MAME(6)

📦
version 0.289 · 3 versions
, in arch rolling, fedora 43, fedora 44, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

MAME(6) 💖 the MAME manual page (aka the Multi-purpose emulation framework)

okay bestie, sit DOWN, because this is the manual for MAME — and yes, it's giving encyclopedia but make it cute. This is part 1 of 5, so hydrate and stay with me. ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

MAME — the Multi-purpose emulation framework. that's it, that's the whole name, and it ate. 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

mame [options] gamename

like. that's the shape of it. options, then the game. iconic structure. 🎀

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So MAME got started in 1997 by Nicola Salmoria, and the original plan was lowkey modest — it was meant to be a bunch of separate emulators, one for each individual game. cute, right? but then they got smooshed together into a single multi-game emulator and the glow-up was unreal. 🌈

In the years after that, MAME just kept growing and growing and growing until it became the actual size it is today, with more than 100 contributors to the project. over a hundred people. contributing. to one emulator. main character energy fr fr. 👑

👑 OPTIONS 👑

🎮 Core commands

  • -help, -? — shows you the current MAME version plus the copyright notice. your lil "hi who am i" check-in. 💖
  • -validate, -valid — runs internal validation on every single driver in the system. run this before you submit changes, bestie, because it's the vibe check that catches you violating any of the core system rules. no cap, do it first. 🔥

⚙️ Configuration commands

  • -createconfig, -cc — creates the default mame.ini file in the current directory. and here's the tea: all the configuration options (not commands!) described below can be permanently changed by editing this configuration file. so like, this is the one that makes the rest stick. 💅
  • -showconfig, -sc — displays the current configuration settings. a lil mirror moment. 🪞
  • -showusage, -su — displays a summary of all the command line options. for options that are not mentioned here, the short summary given by -showusage is usually sufficient. 🫶

🕹️ Frontend commands

okay so first, the housekeeping: all the list commands below write info to the screen. if you want that info in a textfile instead, use redirection. example time, because examples slay:

mame -listxml > ~/mamelist.xml

that writes the full list of supported games to the file mamelist.xml in your home directory. you're welcome. ✨

  • -listxml, -lx [gamename|wildcard] — lists comprehensive details for all of the supported games. the output is quite long (she's wordy, we love her), so it's usually better to redirect this into a file. output is in XML format. by default all games are listed; however, you can limit this list by specifying a driver name or wildcard after the -listxml command. 🎀
  • -listfull, -ll [gamename|wildcard] — displays a list of game driver names and descriptions. by default all games are listed; however, you can limit this list by specifying a driver name or wildcard after the -listfull command. 💫
  • -listsource, -ls [gamename|wildcard] — displays a list of drivers and the names of the source files their game drivers live in. super useful for finding which driver a game runs on so you can go fix bugs. by default all games are listed; however, you can limit this list by specifying a driver name or wildcard after the -listsource command. 🔍
  • -listclones, -lc [gamename|wildcard] — displays a list of clones. by default all clones are listed; however, you can limit this list by specifying a driver name or wildcard after the -listclones command. 👯
  • -listbrothers, -lb [gamename|wildcard] — displays a list of "brothers" or other drivers from the same sourcefile. by default all games are listed; however, you can limit this list by specifying a driver name or wildcard after the -listbrothers command. sibling behavior fr. 🫂
  • -listcrc — displays a full list of CRCs of all ROM images referenced by all drivers within MAME code. all of them. every last one. 💀
  • -listroms, -lr gamename — displays a list of ROM images referenced by the specified game. 🍓
  • -listsamples gamename — displays a list of samples referenced by the specified game. 🎵
  • -verifyroms [gamename|wildcard] — checks for invalid or missing ROM images. by default all drivers that have valid ZIP files or directories in the rom path are verified; however, you can limit this list by specifying a driver name or wildcard after the -verifyroms command. 🔥
  • -verifysamples [gamename|wildcard] — checks for invalid or missing samples. by default all drivers that have valid ZIP files or directories in the samplepath are verified; however, you can limit this list by specifying a driver name or wildcard after the -verifyroms command. (yes, the original says -verifyroms there. i'm just the messenger, bestie. 🙈)
  • -romident — attempts to identify ROM files, if they are known to MAME, in the specified .zip file or directory. this command can be used to try and identify ROM sets taken from unknown boards. on exit, the errorlevel is returned as one of the following:
    • 0 — all files were identified
    • 7 — all files were identified except for some "non-ROM" files
    • 8 — some files were identified
    • 9 — no files were identified

mystery board? solved. periodt. 🔎

  • -listdevices, -ld — output the list of devices referenced by a given game or set of games. 🌸
  • -listslots, -lslot — output the list of available slots and slot devices for the system. 🧩
  • -listmedia, -lm — output the list of available media for the system. 📼
  • -listsoftware, -lsoft — output the list of known software for the system. 💾
  • -verifysoftware, -vsoft [gamename|wildcard] — checks for invalid or missing ROM images in your software lists. by default all drivers that have valid ZIP files or directories in the rompath are verified; however, you can limit this list by specifying a specific driver name or wildcard. 🦋
  • -getsoftlist, -glist — retrieve software list by name. short, sweet, does exactly what it says. ✨
  • -verifysoftlist, -vlist [softwarelistname] — checks a specified software list for missing ROM images if files exist for issued softwarelistname. by default, all drivers that have valid ZIP files or directories in the rompath are verified; however, you can limit this list by specifying a specific softwarelistname (without .XML). 💜
  • -listmidi, -mlist — create a list of list available MIDI I/O devices for use with emulation. (double "list" is canon, don't @ me.) 🎹
  • -listnetwork, -nlist — list available network adapters. 🌐

