Some examples for those who are in a hurry.

If you don't have/want a frontend, you'll mostly use xmame (with a well defined xmamerc) in the following way:

Plays Ladybug with all options defined in xmamerc. If there is no xmamerc the game starts with the buildin defaults.

Starts defender using a frameskip of 1 and cheat is enabled. Useful for slower computers, if the game is running really slowly. And of course if you want (have?) to cheat. ;-)

The main issue involves ROM images. ROM images are protected under the copyrights of their authors, and CANNOT be distributed in the same package as xmame. Download any ROM images at your own risk and responsibility.

should be distributed under terms of the license in doc/readme.mame

XInputExtensions based Joystick support. Source code is entirely pure hack work. No sample code, no info at all was found (only library reference manual) and is copyrighted by me (Juan Antonio Marmnez). Use it under terms of GNU General Public License.

PLEASE BE AWARE OF THE POSSIBLE LEGAL RAMIFICATIONS OF DOWNLOADING ROM IMAGES, BEFORE YOU ACTUALLY DO SO! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, AND WE TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS -- YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN!

Also, the xmame authors ask that you DO NOT distribute any ROM images with either source code or binaries of the xmame emulator.

is the (M)ulti (A)rcade (M)achine (E)mulator for UNIX-(X). It emulates the hardware of realy many classic arcade game machines.

Most games allow you to specify one or more options to control the behavior of xmame and the game of your choice. Below is a complete list of all the available options:

\fB*** Digital sound related ***\fR

-dsp-plugin , dp string

Select which plugin to use for digital sound

-list-dsp-plugins , ldp

List available sound-dsp plugins

-[no]timer , [no]ti

Use / don't use timer based audio (normally it will be used automagicly when nescesarry)

\fB*** Sound mixer related ***\fR

-sound-mixer-plugin , smp string

Select which plugin to use for the sound mixer

-list-mixer-plugins , lmp

List available sound-mixer plugins

\fB*** Video Related ***\fR

-bpp , b int

Specify the colordepth the core should render, one of: auto(0), 8, 16

-heightscale , hs int

Set Y-Scale aspect ratio

-widthscale , ws int

Set X-Scale aspect ratio

-scale , s arg

Set X-Y Scale to the same aspect ratio. For vector games scale (and also width- and heightscale) may have value's like 1.5 and even 0.5. For scaling of regular games this will be rounded to an int

-[no]autodouble , [no]adb

Enable/disable automatic scale doubling for 1:2 pixel aspect ratio games

-[no]dirty , [no]dt

Enable/disable use of dirty rectangles

-[no]scanlines , [no]sl

Enable/disable displaying simulated scanlines

-[no]artwork , [no]a

Use/don't use artwork if available

-frameskipper , fsr int

Select which autoframeskip and throttle routines to use. Available choices are: 0 Dos frameskip code 1 Enhanced frameskip code by William A. Barath

-[no]throttle , [no]th

Enable/disable throttle

-[no]sleepidle , [no]si

Enable/disable sleep during idle

-[no]autoframeskip , [no]afs

Enable/disable autoframeskip

-maxautoframeskip , mafs int

Set highest allowed frameskip for autoframeskip

-frameskip , fs int

Set frameskip when not using autoframeskip

-brightness , brt int

Set the brightness (0-100%%)

-gamma-correction , gc float

Set the gamma-correction (0.5-2.0)

-norotate , nr

Disable rotation

-ror , rr

Rotate display 90 degrees rigth

-rol , rl

Rotate display 90 degrees left

-flipx , fx

Flip X axis

-flipy , fy

Flip Y axis

\fB*** Vector Games Related ***\fR

-vectorres , vres string

Always scale vectorgames to XresxYres, keeping their aspect ratio. This overrides the scale options

-beam , B float

Set the beam size for vector games

-flicker , f float

Set the flicker for vector games

-[no]antialias , [no]aa

Enable/disable antialiasing

-[no]translucency , [no]t

Enable/disable tranlucency

\fB*** X11 Related ***\fR

-x11-mode , x11 int

Select x11 video mode: (if compiled in) 0 Normal window (hotkey left-alt + insert) 1 Fullscreen DGA (hotkey left-alt + home)

\fB*** X11-window Related ***\fR

-[no]cursor , [no]cu

Show/ don't show the cursor

-[no]mitshm , [no]ms

Use / don't use MIT Shared Mem (if avaiable and compiled in)

-[no]xsync , [no]xs

Use / don't use XSync instead of XFlush as screen refresh method

-[no]privatecmap , [no]p

Enable/disable use of private color map

-[no]xil , [no]x

Enable/disable use of XIL for scaling (if available and compiled in)

-[no]mtxil , [no]mtx

Enable/disable multi threading of XIL

-[no]run-in-root-window , [no]root

Enable/disable running in root window

-root_window_id , rid int

Create the xmame-window in an alternate root-window, mostly usefull for frontends!

