This tutorial requires a TORRENT CLIENT. You will need to use something like qBittorrent (the torrent client I highly suggest using) IF you want to download games from the provided sources.
ALSO, THERE WILL BE A LIST OF OTHER GUIDES ON MAME AT THE END OF THIS PAGE. I will occasionally edit that section when needed. This is not meant to be a definitive guide on MAME, rather just enough to get you started playing.
I used to have no idea how to get MAME games working. Here's a guide for whoever needs it! Don't suffer like I did!
- You're going to want to download the LATEST MAME release. As of 2/23/2024 (the time I'm writing this), it is going to be MAME 0.262.
- Either choose from the 64bit binaries, or the ZIP file (Preferably go with the 64bit binaries as this will install MAME automatically where-ever you choose during the installation process).
- Make sure to set up where your ROMs are going to be once you open the GUI with MAME.exe (which will be inside the MAME installation). This can be configured by going into the General Settings from the GUI, and then Configure Folders.
- Search for the game you want on the Arcade Database. You can find whatever game you want to play on MAME here. This is NOT where you are going to be downloading the games from. This website purely gives you the information on which files are required to play the game and IF your chosen game runs. For example, if you wanted to play Pop'n Music 8, you would scroll down on the page for the game until you saw this:
^^ You are going to need to download these specific files listed when you open the magnet links in the next step. ^^
^^ PAY ATTENTION TO THE FILE TYPE ON THE RIGHT!!! ^^ - Now time for the uhh, good stuff. Yup. Head over here so you can grab your ROMs, CHDs, and BIOS! If you want to play a game that requires a BIOS, you will need to find the BIOS in the BIOS-DEVICES set. Otherwise, if your game only requires the ROMs and CHDs, scroll down to the MAME full sets and get your ROMs and CHDs! Also, do not unzip the ROM zip files.
- Test your game in MAMEs GUI. Select the AVAILABLE category from the left list, and if your game is there, select it. If it's working, congratulations!
That's all I got.
As a sidenote so I don't clutter this guide further: If your game has more than one CHD, you will need to put them in a folder like this:
Voilà.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗OTHER MAME GUIDES˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
https://easyemu.mameworld.info/ - Another MAME guide with the goal in mind of making it easier to use MAME. Definitely more extensive than this guide, check it out if you want more info!