Spectrum Computing

Posted: **Sat Aug 03, 2019 9:29 pm**

Hi all,

To date I've been using several different (Windows based) emulators for playing Speccy games, I don't have a favourite emu as such (none have been entirely satisfactory so far), but some emu's are more conducive to controller mapping than others.. I recently got MAME 0.211 (yes, I know 0.212 was released today, good for me torrenting 70GB a day early I suppose) and all the ROMS associated - its fantastic for coin-op and is likely to become my go to.

Anyone have any experience of emulating Spectrum under MAME? Pratfalls/pitfalls or even just a plain "don't bother" - Would be good to hear from anyone with some tips. If It works out, I'm planning to move all my machine emulation under the MAME umbrella.

By the way, I own all the original arcade machines and clones, they are in my garage, so no worries.

Thanks,

Dougie.

Posted: **Fri Aug 09, 2019 1:54 pm**

Does MAME emulate something more than arcade machines today?

Personally I lost track a few years ago already. At some moment they made some changes that completely broke compatibility so ROMs
that worked perfectly with earlier versions stopped working. My reaction was to erase the newer version and stick to the older one

Posted: **Fri Aug 09, 2019 1:59 pm**

Ralf wrote: ↑Fri Aug 09, 2019 1:54 pm Does MAME emulate something more than arcade machines today?

Yes, a few years back MESS was merged into MAME, so now MAME basically supports every computer out there ... with the possible exception of the one in your fridge

Posted: **Fri Aug 09, 2019 3:08 pm**

Ralf wrote: ↑Fri Aug 09, 2019 1:54 pm
Personally I lost track a few years ago already. At some moment they made some changes that completely broke compatibility so ROMs
that worked perfectly with earlier versions stopped working. My reaction was to erase the newer version and stick to the older one

It happened the same to me. I was a huge user of the PC version back in 99, 2000, ... but that not-retro-compatibility crapness made me leave it till I came across Mame4droid, an android app. I don't remember which version emulates, but I got a bunch of compatible roms and it's a great thing to play in your phone or tablet.

Posted: **Fri Aug 09, 2019 3:48 pm**

Yes, a few years back MESS was merged into MAME

OK, so they have turned it into a true behemoth

Personally I'm not a big fan of such solutions.
When you go too broad, you stop caring about details.

Again I may have outdated info but a few years ago MESS emulation of Zx Spectrum was only so-so.
It worked but you could forget about precise timing, multicolor effects and other stuff present in best
dedicated Spectrum emulators.

Posted: **Fri Aug 09, 2019 4:30 pm**

MAME has swallowed MESS so can now emulate everything....everything

the zx spectrum in mame has now had 13,000 spectrum games added to the software list
and it works great (and has all the keyboard overlays included)

Posted: **Fri Aug 09, 2019 5:17 pm**

Quite a nice user interface, I must admit.
Is it default for modern MAME?

Posted: **Fri Aug 09, 2019 6:26 pm**

Ralf wrote: ↑Fri Aug 09, 2019 5:17 pm Quite a nice user interface, I must admit.
Is it default for modern MAME?

YES

Posted: **Fri Aug 09, 2019 6:32 pm**

ASH-II wrote: ↑Fri Aug 09, 2019 4:30 pm MAME has swallowed MESS so can now emulate everything....everything

the zx spectrum in mame has now had 13,000 spectrum games added to the software list
and it works great (and has all the keyboard overlays included)

Thanks for the reply, that's exactly the sort of thing I wanted to know - looks good, I'll try it out.

Posted: **Thu Jan 14, 2021 12:14 pm**

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but where on earth did you get that MAME Artwork from?

It's just MAME Bezels, right?

They look great and just what I need but I cannot find anything like that from the usual sources

Posted: **Thu Jan 14, 2021 5:38 pm**

I've just got a new PC and need to reinstall Mame. I know if I get the latest version then my roms will be out of date. Can anyone tell me via pvt messsage where I can get a complete set of the latest roms please? I think I've been using the ones I have for 10 years or so because they worked, so I didn't want to mess with it.

Posted: **Thu Jan 14, 2021 9:41 pm**

MarkRJones1970 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 14, 2021 5:38 pm I know if I get the latest version then my roms will be out of date.

Are you sure? I’ve never heard of an “expiry date” on ROMs. I’ve been using mine for a lot longer than ten years in some instances. (Not with MAME, mind, but still.)

