## Default Options & Game Properties

The default options and game properties tabs of Mame32 are used to set the vast majority of game play parameters. The Game Properties dialogue box, accessible from the File • Properties menu item, shares all the tabs of the Default Options dialogue box, accessible from the Options • Default Options menu item. The Game Properties dialogue contains two additional tabs which give information on the game selected, and its current audited state.

General Tab : [only available in Game Properties dialogue] This tab provides information on the game selected, this information includes manufacturer name and date, driver status, original CPU, original sound hardware, original screen resolution and orientation, and number of colors.

Audit Tab : [only available in the Game Properties dialogue] This tab performs a ‘mini-audit’ on the game selected, determining its status compared to what Mame32 expects. Status will be reported and missing files with CRC information will appear in the details view.

Display Tab : This tab allows the setting of numerous video options.

Run in a window : Mame32 will launch the game selected in a window on the desktop, the window can be resized by pausing the emulation and dragging the borders. The resolution of the window can also be set in the Screen tab.

Start out maximized : Toggling this option on ensures that when windowed mode is used, the maximum amount of space is used. Toggle this option off to play the smallest version of the windowed game.

Enforce aspect ratio : This option is used in conjunction with windowed mode, it forces the aspect ratio to be maintained when the game is paused and the window is dragged and resized. Turn this off to create long, thin game windows, or short fat, etc.

Throttle : This option prevents Mame32 from running games as fast as the host CPU can go. Unless this is toggled on, a modern x86 processor will run Donkey Kong at a thousand times its original speed.

Rotation : This drop down box allows Mame32 to rotate the video output by 90 degrees in either direction. This setting is useful if used in conjunction with a pivoting monitor [the auto options], or playing games with a monitor on its side. Doing so allows vertical orientated games to be played full screen. The additional 'auto clockwise' and 'auto anti-clockwise' settings are particularly useful for rotating LCD monitors, these settings will force vertical games to one 90 degree angle or the other depending on which way the LCD pivots.
Flip screen upside down : This option mirrors the image vertically.

Flip screen left right : This option mirrors the image horizontally.

Direct3D : Use Bilinear Filtering : This option enables bilinear filtering on game screen graphics. 'Fuzziness' of image can be controlled by the bitmap prescaling option, increasing it sharpens the image. Leaving this unchecked produces the crispest output but does point filtering leading to scaling artifacts.

Direct3D : Version : This option allows toggling between version 9 and version 8 of D3D. It's almost always preferable to stay with 9.

DirectDraw : Stretch using hardware : Used in conjunction with DDraw as the video mode, this toggle if turned off scales upwards the size of the games original native resolution at the same aspect ratio.

Bitmap prescaling : This option works in conjunction with bilinear filtering. The higher up the slider, the sharper the screen output.

Gamma correction : This option 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 Mame32's in-game tilde menu [~], one 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.

Brightness correction : This option 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 Mame32's in-game tilde menu [~], one can individually set the brightness 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 darkened display, while selecting higher values (up to 2.0) will give a brighter display. The default is 1.0.

Contrast correction : Controls the contrast, or white level, of the game screens. This option does not affect the artwork or other parts of the display. Using Mame32's in-game tilde menu [~], one 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.

Pause Brightness : This option controls the screen brightness when a game is paused.

Advanced Tab : This tab allows the setting of additional numerous video options.

Triple buffering : This option controls how Mame32 draws to the screen, if toggled on, it will draw to three buffers and cycle between them. This setting when toggled on can also help alleviate tearing that sometimes occurs in some scrolling games.

Sync to monitor refresh : This option tells Mame32 to ignore the original game’s refresh rate and sync it to the output monitor’s current rate. This can cause the game to run too fast if the output monitor is using 85Hz for example. This option is preferable if Mame32 is used with authentic arcade monitor hardware and video card modes that are tweaked appropriately.

Wait for vertical sync : This option tells Mame32 to wait for the refresh period on the output monitor to finish before starting to draw video to the screen, this works functionally similarly to triple buffer but is better suited for running games in a window to alleviate tearing.

Frame skipping : These settings allow Mame32 to skip frames of animation when playing games, if the host CPU is not fast enough to run the game. Optimally this should be toggled off and 'draw every frame' selected.

Full screen gamma : This option is similar to the gamma correction in the display tab but works on all graphic elements of the screen including the UI.

Full screen brightness : This option is similar to the brightness correction in the display tab but works on all graphic elements of the screen including the UI.

Full screen contrast : This option is similar to the contrast correction in the display tab but works on all graphic elements of the screen including the UI.

