AlphaMame Blocking Bonus

LN2 · Post by **LN2** » Wed Mar 05, 2003 5:28 pm

zlk, but your joystick settings are saved in the .cfg file so you can set that up on a previous game before the "official" recording one you play where you won't be able to set that up. We are only saying to not allow getting into the cfg area while making an official recording. You can still allow to go into that config when not recording.

I figured you were referring to where Food Fight is "stuck" at the NVRAM message you will get from lacking a .nv file for the game(which you should have to make a proper recording anyway).

You just have to hit the throw key or F2 to get past that. Other games show nvram errors also on that non-nvram run....like Robotron....after it states "factory settings restored" you just hit F2 and then play.

Hope that clears it up some.

Francois Daniel · Post by **Francois Daniel** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 2:28 pm

I don't find the time remained for the poll. Where I find it? This poll is finished ?

Thanks to reply

Francois

Chad · Post by **Chad** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 2:47 pm

This poll (as most polls) are 7 days long, it was started on 3-3-2003, so it will end 3-10-2003.

Chad · Post by **Chad** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 2:49 pm

oh and the food fight thing is not F2 (at least with dos mames) you have to press 1p (1) or Throw (cntrl) to get passed the seemingly frozen screen.

Chad · Post by **Chad** » Mon Mar 10, 2003 2:03 pm

Looks like Alpha Mame Blocking passed by 80%. Zwaxy is working on the automatic implementation of this rule by the site, but until then, if you know of any upload of a regular dos/win mame recording (made AFTER 3/3/2003) that beats an alphamame recording in the same game let me (or one of the other editors) know so we can manually adjust (and notify of the new rule) if it goes against this ruling.

LN2 · Post by **LN2** » Mon Mar 10, 2003 4:15 pm

Chad, is that code gonna automatically do that for those listing anything but the tgmames for version used?

I usually select "mame60" when my macmame inp is compatible with pc mames so others know it can be confirmed on their pc.

The real reason I select that though is cuz there is no mac60 in that submit menu. I hope mac60 and perhaps mac58 and mac53 are also added. Those are the main versions used.

I request again that "mac60", "mac58", and "mac53" be added to the version select menu on the submit page. That way Zwaxy can have the code not treat those inferior to alphamame inps. ...guess he will need to do same with a few xmame builds also.

plus...for some games like many of the Sega games like Hang-On, shoudn't version 0.36 be allowed without "penalty" versus someone playing it in alphamame...or have the recent updates to mame fixed those again so they run well like in 0.36? If I was on a PC I wouldn't want to play a crippled game with alphamame that works fine with an older non-alphamame. Something to consider there.

Mr. Kelly R. Flewin · Post by **Mr. Kelly R. Flewin** » Mon Mar 10, 2003 4:19 pm

Chad wrote:Looks like Alpha Mame Blocking passed by 80%. Zwaxy is working on the automatic implementation of this rule by the site, but until then, if you know of any upload of a regular dos/win mame recording (made AFTER 3/3/2003) that beats an alphamame recording in the same game let me (or one of the other editors) know so we can manually adjust (and notify of the new rule) if it goes against this ruling.

Sigh.... I only hope that the newest release will be able to go a bit faster then it currently is. Whenever I ran Alphamame for the most part, it always chugged a bit slower on most games that normal mame didn't have a problem with... like we're talking 5-10% FPS slower in some cases [not every game mind you].. SFX2: Grand Master Challenge for example...

I am in support of this.. but still... suddenly not being able to reclaim beaten scores because Alphamame can't keep legal speed where normal mame did without a problem.... that's gonna be a bit of a bummer.

Ah well.... why do I get the feeling the Computer stores will be thanking MARP for a sudden surge of people upgrading computers?

Kelly

LN2 · Post by **LN2** » Mon Mar 10, 2003 4:25 pm

How big of a hit in performance is it?

Could alphamame be rewritten where the encryption is done after the fact?

...like when done recording when you hit escape before it quits alphamame then encrypts the inp and deletes the original inp at the end.

...that way it isn't taking away precious CPU while you are playing...and the end product is the same.

There are many games were even users with half decent PCs have to use frameskip in regular mame...with alphamame the way it currently is that is going to be even worse....need to use even a higher frameskip.

Just a thought...