-geometry , geo string

Specify the location of the window

\fB*** XFree86 DGA Related ***\fR

\fB*** Video Mode Selection Related ***\fR

-[no]keepaspect , [no]ka

Try / don't try to keep the aspect ratio of a game when selecting the best videomode

-displayaspectratio , dar float

Set the display aspect ratio of your monitor. This is used for -keepaspect The default = 1.33 (4/3). Use 0.75 (3/4) for a portrait monitor

-disablemode , dm arg

Don't use mode XRESxYRESxDEPTH this can be used to disable specific video modes which don't work on your system. The xDEPTH part of the string is optional. This option may be used more then once

\fB*** X11-input related ***\fR

-[no]grabmouse , [no]gm

Enable/disable mousegrabbing (also alt + pagedown)

-[no]winkeys , [no]wk

Enable/disable mapping of windowskeys under X

-mapkey , mk arg

Set a specific key mapping, see xmamerc.dist

\fB*** Sound Related ***\fR

-[no]sound , [no]snd

Enable/disable sound (if available)

-[no]samples , [no]sam

Use/don't use samples (if available)

-fakesound , fsnd

Generate sound even when sound is disabled, this is needed for some games which won't run without sound

-samplefreq , sf int

Set the playback sample-frequency/rate

-bufsize , bs float

Number of frames of sound to buffer

-volume , v int

Set volume to <int> db, (-32 (soft) - 0(loud) )

-audiodevice , ad string

Use an alternative audiodevice

-mixerdevice , md string

Use an alternative mixerdevice

\fB*** Input Related ***\fR

-joytype , jt int

Select type of joysticksupport to use: 0 No joystick 1 i386 style joystick driver (if compiled in) 2 Fm Town Pad support (if compiled in) 3 X11 input extension joystick (if compiled in) 4 new i386 linux 1.x.x joystick driver(if compiled in) 5 NetBSD USB joystick driver (if compiled in)

-[no]analogstick , [no]as

Use Joystick as analog for analog controls

-[no]mouse , [no]m

Enable/disable mouse (if supported)

\fB*** Fileio Related ***\fR

-biospath , bp string

Set the BIOS search path

-softwarepath , swp string

Set the software search path

-CRC_directory string

Set dir to look for crc files in

-samplepath , sp string

Set the sample search path

-inipath string

Set the ini search path

-cfg_directory string

Set dir for saving configurations

-nvram_directory string

Set dir for saving nvram contents

-memcard_directory string

Set dir for saving memory card contents

-input_directory string

Set dir for saving input device logs

-hiscore_directory string

Set dir for saving high scores

-state_directory string

Set dir for saving states

-artwork_directory string

Set dir to look for artwork files in

-snapshot_directory string

Set dir for screenshots (.png format)

-diff_directory string

Set dir for hard drive image difference files

-ctlrl_directory string

Set dir for saving controller definitions

-cheat_file string

Set the file to use as cheat database

-hiscore_file string

no help available

-sysinfo_file string

no help available

-messinfo_file string

no help available

-record , rec arg

Set a file to record keypresses into

-playback , pb arg

Set a file to playback keypresses from

-stdout-file , out filename

Set a file to redirect stderr to

-stderr-file , err filename

Set a file to redirect stdout to

-log , L filename

Set a file to log debug info to

\fB*** Mess Related ***\fR

-rom , cart

All following images/roms are seen as carts/roms

-floppy

All following images/roms are seen as floppies

-casette

All following images/roms are seen as casettes

-printer

All following images/roms are seen as carts/roms

-serial

All following images/roms are seen as serial ports??

