Command Line Parameters for Mame/Mame32

 

Using the program

-----------------

 

mame [name of the game to run] [options]

 

For example:

 

   mame robby -nosound

 

...will run Robby Roto without sound

 

 

Configuration options

---------------------

 

-createconfig / -cc

 

      Creates the default MAME.INI file. All the following configuration

      options can be permanently changed by editing this configuration file.

 

-showconfig / -sc

 

      Displays the current configuration settings. If you route this to a

      file, you can use it as an INI file. For example, the command:

 

            mame -showconfig >mame.ini

 

      is equivalent to -createconfig.

 

-showusage / -su

 

      Displays a summary of all the command line options. For options that

      are not mentioned here, the short summary given by "mame -showusage" is

      usually sufficient.

 

-[no]readconfig / -[no]rc

 

      Enables or disables the reading of the config files. When enabled

      (which is the default), MAME reads the following config files in order:

 

            - MAME.INI

            - $MY_MAME.INI (i.e. if MAME was renamed MAME060.EXE, MAME

                        parses MAME060.INI here)

            - MAMED.INI  (if this is a debug build, i.e. MAMED.EXE)

            - VECTOR.INI (for vector games only)

            - DRIVER.INI (based on the source filename of the driver)

            - PARENT.INI (for clones only, may be called recursively)

            - GAMENAME.INI

 

      The settings in the later ini's override those in the earlier ini's.

      So, for example, if you wanted to disable hardware stretch in the

      vector games, you can create a VECTOR.INI with the "hwstretch 0" line

      in it, and it will override whatever hwstretch value you have in your

      MAME.INI.

 

-[no]verbose / -[no]v

 

      Displays some diagnostic information at startup. IMPORTANT: when

      reporting bugs, please run with mame -verbose and include the resulting

      information. It can be very helpful in tracking down problems. The

      default is off (-noverbose)

 

 

Windows path and directory options

----------------------------------

 

IMPORTANT: Please use the path, directory and file options ONLY in MAME.INI.

Otherwise, the outcome may be unpredictable and not consistent across releases.

 

-rompath / -rp

 

      You can give a path (list of directories seperated by semicolons) of

      directories to be searched for roms. The default is ROMS (that is, a

      directory "roms" in the current directory).

 

-samplepath / -sp

 

      You can give a path (list of directories seperated by semicolons) of

      directories to be searched for samples. The default is SAMPLES (that

      is, a directory "samples" in the current directory).

 

-inipath

 

      You can give a path (list of directories seperated by semicolons) of

      directories to be searched for INI-files. The default is .;ini (that

      is, search in the current directory first, and then in the directory

      "ini" in the current directory).

 

-cfg_directory

 

      After running a game, MAME stores some user changeable settings into

      cfg_directory/gamename.cfg. Additionally, on the first start of MAME a

      cfg_directory/default.cfg is created. The default is CFG.

 

-nvram_directory

 

      The original hardware of some games use non-volative ram chips to save

      their configuration. The contents of these are saved into this

      directory. The default is NVRAM.

 

-memcard_directory

 

      The original hardware of some games supports so-called memory cards.

      The contents of these are stored here. The default is MEMCARD.

 

-input_directory

 

      Input recordings created by "-record" will be saved here and loaded by

      "-playback". The default is INP.

 

-hiscore_directory

 

      If there exists a file HISCORE.DAT in the MAME directory, highscores

      may also be saved for games that do not have the original hardware to

      support this. The quality of this feature depends on the accuracy of

      the externally available file HISCORE.DAT. The default is HI.

 

-state_directory

 

      MAME supports state saving for some games. These states will be saved

      here. The default is STATE.

 

-artwork_directory

 

      Some games used extra artwork not created by electical circuits. MAME

      supports such artwork in PNG image format, located in this directory.

      The default is ARTWORK.

 

-snapshot_directory

 

      Screenshots will go here. The default is SNAP.

 

-diff_directory

 

      Directory for hard drive image difference files. The default is DIFF.

