver name or wildcard after the -verifyroms command. -romident Attempts to identify ROM files, if they are known to MAME, in the specified .zip file or directory. This command can be used to try and identify ROM sets taken from unknown boards. On exit, the errorlevel is returned as one of the following: 0 all files were identified 7 all files were identified except for some "non-ROM" files 8 some files were identified 9 no files were identified -listdevices, -ld Output the list of devices referenced by a given game or set of games. -listslots, -lslot Output the list of available slots and slot devices for the sys- tem. -listmedia, -lm Output the list of available media for the system. -listsoftware, -lsoft Output the list of known software for the system. -verifysoftware, -vsoft [gamename|wildcard] Checks for invalid or missing ROM images in your software lists. By default all drivers that have valid ZIP files or directories in the rompath are verified; however, you can limit this list by specifying a specific driver name or wildcard. -getsoftlist, -glist Retrieve software list by name. -verifysoftlist, -vlist [softwarelistname] Checks a specified software list for missing ROM images if files exist for issued softwarelistname. By default, all drivers that have valid ZIP files or directories in the rompath are verified; however, you can limit this list by specifying a specific soft- warelistname (without .XML). -listmidi, -mlist Create a list of list available MIDI I/O devices for use with emulation. -listnetwork, -nlist List available network adapters. Configuration options -[no]readconfig, -[no]rc Enables or disables the reading of the config files. When en- abled (which is the default), MAME reads the following config files in order: 1. mame.ini the main configuration file 2. name.ini where name is your executable name, i.e. mame unless you changed it (e.g. if you renamed mame to mame0137, the parsed file will be mame0137.ini) 3. debug.ini, if the debugger is enabled 4. vector.ini, for vector games only 5. [driver].ini based on the source filename of the game driver 6. [parent].ini for clones only, may be called recursively 7. [gamename].ini note this sometimes resolves to the same of the source driver The settings in the later ini's override those in the earlier ini's. So, for example, if you wanted to disable overlay ef- fects in the vector games, you can create a vector.ini with the "effect none" line in it, and it will override whatever effect value you have in your mame.ini. The default is ON (-readcon- fig). -[no]writeconfig, -[no]wc Write configuration to [driver].ini on exit. Default is OFF (-nowriteconfig). Search path options Be careful to use the path, directory and file options in mame.ini ONLY. Otherwise, the outcome may be unpredictable and not consistent across releases. -rompath, -rp, -biospath, -bp pathname Specifies a list of paths within which to find ROM or hard disk images. Multiple paths can be specified by separating them with semicolons. The default is 'roms' (that is, a directory "roms" in the same directory as the MAME executable). -hashpath pathname Specifies a list of paths within which to search for software hash files. Multiple paths can be specified by separating them with semicolons. The default is 'hash' (that is, a directory 'hash' in the same directory as the MAME executable). -samplepath, -sp pathname Specifies a list of paths within which to find sample files. Multiple paths can be specified by separating them with semi- colons. The default is 'samples' (that is, a directory "samples" in the same directory as the MAME executable). -artpath, -artwork_directory pathname Specifies a list of paths within which to find artwork files. Multiple paths can be specified by separating them with semi- colons. The default is 'artwork' (that is, a directory "artwork" in the same directory as the MAME executable). -ctrlrpath, -ctrlr_directory pathname Specifies a list of paths within which to find controller-spe- cific configuration files. Multiple paths can be specified by separating them with semicolons. The default is 'ctrlr' (that is, a directory "ctrlr" in the same directory as the MAME exe- cutable). -inipath pathname Specifies a list of paths within which to find .INI files. Mul- tiple paths can be specified by separating them with semicolons. The default is '/etc/mame/'. -fontpath pathname Specifies a list of paths within which to find .BDF font files. Multiple paths can be specified by separating them with semi- colons. The default is '.' (that is, search in the same direc- tory as the MAME executable). -cheatpath pathname Specifies a list of paths within which to find cheat files. Mul- tiple paths can be specified by separating them with semicolons. The default is 'cheat' (that is, a directory 'cheat' in the same directory as the MAME executable). -crosshairpath pathname Specifies a list of paths within which to find crosshair files. Multiple paths can be specified by separating them with semi- colons. The default is 'crosshair' (that is, a directory "crosshair" in the same directory as the MAME executable). If the Crosshair is set to default in the menu, MAME will look for gamenamespecified crosshairpath, where # is the player