Posted: **Thu Jan 14, 2021 10:46 pm**

The checksums for the Speccy ROM files required by MAME have not changed since the MESS merge in 2012, so the ones you have will most likely work just fine.
https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blame/b ... ectrum.cpp

Posted: **Fri Jan 15, 2021 7:40 am**

Find the Game in the \hash\spectrum_cass.xml file and take a note of the CRC

Open up our Spectrum Game Rom .zip file in something like 7zip, scroll across and check it's CRC, if they match they will work, if they don't it won't!

Anyway, where do I get all that cool Bezel Artwork from?

Posted: **Fri Jan 15, 2021 12:55 pm**

Ast A. Moore wrote: ↑Thu Jan 14, 2021 9:41 pm
MarkRJones1970 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 14, 2021 5:38 pm I know if I get the latest version then my roms will be out of date.
Are you sure? I’ve never heard of an “expiry date” on ROMs. I’ve been using mine for a lot longer than ten years in some instances. (Not with MAME, mind, but still.)

I've updated MAME in the past and was frequently met with the error message along the lines of "Your roms are out of date. Download the latest set at blah blah blah" while trying to use roms that worked on my previous version.

Posted: **Fri Jan 15, 2021 1:11 pm**

This can happen when you are using a MAME executive version which does not match a romset version. So , eg, if you download the latest MAME exe, which is 0.227, and your romset is 0.201, then some roms might not work. Majority should though, I guess it depends on how old your set is. These days MAME releases monthly (I think), but there is no need to constantly update because the changes aren't major.

One big change which has happened in recent years is that MAME (previously) arcade and MESS (computers and such) have merged. So now it's just all-in-one MAME. But if you download a MAME romset it will be arcade games only. For the computer soft you need to download Software Lists. But - imo - there are better ways of handling computers, ie dedicated emulators+Gamebase/TOSEC sets.

[mention]MarkRJones1970[/mention] if you're still looking, PM me.

Posted: **Fri Jan 15, 2021 1:25 pm**

akeley wrote: ↑Fri Jan 15, 2021 1:11 pm For the computer soft you need to download Software Lists. But - imo - there are better ways of handling computers, ie dedicated emulators+Gamebase/TOSEC sets.

Hi [mention]akeley[/mention] could you please tell me, where those SL-Files have to go by default? Should these be in \MAME\Roms\-Directory?
e.g.: \MAME\roms\spectrum_cass\doomdark.zip
(Spectrum-ROMs are in: \MAME\roms\spectrum.zip)

Posted: **Fri Jan 15, 2021 6:21 pm**

[mention]Luzie[/mention] sorry mate, I've never tried to set it up myself. Seems you need to put them in separate dirs which names are the same as the xml lists.

https://www.mameworld.info/ubbthreads/s ... =5&o=&vc=1

Posted: **Sun Jan 17, 2021 4:35 pm**

Anyone worked out where to get those Doomdark's Revenge keyboard layouts from?

Posted: **Sun Jan 17, 2021 4:43 pm**

I've started with a clean download of MAME, and looking at the source tree for MAME on GitHub, spectrum.cpp has all these ROMS (shown below in extract from spectrum.cpp). Do I need to have all these ROM files in the ROMS folder?

I don't have the more obscure ones and the are not in the spectrum.zip file, and I'm getting this error when I try and launch a game:

