# &app; Manual

&app; is a front-end for the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator (MAME).

2007
2008
Matthew Barnes

&legal;

Matthew
Barnes
&app; Manual &manrevision;
2008-02-24
This manual describes version &appversion; of &app;

## Introduction

The &app; application allows you to play classic coin-operated arcade games on your GNOME desktop using the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator (MAME).

&app; provides the following features:

- Play classic arcade games on your desktop.

- Tag favorite games to easily find them again later.

- Read historical information and tips about your favorite games.

- Game recording and play back.

- Search.

## Getting Started

### Starting &app;

You can start &app; in the following ways:

Applications menu

  Choose Games Video Arcade .

Command line

  To start &app; from a command line, type the following command, then press Return:

  `gnome-video-arcade`

  To view other command line options that are available, type `gnome-video-arcade --help`, then press Return.

### When You Start &app;

The first time &app; starts, it will build a database of game information and analyze available ROM files to determine which games are playable. This process may take several minutes to complete, during which time the following window is displayed:

#### &app; Building the Game Database

Shows &app; main window while the database is being built. Most of the elements are grayed out, and a progress bar is shown at the bottom.

The window will then change to look like this:

#### &app; Start Up Window

Shows &app; main window with a sample list of games. Contains menubar, game list, view buttons, start game button, properties button and statusbar.

You may see a different list of games, depending on which ROM images are installed on your system.

If you know that ROM images are installed on your system but &app; does not list any games, it may be that MAME is misconfigured or none of the installed ROM images are playable. See the Troubleshooting section for more information.

Occasionally, the database may be rebuilt when &app; starts. Most of the time it will skip this process and go straight to the window in Figure 2.

The &app; window contains the following elements:

Menubar

  The menus on the menubar contain all the commands needed to use &app;.

Game List

  The game list displays a list of games to choose from.

View Buttons

  The view buttons control which games are displayed in the game list. Choose between displaying all available games, a list of favorite games, or previous search results.

Start Game Button

  The Start Game button starts the highlighted game in the game list.

Properties Button

  The Properties button displays additional information about the highlighted game in the game list.

Statusbar

  The statusbar displays the MAME version used to play games and contextual information about the menu items. It also displays a progress bar while building the game database.

## Usage

### To Start a Game

Choose a game from the game list and click on it to highlight it. Then click the Start Game button or choose Ctrl S Game Start .

You can also start a game by double-clicking on it in the game list.

### To View Properties of a Game

Choose a game from the game list and click on it to highlight it. Then click the Properties button or choose Ctrl P View Properties .

The Properties dialog displays information about the highlighted game, including some history about the game, tips and tricks to help improve your scores, pictures of the arcade cabinet, screen shots of the game in progress and some technical information about MAME's emulation of the game.

To close the Properties dialog, click the Close button.

Some of these features are not yet completed and will be available in a future version of &app;.

### To Tag a Game as a Favorite

To tag a game as a favorite, choose a game from the game list and click on it to highlight it. Then choose Ctrl + Game Add to Favorites . The heart icon for the highlighted game will light up to indicate that the game has been added to your list of favorites.

If a game is no longer your favorite, click on its name in the game list to highlight it. Then choose Ctrl - Game Remove from Favorites . The heart icon for the highlighted game will turn gray to indicate that the game has been removed from your list of favorites.

You can also click directly on a heart icon in the game list to tag the game as a favorite or not a favorite.

### To Change Which Games Are Displayed

To show all available games in the game list, click the Available Games view button or choose View Available Games .

To show only your favorite games in the game list, click the Favorite Games view button or choose View Favorite Games .

To show your previous search results in the game list, click the Search Results view button or choose View Search Results .

### To Search for Games

Choose Ctrl F Edit Search... to display the following dialog:

#### &app; Search Dialog

Shows &app; search dialog. Contains text entry box, find button and close button.

Type your search criteria in the entry box. Search by the title of the game, the company that manufactured the game, the year the game was released, or the name of the game's ROM set or MAME driver.

Click the Find button to start your search. The Search dialog will close and the results of your search will be displayed in the game list.