number. Failing that, MAME will use built-in default crosshairs. -pluginspath pathname Specifies a single path within which to find plugins. The de- fault is 'plugins' (that is, a directory 'plugins' in the same directory as the MAME executable). -languagepath pathname Specifies a single path within which to find language files. The default is 'language' (that is, a directory 'language' in the same directory as the MAME executable). Output Directory Options -cfg_directory pathname Specifies a single directory where configuration files are stored. Configuration files store user configurable settings that are read at startup and written when MAME exits. The de- fault is 'cfg' (that is, a directory "cfg" in the same directory as the MAME executable). If this directory does not exist, it will be automatically created. -nvram_directory pathname Specifies a single directory where NVRAM files are stored. NVRAM files store the contents of EEPROM and non-volatile RAM (NVRAM) for games which used this type of hardware. This data is read at startup and written when MAME exits. The default is 'nvram' (that is, a directory "nvram" in the same directory as the MAME executable). If this directory does not exist, it will be auto- matically created. -input_directory pathname Specifies a single directory where input recording files are stored. Input recordings are created via the -record option and played back via the -playback option. The default is 'inp' (that is, a directory "inp" in the same directory as the MAME exe- cutable). If this directory does not exist, it will be automati- cally created. -state_directory pathname Specifies a single directory where save state files are stored. Save state files are read and written either upon user request, or when using the -autosave option. The default is 'sta' (that is, a directory "sta" in the same directory as the MAME exe- cutable). If this directory does not exist, it will be automati- cally created. -snapshot_directory pathname Specifies a single directory where screen snapshots are stored, when requested by the user. The default is 'snap' (that is, a directory "snap" in the same directory as the MAME executable). If this directory does not exist, it will be automatically cre- ated. -diff_directory pathname Specifies a single directory where hard drive differencing files are stored. Hard drive differencing files store any data that is written back to a hard disk image, in order to preserve the original image. The differencing files are created at startup when a game with a hard disk image. The default is 'diff' (that is, a directory "diff" in the same directory as the MAME exe- cutable). If this directory does not exist, it will be automati- cally created. -comment_directory pathname Specifies a single directory where debugger comment files are stored. Debugger comment files are written by the debugger when comments are added to the disassembly for a game. The default is 'comments' (that is, a directory "comments" in the same direc- tory as the MAME executable). If this directory does not exist, it will be automatically created. State/playback options -state slot Immediately after starting the specified game, will cause the save state in the specified slot to be loaded. -[no]autosave When enabled, automatically creates a save state file when exit- ing MAME and automatically attempts to reload it when later starting MAME with the same game. This only works for games that have explicitly enabled save state support in their driver. The default is OFF (-noautosave). -playback, -pb filename Specifies a file from which to play back a series of game in- puts. This feature does not work reliably for all games, but can be used to watch a previously recorded game session from start to finish. In order to make things consistent, you should only record and playback with all configuration (.cfg), NVRAM (.nv), and memory card files deleted. The default is NULL (no play- back). -[no]exit_after_playback If play back is enabled (see -playback option) the program exits when end of file is reached. Otherwise the machine will continue to run. Default is OFF (-noexit_after_playback). -record, -rec filename Specifies a file to record all input from a game session. This can be used to record a game session for later playback. This feature does not work reliably for all games, but can be used to watch a previously recorded game session from start to finish. In order to make things consistent, you should only record and playback with all configuration (.cfg), NVRAM (.nv), and memory card files deleted. The default is NULL (no recording). -[no]record_timecode Specify whether to create a timecode file. It contains a line with elapsed times on each press of timecode shortcut key (de- fault is F12). This option works only when recording mode is enabled (-record option). The file is saved on inp folder. De- fault is OFF (-norecord_timecode). -mngwrite filename Writes each video frame to the given filename in MNG format, producing an animation of the game session. Note that -mngwrite only writes video frames; it does not save any audio data. Use -wavwrite for that, and reassemble the audio/video using offline tools. The default is NULL (no recording). -aviwrite