 

-ctrlr_directory

 

      This directory holds controller-specific input port mapping .ini files.

      The default is CTRLR.

 

-cheat_file

 

      The default is CHEAT.DAT. Modifying the default may not work at the

      moment.

 

 

Windows video options

---------------------

 

-[no]autoframeskip / -[no]afs

 

      Automatically determines the frameskip level while you're playing the

      game, adjusting it constantly in a frantic attempt to keep the game

      running at full speed. Turning this on overrides the value you have set

      for -frameskip above. The default is ON (-autoframeskip).

 

-frameskip / -fs

 

      Specifies the frameskip value. This is the number of frames out of

      every 12 to drop when running. For example, if you say -frameskip 2,

      then MAME will display 10 out of every 12 frames. By skipping those

      frames, you may be able to get full speed in a game that requires more

      horsepower than your computer has. The default value is -frameskip 0,

      which skips no frames.

 

-[no]waitvsync

 

      Waits for the refresh period on your computer's monitor to finish

      before starting to draw video to your screen. If this option is off,

      MAME will just draw to the screen at any old time, even in the middle

      of a refresh cycle. This can cause "tearing" artifacts, where the top

      portion of the screen is out of sync with the bottom portion. Tearing

      is not noticeable on all games, and some people hate it more than

      others. However, if you turn this option on, you will waste more of

      your CPU cycles waiting for the proper time to draw, so you will see a

      performance hit. The default is OFF (-nowaitvsync). This option

      requires -ddraw.

 

-[no]triplebuffer / -[no]tb

 

      Enables or disables "triple buffering". Normally, MAME just draws

      directly to the screen, without any fancy buffering. But with this

      option enabled, MAME creates three buffers to draw to, and cycles

      between them in order. It attempts to keep things flowing such that one

      buffer is currently displayed, the second buffer is waiting to be

      displayed, and the third buffer is being drawn to. Unfortunately, due

      to some DirectDraw issues, this doesn't always work out as well as it

      should. This is still being investigated. The default is OFF

      (-notriplebuffer). This option required -ddraw and -nowindow.

 

-[no]window

 

      Run MAME in either a window or full screen. The default is OFF

      (-nowindow).

 

-[no]ddraw / -[no]dd

 

      This is really just for testing. It disables the use of DirectDraw,

      which removes a lot of the features of the video system (-triplebuffer,

      -waitvsync, -resolution, -refresh, -switchres, -switchbpp, -resolution,

      -hwstretch all won't work). It will generally run really slowly. If

      anyone has a legitimate use for this option, we'd be curious to know.

      The default is ON (-ddraw).

 

-[no]direct3d / -[no]d3d

 

      Use Direct3D to display the image. This does not render 3D games using

      3D hardware, it just uses 3D hardware to display the image, and apply

      effects to it. -triplebuffer, -waitvsync, -resolution, -refresh,

      -switchres, -switchbpp, -resolution all work with this option. This

      option overrides -ddraw and implies -hwstretch. The default is OFF

      (-nodirect3d).

 

-[no]hwstretch / -[no]hws

 

      MAME uses the hardware stretching abilities of modern graphic cards to

      scale the game image to the requested resolution. Depending on the

      quality of your graphic card and its drivers, this may be a fractional,

      antialiased scaling (nice) or an integer, blocky scaling (not so nice).

      In any case, you can disable this stretching altogether and let MAME do

      the scaling in software, which is probably slower, though. The default

      is ON (-hwstretch). Note: Vector games may actually look better with

      "-nohws".

 

-cleanstretch [option] / -cs [option]

 

      Stretch the image to integer ratios only. This may leave a black border

      around the image in fullscreen mode. The options are:

 

            none      disable. This will cause artifacts when using

                      scanlines.

            auto      let the blitter decide. The d3d module will select

                      the best option.

            full      always stretch to integer ratios both horizontally

                      and vertically.

            horizontal  always stretch to integer ratios horizontally.

            vertical    always stretch to integer ratios vertically.

 

      The default is AUTO (-cleanstretch auto). This option requires -ddraw

      or -direct3d.

