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MAME
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|logo = Logo-mame.png
|logowidth = 254
|screenshot = MAME screenshot.jpg
|version = {{Version|MAME}}
|active = Yes
|platform = [[Emulators on Windows|Windows]]<br/>[[Emulators on Linux|Linux]]<br/>[[Emulators on macOS|macOS]]<br/>BSD<br>[[Emulators on DOS|DOS (Up until 0.37b14/0.50)]]</br>
|target = Thousands of electronics
|developer = [https://github.com/mamedev/mame/graphs/contributors MAME Team]
'''[[wikipedia:MAME|MAME]]''' (originally an acronym for '''<u>M</u>ultiple <u>A</u>rcade <u>M</u>achine <u>E</u>mulator''') is a multi-platform, open-source, [[Multi-system emulators|multi-system emulator]] written in C++. The philosophy behind the project is to focus on recreating the workings of various machines through emulation, with the software's ability to actually play console games being described as "a nice side effect". MAME is incredibly large, [[MAME compatibility list|supporting thousands of machines and ROM sets]], though what is supported is not what's playable; your mileage may vary. In the event you don't like MAME's own interface, there are [[Frontends#MAME|many alternative frontends]] available.
Much like the name says, MAME was supposed to be for arcade machines like Pac-Man back when it was released in 1997. Over time, MAME has incorporated similar projects out of a necessity to keep development active and prevent duplication of work (as some arcade machines often shared hardware with consoles to ease development of games); the first project to be merged was [[MESS]] at the end of May 2015 starting with version 0.162 and it functioned almost exactly like MAME but for home consoles and other esoteric devices that never got emulated elsewhere. MAME also had a policy against emulating gambling machines, but that decision has since been reversed and the project that aimed to get them working, <abbr title="Arcade Gambling Extensions for MAME">AGEMAME</abbr>, has also been merged. Gaelco Futbol 3 hardware (their rides had nothing to do with soccer), Falgas M89 and Happy Video are only "very small" motion simulators added to the MAME.
==Downloads==
===Support===
You can support the efforts of MAME developers, dumpers and other stakeholders with donations or resources to procure PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards) of arcade games, and all other computing or electronic devices that have digital screen output and in most cases, audio support; upload materials such as artwork of arcade cabinets, special handheld units and pinball tables, among other hardware examples.
* [https://smitdogg.mameworld.info/du/donate.html The Dumping Union] (Based in the USA. Monthly donations start from $10 US.)
:[https://www.mameworld.info/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=311481 The Dumping Union Info Page] (Info and an alternative PayPal link to send custom one-off donations with option to make it monthly.)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20230711205725/http://members.iinet.net.au/~lantra9jp1_nbn/gurudumps/thanks.html Guru] (Top-quality [https://web.archive.org/web/20230522164442/http://members.iinet.net.au/~lantra9jp1_nbn/gurudumps/forsale/index.html dumper and repairer of arcade PCBs from Western Australia]. He also repairs many other electronic equipments. Better reliability than The Dumping Union. Important pages: [https://web.archive.org/web/20160331200139/http://members.iinet.net.au/~lantra9jp1_nbn/gurudumps/faq.html FAQ], [https://web.archive.org/web/20160331200505/http://members.iinet.net.au/~lantra9jp1_nbn/gurudumps/decap/index.html Decapping Status Page], [https://web.archive.org/web/20160331200203/http://members.iinet.net.au/~lantra9jp1_nbn/gurudumps/DumpingProject/wantedlist/wanted.html Wanted Dumps List], all links under 'Guru Status' drop-down menu. For custom one-off PayPal donations with option to make it monthly.)
* [https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4805718 CAPS0ff] (High quality chip decapping specialist. [https://twitter.com/Caps0xff He] and other people get rare, security protected arcade boards, shave the tops off the security chips, and do stuff like point lasers at them to get them to spit out the keys. Sometimes they use microscopes to read the keys off the die. 6 Patreon tiers from $1 US to $300 US, or custom amount monthly.)
* [https://team-europe.blogspot.com/ TeamEurope] (High quality decappers on same level as the 'Guru' guy. Probably based in Austria, also cooperates regularly with dumper Sean Riddle from the UK. Does a lot of dumping of non-arcade stuff (especially cartridges for weird / obscure systems) as well as stuff specific to European regions. Occasional [https://www.reddit.com/r/emulation/comments/9txdsz/mame_team_europe_would_like_help_funding_some/ fundraisers] occur with them. Contact by writing an email to te@crazy#2001#.33mail#.com (remove all # from the address) with the words "[Contact TE]" in the message-header.)