filename Stream video and sound data to the given filename in AVI format, producing an animation of the game session complete with sound. The default is NULL (no recording). -wavwrite filename Writes the final mixer output to the given filename in WAV for- mat, producing an audio recording of the game session. The default is NULL (no recording). -snapname string Describes how MAME should name files for snapshots. string pro- vides a template that is used to generate a filename. Three sim- ple substitutions are provided: the / character represents the path separator on any target platform (even Windows); the lit- eral %g represents the driver name of the current game; and the literal %i represents an incrementing index. If %i is omitted, then each snapshot taken will overwrite the previous one; other- wise, MAME will find the next empty value for %i and use that for a filename. The default is %g/%i, which creates a separate folder for each game, and names the snapshots under it starting with 0000 and increasing from there. Example: if you use mame robby -snapname foo/%g%i snapshots will be saved as snaps/foo/robby0000.png, snaps/foo/robby0001.png and so on. -snapsize widthxheight Hard-codes the size for snapshots and movie recording. By de- fault, MAME will create snapshots at the game's current resolu- tion in raw pixels, and will create movies at the game's start- ing resolution in raw pixels. If you specify this option, then MAME will create both snapshots and movies at the size speci- fied, and will bilinear filter the result. Note that this size does not automatically rotate if the game is vertically ori- ented. The default is 'auto'. -snapview internal|auto|viewname Specifies the view to use when rendering snapshots and movies. By default, both use a special 'internal' view, which renders a separate snapshot per screen or renders movies only of the first screen. By specifying this option, you can override this default behavior and select a single view that will apply to all snap- shots and movies. Note that viewname does not need to be a per- fect match; rather, it will select the first view whose name matches all the characters specified by viewname. For example, -snapview native will match the "Native (15:14)" view even though it is not a perfect match. viewname can also be 'auto', which selects the first view with all screens present. The de- fault value is 'internal'. -[no]snapbilinear Specify whether snapshot/movie should have bilinear filtering applied. Default is ON (-snapbilinear). -statename string Describes how MAME should store save state files, relative to the state_directory path. string provides a template that is used to generate a relative path. Two simple substitutions are provided: the / character represents the path separator on any target platform (even Windows); the literal %g represents the driver name of the current game. The default is '%g', which cre- ates a separate folder for each game. Example: if you use mame robby -statename foo/%g save states will be stored inside sta/foo/robby/. -[no]burnin Tracks brightness of the screen during play and at the end of emulation generates a PNG that can be used to simulate burn-in effects on other games. The resulting PNG is created such that the least-used areas of the screen are fully white (since burned-in areas are darker, all other areas of the screen must be lightened a touch). The intention is that this PNG can be loaded via an artwork file with a low alpha (e.g, 0.1-0.2 seems to work well) and blended over the entire screen. The PNG files are saved in the snap directory under the game- name\burnin-<screen.name>.png. The default is OFF (-noburnin). Performance options -[no]autoframeskip, -[no]afs Automatically determines the frameskip level while you're play- ing the game, adjusting it constantly in a frantic attempt to keep the game running at full speed. Turning this on overrides the value you have set for -frameskip below. The default is OFF (-noautoframeskip). -frameskip, -fs value Specifies the frameskip value (autoframeskip must be disabled). This is the number of frames out of every 12 to drop when run- ning. For example, if you say -frameskip 2, then MAME will dis- play 10 out of every 12 frames. By skipping those frames, you may be able to get full speed in a game that requires more horsepower than your computer has. The default value is 0, which skips no frames. -seconds_to_run, -str value This option can be used for benchmarking and automated testing. It tells MAME to stop execution after a fixed number of seconds. By combining this with a fixed set of other command line op- tions, you can set up a consistent environment for benchmarking MAME performance. In addition, upon exit, the -str option will write a screenshot called final.png to the game's snapshot di- rectory. -[no]throttle Configures the default throttling setting. When throttling is on, MAME attempts to keep the game running at the game's in- tended speed. When throttling is off, MAME runs the game as fast as it can. Note that the fastest speed is more often than not limited by your graphics card, especially for older games. The default is ON (-throttle). -[no]sleep Allows MAME to give time back to the system when