- Additional Files

This section deals with addon files for Mame. You will find details on files used by Mame to enhance and customize it and Front Ends as well.

Addon Files

Firstly certain games require extra files to complete them. These files contain sound samples and extra artwork which are used by the games to get them 100% accurate.

You can get the complete sets of sound samples from here. The zipped files that you download need to be placed in the C:\Mame\Samples folder however you do not need to extract them, leave them zipped. To use the samples on Mame32 you need to make sure that "Use Samples" is selected on the Sound section of the default properties window.

The artwork files can be got from the official Mame site here and you must extract the zip files into the C:\Mame\Artwork folder. You cannot leave these files zipped. To use in-game artwork on Mame32 you need to make sure the "Use background artwork" is selected in the Miscellaneous tab on the default options window.

There are four data files that Mame can access to get extra information. Here they are...

Mameinfo.dat

Mameinfo.dat contains information about all of Mames games giving update information, alternative games of the same genre, development details, known bugs, useful tips and also if the game is emulated on other emulators. You can get it from MASH's Mameinfo Site

History.dat

This data file contain development information, game background and hints and tips. You can get it from here.

Cheats.dat

Although the cheat file is not regularly updated it has cheats for most of the main Mame games. These cheats can give you extra lives, invulnerability or even let you access extra levels. See The cheats page for how to use it. You can get the cheat file from here

Hiscore.dat

This file is used as a "Hall of Fame" for Mame users. By default you only have the original games hiscores to beat but with this file you can go up against the best of the best. There are two possible versions of this file, an official one here that supports over 900 games and an unofficial one here that has even more games on it. You can submit your scores to these sites for your moment of glory and have them added to the data files.

To install any of the above files all you need to do is extract the .dat files directly into you C:\Mame folder. If you are using Mame32 then the Mameinfo data is shown under your screen shots. On MameDOS the Mameinfo data is shown at the beginning of the game. To access the Mameinfo or History data in a game use the in-game menus accessed by pressing "Tab".

If you are using Mame32 or one of the popular frontends there are several additional folders that you can use to enhance you gaming experience. Here is more information...

Cabinets

This folder is used to store pictures of arcade cabinets. Here is an example... You can either store them as individual files or as one zip file called cabinets.zip. You can get the cabinet pictures from here. All you need to do is place the individual files or zipped single file in the C:\Mame\Cabinets folder.

Flyers

This folder is used to store pictures of original arcade flyers. Here is an example... You can either store them as individual files or as one zip file called flyers.zip. You can get the arcade flyers pictures from here. All you need to do is place the individual files or zipped single file in the C:\Mame\Flyers folder.

Icons

This folder is used to store icons for your games. These icons are useful do differentiate the games in the gamelist. If you don't have any icons installed then all you'll see is little computer chips. There are two sites that you can get icons from. You can get an "official" set from the Mame32 site of you can get a far more colourful set from Mamu's site on Mameworld. See the before and after pictures below to see the difference. All you need to do is place the individual files or zipped single file called icon.zip in the C:\Mame\icons folder.

Marquees

This folder is used to store pictures of the Marquees on arcade cabinets. Here is an example... You can either store them as individual files or as one zip file called marquees.zip. You can get the marquees pictures from here. All you need to do is place the individual files or zipped single file in the C:\Mame\Marquees folder.

Snapshots

This folder is used to store in-game screenshots. Here is an example... There are two ways of using this folder. You can grab your own screenshots by pressing "F12" during a game or you can download them in one hit. If you download the zip file you can either extract them as individual files or keep them as one zip file called snap.zip. All you need to do is place the individual files or zipped single file in the C:\Mame\Snap folder.

Here is a before and after picture of what you can do...

Before

After

To change the background image you need to find a PNG file that you want to use and rename it to bkground.png and put it in your C:\Mame\Snap folder.

Artwork

Mames artwork files contain images that were originally on the cabinet or glass surrounding the game screenon arcade machines. Here is an example of a game using artwork...

There are 3 types of artwork. You have backdrop art which is projected over the game screen and adds background images. There is bezel art which are the pictures that surrounded the games screen. Finally there is overlay art which adds colour areas to black and white games.

All the art files are controlled by Mames command line or Mame32's options screen. You have the ability to switch art on or off, switch certain types of art on or off, crop the pictures and change the resolution that the art is displayed. These commands are explained in the Mame Win32 and Mame32 setup pages.

You can get the Mame artwork files from the Mame Homepage.

Front Ends

A frontend is a GUI (Graphical User Interface) that allows you to access the functions and games in Mame DOS. There are several of these frontends for either Windows or DOS.

For Windows the most popular at the moment are easyMame and GameEX. EasyMame is the frontend I use as it's quick and simple. GameEx is aimed at the Windows Media Centre market as it hides windows behind it. It's also great if you have a cabinet or use Mame on a TV as you can configure it to use many different controllers for the menu. GameEx also support other emulators as well. Emuloader is under constant development and supports all of Mames functions as well as being able to access Mame32 as well.

For DOS one of the most popular frontends is ArcadeOS which has full sound and mouse support and not only does Mame but several other arcade emulators as well.

EasyMame Homepage	Emuloader Homepage
ArcadeOS Homepage	GameEX Homepage

©2000-2005 easyEmu