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Posts: 1,255 | Thanked: 393 times | Joined on Oct 2009 @ US
#196
Originally Posted by Flandry View Post
I'll make a few follow-up comments for context and expectation management. I will probably wax philosophical.



When i played the console version, those hall monsters used to completely freak me out when they came into the room after too much delay. I don't get adrenaline like that these days even from Doom3 and its ilk.



The current settings look for the data files in three locations. Two of them can be seen by the built-in file manager (the media card and MyDocs). The app itself will stay where it's at. :P



My main testing ROM is Ghosts 'n Goblins. In the brief trial run, Dig Dug seems to be emulated perfectly.

Philosophy of the SDLMAME Maemo port

The advantage of using the latest release of SDLMAME instead of an old MAME branch project like most mobile device port maintainers do is that all the improvements of the main upstream source go directly into the port for "free". In this case, there's an added bonus in that the SDLMAME maintainer has an interest in arm support for his own devices (which is why this port is possible right now). My intent is to just be a maintainer of the port, not a MAME developer. I don't have time to get fully into the MAME codebase, so this is a way to contribute to MAME and Maemo and possibly my own uses without a huge investment.

Similar to my reasons for using a modern MAME upstream source are my reasons for picking MAME itself. The good thing and bad thing about MAME is that it's a very thorough emulator. It's good because it means that if it emulates on any system it runs on, it should work on all of them. It's bad because it means there is more overhead than there would be if it had all kinds of speed hacks.

It's basically the stability and versatility vs. performance tradeoff common in the tech world. The N900 is a powerful enough system to run the ROM drivers i'm interested in seeing emulated without resorting to cheap hacks and custom projects, and future Maemo devices will only get better. Making a port that tracks the improvements in MAME and doesn't introduce hard-to-maintain device-specific changes will be a more useful contribution in the long run.

Expectations for SDLMAME on Maemo

All of that was basically an elaborate excuse to justify the minimal amount of changes to the upstream source i plan on making for this port. Besides the initial optified packaging that is done, getting the UI, config and keymaps into useful condition and any optimizations necessary to get reasonable performance on the old ROMs are the only other changes i plan on making.

And as for compatbility, if it is a pre-1990 ROM and works well in MAME on the PC, it should work well in this port when completed. That's my target.
Major Kudos!

Every game I have tried has worked (MAME 135 set)! Some better than others, but games I would expect to work well- do.

For just getting started, you have done a great job!

One nice update down the road would be the ability to rotate the screen for shooters and other games with a long screen. Games like Vulgus are an example. BTW, that game works great!

Please let me know if you would like me to do a test list of some games and how they perform. If not, no problem. I look forward to your updates!!!!

You did a good job with scaling already and sound is pretty good. When this is optimized for the N900 it will kick some serious butt!

Between you and fms, N900 has a great outlook for old school gaming

And also kudos to the other game devs as well