-snapshot

All following images/roms are seen as snapshots

-language , lang string

Select the language for the menu's and osd

-[no]fuzzycmp , [no]fc

Enable/disable use of fuzzy gamename matching when there is no exact match

-[no]cheat , [no]c

Enable/disable cheat subsystem

-[no]debug , [no]d

Enable/disable debugger

-debug-size , ds arg

Specify the resolution/ windowsize to use for the debugger(window) in the form of XRESxYRES (minimum size = 640x480)

\fB*** Frontend Related ***\fR

-list , l

List supported games matching gamename, or all, gamename may contain * and ? wildcards

-listfull , lf

Like -list, with full description

-listgames , lg

Like -list, with manufacturer and year

-listdetails , ld

Like -list, with detailed info

-listgamelist , lgl

Like -list, with specialy formatted extra info for generating gamelist.mame, also see -listgamelistheader

-listsourcefile , lsf

Like -list, with driver sourcefile

-listcolors , lcol

Like -list, with the number of colors used

-listextensions

Like -list, with devices and image file extensions supported

-listromsize , lrs

Like -list, with the year and size of the roms used

-listroms , lr

Like -list, but lists used ROMS

-listcrc , lcrc

Like -list, but lists used ROMS with crc

-listsamples , ls

Like -list, but lists used audio samples

-listsamdir , lsd

Like -list, but lists dir where samples are taken from

-verifyroms , vr

Verify ROMS for games matching gamename, or all, gamename may contain * and ? wildcards

-verifyromsets , vrs

Like -verifyroms, but less verbose

-verifysamples , vs

Like -verifyroms but verify audio samples instead

-verifysamplesets , vss

Like -verifysamples, but less verbose

-[no]clones , [no]cl

Show / don't show bootlegs/clones in the above list commands

-listclones , lcl

Like -list, but lists the clones of the specified game

-listinfo , li

List all available info on drivers

-listcpu , lc

List cpu usage statics per year

-listgamelistheader , lgh

Print header for generating gamelist.mame, also see -listgamelist

\fB*** Internal verification list commands (only for developers) ***\fR

-listmissingroms , lmr

Like -list, but lists ROMS missing

-listdupcrc , ldc

Like -list, but lists ROMS with identical crc

-listwrongorientation , lwo

Like -list, but lists any games which use the orientation flags wrongly

-listwrongmerge , lwm

Like -list, but lists any games which use the clone_of field wrongly

-listwrongfps , lwf

Like -list, but lists any games which use the FPS field wrongly

\fB*** Rom Identification Related ***\fR

-ident , id

Identify unknown romdump, or unknown romdumps in dir/zip

-isknown , ik

Check if romdump or romdumps in dir/zip are known

\fB*** General Options ***\fR

-[no]loadconfig , [no]lc

Load (don't load) configfiles

-showconfig , sc

Display Running parameters in rc style

-manhelp , mh

Print commandline help in man format, usefull for manpage creation

-version , V

Display version

-help , ?

Show this help

\fB*** Arguments ***\fR

game

the name of the game you wish to play. You better choose one. :-)

Note: There are really many options. You can set the default options and / or options per game in xmames config files see the RCFILES section below.

Most game ROM images come in ZIP files. Download the ZIP files for the games you want, and move them to a directory of your choice (i.e. it is a good idea to put them all in one dir).

Note: There is no need to unzip the games in a separate directory, because xmame has zip file support through zlib.

uses a ":" seperated rompath to find out which dirs to search for roms/samples. The default rompath is XMAMEROOT as defined in the Makefile during the compilation (normaly /usr/local/share/xmame). If you put all the zipped-ROM-Files in this dir everything will work automagicly.

The rompath will be overwritten by any rompath in xmamerc. Which can be overwritten again with the -rompath commandline option.

searches every dir in this path for roms (and samples) in the following way:

tab (@); l l. <dir>/gamename.zip@(containing filename.ext) <dir>/gamename/filename.ext <dir>/gamename/filename.ext.gz@(containing filename.ext) <dir>/gamename/filename.zip@(containing filename.ext)

Note: If your neogeo games can't find neogeo.rom put it in a dir called neogeo somewhere in your rompath, or put it in neogeo.zip somewhere in your rompath.

After running xmame i.e. xmame ladybug you will see two screens.

The first with a copyright message (PLEASE READ THIS!). If you type (ok) this screen will only come up again after the cfg-file of the game (romname.cfg) will be deleted.

Another screen shows information about the game. Hit any key to continue.

Note: If you want to see this information screen again, you could press <TAB> and select <Game Information> or hit <ESC> and restart. ;-)

The game will then go through a `hardware self-test' (remember, xmame is emulating game HARDWARE). After the self-test, you are `in' the video game. Feed the hungry machine with some coins (key <5> for one coin) then start (key <1>) it. For more coins and player read the next section (KEYBOARD COMMANDS).

HAVE A LOT OF FUN!