🛠️ Configuration options

  • -[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:
    1. mame.ini — the main configuration file
    2. name.ini — where name is your executable name, i.e. mame unless you changed it (e.g. if you renamed mame to mame0137, the parsed file will be mame0137.ini)
    3. debug.ini, if the debugger is enabled
    4. vector.ini, for vector games only
    5. [driver].ini — based on the source filename of the game driver
    6. [parent].ini — for clones only, may be called recursively
    7. [gamename].ini — note this sometimes resolves to the same of the source driver

the settings in the later ini's override those in the earlier ini's. so, for example, if you wanted to disable overlay effects in the vector games, you can create a vector.ini with the "effect none" line in it, and it will override whatever effect value you have in your mame.ini. the default is ON (-readconfig). 🎀

  • -[no]writeconfig, -[no]wc — write configuration to [driver].ini on exit. default is OFF (-nowriteconfig). 🫶

🗺️ Search path options

⚠️ be careful to use the path, directory and file options in mame.ini ONLY. otherwise, the outcome may be unpredictable and not consistent across releases. like, genuinely, don't freestyle this one bestie. 😭
  • -rompath, -rp, -biospath, -bp pathname — specifies a list of paths within which to find ROM or hard disk images. multiple paths can be specified by separating them with semicolons. the default is 'roms' (that is, a directory "roms" in the same directory as the MAME executable). 💖
  • -hashpath pathname — specifies a list of paths within which to search for software hash files. multiple paths can be specified by separating them with semicolons. the default is 'hash' (that is, a directory 'hash' in the same directory as the MAME executable). 🌸
  • -samplepath, -sp pathname — specifies a list of paths within which to find sample files. multiple paths can be specified by separating them with semicolons. the default is 'samples' (that is, a directory "samples" in the same directory as the MAME executable). 🎵
  • -artpath, -artwork_directory pathname — specifies a list of paths within which to find artwork files. multiple paths can be specified by separating them with semicolons. the default is 'artwork' (that is, a directory "artwork" in the same directory as the MAME executable). 🎨
  • -ctrlrpath, -ctrlr_directory pathname — specifies a list of paths within which to find controller-specific configuration files. multiple paths can be specified by separating them with semicolons. the default is 'ctrlr' (that is, a directory "ctrlr" in the same directory as the MAME executable). 🎮
  • -inipath pathname — specifies a list of paths within which to find .INI files. multiple paths can be specified by separating them with semicolons. the default is '/etc/mame/'. 📁
  • -fontpath pathname — specifies a list of paths within which to find .BDF font files. multiple paths can be specified by separating them with semicolons. the default is '.' (that is, search in the same directory as the MAME executable). 🔤
  • -cheatpath pathname — specifies a list of paths within which to find cheat files. multiple paths can be specified by separating them with semicolons. the default is 'cheat' (that is, a directory 'cheat' in the same directory as the MAME executable). 😈
  • -crosshairpath pathname — specifies a list of paths within which to find crosshair files. multiple paths can be specified by separating them with semicolons. the default is 'crosshair' (that is, a directory "crosshair" in the same directory as the MAME executable). if the Crosshair is set to default in the menu, MAME will look for gamenamespecified crosshairpath, where # is the player number. failing that, MAME will use built-in default crosshairs. 🎯
  • -pluginspath pathname — specifies a single path within which to find plugins. the default is 'plugins' (that is, a directory 'plugins' in the same directory as the MAME executable). 🔌
  • -languagepath pathname — specifies a single path within which to find language files. the default is 'language' (that is, a directory 'language' in the same directory as the MAME executable). 🌍

okay that's part 1 and we are so not done, there's more coming. don't go anywhere. 💖

✨ Output Directory Options ✨

Okay bestie, these options are literally just where do you want MAME to put your stuff? 💅 You give it a single directory for each thing, and if that directory doesn't exist, MAME will be like "say less" and create it for you. No cap. 🫶

  • -cfg_directory pathname — tells MAME where to stash your config files. These are the user settings that get read when MAME starts up and written when it exits. The default is cfg (that's a directory called cfg right next to the MAME executable). If it's not there, MAME makes it. ✨
  • -nvram_directory pathname — where NVRAM files live. These hold the contents of EEPROM and non-volatile RAM (NVRAM) for games that used that kind of hardware. Data is read at startup and written when MAME exits. Default is nvram (a directory nvram in the same place as the MAME executable). Auto-created if missing. 💾
  • -input_directory pathname — where input recording files go. You make these with the -record option and play them back with -playback. Default is inp (a directory inp next to the MAME executable). Auto-created if it doesn't exist. 🎮
  • -state_directory pathname — where save state files are stored. These get read and written when you ask for it, or when you're using the -autosave option. Default is sta (a directory sta next to the MAME executable). Auto-created if missing. 💾
  • -snapshot_directory pathname — where screen snapshots go when you request them. Default is snap (a directory snap next to the MAME executable). Auto-created if it's not there. 📸
  • -diff_directory pathname — where hard drive differencing files are stored. These files hold any data that gets written back to a hard disk image, so the original image stays pristine. The differencing files are created at startup when a game with a hard disk image. Default is diff (a directory diff next to the MAME executable). Auto-created if missing. 💽
  • -comment_directory pathname — where debugger comment files live. The debugger writes these when you add comments to the disassembly for a game. Default is comments (a directory comments next to the MAME executable). Auto-created if it doesn't exist. 📝

