Changes

[[File:Mess sysinfo.png|thumb|upright=1.29|The MESS MAME system info box for the CPC6128]][[File:Mess gx4000 pang.png|thumb|upright=1.2|MESS MAME also has (still somewhat glitchy) support for the GX4000 and CPC+ series. Note the strange blue bar at the bottom in Here is shown ''[[Pang (cartridge)|Pang]]''for the GX4000.]]'''MESSMAME''' (Multi Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator Super System) is an a multi-platform emulator for vintage arcade games, home computers, gaming consoles, chess computers, and calculators, etc. It is a descendant of MAME 0.162 (released on May 27, 2015) merged the previously separate MAME arcade emulation project and just like MAMEMESS (Multi Emulator Super System) projects into one, so that a single executable now combines the emulation capabilities of pre-0.162 MAME/MESS. The most important goal of MESS MAME is highly accurate emulation, not speed. MESS and MAME are is mainly a preservation projects project that aim aims to reproduce the behaviour of the real hardware perfectly, so performance CPU usage may be slightly worse higher than many dedicated CPC emulators.

Currently, [http://www.progettoemma.net/mess/sysset.php over a thousand systems are supported] by MESSMAME, including the CPC and CPC Plus ranges and the GX4000. This is probably the main reason for using MESSMAME: A single download is enough to emulate more or less every home computer and gaming console that ever existed in the late 1970s and 1980s—provided one can find a ROM set that works (see below).

MESS MAME does not have the depth of other CPC emulators, but it sure has enormous breadth. Its flexible input mapping and MAME-compatible pixel shader effects make MESS MAME particularly suited for gaming.

MESS MAME runs on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and FreeBSD. You can get Windows binaries from [http://mamedev.org/release.html mamedev.org]. On OS X, you can install MAME via [http://brew.sh/ Homebrew]: brew install mame On Windows and OS X, the MAME binary is called '''mame''', on Linux '''sdlmame'''. On some Linux distros such as Arch Linux you have to use absolute paths for disk images or ROMs because /usr/bin/sdlmame is a wrapper script that will cd to the directory with the MAME binary. Or you could simply skip the wrapper script and run /usr/share/sdlmame/sdlmame directly: alias mame=/usr/share/sdlmame/sdlmame

If you also use ==Starting MAME, you may want to ; command line arguments; MAME menu; quitting==[[File:MAME menu CPC.png|thumb|upright|The MAME menu]]First get the [http[Media://mamedevCPC_ROMs_for_MAME.emulab.it/haze/latest-ume-mame-mess-binaries UMEzip|CPC ROMs for MAME]] instead, which combines MESS and MAME unzip them into a single executable with a shared configuration file, <tt>ume.ini</tt>the MAME roms folder.

On OS X, you can install MESS via [http://brew.sh/ Homebrew]Typical command line to start MAME in CPC mode (windowed mode and with a disc inserted in drive A): brew tap homebrew/games brew install messmame cpc6128 -skip_gameinfo -window -flop1 disk.dsk

On Windows and OS XSupported CPC models are cpc464, the MESS binary is called '''mess'''cpc464p, on Linux '''sdlmess'''. On some Linux distros such as Arch Linux you have cpc664, cpc6128, cpc6128p, gx4000, cpc6128f (French), cpc6128s (Swedish), and the clones kccomp ([[KC Compact]]) and al520ex ([[Aleste 520EX]]; hold Shift during boot to use absolute paths for disk images or ROMs because /usr/bin/sdlmesss is a wrapper script that will cd go to the directory with the MESS binaryBasic). Or you could simply skip the wrapper script and run /usr/share/sdlmess/sdlmess directly: alias mess=/usr/share/sdlmess/sdlmess

Command line example:You can use the "-ab" commandline option to type text into MAME, e.g. mess mame cpc6128 -skip_gameinfo -window -flop1 /path/to/disk.dsk-ab "run\"disc\n"will boot the disc.

;===Device options for the CPC from [http://www.progettoemma.net/mess/extra.html sysinfo.dat]===

mess mame cpc6128 -flop1 disk.zip/disk0.dsk ===Python script to start MAME in CPC mode===On Linux, you can also set your file manager (e.g. Nautilus or Konqueror) to open .dsk files with the following Python script:<pre>#!/usr/bin/env python # Call as# "cpc" : emulated keyboard# "cpcn" : natural import os, os.path, zipfilefrom sys import argv if 'cpcn' in argv[0]: nat = '-natural'else: nat = '' s = "/usr/share/sdlmame/sdlmame cpc6128 -skip_gameinfo -window %s -keymap -keymap_file /usr/share/sdlmame/keymaps/km_de_LINUX.map" % nat def checkzip(t): "Check if file is a ZIP file; use the first file in the archive" if t[-4:].lower() == '.zip': a = zipfile.ZipFile(t).namelist() t = os.path.join(t, a[0]) return t if len(argv) > 1: for x in range(1, len(argv)): s += ' -flop%u "%s"' % (x, checkzip(argv[x]))os.system(s)</pre>This script should open a MAME window with the disc inserted in drive A. (Note that this also selects the German keymap.) You can also use this to open ZIP files containing disc images, e.g. "cpc mydisc.zip" will try to insert the first file in the ZIP archive. ==GUI front-ends==[[File:Mameui.png|thumb|MAMEUI64 on Windows]] Several GUI front-ends for MAME/MESS exist for Windows, Linux, and OS X: *[http://www.mameui.info/ MAMEUI64] (Windows)*[http://qmc2.arcadehits.net/ QMC2] (Windows, OS X, Linux)

MESS MAME supports two keyboard modes:

To use a German keyboard in emulated keyboard mode, start MESS MAME e.g. with (key map path on Linux): mess mame cpc6128 -keymap -keymap_file /usr/share/sdlmesssdlmame/keymaps/km-dekm_de_LINUX.txtmap

You can also put these settings in your mame.ini like this: keymap 1 keymap_file /usr/share/sdlmame/keymaps/km_de_LINUX.map In emulated mode, keys can also be remapped in the emulator menu. First press ''Scroll Lock'' to enable the MESS MAME control keys, then ''Tab'' to open the menu, and finally select ''Input (this system)''. ''Return, Esc'' clears an assigned key.

