MAME Benchmarker Copyright (C) Moose O'Malley, ---------------- August 2003. +===========================================================+ | T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S | +===========================================================+ | * Introduction (LONG) | * Why I wrote this Program / Why use this Program | * Using this Program | * Useful WEB Links | * Limitations / Restrictions of the program | * The Future | * Special Greetings / Thanks to | * Warranty | * Amendment History | * Contacting the Program's Author +===========================================================+ Introduction : -------------- MAME Benchmarker for Windows 95, 98, NT, ME, 2000, XP, and similar operating systems. MAME Benchmarker is a utility / tool which can help you benchmark the running of the Windows Command Line MAME or the DOS MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) : http://www.mame.net MAME Benchmarker enables you to choose which games to benchmark, which command line parameters to use when running MAME, and then benchmark these games within MAME. After the benchmarking is complete, a TAB separated report is displayed and you can easily copy and paste this into a spreadsheet to allow you to compare these results with other benchmark results, graph the results, etc. To enable this functionality, you need to : ********************************** *** MAME + ROM Directories Tab *** ********************************** 1. Specify the directory path and name of the DOS or Windows Command Line version of MAME. 2. Specify the ROM directory(s). i.e. the directory(s) where your MAME games ZIP files are stored. 3. Press the "Refresh Originals / Clones List" button. 4. Type in a Description of your PC. e.g. Pentium III 667, 256 MB RAM, etc. ************************************* *** MAME Command Line Options Tab *** ************************************* 5. Specify the MAME Command Line Options you require. ****************************** *** Games to Benchmark Tab *** ****************************** 6. Press the "Refresh List" button to generate a full list of all games supported by MAME. 7. Add whichever games you want to the "Games to Benchmark" list, or press the "Default" button to add the default list of games to benchmark. Once you do these things, then you are ready to benchmark the games - simply press the "Benchmark Games" button - and then sit back and wait for the results report to appear. Without this program, the benchmarking and recording of results is a very tedious process. This program could save you a lot of time and effort. I hope you find this program useful. MAME Benchmarker is NOT an official part of the MAME project. Developed using 32-bit Delphi. Why I wrote this Program / Why use this Program : ------------------------------------------------- I wrote this program so that I could benchmark MAME on my PC and explore various options for improving performance, and also see how my PC compared to other PCs. My poor old Pentium III PC is getting real long in the tooth now, and I'll be upgrading later this year. So, by making it dead easy for others to benchmark MAME on their PCs, I hope that I will be able to see benchmark results for other PCs, so I can determine what PC to buy next ... ;) Using this Program : -------------------- To use this program, simply unzip it to a directory (using PKUNIP, WinZIP, or similar), run it, and click on the buttons to view / perform the activities you require. Then, read the "Introduction" above for further details. N.B. Some MAME Command Line options are NOT supported by every command line version of MAME. For example : -nodisclaimer [Disables the MAME disclaimer - Non-STD] -nogameinfo [Disables pre-game information - Non-STD]] are not supported by all command line versions of MAME. So, if you get errors for every game, then try unchecking these two Command Line options. Useful WEB Links : ------------------ The following WEB links are useful for anyone who wants to benchmark MAME : - http://www.classicgaming.com/mame32qa/bench.htm - http://elvispr.dyns.cx/mamebench/ Limitations / Restrictions of the program : ------------------------------------------- None. There is no trial period and there is no "cutdown" or "restricted" functionality that requires users to register. This program is FREE software - any person and any company is welcome to copy it, use it, and distribute it as they see fit, as long as the EXEcutable and this text file remain intact. If you paid money for this program, then you were ripped off, and you should complain to the person who sold it to you !! (Don't complain to me, it's nothing to do with me !!). The Future : ------------ In the future, many improvements could be made to this program, such as : - Enable the user to set-up their own "Default" list of games to benchmark. - Enable users to specify additional / other MAME settings. - Add in the ability to repeate the test nn times and average the results. - Add in support for the "Abort" button. - Add in the ability to stop on any error - Anything else ? If you would like any of these improvements, or would like to suggest more, or would like to give me some feedback on the program, please email me and let me know. Special Greetings / Thanks to : ------------------------------- Special thanks to all arcade emulator authors, people who maintain arcade emulator sites, those who dump the roms, and those who work hard to try and preserve the actual physical arcade machines, with special mention to : - Dave Spicer for developing Sparcade - the very first Arcade Emulator for PCs, which introduced me to Arcade Emulation way back in 1995. I was and still am compltely blown away by arcade emulation !! - Nicola Salmoria (for MAME and other emulators) and the fabulous MAME and various MAME 32 Development Teams. - Neil Bradley (Emu, Retrocade and others). - Antiriad and the Raine Development Team. - Dave (Final Burn). - Anders Nilsson & Janne Korpela (Neo Rage and Tutankham). - Thierry Lescot (System 16 Emulator). - Neill Corlett (MGE). - Michael Cuddy (KEM & Gyruss). - and all other arcade emulator developers - you guys rule !!! - Virtu Al, Brian Peek, MAME DK, and others - you guys rule too !!! - The guys who maintain the MAME Benchmarking web sites : * http://www.classicgaming.com/mame32qa/bench.htm * http://elvispr.dyns.cx/mamebench/ Even though some of these emulators are no longer under development, your amazing work is NOT forgotten !! Warranty : ---------- This software and the accompanying files are provided "as is" and without warranties as to performance or merchantability or any other warranties whether expressed or implied. The user assumes the entire risk of using this software. If you do find any faults with this program, email me and let me know, and I will do my best to fix it ASAP. Amendment History : -------------------- Vers Date Description 1.0 21-July-2003 First Public Release. (59,824 lines of code / comments.) 21-July-2003 - Email Retrogames (Prophet and Griking) to announce this program. 21-July-2003 - Program announced on MAME's Fun / Fluff Message Board at www.mame.net 1.1 22-July-2003 Various Improvements. Instead of using a single command to run MAME (e.g. d:\mame\mameppp ....) break it down and store it in a batch file and execute this instead, as this will always run games correctly. For example : d: cd mame mameppp .... The prior method did not run all games. e.g. Area51. Also, add in a "View Last Results" button, to enable you to view the last benchmark results report. Include the total time taken (in seconds) on the benchmark report. Add in various Program Setting options : - the ability to show the Number of Frames executed for each game on the benchmark report, - and the ability to pause and wait for user input after each time MAME is executed (so you have time to see any issues / errors, etc). Confirm with the user before removing games from the "Games to Benchmark" list. Make the default settings for these : -nodisclaimer [Disables the MAME disclaimer - Non-STD] -nogameinfo [Disables pre-game information - Non-STD]] non-checked. (They aren't supported by all command line versions of MAME). (60,035 lines of code / comments.) 1.1b 4-Aug-2003 Fix the icon and tool tip on the "View Previous Results" button. (Thanks Twisty at Mame World for noticing this). (60,035 lines of code / comments.) If this program was not downloaded from my Home Page, then it might be an old version. The latest version of this program is available from my WEB page - see below. For more great software, please visit my WEB page ! Mike "Moose" O'Malley ____________________________________________________ Moose's Software Valley - Established July, 1996. WEB: http://move.to/moose ____________________________________________________