NAME
xmame - THE Arcade game machine emulator for UNIX/X
SYNOPSIS
xmame[.x11|svga] [-options] gamename
EXAMPLES
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: xmame ladybug Plays Ladybug with all options defined in
xmamerc. If there is no xmamerc the game starts with the buildin
defaults. xmame defender -frameskip 1 -cheat 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. ;-)
LEGAL NOTICE
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. xmame 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.
DESCRIPTION
xmame 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:
*** Digital sound related ***
-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)
*** Sound mixer related ***
-sound-mixer-plugin, -smp string
Select which plugin to use for the sound mixer
-list-mixer-plugins, -lmp
List available sound-mixer plugins
*** Video Related ***
-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
*** Vector Games Related ***
-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
*** X11 Related ***
-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)
*** X11-window Related ***
-[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
*** XFree86 DGA Related ***
*** Video Mode Selection Related ***
-[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
*** X11-input related ***
-[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
*** Sound Related ***
-[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
*** Input Related ***
-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)
*** Fileio Related ***
-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
*** Mess Related ***
-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)
*** Frontend Related ***
-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
*** Internal verification list commands (only for developers) ***
-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
*** Rom Identification Related ***
-ident, -id
Identify unknown romdump, or unknown romdumps in dir/zip
-isknown, -ik
Check if romdump or romdumps in dir/zip are known
*** General Options ***
-[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
*** Arguments ***
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.
INSTALLING GAMES
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. xmame 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.
xmame searches every dir in this path for roms (and samples) in the
following way:
<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.
PLAYING GAMES
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!
KEYBOARD COMMANDS
While playing a game, there are certain keyboard commands available for
you to use.
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.
RCFILES
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: xmame -sc > 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’.
ENVIRONMENT
The following environment variables are used:
ENV USE
HOME The user’s home directory. (normally set by the login process.)
DISPLAY X server to display in.
FILES
The config files are parsed in the following order:
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
BUGS
There might be some bugs. Take a look in the doc-dir for more info,
because the xmame-project is always in progress. :-)
CREDITS
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’