==How to==
===Convert Bin/Cue files to CHD===
Many emulators other than MAME are beginning to support Compressed Hunks of Data, mainly because compared to the alternatives, it offers compression (or ''better'' compression) on all fronts. [[Libretro]] is making an initiative to support them thanks to a successful bounties initiative, and in many cores such as their [[Mednafen|Beetle]] fork, they've begun rolling it out for certain platforms like Saturn and PlayStation , so people can test it.
If you're interested in trying it out for yourself, this guide will show you how to convert to the format using MAME's command-line tool called <code>chdman</code>. We'll warn you now that you will need to know how to use either a Unix shell or the command prompt in order to use it. The developers of MAME seemingly don't have plans to give <code>chdman</code> an interface , so if the thought of going back to the DOS days scares you too much, you may have to wait.
{| class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed wikitable" style="width: 100%;"
:''Note: If you're confident, you can delete files immediately instead of sending them to the recycle bin or trash bin using the keyboard shortcut <code>Shift</code> + <code>Delete</code>. Always back up the files if you're worried you might do it wrong.''
MAME keeps a database of romsets including what each file should be named. If the ROM dump is obtained through a ZIP file, you can uncompress the files inside and transfer them to a 7-Zip file for better compression. The 7-Zip archive HAS to have the exact same name (not the same file extension , obviously).
In case you're wondering why 7-Zip is supported in MAME and not RAR, it's because the LZMA development kit that's developed alongside 7-Zip is in the public domain, and the MAME team uses it for CHDs along with FLAC for audio and data compression; RAR is a proprietary format that can only be decompressed by 7-Zip, not compressed to, as per an agreement with both development teams.
* [https://mamedev.emulab.it/etabeta/ Dev coverage] from Fabio 'etabeta' Priuli
* [http://avoidspikes.blogspot.com/ Dev coverage] from Frank 'Knarfian' Palazzolo
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20230710083327/http://members.iinet.net.au/~lantra9jp1_nbn/gurudumps/ Dev coverage] from Guru (Mainly repairs/decaps arcade boards and provides dumps of them for MAME. [https://web.archive.org/web/20230711205654/http://members.iinet.net.au/~lantra9jp1_nbn/gurudumps/decap/index.html Decapping status page], [https://web.archive.org/web/20230522164427/http://members.iinet.net.au/~lantra9jp1_nbn/gurudumps/DumpingProject/wantedlist/wanted.html Wanted dumps list].)
* [http://www.lucaelia.com/mame.php Dev coverage] from Luca Elia
* [http://rbelmont.mameworld.info/ Dev coverage] from R. 'Arbee' Belmont (Worked often on Apple ][, /// and early Mac's emulation)
* [https://www.youtube.com/user/LambShanks YouTube channel] from [https://wiki.mamedev.org/index.php/Phil_B%27s_To-Do_List Philip Bennett] (His [http://philwip.mameworld.info/ website] is not updated anymore, but his [https://twitter.com/PhilBennett3D Twitter feed] is active. He tends to research early 3D arcade systems from the mid-1980's to 1990's, and uploads some dumps of machines and clones to MAME.)
* [https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCVnS-HQL-pzFku5ZVCGnvBA/videos YouTube channel] from [https://wiki.mamedev.org/index.php/MooglyGuy%27s_To-Do_List Ryan 'TheMogMiner' Holtz], [https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Ryan_Holtz former Minecraft developer] (Note: His Twitter feed has lots of fillers unrelated to his MAME work)
* [https://www.youtube.com/Sterophonick YouTube channel] from [https://web.archive.org/web/20210606211134/https://sterophonick.github.io/sites Sterophonick] (Began working on 2018 Gigatron TTL Microcomputer for MAME on [https://twitter.com/sterophonick/status/1290524729825062913 Aug 4, 2020].)
* [https://twitter.com/aaronsgiles Twitter feed] from [https://aarongiles.com/ Aaron Giles] (His older [https://aarongiles.com/old/ Aaron's Almanac] website for MAME work was last updated in 2012. However, he "came back from the dead" to work on MAME again on [https://twitter.com/aaronsgiles/status/1286054480056786944 July 23, 2020]! Former project lead, 2005-2011. Wrote drivers for 11 CPUs, 7 sound chips, and 100+ arcade games.)
* [https://twitter.com/algestam Twitter feed] from Henrik 'algestam' Algestam (He is well noted for dumping and emulating those Nintendo [[Game & Watch]] LCD handheld titles to MAME)
