Introduction

First of all, I'll only be giving instructions on compiling Mame32 in a Windows environment, though you can apply virtually everything here to any other flavour of Mame that you wish. I'm using Mame32 as it's been my favourite build for years as the interface is the one I prefer. You might ask why you would compile your own version of Mame? Well you can customise it to suit your own requirements or even add to the source. Remember that this process is dead easy as even I can do it.

I - Required Files

First of all your going to require several files in order to be able to compile the Mame source code. The first and most important is the free Ming compiler for Windows.

So here's a list of all the files required before we go any further.

MingW-2.0.0.3.exe for Mame (12.2 mb) - This is the cut-down freeware compiler for Windows.

Mingw-over.zip (549 kb)

GCC-3.2.2-20030208.tar.gz -1.tar.gz (6.97 mb)

dx70_mgw.zip (240 kb)

Mame Source (Approx 9Mb) - Official Mame source code.

Mame 32 Source (Approx 500kb) - Official Mame32 source code.

 

II - Setting up your Environment (Installing)

1) Okay you will need to install Mingw to it's own folder on your hard drive. This can be anywhere and called whatever you like. I just called mine MingW to be really original ;P and let the installer do it's thing.

eg: C:\MinGW\

2) Next extract/unzip Mingw-over.zip into the same path you chose for Mingw allowing it to overwrite everything.

eg: C:\MinGW\

3) Now extract/unzip Gcc-3.2.2-20030208 -1.tar.gz over the same path again allowing it to overwrite everything.

eg: C:\MinGW\

4) Finally extract/unzip Dx70_mgw.zip into the same directory/path as all the rest. Monotonous ain't it =P

eg: C:\MinGW\

5) One final setup procedure and we can then go on with the mame source code.

Windows 2000/XP

You want to go to 'Control Panel' on your Windows machine and click on 'System'. From there select the 'Advanced' tab and then click the environment variables. This will display the environment variables window seen below.

 6) Select the Path System Variable as highlighted above and click on the 'Edit' button. At the end of this line add the following ;C:\MinGW\bin

Windows 98

Add the ;C:\MinGW\bin comment to the path variable in your 'Autoexec.bat' file.

Make sure to include the correct path you installed MingW too if different and include colons and semi-colons exactly as above. Click 'OK' and exit the 'Control Panel'.

III - Use The Source Luke

1) Now that that's done you can go ahead and uncompress the Official Mame source code to a directory of your choice. Again I use a cunningly named directory called "mame". The mame source uncompressed is a hefy 30+meg so don't be alarmed. You don't need to put it inside the MinGW directory but I like to keep it all together.

eg: C:\MinGW\mame\

2) Now you can uncompress the Mame32 source straight over the top of the original Mame source. Don't change any paths and let it overwrite whatever it asks to. The Mame32 source is essentially a frontend for Mame with some nice enhancements.

eg: C:\MinGW\mame\

IV - Compile Away!

1. Okay, your now set to compile your very own first version of Mame32. Go to a command prompt and navigate to the Mame directory within the Mingw folder or wherever you have extracted your source.

eg: C:\MinGW\mame

At this stage we haven't made any modifications to the mame source but you can test your environment by performing your very first compile. From the command prompt type:

make WINUI=1 SUFFIX=32

NOTE: The command IS case sensitive so you must use capitals where displayed here.

Press enter and watch the magic unfold. This process will take about 20-30 mins to complete and you'll have a LOT of scrolling text running up the screen. You can continue to use your computer whilst it runs in the background.

Once complete you will end up with a fresh "Mame32.exe" file within your mame compile directory. There you go, your a genius!

The compiler also has the option to compile a binary specifically for your processor type. In some cases this will give you a performance boost albeit not large but it might be worth it for you. Here are the appropriate commands.

Of course these instructions also apply to the standard win32 version of Mame. Just leave out the Mame32 source code!

Now for the fun parts. What would be the use of compiling your own normal version of mame when you could just download it from the multitude of sites out there? The real benefit is customising it and adding/changing things in there. There are a number of games that are not included though drivers are available for them. So onto the next page to see some of the possibilities as well as drivers for your consumption.

Next!