MAME: Your Guide to Arcade Emulators


Section I. Table of Contents
I. Table of Contents
II. Finding Specific Sections
III. Disclaimer [DISC]
IX. About [ABOT]
IX1. Copyright [COPY]
X. Credits [CRED]

1. About MAME [MAME]
A. What is MAME? [WHAT]
B. What's the point of MAME? [POIN]
C. Is MAME Legal? [LEGL]
2. Getting MAME [GETM]
3. Obtaining MAME Games [ROMS]
A. Legality of ROMS [RLGL]
B. ROM download sites [RDLD]
C. Adding ROMS to MameUI [ADDR]
4. Conclusion [CONC]



Section II. Finding Specific Sections
When reading this guide, you may want to jump to a specific section of the guide. If you find your section in the table of contents, you will notice that it has a key to the right of the section name. The key is enclosed by brackets, and will help you find your section. Hit Ctrl+F(Cmd+F on Macintosh) on your keyboard, and search for the key(with or without the enclosing brackets. This should take you directly to the section you would like.


Section III. Disclaimer [DISC]
LOLTech.net and/or Ego and/or DarkZtar.com will/can not be held responsible for your use of this guide. If MameUI ruins your computer, sets fire to your house, gets you arrested, makes you sell your soul to the devil, turns your room into a wormhole to the alternate universe, etc. etc., we are not eligible to take the blame. You can stop reading this guide at any time, without any fear of any sort of penalty. By reading past this section of the guide, you are agreeing to abide by the terms in this disclaimer.


Section IX. About/Copyright [ABOT] [COPY]
This guide on the topic "MAME" is copyright © 2008 Charlie. This guide may be posted on both LolTech.net and DarkZtar.com (and one other forum I can't mention.) If you would like to post the guide elsewhere, please PM me and ask me. You will probably be allowed to do so as long as I am credited and you do not alter any part of the guide.


Section X. Credits [CRED]
MameUI is Copyright © The MameUI Team

Credits go to:
Jon @ DZ - Idea to write the guide
DGEmu - Providing free ROMS for all of us gamers
LolTech & Ego & DarkZtar - Hosting the guide for the public
MameUI - Making an awesome arcade emulator
Me - Writing + Maintaining the guide
YOU - Reading the guide & making it a success



Section 1. About MAME [MAME]


Section 1A. What is MAME? [WHAT]
MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator. Basically, it allows you to play your all-time favorite arcade games on your computer! MAME is more than an emulator, though. MAME is a direct port of arcade hardware/software. All the glitches from the old arcade games, such as the PacMan half-screen glitch, are still there! You also have the option to change any settings that you would normally have to open the machine to do!


Section 1B. What's the point of MAME? [POIN]
MAME was made so you could experience the joy of playing arcade games again. You now get to play them for free, and all you need is a computer with a decent CPU/RAM! No need to go spend dollar after dollar at the non-existant arcade place a few blocks away. Download MAME, get some ROMS, and you'll be playing like a pro, just like you used to do with the big booths.


Section 1C. Is MAME Legal? [LEGL]
MAME and MameUI are completely free and completely legal, as long as you do not try to resell the programs for a profit.



Section 2. Getting MAME [GETM]
To download MameUI, a free tool for playing arcade games, just find your operating system in the list below.

Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista: Download Now!
Windows XP x64/Vista x64: Download Now!



Section 3. Obtaining MAME Games [ROMS]
The MAME game files are called "ROMS" ROMS are vital to playing any game VIA emulation. With MameUI, adding games to your collection is as simple as saving a ZIP file to a directory. You don't even need to extract it; MameUI does that automatically!


Section 3A. Legality of ROMs [RLGL]
The legality of ROMs has been debated for a while. It is generally assumed that as long as you own an original copy of the game(eg. an actual arcade machine for Dig Dug) then you are free to download the ROM with absolutely ZERO worries! Even if you do not own the original game, however, you will be fine downloading; I have personally used over 50 "illegal" ROMs and there has been no penalty. Basically, if you are willing to take the minute risk, then you can disregard this entire section.


Section 3B. ROM Download Sites [RDLD]
There are a number of websites all over the net that allow you to download MAME ROMs. Some websites do not allow you to download ESA protected titles, however!

Rom-World.com - Pretty good ROM download website, hasn't been updated since June 2006 though..
RomNation.net - Another good MAME download website, ESA titles are protected & undownloadable, though!!
DGEmu.com - Very good ROM download site, only limit is that you must signup for a free account & you have limited downloads.


Section 3C. Adding ROMs to MameUI [ADDR]
For this example, I will use the game "Pitfall II" downloaded from DGEmu.

After downloading the game, open the ZIP file from DGEmu; in this case, the file is named "(DGEmu.com)Pitfall II.zip". Extract the second zip from within the original zip file; in this case, the file is named "pitfall2.zip". Place pitfall2.zip into your MameUI/roms (for me, C:MameUIroms) and then load up MameUI. It should automatically search for games; if it does not, click "File" >> "Audit all games". After either is finished, click on the "Available" tab thing on the left-hand pane, and you should see your game there!


Section 4. Conclusion [CONC]
Well, that's the end of the guide on MAME! I hope you enjoyed it and are now playing your all time favorite arcade games. Have fun!