⏯️ State/playback options ⏯️

These are all about saving, loading, recording, and playing back your game sessions. It's giving time travel, bestie. 🕰️

  • -state slot — right after you start the specified game, MAME will load the save state from the slot you picked. Instant nostalgia. 🎮
  • -[no]autosave — when enabled, MAME automatically creates a save state file when you exit, and automatically tries to reload it when you start MAME with the same game later. This only works for games that have explicitly enabled save state support in their driver. Default is OFF (-noautosave). 😴
  • -playback, -pb filename — specifies a file to play back a series of game inputs from. This feature does not work reliably for all games, but you can use it to watch a previously recorded game session from start to finish.
Bestie, listen: to make things consistent, you should only record and playback with all configuration (.cfg), NVRAM (.nv), and memory card files deleted. 🗑️

Default is NULL (no playback). ⏯️

  • -[no]exit_after_playback — if playback is enabled (see -playback), the program exits when it reaches the end of the file. Otherwise the machine keeps running. Default is OFF (-noexit_after_playback). 🚪
  • -record, -rec filename — specifies a file to record all input from a game session. You can use this to record a session for later playback. Same tea as playback: this feature does not work reliably for all games, but you can use it to watch a previously recorded game session from start to finish.
Again, to keep things consistent, you should only record and playback with all configuration (.cfg), NVRAM (.nv), and memory card files deleted. 🗑️

Default is NULL (no recording). ⏺️

  • -[no]record_timecode — whether to create a timecode file. It contains a line with elapsed times on each press of the timecode shortcut key (default is F12). This option works only when recording mode is enabled (-record option). The file is saved in the inp folder. Default is OFF (-norecord_timecode). ⏱️
  • -mngwrite filename — writes each video frame to the given filename in MNG format, producing an animation of the game session. Note that -mngwrite only writes video frames; it does not save any audio data. Use -wavwrite for that, and reassemble the audio/video using offline tools. Default is NULL (no recording). 🎞️
  • -aviwrite filename — streams video and sound data to the given filename in AVI format, producing an animation of the game session complete with sound. Default is NULL (no recording). 🎬
  • -wavwrite filename — writes the final mixer output to the given filename in WAV format, producing an audio recording of the game session. Default is NULL (no recording). 🔊
  • -snapname string — describes how MAME should name files for snapshots. string is a template used to generate a filename. Three simple substitutions are provided: the / character represents the path separator on any target platform (even Windows); the literal %g represents the driver name of the current game; and the literal %i represents an incrementing index. If %i is omitted, then each snapshot taken will overwrite the previous one; otherwise, MAME will find the next empty value for %i and use that for a filename. Default is %g/%i, which creates a separate folder for each game, and names the snapshots under it starting with 0000 and increasing from there. Example: if you use mame robby -snapname foo/%g%i snapshots will be saved as snaps/foo/robby0000.png, snaps/foo/robby0001.png and so on. 📸
  • -snapsize widthxheight — hard-codes the size for snapshots and movie recording. By default, MAME creates snapshots at the game's current resolution in raw pixels, and creates movies at the game's starting resolution in raw pixels. If you specify this option, MAME will create both snapshots and movies at the size you give, and will bilinear filter the result. Note that this size does not automatically rotate if the game is vertically oriented. Default is auto. 📐
  • -snapview internal|auto|viewname — specifies the view to use when rendering snapshots and movies. By default, both use a special internal view, which renders a separate snapshot per screen or renders movies only of the first screen. By specifying this option, you can override this default behavior and select a single view that will apply to all snapshots and movies. Note that viewname does not need to be a perfect match; rather, it will select the first view whose name matches all the characters specified by viewname. For example, -snapview native will match the "Native (15:14)" view even though it is not a perfect match. viewname can also be auto, which selects the first view with all screens present. Default value is internal. 👀
  • -[no]snapbilinear — specify whether snapshot/movie should have bilinear filtering applied. Default is ON (-snapbilinear). ✨
  • -statename string — describes how MAME should store save state files, relative to the state_directory path. string is a template used to generate a relative path. Two simple substitutions are provided: the / character represents the path separator on any target platform (even Windows); the literal %g represents the driver name of the current game. Default is %g, which creates a separate folder for each game. Example: if you use mame robby -statename foo/%g save states will be stored inside sta/foo/robby/. 💾
  • -[no]burnin — tracks brightness of the screen during play and at the end of emulation generates a PNG that can be used to simulate burn-in effects on other games. The resulting PNG is created such that the least-used areas of the screen are fully white (since burned-in areas are darker, all other areas of the screen must be lightened a touch). The intention is that this PNG can be loaded via an artwork file with a low alpha (e.g., 0.1-0.2 seems to work well) and blended over the entire screen. The PNG files are saved in the snap directory under the gamename\burnin-<screen.name>.png. Default is OFF (-noburnin). 🔥