Effect : Starting with version .107 simulated arcade monitor effects are handled by the overlay of *.png masks on the game. The *.png files reside in the \artwork directory and are simple patterns creatable and editable in applications like Photoshop. If scan lines are desired and a very high resolution is being used [1280x1024 or above] the Scanlines75x4 item is suggested. For games with artwork whose playfields are smaller on screen as the results of bezels, it's recommended to use Scanlines75x3 or Scanlines75x2.

Screen Tab : This tab allows the alteration of the various screen output settings.

Number of screens : This slider controls the number of screens Mame32 will draw. In windowed mode up to four different output windows can be created of varying sizes, shapes, etc. In full screen mode the number of screens can match the physical number of monitors connected to the host system. This allows playing multi-monitor arcade games like Punch-Out or similar on 2 physical computer monitors in dual head mode.

Screen : This option allows the choice of the physical monitor to use in conjunction with number of screens and screennumber. The drop down is populated by the \\.\DISPLAY1 and/or \\.\DISPLAY2 and so forth. Leaving this toggle to Auto will have Mame32 attempt to order the game screens as it sees fit, for Punch-Out for example it will place the main fighting screen on \\.\DISPLAY1 and the status/display screen on secondary monitor \\.\DISPLAY2.

Aspect Ratio : Allows control over the physical aspect ratio of the physical monitor for each screen. If running full screen and auto aspect ratio is off, then switch resolutions to fit must be toggled on to work. Typically this should be set to autoselect unless weird shaped windows for game play are desired.

View : This drop down allows the selection of the default view of the in-game display. This can be auto which is effectively 4:3 for horizontal games or 3:4 for vertical games, native, which is the game's original native resolution, or cocktail which is duplicated view for 2 people playing the game on opposite sides of a cocktail cabinet.

Screennumber : This drop down is populated based on the slider setting of number of screens to its left. Each item in the screennumber drop down can be individually tailored with screen, resolution, aspect ratio, and view. Thus it is possible to have elaborate combinations for game play, for example. Number of screens 3, run in windowed mode, have screen0 go to the secondary \\.\DISPLAY2, running in 320x240 resolution at a color depth of 16bpp with a refresh of 75Hz, screen1 go to primary display \\.\DISPLAY1, run at 640x480x32@60 and use the cocktail view, etc. Each item in the Screennumber drop down will populate its own settings and maintain those settings until returned to a default.

Resolution : These options control the size and refresh rate of the screennumbers. In windowed mode only the resolution is selectable.

Switch resolutions to fit : This toggle must be on if any of the resolution choices are altered away from auto in full screen mode. It does not impact windowed mode.

Sound Tab : This tab allows for setting the sound options.

Enable sound and sound CPUs : This setting toggles sound on or off in games.

Use samples : This setting allows Mame32 to utilize samples for games which do not have their sound hardware emulated, or were using analogue circuitry.

Sample Rate : This setting tells Mame32 at what rate to output sound, the higher, the better. Lowering this setting can also result in faster performance on lower end machines.

Volume attenuation : This setting allows Mame32 to set the initial volume level, the default is 0dB.

Audio latency : This slider allows the adjustment of the amount of latency built into the audio streaming. Increasing the slider to the right on faster machines can help alleviate some desync and scratchiness in the sound on some configurations.

Controllers Tab : This tab allows for setting the game controller options.

Enable joystick input : This setting tells Mame32 to utilize any currently connected joysticks. Mame32 will interrogate the game controllers control panel and use ID#1 and up.

Analog joystick deadzone : This setting controls how Mame32 translates analog input to games that require digital input.

Enable lightgun input : This setting tells Mame32 to utilize a lightgun for target/shooting games that require analogue control, like Crossbow, Police Trainer, Rev X, etc. and will only be available on non-XP based systems. If using XP then mouse input should be toggled on to allow mapping of the lightgun functions in the in-game [TAB] menu.

Offscreen shots reload : This option if checked will internally remap the second mouse button and allow it to be used for simulated 'reloading' in gun games that require it.

Dual lightguns : This is a legacy switch for non-XP systems which activates code to handle internal mapping of the second light gun connected to the system. If WinXP is used this is not required and is grayed out, the second gun is mapped like a joystick or mouse in the in-game [TAB] menu.

Enable mouse input : This setting tells Mame32 to utilize the mouse in games that require analogue control methods. On XP systems the mouse toggle should be on if a lightgun is to be utilised.

Enable steadykey support : This option tells Mame32 to use a different keyboard handling routine that makes it easier to register simultaneous key presses for games that require it for special moves [Street Fighter II, etc.]. However it can produce more sluggish results in other games.

