              M.A.M.E.  -  Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator
         Copyright (C) 1997  by Nicola Salmoria and the MAME team

      MAME32 Copyright (C) 1997 by Nicola Salmoria and the MAME team.


                          MAME32 Release Notes
                          --------------------

This is release 0.29 of MAME32, the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator for Win32.

MAME32 is simple to use--put ROM files in the subdirectories specified 
in README.TXT, and run MAME32.  MAME32 requires DirectX 3.0 or higher
to be installed on your system.  If you get the error 'error loading
ddraw.dll' when you start MAME32, go to http://www.microsoft.com/directx
and download the latest DirectX runtime (version 5).


Requirements
------------

- Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.
- DirectX version 3.0 or higher.
- Pentium class cpu.


Usage
-----

MAME32 [name of the game to run] [options]

options:
-noscanlines  Use alternate video mode (not availble in all games). Use this with
              -nodouble if the default mode doesn't work with your monitor/video card.
-vesa         N/A for Win32.
-vesa2b       N/A for Win32.
-vesa2l       N/A for Win32.
-XxY          Where X and Y are width and height (ex: '-800x600')
              This is the preferred method for selecting the 
              resolution. For some possible X/Y combinations see below.
-320          Same as above, video mode is 320x240.
-512          Same as above, video mode is 512x384.
-640          Same as above, video mode is 640x480.
-800          Same as above, video mode is 800x600.
-1024         Same as above, video mode is 1024x768.
-1280         same as above, video mode is 1280x1024.
-1600         same as above, video mode is 1600x1200.
-vesascan     Is obsolete and no longer supported.
              frontend authors: use '-vesa -800'.
-vesaskip N   Is obsolete and no longer supported.
              use '-640x480 -skiplines N' to get the old behaviour.
-skiplines N  Since most games use a screen taller than 240 lines,
              they won't fit in the screen. The parameter 'N' sets
              the initial number of lines to skip at the top of
              the screen. You can adjust the position while the game
              is running using the PGUP and PGDOWN keys.
-nodouble     Prevents pixel doubling, if you like miniaturised
              arcade emulation. It's also faster than the standard
              pixel-doubling modes.
-vgafreq n    N/A for Win32.
-vsync        Not implemented in Win32.
-rotate       Is obsolete and no longer supported.
-ror          Rotate the display clockwise by 90 degrees.
-rol          Rotate display anticlockwise.
-flipx        Flip display horizontally.
-flipy        Flip display vertically.
              -ror and -rol provide authentic *vertical* scanlines, given you
			  turn your monitor to its side.
              CAUTION:
              A monitor is a complicated, high voltage electronic device.
              There are some monitors which were designed to be rotated.
              If yours is _not_ one of those, but you absolutely must
              turn it to its side, you do so at your own risk.

              ******************************************************
              PLEASE DO NOT LET YOUR MONITOR WITHOUT ATTENTION IF IT
              IS PLUGGED IN AND TURNED TO ITS SIDE
              ******************************************************

-soundcard n  Select sound card (if this is not specified, you will be asked
              interactively).
-nojoy        Don't poll joystick.
-nofm         FM emulation/sound not implemented in Win32.
-log          Create a log of illegal memory accesses in ERROR.LOG
-help, -?     Display current mame version and copyright notice.
-list         Not implemented in Win32.
-listfull     Not implemented in Win32.
-listroms     Not implemented in Win32.
-listsamples  Not implemented in Win32.
-nomouse      Disable mouse support.
-frameskip n  Skip frames to speed up the emulation. For example, if the game
              normally runs at 60 fps, "-frameskip 1" will make it run at 30
              fps, and "-frameskip 2" at 20 fps. Use F11 to check the fps your
              computer is actually displaying. If the game is too slow,
              increase the frameskip value. Note that this setting can also
              affect audio quality (some games sound better, others sound
              worse).  Maximum value for frameskip is 3.
-vg           Is no longer supported. It's now the default when using
              vesa for vector games.
-aa/-naa      Not implemented in Win32.
-cheat        Cheats like the speedup in Pac Man or the level skip in many
              other games are disabled by default. Use this switch to turn
              them on.


Win32 specific options. All the above plus:
-noddraw      Uses Windows GDI to display in a window instead of using DirectDraw
-window       Display in a window.
-screen       Display fullscreen (default).
-blt          Blt from the BackBuffer for DirectDraw display.
              Normally we can write to the primary display buffer directly,
              but some drivers don't support it. Try this option if you get
              a surface lock error. Slower than writing to the primary directly.
-nosound      Turn off audio.
-midas        Use the MIDAS Digital Audio System for audio. Try this option
              if the default SEAL audio sounds choppy or slows down mame. This can
              happen if your audio drivers don't provide DirectSound hardware support.
-gamma n      Specify gamma to use for the display. (Default is 1.0)
-vscanlines   Use vertical scanlines.
-quit         Quit after running the first game.  Useful when specifying a game on the command line.
-autopause    Pause game when window loses focus.


The following keys work in all emulators:

3         Insert coin
1         Start 1 player game
2         Start 2 players game
Tab       Enter dip switch, keys and joy settings, and credits display menu
          Pressing TAB again will back you to the emulator, ESC exit from MAME.
P         Pause
F3        Reset
F4        Show the game graphics. Use cursor keys to change set/color, F4 to exit
F8        Change frame skip on the fly (60, 30, 20, or 15)
F9        To change volume percentage thru 100,75,50,25,0 values
F10       Toggle speed throttling
F11       Toggle fps counter
F12       Save a screen snapshot - snapXXXX.bmp
numpad +/-   Volume adjust
left shift +
  numpad +/- Gamma correction adjust
ESC       Exit emulator


Known problems 
--------------

MAME32 can perform poorly under Windows NT. DirectX under NT can be very 
slow, especially sound and joysticks. You may get better performance by 
disabling sound, joysticks, or by changing video modes. Sorry, Chris loves NT,
but its support of DirectX isn't very fast right now. 

Each time you play a game, MAME32 wastes some memory. If you play dozens of 
different games without quitting and restarting MAME32, this could slow down 
your computer. If this happens, just quit MAME32 and run it again. 

MAME32 runs slow in a window if your desktop is at 16 bit or 24 bit or 
32 bit color depth.  This isn't a problem, it's just a fact--moving around 
that much more video memory takes a long time.  Chris optimized the 16 bit color
depth version a bit, so it's about as fast as it can get. 

MAME32 runs slow in a window at 8 bit color depth if the game changes the 
palette (some of the Williams games such as Joust and Robotron, some of 
the MCR games such as Tapper, and others).  Changing the palette is slow, 
unless you play full screen.

Some DirectDraw display drivers don't support locking the primary surface.
If you get a IDirectDrawSurface.Lock error this is probably the cause.
Try using the "Blt from BackBuffer" option. Note that this is slower than
writing directly to the primary surface.


Contacts
--------
Nicola Salmoria:           MC6489@mclink.it
Mirko Buffoni:             mix@lim.dsi.unimi.it
Michael Soderstrom:        ichael@geocities.com
Christopher Kirmse         ckirmse@ricochet.net
MAME home page:            http://www.media.dsi.unimi.it/mame
Michael's MAME32 page:     http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Bay/7110/mame32.htm
Christopher's MAME32 page: http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Lair/8706/mame32.html
MIDAS home page:           http://www.s2.org/midas
SEAL home page:            http://www.egerter.com/seal