Code: Select all

ROM_START(spectrum)
	ROM_REGION(0x10000,"maincpu",0)
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(0, "en", "English")
	ROMX_LOAD("spectrum.rom", 0x0000, 0x4000, CRC(ddee531f) SHA1(5ea7c2b824672e914525d1d5c419d71b84a426a2), ROM_BIOS(0))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(1, "sp", "Spanish")
	ROMX_LOAD("48e.rom", 0x0000, 0x4000, CRC(f051746e) SHA1(9e535e2e24231ccb65e33d107f6d0ceb23e99477), ROM_BIOS(1))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(2, "p", "Prototype") // breadboard PCB with a maze of wires underneath, keyboard has handwritten labels
	ROMX_LOAD("0,1.eprom1", 0x0000, 0x2000, CRC(6b807b7a) SHA1(7d14f1929c086b0954edb386f02b06ed283b602a), ROM_BIOS(2))
	ROMX_LOAD("2,3.eprom2", 0x2000, 0x2000, CRC(f54a389b) SHA1(eab62eda635a56c24132022947fdeefcd18215f5), ROM_BIOS(2))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(3, "bsrom118", "BusySoft Upgrade v1.18")
	ROMX_LOAD("bsrom118.rom", 0x0000, 0x4000, CRC(1511cddb) SHA1(ab3c36daad4325c1d3b907b6dc9a14af483d14ec), ROM_BIOS(3))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(4, "bsrom140", "BusySoft Upgrade v1.40")
	ROMX_LOAD("bsrom140.rom", 0x0000, 0x4000, CRC(07017c6d) SHA1(2ee2dbe6ab96b60d7af1d6cb763b299374c21776), ROM_BIOS(4))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(5, "groot", "De Groot's Upgrade")
	ROMX_LOAD("groot.rom", 0x0000, 0x4000, CRC(abf18c45) SHA1(51165cde68e218512d3145467074bc7e786bf307), ROM_BIOS(5))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(6, "48turbo", "48 Turbo")
	ROMX_LOAD("48turbo.rom", 0x0000, 0x4000, CRC(56189781) SHA1(e62a431b0938af414b7ab8b1349a18b3c4407f70), ROM_BIOS(6))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(7, "psycho", "Maly's Psycho Upgrade")
	ROMX_LOAD("psycho.rom", 0x0000, 0x4000, CRC(cd60b589) SHA1(0853e25857d51dd41b20a6dbc8e80f028c5befaa), ROM_BIOS(7))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(8, "turbo23", "Turbo 2.3")
	ROMX_LOAD("turbo2_3.rom", 0x0000, 0x4000, CRC(fd3b0413) SHA1(84ea64af06adaf05e68abe1d69454b4fc6888505), ROM_BIOS(8))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(9, "turbo44", "Turbo 4.4")
	ROMX_LOAD("turbo4_4.rom", 0x0000, 0x4000, CRC(338b6e87) SHA1(21ad93ffe41a4458704c866cca2754f066f6a560), ROM_BIOS(9))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(10, "imc", "Ian Collier's Upgrade")
	ROMX_LOAD("imc.rom", 0x0000, 0x4000, CRC(d1be99ee) SHA1(dee814271c4d51de257d88128acdb324fb1d1d0d), ROM_BIOS(10))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(11, "plus4", "ZX Spectrum +4")
	ROMX_LOAD("plus4.rom",0x0000,0x4000, CRC(7e0f47cb) SHA1(c103e89ef58e6ade0c01cea0247b332623bd9a30), ROM_BIOS(11))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(12, "deutsch", "German unofficial (Andrew Owen)")
	ROMX_LOAD("deutsch.rom",0x0000,0x4000, CRC(1a9190f4) SHA1(795c20324311dd5a56300e6e4ec49b0a694ac0b3), ROM_BIOS(12))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(13, "hdt", "HDT-ISO HEX-DEC-TEXT")
	ROMX_LOAD("hdt-iso.rom",0x0000,0x4000, CRC(b81c570c) SHA1(2a9745ba3b369a84c4913c98ede66ec87cb8aec1), ROM_BIOS(13))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(14, "sc", "The Sea Change Minimal ROM V1.78")
	ROMX_LOAD("sc01.rom",0x0000,0x4000, CRC(73b4057a) SHA1(c58ff44a28db47400f09ed362ca0527591218136), ROM_BIOS(14))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(15, "gosh", "GOSH Wonderful ZX Spectrum ROM V1.32")
	ROMX_LOAD("gw03.rom",0x0000,0x4000, CRC(5585d7c2) SHA1(a701c3d4b698f7d2be537dc6f79e06e4dbc95929), ROM_BIOS(15))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(16, "1986es", "1986ES Snapshot")
	ROMX_LOAD("1986es.rom",0x0000,0x4000, CRC(9e0fdaaa) SHA1(f9d23f25640c51bcaa63e21ed5dd66bb2d5f63d4), ROM_BIOS(16))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(17, "jgh", "JGH ROM V0.74 (C) J.G.Harston")
	ROMX_LOAD("jgh.rom",0x0000,0x4000, CRC(7224138e) SHA1(d7f02ed66455f1c08ac0c864c7038a92a88ba94a), ROM_BIOS(17))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(18, "iso22", "ISO ROM V2.2")
	ROMX_LOAD("isomoje.rom",0x0000,0x4000, CRC(62ab3640) SHA1(04adbdb1380d6ccd4ab26ddd61b9ccbba462a60f), ROM_BIOS(18))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(19, "iso8", "ISO ROM 8")
	ROMX_LOAD("iso8bm.rom",0x0000,0x4000, CRC(43e9c2fd) SHA1(5752e6f789769475711b91e0a75911fa5232c767), ROM_BIOS(19))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(20, "diagv28", "DiagROM v1.28")
	ROMX_LOAD("diagrom.v28",0x0000,0x4000, CRC(aadf967e) SHA1(6fbdb11e475499655df36343a22f15d67f578165), ROM_BIOS(20))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(21, "diagv31", "DiagROM v1.31")
	ROMX_LOAD("diagrom.v31",0x0000,0x4000, CRC(cddbb11e) SHA1(3ed203034fe1562ee7216fad06309d3f7033a967), ROM_BIOS(21))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(22, "diagv33", "DiagROM v1.33")
	ROMX_LOAD("diagrom.v33",0x0000,0x4000, CRC(0fb080e1) SHA1(222f535ae277d0b8ce6c27b75319da9c45f8cadc), ROM_BIOS(22))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(23, "diagv34", "DiagROM v1.34")
	ROMX_LOAD("diagrom.v34",0x0000,0x4000, CRC(50478f29) SHA1(1e55af6e7bb24090ce052e7536e91f92492fe168), ROM_BIOS(23))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(24, "diagv35", "DiagROM v1.35")
	ROMX_LOAD("diagrom.v35",0x0000,0x4000, CRC(c869b642) SHA1(61eb786249a207ea57cdea6bb01fcd0b95c218f2), ROM_BIOS(24))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(25, "diagv47", "DiagROM v1.47")
	ROMX_LOAD("diagrom.v47",0x0000,0x4000, CRC(be329fc0) SHA1(24dc875753e729452f1ff941d2e0ae49f9031bc3), ROM_BIOS(25))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(26, "diagv50", "DiagROM v1.50")
	ROMX_LOAD("diagrom.v50",0x0000,0x4000, CRC(054a2d6a) SHA1(2fa6f3b31d7bb610df78be5c4c80537cf6e5911d), ROM_BIOS(26))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(27, "diagv51", "DiagROM v1.51")
	ROMX_LOAD("diagrom.v51",0x0000,0x4000, CRC(83034df6) SHA1(e57b2c8a8e3563ea02a20eecd1d4cb6be9f9c2df), ROM_BIOS(27))
	ROM_SYSTEM_BIOS(28, "alford37", "Brian Alford's Test ROM v0.37")
	ROMX_LOAD("testromv037.bin", 0x0000,0x4000, CRC(a7ea3d1c) SHA1(f699b73abfb1ab53c063ac02ac6283705864c734), ROM_BIOS(28))
ROM_END