Default input layout : This drop down menu allows Mame32 to choose between multiple key mappings, including keyboard mapping for various third-party control panels. It will also display user defined controller mappings, if created in the \ctrlr directory. Various arcade game controller companies produce custom made configuration files for their setups; these *.cfg files need to go in the \mame32\ctrlr folder to be recognized in the Mame32 controllers tab. These files are the responsibility of the controller companies themselves and are not included or endorsed by Mame32, they can typically be found at the companies’ web sites.
Use keyboard LEDs : This setting if toggled allows Mame32 to utilize the LEDs on the keyboard to match some of the in-game light flashing, seen during braking in Outrun for example, and coin/credit indicators, the drop down allows the choice of PS/2 or USB keyboard.
Digital Joystick Axes : This section allows the user to indicate which axes on the game controller in use are digital. Check the box for digital, leave blank for analogue. Viewing the controller in the Windows Control Panel / Game Controllers / Properties will also help identify the axes. These toggles help Mame32 determine how to more effectively map its analogue controls, bypassing the checked digital items. Note: the controller must support both digital and analogue controls at the same time for this to be effective. Some like the Saitek gamepad series have a toggle button on them to go between all direction controls as digital and all analogue which defeats the purpose of this option in Mame32.

Controller Mapping Tab : This tab allows choosing which analogue device connected to the system for Mame32 to map a game's internal analogue controls to. These options should be used in lieu of the global 'mouse' setting which can conflict with attached joysticks/gamepads.

Miscellaneous Tab : This tab allows for setting additional options.

Enable game cheats : This setting if toggled on allows Mame32 to use external cheat.dat files.

Error log (for developers) : This setting if toggled on produces an error log of illegal memory accesses.

Sleep when possible : This setting if toggled on allows Mame32 to be more multitasking friendly in that it does not use as much processor time. If this setting is toggled off Mame32 will utilize 100% of the CPU for playing games. Some machines slow down dramatically if this setting is toggled on, particularly laptops. This maps to the -sleep option in Mame.

Use RDTSC timing system : This setting if toggled on uses RDTSC over QueryPerformanceCounter for timing. For the most part this setting should not be used on modern desktops and laptops. Toggling it on older systems may help alleviate sound scratchiness or desyncs and jerky gameplay.

Skip game info : If this options is on, Mame32 will immediately launch a game without information screens. However screens regarding problems in the drivers will still be shown [missing sound, unemulated protection, problems with video etc.].

Save game state on exit : This toggle will allow Mame32 to automatically save the current machine state when the game is exited with the ESC key. As a result when the game is re-launched it's like the machine was never turned off. This feature allows older games to maintain their hi-scores indefinitely where it wasn't originally supported. The files are stored in the mame32\sta directory. The list of games that support save states is present in the left hand folder view pane of the UI as 'Save State'.

Thread Priority slider : Increasing the Windows thread priority for Mame32 giving it more CPU and resources slices, can negatively impact other running processes. Using setting 1 sets it to real-time which interferes with keyboard and joystick controls as well as other running apps. Setting 1 is not recommended as a result. Some Dells and other laptop computers may require setting slider to -15 to get keyboard control working properly.

Multi-threaded rendering : This toggle allows multi-core or multi-chip or HyperThreaded machines to pass the final video blit off to a second thread. This can lead up to a 40% increase in unthrottled FPS using D3D in GPU limited games. However it does not have a real world effect on games that are CPU bound, like the heavy seattle.c, or vegas.c games. Unless in possession of one of these types of machines, this should be toggled off to avoid potential slowdowns.

Use additional game artwork : This setting if toggled on allows Mame32 to utilize the external artwork packages available at Mame.net for display in games like Armor Attack, Discs of Tron, Lunar Lander, Warrior, etc. The artwork packages are placed in the \artwork directory. Each element of the artwork package can be toggled: bezel, overlay, and background.

Crop Artwork : Selecting the crop artwork toggle will shrink the scene down to the games original dimensions, cropping any available art pieces.

BIOS : This drop down allows the use of a variety of different supported NeoGeo or Sega BIOS files. The option will only be available when altering the driver family via the source folder view on the left pane, or individual games in the driver family.

Vector Tab : This tab allows for setting additional options for games that originally utilized a vector monitor instead of a raster monitor. [Asteroids, Battlezone, Armor Attack, etc.]

Draw antialiased vectors : This setting if toggled on tells Mame32 to draw vector lines with an additional pleasing antialiased look.

Beam width : This slider allows Mame32 to set the beam width on the vector lines drawn, increasing it creates wider vectors.

Flicker : This slider tells Mame32 to artificially create a flicker effect on the vector lines.

2006-10-29 08:12 PM -0800 / john iv