 

-resolution wxh[xd] / -r wxh[xd]

 

      Specifies an exact resolution to run in. In full screen mode, MAME will

      try to use the specific resolution you request. The width (w) and

      height (h) are required; the color depth (d) is optional. If omitted or

      set to 0, MAME will determine the mode auomatically. For example,

      -resolution 640x480 will force 640x480 resolution, but MAME is free to

      choose the color depth. Similarly, -resolution 0x0x32 will force 32-bit

      color depth, but allows MAME to choose the resolution. The string

      "auto" is also supported, and is equivalent to 0x0x0. In window mode,

      this resolution is used as a maximum size for the window. The default

      is auto (-resolution auto). This option requires -ddraw for full screen

      resolution switching.

 

-refresh

 

      Specifies a particular refresh rate to set your monitor to. If the

      refresh rate is not found, or if this parameter is 0, the default

      DirectDraw refresh rate is used. The default is -refresh 0. This option

      requires -ddraw and -nowindow.

 

-[no]scanlines / -[no]sl

 

      Enables the classic MAME "scanlines" effect. The default is OFF

      (-noscanlines). This option requires -nohwstretch.

 

-[no]switchres

 

      Enables resolution switching. This option is required for the

      -resolution option to switch resolutions in full screen mode. On many

      modern video cards with hardware stretching support, there is little

      performance penalty at higher resolutions, so it is nice to be able to

      get rid of the monitor resync time when you run in full screen mode.

      This is also useful on LCD displays with a fixed resolution. The

      default is ON (-switchres). This option requires -ddraw.

 

-[no]switchbpp

 

      Enables color depth switching. This option is required for the

      -resolution option to switch color depths in full screen mode. This

      option is useful if you normally run at 16, 24, or 32 bit color depth

      on your desktop, and want to keep that color depth when you run MAME.

      The default is ON (-switchbpp). This option requires -ddraw.

 

-[no]maximize / -[no]max

 

      Controls initial window size in windowed mode. If it is set on, the

      window will initially stretch to the maximum supported size when you

      start MAME. If it is turned off, the window will start out at the

      smallest supported size. The default is ON (-maximize). This option

      requires -window.

 

-[no]keepaspect / -[no]ka

 

      Enables aspect ratio enforcement. When this option is on, the game's

      proper aspect ratio (generally 4:3 or 3:4) is enforced, so you get the

      game looking like it should. When running in a window with this option

      on, you can only resize the window to the proper aspect ratio, unless

      you are holding down the CONTROL key. By turning the option off, the

      aspect ratio is allowed to float. In full screen mode, this means that

      all games will stretch to the full screen size (even vertical games).

      In window mode, it means that you can freely resize the window without

      any constraints. The default is ON (-keepaspect).

 

-[no]matchrefresh

 

      Enables refresh rate matching. When enabled, MAME will try to find the

      closest refresh rate match that is greater than the game's refresh

      rate. For example, if the game runs at 57fps, and you have 60, 70, 75Hz

      refresh rates, MAME will choose 60Hz. If the game runs at 61fps, then

      it will choose 70Hz. This is intended mainly for those who have tweaked

      their video card's settings to provide carefully matched refresh rate

      options. The default is OFF (-nomatchrefresh). This option requires

      -ddraw and -nowindow.

 

-[no]syncrefresh

 

      Enables speed throttling only to the refresh of your monitor. This

      means that the game's actual refresh rate is ignored; however, the

      sound code still attempts to keep up with the game's original refresh

      rate, so you may encounter sound problems. Again, this is intended

      mainly for those who have tweaked their video card's settings to

      provide carefully matched refresh rate options. The default is OFF

      (-nosyncrefresh). This option requires -ddraw.

 

-[no]throttle

 

      Configures the default thottling setting. When throttling is on, MAME

      attempts to keep the game running at the game's intended speed. When

      throttling is off, MAME runs the game as fast as it can. The default is

      ON (-throttle).