running with -throttle. This allows other programs to have some CPU time, assuming that the game isn't taxing 100% of your CPU resources. This option can potentially cause hiccups in performance if other demanding programs are running. The default is ON (-sleep). -speed value Controls the speed of gameplay, relative to realtime; smaller numbers are slower. Default is 1.00. -[no]refreshspeed, -[no]rs Automatically adjusts the -speed parameter to keep the effective refresh rate below that of the lowest screen refresh rate. De- fault is OFF (-norefreshspeed). -numprocessors, -np value Set number of processors; this overrides the number the system reports. -bench value Benchmark for the given number of emulated seconds; implies -video none -sound none -nothrottle. -[no]sdlvideofps Show SDL video performance. Default is OFF (-nosdlvideofps). Rotation options -[no]rotate Rotate the game to match its normal state (horizontal/vertical). This ensures that both vertically and horizontally oriented games show up correctly without the need to rotate your monitor. If you want to keep the game displaying 'raw' on the screen the way it would have in the arcade, turn this option OFF. The de- fault is ON (-rotate). -[no]ror | -[no]rol Rotate the game screen to the right (clockwise) or left (counter- clockwise) relative to either its normal state (if -rotate is specified) or its native state (if -norotate is spec- ified). Default for both is OFF (-noror -norol). -[no]autoror | -[no]autorol These options are designed for use with pivoting screens that only pivot in a single direction. If your screen only pivots clockwise, use -autorol to ensure that the game will fill the screen either horizontally or vertically in one of the direc- tions you can handle. If your screen only pivots counter-clock- wise, use -autoror. Default for both is OFF (-noautoror -noau- torol). -[no]flipx -[no]flipy Flip (mirror) the game screen either horizontally (-flipx) or vertically (-flipy). The flips are applied after the -rotate and -ror/-rol options are applied. Default for both is OFF (-noflipx -noflipy). Artwork options -[no]artwork_crop, -[no]artcrop Enable cropping of artwork to the game screen area only. This option can also be controlled via the Video Options menu in the user interface. The default is OFF (-noartwork_crop). -[no]use_backdrops, -[no]backdrop Enables/disables the display of backdrops. The default is ON (-use_backdrops). -[no]use_overlays, -[no]overlay Enables/disables the display of overlays. The default is ON (-use_overlays). -[no]use_bezels, -[no]bezel Enables/disables the display of bezels. The default is ON (-use_bezels). -[no]use_cpanels, -[no]cpanel Enables/disables the display of cpanels. The default is ON (-use_bezels). -[no]use_marquees, -[no]marquee Enables/disables the display of marquees. The default is ON (-use_bezels). Screen options -brightness value Controls the default brightness, or black level, of the game screens. This option does not affect the artwork or other parts of the display. Using the MAME UI, you can individually set the brightness for each game screen; this option controls the ini- tial value for all visible game screens. The standard value is 1.0. Selecting lower values (down to 0.1) will produce a dark- ened display, while selecting higher values (up to 2.0) will give a brighter display. The default is 1.0. -contrast value Controls the contrast, or white level, of the game screens. This option does not affect the artwork or other parts of the dis- play. Using the MAME UI, you can individually set the contrast for each game screen; this option controls the initial value for all visible game screens. The standard value is 1.0. Selecting lower values (down to 0.1) will produce a dimmer display, while selecting higher values (up to 2.0) will give a more saturated display. The default is 1.0. -gamma value Controls the gamma, which produces a potentially nonlinear black to white ramp, for the game screens. This option does not affect the artwork or other parts of the display. Using the MAME UI, you can individually set the gamma for each game screen; this option controls the initial value for all visible game screens. The standard value is 1.0, which gives a linear ramp from black to white. Selecting lower values (down to 0.1) will increase the nonlinearity toward black, while selecting higher values (up to 3.0) will push the nonlinearity toward white. The default is 1.0. -pause_brightness value This controls the brightness level when MAME is paused. The de- fault value is 0.65. -effect [none|filename[.png]] Name of a PNG file to use for visual effects, or 'none'. Default is 'none'. Vector rendering options -beam_width_min value -beam_width_max value Sets the minimum and maximum width of the vectors. This is a scaling factor against the standard vector width, which is in- terpolated between minimum and maximum according to the beam's intensity. A value of 1.0 will keep the default vector line width. Smaller values will reduce the width, and larger values will increase the width. The default is 1.0. -beam_intensity_weight value Applies an exponential weight to the minimum and maximum beam width. For positive values the interpolated scaling factor will affect