🔥 Performance options 🔥

These are for when your computer is acting up and you need that smooth gameplay, bestie. It's giving let me cook. 👩‍🍳

  • -[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 below. Default is OFF (-noautoframeskip). 🏃‍♀️
  • -frameskip, -fs value — specifies the frameskip value (autoframeskip must be disabled). 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. Default value is 0, which skips no frames. 🚀
  • -seconds_to_run, -str value — okay so this one is for benchmarking and automated testing ✨ it tells MAME to just stop after a fixed number of seconds, periodt. Pair it with a fixed set of other command line options and boom — you've got a consistent lil environment for benchmarking MAME performance 🫶 and bestie, bonus: on exit, -str writes a screenshot called final.png straight into the game's snapshot directory 📸
  • -[no]throttle — sets the default throttling setting. Throttling ON means MAME tries to keep the game running at the game's intended speed 🐢 throttling OFF means MAME runs it as fast as it possibly can 🏎️ and ngl, the fastest speed is more often than not limited by your graphics card, especially for the older games. Default is ON (-throttle).
  • -[no]sleep — lets MAME give some time back to the system while running with -throttle 💤 so other programs can get a lil CPU time, assuming the game isn't taxing 100% of your CPU resources. Lowkey it can cause hiccups in performance if other demanding programs are running though 😭 Default is ON (-sleep).
  • -speed value — controls the speed of gameplay relative to realtime; smaller numbers = slower 🐌 Default is 1.00.
  • -[no]refreshspeed, -[no]rs — automatically adjusts the -speed parameter to keep the effective refresh rate below that of the lowest screen refresh rate ✨ Default is OFF (-norefreshspeed).
  • -numprocessors, -np value — set the number of processors; this overrides the number the system reports 💅
  • -bench value — benchmark for the given number of emulated seconds; implies -video none -sound none -nothrottle 🔥
  • -[no]sdlvideofps — show SDL video performance. Default is OFF (-nosdlvideofps).

✨ Rotation options ✨

  • -[no]rotate — rotates the game to match its normal state (horizontal/vertical) 🔄 this makes sure both vertically and horizontally oriented games show up correctly without you needing to rotate your actual monitor. If you want to keep the game displaying 'raw' on the screen the way it would have in the arcade, turn this OFF. Default is ON (-rotate).
  • -[no]ror | -[no]rol — rotate the game screen to the right (clockwise) or left (counter-clockwise) relative to either its normal state (if -rotate is specified) or its native state (if -norotate is specified) 🌀 Default for both is OFF (-noror -norol).
  • -[no]autoror | -[no]autorol — these are designed for pivoting screens that only pivot in a single direction 👑 if your screen only pivots clockwise, use -autorol so the game fills the screen either horizontally or vertically in one of the directions you can handle. If your screen only pivots counter-clockwise, use -autoror. Default for both is OFF (-noautoror -noautorol).
  • -[no]flipx -[no]flipy — flip (mirror) the game screen either horizontally (-flipx) or vertically (-flipy) 🙃 the flips get applied after the -rotate and -ror/-rol options are applied. Default for both is OFF (-noflipx -noflipy).

🎀 Artwork options 🎀

  • -[no]artwork_crop, -[no]artcrop — enable cropping of artwork to the game screen area only ✂️ this one can also be controlled via the Video Options menu in the user interface. Default is OFF (-noartwork_crop).
  • -fallback_artwork artworkname — specifies fallback artwork if no external artwork or internal driver layout is defined 🖼️ if external artwork for the system is present, or a layout is included in the driver for the system, then that takes precedence.
  • -override_artwork artworkname — specifies override artwork for external artwork and internal driver layout 💅
  • -artwork_font, -artfont fontname — specifies the name of a font file to use for artwork text elements. The specifics are the same as the -uifont option 🖋️

🦋 Screen options 🦋

  • -brightness value — controls the default brightness, or black level, of the game screens ☀️ this option does not affect the artwork or other parts of the display. Using the MAME UI you can individually set the brightness for each game screen; this option controls the initial value for all visible game screens. Standard value is 1.0. Lower values (down to 0.1) give you a darkened display, higher values (up to 2.0) give you a brighter one. Default is 1.0.
  • -contrast value — controls the contrast, or white level, of the game screens 🌈 this option does not affect the artwork or other parts of the display. Using the MAME UI you can individually set the contrast for each game screen; this option controls the initial value for all visible game screens. Standard value is 1.0. Lower values (down to 0.1) give a dimmer display, higher values (up to 2.0) give a more saturated one. Default is 1.0.
  • -gamma value — controls the gamma, which produces a potentially nonlinear black to white ramp, for the game screens ✨ this option does not affect the artwork or other parts of the display. Using the MAME UI you can individually set the gamma for each game screen; this option controls the initial value for all visible game screens. Standard value is 1.0, which gives a linear ramp from black to white. Lower values (down to 0.1) increase the nonlinearity toward black, higher values (up to 3.0) push the nonlinearity toward white. Default is 1.0.
  • -pause_brightness value — controls the brightness level when MAME is paused ⏸️ Default value is 0.65.
  • -effect [none|filename[.png]] — name of a PNG file to use for visual effects, or 'none'. Default is 'none' 💫

🔥 Vector rendering options 🔥

  • -beam_width_min value
  • -beam_width_max value — sets the minimum and maximum width of the vectors 📏 this is a scaling factor against the standard vector width, interpolated between minimum and maximum according to the beam's intensity. A value of 1.0 keeps the default vector line width. Smaller values reduce the width, larger values increase it. Default is 1.0.
  • -beam_intensity_weight value — applies an exponential weight to the minimum and maximum beam width ⚡ for positive values the interpolated scaling factor affects lines with higher intensity more than lines with lower intensity. Default is 0.0.
  • -flicker value — simulates a vector "flicker" effect, similar to a vector monitor that needs adjustment 💀 this option requires a float argument in the range of 0.00-100.00 (0=none, 100=maximum). Default is 0.

