MK4 Arcade Emulation

[McCarron]

http://aarongiles.com/mk4/index.html

 

[Tim Static]

http://aarongiles.com/mk4/index.html

Wow, thats looks great. Only the arcade version could look that nice.

Sidenote: On the list of best kombantants? Whose that guy in 13th place?

 

[McCarron]

LEX aka Alex Gillam (sp?) one of the game testers. Met him a few times back in the Beta days, and he always owned up on WaveNET UMK3 I remember I'd stop playing when he joined my game.

Another side note. #11 - MXV - Mike Vinokaur (sp?) can be found now on his Punk Fanzine http://www.punkvinyl.com/ He left Midway to work for Studio Gigante until it closed shop, and is working somewhere else now. I forget where. Been about a year since I've talked to him.

 

[Tim Static]

LEX aka Alex Gillam (sp?) one of the game testers.

Yup, Mr Lexellent

FYI, he is a member here too. Good guy. GREAT player.

 

[ded]

awesome news! thanks for this man

 

[McCarron]

It should be playable this week, maybe even tonight he told me. 50% speed with dual core setup in MAME. He has a few good ideas for optimizing too.

And if all goes well, any further questions he has will be answered.

 

[dreemernj]

Un-freaking-believeable. Amazing work happening right there.

 

[ded]

It should be playable this week, maybe even tonight he told me. 50% speed with dual core setup in MAME. He has a few good ideas for optimizing too.

but later it would be playable at full speed with those same dual core configuration, after the emu wip is optimized and finished, no?

 

[McCarron]

Un-freaking-believeable. Amazing work happening right there.

Yeah Aaron is a genius. I just today got him in touch with someone who can help him out much more, this has been on his own so far.

 

[Tim Static]

PAT, YOU ARE THE FUCKING MAN, MAN

lol...seriously. That news makes me all giddy and stuff.

Too bad I cant get Mame :cry:

Hey Dreemer...McCarron needs that Kahntributor tag next to his SN.

He is one of the reasons TRMK.org was so great and another reason why this site will only get better.

 

[McCarron]

I am not deserving of that tag yet, I prefer Nomad

TRMK.org isn't going anywhere, we just need more time to make things better there and more stream-lined. The problem is I have too many things to do these days, and so does Jeff. Our forums stink, and I'm pretty close to wanting to shut them down. Most my free-time is spent on iPhone development now because you can't argue it's not a bad thing to be doing. I've had 150k+ download my game so far.

I actually have every MK move in a database and a front-end that I never polished up for an improved move guide system for TRMK. No combos though databased, other than the default typical ones.

 

[Tim Static]

I am not deserving of that tag yet, I prefer Nomad

TRMK.org isn't going anywhere, we just need more time to make things better there and more stream-lined. The problem is I have too many things to do these days, and so does Jeff. Our forums stink, and I'm pretty close to wanting to shut them down.

I actually have every MK move in a database and a front-end that I never polished up for an improved move guide system. No combos though databased, other than the default typical ones.

Your the man, Pat. Maybe it should just say "The Man", lol.

As you know, I love TRMK.org. I check it daily, even though its like a ghost town. Maybe shutting down the forums for a while will bring more interest back into them. Either way, long lve TRMK.org, my first MK website, haha. And FYI, if you ever need help over there, let me know. 8)

 

[ded]

didnt know trmk was yours, i talked with jeff probably 5-6 years ago about your mkgold section lol the flash design was neat idea, but the info was poor... and those rm endings...

 

[dreemernj]

I am not deserving of that tag yet, I prefer Nomad

TRMK.org isn't going anywhere, we just need more time to make things better there and more stream-lined. The problem is I have too many things to do these days, and so does Jeff. Our forums stink, and I'm pretty close to wanting to shut them down. Most my free-time is spent on iPhone development now because you can't argue it's not a bad thing to be doing. I've had 150k+ download my game so far.

I actually have every MK move in a database and a front-end that I never polished up for an improved move guide system for TRMK. No combos though databased, other than the default typical ones.

I know where you're coming from. There's always a million things that need improvement or repair around here and there just isn't enough time. My largest side project is the custom fighting game engine, which is still heavily tied to MK so it keeps me focused :-D

 

[Tim Static]

I am not deserving of that tag yet, I prefer Nomad

TRMK.org isn't going anywhere, we just need more time to make things better there and more stream-lined. The problem is I have too many things to do these days, and so does Jeff. Our forums stink, and I'm pretty close to wanting to shut them down. Most my free-time is spent on iPhone development now because you can't argue it's not a bad thing to be doing. I've had 150k+ download my game so far.

I actually have every MK move in a database and a front-end that I never polished up for an improved move guide system for TRMK. No combos though databased, other than the default typical ones.

