Xmame(6)

NAME
xmame - THE Arcade game machine emulator for UNIX/X

SYNOPSIS
xmame[.x11|svga] [-options] gamename

EXAMPLES
Some examples for those who are in a hurry. If you don't have/want a frontend, you'll mostly use xmame (with a well defined xmamerc) in the following way: xmame ladybug Plays Ladybug with all options defined in xmamerc. If there is no xmamerc the game starts with the buildin defaults. xmame defender -frameskip 1 -cheat Starts defender using a frameskip of 1 and cheat is enabled. Useful for slower computers, if the game is running really slowly. And of course if you want (have?) to cheat. ;-)

LEGAL NOTICE
The main issue involves ROM images. ROM images are protected under the copyrights of their authors, and CANNOT be distributed in the same package as xmame. Download any ROM images at your own risk and responsibility. xmame should be distributed under terms of the license in doc/readme.mame XInputExtensions based Joystick support. Source code is entirely pure hack work. No sample code, no info at all was found (only library reference manual) and is copyrighted by me (Juan Antonio Marmnez). Use it under terms of GNU General Public License. PLEASE BE AWARE OF THE POSSIBLE LEGAL RAMIFICATIONS OF DOWNLOADING ROM IMAGES, BEFORE YOU ACTUALLY DO SO! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, AND WE TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS -- YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN! Also, the xmame authors ask that you DO NOT distribute any ROM images with either source code or binaries of the xmame emulator.

DESCRIPTION
xmame is the (M)ulti (A)rcade (M)achine (E)mulator for UNIX-(X). It emulates the hardware of realy many classic arcade game machines. Most games allow you to specify one or more options to control the behavior of xmame and the game of your choice. Below is a complete list of all the available options:

*** Arguments ***

game
    the name of the game you wish to play. You better choose one. :-)
Note: There are really many options. You can set the default options and / or options per game in xmames config files see the RCFILES section below.

INSTALLING GAMES
Most game ROM images come in ZIP files. Download the ZIP files for the games you want, and move them to a directory of your choice (i.e. it is a good idea to put them all in one dir). Note: There is no need to unzip the games in a separate directory, because xmame has zip file support through zlib. xmame uses a ":" seperated rompath to find out which dirs to search for roms/samples. The default rompath is XMAMEROOT as defined in the Makefile during the compilation (normaly /usr/games/lib/xmame). If you put all the zipped-ROM-Files in this dir everything will work automagicly. The rompath will be overwritten by any rompath in xmamerc. Which can be overwritten again with the -rompath commandline option. xmame searches every dir in this path for roms (and samples) in the following way:
<dir>/gamename.zip | (containing filename.ext)
<dir>/gamename/filename.ext
<dir>/gamename/filename.ext.gz | (containing filename.ext)
<dir>/gamename/filename.zip | (containing filename.ext)
Note: If your neogeo games can't find neogeo.rom put it in a dir called neogeo somewhere in your rompath, or put it in neogeo.zip somewhere in your rompath.

PLAYING GAMES
After running xmame i.e. xmame ladybug you will see two screens. The first with a copyright message (PLEASE READ THIS!). If you type (ok) this screen will only come up again after the cfg-file of the game (romname.cfg) will be deleted. Another screen shows information about the game. Hit any key to continue. Note: If you want to see this information screen again, you could press <TAB> and select <Game Information> or hit <ESC> and restart. ;-) The game will then go through a `hardware self-test' (remember, xmame is emulating game HARDWARE). After the self-test, you are `in' the video game. Feed the hungry machine with some coins (key <5> for one coin) then start (key <1>) it. For more coins and player read the next section (KEYBOARD COMMANDS). HAVE A LOT OF FUN!