💖 Video options 💖

  • -video [soft|opengl|bgfx|none] — specifies which video subsystem to use for drawing:
    • soft — uses software rendering, which is slower but more compatible 🐢
    • opengl — uses OpenGL and your graphics accelerator to speed up many aspects of drawing MAME, including compositing artwork, overlays, and bezels, as well as stretching the image to fit your screen 🏎️
    • bgfx — uses the bgfx renderer which supports portable shaders and multiple graphics APIs including OpenGL, OpenGL ES and DirectX ✨
    • none — does no drawing and is intended for CPU benchmarking 📊

Default is 'soft' on Linux or 'opengl' on macOS.

  • -numscreens [1-4] — number of screens to create; usually you want just one 💅 Default is '1'.
  • -[no]window, -[no]w — run MAME in either full screen or a window 🪟 this is a fully-featured window mode where the window resizes as necessary to track what the game does, and you can resize it yourself with your OS's standard window controls. Default is OFF (-nowindow).
  • -[no]maximize, -[no]max — controls initial window size in windowed mode 🔲 if it's set on, the window is initially set to the maximum supported size when you start MAME. If it's turned off, the window starts out at the smallest supported size. This only has an effect when the -window option is used. Default is ON (-maximize).
  • -[no]keepaspect, -[no]ka — forces the correct aspect ratio 📐 meaning when you resize the window in windowed mode, the actual game image resizes in discrete steps to maintain the proper shape of the game graphics. Turn it off and you can resize the window to literally anything and get funny squishing and stretching 💀 same applies for full-screen. Default is ON (-keepaspect).
  • -[no]unevenstretch, -[no]ues — allow non-integer stretch factors ✨ video purists should stay far, far away from this option, while everyone else will be happy to know that it lets you fill the screen properly in full-screen mode. Default is ON (-unevenstretch).
  • -[no]unevenstretchx, -[no]uesx — acts as -[no]unevenstretch on a horizontal basis only 🫶
  • -[no]intoverscan, -[no]ios — allow overscan on integer scaled targets.
  • -intscalex, -sx — set horizontal integer scale factor.
  • -intscaley, -sy — set vertical integer scale factor.
  • -[no]centerh — center horizontally within the view area. Default is ON (-centerh).
  • -[no]centerv — center vertically within the view area. Default is ON (-centerv).
  • -[no]waitvsync, -[no]vs — enable waiting for the start of VBLANK before flipping screens; reduces tearing effects 🖥️ Default is OFF (-nowaitvsync).
  • -[no]syncrefresh, -[no]srf — enable using the start of VBLANK for throttling instead of the game time ⏱️ Default is OFF (-nosyncrefresh).

🧚 Software video rendering subsystem options 🧚

NOTE: All the options in this group are available only with the software video rendering subsystem, i.e. -video soft. 👀
  • -prescale [value] — scale screen rendering by this amount in software 💅 Default is 1.
  • -scalemode, -sm [none|async|yv12|yuy2|yv12x2|yuy2x2] — the hardware scaling mode, bestie. pick your fighter:
    • none — software rendering, baby.
    • async — async overlay.
    • yv12 — yv12 overlay.
    • yuy2 — yuy2 overlay.
    • yv12x2 — yv12 overlay using x2 prescaling.
    • yuy2x2 — yuy2 overlay using x2 prescaling.
    • Default is NONE.