lines with higher intensity more than lines with lower intensity. The default is 0.0. -flicker value Simulates a vector "flicker" effect, similar to a vector monitor that needs adjustment. This option requires a float argument in the range of 0.00-100.00 (0=none, 100=maximum). The default is 0. Video options -video [soft|opengl|bgfx|none] Specifies which video subsystem to use for drawing: soft uses software rendering, which is slower but more compati- ble. opengl uses OpenGL and your graphics accelerator to speed up many aspects of drawing MAME including compositing artwork, overlays, and bezels, as well as stretching the image to fit your screen. bgfx uses the bgfx renderer which supports portable shaders and multiple graphics APIs including OpenGL, OpenGL ES and DirectX. none does no drawing and is intended for CPU benchmarking. Default is 'soft' on Linux or 'opengl' on macOS. -numscreens [1-4] Number of screens to create; usually, you want just one. Default is '1'. -[no]window, -[no]w Run MAME in either full screen or a window. This is a fully-fea- tured window mode where the window resizes as necessary to track what the game does. And you can resize it yourself with your OS's standard window controls. The default is OFF (-nowindow). -[no]maximize, -[no]max Controls initial window size in windowed mode. If it is set on, the window will initially be set to the maximum supported size when you start MAME. If it is turned off, the window will start out at the smallest supported size. This option only has an ef- fect when the -window option is used. The default is ON (-maxi- mize). -[no]keepaspect, -[no]ka Forces the correct aspect ratio. This means when you're resizing the window in windowed mode the actual game image will resize in discrete steps to maintain the proper shape of the game graph- ics. If you turn this off you can resize the window to anything you like and get funny squishing and stretching. The same ap- plies for full-screen. Default is ON (-keepaspect). -[no]unevenstretch, -[no]ues Allow non-integer stretch factors. Video purists should stay far, far away from this option, while everyone else will be happy to know that it lets you fill the screen properly in full-screen mode. Default is ON (-unevenstretch). -[no]unevenstretchx, -[no]uesx Act as -[no]unevenstretch on horizontal basis only. -[no]intoverscan, -[no]ios Allow overscan on integer scaled targets. -intscalex, -sx Set horizontal integer scale factor. -intscaley, -sy Set vertical integer scale factor. -[no]centerh Center horizontally within the view area. Default is ON (-cen- terh). -[no]centerv Center vertically within the view area. Default is ON (-cen- terv). -[no]waitvsync, -[no]vs Enable waiting for the start of VBLANK before flipping screens; reduces tearing effects. Default is OFF (-nowaitvsync). -[no]syncrefresh, -[no]srf Enable using the start of VBLANK for throttling instead of the game time. Default is OFF (-nosyncrefresh). Software video rendering subsystem options NOTE: All the options in this group are available only with softare video rendering subsystem, i.e -video soft. -prescale [value] Scale screen rendering by this amount in software. Default is 1. -scalemode, -sm [none|async|yv12|yuy2|yv12x2|yuy2x2] Hardware scaling mode. none use software rendering. async async overlay. yv12 yv12 overlay. yuy2 yuy2 overlay. yv12x2 yv12 overlay using x2 prescaling. yuy2x2 yuy2 overlay using x2 prescaling. Default is NONE. OpenGL video rendering subsystem options NOTE: All the options in this group are available only with OpenGL video rendering subsystem, i.e -video opengl. -[no]filter, -[no]glfilter, -[no]flt Enable bilinear filtering on screen output. Default is ON (-fil- ter). -prescale [value] Scale screen rendering by this amount in software. Default is 1. -[no]gl_forcepow2texture Force power of two textures. Default is OFF (-nogl_forcepow2tex- ture). -[no]gl_notexturerect Don't use OpenGL GL_ARB_texture_rectangle. Turn off if corrup- tion occurs in OpenGL mode, at cost of some performance loss. Default is ON (-gl_notexturerect). -[no]gl_vbo Enable OpenGL VBO, if available, for a performance increase. Turn off if corruption occurs. Default is ON (-gl_vbo). -[no]gl_pbo Enable OpenGL PBO, if available, for a performance increase. Turn off if corruption occurs. Default is ON (-gl_pbo). -[no]gl_glsl Enable OpenGL GLSL, if available, for a performance increase. Default is OFF (-nogl_glsl). -gl_glsl_filter value Enable OpenGL GLSL filtering instead of FF filtering 0=plain, 1=bilinear. Default is 1: bilinear. -glsl_shader_mame[0-9] Preferred custom OpenGL GLSL shader set mame bitmap (from 0 to 9). -glsl_shader_screen[0-9] Preferred custom OpenGL GLSL shader screen bitmap (from 0 to 9). -screen Explicit name for all screens; 'auto' here will try to make a best guess. -aspect, -screen_aspect Aspect ratio for all screens; 'auto' here will try to make a best guess. -resolution, -r Preferred resolution for all screens; format is widthx- height[@refreshrate] or 'auto'. -view Preferred view for all screens -screen[0-3] Explicit name of the first|second|third|fourth screen; 'auto' here will try to make a best guess. -aspect[0-3] Aspect ratio of the first|second|third|fourth screen; 'auto' here