KEYBOARD COMMANDS
While playing a game, there are certain keyboard commands available for you to use.
KEY | Action
<1> (the number `one') | Start a 1-player game.
<2> (the number `two') | Start a 2-player game.
<3> (the number `three') | Start a 3-player game.
<4> (the number `four') | Start a 4-player game.
<5> (the number `five') | Insert coin (slot 1).
<6> (the number `six') | Insert coin (slot 2).
<7> (the number `seven') | Insert coin (slot 3).
<8> (the number `eight') | Insert coin (slot 4).
<Tab> | Toggles the configuration menu.
<~> (Tilde) | Toggles the `On Screen Display'.
 | Use the up and down arrow keys to select
 | the parameter (global volume, mixing level,
 | gamma correction etc.), left and right to
 | modify.
<P> | Pauses the game.
<Shift+P> | While paused, walk to the next frame.
<F3> | Resets the game (start with
 | `hardware self-test').
<F4> | Shows the game graphics. Use cursor keys
 | to change set/color, F4 or Esc to return to
 | the emulation.
<F9> | Changes frame skip on the fly.
<F10> | Toggles speed throttling.
<F11> | Toggles speed display.
<Shift+F11> | Toggles profiler display.
<F12> | Saves a screen snapshot. The default
 | target directory is SNAP. You must create
 | this directory yourself; the program will
 | not create it if it doesn't exist.
<ESC> | Exits the emulator.
<L-CTRL> | is mostly used as a button.
<L-ALT>) | is also mostly used as a button.
<arrows> | will emulate the joystick, pad or
 | trakball. If you have a joystick (pad,
 | trakball ), you can use it with the
 | Input-Related options: -joytype, -jt
 | and/or -[no]analogstick, -[no]as
For a complete list of the usefull keys in xmame start a game, press the <tab> button, select <Input (general)> or <Input (this game)> and you see a complete list of the related keys.

RCFILES
You can put the most commandline options in an (r)essource (c)onfiguration (rc) file. To generate a `clean' xmamerc you type in your ${HOME}/.xmame directory: xmame -sc > xmamerc Now you have a good base to build your specific rc-file. Here is a piece from this file to tell you how the syntax works. ### X11-window Related ### cursor 1 mitshm 1 xsync 1 privatecmap 0 xil 1 mtxil 0 run-in-root-window 0 root_window_id 0 geometry 640x480 ### XFree86 DGA Related ### ### Video Mode Selection Related ### keepaspect 1 displayaspectratio 1.330000 The number `0' is equal to `no' or `false' and `1' means `yes' or `true'. Some parameters like `geometry' needs a string `800x600' and some others like `displayaspectratio' use a number `1.330000'.

ENVIRONMENT
The following environment variables are used:
ENV | USE
HOME | The user's home directory. (normally set by the login process.)
DISPLAY | X server to display in.

FILES
The config files are parsed in the following order:
PATH | CONFIG FILE
/usr/games/lib/xmame/xmamerc | global configuration
${HOME}/.xmame/xmamerc | user configuration
/usr/games/lib/xmame/xmame-x11rc | global per display
 | method
${HOME}/.xmame/xmame-x11rc | user per display
 | method
/usr/games/lib/xmame/rc/<game>rc | global per game
${HOME}/.xmame/rc/<game>rc | user per game

BUGS
There might be some bugs. Take a look in the doc-dir for more info, because the xmame-project is always in progress. :-)

CREDITS
Lots and lots and lots of thank to everyone for there great help on the xmame project. I would like to thank the following people and of course anyone I've forgotten. Thank you all, Hans 1. Fathers of the mame-creature (main version) Nicola Salmoria Allard van der Bas Mirko (Mix) Buffoni (General Mantainer) 2. Fathers of mess Brad Oliver Richard Bannister Ben Bruscella (current coordinator) 3. Original UNIX/X11 port Allard van der Bas Dick the Ridder Juan Antonio Marmnez 4. Unix maintainer Hans de Goede 5. Alpha specific issues Christian Groessler 6. Sun specific issues Keith Hargrove Mathis Rosenhau 7. Irix specific issues Tristram Scott 8. GGI maintainance Gabriele Boccone (original port) Christian Groessler (current maintainer) 9. OpenGL code & maintainance Mike Oliphant 10. Network code Eric Totel 11. Perl scripts for automation of some porting issues Bill Adams 12. Xmame rpms Jeremy Hansen 13. Mailing list maintainer Chris McCraw 14. Bits and pieces Christian Groessler Torsten Paul 15. AIX Sound code Chris Sharpp 16. IRIX Sound code entropy@zippy.bernstein.com 17. German readme Robert Hamberger 18. Documentation (SGML, HTML, MAN ...) Rene Herrmann And now you've come to the end of this man(ual). Have a lot of fun Rene'