✨ OpenGL video rendering subsystem options ✨

NOTE: every single option in this lil group only shows up when you're running the OpenGL video rendering subsystem, aka -video opengl. no opengl, no vibes. 💅
  • -[no]filter, -[no]glfilter, -[no]flt — turns on bilinear filtering for the screen output. Default is ON (-filter).
  • -prescale [value] — scales the screen rendering by this amount, in software. Default is 1.
  • -[no]gl_forcepow2texture — forces power of two textures. Default is OFF (-nogl_forcepow2texture).
  • -[no]gl_notexturerect — don't use OpenGL GL_ARB_texture_rectangle. turn this off if corruption shows up in OpenGL mode, but know that it costs you some performance. Default is ON (-gl_notexturerect).
  • -[no]gl_vbo — enables OpenGL VBO, if it's available, for a performance glow-up. turn it off if corruption shows up. Default is ON (-gl_vbo).
  • -[no]gl_pbo — enables OpenGL PBO, if it's available, for a performance glow-up. turn it off if corruption shows up. Default is ON (-gl_pbo).
  • -[no]gl_glsl — enables OpenGL GLSL, if it's available, for a performance glow-up. Default is OFF (-nogl_glsl).
  • -gl_glsl_filter value — enables OpenGL GLSL filtering instead of FF filtering. 0=plain, 1=bilinear. Default is 1: bilinear.
  • -glsl_shader_mame[0-9] — your preferred custom OpenGL GLSL shader set mame bitmap (from 0 to 9).
  • -glsl_shader_screen[0-9] — your preferred custom OpenGL GLSL shader screen bitmap (from 0 to 9).
  • -screen — explicit name for all screens; 'auto' here will try to make a best guess.
  • -aspect, -screen_aspect — aspect ratio for all screens; 'auto' here will try to make a best guess.
  • -resolution, -r — preferred resolution for all screens; format is widthxheight[@refreshrate] or 'auto'.
  • -view — preferred view for all screens.
  • -screen[0-3] — explicit name of the first|second|third|fourth screen; 'auto' here will try to make a best guess.
  • -aspect[0-3] — aspect ratio of the first|second|third|fourth screen; 'auto' here will try to make a best guess.
  • -resolution[0-3], -r[0-3] — preferred resolution for the first|second|third|fourth screen; format is widthxheight[@refreshrate] or 'auto'.
  • -view[0-3] — preferred view for the first|second|third|fourth screen.

🌈 BGFX post-processing options 🌈

NOTE: all the options in this group are only available when BGFX video post-processing is enabled, aka -video bgfx. for the full tea on BGFX, go visit the official MAME documentation page at http://docs.mamedev.org/advanced/bgfx.html. 🦋
  • -bgfx_path pathname — this is where your BGFX shader files live. the default is 'bgfx' (meaning a directory called "bgfx" sitting in the same directory as the MAME executable).
  • -bgfx_backend auto|opengl — picks a rendering backend for BGFX to use. default is 'auto', which lets MAME choose the best selection for you. main character energy, honestly.
  • -bgfx_debug — enables BGFX debugging features. most users will not need this. 🙈
  • -bgfx_screen_chains default|unfiltered|hlsl[,...] — this dictates how to handle BGFX rendering on a per-display basis. for each display, pick one of these:
    • default — default bilinear filterered output
    • unfiltered — nearest neighbor unfiltered output
    • hlsl — HLSL display simulation through shaders

separate directives for each window with a comma (,) and for each physical screen with a colon (:). for example, for an emulated game with 3 displays emulated on 3 windows on your monitor, -bgfx_screen_chains default,unfiltered,default says: apply the default filter on what's being rendered on the first and third window, and leave the content of the second window unfiltered. ✨

  • -bgfx_shadow_mask filename — this specifies the shadow mask effect PNG file. default is 'slot-mask.png'.
  • -bgfx_avi_name filename — this specifies a filename for BGFX output logging.

🖥️ Full screen options 🖥️

  • -[no]switchres — only matters in full screen mode, periodt. it chooses whether MAME can try to change the screen resolution (color depth is normally left alone) while in full-screen mode. if it's off, you always get your desktop resolution in full-screen mode (which can genuinely be useful for LCDs). Default is OFF (-noswitchres).
  • -[no]useallheads — splits the full screen image across monitors. Default is OFF (-nouseallheads).

🔊 Sound options 🔊

  • -sound [sdl|portaudio|coreaudio|wasapi|xaudio2|none] — specifies which sound subsystem handles your audio output:
    • sdl — uses the Simple DirectMedia Layer audio output system (not available on Windows by default).
    • portaudio — uses the PortAudio library, which supports low-latency output and multiple audio APIs.
    • coreaudio — uses the CoreAudio API (supports AudioUnit effects, only available on macOS).
    • wasapi — uses the Windows Audio Session API (WASAPI) (only available on Windows).
    • xaudio2 — uses the XAudio2 API (does not support sound input, only available on Windows).
    • none — produces no audio output. silence. 💀

Default is 'wasapi' on Windows, 'coreaudio' on macOS, or 'sdl' on other platforms.

  • -samplerate, -srf value — sets the audio sample rate. smaller values (e.g. 11025) cause lower audio quality but faster emulation speed. higher values (e.g. 48000) cause higher audio quality but slower emulation speed. the default is 48000.
  • -[no]samples — use samples if available. the default is ON (-samples).
  • -volume, -vol value — sets the startup volume. you can change it later with the user interface (see the Keys section). the volume is in dB: e.g. "-volume -12" will start with -12dB attenuation. the default is 0.
  • -audio_latency, -alat value — this controls how much latency is built into the audio streaming. smaller values give you less audio delay while demanding better system performance. higher values increase audio delay but may help avoid buffer under-runs and audio interruptions. the default is 0 and will pick a sane duration.