will try to make a best guess. -resolution[0-3], -r[0-3] Preferred resolution for the first|second|third|fourth screen; format is widthxheight[@refreshrate] or 'auto'. -view[0-3] Preferred view for the first|second|third|fourth screen. BGFX post-processing options NOTE: All the options in this group are available only when BGFX video post-processing is enabled, i.e -video bgfx. For full info on BGFX please visit official MAME documentation page: http://docs.mamedev.org/advanced/bgfx.html -bgfx_path pathname This is where your BGFX shader files are stored. The default is 'bgfx' (that is, a directory "bgfx" in the same directory as the MAME executable). -bgfx_backend auto|opengl Selects a rendering backend for BGFX to use. The default is 'auto', which will let MAME choose the best selection for you. -bgfx_debug Enables BGFX debugging features. Most users will not need to use this. -bgfx_screen_chains default|unfiltered|hlsl[,...] This dictates how to handle BGFX rendering on a per-display ba- sis. For each display specify one of the possible choices: default default bilinear filterered output unfiltered nearest neighbor unfiltered output hlsl HLSL display simulation through shaders Separate directives for each window with a comma (,) and for each physical screen with a colon (:). For example, for an emu- lated game with 3 displays emulated on 3 windows on your moni- tor, -bgfx_screen_chains default,unfiltered,default specifies to apply default filter on what is been rendered on the first and third window and leave the content of the second window unfil- tered. -bgfx_shadow_mask filename This specifies the shadow mask effect PNG file. Default is 'slot-mask.png'. -bgfx_avi_name filename This specifies a filename for BGFX output logging. Full screen options -[no]switchres Affects full screen mode only. Chooses if MAME can try to change the screen resolution (color depth is normally left alone) when in full-screen mode. If it's off, you always get your desktop resolution in full-screen mode (which can be useful for LCDs). Default is OFF (-noswitchres). -[no]useallheads Split full screen image across monitors. Default is OFF (-nouse- allheads). Sound options -sound [sdl|portaudio|coreaudio|dsound|xaudio2|none] Specifies which sound subsystem to use for audio output: sdl uses the Simple DirectMedia Layer audio output system (not available on Windows by default). portaudio uses the PortAudio library which supports low-latency output and multiple audio APIs. coreaudio uses the Core Audio API which supports low-latency output and AudioUnit effects (only available on macOS). dsound uses the DirectSound API (only available on Windows). xaudio2 uses the XAudio2 API which supports low-latency output (only available on Windows). none produces no audio output. Default is 'dsound' on Windows, 'coreaudio' on macOS or 'sdl' on other platforms. -samplerate, -srf value Sets the audio sample rate. Smaller values (e.g. 11025) cause lower audio quality but faster emulation speed. Higher values (e.g. 48000) cause higher audio quality but slower emulation speed. The default is 48000. -[no]samples Use samples if available. The default is ON (-samples). -[no]compressor Enable audio compressor. It temporarily reduces the overall vol- ume when the audio output is overdriven. The default is ON (-compressor). -volume, -vol value Sets the startup volume. It can later be changed with the user interface (see Keys section). The volume is an attenuation in dB: e.g., "-volume -12" will start with -12dB attenuation. The default is 0. -audio_latency value This controls the amount of latency built into the audio stream- ing. The exact behavior depends on the selected audio output module (see the -sound option). Smaller values provide less au- dio delay while requiring better system performance. Higher values increase audio delay but may help avoid buffer under-runs and audio interruptions. The default is 1. Input options -[no]coin_lockout, -[no]coinlock Enables simulation of the "coin lockout" feature that is im- plmeneted on a number of game PCBs. It was up to the operator whether or not the coin lockout outputs were actually connected to the coin mechanisms. If this feature is enabled, then at- tempts to enter a coin while the lockout is active will fail and will display a popup message in the user interface. If this fea- ture is disabled, the coin lockout signal will be ignored. The default is ON (-coin_lockout). -ctrlr controller Enables support for special controllers. Configuration files are loaded from the ctrlrpath. They are in the same format as the .cfg files that are saved, but only control configuration data is read from the file. The default is NULL (no controller file). -[no]mouse Controls whether or not MAME looks for a mouse controller to use. Note that in many cases, lightguns are treated as mice by the operating system, so you may need to enable this to enable lightgun support. When this is enabled, you will not be able to use your mouse while playing a game. If you want to get control of your computer back, you will need to either pause the game or quit. The default is OFF (-nomouse). -[no]joystick, -[no]joy Controls whether or not MAME looks for joystick/gamepad con- trollers. The default