[[Media:CPC_ROMs_for_MESSCPC_ROMs_for_MAME.zip|CPC ROMs for MESSMAME]]. Just unzip the file and move the ZIPs inside into the MESS MAME ROM folder.

;===General notes about MESS MAME and ROMs===

Just as in Some MAME, some MESS ROMs have parent ROMs that also need to be installed. E.g., <tt>cpc6128.zip</tt> also requires <tt>cpc464.zip</tt> to run. (See the links section for CPC ROM files for MESSMAME.)

ROMs often only work with a specific version of MESSMAME. This does not seem to affect CPC ROMs, but other systems sometimes give an error message when ROM filenames or checksums do not match what MESS MAME expected.

;===Slot options (extension hardware)===[[File:MESS with Dobbertin Smart Watch.png|thumb|upright=1.4||MAME with the Dobbertin Smart Watch ROM loaded (-exp smartwatch)]][[File:Brunword mame.png|thumb|upright=1.4||BrunWord MK4 (ROM) main menu in MAME 0.162 (-exp brunword4)]]

mess mame cpc6128 -lslot

These are (as of MESS MAME 0.159168):

;===Loading external ROMs===

mess mame cpc6128 -exp rom -rom1 /path/to/MAXAM.ROM

==GUI front-ends=[[Dobbertin Harddisc]]===

Various GUI front-ends for MESS exist for Windows, Linux, and OS X—see this list: From the [http://www.messcpcwiki.orgeu/forum/emulators/got-bored-again/msg102272/mess:howto#frontendsmsg102272 forum post]:

[[FileTo use, add -exp hd20 to the commandline, which will also allow you to add -hard <filename>.Code:Messmenu  mame cpc6128 -exp hd20 -hard1 disk.png|thumb|none|650px|MessMenu on OS X with chd Only MAME CHDs are supported, you can create a CPC ROM selectedblank hard disk image using chdman. Currently Geometry is 615/4/17.Code:  chdman createhd -o disk.chd -c none -chs 615, seven different CPC models are supported4, including some regional variants 17 (French and Swedish-c none means no compression, but this is required for MAME to write directly to the CHD image. If you use compression, then data writes will be written to a separate file) You can use X-DDOS 2.00 or 2.10 by using -exp hd20,bios=xddos200 or -exp hd20,bios=xddos210. v2.10 is the default. See http://mahlemiut.marpirc.net/cpc_hd20.avi, a quick demo loading a game from HD.]]

[[File:Cpc shader mess.png|thumb|upright=1.5|GLSL shader example]][[File:Cpc hlsl shader mess MAME BGFX Linux detail.png|thumb|HLSL "1980s" BGFX output with default shader (detail)settings]]Like MAME, MESS can use shaders to simulate typical CRT graphics artifacts such as scanlines, colors bleeding into each other, jitter, and display curvature. This involves editing mess ===BGFX=== The easiest way to do this (works on Windows, OS X, and Linux) since MAME 0.172 is to enable [https://github.com/bkaradzic/bgfx BGFX] video output: Put this in your mame.ini :  video bgfx bgfx_screen_chains hlsl (or umeYou may also have to set bgfx_path to the bgfx directory if MAME cannot find the shaders.ini ) Check with F11 if you use UMEstill get 100% performance. If not, adjust frame skip with F8/F9. Also, if you press the tilde (~) and then cursor up/down, you can adjust the shader settings (they are also under Slider Controls in the MAME menu).These are not saved at the moment though.[http://docs.mamedev.org/advanced/bgfx.html] If you edit bgfx/chains/hlsl.json in a text editor, you can change the default values. E.g., to reduce the Moiré pattern, search for "Shadow Mask Amount" and change it to:  "default": 0.20 ===HLSL and GLSL===[[File:Cpc hlsl shader mess detail.png|thumb|HLSL "1980s" shader (Windows); MAME config used is on image description page]]

Mess.ini works the same as mame.ini, so MAME tutorials can be used as a starting point. Some example Older methods for CRT simulation are manual HLSL and GLSL configurations, here are some examples:

*MESS MAME may fail to read DSK images with certain kinds of copy protection. Speedlock seems to work fine though.*MESS MAME cannot write to disc images in DSK format; only MFI (MESS floppy image) and MFM (HxCFloppyEmulator floppy image) are supported for writing.*Some demo tricks may be broken in MESSMAME, e.g. overscan pictures are horizontally misaligned (i.e., shifted to the right).

==JSMESS, a Compiling to JavaScript port==

There is an experimental port Since MAME 0.168 (released in November 2015), MAME can compile to JavaScript, see the using Emscripten's emmake command.[http://mamedev.org/releases/whatsnew_0168.txt] [[JSMESS]] article is therefore no longer necessary to compile e.g. the MAME/MESS CPC emulator for detailsweb browsers.

*[http://www.messmamedev.org/ Official site]

*[[Media:CPC_ROMs_for_MESSCPC_ROMs_for_MAME.zip|CPC ROMs for MESSMAME]]*[https://linux-user.gr/t/one-retro-cumputers-emulator-to-rule-them-all/1302 one-retro-cumputers-emulator-to-rule-them-all-(in-greek-language)]