🎮 Input options 🎮

  • -[no]coin_lockout, -[no]coinlock — enables simulation of the "coin lockout" feature that's implemented on a bunch of game PCBs. whether the coin lockout outputs were actually wired to the coin mechanisms was up to the operator, iykyk. if this feature is enabled, then attempts to enter a coin while the lockout is active will fail and will display a popup message in the user interface. if this feature is disabled, the coin lockout signal gets ignored. the default is ON (-coin_lockout).
  • -ctrlr controller — enables support for special controllers. configuration files are loaded from the ctrlrpath. they're in the same format as the .cfg files that get saved, but only control configuration data is read from the file. the default is NULL (no controller file).
  • -[no]mouse — controls whether or not MAME looks for a mouse controller to use. note that in many cases, lightguns are treated as mice by the operating system, so you may need to enable this to get lightgun support going. when this is enabled, you will not be able to use your mouse while playing a game. if you want control of your computer back, you'll need to either pause the game or quit. the default is OFF (-nomouse).
  • -[no]joystick, -[no]joy — controls whether or not MAME looks for joystick/gamepad controllers. the default is ON (-joystick).
  • -[no]lightgun, -[no]gun — controls whether or not MAME makes use of lightgun controllers. note that most lightguns map to the mouse, so using -lightgun and -mouse together may produce strange results. the default is OFF (-nolightgun).
  • -[no]multikeyboard, -[no]multikey — determines whether MAME differentiates between multiple keyboards. some systems may report more than one keyboard; by default, the data from all of these keyboards is combined so it looks like a single keyboard. turning this option on enables MAME to report keypresses on different keyboards independently. the default is OFF (-nomultikeyboard).
  • -[no]multimouse — determines whether MAME differentiates between multiple mice. some systems may report more than one mouse device; by default, the data from all of these mice is combined so it looks like a single mouse. turning this option on enables MAME to report mouse movement and button presses on different mice independently. the default is OFF (-nomultimouse).
  • -[no]steadykey, -[no]steady — some games require two or more buttons pressed at exactly the same time to pull off special moves. due to limitations in the PC keyboard hardware, that can be difficult or even impossible with the standard keyboard handling. this option selects a different handling that makes simultaneous button presses easier to register, but it has the downside of making controls less responsive. the default is OFF (-nosteadykey).
  • -[no]ui_active — enables the MAME user interface on top of the emulated keyboard (if present). the user interface may be toggled during execution by pressing the key defined with -ui_modekey. default is OFF (-noui_active).
  • -[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,MAX) with the trigger held, which is equivalent to an offscreen reload. this is only needed for games that required you to shoot offscreen to reload, and then only if your gun doesn't support off screen reloads. the default is OFF (-nooffscreen_reload).
  • -joystick_map, -joymap map — controls how joystick values map to digital joystick controls. see /usr/share/doc/mame/config.txt for full details on the map format. 💖
  • -joystick_deadzone, -joy_deadzone, -jdz value — bestie, analog sticks drift at the center, it's a whole thing 😭 this tells MAME how far you gotta move along an axis before the axis even starts to change. Wants a float from 0.0 to 1.0, where 0 is the joystick center and 1 is the outer limit. Default is 0.3.
  • -joystick_saturation, -joy_saturation, -jsat value — same energy but for the ends of the stick: they can drift too, and the +/- directions might not even match up. This one says how far along an axis a movement change gets accepted before it hits maximum range. Float from 0.0 to 1.0, 0 = center, 1 = outer limit. Default is 0.85.
  • -[no]natural, -[no]nat — lets you say whether or not to use a natural keyboard 🎀 this starts your game or system in a 'native' mode depending on your region, so non-"QWERTY" keyboards get compatibility love. Default is OFF (-nonatural).
  • -[no]joystick_contradictory, -[no]joy_contradictory — enable contradictory direction digital joystick input at the same time 🙈 default is OFF (-nojoystick_contradictory).
  • -coin_impulse time — sets the coin impulse time 🪙 a negative time disables the impulse; set time to 0 to obey the driver, or give a positive value to set the impulse time.
  • -uimodekey, -umk value — picks the key that toggles between full and partial UI mode 🔁
  • -uifontprovider auto|sdl|none — provider for the UI font ✨
  • -output console|network|none — provider for output 📤
  • -keyboardprovider auto|sdl|none — provider for keyboard input ⌨️
  • -mouseprovider auto|sdl|none — provider for mouse input 🖱️
  • -lightgunprovider auto|none — provider for lightgun input 🔫
  • -joystickprovider auto|sdl|none — provider for joystick input 🕹️
  • -[no]keymap — enable keymap for non-QWERTY keyboards 💅 used together with -keymap_file. Default is OFF (-nokeymap).
  • -keymap_file keymap_file — the full path to the keymap file you wanna use. A few keymap files are hanging out in /usr/share/games/mess/keymaps 📁
  • -joy_idx[0-8] joystick — assign a joystick to a specific index in MAME 🎮 even if the kernel lists the joysticks in a different order on the next boot, MAME still sees the joystick as like "Joystick 2". Use mame -v to see which joysticks are recognized. Default is 'auto'.
  • -[no]sixaxis — special handling for PS3 Sixaxis controllers 🎮✨ default is OFF (-nosixaxis).
  • -mouse_index[1-8] — map a mouse to a specific index in MAME 🐭
  • -keyb_idx[0-8] keyboard — assign a keyboard to a specific index in MAME ⌨️👑
  • -videodriver, -vd auto|x11|directfb — which SDL video driver to use; 'auto' picks the SDL default 🖥️
  • -renderdriver, -rd auto|software|opengl|directfb — which SDL render driver to use; 'auto' picks the SDL default 🌈
  • -audiodriver, -ad auto|alsa|arts — which SDL audio driver to use; 'auto' picks the SDL default 🔊
  • -gl_lib auto|alsa|arts — an alternative libGL.so to use; 'auto' picks the SDL default 💫

