Wanting to Upgrade MAME

[Rotgut]

Hey, hope all is well everyone! Thanks for all you do, Boss!

So I have a couple of quick questions. I have been running MAME v.0.128 for nearly 5 years and would like to do a re-install using a much newer version. Someone suggested v.0.167 ? What do you recommend? I want to be able to start taking advantage of all the HLSL stuff.

Secondly, when I go to your Roms section for MAME, is there a "Full Set" of roms that will run on v.0.167 ? I'm confused as to what roms I should be downloading for a specific version of MAME. I'm trying to avoid an eternal easter egg hunt, so I'd prefer a full set? I am extremely lost, I'm not going to lie.

Thanks in advance

[Hot Trout]

Well you would be right to be lost, I get lost and I do this every month.

The last FULL set that I have on here (because they are massive) is 0.155. After that I have the upgrade sets right the way up to 0.168 which is the most recent. If you want to play all the titles you will also need the correct CHD set for whatever version you decide on. The CHDs are harddisk copies of the drives from the arcade machines and are needed very often along with the related ROM image in order to play that title. We also have the FULL set of 0.155 CHDs and all the upgrade sets up to 0.168.

The problem we have is that due to the huge size of a full set of MAME and a full set of CHD we simply cannot keep a full set of every release, even though I would like this. All other rom sites take the view that only the most recent rom set is required but as we know, at certain stages, certain full sets are associated with certain levels of hardware. For example 0.37b5 and 0.37b11 are used for MAME4DROID and MAME4iOS as well as other early tablet and handheld computers. An interesting point is that the majority if not all other wetsites or torrent sites that offer 0.37b5 MAME set actually got it from here as I am a hoarder and had that set on an old harddisks for safe keeping. When people started asking for it I was able to recreate it for them.

The other issue we have is that the current website does not allow you to select multiple files or even folders for download (bad I know but hey, this is a hobby not a business) which means that it takes a long time to download each file. Making a single download rom set is also difficult due to the sheer size of the set.

The new website (being created) will allow you to bookmark files, folders and entire sections for download and then pass these to our new download manager which will then handle the downloads and manage them for you.

That said, I could really use a professional web designer that would be prepared to offer his/her time to the development of this site. I am finding it very difficult to juggle everything and would love some professional help and guidance so if anyone wants to get involved and be a part of this historic site please get in contact.