Home Page Forums Archives MacMAME How does MacMAME perform on an intel Mac?

Just so you know...

"Recent" MacMame Volumes:
In short: waits for a new update, punctuated by the occasional flurry of updatedness.

So you learn to wait. Nothing wrong with that; after all I survived the "You'll replace my Mac with a Windows machine when you tear it from my cold, dead hands" era after the release of Windows 95. :shiver: MacMame is frosting on the Macintosh cake if you ask me.

Oh, I didn't have to learn to wait.

That was the whole issue here. I counted on waiting, provoking a few pointed responses.

... finally got my hands on an Intel Mac so I could make a few tests.
So the machine is an iMac Dual Core. The main partition is MacOSX 10.4.6 with BootCamp installed. The other partition is Windows XP with SP2. The latest release of MAME is used in both cases.
The FPS number is an average between diferent values gathered during the gameplay, and an average of different settings like Auto-Frameskipping ON/OFF or Speed Throttle ON/OFF. It gives a general idea. Results:

Galaxy force 2 - Mac OS 10.4.6
15 to 25 / 60 FPS (barely playable)
Galaxy force 2 - Win SP2
35 to 55 / 60 FPS
Killer Instinct 1 & 2 - Mac OS 10.4.6
1 to 5 / 60 FPS (not playable)
Killer Instinct 1 & 2 - Win SP2
25 to 30 / 60 FPS
Arkanoid 3 - Mac OS 10.4.6
20 to 40 / 60 FPS (barely playable)
Arkanoid 3 - Win SP2
35 to 60 / 60 FPS
Neo-Geo Cup 98 - Mac OS 10.4.6
30 to 40 / 60 FPS
Neo-Geo Cup 98 - Win SP2
40 to 60 / 60 FPS

Conclusion: you can use BootCamp to play on Intel Mac with Windows any game, at full speed, including CHD-based games.
But if you are running with the PPC version with Rosetta, MacMAME's performance is horrible. So Intel Mac users will have to wait for an "Universal" version of their favorite emulator.

On a sidenote, I have some friends running CHD-based games at a decent/good speed on high-end dual-G5s. (if not a full speed for not-so-much-demanding games like Killer Instinct)

while you\'re waiting

One neat thing you can do is run multiple games concurrently to get that "classic arcade" sound.

Who's waiting ?

Frontends still wanted though...

Oooh - guess I need to get Xcode installed on my MacBook. Or - could I compile it on my iMac G5 and create the intel binary? My MacBook only has a 60 GB drive.

Looks good, but there's a bug: I don't have a 'real' MacMAME User Data folder in my Documents folder as I prefer to keep my MAME related files in another location. So I just put an alias there. But XmameRnS does not follow aliases, so the gamnes list is empty.

If I put a real folder there, it runs fine.

Funny thing is, when I put a 'MacMAME User Data' folder with a 'ROMs' folder containing only the xevious ROM file in my Documents folder to test it, the artwork also displayed fine.

"On a sidenote, I have some friends running CHD-based games at a decent/good speed on high-end dual-G5s. (if not a full speed for not-so-much-demanding games like Killer Instinct)"

Hi Guys,
I'm sorry to say the above simply isn't true.
I have a Quad G5 (yes 4 x 2.5Ghz G5 processors), 6.5GB Ram, almost a terrabyte of HD storage space & a 256MB graphics card & killer instinct is totally unplayable (MacMame v103.u2).

I've posted this in more detail in another thread, so wont go into detail again, but suffice to say if you want to play modern games, you need Windows - even on a Mac!

Sad but true - keeping my fingers crossed for multi processor support in future versions.

JazzyGB1

To put it bluntly, I don't believe you. A dual 2.0 GHz G5 can play Killer Instinct acceptably. You've got something else screwing your machine up.

Manners are not your thing are they!
Well I'm not lying - it's the truth.
If you have a G5 running it, please let me know your setup.
If you have any idea what might be causing the problems I'm having then i'm all ears, but otherwise I'd ask you to refrain from calling me a liar.
I'd be delighted to learn that it could indeed be remedied. I love my G5 (it's awesome) & I was amazed when I couldn't play Killer Instinct on it.
Thanks

JazzyGB1

Apple Quad G5, OS10.46, 6.5GB RAM, MacMAME v0.103u2