🎮 Input automatic enable options 🎮

  • -paddle_device, -paddle [none|keyboard|mouse|lightgun|joystick]
  • -adstick_device, -adstick [none|keyboard|mouse|lightgun|joystick]
  • -pedal_device, -pedal [none|keyboard|mouse|lightgun|joystick]
  • -dial_device, -dial [none|keyboard|mouse|lightgun|joystick]
  • -trackball_device, -trackball [none|keyboard|mouse|lightgun|joystick]
  • -lightgun_device [none|keyboard|mouse|lightgun|joystick]
  • -positional_device [none|keyboard|mouse|lightgun|joystick]
  • -mouse_device [none|keyboard|mouse|lightgun|joystick]

Okay so each of these controls automatically enabling the mouse or joystick depending on whether a particular class of analog control is present for a particular game 👀 like, say you pass -paddle mouse — then any game with a paddle control auto-enables mouse controls, exactly as if you'd typed -mouse yourself. Heads up bestie: these controls override the values of -[no]mouse, -[no]joystick, etc. So they're running the show 💅

🐛 Debugging options 🐛

  • -[no]log — creates a file called error.log with all the internal log messages from the MAME core and game drivers 📝 default is OFF (-nolog).
  • -[no]verbose, -[no]v — shows internal diagnostic info, which is so useful for debugging your config. IMPORTANT: when reporting bugs, please run with mame -verbose and include the resulting information 🙏 default is OFF (-noverbose).
  • -[no]update_in_pause — updates the screen bitmap while the game is paused. Great for debugging in some scenarios (and lowkey in the way in others 😭). Default is OFF (-noupdate_in_pause).
  • -[no]debug, -[no]d — activates the integrated debugger 🐞 by default you enter it by pressing the tilde (~) key during emulation, and it's also entered immediately at startup. Default is OFF (-nodebug).
  • -debugscript filename — a file containing a list of debugger commands to execute immediately upon startup. Default is NULL (no commands).
  • -debugger debugger_name — name of the debugger to use. Default is AUTO.
  • -debugger_font, -dfont font_name — the font to use for debugging. Default is AUTO.
  • -debugger_font_size, -dfontsize size — the font size to use for debugging.
  • -[no]oslog — outputs the error.log data to the system debugger 📡 you can use this at the same time as -log to send the log data to both targets. Default is OFF (-nooslog).

📞 Communication options 📞

  • -comm_localhost — local address to bind to.
  • -comm_localport — local port to bind to.
  • -comm_remotehost — remote address to connect to.
  • -comm_remoteport — remote port to connect to.

✨ Misc options ✨

  • -[no]drc — enable the DRC cpu core if it's available. Default is ON (-drc) 🔥
  • -[no]drc_use_c — force the DRC to use the C backend. Default is OFF (-nodrc_use_c).
  • -[no]drc_log_uml — write the DRC UML disassembly log. Default is OFF (-nodrc_log_uml).
  • -[no]drc_log_native — write the DRC native disassembly log. Default is OFF (-no_drc_log_native).
  • -bios biosname — the specific BIOS to use with the current game, for game systems that use a BIOS. The -listxml output lists all the possible BIOS names for a game. Default is 'default'.
  • -[no]cheat, -[no]c — activates the cheat menu with autofire options and other tricks from the cheat database, if it's there 😈 default is OFF (-nocheat).
  • -[no]skip_gameinfo — forces MAME to skip displaying the game info screen. Default is OFF (-noskip_gameinfo).
  • -uifont fontname — the name of a BDF font file to use for the UI font 🎀 if this font can't be found or can't be loaded, the system falls back to its built-in UI font. On some platforms fontname can be a system font name instead of a BDF font file. Default is 'default' (use the OSD-determined default font).
  • -ui simple|cabinet — type of UI.
  • -ramsize, -ram value — size of RAM (if supported by driver) 🧠
  • -[no]confirm_quit — display the confirm quit screen on exit. Default is ON (-confirm_quit).
  • -[no]ui_mouse — display the UI mouse cursor. Default is OFF (-noui_mouse).
  • -autoboot_command, -ab command — command string to execute after machine boot (in quotes "") 💬 to issue a quote to the emulation, use """ in the string. Using \n issues a new line, issuing what was typed prior as a command. Example: -autoboot_command "load """$""",8,1\n".
  • -autoboot_delay [value] — timer delay (in seconds) to trigger command execution on autoboot ⏱️ default is 2.
  • -autoboot_script, -script [filename.lua] — file containing scripting to execute after machine boot 📜
  • -[no]console — enable the emulator LUA console. Default is OFF (-noconsole).
  • -[no]plugins — enable LUA plugin support. Default is ON (-plugins).
  • -plugin value — list of plugins to enable.
  • -noplugin value — list of plugins to disable.
  • -language, -lang value — display language. Default is 'English' 🌍
  • -watchdog value — a number of seconds after which MAME should automatically exit if it detects that the emulation has locked up 🐕🦺

💖 SEE ALSO 💖

Bestie, please visit the MAME website for some important legal information, this one's serious 🫶

http://mamedev.org/legal.html

And that's a wrap on the whole page, periodt 💅 this was MAME(6) from version 0.176, dated 2016-07-21 — go forth and emulate, you absolute icon 👑🌸

📦 where this page comes from