MAMEMenu

A Frontend for M.A.M.E.

by Ed Salisbury / website

Latest Version: 2.0 -- released 11/26/2000

Introduction:

I wrote MAMEMenu because I built a cabinet for running MAME games, and none of the frontends that I could find were appropriate for the box. I wanted something simple but yet functional, and I didn't want to be windows-driven, because the box doesn't have a mouse. I wrote the program mainly for my uses, but I thought that there might be a couple of people out there in the emulation community that might like it as well, so I decided to release it to the public. If you like the program and would like to see improvements, or just to say hi, drop me a line at mamemenu@edsfamily.com, or leave a comment on the User Comments page.

Features:

Automatic tree-type menu system
Automatic screenshot support
Random game feature
Party-proof - Nothing can be changed from the menu itself
Generic-looking -- No bylines to detract from the general look
Easily customizable menu entries
Configurable colors and background pictures
Supports multiple resolutions, from 640x480 to 1600x1200 *new*
Supports True-Type fonts *new*
Fully-configurable keyboard input *new*
Automatic scrolling of game titles that are too wide for the menu *new*
Source Code is available *new*
Other emus/games are now supported *new*

Installation:

Download the archive
Unzip the contents of mm_2_bin.zip to your MAME directory.
Run mamemenu.exe to create the config file (mamemenu.ini).
Edit mamemenu.ini, and make sure that the mame= line points to the mame executable you're using.
Run mamemenu.exe -newroms, which will build mm_games.ini. (where all of the game entries are stored)
Edit mame.cfg, and make sure that your soundcard is set to something other than -1 (so that it doesn't prompt you when you run MAME) You will most likely set this to 1.
Run mamemenu.exe.

Differences from 1.1 to 2.0:
Since 2.0 is a complete rewrite, there have been many changes, some of which will affect current MAMEMenu users:

mamemenu.cfg has been renamed to mm_games.ini - file format is still the same
A lot more things have been added to mamemenu.cfg, and it is automatically created
Menu graphic filenames have been changed to have "cat_" as a prefix (to distinguish it from games)
Keyboard entry is a bit different now, due to the way the scrolling titles work.

Configuration:

There are two configuration files, mamemenu.ini and mm_games.ini. The first one (mamemenu.ini) is where global configuration variables are set, such as the MAME executable name, default command-line options, fonts, key configs, colors and background pictures. The second file (mm_games.ini) is where all of the game entries are stored, with the menus that the games belong in.

MAMEMENU.INI:

[mame]
Config line	Description
# comment line	Comment line, doesn't get interpreted by MAMEMenu
mame = mame.exe	Specifies the filename of the MAME executable
options = [options]	Specifies any default options you want for all games in the menu
[config]
resolution = 3	Specifies the resolution for MAMEMenu to run in -- 1=640x480, 2=800x600, 3=1024x768, 4=1280x1024, and 5=1600x1200. The default is 1024x768 (3).
bkg = blumarbl.png	background picture, found in the bkg directory. Must be 1024x768. A template is included for making your own background pics (bkg/template.png) Also, you can download some ready-made background pics on the Background Pics page.
gamecolor = 0,0,255	24-bit RGB color code for the games on the menu (default is blue)
selectcolor = 255,0,0	24-bit RGB color code for the selected item on the menu (default is red)
menucolor = 130,58,194	24-bit RGB color code for the menus (default is purple)
uppercase_title = 1	Specifies if you want the game titles to be uppercased or not (default is 1)
uppercase_menu = 1	Specifies if you want the menu titles to be uppercased or not (default is 1)
font = mamemenu.ttf	Specifies the True-type font to use for the menu
font_smoothing = 2	Font smoothing can make fonts look better, especially in higher resolutions. The range is 0=no smoothing, 1=smoothing level #1, 2=smoothing level #2
fontsize = 15	Specifies the font size that will be used in MAMEMenu
random = 1	Turns the random game feature off or on
randomstring = RANDOM	Specifies the string to use for the random game title
backstring = BACK	Specifies the string to display when you want to go back from a menu
loadingstring = LOADING...	Specifies the string that is to be displayed when loading a game (make sure this isn't too long, or it may cause unexpected results)
[control]
up = UP	The key(s) to be used for the up direction
down = DOWN	The key(s) to be used for the down direction
pageup = PGUP	The key(s) to be used to go up a page in the menu
pagedown = PGDN	The key(s) to be used to go down a page in the menu
select = SPACE	The key(s) to be used to select a game or menu
top = LEFT	The key(s) to be used to go to the top of the list
bottom = RIGHT	The key(s) to be used to go to the bottom of the list
quit = ESC	The key(s) to be used to quit MAMEMenu
screenshot = F12	The key(s) to be used to grab a screenshot
key_sensitivity = 7	Specifies how fast you want the keyboard to be read - Use caution, as messing with this could have unexpected results!

