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Recommended Mame Frontend for Arcade Machine


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Hi,

 

I'm just finishing off a cocktail machine I copied from an original I had and am now starting to build the PC to run Mame on. Where I'm getting stuck is deciding which frontend to use.

My requirements are:-

1. Can load straight into the frontend on Windows 7. (I believe this is just a Windows configuration, so it shouldn't be too hard).

2. Be a simple and easy to read list of the available games and show a picture of the game selected.

3. Just shows arcade MAME games, so no menu showing options of other emulators.

4. Easy to navigate and choose a game via the cocktail controls and buttons.

5. I'd like it to be fully Freeware.

From what I've read, Mala seems to meet my preferences well, but the snag seems to be it's age and incompatibility with more recent Mame versions. And then there is Hyperspin, which as far to much bling for my liking.

 

Can anyone please suggest a frontend to use that gives me what I'm after or if it's just not available?

 

Thank you,

 

Markus

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Attract Mode is a pretty popular front end that has support for the latest versions of MAME. It's kind of new Mala in a way, where Mala was the new MameWAH.

 

I haven't set it up on any of my machines, as I still use Mala, but lots of people have good things to say about it.

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Thanks for that. I have seen that work arounds are available, but I'm trying to avoid using a legacy software. I've got concerns it'll end up producing on going issues when ever Mame makes some changes Mala doesn't handle.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Thanks Kaizen.

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I don’t know what’s what but Launchbox looks good from what I’ve seen.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Aussie Arcade

 

Launchbox with Bigbox is great, but a little more difficult to get working with a CRT screen. If the OP is using LCD, Launchbox/Bigbox would be an excellent choice.

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Thanks Gigawatts and namastepat. I've previously had a quick look ad Launchbox and Bigbox, as a combo they look great, but it does require the purchase of a Premium license (US$20) to get the Bigbox capability. I'll keep checking for free options, but that option failing I'll investigate Launchbox more. Cheers.
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Thanks for everyone help and suggestions.

 

I got everything running great with Attract-Mode, used these links to get it working nicely including hiding/modding the windows 7 login and logout:-

 

(To set up Attract-Mode. As I was only setting up MAME and no other emulator, I didn't add BizHawk)

 

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,148050.msg1541709.html#msg1541709 (to hide and also change Windows appearance, but I didn't do the Shell option in his "Configure Instantsheller" steps, I just changed explorer in regex as per the next link).

 

http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=2819.msg19648#msg19648 (specifically how "Escape-to-88" says he modifies REGEX in his first post).

Edited by KISA
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I used NAVATO as suggested in youtube link. It has an easy to use and nice looks for my cocktail cabinet.

 

If you want a theme with as little bling as possible, I have a modified grid layout you can use.

You just need snapshots of each game and a couple of sounds.

(The modification removes all animations in the original grid layout)

[ATTACH=CONFIG]148606[/ATTACH]

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If you want a theme with as little bling as possible, I have a modified grid layout you can use.

You just need snapshots of each game and a couple of sounds.

(The modification removes all animations in the original grid layout)

https://www.aussiearcade.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=148606

 

Thanks for the offer ozfalcon. I'm actually really happy with the appearance of the NAVATO patch into Attract. Mine now pretty much looks like this (including the animation on the arcade screen), but I didn't add the extra background images (or animation) this example shows.

 

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