is ON (-joystick). -[no]lightgun, -[no]gun Controls whether or not MAME makes use of lightgun controllers. Note that most lightguns map to the mouse, so using -lightgun and -mouse together may produce strange results. The default is OFF (-nolightgun). -[no]multikeyboard, -[no]multikey Determines whether MAME differentiates between multiple key- boards. Some systems may report more than one keyboard; by de- fault, the data from all of these keyboards is combined so that it looks like a single keyboard. Turning this option on will en- able MAME to report keypresses on different keyboards indepen- dently. The default is OFF (-nomultikeyboard). -[no]multimouse Determines whether MAME differentiates between multiple mice. Some systems may report more than one mouse device; by default, the data from all of these mice is combined so that it looks like a single mouse. Turning this option on will enable MAME to report mouse movement and button presses on different mice inde- pendently. The default is OFF (-nomultimouse). -[no]steadykey, -[no]steady Some games require two or more buttons to be pressed at exactly the same time to make special moves. Due to limitations in the PC keyboard hardware, it can be difficult or even impossible to accomplish that using the standard keyboard handling. This op- tion selects a different handling that makes it easier to regis- ter simultaneous button presses, but has the disadvantage of making controls less responsive. The default is OFF (-nos- teadykey). -[no]ui_active Enable MAME user interface on top of emulated keyboard (if present). User interface may be toggled during execution by pressing the key defined with -ui_modekey. Default is OFF (-noui_active). -[no]offscreen_reload, -[no]reload Controls whether or not MAME treats a second button input from a lightgun as a reload signal. In this case, MAME will report the gun's position as (0,MAX) with the trigger held, which is equiv- alent to an offscreen reload. This is only needed for games that required you to shoot offscreen to reload, and then only if your gun does not support off screen reloads. The default is OFF (-nooffscreen_reload). -joystick_map, -joymap map Controls how joystick values map to digital joystick controls. See /usr/share/doc/mame/config.txt for full details on map for- mat. -joystick_deadzone, -joy_deadzone, -jdz value If you play with an analog joystick, the center can drift a lit- tle. joystick_deadzone tells how far along an axis you must move before the axis starts to change. This option expects a float in the range of 0.0 to 1.0. Where 0 is the center of the joystick and 1 is the outer limit. The default is 0.3. -joystick_saturation, -joy_saturation, -jsat value If you play with an analog joystick, the ends can drift a lit- tle, and may not match in the +/- directions. joystick_satura- tion tells how far along an axis movement change will be ac- cepted before it reaches the maximum range. This option expects a float in the range of 0.0 to 1.0, where 0 is the center of the joystick and 1 is the outer limit. The default is 0.85. -[no]natural, -[no]nat Allows user to specify whether or not to use a natural keyboard. This allows you to start your game or system in a 'native' mode, depending on your region, allowing compatibility for non-"QW- ERTY" style keyboards. The default is OFF (-nonatural). -[no]joystick_contradictory, -[no]joy_contradictory Enable contradictory direction digital joystick input at the same time. Default is OFF (-nojoystick_contradictory). -coin_impulse time Set coin impulse time. A negative value for time disables the impulse; set time to 0 to obey driver or give a positive value to set impulse time. -uimodekey, -umk value Specifies the key used to toggle between full and partial UI mode. -uifontprovider auto|sdl|none Provider for ui font. -output console|network|none Provider for output. -keyboardprovider auto|sdl|none Provider for keyboard input. -mouseprovider auto|sdl|none Provider for mouse input. -lightgunprovider auto|none Provider for lightgun input. -joystickprovider auto|sdl|none Provider for joystick input. -[no]keymap Enable keymap for non-QWERTY keyboards. Used in conjunction with -keymap_file. Default is OFF (-nokeymap). -keymap_file keymap_file Specifies the full path to the keymap file to be used. A few keymap files are available in /usr/share/games/mess/keymaps. -joy_idx[0-8] joystick With these options you can assign a joystick to a specific index in MAME. Even if the kernel will list the joysticks in a differ- ent order on the next boot, MAME will still see the joystick as e.g. "Joystick 2". Use mame -v to see which joysticks are recog- nized. Default is 'auto'. -[no]sixaxis Use special handling for PS3 Sixaxis controllers. Default is OFF (-nosixaxis). -mouse_index[1-8] Map mouse to specific index in MAME. -keyb_idx[0-8] keyboard With these options you can assign a keyboard to a specific index in MAME. -videodriver, -vd auto|x11|directfb SDL video driver to use; 'auto' selects SDL default. -renderdriver, -rd auto|software|opengl|directfb SDL render driver to use; 'auto' selects SDL default. -audiodriver, -ad auto|alsa|arts SDL audio driver to use; 'auto' selects SDL default. -gl_lib auto|alsa|arts Alternative libGL.so