Frequently Asked Questions

September 18, 2014

So what's this all about?

The MAME Testing Project was created in 1999 as a means to assist the MAME team in keeping track of any broken drivers in each new release. Previously the main way that the MAME team found out about which games were 'broken' in new releases was by messages on the various boards, which was very "hit and miss". With this project, experienced MAME users test games thoroughly each time a new version is released. This will ensure the team get prompt and accurate bug reports from people who know how the games should play. Such informative reports will reduce the amount of time wasted investigating invalid bug reports from inexperienced users and will prevent any issues in "unpopular" games from going unnoticed. For us non-programmers, this is a great way to contribute to MAME. Today the project is known simply as "MAME Testers".

I use (insert unofficial build here). Should I report bugs in it?

The primary builds that MAME Testers tests on are the official Windows 32 and 64-bit versions of MAME in principle. Generally any issues in these core versions affect other ports as well. However, we would like to avoid reporting port-specific issues as "core" problems. These should be directed to the maintainers of the specific port. For issues specific to MAMEUI, please check the Official MameUI Site.
And for MAME Plus!, as it has a lot of arbitrary extensions and hacks, we won't accept any reports tested in that unofficial build essentially.

Why isn't my report for the sound volume accepted?

A report like "The volume of the bass sound is obviously louder than the main melody. I'm sure, played it yesterday." is not enough informative, because it doesn't provide any clue for the actual fix for the driver. In this case, you should post a sound recording of the real PCB or a technical information to determine the correct volume proportion along with your report.

What the hell are "possible" bugs?

Some issues cannot be concluded to be bugs for some reasons. For example in the Neo Geo system, many original graphic "bugs" have been confirmed, so a report like this needs a verification against the real PCB.

How do I add my avatar?

You can add/update/delete your avatar image on the My Account page.

Why don't you support 2-byte characters?

The setup of Mantis for MAME Testers doesn't support reporting/displaying in 2-byte characters. I won't add the support in the future. Please write your report always in English and make it comprehensible for everyone as far as possible.

How do I put a link to a bug?

You write "bug"+"BugID number", it will be a link to the bug report automatically. For example "bug01234" will be converted to "01234".

Why can't I use a disposable email?

Use of temporary or disposable email address here will result in immediate setting to Viewer. There are some people who cast their complaints and longstanding frustrations and run away, they are useless for the project. Also even for a valid bug report, developers and other testers often need feedback and further details to improve the driver, we need your continual help at least until your report is solved. When you are away from the testers site, we may send you a reminder to ask for more information regarding your bug report. Creating an account with a "living" email address is important for this purpose as well.

How do I embed a YouTube movie?

Just copy and paste a YouTube sharing URL which starts with "http://youtu.be/...", it will be automagically embedded in a report.

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