 

-full_screen_brightness / -fsb

 

      Some video cards adjust the brightness/gamma when they switch into full

      screen mode. To counteract this, you can specify the

      -full_screen_brightness value, which is a number between 0.1 and 2. 0.1

      means 1/10th as bright as the default, and 2 means twice as bright.

      Note that the hardware support for this option is not present on all

      video cards. If you set a non-zero value, you may get a warning if MAME

      was unable to set the brightness on your card. The default is 0, which

      means that MAME will not attempt to adjust the brightness on your video

      card at all. This option requires -ddraw and -nowindow.

 

-frames_to_run / -ftr

 

      This option can be used for benchmarking. It tells MAME to stop

      execution after a fixed number of frames. By combining this with a

      fixed set of other command line options, you can set up a consistent

      environment for benchmarking MAME performance.

 

-effect

 

      Apply various blitting effects to emulate the look of Arcade monitors.

      Using these modes comes at the cost of reduced emulation speed, which

      is inherent to these modes. The current implementation is already as

      fast as possible, using self-modifying assembly code. For some of

      these, MMX is required. Possible values:

 

            none      no effect (this is the default)

            sharp     no effect, but gives a sharper image

            scan25          25% scanlines

            scan50          50% scanlines

            scan75          75% scanlines

            scan75v     75% scanlines (vertical)

            rgb3      a certain "monitor mask"

            rgb4      another one

            rgb4v     another one (vertical)

            rgb6      another one

            rgb16     another one

            rgbtiny     another one. Choose the one you like best.

 

-screen_aspect

 

      Give a screen aspect ration in the form X:Y where X is the horizontal

      and Y the vertical part. Examples are 4:3 for most resolution settings

      on computer monitors, 5:4 for the 1280x1024 resolution or 3:4 for

      turnable LCD's in the turned position. The default is 4:3.

 

 

Windows video options (Direct3D)

--------------------------------

 

-zoom [z] / -z [z]

 

      Try to get a resolution that enlarges the emulated game z times. The

      default is -zoom 2. MAME determines the resolution automatically. This

      option only works with -direct3d.

 

-[no]d3dtexmanage

 

      Let Direct3D handle conversion of the image to a texture (required to

      display it with Direct3D). This is more compatible, but can be

      (significantly) slower on some hardware. The default is ON

      (-d3dtexmanage). Using -nod3dtexmanage can eliminate a loss of

      performance that may occur with some graphics cards when using

      -direct3d. This option requires -direct3d.

 

-d3dfilter [f] / -flt [f]

 

      Select the type of filtering to apply to the image when stretching. 0

      is point filtering, 1 is bi-linear filtering, 2 is bi-cubic filtering

      (flat kernel), 3 is bi-cubic filtering gaussian kernel), 4 is

      anisotropic filtering. Note that very few graphics cards support

      bi-cubic filtering, and that older graphics cards may not support

      anisotropic filtering. The default is bi-linear filtering (-d3dfilter

      1). This option requires -direct3d.

 

-d3dfeedback [i]

 

      Select the feedback effect intensity in percentages. 0 is disable,

      higher values feed back the previous frame to the current one at the

      specified intensity. The default is DISABLE (-d3dfeedback 0). This

      option requires -direct3d.

 

-d3dscan [i]

 

      Select the scanline effect intensity in percentages. 0 is black lines

      between scanlines, 100 is disable scanline effect. The default is

      DISABLE (-d3dscan 100). This option requires -direct3d.

 

-[no]d3deffectrotate

 

      Apply rotatation so that any effects are rotated along with the game

      image. The default is ON. This option requires -direct3d.

 

-d3dprescale [option]

 

      Pre-scale up the image with point filtering before fitting the image to

      the screen. This gives an only slightly fuzzy image even at high

      display resolutions. The options are:

 

            none      disable.

            auto      adaptively apply a moderate pre-scale effect,

                      depending on other efects used.

            full      adaptively apply an agressive pre-scale effect.

            n         (where 2 <= n <= 4) pre-scale the image n times.

 

      The default is AUTO (-d3dprescale auto). This option requires

      -direct3d.

