MAME Emulator Setup Guide 2024

What’s up, guys? In this article, I will show you how to set up the arcade emulator MAME on your PC in 2024 (Latest Update).

Finding MAME ROMs

Now I understand that MAME ROMs can be very confusing because some ROMs will require multiple files to work, and it’s never clear which ones you may need. When looking for MAME ROMs, it’s best to look for complete sets so you get all of the additional files to make the game playable. You will also see merge sets and bio sets, but you should be good if you find complete sets.

Downloading and Installing MAME

Okay, let’s head on over to mamedev.org. The link to this page is in the description below. Once you are here, scroll down a bit and see supported platforms. We have Windows, Mac, and Linux. I am on Windows, so I will select download under Windows. Under official Windows binary packages, you want to click on this 64-bit .exe file here, and your download should start.

The file has been downloaded, and I have saved it onto my desktop. We need to create a new folder, so let’s make a new one. I will do this on my desktop; you can do it wherever you like. And we’re going to rename this folder. I’m just going to call it MAME.

Now, let’s go ahead and open our MAME file. By default, MAME will want to extract to your C drive. If you want to select a different location, then go ahead and click over here, and you can choose wherever you would like to install MAME. I will leave it on my desktop and my C drive, but I will select the folder we just created, which I named MAME. We created that folder because if you extract MAME from your desktop, you will have many random files all over your desktop. And by having this folder, everything will stay organized.

Okay, now let’s go ahead and extract.

Some other guides from us:

• Lemonade Full Setup Guide
• Lime3DS Emulator Full Setup
• RPCS3 Tutorial Complete

Adding ROMs

If we open that MAME folder, we have all of our extracted files inside this folder. Now, you want to find this folder here called ROMs and move all of your MAME ROMs into this folder. I have another folder here on my desktop called MAME games, and I’m going to take all of my MAME ROMs and move them into this ROMs folder.

You do not need to extract your MAME ROMs; you can move them in their zip format straight into this folder.

Configuring Settings

Now, let’s go ahead and open the emulator, which will be this file here.

Now let’s go down to general settings, double click, and let’s go to video options, double click. Leaving everything in their default settings will work fine with this emulator.

One thing that I like to change that you may not want to do is change the aspect ratio. If we leave the enforced aspect ratio on, we will play our games at a 4:3 aspect ratio, the way the games were designed, but I like to play in full screen at a 16:9 aspect ratio. So I’m going to double-click on the enforce aspect ratio, and you will see it turn off, so your game aspect ratio will be 16:9.

Let’s also double-click on vertical sync to turn this on and not get any screen tears.

Now, let’s go ahead and return to the previous menu.

Setting Up Controller

Now, we are going to set up our controller. A great thing about using an Xbox One or Xbox Series controller is that once connected to your PC, MAME will automatically set that controller up for you. Just ensure you have your controller connected to your PC before opening MAME.

To ensure it’s connected, let’s go down to input devices. My Xbox Series controller, the XInput Player 1, is under the joystick.

I have only tested an Xbox Series controller with this emulator, but if you have any other controllers connected, you may see different options here.

Now, let’s return to the previous menu. As I said, my controller is already mapped out, but if I wanted to change some of my button layouts, I could come up with Input Assignments.

Go to Player 1 Controls, and change any of my buttons here just by clicking on it. So, say I wanted to change my button one, click on it, and then press whatever button on my controller I want to be button one.

Let’s scroll down, down, and return to the previous menu.

Important Controller Commands

Now, let’s go to other controls. Now, two essential things here are Player Start and Coin 1. To make your game start, you must know these two commands. So, let’s go ahead and remap these.

Let’s start with the player. I will change this to the B button on my Xbox controller. And for coin one, I will change this to the A button on my Xbox controller.

Let’s scroll down and return to the previous menu, return to the previous menu. And now, let’s go ahead and save settings and return to the previous menu.

Loading ROMs

Now, to get to our MAME ROMs that we moved into that ROMs folder, you want to come up here to the top left and click on available. And here are all the games that are in that folder.

Remember, guys, I told you that not all MAME game files will work. Some games will require additional files that were not included in that download. It all depends on where you downloaded your MAME ROMs and what type they offered.

Let’s scroll through and test out a few of my ROMs since I have yet to test them.

We can start down here at the bottom, X-Men vs Street Fighter. My ROM is missing a file; this game will not work. Let’s try X-Men. This also needs additional files.

Let’s try The Simpsons. And this one is working. Let’s go further into the game and test everything out. The coin button works. The start button works. All my other buttons work, and the game has a 16:9 aspect ratio. Everything is good here.