Mame32 QA/Test & Art Dept. Official Art Pack(s)
by john iv

This is the htm which will accompany the images[x].zip, the icons.zip, and bkground.zip.

images1, 2, 3,.zip
Imagesx.zip include currently images1.zip, images2.zip, images3.zip. It got to be too unwieldy to have a single 22+ meg images.zip file so I broke them up. Download all these and combine them into a single images.zip file if you like or you can leave the .png files freestanding. Once upon a time I started adding information in my screenshots as to what version of Mame the driver was added, this is a nice touch because there was never really been an interest in adding this info programmatically into Mame.. but I was always fond of looking back on certain versions and saying, 'ah yes, Asteroids in .26b.' <grin> This files contain screenshots for all the parent sets, it also contains what I call 'divergent clones', these are clones which are sufficiently different either gameplay-wise or visually, to warrant their own screenshots. I typically will also add smaller 'release packs' when a new beta of Mame comes out, which will only contain new images for that release, plus any images I have redone due to perfected colors or new working status of older games.

icons.zip
Place this file into your \mame32\icons directory [support for a zipped icons.zip was added in .37.1]. I've been adding these icons since I got into MameDOS back in .16b, support for them was added in Mame32 .33b by Mike Haaland. These started life as 24bpp true color images and were kicked down to 8bpp for space. The majority of these are done w/ the idea that there would be a black or dark background behind them, which is easy now with the bkground.png support. I finished coverage of all icons around .35.11 and add new ones as games become playable or are newly added. This pack also contains icons for the defaults, and the folder tree. Note: I have included the same icon for all the clones, the reasoning is that I wanted a way to quickly determine which game is the parent without having to have the directory column in details view, that way all I have to have is the game name column. If you don't care for this method, sort on the size, and delete all the clone entries, clones will then revert to their parent icons.

bkground.zip
This file must be uncompressed into your \mame32\images directory. The file you wish to use for your background in Mame32 must be named bkground.bmp or bkground.png as Mame32 supports both. The majority are dark as that provides the best contrast to the icons. You may also wish to utilise the custom built app. rotate.exe which, when run will randomly or sequentially rotate your images and rename the choice to bkground.xxx. This is very cool to call from a shortcut or batch file and have Mame32 startup with a new background every launch, use rotate.exe /? for command params. Thanks again to Joel C. for writing it.

For updated files, other Mame32 related news, build progress, troubleshooting, etc. please visit the Mame32 QA/Test and Art Dept.

john iv
mame32qa@hotmail.com

the official Mame32 message board:
http://pluto.beseen.com/boardroom/q/18365