 

-d3deffect [preset]

 

      Select an effect preset. Valid presets are:

 

            none        no effect (this is the default)

            sharp       no effect, but gives a sharper image

            scan25            25% scanlines

            scan50            50% scanlines

            scan75            75% scanlines

            scan75v     75% scanlines (vertical)

            rgbmicro    a certain "monitor mask"

            rgbtiny     another one

            rgb3        another one

            rgb4        another one

            rgb4v       another one (vertical)

            rgb6        another one

            rgb16       another one

            rgbminmask  another one

            dotmedmask  another one

            rgbmedmask  another one

            dotmedbright      another one (extra bright)

            rgbmaxbright      another one (extra bright)

            aperturegrille    another one. Choose the one you like best.

            auto        adaptively selects a special preset based on

                        zoom level.

 

      The default is none (-d3deffect none). This option requires -direct3d.

 

-d3dcustom [custom preset]

 

      Supply a custom preset. The format is <-d3dcustom

      1,0,0x0100,0xC0,0,0,0,0x22,-1,8x8_mame_rgbtiny.rgb>. The meaning

      of the mumbers is:

 

            1         RGB effects mode: 0 is off, 1 is multiply mode, 2

                      is add and multiply mode.

            2,3,4,5     pattern preprocessing; use mask, white level, black

                      level, desaturation, respectively.

            6         image attenuation

            7         feedback (0 is don't use)

            8         prescale. bit 4: prescale horizontally, bit 0:

                      prescale vertically.

            9         maximum scanline intensity.

            10        pattern filename, including path.

 

      The filename must start with XxY, where X and Y are the dimensions of

      the pattern in pixels. Each pixel is represented by 4 bytes, red,

      green, blue, and mask, respectively. mask is an on/off value, where 0

      is off. This option requires -direct3d.

 

-d3dexpert [settings]

 

      Undocumented settings intended mostly for developers. This option

      requires -direct3d.

 

 

Windows misc options

--------------------

 

-[no]sleep

 

      Since MAME is running in a multitasking environment, it should be nice

      to its fellow processes. Therefore, if MAME does not need all

      processing power to emulate a game, it gives back already granted

      processor time to the operating system. This may not work in every

      case, so it can be disabled and MAME turned once again into a CPU hog.

      The default is ON (-sleep).

 

-[no]rdtsc

 

      Prefer RDTSC over QueryPerformanceCounter for timing. The default is

      OFF (-nordtsc). -rdtsc sometimes causes problems on laptops, and

      -nordtsc may cause problems on desktop computers. If MAME does not

      operate smoothly (and you are sure you have enough CPU power for

      the emulation), try toggling this.

 

-[no]high_priority

 

      Increases the thread priority so MAME runs better. The default is OFF

      (-nohigh_priority).

 

 

Windows sound options

---------------------

 

-audio_latency

 

      This controls the amount of latency built into the audio streaming. By

      default MAME tries to keep the DirectSound audio buffer between 1/5 and

      2/5 full. On some systems, this is pushing it too close to the edge,

      and you get poor sound sometimes. The latency parameter controls the

      lower threshold. The default is 1 (meaning lower=1/5 and upper=2/5).

      Set it to 2 (-audio_latency 2) to keep the sound buffer between 2/5 and

      3/5 full. If you crank it up to 4, you can definitely notice the lag.

 

-wavwrite <filename>

 

      Writes the final mixer output to the given <filename> in .WAV format.

 

 

Input device options

--------------------

 

-[no]mouse

 

      Controls whether or not MAME looks for a mouse controller to use. When

      this is enabled, you will not be able to use your mouse in Windows

      while playing a game. If you want to get control of your computer back,

      you will need to pause the game, or quit. The default is OFF

      (-nomouse).

 

-[no]joystick / -[no]joy

 

      Controls whether or not MAME looks for joystick/gamepad controllers.

      When this is enabled, MAME will ask DirectInput about which controllers

      are connected. The default is OFF (-nojoystick).

