MythGame can used as a frontend to start any emulator that your host OS runs. This is an example of how to set up xmame on Linux. http://www.mameworld.net/ is an excellent resource for all things mame.
Installation overview:
To keep things organized, create the following directories for xmame to use
in /usr/local/share/xmame: hiscore, roms, and snaps.
$ mkdir -p /usr/local/share/xmame/{highscore,roms,snaps}
NOTE: There may be pre-packaged versions of xmame available for your distribution. Check http://x.mame.net/download.html for the latest version.
Download the source to xmame from http://x.mame.net/download/xmame-0.103.tar.bz2
$ wget http://x.mame.net/download/xmame-0.103.tar.bz2
$ tar -xjf xmame-0.103.tar.bz2
$ cd xmame-0.103
Edit the Makefile with your favorite editor. Adjust the options as required for your system.
$ joe Makefile
Then make and install xmame
$ make
$ su
(enter password)
# make install
# exit
After mame has been installed, we need to create some defaults.
$ mkdir ~/.xmame
$ cp docs/xmamerc.dist ~/.xmame/xmamerc
Because some ROMS work better with different display toolkits, or possibly even older versions of xmame, it's convenient to keep all of your xmame binaries and to rename them to include the version number. MythGame allows you to match individual roms to preferred binaries.
$ su
(enter password)
# mv /usr/local/bin/xmame.x11 /usr/local/bin/xmame-0.103.x11
# exit
NOTE: Depending on how you compiled xmame, you may have
xmame.X11, xmame.SDL or xmame.xgl based on what
display toolkit you used. Also, you may need to remove and recreate
xmamerc after upgrading since some of the default options may have
changed.
Edit ~/.xmame/xmamerc to include your paths.
### Fileio Related ###
rompath /usr/local/share/xmame/roms
snapshot_directory /usr/local/share/xmame/snaps
cheat_file /usr/local/share/xmame/cheat.dat
hiscore_file /usr/local/share/xmame/hiscore.dat
hiscore_directory /usr/local/share/xmame/hiscore
history_file /usr/local/share/xmame/history.dat
mameinfo_file /usr/local/share/xmame/mameinfo.dat
Confirm that xmame works before running it inside MythTV. Place
your ROM in the /usr/local/share/xmame/roms directory you created
earlier.
NOTE: There are three public domain ROM sets available at http://www.mame.net/downmisc.html
Launch xmame with your game of choice. In this example, we are using Gauntlet.
$ xmame gauntlet
Some basic mame keyboard commands:
5 = Insert coin
1 = Player 1 start
arrow keys = movement
left control = button 1
left alt = button 2
SPACE = button 3
ESC = exit
TAB - menu
~ to adjust Volume
< and >
The following files allow you to add extra functionality. Place them
into /usr/local/share/xmame
- catver.ini is a catalog of categories and versions of popular mame ROMs.
Useful for keeping large libraries of ROMs organized.
It may be downloaded from http://www.catver.com or http://www.mameworld.net/catlist
- Screenshots aka "snaps"
These may be downloaded from http://www.classicgaming.com/mame32qa/
Screenshots are displayed when you are browsing your ROMS in mythgame.
Unzip and place them in /usr/local/share/xmame/snaps
- history.dat
Download from http://www.arcade-history.com/ This file fills in a bit of background about each ROM.
- hiscore.dat
Download from http://www.mameworld.net/highscore/
- Cheats
Download from http://cheat.retrogames.com/
MythGame is part of the mythplugins package. See the instructions in the Downloading and Compiling section to obtain mythplugins.
Switch to the mythplugins directory:
$ cd ~/mythplugins-0.21
Compile and install mythgame:
$ ./configure --disable-all --enable-mythgame
$ qmake mythplugins.pro
$ make
$ su
(enter password)
# make install
# exit
Start mythfrontend and navigate to Utilities/Setup > Setup > Media
Settings > Game Settings > Game Players. Select (New Game Player).
To set up a new player for xmame enter the following:
Player Name: xmame-0.103.x11 (Name by which you want your emulator or game called)
Type: xmame (This is used for display purposes only and does not affect the function of your system)
Command: xmame-0.103.x11 -vidmod 1 -fullscreen (Path and name of binary + any optional parameters)
Rom Path: /usr/local/share/xmame/roms (This tells MythGame what directories to scan for roms to be used with this emulator)
ScreenShots: /usr/local/share/xmame/snaps (This tells MythGame what directories to scan for snapshots to be used with these roms)
Working Directory: (Directory to change to before launching game or emulator. Blank in our case ignores this setting)
File Extensions: (List of all file extension to be used for this emulator. Blank menas any file under the Rom Path)
[] Allow games to span multiple roms/disks (will treat game.1.rom game.2.rom game.3.rom as one game)