If anyone fancies a doing a setting up MAME for the Spectrum that would be fantastic!

Posted: **Tue Jan 19, 2021 9:34 pm**

ASH-II wrote: ↑Fri Aug 09, 2019 4:30 pm MAME has swallowed MESS so can now emulate everything....everything

the zx spectrum in mame has now had 13,000 spectrum games added to the software list
and it works great (and has all the keyboard overlays included)

Hi [mention]ASH-II[/mention] can you please tell us how to enable these Keyboard-Overlays in MAME? And where those graphics are stored?
Are these Bezel-Files or Artwork Files "ARTWORK TYPE - Non-Arcade Games/CP — Control Panel Input Device" https://mrdo.mameworld.info/artwork_category.php or ist this the same?

Where can we download those Artwok-Files? Update -> Found them here: http://mess.redump.net/artwork - Download-Link: http://mess.redump.net/_media/artwork/spectrum.zip - These include e.g. Doomdarks Revenge Keyboard.
Now need to find out, which settings to do in INI\Spectrum.INI and/or CFG\Spectrum.CFG to enable it or activate it via MAMEs TAB-menu.
...https://mrdo.mameworld.info/mame_artwork_faq.php

Posted: **Wed Jan 20, 2021 8:52 pm**

I´ll continue this in Thread "Spectrum MAME for Complete Beginners" at: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=4120

Spectrum Computing

MAME 0.211 and the Spectrum

MAME 0.211 and the Spectrum

Re: MAME 0.211 and the Spectrum

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Re: MAME 0.211 and the Spectrum