 

-[no]lightgun/ -[no]gun

 

      Controls whether or not MAME treats mouse inputs as lightgun inputs.

      Note that most lightguns map to the mouse, so using -lightgun and

      -mouse together may produce strange results. The default is OFF

      (-nolightgun).

 

-[no]dual_lightgun / -[no]dual

 

      Controls whether or not MAME attempts to track two lightguns connected

      at the same time. This option requires -lightgun. The default is OFF

      (-nodual_lightgun).

 

-[no]offscreen_reload / -[no]reload

 

      Controls whether or not MAME treats a second button input from a

      lightgun as a reload signal. In this case, MAME will report the gun's

      position as (0,0) with the trigger held, which is equivalent to an

      offscreen reload. The default is OFF (-nooffscreen_reload).

 

-[no]steadykey / -[no]steady

 

      Some games require two or more buttons to be pressed at exactly the

      same time to make special moves. Due to limitations in the PC keyboard

      hardware, it can be difficult or even impossible to accomplish that

      using the standard keyboard handling. This option selects a different

      handling that makes it easier to register simultaneous button presses,

      but has the disadvantage of making controls less responsive. The

      default is OFF (-nosteadykey)

 

-[no]keyboard_leds / -[no]leds

 

      Since MAME uses an input device (keyboard) for output, this sort of

      belongs here. Using this option enables/disables simulation of the game

      LEDs by the keyboard LEDs. This works fine, but can lead to problems

      after exiting MAME (i.e. CAPS LOCK remains ON), so you can disable it

      here. The default is ON (-keyboard_leds).

 

-led_mode <ps/2|usb>

 

      For Windows NT and later systems, determines how LEDs on the keyboard

      are controlled. In PS/2 mode, MAME uses the low-level keyboard driver

      directly to control the LEDs. In USB mode, MAME attempts to post fake

      keypresses on the Caps Lock, Scroll Lock, and Num Lock keys in order to

      induce the LEDs to change. If you have a PS/2 keyboard, PS/2 mode is the

      more reliable approach. Default is PS/2.

 

-a2d_deadzone / -a2d

 

      If you play with an analog joystick, but the game requires digital

      input, MAME needs to convert the signals. Here you can give the ratio

      of movement along an axis that accounts for a digital signal. This

      option expects a float in the range of 0.0 to 1.0. The default is 0.3.

      Note: the current handling is not precise, as it does also implicitely

      set the size of the arc which is interpreted as diagonal movement. This

      is a known problem but it requires some major rework of the input

      handling code to fix it.

 

-ctrlr <controller>

 

      Enables support for special controllers. Configuration files are

      provided for:

 

            hotrod          HotRod

            hotrodse    HotRod SE

            slikstik    SlikStik

            xarcade     X-Arcade

 

-paddle_device <keyboard|mouse|joystick|lightgun> / -paddle

-adstick_device <keyboard|mouse|joystick|lightgun> / -adstick

-pedal_device <keyboard|mouse|joystick|lightgun> / -pedal

-dial_device <keyboard|mouse|joystick|lightgun> / -dial

-trackball_device <keyboard|mouse|joystick|lightgun> / -trackball

-lightgun_device <keyboard|mouse|joystick|lightgun>

 

      Each of these options controls autoenabling the mouse, joystick, or

      lightgun depending on the presence of a particular class of analog

      control for a particular game. For example, if you specify the option

      -paddle mouse, then any game that has a paddle control will automatically

      enable mouse controls just as if you had explicitly specified -mouse.

      Note that these controls override the values of -[no]mouse, -[no]joystick,

      etc.

 

-digital <all|none|j<N>[a<M>[a<K>...]][,j<X>[a<Y>...]][,...]>

 

      Controls which joystick axes are considered digital. If MAME knows that

      a given joystick axis is digital, it can make much better decisions about

      how to treat that axis. If you are using a digital gamepad with MAME,

      you will want to use this option. There are a number of ways to do this:

 

      -digital all means that all axes of all connected joysticks will be

            treated as digital.

 

      -digital none means that all axes of all connected joysticks will be

            treated as analog (this is the default behavior).

