MAMEWorld Forums - EmuChat - Simpler explanation?

> This being my first experience with MAME, is patching up to 172 a relatively simple
> process, or do I have to re-download, re-install and re-configure?

These guys are complicating matters for you, and I think they misunderstood your question.

MAME 0.172 will be released at the end-of-the-month (MAME development is on a monthly schedule so to speak.)

You do not need to compile MAME youself to try the new hiscore.lua support, you only need to do so if you want to try it before release. If you are patient and wait a few more days for the release of MAME 0.172, there will be a Windows binary package released for download at mamedev.org, and you just need to download MAME again.

When it is released, download MAME 0.172 and extract it into your MAME folder. Provided you do this correctly, this will overwrite every file in the folder except anything that doesn't come packaged with MAME: ROMS, artwork, samples, etc. So it will leave your "user files" alone.

However, MAME development is much more open now than it was in the old days. If you want to learn how to compile your own, you can try out bleeding-edge features prior to an actual MAME release. The advice the forum has been offering has been leaning in this direction.

Understand that compiling your own MAME binary in-between releases basically makes your tech support situation "you pick up the pieces if it doesn't work right". That doesn't stop users from doing it and in some cases it's encouraged by MAME developers who'd like the kinks worked out of their code prior to a release, but official tech support at sites like MAMETesters.org is normally on the release cycle. There are even some websites (EmuCR.com) that build and release nightly versions of MAME. All that said, it's never been easier to compile your own binary of MAME from source, as you've seen from the MAMEGuide.info how-to.

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"Do you need to re-download, re-install and re-configure" - MAME 0.172 will have several new settings that can be configured either from the command-line or by using the MAME INI files. It would be recommended to rename your old INI file, let MAME 0.172 generate a new one, and then copy your changed settings over or reconfigure them from the GUI. You won't need to do this per-game normally, or per-category. Just the main MAME configuration file.

As for ROMs, occasionally well-known ROM sets do change between versions. MAME developer Vas Crabb did a decent writeup of this situation on reddit a week or two ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/MAME/comments/49nwg7/okay_whats_the_deal_with_mame/d0tc7ms

Generally speaking, you don't HAVE to download everything all over again with a new MAME release. The majority of your ROMs, artworks, samples will be unaffected by the change. In the event that MAME requires something new from you, it *will* let you know.

I feel like there's many questions that you have that are waiting to be answered in the FAQ: http://wiki.mamedev.org/index.php?title=Frequently_Asked_Questions
and in MAME's documentation: http://docs.mamedev.org

- Stiletto