While playing a game, there are certain keyboard commands available for you to use.

tab (@); l l. KEY@Action <1> (the number `one')@Start a 1-player game. <2> (the number `two')@Start a 2-player game. <3> (the number `three')@Start a 3-player game. <4> (the number `four')@Start a 4-player game. <5> (the number `five')@Insert coin (slot 1). <6> (the number `six')@Insert coin (slot 2). <7> (the number `seven')@Insert coin (slot 3). <8> (the number `eight')@Insert coin (slot 4). <Tab>@Toggles the configuration menu. <~> (Tilde)@Toggles the `On Screen Display'. @Use the up and down arrow keys to select @the parameter (global volume, mixing level, @gamma correction etc.), left and right to @modify. <P>@Pauses the game. <Shift+P>@While paused, walk to the next frame. <F3>@Resets the game (start with @`hardware self-test'). <F4>@Shows the game graphics. Use cursor keys @to change set/color, F4 or Esc to return to @the emulation. <F9>@Changes frame skip on the fly. <F10>@Toggles speed throttling. <F11>@Toggles speed display. <Shift+F11>@Toggles profiler display. <F12>@Saves a screen snapshot. The default @target directory is SNAP. You must create @this directory yourself; the program will @not create it if it doesn't exist. <ESC>@Exits the emulator. <L-CTRL>@is mostly used as a button. <L-ALT>)@is also mostly used as a button. <arrows>@will emulate the joystick, pad or @trakball. If you have a joystick (pad, @trakball ), you can use it with the @Input-Related options: -joytype, -jt @and/or -[no]analogstick, -[no]as

For a complete list of the usefull keys in xmame start a game, press the <tab> button, select <Input (general)> or <Input (this game)> and you see a complete list of the related keys.

You can put the most commandline options in an (r)essource (c)onfiguration (rc) file. To generate a `clean' xmamerc you type in your ${HOME}/.xmame directory:

> xmamerc

Now you have a good base to build your specific rc-file. Here is a piece from this file to tell you how the syntax works.

### X11-window Related ### cursor 1 mitshm 1 xsync 1 privatecmap 0 xil 1 mtxil 0 run-in-root-window 0 root_window_id 0 geometry 640x480

### XFree86 DGA Related ###

### Video Mode Selection Related ### keepaspect 1 displayaspectratio 1.330000

The number `0' is equal to `no' or `false' and `1' means `yes' or `true'.

Some parameters like `geometry' needs a string `800x600' and some others like `displayaspectratio' use a number `1.330000'.

The following environment variables are used:

tab (@); l l. ENV@USE HOME@The user's home directory. (normally set by the login process.) DISPLAY@X server to display in.

The config files are parsed in the following order:

tab (@); l l. PATH@CONFIG FILE /usr/local/share/xmame/xmamerc@global configuration ${HOME}/.xmame/xmamerc@user configuration /usr/local/share/xmame/xmame-x11rc@global per display @method ${HOME}/.xmame/xmame-x11rc@user per display @method /usr/local/share/xmame/rc/<game>rc@global per game ${HOME}/.xmame/rc/<game>rc@user per game

There might be some bugs. Take a look in the doc-dir for more info, because the xmame-project is always in progress. :-)

Lots and lots and lots of thank to everyone for there great help on the xmame project. I would like to thank the following people and of course anyone I've forgotten.

Thank you all,

Hans

1. Fathers of the mame-creature (main version) Nicola Salmoria Allard van der Bas Mirko (Mix) Buffoni (General Mantainer) 2. Fathers of mess Brad Oliver Richard Bannister Ben Bruscella (current coordinator) 3. Original UNIX/X11 port Allard van der Bas Dick the Ridder Juan Antonio Marmnez 4. Unix maintainer Hans de Goede 5. Alpha specific issues Christian Groessler 6. Sun specific issues Keith Hargrove Mathis Rosenhau 7. Irix specific issues Tristram Scott 8. GGI maintainance Gabriele Boccone (original port) Christian Groessler (current maintainer) 9. OpenGL code & maintainance Mike Oliphant 10. Network code Eric Totel 11. Perl scripts for automation of some porting issues Bill Adams 12. Xmame rpms Jeremy Hansen 13. Mailing list maintainer Chris McCraw 14. Bits and pieces Christian Groessler Torsten Paul 15. AIX Sound code Chris Sharpp 16. IRIX Sound code entropy@zippy.bernstein.com 17. German readme Robert Hamberger 18. Documentation (SGML, HTML, MAN ...) Rene Herrmann

And now you've come to the end of this man(ual). Have a lot of fun Rene'