   

      -digital j2 will treat all axes of joystick #2 as digital; axes on all

            other joysticks will be treated as analog.

 

      -digital j1a0a1 will treat axis 0 and 1 on joystick #1 as digital; all

            other axes will be treated as analog.

 

      -digital j1a0a1,j2a5 will treat axis 0 and 1 on joystick #1 as digital,

            as well as axis 5 on joystick #2; all other axes will be treated

            as analog.

 

      Make use of the information provided by -verbose to determine which

      joysticks and axes you should be configuring this way.

 

 

MAME core video options

-----------------------

 

-[no]norotate

-[no]ror

-[no]rol

-[no]autoror

-[no]autorol

-[no]flipx

-[no]flipy

 

      These are the standard MAME rotation options. They are all OFF by

      default.

 

-gamma

 

      This controls the global gamma correction in the game. It is the same

      gamma that is applied when you bring up the on-screen-display within

      MAME. The default is 1.0.

 

-brightness / -bright

 

      This controls the global brightness correction in the game. It is the

      same brightness that is applied when you bring up the on-screen-display

      within MAME. The default is 1.0.

 

-pause_brightness

 

      This controls the brightness level when MAME is paused. The default

      value is 0.65.

 

MAME core vector options

------------------------

 

-[no]antialias / -[no]aa

 

      Antialiasing for vector games. The default is ON (-antialias).

 

-[no]translucency / -[no]tl

 

      Enables or disables vector translucency. Colors of crossing vector

      beams will be merged. The default is ON (-translucency).

 

-beam

 

      Sets the width in pixels of the vectors. This option expects a float in

      the range of 1.00 through 16.00 as argument. The default is 1 (1 pixel

      wide).

 

-flicker

 

      Makes the vectors flicker. This option requires a float argument in the

      range of 0.00 - 100.00 (0=none, 100=maximum). The default is 0.

 

-intensity

 

      Sets the intensity correction for the beam. Higher values give a

      brighter beam. This option expects a float in the range of 0.5 through

      3.0 as argument.  The default is 1.5.

 

 

MAME core sound options

-----------------------

 

-samplerate / -sr

 

      Sets the audio sample rate. Smaller values (e.g. 11025) cause lower

      audio quality but faster emulation speed. Higher values (e.g. 44100)

      cause higher audio quality but slower emulation speed. The default is

      44100.

 

-[no]samples

 

      Use samples if available. The default is ON (-samples).

 

-[no]sound

 

      Enable or disable sound altogether. The default is ON (-sound).

 

-volume / -vol

 

      Sets the startup volume. It can later be changed with the On Screen

      Display (see Keys section). The volume is an attenuation in dB: e.g.,

      "-volume -12" will start with -12dB attenuation. The default is 0.

 

 

MAME core misc options

----------------------

 

-[no]artwork / -[no]art

 

      Enable or disable usage of additional artwork (backdrops, overlays,

      etc.). The default is ON (-artwork).

 

-[no]use_backdrops / -[no]backdrop

 

      Enables/disables the display of backdrops. The default is ON

      (-use_backdrops).

 

-[no]use_overlays / -[no]overlay

 

      Enables/disables the display of overlays. The default is ON

      (-use_overlays).

 

-[no]use_bezels / -[no]bezel

 

      Enables/disables the display of bezels. The default is ON

      (-use_bezels).

 

-[no]artwork_crop / -[no]artcrop

 

      This will crop the artwork to the game screen area only. The default is

      OFF (-noartwork_crop).

 

-artwork_resolution / -artres

 

      Scale the game by this factor to accommodate for higher resolution

      artwork. The default is 0 (auto).

 

-[no]cheat / -[no]c

 

      Cheats, like the speedup in Pac Man or the level-skip in many other

      games, are disabled by default. Use this switch to turn them on. The

      default is OFF (-nocheat).

 

-[no]debug

 

      Activates the integrated debugger.  During emulation, press the tilde

      key (~) to activate the debugger. This is available only if the program

      is compiled with MAME_DEBUG defined. The default is OFF (-nodebug).