Chad · Post by **Chad** » Mon Mar 10, 2003 4:35 pm

we might consider some games being exempt from blocking, but recordings WONT be blocked untill someone actually uploads a tgmame recording for the game, so if someone is uploading using a newer "broken" version of mame then we can deal with that then. Bottom line: practice with older versions, be patient, record when mame is fixed and alphaversion comes out.

Yes, mame60 is considered a dos mame, use omame60 if you are recording on a mac. There will be blockable mames (win/dos), blocking mames (alphamames) and unblockable mames (xmame/mac/other). It will proly take a while to impliment this... I think we'll still group mac and xmames in the "other" category, to keep the version count down, but it's up to barry (hey a post with only 5.5 sentances by Rick :)

performance is negligable if you're using a fast computer (one that actually will get 100% on games) so if you're using a slow computer/emulator then that's a problem right there. 90% speed acceptance for alphamame recordings is PRETTY leniant.

Encryption has to be done during recording for more security, i.e. you could stop mame before you escape and copy your cheated inp right before the alphamame encrypts your recording, besides i don't think will not buy ENOUGH cpu cycles to make a difference. The emulation for some games is going to be at least a 100 times more needy for processing time than the encryption.

Post by **mahlemiut** » Mon Mar 10, 2003 5:55 pm

I haven't noticed any dramatic speed loss. Except under XMAME, which is why I haven't really looked at it lately (well, that and the fact that XMAME has had screwy inp support since 0.63). And the speed drop was in ALL games too, no matter how fast it would go normally.

Francois Daniel · Post by **Francois Daniel** » Mon Mar 10, 2003 6:51 pm

I've question for this new rule :

I take Cyvern for exemple because there are 2 great japanese players who beat their scores often these last days.

If someone made the great 20th score of 10 points at Cyvern with Alphamame. All others players (even the top scorers) must play with Alphamame after that, because all scores normally beat the terrific score of 10 points ?

If the answer is Yes, I'll love this rule

Francois

Chad · Post by **Chad** » Mon Mar 10, 2003 7:12 pm

it seems harsh but the anwser is yes, although it won't affect/BLOCK scores entered before 3-3-3, those are grandfathered for lack of tgmame knowledge. I think it's the right thing to do as do 79% of the marp community, the new players can just as easily record in tgmame as regularmame unless they are not playing fairly. in which case we don't want them here, but i'm sure the logical players will comply.

Francois Daniel · Post by **Francois Daniel** » Mon Mar 10, 2003 7:38 pm

Chad wrote:it seems harsh but the anwser is yes, although it won't affect/BLOCK scores entered before 3-3-3, those are grandfathered for lack of tgmame knowledge. I think it's the right thing to do as do 79% of the marp community, the new players can just as easily record in tgmame as regularmame unless they are not playing fairly. in which case we don't want them here, but i'm sure the logical players will comply.

Thanks

And those who want to beat their old score must use alphamame if they're an Alphamame score somewhere lower in the ranking ?

Francois

The TJT · Post by **The TJT** » Mon Mar 10, 2003 11:16 pm

Chad wrote:it seems harsh but the anwser is yes, although it won't affect/BLOCK scores entered before 3-3-3, those are grandfathered for lack of tgmame knowledge. I think it's the right thing to do as do 79% of the marp community, the new players can just as easily record in tgmame as regularmame unless they are not playing fairly. in which case we don't want them here, but i'm sure the logical players will comply.

Logical would be to start blocking after the voting process ended

But a question, you are referring to TGmame -do you mean alphame or tgmame or both? Can you still use m35tgb3?

Does this thing affect only leaderboard(whocares), or do your score get deleted(or not possible to upload) if not alphamame used?

Chad · Post by **Chad** » Mon Mar 10, 2003 11:58 pm

recordings will NEVER be deleted for this process, only scores changed (positions altered) which means leaderboard points affected. any alpha quality mames (the ones barry is making currently) will be secure; the older tg security of m35tg3 and m37b9tg, will not be in the secure versions because even with out knowledge of encryption you can change the speeds of the frames recorded in m35tg3 recordings by fliping the bits, if you flip the bits in an alphamame recording it wont playback :)

well, had to be a date, might as well be sooner than later. sorry if the best recording of your life happened to be in the last week, you may have to record it again with alphamame to ensure those ever important leaderboard points :)