I know where you're coming from. There's always a million things that need improvement or repair around here and there just isn't enough time. My largest side project is the custom fighting game engine, which is still heavily tied to MK so it keeps me focused :-D

I have a feeling you 2 will have a lot to talk about. Pat was talking about your project over at TRMK.org and I told him to come here and find out from the source!

Gosh, I just can feel all the MK love on the boards today :shock:

 

[McCarron]

didnt know trmk was yours, i talked with jeff probably 5-6 years ago about your mkgold section lol the flash design was neat idea, but the info was poor... and those rm endings...

Yeah Jeff founded it, but I joined up after MK4. I had written FAQs for MK3 and knew Jeff via #mk3 on EFNET. I was playing MK4 extensively in beta and reporting on another website I ran that also hosted my War Gods and KI2 web-guides that I also made after my MK3 FAQ days. Jeff offered me to help him with his site, which soon after became TRMK.

Little known fact, I was also recruited by the infamous Xben to help with their print MK4 Strategy Guide they were making. But since I was in HS I really couldn't help because they wanted me to fly out to CA to help write it. The guide eventually got scrapped, but I just helped them get updated info from the newer daily/weekly Beta releases while they were working on older versions of the game.

Yeah there is a LOT on the site I want to redo. I want to add more video to everything as well, since Flash is easier. I'd rather start over and pull what we need from it to make it better. I just need time.

Before Wikis were around I even started on a massive MK-Database of each game and how the characters would link together between games. You'd be able to see each character through iterations on each game. Photos and descriptions of differences of EVERY port of the game. I had photos of about every game port in the same stage. I lost focus, and then had a hard drive crash and lost most of the code. Now a Wiki is the right way to do this, I was going to do a MK-Wiki until I saw you guys have one. The key to a gaming wiki is a good community, and you guys have that here.

 

[Lex]

haha hi pat <3

edit: guys, pat used to write vulgar msgs to me from diversions wavenet. good times indeed

 

[McCarron]

haha hi pat <3

edit: guys, pat used to write vulgar msgs to me from diversions wavenet. good times indeed

HAHA I think I was at Diversions once back then, and a few times since the Wavenet days. Now from Gala North, that was my hangout, so yeap that'd be me!

Back on topic though, I compiled MAME 0.121u3 and couldn't get it to work with my keyboard under Windows? Anyone want to try out my build and have the mk4 roms? I'll shoot you my build of MAME that should work partially.

I tried MAME 0.121u3 under Mac OS X using SDL port, and it ran the game, I HEARD SOUND!, but the graphics were only partially there. I wonder if MAME 0.121u3 is not the version that is supposed to have proper support. I think Aaron meant to say 0.121u4 to me.

 

[dreemernj]

didnt know trmk was yours, i talked with jeff probably 5-6 years ago about your mkgold section lol the flash design was neat idea, but the info was poor... and those rm endings...

Yeah Jeff founded it, but I joined up after MK4. I had written FAQs for MK3 and knew Jeff via #mk3 on EFNET. I was playing MK4 extensively in beta and reporting on another website I ran that also hosted my War Gods and KI2 web-guides that I also made after my MK3 FAQ days. Jeff offered me to help him with his site, which soon after became TRMK.

Little known fact, I was also recruited by the infamous Xben to help with their print MK4 Strategy Guide they were making. But since I was in HS I really couldn't help because they wanted me to fly out to CA to help write it. The guide eventually got scrapped, but I just helped them get updated info from the newer daily/weekly Beta releases while they were working on older versions of the game.

Yeah there is a LOT on the site I want to redo. I want to add more video to everything as well, since Flash is easier. I'd rather start over and pull what we need from it to make it better. I just need time.

Before Wikis were around I even started on a massive MK-Database of each game and how the characters would link together between games. You'd be able to see each character through iterations on each game. Photos and descriptions of differences of EVERY port of the game. I had photos of about every game port in the same stage. I lost focus, and then had a hard drive crash and lost most of the code. Now a Wiki is the right way to do this, I was going to do a MK-Wiki until I saw you guys have one. The key to a gaming wiki is a good community, and you guys have that here.

The wiki is the #1 thing I've been working on here. And it sounds like you have the same vision we do as far as a real catalog of details about the entire series. I started a database system as well, it's currently running the Strategy Guides section. It has a functional all be it spartan back end but will eventually be completely replaced by the wiki. Any information you have and would be interested in sharing, feel free to check out the wiki section. We haven't worked out the details yet on how to give more people access to the wiki. The idea was for lots of members to be updating in the areas they know, I just haven't gotten a chance to really explore the best way to do it. So for now it's mostly stuff I've copied and pasted in from various sources already on the site as well as just pulling out things I remember from playing the games in the past.

