Once you’re happy with your boot process you can begin to set up the emulators.
Let’s not hold back, we’ll get straight into it.
You with me?
Firstly M.A.M.E. is quite simple and the process is very similar to setting it up on DOS but you will need the 32bit Windows version and you can use a much newer M.A.M.E. build. I simply created a folder called “mame” on the root of C Drive and copied all of the M.A.M.E. files into it, but the beauty of using using a newer version and running it on a different Frontend is that you can make use of all the supplementary M.A.M.E. files that ArcadeOS didn’t use such as the artwork, flyers, control panels, screenshots and even video clips so copy those over to the relevant folders within C:\mame too.
Once that is done you can test your install in much the same way as on ArcadeOS with DOS commands (yes, even in Windows you test M.A.M.E. with DOS commands) so open up a Command Prompt by either trawling through the start menu for it or by using the shortcut of holding down the Windows Key and tapping [r].
Once the Command Prompt is open change to the new mame folder by typing the command
cd c:\mame
NOTE: If you are having problems and find yourself frequently accessing the Command Prompt and running the cd command, there is a quicker way to open up the desired folder directly. As I use the Command Prompt a lot in my work this is a fix I always configure on my own computers.
(1) In Control Panel enter the Folder Options applet and select the File Types tab
(2) In the list of extensions select (NONE) Folder and clickthe Advanced button
(3) In the new window click the New button
(4) In the Action window type Open Command Prompt Here
(5) In the Application Used to perform action: window type command.exe
(6) Select OK on each window to accept the new settings
Now when you right click on a folder you can select the new option and the Command Prompt will open up and already be in the correct directory for you.
Once inside the c:\mame folder at the Command Prompt you can then run the game 1943 with the command
mame 1943 (remember the command on DOS for the dos version was dmame 1943)
This time around M.A.M.E. will not ask what sound card you have but will simply use the one configured in Windows.
If the game runs you know that your M.A.M.E. install is fine and you can move on to the next emulator which is going to be Daphne.
That one is actually quite fun.
Honest.