So once again progress is being made and my MAME project is once again the subject of my affection. I guess like many things out of sight out of mind perhaps. Tucked away in the basement with many other things on the roster MAME simply became forgotten. Well perhaps not forgotten, as it bothered me to leave the machine uncared for as long as it was. None the less I'm back in the game!
As I mentioned in the previous post I began wiring up the IPAC after having the microswithces/cherryswitches in my possession for about 2 months. I haven't completed it as of yet,but its getting there. I still need to wire up player one into the IPAC and wire up the 1 and 2 player start buttons. That's it! when that's done its DONE.
From there I can take my control panel upstairs and make sure it works the way it should. Make sure all the buttons fire, and the directions work. I also need to make sure I'm happy with the overall function. The IPAC can be reprogrammed, but as mention on the Ultimarc site it does perform shifted functions. Simply put it should be able to perform all the required commands without any need to reprogram. For your reference the link is below.
http://www.ultimarc.com/
The MAME Mystery
I wanted to make sure that my MAME project would be simple to use. Not only for myself, but anyone that wanted to play. With the mouse and keyboard tucked away it had to boot up and go right into MAME. Everything needs to be controlled from the joysticks and buttons. I thought this was a must! I had even read that you could change the BIOS(?) and even remove Windows load screens. I didn't want to get that elaborate,but I knew %100 that my machine needed to boot right into MAME. After doing a little research I found out its a rather simple process.
(1) Locate your main MAME folder & create a shortcut of the EXE file
(2) Take the EXE file and deposit it into your start up
(3) Run msconfig and make sure you see the EXE file
With all that done your PC should fire up and MAME should start without any prompting. Now what I did......... well I took the EXE file and removed it entirely from the MAME folder. I then put the EXE into my start up. MAME did start up as I wanted,but my settings and favorites were gone. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what had happened. I was trying to create new INI files, but my favorites were still M.I.A! Anyway I had asked around and figured out that by removing the EXE file I had perhaps created a duplicate MAME install. I removed the EXE leaving behind the shortcut and everything now works the way it should.
When my PC turns on it takes about 30 seconds of so before MAME itself appears on screen. To provided a more true "arcade look" I plan on removing all the icons from my desktop. Having my desktop appear clean and free of anything that would identify it as a PC. Ill then create a custom DTI (desktop image) featuring the MAME logo that states "please wait while loading." Again it serves no function,but I think it will look good and let new players realize they need to wait before playing.
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