MAME .288 Core Update?

Libretro Cores
#1

Just wondering if the MAME core will be updated to the latest version (.288) soon? Usually you have it updated within a day or two after mamedev.org announces the new version, but it’s been 3 weeks and I haven’t seen it come down despite running the core updater every few days. I don’t have MAME core updates locked either.

Thanks!

1 Like
#2

Something about out of date tools that prevent it from updating. Or at least that’s what i read in Discord.

Someone did compile a windows core for me though so i can share it here for anyone who needs it.

3 Likes
#3

Thanks! Really appreciated.

1 Like
#4

Oh wow, this is awesome, thank you very much!

Hopefully they get their tools updated before the next version is released; at least it appears the MAME group will only be updating it bi-monthly at this time.

Cheers!

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#5

Also to note, MAME .288 standalone no longer supports pre Win10 versions (win8/7 for example).

Actually, this is likely related to why it’s taking longer to port the core. It also might means even the 0.288 RA core -whenever it comes out, will no longer works pre Win10 either, as cores from standalones that only works (or were updated at some point) with Win10/11 tends to behave the same way as libretro cores (ex: newer/rebase Dolphin core, rebase LRPS2 etc don’t work on Win8). We’ll see.

1 Like
#6

Thank you for that interesting information. I wonder if it might be worth considering the creation of a new legacy core, much like MAME2010 or 2013, so that pre-Windows 10 users could always have access to their highest supported version, while Windows 10/11 users would still be able enjoy the latest regular updates. Not sure how much work goes into creating a legacy core like that, but it could be a possible solution?

Thanks!

1 Like
#7

Well, as a general rule, it’s always a good idea to keep a backup of old core versions but if you want to have a specific backup of 0.287 (without having to always move the core’s dll files around from folder to folder that is) there is a quick and dirty way I mentioned before that doesn’t require any programming or compiling. It’s a bit hacky but, here goes:

  • Make a copy of mame_libretro.dll (version 0.287)
  • Rename it something like mame_287_libretro.dll (just avoid spaces, basically)
  • Copy and rename the mame_libretro.info file to the same name (mame_287_libretro.info)
  • Edit that info file’s 2nd line (display_name = “Arcade (MAME)” to something like display_name = “Arcade (MAME) - 0.287”
  • Go to Core Updater > Update Core Info File. This will update ‘core_info.cache’ I think. Otherwise, MAME 0.287 might not appear in the list of selectable cores (or might have the same display name as before, so you won’t know which is which)

You can do this for other older versions of course and for as many core versions as you like. After that you’ll be able to choose which versions of the core to use before start (Set Core Association)

Once again, quick and dirty (emphasis on dirty) way. And also to keep in mind that using this method, the different core versions will still use the same cfg/system/remaps etc folder so you won’t be able to configure them individually like you can with older cores that were made properly (MAME 2003 for example) so be mindful of that.

1 Like
#8

Thanks for the info; although I don’t have a need to use this myself (my gaming PC runs Windows 11) this is good information for pre-Windows 10 users to ensure they have a backup of the last known working version of MAME in their setups.

I guess the question for the coming months will be whether updated versions of MAME will be provided through the core updater, or if we’ll need to watch for newer core files via either Discord or this forum. It’s not a big deal for me to manually update my core, but I’m thinking about other users out there who may not be as tech savvy or even aware that the MAME core updater is in a holding pattern at .287, at least for the time being.

Thanks!

1 Like
#9

Very Good Question

Will this be Automatic and in Buildbot Offical Release

OR

Something we add UnOffically for updates of Mame?

#10

It looks like the .288 core that’s available above has some problems… Gyruss keeps freezing up for me around level 4. If I let the demo run it crashes after a few seconds (at the point when the player is about to die). When I rolled back to .287 the game played fine. Might have to stay with .287 after all, at least until an official .288 core build is released.

#11

I can confirm the problem. Gyruss freezes.

1 Like
#12

Have you tried the game on the standalone 0.288?

#13

Yes I have. Standalone version works fine.

#14

The same libretro-side audio buffer refactor related thing was already in 0.287, and it was fixed after the 0.288 revert hassle, and I have not updated the 0.288 branch with the fix yet.

Edit: Ok, the 0288 branch is updated.

2 Likes
#15

I’m still using 0.287 as my “main” (Gyruss works fine with it now on Windows).

But 0.288 is useful if you want to play the Namco System 21 games.

1 Like
#16

I used the cheat option to warp to level 4 and it did not crash on RA 0.288

#17

But it does crash in the attract mode

#18

I see. Though it would be nitpicking to switch to 287 just because of that

#19

I used the cheat option to warp to level 4 and it did not crash on RA 0.288

@petran791: Yeah to clarify, it wasn’t really a problem where the game crashed at an exact place in level 4; just from my experience playing the game in real time it tended to crash by the time I reached level 4.

Though it would be nitpicking to switch to 287 just because of that

Well, the mindset of sticking with .287 for the time being (at least before sonninnos posted) came from a concern that other games might be broken due to some lingering issue(s) within the .288 core. Based on the Github bug report that sonninnos referred to, it sounds like this might (hopefully) be isolated to just the one game or game(s) that might have been affected by the libretro-side audio buffer refractor issue.

Edit: Ok, the 0288 branch is updated.

@sonninnos: Awesome, thank you for taking the time to fix this! Is this updated branch available for download somewhere? It doesn’t look like it’s available through the core updater yet, and I didn’t see it referenced in recent Discord posts.

Thanks!

1 Like
#20

Yep, surely gyruss isn’t the only one with the problem even though it was rare enough to go unnoticed for a while.

And no, the latest version isn’t going to be in Online Updater before all the ancient platform toolchains (osx + android) are updated for the requirement, so you need to build it yourself. That is why it is in a separate branch.