 

-playback / -pb

 

      Expects a filename as parameter. Play back all game inputs from from

      file INP/filename.inp. The gamename is contained in this file,

      therefore a gamename needs not be given on the commandline.

 

-record / -rec

 

      Expects a filename as parameter. All game inputs are written to the

      file INP/filename.inp.

 

-[no]log

 

      Creates a log of illegal memory accesses in ERROR.LOG. The default is

      OFF (-nolog).

 

-[no]oslog

 

      Outputs error.log data to the Windows debugger instead of to a file.

      Default is OFF (-nooslog).

 

-[no]skip_disclaimer

 

      Forces MAME to skip displaying the disclaimer screen. The default is

      OFF (-noskip_disclaimer).

 

-[no]skip_gameinfo

 

      Forces MAME to skip displaying the game info screen. The default is OFF

      (-noskip_gameinfo).

 

-bios

 

      Expects a BIOS name as the parameter. -listxml will list the possible

      BIOS names for a game/system.

 

-state <slot>

 

      Starts MAME and loads a saved state immediately from the specified slot.

 

 

Other MAME frontend options

----------------------------

 

Note: By default, all the '-list' commands below write info to the screen. If

you wish to write the info to a textfile instead, add this to the end of your

command:

 

  > filename

 

...where 'filename' is the textfile's path and name (e.g., c:\mame\list.txt).

 

-help / -?

 

      Displays current MAME version and copyright notice

 

-listxml / -lx

 

      List comprehensive details for all of the supported games. The output

      is quite long, so better redirect this into a file. The output is in

      XML format.

 

-listfull / -ll

 

      Displays a list of game directory names + descriptions.

 

-listsource / -ls

 

      Displays the source file (in the drivers directory) containing the

      driver for the specified game. Useful for finding which driver a game

      runs on in order to fix bugs.

 

-listclones / -lc

 

      Lists clones of the specified game. When no game is specified, this

      generates a list of all MAME-supported clones.

 

-listcrc

 

      List CRC32 checksums of rom files

 

-listroms

 

      Displays ROMs required by the specified game.

 

-listsamples

 

      Displays samples required by the specified game.

 

-verifyroms

 

      Checks specified game(s) for missing and invalid ROMs.      Adding "*"

      checks all available games.

 

-verifysamples

 

      Check selected game for missing samples. Adding "*" checks all

      available samples.

 

-romident

 

      Attempts to identify ROM files, if they are known to MAME, in the

      specified .zip file. Can be used to try and identify ROM sets taken

      from unknown boards.

 

-isknown

 

      Very terse romident.

 

 

Keys

----

 

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 arrow keys to modify it.

 

P          Pauses the game

 

Shift+P      While paused, advances to next frame

 

F1         Toggle crosshairs for games that use them

 

F2         Service Mode

 

F3         Resets the game

 

F4         Shows the game palette, decoded GFX, and any tilemaps

           Cursor left/right changes between palette, GFX and tilemaps

           Cursor up/down cycle through valid palettes

           Page up/down scroll through the palette and GFX

           Page up/down, D, G scroll the tilemap display

           Ctrl & Shift are modifiers to change movement speed.

           F4 or Esc returns to the emulation.

           Note: Not all games have decoded graphics and/or tilemaps.

 

F6         Toggle cheat mode (if started with "-cheat")

 

F7         Load a 'Save State'. You will be requested to press a key to

           determine which Save State you wish to load. Note that the 'Save

           State' feature is for developing drivers and not intended for

           users. It is incomplete and works only on a number of drivers. Use

           at own risk.

 

Shift+F7     Create a 'Save State'. Requires an additional keypress to identify

           the state.

 

F8         Decrease frame skip on the fly

 

F9         Increase frame skip on the fly

 

F10        Toggles speed throttling

 

F11        Toggles speed display

 

Shift+F11    Toggles profiler display (debug builds only)

 

F12        Saves a screen snapshot. The default target directory is SNAP.

 

ESC        Exits emulator