I've recently been playing around with mythgame and wrote up some
"docs" form the notes that i took during my install that i thought
would be useful to others as the official docs are a bit thin on the
subject. Bare with me as it's a bit longwinded and this is the first
time i've used XMAME or mythgame so if i'm suggesting something that
is basic lunacy please point it out. At the bottom i have some
questions about some of the setup options.
############### Mythgame: hary's setup notes ##########
Mythgame Setup:
this is a how to for setting up XMAME as part of mythgames on linux
using the CVS version of MythTV.
Overview:
1. setup directory structure
2. download and install XMAME
3. download and place files (artwork/catver.ini/etc..)
4. download and install mythgame
5. setup mythgame from inside mythfrontend
hints: No joystick solution
1. Setup Directory Structure
to keep things organized create the following directories within a
parent directory called "games":
cabinets, cheats, flyers, hiscore, screenshots, and roms.
cd (path to where you want to setup your games directory)
mkdir games
cd games
mkdir cabinets cheats flyers hiscore roms screens
2. Download and install XMAME
head over to http://x.mame.net and download the source for xmame/xmess.
uncompress it, configure, make and install it.
move it to where you install from, for me /usr/local/src
mv xmame-0.96.tar.gz2 /usr/local/src/xmame-0.96.tar.gz2
unzip it.
tar -jxvf xmame-0.96.tar.gz2
cd xmame-0.96.tar.gz2
note: read the docs if you want to compile in joystick support. (I
don't have one so i skipped this)
make
sudo make install
post XMAME install setup
mkdir ~/.xmame
cp docs/xmamerc.dist ~/.xmame/xmamerc
use your favorite editor to edit ~/.xmame/xmamerc
You need to set some paths in the ### Fileio Related ### section
rompath /mythtv/games/xmame/roms
snapshot_directory .
cheat_file /mythtv/games/xmame/cheat.dat
hiscore_file /mythtv/games/xmame/hiscore.dat
history_file /mythtv/games/xmame/history.dat
mameinfo_file /mythtv/games/xmame/mameinfo.dat
now it is time to test XMAME before we attempt to get it running
inside MythTV
place your ROM in the roms directory you created earlier
there are plenty of online places to purchase legit ROMs for use with
MAME. There are also places that will take your old cartridges and
transfer the ROMs to CDs for you.
launch xmame with the classic game of choice, gauntlet for me!
xmame.x11 gauntlet
after OK'ing the ownership screen, the info screen and the caveats
screen. you can start playing.
TAB will bring up a OSD, On Screen Display, which will show you the
keyboard settings.
~ will help you with the volume
ESC will get you out of it.
3. download and place files (artwork/catver.ini/etc..)
Download catver.ini
catver.ini is a catalog of CATagories and VERsions of MAME games. it
helps in organizing your games within mythgame. You can pick up a
copy at http://www.catver.com or http://wwww.mameworld.net/catlist
place it in your /mythtv/games/xmame directory
Download flyers from http://www.arcadeflyers.net if you like.
4. download and install mythgame.
mythgame is part of the mythplugins package so use the download
information in the myth docs.
http://mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-5.html
substitute "mythplugins" for "mythtv" in the download instructions.
after mythplugins have been downloaded
cd mythplugins
you can install all the default plugins by "./compile" or only
mythgame with:
./compile --disable-all --enable-mythgame
qmake mythplugins.pro
make
sudo make install
5. setup mythgame from inside mythfrontend
launch mythfrontend and navigate to Utilities/Setup>Setup>Media
Settings>Game Settings>General Settings
on page one you can setup the display order of your games, its page 2
and 3 that we need to setup.
MIME binary location: /usr/local/bin/xmame.x11 path to
xmame binary
MIME ROM location: /mythtv/games/xmame/roms where you
store all your roms
catver.ini file: /mythtv/games/xmame/catver.ini we put
this here in step 3, Category Version Info
MAME screenshots path: /mythtv/games/xmame/screenshots
MAME hiscores path: /mythtv/games/xmame/hiscore where
XMAME stores hiscores???
MAME hiscores file: /mythtv/games/xmame/hiscore.dat where
XMAME stores hiscores???
MAME flyers path: /mythtv/games/xmame/flyers
MAME cabinets path: /mythtv/games/xmame/cabinets
MAME history path: /mythtv/games/xmame/history.dat
MAME cheat files path: /mythtv/games/xmame/cheats
MAME image downloader Huh???? old?
and the options
Automatically download images if you have the MAME image
downloader setup this toggles it on
Show disclaimer show legal ROM warnings before
starting game
Show game info show info about the game, ie:year,
maker, CPU, sound, screen resolution before staring game
Hints:
No joystick solution:
i don't have one, yet. mythgame defaults to sending the option "-
joytype 4" to XMAME. You will need to set "joytype" to 0 by editing
the mamesettings table in your mythconverge database. I used
phpMyAdmin cause i'm a newb!
########## end hary's setup notes #########
ok i still have the following questions. most are pretty basic like
"what does this file do?"
1. while editing ~/.xmame/xmamerc there is an option for a
"snapshot_directory" is this different, or should it be different
than the "MAME screenshots path" in mythgame setup inside mythfrontned.
2. I'm confused about all the paths to files and how they are used.
such as:
a. why is there a hiscores path, and also a hiscore file. does XMAME
keep all the hiscores in one big file, or is it on a game by game
basis, hence the hiscores path. i assumed it's on a game by game
basis and setup a directory to hold all the hiscore files.
b. flyers and cabinets. how are these used? again please excuse the
newbie here. Are flyers like movie posters, they show up when
browsing? If so then where does that put screenshots? i guess i'm
looking for some clarity between the flyers, screenshots, snapshots
and cabinets. I found a site that is all arcade flyers http://
www.arcadeflyers.net and
c. will history.dat and the hiscores be automatically created? i
don't see them yet.
3. MAME image downloader? The hint in the mythgame setup screen point
you to the /contrib directory of the mythgame source, but that
doesn't exist. what was this meant to do? download the ROM image or a
splash screen of the game?
anyway thanks for reading this far and i hope this can help someone
just testing the waters like myself and perhaps this can be a
starting point for a page in the official docs.
-hary
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