For instance, Namco used the Namco 51xx custom I/O chip to handle the joystick and DIP switches for Galaga and other games, and as such you'll also need the NAMCO51.ZIP device set as well as any needed for the game. Instead, these re-used designs and ROM data are categorized as a Device, with the data stored as a Device set. Some of these smaller circuits would reappear in later boards that had minimal common ground with the previous boards that used the circuit, so you couldn't just have them share the circuit/ROM data through a normal parent/clone relationship.
Frequently the arcade manufacturers would reuse pieces of their designs multiple times in order to save on costs and time. Instead, it is stored as a BIOS image for the system itself (e.g. As the main board had data necessary to start up and self-test the hardware before passing it off to the game cartridge, it's not really appropriate to store that data as part of the game ROM sets. With those basic principles, there are two other kinds of set that will come up in MAME use from time to time.įirst, the BIOS set: Some arcade machines shared a common hardware platform, such as the Neo-Geo arcade hardware. A complete merged set with the parent and all clones uses less disk space than a split set. For instance, if we combine the Puckman sets, Midway Pac-Man (USA) sets, and various other related official and bootleg sets all into PUCKMAN.ZIP, the result would be a merged set. This saves some space, but isn't quite as efficient asĪ merged set takes the parent set and one or more clone sets and puts them all inside the parent set's storage. We do not recommend this for most users.Ī split set is one where the parent set contains all of the normal data it should, and the clone sets contain only what has changed as compared to the parent set. This is ordinarily very space-inefficient, but is a good way to go if you want to have very few sets and want everything self-contained and easy to work with.
#HOW TO USE THE MAME EMULATOR ZIP#
This allows us to do some magic with how we store these ROM sets to save further space.Ī non-merged set is one that contains absolutely everything necessary for a given game to run in one ZIP file. MAME is extremely versatile about where ROM data is located and is quite intelligent about looking for what it needs. Now we add the final pieces of the puzzle: non-merged, split, and merged sets. Using the above example, trying to play the USA version of Pac-Man without having the PUCKMAN.ZIP parent set will result in an error message that there are missing files. This typically comes up as an error message to the user when trying to run a Clone set without having the Parent set handy. Japanese Puckman and USA/World Pac-Man) will be clones that contain only the changed data compared to the parent set. All sets that use mostly the same chips (e.g. In order to save space, MAME was adjusted to use a parent/clone set system.Ī given set, usually (but not necessarily) the most recent bugfixed World revision of a game, will be designated as the parent.
#HOW TO USE THE MAME EMULATOR CODE#
Parents, Clones, Splitting, and Merging ¶Īs the MAME developers received their third or fourth revision of Pac-Man, with bugfixes and other code changes, they quickly discovered that nearly all of the board and chips were identical to the previously dumped version.
The chips used to store the game data were not rewritable and were permanent (as long as the chip wasn't damaged or aged to death!)Īs such, a copy of the data necessary to reconstitute and replace a dead data chip on a board became known as a "ROM image" or ROMs for short. Grouping all of the files from Puckman together will get you a ROM set of Puckman.Īn example ROM image would be the file pm1_prg1.6e stored in the Puckman ROM set. As arcade machines are much more complicated in their design, you'll typically need the data from a number of different chips on the board. For most consoles and handhelds, the individual chips are frequently (but not always) merged into a single file. What is a ROM image? ¶įor arcade games, a ROM image or file is a copy of all of the data inside a given chip on the arcade motherboard. Let's start with a simple definition of what a ROM is. This section aims to clear up a lot of the most common questions and cover simple details you'll need to know to use MAME effectively. Handling and updating of ROMs and Sets used in MAME is probably the biggest area of confusion and frustration that MAME users will run into.
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