MM_GAMES.INI:

MM_GAMES.INI is set up like this:
Game Name|mamename|mame options|menu1,menu2, etc.

Game Name: How you want the game to appear in the list
Mame Name: What filename to pass to mame
Mame Options: What options to pass to mame (-flipy for Pac-Land, for example)

Menus work like this -- when the program runs, it looks at the entire mm_games.ini file, and builds menus based on what you put in the last column. You can have entries that are in multiple menus as well.

To add non-MAME games to the menu:
Make the options field start with a "!" character, i.e.:
Doom 2|doom2|!c:\games\doom2\doom2.exe -q|idgames
The 2nd field is still used for the screenshot, so if you want one, make sure to put it in the screenshot directory. (specified in mame.cfg, and make sure it's a .PNG file)

Other Stuff:

Adding more games:
If you add more games to the rom directory, and want to add them to MAMEMenu, simply run mamemenu.exe -newroms, which will go out and find them (and also add them to a menu called "new" so that they are easy to find). You can also edit mm_games.ini to add the games to menus or change the options for a particular game. If you don't want a game to appear, simply put a "#" in front of the line.

Screenshots:
By default, MAME does screenshots kinda funky. It names the first one you take [mamename].png, but then subsequent shots get named [mame000x].png. This kinda bites, since you want to be able to change the screenshots automatically. I have hacked MAME so that it doesn't do versioning, which fixes the problem. (No, I'm not going to send it to you!) Also, if you want to do pictures for the menus, simply put a picture in png format in the snap directory (or wherever mame.cfg points to) called cat_[menuname].png, and it will automatically load it. You can download some ready-made menu pics from the Menu Pics page.

Keyboard configuration:
Most of the keys are pretty easy to specify in the config file ('A' for the A-key, etc, but the special keys need to be specified correctly. Here is the list of keys and how to specify them:

Key	String to use	Key	String to use
A-Z	A-Z	- (by 0 key)	MINUS
0-9	0-9	= (by minus)	EQUALS
F1-F12	F1-F12	(backspace)	BACKSPACE
NumPad Keys 0-9	0_PAD - 9_PAD	(tab)	TAB
{	OPENBRACE	}	CLOSEBRACE
(enter)	ENTER	:	COLON
'	QUOTE	\	BACKSLASH
,	COMMA	/	SLASH
Insert	INSERT	Delete	DEL
Home	HOME	End	END
Page Up	PGUP	Page Down	PGDN
Left Arrow	LEFT	Right Arrow	RIGHT
Up Arrow	UP	Down Arrow	DOWN
/ (on numpad)	SLASH_PAD	* (on numpad)	ASTERISK
- (on numpad)	MINUS_PAD	+ (on numpad)	PLUS_PAD
. or Del (on numpad)	DEL_PAD	Enter (on numpad)	ENTER_PAD
PrintScreen	PRTSCR	Pause	PAUSE
LeftShift	LSHIFT	RightShift	RSHIFT
LeftControl	LCONTROL	RightControl	RCONTROL
Alt	ALT	WinMenu	MENU
LeftWin	LWIN	RightWin	RWIN
ScrollLock	SCRLOCK	NumLock	NUMLOCK
CapsLock	CAPSLOCK	~	TILDE
Esc	ESC

Also, you can specify more than one key for a particular function in mamemenu.ini, i.e.:
select = SPACE ENTER

Source Code:
If you're interested in taking a look at the code, it can be downloaded from here. If you are interested in compiling it, here's what you need:

DJGPP
Allegro ver. 3.12 or WIP
AllegTTF
LoadPNG, which will need the following libraries:

zlib
LibPNG

After all of the above has been installed correctly, you should be able to type make, and it will make the program for you.

License:

Permission is hereby granted, without written agreement and without license or royalty fees, to use, copy, modify and/or distribute this package, provided that:

copyright notices are retained unchanged
any distribution of this package, whether modified or not, includes this file

Permission is hereby also granted, without written agreement and without license or royalty fees, to distribute binary programs which depend on this package, provided that:

If the binary program depends on a modified version of this package, you must publicly release the modified version of this package.

THIS PACKAGE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTY. ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS BE LIABLE TO ANY PARTY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS PACKAGE.

Acknowledgements:

To my family (Brandy, Amelia & Daphne), Thank you for dealing with me working on the computer for such long hours, to make this program a reality
To Chris Pugh -- For making such cool graphics!
To Shawn Hargreaves -- For writing Allegro, the graphics library that I used for the program
To Nicola Salmoria -- For writing MAME, which was my reason for writing this!
To Dave @ Vintage Gaming Network -- Keep up the good work Dave!
To Jerry Beckman and Monty McDougal -- Thanks for all of the coding help!
To Filipe Estima -- for testing and being so nit-picky :)
To all of the other supporters of MAMEMenu -- Thanks for helping me to make MAMEMenu a better program!