Click the Close button to close the Search dialog without searching.

### To Record a Game

Choose a game from the game list and click on it to highlight it. Then choose Ctrl R Game Record .

After you exit from MAME, your new recording will be highlighted in the following window:

#### &app; Recorded Games Window

Shows &app; recorded games window. Contains list of game recordings, play back button, delete button and close button.

Each entry shows the title of the game that was recorded, and the date and time when recording began. Click on the game's title to customize the comment. You can add more information to the comment such as the final score or level reached.

### To Play Back a Recorded Game

Choose Game Play Back... to display the Recorded Games window. Choose a game recording to play back and click on it to highlight it. Then click the Play Back button.

## Preferences

To modify the preferences of &app;, choose Edit Preferences .

The Preferences dialog contains the following sections:

### General

Shows the General tab of the Preferences window.

Start games in fullscreen mode

  Select this option to start games in fullscreen mode. Otherwise, games will be started in a window.

Restore previous state when starting a game

  Select this option to continue where you left off when you last exited MAME. If this option is not selected, the emulator will boot the arcade machine each time a game is started.

  State restoration does not take effect until the second time the game is started with the option enabled. It does not apply to recording or playing back games.

  Not all games support this feature.

Show alternate versions of original games

  Select this option to show alternate versions of original games in the game list in the main window.

#### What are alternate versions?

From the MAME FAQ:

> Games were often licensed to other companies for a variety of reasons: the most common was that the makers wished to sell the game in a country or region in which they had no distribution of their own. In the early 80s, Namco had no US distribution network so their games were licensed to Atari, Bally-Midway, and others. Conversely, Atari licensed their games to Japanese companies (usually Namco) for sale there.

> Sometimes a set of ROMs with a different copyright date is found, or a bootleg set, or another alternate version. When the parent game has already been emulated in MAME, these alternates are usually easy to add. In some cases, alternate versions are slightly different: Game levels are in a different order, the game is harder or faster, etc.

> In some cases, ROMs were hacked to run on hardware they were not intended for. For example, when Pac-Man was hot, some arcade operators found a way to dump Pac-Man ROMs and hack them to work on Scramble machines so they wouldn't have to purchase extra Pac-Man boards. Since these hacked versions are masterpieces in their own right, the MAME developers have included them.

### Columns

Shows the Columns tab of the Preferences window.

The Columns tab allows you to configure the game list in the main window to show additional information about the available games. The column names are listed in the order that they appear in the game list. Reorder columns and show additional columns using the Move Up, Move Down, Show and Hide buttons to the right of the column list.

## Troubleshooting

### No games listed in the main window

#### Are any ROM images installed?

For legal reasons, games are not bundled with &app; or MAME. The MAME FAQ has some suggestions for obtaining ROM images:

> There are several means of obtaining ROM images for use in MAME:

> - A small number of ROM images are now available with the copyright holders' permission at the mamedev.org ROMs page.

> - The HotRod Joystick control panel from Hanaho Games, Inc. comes bundled with a CD that includes MAME and a selection of Capcom ROMs. Hanaho also sells the ArcadePC cabinet with a different selection of Capcom ROMs.

> - You can purchase your own arcade PCBs (on eBay, for example), buy a ROM reader, and use it to copy the ROM chips' contents into files for your personal use.

> Always check if the particular arcade games' copyright owner is selling the ROMs legally (as with Capcom). That way you will support the companies that support emulation.

#### Can MAME find the installed ROM images?

&app; relies on MAME to find installed ROM images. To test where MAME is configured to look for ROM images, type the following command on a command line, then press Return:

`gnome-video-arcade --inspect rompath`

The command should print a directory name such as `/usr/share/mame/roms`. Move ROM images to this directory and restart &app;.

If the command does not print a directory name, it may mean that MAME is not properly configured on your system. If you obtained MAME from a GNU/Linux distribution, please contact the maintainers of that distribution for further instructions.

#### Is the Available Games view selected?

If no games have been tagged as favorites, the Favorite Games view will be empty. Similarly, if no searches have been run, the Search Results view will be empty. Switch to the Available Games view to ensure all available games are listed.