to use; 'auto' selects SDL default. Input automatic enable options -paddle_device, -paddle [none|keyboard|mouse|lightgun|joystick] -adstick_device, -adstick [none|keyboard|mouse|lightgun|joystick] -pedal_device, -pedal [none|keyboard|mouse|lightgun|joystick] -dial_device, -dial [none|keyboard|mouse|lightgun|joystick] -trackball_device, -trackball [none|keyboard|mouse|lightgun|joystick] -lightgun_device [none|keyboard|mouse|lightgun|joystick] -positional_device [none|keyboard|mouse|lightgun|joystick] -mouse_device [none|keyboard|mouse|lightgun|joystick] Each of these options controls automatically enabling the mouse, or joystick depending on the presence of a particular class of analog control for a particular game. For example, if you spec- ify the option -paddle mouse, then any game that has a paddle control will automatically enable mouse controls just as if you had explicitly specified -mouse. Note that these controls over- ride the values of -[no]mouse, -[no]joystick, etc. Debugging options -[no]log Creates a file called error.log which contains all of the inter- nal log messages generated by the MAME core and game drivers. The default is OFF (-nolog). -[no]verbose, -[no]v Displays internal diagnostic information. This information is very useful for debugging problems with your configuration. IM- PORTANT: when reporting bugs, please run with mame -verbose and include the resulting information. The default is OFF (-nover- bose). -[no]update_in_pause Enables updating the screen bitmap while the game is paused. This is useful for debuggin in some scenarios (and gets in the way in others). Default is OFF (-noupdate_in_pause). -[no]debug, -[no]d Activates the integrated debugger. By default, the debugger is entered by pressing the tilde (~) key during emulation. It is also entered immediately at startup. The default is OFF (-node- bug). -debugscript filename Specifies a file that contains a list of debugger commands to execute immediately upon startup. The default is NULL (no com- mands). -debugger debugger_name Name of the debugger to use. Default is AUTO. -debugger_font, -dfont font_name Specifies the font to use for debugging. Default is AUTO. -debugger_font_size, -dfontsize size Specifies the font size to use for debugging. -[no]oslog Outputs the error.log data to the system debugger. This can be used at the same time as -log to output the log data to both targets as well. Default is OFF (-nooslog). Communication options -comm_localhost Local address to bind to. -comm_localport Local port to bind to. -comm_remotehost Remote address to connect to. -comm_remoteport Remote port to connect to. Misc options -[no]drc Enable DRC cpu core if available. Default is ON (-drc). -[no]drc_use_c Force DRC use C backend. Default is OFF (-nodrc_use_c). -[no]drc_log_uml Write DRC UML disassembly log. Default is OFF (-nodrc_log_uml). -[no]drc_log_native Write DRC native disassembly log. Default is OFF (-no_drc_log_native). -bios biosname Specifies the specific BIOS to use with the current game, for game systems that make use of a BIOS. The -listxml output will list all of the possible BIOS names for a game. The default is 'default'. -[no]cheat, -[no]c Activates the cheat menu with autofire options and other tricks from the cheat database, if present. The default is OFF (-nocheat). -[no]skip_gameinfo Forces MAME to skip displaying the game info screen. The default is OFF (-noskip_gameinfo). -uifont fontname Specifies the name of a BDF font file to use for the UI font. If this font cannot be found or cannot be loaded, the system will fall back to its built-in UI font. On some platforms fontname can be a system font name instead of a BDF font file. The de- fault is 'default' (use the OSD-determined default font). -ui simple|cabinet Type of UI. -ramsize, -ram value Size of RAM (if supported by driver). -[no]confirm_quit Display confirm quit screen on exit. Default is ON (-con- firm_quit). -[no]ui_mouse Display UI mouse cursor. Default is OFF (-noui_mouse). -autoboot_command, -ab command Command string to execute after machine boot (in quotes ""). To issue a quote to the emulation, use """ in the string. Using \n will issue a create a new line, issuing what was typed prior as a command. Example: -autoboot_command "load """$""",8,1\n". -autoboot_delay [value] Timer delay (in seconds) to trigger command execution on auto- boot. Default is 2. -autoboot_script, -script [filename.lua] File containing scripting to execute after machine boot. -[no]console Enable emulator LUA console. Default is OFF (-noconsole). -[no]plugins Enable LUA plugin support. Default is ON (-plugins). -plugin value List of plugins to enable. -noplugin value List of plugins to disable. -language, -lang value Display language. Default is 'English'. -watchdog value Specifies a number of seconds after which MAME should automati- cally exit if it detects that the emulation has locked up. SEE ALSO chdman(1), jedutil(1), ldresample(1), ldverify(1), romcmp(1) LEGAL NOTICE Please visit the MAME website for some important legal information: http://mamedev.org/legal.html 0.176 2016-07-21 MAME(6)
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | SEE ALSO | LEGAL NOTICE
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