Perhaps there is enough of an area of overlap between the sites to start something. Growing this site is a definite focus of mine, but the overall goal has always been to grow the community itself. The more strong MK sites with actual interesting information on them, the better as far as I am concerned.

Let me know if you see a place where we may be able to work together. It's not easy building a site up to the grand vision webmasters tend to have for them. I would imagine we go through very similar things and would benefit from very similar resources.

 

[dreemernj]

haha hi pat <3

edit: guys, pat used to write vulgar msgs to me from diversions wavenet. good times indeed

HAHA I think I was at Diversions once back then, and a few times since the Wavenet days. Now from Gala North, that was my hangout, so yeap that'd be me!

Back on topic though, I compiled MAME 0.121u3 and couldn't get it to work with my keyboard under Windows? Anyone want to try out my build and have the mk4 roms? I'll shoot you my build of MAME that should work partially.

I tried MAME 0.121u3 under Mac OS X using SDL port, and it ran the game, I HEARD SOUND!, but the graphics were only partially there. I wonder if MAME 0.121u3 is not the version that is supposed to have proper support. I think Aaron meant to say 0.121u4 to me.

I'll test whatever is avaible in a hearbeat :shock:

 

[McCarron]

Uploading now... upload done

[old link removed]

Unzip this to your mame folder, and just run it via command line.

mame mk4

Let me know your results. For me the game launches, but no keyboard input. So I can't use the menus or even type OK to start MK4.

Also I really think that Aaron just misspoke in his email to me today. He said "i'll release 0.121u3 tonight and you can try it first hand" but MAME 0.121u3 came out on December 6th. So he must have meant 0.121u4. I'll take my MacBook Pro to work tomorrow, and if an update shows up I'll recompile for everyone.

 

[dreemernj]

i popped the mame.exe into my 121u3 folder and it did run the game:

If I just let it run it will exit out everytime during the system checks in the beginning with this:

-----------------------------------------------------
Exception at EIP=007AE6EF: ACCESS VIOLATION
While attempting to write memory at 0B6EF020
-----------------------------------------------------
EAX=AAAAAAAA EBX=0A670060 ECX=00000000 EDX=0B6EF020
ESI=00100000 EDI=AAAAAAAA EBP=0022FC38 ESP=0022FB50

But, if as soon as I pass the red "This game doesn't work box" if I start hitting a game button (punch or kick) it will skip the first few tests, perform a sound test, and then boot the game.

This is demo mode with raiden speaking. It runs 25% framerate. Sound is there but distorted because of the slowdown. You can see Raiden is shattered but the camera rotates around correctly, the background looks very good, the rain is correctly animated and, when the polygons appear in place they appear in the right places. His eyes stay correct almost the entire time.

No cursor but otherwise very very clear!

Character select screen is surprisingly clear. When a character is chosen a horizontal bar of seemingly randomly colored pixels appears but, oddly enough, hitting F12 for a screen shot doesn't record them. The same bar appears on the Choose Your Destiny screen and on there it is recordable.

Same character portraits as the select screen. Very very clear graphics. The game is running about 18% speed at this point.

The game stays around 20% speed once gameplay starts. The "Fight" image zooms in and out. The timer counts. The combo readout will appear on screen, but that's all I've gotten so far.

I can hear the characters doing stuff. I picked Scorpion and the opponent was Liu Kang and I was able to do the spear (I heard the "Get Over Here") so it appears it's getting input.

If I press P1 Up during a match the screen turns into the image above. It starts the instant I press and stops as soon as I release.

The game info from the menu system. Hitting F2 brings up the menus. They run around 70% speed and the sound is very clear on them.

This was done on my laptop:
Pentium M 1.73GHz
1GB RAM
WinXP MCE v2002 SP2
ATI Mobility Radeon X300 video card

It's a very recent reinstall of XP and I unzipped a fresh copy of 121u3 for it.

 

[McCarron]

Yeah it appears that all his latest fixes are not in there. Looks like his earlier status images. I'll easily recompile once he posts the diff file and post it back up here.

Now if I can figure out why my keyboard doesn't work in MAME in Windows.

Too bad that Pentium M isn't Dual Core, the game will run much better and probably closer to 75-80% with Dual Core processing once he's done with the first optimization pass.

 

[dreemernj]

Yeah it appears that all his latest fixes are not in there. Looks like his earlier status images. I'll easily recompile once he posts the diff file and post it back up here.

Now if I can figure out why my keyboard doesn't work in MAME in Windows.

Too bad that Pentium M isn't Dual Core, the game will run much better and probably closer to 75-80% with Dual Core processing once he's done with the first optimization pass.

Yeah I've had my sights set on a C2D for a little while. Maybe soon. Thanks for keeping us up to date on this.

 

[McCarron]

Okay u4 is out, with the good Zeus support. Compiling now.